#15: Fatigue & Autoimmunity with Functional Medicine Physician Mark R. Engelman MD, FSCM

Physician Mark R. Engelman MD, FSCM, is here to talk about Autoimmune related conditions, including testing, diet, and lifestyle recommendations.

In this episode of the Clean Eating for Women podcast, we talk about:  

• We are going to talk about the testing company Cyrex Labs.
• How Dr. Engelman has extensive experience managing autoimmune conditions
• Testing, diet, and lifestyle recommendations from Dr. Engelman

Some highlights of this episode on Fatigue & Autoimmunity with Functional Medicine Physician Mark R. Engelman MD, FSCM:

1. Dr. Engelman came from a medical family in Ohio. He was going to follow in his father's footsteps, but moved to Arizona to get out of the cold weather. He was an emergency medical physician for 23 years. He was the President of the Heart Association,  and he was a mainstream medicine guy. [02:09]
2. He then started a bilingual hospital in Mexico and then worked in China. He learned a lot about Eastern medicine, and then became mesmerized by stem cells. He found a stem cell fellowship. The stem cell medicine got him interested in cellular biology. Integrated medicine is the pathway to how things work. If you know this, then you can figure out what is going wrong when someone gets sick. [03:39]
3. The End of Alzheimer's prior to the 2000s the word was what? Now the new word is why? Why am I sick and how can I do something about it. Integrative medicine is about the why. [06:34]
4. How people see Dr. Engelman after other doctors not being able to diagnose them. How patients have a series of symptoms and sign with a label put on them. Dr. Engelman asks the question of why are they experiencing these symptoms. Autoimmune diseases are always triggered by something. [10:23]
5. The importance of finding a doctor who focuses in on the history of the patient before testing. Regular doctors get a blood panel. Chemistry panel and electrolytes. Get a general idea of how your organs are working. For fatigue, looking at thyroid is an option. These tests can be inaccurate with the spread rates. Functional medicine doctors can hone in better. [13:23]
6. Finding the trigger for autoimmune thyroid problems. First look at the gluten panel on Cyrex. How autoimmune goes after one thing and then goes after your body too. How autoimmune disease is autoimmune activity or a bunch of things happening. [19:18]
7. My immune system has decided to start attacking me. This is about immunology and how we manufacture energy. We have millions of immune cells that feel their way around our bloodstreams and tissue. If our immune system doesn't recognize something from being different from us. Main triggers are hidden allergens, environmental toxins, inflammatory diets, trauma, stress, and pathogens. [22:51]
8. How we have control over our treatments and seeing and finding a functional medicine doctor to manage the disease. Many of these autoimmune diseases are reversible. Finding out what the issues are can help to reverse this stuff. How the barrier gets breached and then our immune systems go after the foreign things and then it makes mistakes. [32:17]
9. The importance of quality sleep and having a healthy gut. Testing for gluten and cross reactivity. Antibodies to new foods introduced to the body. How adding estrogen may balance out the immune system. [37:38]

Links mentioned in this episode (some affiliate links included):

• Cyrex Labs
• Engelman Health Institute
• @MarkEngelmanMD on Twitter
• Mark. R. Engelman M.D. on LinkedIn
• American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine Stem Cell Fellowship
• The End of Alzheimer's
• Podcast #12: All About Alcat Food Sensitivity Testing
• FODMAP Diet
• Paleo Diet
• The Plant Paradox
• Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers
• The Autoimmune Solution: Prevent and Reverse the Full Spectrum of Inflammatory Symptoms and Diseases
• The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care
• The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life
• Neuroimmunity and the Brain-Gut Connection (Functional Neurology)
• The Role of the Natural Killer Cell, Apoptosis and Cell Cycle in Health & Diseases