I have found that one of my most persistent challenges is balancing the competing demands of well-being and productivity. In its’ calmest state, my law practice consists of readiness and response to emergency and tragedy (otherwise known as detention/bail hearings, status conferences and sentencings).
When trial looms, as we all know, life turns into a category 5 hurricane and everything else gets little to no focus. Post-trial, when our world stops spinning and we are at maximum exhaustion, we are hit with the wave of demands that were put off while we were consumed with trial. We dig deep and attend to everything that we can until we get back to the calm waters of mere emergency and tragedy. This makes scheduling, routines and consistency challenging. Establishing self-care routines are a casualty of this war for me.
Crisis Opened Up a Pathway to Balance
Like all of us, I researched all manner of general advice on balancing well-being and productivity with varied success. I still do this and find little nuggets here and there that help. Through a family crisis, I found functional medicine. It helped begin to form a more systematic and effective approach to well-being, which has led to more productivity. Enhanced productivity has yielded less law practice stress which has led to more well-being. It has been a positive feedback loop that has allowed me to return to things I enjoy such as running.
During jury deliberations on one of my federal trials, I was advised that one of my closest family members (I am protecting her privacy by referring to her as “loved one”) was hospitalized with sepsis. We later learned it was caused by type 2 diabetes. As I scrambled to find ways to help her, I was referred to a medical doctor who runs a Functional Medicine practice. This was Dr. Kristine Burke with True Health Center for Functional Medicine (www.truehealthcfm.com). For transparency sake, please know that I am not getting anything in return for my sharing of information about Dr. Burke. I am literally just sharing my experience with you in hopes that it helps someone else.
Functional Medicine Approach to Diabetes, Dementia and Mycotoxin Exposure
Dr. Burke treated my loved one through extensive testing followed by individualized diet, supplements and monitoring. Meetings with the doctor were supplemented with meetings with dieticians and other support staff and very specific direction on diet. My loved one’s AC1 levels reduced to nearly normal levels, she quickly got off insulin and now takes a very small amount of metformin. She could get off of that last tiny bit but she is struggling to adhere to the last small dietary changes (although her diet is considered superb when compared to the standard American diet). The program’s individualized nature was far superior to the generalized information we typically get. I was sold on functional medicine.
A year later, my other closest loved one started showing signs of cognitive decline. I turned to functional medicine and found that Dr. Burke administered the Bredesen Protocol, which is a proactive approach to staving off dementia. Information on Dr. Bredesen can be found at https://www.apollohealthco.com/dr-bredesen/.
Dr. Burke’s memory protection program was intense for both my loved one and myself. He lives with me and I managed (and manage) all the supplements, medication, meals and scheduling of tests. The program also included brain exercises, which I seized upon for myself and found to be helpful (www.brainhq.com). The first year of this program was one of the hardest things he and I ever went through. But, at the end of the year, his testing showed that his brain had reversed course and we saw a 100% turn around in symptoms. He is calmer and more patient. The memory symptoms resolved. He lost 30 pounds and is back to his crazy intensely athletic self.
We are in the second year of the program and I notice symptoms return if he gets off track with diet or supplements (which is rare). The program was pricey but worth every single penny and every struggle. Each hour I toiled at the jail or in court, I knew that some of that money would go toward his treatment. We sacrificed and, for me, it gave even deeper meaning to my work.
As part of my loved one’s cognitive decline treatment, he was tested for mold and metal toxicity. He was found to have both along with a genetic abnormality which affects his ability to detox from mold. He had been working on cleaning up a water leak in our bathroom that had caused mold and we learned more than we ever wanted to know about “mycotoxins.” This involved a scientist coming to the house for testing and additional supplements and medication for him.
Dr. Burke also tested me for mold toxicity based on the water leak. I, shockingly, was found to have extremely high levels of one type of mold. I also was found to have a genetic inability to clear that type of mold which happens to be immune suppressive. This genetic condition is marked as “HLA-DR Haplotype 17-2-52A and 11-3-52b.”
I know you are lawyers so, if you are interested, you are likely to google and absorb tons of information. I do that all the time too. On these issues, however, it was so complicated that it was overwhelming. At least it was for me. I have to rely on Dr. Burke for guidance on this. That is uncomfortable for a control freak, solo practicing, independent, risk adverse criminal lawyer. But here we are.
This mold in me is so immune suppressive, in fact, that they make immune suppressing drugs out of it for transplant patients. A toxic level of this mold is 50. My level is 1172. Dr. Burke looked at me and said, lovingly, “you just have to be an overachiever, don’t you?”
There is little research in this field although it is growing. We are on the cutting edge of this science just as the Bredesen Protocol is on the cutting edge of dementia reversal. What I have learned is that these toxins, mycotoxins, affect us at a cellular level and cause inflammation. All the weird ailments I have struggled with fit the profile of what Dr. Burke sees in patients with this mold susceptibility and exposure. My list includes some really pesky heart palpitations, breast cyst, inflamed knee tissue and intense intolerance of fragrances.
The science will eventually catch up to the practice and provide more clarity. In the meantime, my cocktail of medications and supplements, along with some mild changes in diet (adding another trough of leafy greens to my day, ditching coffee in favor of green tea and banning peanut butter) has me feeling a bit better. The detox has been uncomfortable, at times, but I am noticing better sleep and more energy in these first stages. And I haven’t had a single heart palpitation. We will see if, and how, these things are truly related.
What matters to me is that my family and I are all feeling positive physical, mental and emotional effects. That means, at a base level, that I can focus more on balancing the demands of my law practice with my well-being. Both take tremendous energy and my health is the foundation of success in everything else. Functional medicine has allowed me the strength to better protect my family, my clients and my own well-being.
Functional Medicine and Traditional Medicine – No Need to Choose
My experience with functional medicine has been that it works alongside traditional medicine. For me, it has been as if functional medicine picked up where traditional medicine left off. I have a wonderful neurologist for migraines and a primary care doctor who is truly fabulous. I also have a close friend, who is an ER doc, who I keep in the loop. I couldn’t have more respect for these doctors. Dr. Burke has provided my family solutions in coordination with, and beyond, the traditional approach. I am grateful to have her in the mix. It isn’t one or the other for me and, so far, nothing in functional medicine has impeded anything in traditional medicine.
I get the sense, however, that these two disciplines may not play nice together. If you google “functional medicine,” Wikipedia provides the following:
Functional medicine is a form of alternative medicine that encompasses a number of unproven and disproven methods and treatments.[1][2][3] Its proponents claim that it focuses on the “root causes” of diseases based on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems to develop “individualized treatment plans”.[4] It has been described as pseudoscience,[5] quackery,[6] and at its essence a rebranding of complementary and alternative medicine.[6]
If you look at the Institute for Functional Medicine’s description, you get:
“Functional Medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.” https://www.ifm.org/functional-medicine/what-is-functional-medicine/
According to Wikipedia, the institute for functional medicine has run afoul of the Federal Trade Commission for some claims it made. They say it has had a cold relationship with the American Academy of Family Physicians, as well, although that had thawed a bit as of 2018 when it allowed professional credit for teaching “about” functional medicine.
My lawyer training makes me skeptical of anything claiming to be black and white. There are always gray areas, always unknowns, always evolution of knowledge. I am also extremely practical and have seen benefit for my family in the combined offerings of traditional and functional medicine. Whether all of this is coincidence, correlation or causation remains to be seen. Such is the case when living on the cutting edge.
At the end of the day, however, functional medicine involves a lot of spinach. Anything that successfully treats illness with spinach is a good place to start in my book.
Your in Peace and Solidarity,
Toni
Your energy is lovely! What a detailed, interesting message to share with such a personal touch.
Thank you Christine! Your words are heartwarming to me.