Stop chasing symptoms. Find the root cause of your health issues instead. Don't just accept that your health challenges are genetic and therefore not treatable. Pamela Wirth refused to put her son on antidepressants as the doctors recommended and now she has a healthy teenager who is a star athlete and a straight-A student.
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Show Notes
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Today's Guests...
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Topics Discussed...w / Time Stamps
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Pamela Wirth 0:00
You know, yeah, and it's all due to inflammation. One out of every five now is being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. And the list of autoimmune disorders keeps growing. So basically, what they do is every time you've got a symptom, they put a name to it, and then they can put a diagnosis code to it. And so really getting to the root mean, all these autoimmune disorders are so similarly, kind of rooted in the fact that you've got to take care of the inflammation that's going on in your body. And so taking a look at why your body is so inflamed, or angry if you could feel well, it's really, it's really important.
David Sandstrom 0:32
Welcome to the Natural Health Matters podcast where it's all about maximizing your health potential, so that you can look and feel your best at any age. I'm your host, David Sandstrom, Naturopathic Doctor and Biblical Health Coach, and this is episode number 115. If you or someone you know has ever suffered from a mysterious health challenge, and you are unable to find help from even several doctors because they didn't have a pill that would fix you. Stick around. This episode is for you. Pamela Wirth has a son who is suffering from a number of mysterious health challenges. And she finally found help by not trying to go after symptoms, but find the root cause. Today she has a healthy teenager. I think you're gonna enjoy this episode. So let's jump right into my conversation with Pamela Wirth. Today we have in the show Pamela, Pamela is the host of the encouraging wellness podcast. She's also the founder of Hello Health, a supplement company that believes in empowering moms and caregivers to pursue health with natural and holistic wellness solutions. Pamela, Welcome to Natural Health Matters.
Pamela Wirth 1:43
Thank you. Hi, David.
David Sandstrom 1:45
It's a pleasure to have you on and over looking forward to this conversation, you have a real inspirational story. So why don't you just give us the 35,000 foot view of what it is you're doing today? And then we'll get into how you got to that point.
Pamela Wirth 1:57
Yeah, you bet. So at this point, what we have is supplement company as well as increasing library of research and a podcast called encouraging wellness, we're bringing people on, and talking about different integrative and functional ways that they healed both practitioners as well as people.
David Sandstrom 2:18
Excellent. So you're building a community and you're providing resources for people that are like minded? Yeah, love it.
Pamela Wirth 2:23
For sure. Yeah, it's tough to find out there. Really good stuff. So still reason I'm doing this is because I couldn't find it myself. So
David Sandstrom 2:23
Yeah, well, you know, I felt the same way. When I wrote my book, I was looking for a book on on holistic health from a Christian biblical perspective, and I couldn't find one. So I wrote it. You know, and it's been a blessing. And I think a lot of people have been blessed by it. It's really cool to call Christian God, could the Christians guide to Holistic Health? And, yeah, that was kind of my story on why I decided to write the book, I said, this book needs to be written, because this is a message that people will really resonate with. So um, you know, it's, it's on Amazon. But, you know, I'd like to, I'd like to see it, get get the message out to even more people. But you have an inspiring story with your son Ryan, on his health challenges. So let's talk about that, and how this how that all led you into doing what you do today?
Pamela Wirth 3:19
Yeah, of course. So my day to day background is operations technology for both private and public companies, from a CEO down to a CFO to a consultant level, across a variety of industries. So the point of mentioning that is that I'm a problem solver by nature, but I had no intention of ever creating a health company. So what happened was, I've got two now healthy teenage boys, but at the time, one of them at the age around a five and a half to six. Living this perfectly normal little boy to Baby Talking, crawling is constantly dilated, devoid of all emotion. He was, he had really weird like neck and shoulder shrugs and eye tics. And so and he would wash his hands 30-40 times a day and only enter and exit rooms in a certain manner. And he would hide it was just It was horrific. It all happened over a period of a few weeks. So it felt like something that happened fairly overnight, even though it was a few weeks.
David Sandstrom 4:15
He didn't exhibit any of those symptoms up to this point.
Pamela Wirth 4:17
Oh, no, gosh, no, no. And so he was diagnosed with Tourette's, with OCD, with anxiety with depression, autism, and then ultimately with a brain autoimmune disorder. And leading up to this, you know, we would see three doctors, you know, over a week or two period and so we were on board like ninth or 10th Doctor when finally I found one that was a neurologist from Asia, originally educated at UCLA, and she says, hey, you know, I need to pull some blood work on I'm gonna find out what's going on inside and I'm like, Oh, my gosh, like that actually makes sense to me using the data to get into what might be going on rather than because I mean, up to this point, they said things like kids will be kids. Let's put them on some Prozac. You know, he said, He's really depressed. Well, of course, he's depressed. You know, like, know what that doesn't necessarily solve. We know why he's depressed. The Children's Hospital wanted to check him in for observation for a couple of weeks. I'm like, no, no, you can't have my little six year old. And so I finally found this doctor. And so the data then came back. And so at this point, you know, we're really, we're really scared. We've been reaching out through private Facebook groups, you know, seeking help, which is how we found this doctor. And so then the bloodwork showed he was low in certain vitamin levels like Vitamin B 12, D3, he had a genetic marker called MTHFR, which is, is very, very prevalent. It's in about half the population. And you can easily solve it by taking methyl folate removing things like folic acid, and non methylated B vitamins. He also had a viral infection called CMV, which is fairly common among school aged kids, not a big deal for most kids. It's a you know, a fever and a cough and a runny nose and, and then he also had high strep titers in his blood suggested an act of strep infection, even though he was negative for strep throat. So that was kind of new news to me that you can have strep without having it in your throat. And so the long story short, all of these things she said, created this perfect storm and his immune system is not working properly, the infection has crossed the blood brain barrier, and is now causing motor vocal and mood challenges and disorders. And so I was like, Alright, so now what? She goes, Well, I can cure him. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, okay, great. She goes, the hard part is it's going to take about a year, we're, you know, this is all a very complicated puzzle. And we're going to hit you know, issue by issue some of them simultaneously, some of them, you know, in a certain order, and we have to fix his gut was the last thing she said, No, it's like, okay, I have no idea what that what you're talking about, you know, this. And she said, Look, you know, there's about 15 probiotics that have to be in the gut, every single day for the gut brain access to work properly, they really need a foundation of two prebiotics on a daily basis that prevent negative overgrowth of bacteria. I was like, alright, she goes, and then that's not really enough. You're not only putting the good stuff in, but you've got to help the body detox the bad stuff out. And I was like, alright, so like, what she goes well, like all leaf extract for viruses, oregano, for bacteria, cinnamon for fungi, tumeric Boswellia, which is frankincense. There's a reason why it was in the Bible, you know, so you know, all these things are really antioxidant, anti inflammatory, and just help the body get back to a normal state. But it takes time. And sure enough, about a year passed, and then he popped back and he hasn't left us since. So. I, you know, I sat on this for a few years. And then I just, you know, I had this nagging feeling. So I ended up writing the book along with three doctors and two other families. And then I started the supplement company, kind of believing that because I possess these skills of problem solving. And I know how to build and run companies, and I know how to get messages across that it wouldn't be easy, but I felt like it happened to me for a reason. And I had to, I had to do something about that. So
David Sandstrom 7:56
What's the title of your first book? You have two books, right? What's the title of
Pamela Wirth 7:59
Yeah, yeah, the first one is Hello, Health. And then the second one will be coming out in early 2023. Called Saving My Son.
David Sandstrom 8:06
Okay. All right. Great. And there'll be available on Amazon? Yeah, of course, I'll make sure to put links in the show notes for those, those two books for sure. So, so I'm curious. So this must have been a pretty scary time for you. So you went terrible? You did what most moms would do is go to the doctor. And then when you don't, you don't get the answers. You go to the next one and go to the next one. And then you finally kind of stumbled upon a doctor that was functional. So I'm assuming that was a functional practitioner that that you that you ended up with?
Pamela Wirth 8:34
Well, she didn't say it at that point. Because a lot of doctors get a lot of flack not only from inside the industry, but outside due to lack of education and lack of knowledge. And so yeah, absolutely. She is, but didn't necessarily advertise herself that way.
David Sandstrom 8:48
Yeah. Okay. So yeah, well, you know, they have to work within the confines of their licensing their licensing boards, you know, otherwise, they're gonna get in trouble. But yeah, it is. So as opposed to just looking at the symptoms and say, I'm gonna give you some money, let's pop some pills to to deal with the symptoms. This doc said, hate No, let's try to find the root. Let's figure out why. If you had a perfectly normal child up to this point, what changed? What's different? Yeah. Right. So you gotta put your detective hat on and look sounds like she did. And you ran a bunch of labs. I'm curious as to what what caused her to look for strep in the blood is that well, they found it in the blood.
Pamela Wirth 9:25
Yeah, she said it's very, very common and very much undiagnosed. That strep is a huge problem in children. But it really goes undiagnosed and it gets treated differently in terms of most get treated for anxiety, depression, yeah, got issues. And then it's that the statistics are that it's affecting more than one in every 150 children.
David Sandstrom 9:47
Yeah. Which is just staggering, right? Yeah. That's crazy. That's just crazy. You know, another common infection that goes undiagnosed is Lyme disease to where it was he ever tested for Lyme.
Pamela Wirth 9:58
Yeah. And he came back negative for Lyme so we tested for that too. Yeah, okay, we tested for EBV mycoplasma. CMV strap Coxy Saki. Anyway, there was a lot that we tested for.
David Sandstrom 10:16
Yeah. So one by one, you started cutting down trees. And you saw him improving.
Pamela Wirth 10:22
Yeah. And then to follow up on that, though I said, look, it's really important to me that we know that we're going in the right direction. And so we did quarterly blood draws, to make sure that the numbers were in fact going in the right direction, which they were. It would really, really be nice if we could find alternatives for this through saliva and through urine, because getting blood work is painful and expensive and traumatic. And,
David Sandstrom 10:44
Yeah, well, I know some practitioners will use bloodwork they'll use saliva, when they can maybe use stool samples, also your analysis, you know, there's a lot of different ways to to look at some of those markers. But usually, you know, more than one is the most thorough way to do it, because they all have their limitations and their advantages. You know, saliva is really easy for hormones, but it might not be the most accurate representation, what's going on inside the body. So, so how long did it take before you said, hey, you know, this, this is working. This is this is encouraging.
Pamela Wirth 11:22
We first started with adding back some of the vitamin levels. And so you know, you don't necessarily see anything, you know, dramatically different when you start taking your supplements. And so we added in things like the fish Omega pill, the probiotics, the prebiotics, the d3, the B, 12, and methylfolate. And so those, those those things were very important in terms of building a foundation, but you didn't necessarily see difference or unless you pulled the bloodwork and then you saw that things were starting to increase. And then we started to treat the infection. And so we did. We did an antiviral for a week. And and then we did different antibiotics and different combinations. And it was interesting, because eventually, I was doing a lot of research and talking to other doctors. And I said, so if I'm strep where am I hiding? And they said, well, it tends to hide, you know, when the tonsils, the adenoids, the heart. And I was like, Alright, so what if we pulled the tonsils? And they said, Well, you know, his tonsils are healthy looking. And he had an and his adenoids. Interestingly enough, he had had a lot of ear infections, that kid I mean, all these things are very hereditary. And if you're not sure, if you have MTHFR, just take a look at your family history. And you have a history of ear infections and eczema and heart disease and stroke and all this. So anyway, he had a lot of ear infections. And so he had had ear tubes put in and when we did that, they burned out his adenoids. Well anyway, consequently, the adenoids had grown back because they can do that. Yeah. So I said, Well, look, why don't we? Why don't we pull the tonsils and the adenoids. This was about a year and and they said, you know, that's not really necessary. And I said, Yeah, but I did. It just makes me feel better. So we did that. And then I had them biopsy the tonsils. And they said, Well, you know, that cost extra and whatever. And I said, I don't care. I want to know what's in there. And so the end comes back, this guy's in his late 60s at this point. And his face is just ashen. And I said, What's going on, and he goes, I have never ever in the entire, I think he had said been practicing for 40 years or something, seen this type of strap in someone's tonsils. And he said, we have to immediately put them on Rifampin, which is kind of one of the end of the line. Antibiotics so all that time of antibiotics treating the strep and never actually killed the strep because the strep would then just go back and hide in the tonsils until it passed. You know, it means a living organism, right. Yeah. And so we had finally gotten that and, and so that was important. So it was and then when we started the the oregano, olive leaf extract, the frankincense, the tumeric, that's when we noticed I started to see a dramatic difference within six weeks. So it does take time. I really, really like leaning on data, whether it's professionally or personally. And so that's where that lab work, I think is so important. And that's where I'm looking to find partners that can come up with easier ways to really do this in the privacy of your own home. Yeah. It's I think that's so important.
David Sandstrom 14:23
Yeah, there are more and more labs that are doing that these days where they send labs your house and you can even do blood draw at your house and send it in and you can skip the doctor's office but of course consult with the with the doctor or the practitioner. But it's a lot more convenient that way. So you mentioned MTHFR MTHFR and it is a it's a snip it stands for single nucleotide polymorphism. And you would do inherit those they are genetic and we inherit those but just because you have it doesn't mean that that's a that's a life sentence. Right? Yeah mean. Just means that you have a weakness, right and lifestyle. has far more influence over the our health outcomes than our genes do. So, you know, I just wanted to put that out there. And you know, there's there's this notion out there that there's a genetic destiny that everyone has. And, you know, it's just everything depends on that one lucky roll of genetic dice, when that's just simply not true lifestyle has far more influence on our health outcomes. And I'm sure that you took that approach. And you said, Okay, let's compensate for this weakness. And let's do what we can do. To see about turning his turning this boy's health around. And obviously, you are successful. So how's he doing today?
Pamela Wirth 15:38
He's amazing. He's a straight A student, elite athlete, thriving teenager. And so he's doing great. And, and I will say, Absolutely, I think a lot of us have this genetic makeup, but there's certain things that come into our life that may act as a trigger. But I think if you put the right ingredients back into your body, that your body will heal itself. And so but you know, to do that, you've really got to take a look at what you're doing in your environment. And with your nutrition in terms of am I having an inflammatory diet or anti inflammatory diet? On those sugars, simple carbohydrates, and then making sure that your environment is as detox friendly as possible, or at least helping your body detox and I've really efficient manner.
David Sandstrom 16:22
So get the good in and get the bad out, right?
Pamela Wirth 16:25
Yeah, a lot of people struggle with heavy metals. That was something that we tested for. And thankfully, that was not the case. But a lot of people do have some really serious health challenges, and they come up with with high levels of heavy metals, too.
David Sandstrom 16:36
So speaking of heavy metals, did he does he or did he have mercury amalgam fillings?
Pamela Wirth 16:43
No, never did?
David Sandstrom 16:44
Never did. Okay. And then did you? Did you vaccinate him? And it was kind of a personal question.
Pamela Wirth 16:50
Yeah. No, I did for sure. And a lot of people said, well, don't you think? And I said, No, because at the age of five and a half, six, there's not anywhere during that year period, that there's a vaccination that would have been the trigger here. So I really think it was the the viral infection, the bacterial infection that act as a trigger. Plus I was that mom that was caving into the chicken fingers, the mac and cheese, you know, the carb loading. And we dramatically changed and brought in more fruits and vegetables and protein.
David Sandstrom 17:17
Let's talk about that. So. So he, every five, six year old loves chicken nuggets, right? They love to they love french fries, chicken nuggets. So how did you overcome that? How did you say, Hey, this is okay once in a while, but you know, we're not going to be living this way anymore. How did how did he take it? No, how did you handle it?
Pamela Wirth 17:36
He didn't love that idea. But at the end of the day, thankfully, at that age, they don't have a lot of say around all this, then you do as the parent and yes, the temper tantrums are terrible. But they're far worse as the kid gets older. And it's better to just deal with the temper tantrums, and they're fairly short lived. Once you figure out how to make some interesting food yourself. And it was more work for me, I, it required me to do more more meal prep over the weekends. But, you know, I got used to it. And we just kind of now it's kind of gotten to a point where you know, it's kind of like folding laundry, it's annoying. But by the same token, it's just kind of mind clearing at the same time while you're chopping or, you know, get stuff ready. And there's a lot of things that can be done. Where you can just make it put in the freezer and then pull it out the day before or the day after while it's in the fridge and then pop it in the oven or whatever else.
David Sandstrom 18:29
So before you started on this journey, you I'm assuming you pretty much had the SAD diet, the standard American diet that most of us did when we were kids. And you made some changes. I'm assuming you made them gradually or did you kind of just make one fell swoop, you know, let's clean out the cupboard. And
Pamela Wirth 18:46
it was abrupt. It was abrupt.
David Sandstrom 18:48
It was okay. Oh, yeah. Okay, so you you were really motivated.
Pamela Wirth 18:52
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it was just see, it was time. You know, who got the hardest brunt of it was was it brother? His brother's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm healthy. And I'm like you've got ADD. We're gonna take care of that, too.
David Sandstrom 19:05
Yeah. Yeah, well, the best time to address your health is when you're healthy. Right, it's a lot easier to maintain your health than it is to recover your health. So yeah, hats off to you for doing that. So let's talk some more specifics about what what dietary changes you made. So you you started eating more fruits and vegetables, more natural foods, so Whole Foods. So what did that look like? What are the what are the typical day look like for you?
Pamela Wirth 19:30
Yeah, so it was really hard to get enough fruits and vegetables down a child, period, end of story, let alone yourself. So I went ahead and I made the investment in the VitaMix. And then literally, it will blow and it'll blend anything up for you. If if your family is tolerant, you know, adding things like a banana or some peanut butter or some almond butter or something, I mean, it can hide the taste and the everything else that kind of goes in there. So I definitely have a big lever in the smoothies. And then you know, we did more. I called it mommy meatloaf because I would grind up a bunch of stuff. And then I throw it in there with the ground turkey. You know, so at least get that in there. And now, you know, they don't mind any of that stuff. But at the time, it was like, yeah. And then you know, the chicken breasts, you know, you can cut it up into strips and then almost make your own, you know, chicken strips, if you will, by kind of dredging it. And that's pretty tasty. And then if you get ground turkey, you can actually make some pretty yummy chicken patties too. And you can add in some sweet potato and things like that. That sounds weird. But it's actually it's it's delicious.
David Sandstrom 20:43
No, that sounds good, actually. Yeah. Well, I'm wondering, do you offer some some of the resources like recipes and whatnot, and you're you have a Facebook group? Or what kind of a community is it?
Pamela Wirth 20:54
Yeah, so growing the Facebook community, and then also growing out more of a, an online. It's currently in the process of being built off of Facebook so that folks can log in and really share with each other. One of the things that kind of worries me in retrospect was that I leaned in so hard into a private Facebook, well, several private Facebook groups and sharing a lot of really confidential things. And now knowing what happens that data worries me. So what I want to finish building out is this community where people can actually share, you know, stories and and help each other without, you know, worrying about the data being sold. So that's yeah, that's currently in the mix.
David Sandstrom 21:30
Okay. Wow. That's, that's exciting. Yeah, you know, this privacy is a big deal these days, isn't it?
Pamela Wirth 21:37
Yeah, it's scary. And without, and I'm still so grateful. And all these people that that were so kind and helpful as I was going through such a scary time, and without them I never would have gotten through. But I worry about some of the after effects that I may have done.
David Sandstrom 21:49
Yeah. So what was it that something inside of you that said, Hey, I'm not just going to roll over and accept this diagnosis, I'm not going to put him on Prozac. I'm not going to I'm not going to accept the idea that my kid is just autistic. And he was born that way, because I know he wasn't. So what gave you the courage was the difference for you to keep pursuing looking for answers? What made the difference?
Pamela Wirth 22:14
Oh, I was just scared to death. And I didn't know if I was making the right decision or not. But I just kept trusting that there's gotta be a different reason why. And, you know, it's interesting. So many doctors treat things so differently. And then I would talk to parents and families and these private Facebook groups that had gone down certain roads. And I'd say, so tell me a little bit about what that journey looks like. And how are they now and, and it just never, never really felt like the place where I wanted things to end up. Nothing felt permanent, nothing felt. Okay. It just, it always felt like pins and needles, and you live like that for long enough. And you get used to it, but it's just way too stressful.
David Sandstrom 22:57
Did you ever test your son for food sensitivities?
Pamela Wirth 22:59
Oh, yeah, yeah, we did all that. What do you what did you discover, not sensitive for anything. But I did take him off gluten for a year. And I took him off dairy for about six months, just because they are inflammatory in nature, and it can't hurt. So, but then we added some of the back end, like when when we're out and about and restaurants and stuff, he'll eat gluten now and he's fine. But in terms of at home, I try and keep things as clean as possible. And so we lean more into potatoes and rice and stuff, which is still you know, it's not necessarily a great idea. But I think it's probably better than I mean, I was raised, you know, on bread and butter, bread meal and Costco and everything else, you know, nothing against Costco, but you know, just trying not to lean too hard into the process stuff.
David Sandstrom 23:48
Yeah, well, you know, Costco these days has does have a first selection of organic. You gotta wonder a lot of the organic does come from China. You know, and China is pretty well known for their cheating and copying and those kinds of things. So you gotta wonder what the how valuable the organic certification is something from China. But, you know, I think there's actually my opinion is the USDA does a pretty decent job of regulating that, you know, there's always, you know, corrupt people in every organization. And I'm sure there is a USDA but I think for the most part, they do a very good job and there are some pretty stiff penalties for getting caught and if you're going to build a brand around being organic, you sure don't want to be the one that's you know, making headlines for the wrong reason. You know, getting fined. So yeah, being eating organic is a huge step in the right direction. And yeah, I totally agree that if, if you want to address food, eliminating eliminating gluten and dairy for a period of time is is a good choice. You know, and when I have my office people say you mean I can't eat bread ever again. No, that's not true. When you when you eliminate you will cool down the inflammation which is a very good thing. And as your You were doing the prebiotics to probiotics, the the other herbal supplements that you were doing the tumeric. I think you said and then the oregano is huge. Well, yeah, yeah. All those will contribute to better gut health. And as your gut heals, then you're more able to tolerate those less than ideal foods, right? You know, wheat and dairy both have a lot of nutrients in them. So you'd like to be able to eat them at least once in a while for the nutritional value, but you know it while you're recovering, especially in the early stages, not a bad idea at all to to eliminate.
Pamela Wirth 25:35
Yeah. And then when it comes to dairies and meats, I really strongly believe is paying that extra dollar two for the organic just because of the pesticides. And the hormones. Yeah, those are so scary. And it really, you know, the kids are going through puberty earlier and earlier. And as they're saying that, you know, your risk for certain health disorders later in life can be mitigated, the longer you can push out, going through puberty. So
David Sandstrom 26:02
Yeah, well, you know, it's, it's my contention that we should eat food as close to its God given natural form as possible. The more a man gets his hands on our food supply, the worse it is for us. So if it comes through a window, or it's in a box or a package, it's suspect. The way to go is you don't get from a buy from a trusted farmer that you know, or farmers market. Or buy single ingredient organic foods at the grocery store. And that's the best way to go. You want some cauliflower, then buy cauliflower, you want. You want an apple, then buy an Apple don't don't buy an Apple roll. Yeah, you don't know what went into that roll that Apple roll. So yeah, so the more natural it is, the better it is. And God never designed our dairy to be full of hormones that fatten the cows up and cause them produce, you know, 2-3-4 or five times as much dairy as the cow would naturally produce more profitable, sure. More healthy? No, no, it's definitely detrimental. So it's a pretty good rule of thumb. And another rule of thumb I like to throw out there is buy food that spoils and eat it before it does. It's another good rule of thumb. So, Pamela, do you have any other low hanging fruit that you'd like to share with the audience that someone might be struggling that start implementing right away?
Pamela Wirth 27:31
You know, the reason that I created the supplement company was because it's supplements that taught me how to make at home. And I had folks that were just kind of blown away by the healing of our son. And so I said, Well, you know, and they asked if they could buy them from me. And I'm like, No, not at my house. No. So then I kind of went down this whole thing of formulators and manufacturing and certifications and making sure everything is great. And so we take them as a family today. And as I was going through and I was creating these, I had a lot of folks telling me that I should do it in the form of gummies. Because they're just more fun. And I said no, but then they're full of sugar. And that kind of is counter productive to what it is we're trying to do. And then I had a lot of folks say, why don't you do a liquid, and I said, But you know, the hard part with liquids is messy, and it can spell and you're not sure if you get the right dosage or whatever. So we ended up doing heat resistant vegetarian capsules, and then found the most bioavailable ingredients. They're, everything's made in the U.S. Everything is from the US sourced in the US except for tumeric and Boswellia, which is from India, and then organic olive leaf, which is from France.. You know, just because you buy supplements doesn't necessarily mean that they're not made from an ideal ingredients or an an ideal country. So just buying supplements based on cost can be dangerous. And so really do the research in terms of the company and why they're in business and in and really thinking carefully about that. And then we are going to be launching a liquid line just because there is so much demand. But the hard part now is we're currently going through flavorings because I don't want to add sugar. And so how do you make something taste acceptable without it being loaded with sugar. And so taking a look at different lemon or lime or berry options. So just really watching that sugar content is so important. It really screws up the gut. I mean, imagine that you've got as many outside bacteria and viruses in your body as you do cells. And it's you've got your own ecosystem going on here. And the bad guys like to eat a lot of sugar and then they out. It's like the good versus the evil and then the bad guys out outweigh the good and right so limit the stuff that that really can take things out of whack in your body and that really
David Sandstrom 29:55
Yeah, well the gut gut health is so foundational you mentioned that you know, it causes There's mental emotional issues, cost issues, it causes mood problems, it causes concentration problems, sleep problems. And then when you're when you got as unhealthy becoming inflamed, it's porous. So you are passing large food particles through there, when they should be digested further before they make it their way into the bloodstream. So once you have these food particles, you know, causing inflammation systemically throughout the body. Now you got, you're introducing all kinds of that can express itself in all kinds of health challenges, you know, and you can get diagnosed with all kinds of things. And you know, everything from MS to fibromyalgia, in the root is you have an unhealthy gut. Yeah,
Pamela Wirth 30:43
and it's all due to inflammation. One out of every five now is being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. And the list of autoimmune disorders keeps growing. So basically, what they do is, every time you've got a symptom, they put a name to it, and then they can put a diagnosis code to it. And so really getting to the root mean, all these autoimmune disorders are so similarly, kind of rooted in the fact that you've got to take care of the inflammation that's going on in your body. And so taking a look at why your body is so inflamed, or angry, if you will, it's really, it's really important. And, you know, similarly with autism, some of these folks that are on I'm not saying that there isn't a hard and fast diagnosis for autism, but a lot of these ones that are on the spectrum, it's truly a puzzle, that you're trying to figure out what pieces might be able to be positively impacted to minimize some of the symptoms that are being experienced. So I know it's, it's scary and hard but important to keep that journey.
David Sandstrom 31:43
Did you when you eliminate gluten, did you use some gluten substitutes? Or did you just eliminate grains altogether?
Pamela Wirth 31:50
Um, we, when I first went hard and fast and took all the gluten out of the house, I immediately started substituting gluten free just so that the folks didn't feel like oh my gosh, what's going on here? So yeah, and then started to peel back in as much of the carb loading even gluten free as you could because you know, not all Gluten Free is good for you either, you know, right. So,
David Sandstrom 32:15
yeah, so did you
Pamela Wirth 32:17
look at the number of ingredients in there?
David Sandstrom 32:19
Did you look Did you explore anything you mentioned non toxic home? Did you explore anything like Wi Fi and cell phone exposure and other toxins in the home?
Pamela Wirth 32:28
Yeah, so and I even went a little step further than that, which may may sound a little crazy to some folks, but we lived in an area a nice part of Scottsdale, Arizona, but it was under a landing zone at the Scottsdale airport, which is one of the busiest private airports in the country. And come to find out that you know, the, those plans are allowed to put off leaded fuel. So we ended up and then that That house was close, it was within two miles of a freeway. And it was close to power lines. Major power lines. Oh, that's yeah, no, it's terrible. It's just amazing that that's all allowed. So ended up moving to a home, we pulled out all the carpet because carpet can put off toxins just put down tile, and then made sure that it was at least a mile away from a major power line at least two and a half miles away from the freeway. And then we are nowhere close to landing or taking off sound of the of the airport. So nice. Yeah, it's just in case where the Yeah, and then I did take a look at where the power comes into the house to make sure it didn't share any walls of any bedrooms. It shares with the garage. So that's, that's good. Yeah, no, all this stuff. I mean, it really is, uh
David Sandstrom 33:49
Yeah, really good. And you're one of the things that people don't think about I had a guest on not too long ago. I can think of his name here I'll share with you but he was a EMF guy who electromagnetic frequencies. And he said, you know, you got to check call your power company and find out if they put a wireless meter in your house. Because that is like having a cell tower in your house is constantly broadcasting to the to the home base. And that's that's a powerful signal that you don't want expose yourself to on a daily basis. So I called up power company after that interview. Sure enough, they say oh, yeah, your your wireless. I'm like, Well, I'd like to change that back to the analog meter. And like, well, we can do that. It's gonna be $18 a month. So Well, that's what I want. So that's what we did. And you know, the meter was is out right outside our bedroom wall, right where my head rests. And once we change that, I felt as though I was sleeping better. So you know, those are those are invisible hazards that the real unit, especially if you're dealing with a serious health challenge, that should be addressed. You know, they can
Pamela Wirth 34:51
Yeah, I mean, it's impossible to take away all the inflammatory causes, right, you know, trying to chip away at what you can is really
David Sandstrom 34:59
right But you can't eliminate it. You know, when when you walk into any place of businesses these days, there's going to be Wi Fi, there's going to be formaldehyde, there's going to be led, there's going to be all kinds of things. But at least in where you spend most of your time your home, do what you can, you know, again, it's easier to keep up than it is to catch up. So, you know, prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Pamela Wirth 35:20
Yeah. Isn't that the truth? Yeah.
David Sandstrom 35:24
Well, any closing thoughts, apparently, that you'd like to share with the audience before we close this out?
Pamela Wirth 35:29
No, I'm just so appreciative to share the message. I hope it provides some inspiration to others to kind of take a look at their own life and see how they can, you know, really help ramp up their own health and their family's health. Continue to ask questions, continue to push for answers, continue to seek out a number of different types of practitioners, if you're going through something don't just put up with what the first five or six days it just doesn't feel right. And, you know, continue to have that courage to keep on going.
David Sandstrom 35:57
Yeah, that's great. So if someone would like to get a hold of you, what's the easiest way to do that, Pamela?
Speaker 2 36:02
Yeah, my email address is Pamela at hello dot health, that's P A M E L. A. The website is www dot hello dot health. And we'd love to Instagram or Facebook as well. So thank you, I really appreciate your time.
David Sandstrom 36:18
Excellent. Thank you for your time family, I really appreciate it. For more, go to the show notes page at davidsandstrom.com/115. There you can find a video as well as an audio version of the podcast that I always put links to all the resources that we've mentioned. And it's also a free downloadable transcript. And I also put some kind of a content upgrade on every episode to help you go deeper with that subject. If you're enjoying the podcast, I sure would appreciate you sharing it with a friend. The number one way people discover a podcast is someone tells them about it. So we're helping help me get the word out there and spread the word and tell your friends about the show. Thanks for listening. I'll talk with you next time be blessed.
You know, yeah, and it's all due to inflammation. One out of every five now is being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. And the list of autoimmune disorders keeps growing. So basically, what they do is every time you've got a symptom, they put a name to it, and then they can put a diagnosis code to it. And so really getting to the root mean, all these autoimmune disorders are so similarly, kind of rooted in the fact that you've got to take care of the inflammation that's going on in your body. And so taking a look at why your body is so inflamed, or angry if you could feel well, it's really, it's really important.
David Sandstrom 0:32
Welcome to the Natural Health Matters podcast where it's all about maximizing your health potential, so that you can look and feel your best at any age. I'm your host, David Sandstrom, Naturopathic Doctor and Biblical Health Coach, and this is episode number 115. If you or someone you know has ever suffered from a mysterious health challenge, and you are unable to find help from even several doctors because they didn't have a pill that would fix you. Stick around. This episode is for you. Pamela Wirth has a son who is suffering from a number of mysterious health challenges. And she finally found help by not trying to go after symptoms, but find the root cause. Today she has a healthy teenager. I think you're gonna enjoy this episode. So let's jump right into my conversation with Pamela Wirth. Today we have in the show Pamela, Pamela is the host of the encouraging wellness podcast. She's also the founder of Hello Health, a supplement company that believes in empowering moms and caregivers to pursue health with natural and holistic wellness solutions. Pamela, Welcome to Natural Health Matters.
Pamela Wirth 1:43
Thank you. Hi, David.
David Sandstrom 1:45
It's a pleasure to have you on and over looking forward to this conversation, you have a real inspirational story. So why don't you just give us the 35,000 foot view of what it is you're doing today? And then we'll get into how you got to that point.
Pamela Wirth 1:57
Yeah, you bet. So at this point, what we have is supplement company as well as increasing library of research and a podcast called encouraging wellness, we're bringing people on, and talking about different integrative and functional ways that they healed both practitioners as well as people.
David Sandstrom 2:18
Excellent. So you're building a community and you're providing resources for people that are like minded? Yeah, love it.
Pamela Wirth 2:23
For sure. Yeah, it's tough to find out there. Really good stuff. So still reason I'm doing this is because I couldn't find it myself. So
David Sandstrom 2:23
Yeah, well, you know, I felt the same way. When I wrote my book, I was looking for a book on on holistic health from a Christian biblical perspective, and I couldn't find one. So I wrote it. You know, and it's been a blessing. And I think a lot of people have been blessed by it. It's really cool to call Christian God, could the Christians guide to Holistic Health? And, yeah, that was kind of my story on why I decided to write the book, I said, this book needs to be written, because this is a message that people will really resonate with. So um, you know, it's, it's on Amazon. But, you know, I'd like to, I'd like to see it, get get the message out to even more people. But you have an inspiring story with your son Ryan, on his health challenges. So let's talk about that, and how this how that all led you into doing what you do today?
Pamela Wirth 3:19
Yeah, of course. So my day to day background is operations technology for both private and public companies, from a CEO down to a CFO to a consultant level, across a variety of industries. So the point of mentioning that is that I'm a problem solver by nature, but I had no intention of ever creating a health company. So what happened was, I've got two now healthy teenage boys, but at the time, one of them at the age around a five and a half to six. Living this perfectly normal little boy to Baby Talking, crawling is constantly dilated, devoid of all emotion. He was, he had really weird like neck and shoulder shrugs and eye tics. And so and he would wash his hands 30-40 times a day and only enter and exit rooms in a certain manner. And he would hide it was just It was horrific. It all happened over a period of a few weeks. So it felt like something that happened fairly overnight, even though it was a few weeks.
David Sandstrom 4:15
He didn't exhibit any of those symptoms up to this point.
Pamela Wirth 4:17
Oh, no, gosh, no, no. And so he was diagnosed with Tourette's, with OCD, with anxiety with depression, autism, and then ultimately with a brain autoimmune disorder. And leading up to this, you know, we would see three doctors, you know, over a week or two period and so we were on board like ninth or 10th Doctor when finally I found one that was a neurologist from Asia, originally educated at UCLA, and she says, hey, you know, I need to pull some blood work on I'm gonna find out what's going on inside and I'm like, Oh, my gosh, like that actually makes sense to me using the data to get into what might be going on rather than because I mean, up to this point, they said things like kids will be kids. Let's put them on some Prozac. You know, he said, He's really depressed. Well, of course, he's depressed. You know, like, know what that doesn't necessarily solve. We know why he's depressed. The Children's Hospital wanted to check him in for observation for a couple of weeks. I'm like, no, no, you can't have my little six year old. And so I finally found this doctor. And so the data then came back. And so at this point, you know, we're really, we're really scared. We've been reaching out through private Facebook groups, you know, seeking help, which is how we found this doctor. And so then the bloodwork showed he was low in certain vitamin levels like Vitamin B 12, D3, he had a genetic marker called MTHFR, which is, is very, very prevalent. It's in about half the population. And you can easily solve it by taking methyl folate removing things like folic acid, and non methylated B vitamins. He also had a viral infection called CMV, which is fairly common among school aged kids, not a big deal for most kids. It's a you know, a fever and a cough and a runny nose and, and then he also had high strep titers in his blood suggested an act of strep infection, even though he was negative for strep throat. So that was kind of new news to me that you can have strep without having it in your throat. And so the long story short, all of these things she said, created this perfect storm and his immune system is not working properly, the infection has crossed the blood brain barrier, and is now causing motor vocal and mood challenges and disorders. And so I was like, Alright, so now what? She goes, Well, I can cure him. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, okay, great. She goes, the hard part is it's going to take about a year, we're, you know, this is all a very complicated puzzle. And we're going to hit you know, issue by issue some of them simultaneously, some of them, you know, in a certain order, and we have to fix his gut was the last thing she said, No, it's like, okay, I have no idea what that what you're talking about, you know, this. And she said, Look, you know, there's about 15 probiotics that have to be in the gut, every single day for the gut brain access to work properly, they really need a foundation of two prebiotics on a daily basis that prevent negative overgrowth of bacteria. I was like, alright, she goes, and then that's not really enough. You're not only putting the good stuff in, but you've got to help the body detox the bad stuff out. And I was like, alright, so like, what she goes well, like all leaf extract for viruses, oregano, for bacteria, cinnamon for fungi, tumeric Boswellia, which is frankincense. There's a reason why it was in the Bible, you know, so you know, all these things are really antioxidant, anti inflammatory, and just help the body get back to a normal state. But it takes time. And sure enough, about a year passed, and then he popped back and he hasn't left us since. So. I, you know, I sat on this for a few years. And then I just, you know, I had this nagging feeling. So I ended up writing the book along with three doctors and two other families. And then I started the supplement company, kind of believing that because I possess these skills of problem solving. And I know how to build and run companies, and I know how to get messages across that it wouldn't be easy, but I felt like it happened to me for a reason. And I had to, I had to do something about that. So
David Sandstrom 7:56
What's the title of your first book? You have two books, right? What's the title of
Pamela Wirth 7:59
Yeah, yeah, the first one is Hello, Health. And then the second one will be coming out in early 2023. Called Saving My Son.
David Sandstrom 8:06
Okay. All right. Great. And there'll be available on Amazon? Yeah, of course, I'll make sure to put links in the show notes for those, those two books for sure. So, so I'm curious. So this must have been a pretty scary time for you. So you went terrible? You did what most moms would do is go to the doctor. And then when you don't, you don't get the answers. You go to the next one and go to the next one. And then you finally kind of stumbled upon a doctor that was functional. So I'm assuming that was a functional practitioner that that you that you ended up with?
Pamela Wirth 8:34
Well, she didn't say it at that point. Because a lot of doctors get a lot of flack not only from inside the industry, but outside due to lack of education and lack of knowledge. And so yeah, absolutely. She is, but didn't necessarily advertise herself that way.
David Sandstrom 8:48
Yeah. Okay. So yeah, well, you know, they have to work within the confines of their licensing their licensing boards, you know, otherwise, they're gonna get in trouble. But yeah, it is. So as opposed to just looking at the symptoms and say, I'm gonna give you some money, let's pop some pills to to deal with the symptoms. This doc said, hate No, let's try to find the root. Let's figure out why. If you had a perfectly normal child up to this point, what changed? What's different? Yeah. Right. So you gotta put your detective hat on and look sounds like she did. And you ran a bunch of labs. I'm curious as to what what caused her to look for strep in the blood is that well, they found it in the blood.
Pamela Wirth 9:25
Yeah, she said it's very, very common and very much undiagnosed. That strep is a huge problem in children. But it really goes undiagnosed and it gets treated differently in terms of most get treated for anxiety, depression, yeah, got issues. And then it's that the statistics are that it's affecting more than one in every 150 children.
David Sandstrom 9:47
Yeah. Which is just staggering, right? Yeah. That's crazy. That's just crazy. You know, another common infection that goes undiagnosed is Lyme disease to where it was he ever tested for Lyme.
Pamela Wirth 9:58
Yeah. And he came back negative for Lyme so we tested for that too. Yeah, okay, we tested for EBV mycoplasma. CMV strap Coxy Saki. Anyway, there was a lot that we tested for.
David Sandstrom 10:16
Yeah. So one by one, you started cutting down trees. And you saw him improving.
Pamela Wirth 10:22
Yeah. And then to follow up on that, though I said, look, it's really important to me that we know that we're going in the right direction. And so we did quarterly blood draws, to make sure that the numbers were in fact going in the right direction, which they were. It would really, really be nice if we could find alternatives for this through saliva and through urine, because getting blood work is painful and expensive and traumatic. And,
David Sandstrom 10:44
Yeah, well, I know some practitioners will use bloodwork they'll use saliva, when they can maybe use stool samples, also your analysis, you know, there's a lot of different ways to to look at some of those markers. But usually, you know, more than one is the most thorough way to do it, because they all have their limitations and their advantages. You know, saliva is really easy for hormones, but it might not be the most accurate representation, what's going on inside the body. So, so how long did it take before you said, hey, you know, this, this is working. This is this is encouraging.
Pamela Wirth 11:22
We first started with adding back some of the vitamin levels. And so you know, you don't necessarily see anything, you know, dramatically different when you start taking your supplements. And so we added in things like the fish Omega pill, the probiotics, the prebiotics, the d3, the B, 12, and methylfolate. And so those, those those things were very important in terms of building a foundation, but you didn't necessarily see difference or unless you pulled the bloodwork and then you saw that things were starting to increase. And then we started to treat the infection. And so we did. We did an antiviral for a week. And and then we did different antibiotics and different combinations. And it was interesting, because eventually, I was doing a lot of research and talking to other doctors. And I said, so if I'm strep where am I hiding? And they said, well, it tends to hide, you know, when the tonsils, the adenoids, the heart. And I was like, Alright, so what if we pulled the tonsils? And they said, Well, you know, his tonsils are healthy looking. And he had an and his adenoids. Interestingly enough, he had had a lot of ear infections, that kid I mean, all these things are very hereditary. And if you're not sure, if you have MTHFR, just take a look at your family history. And you have a history of ear infections and eczema and heart disease and stroke and all this. So anyway, he had a lot of ear infections. And so he had had ear tubes put in and when we did that, they burned out his adenoids. Well anyway, consequently, the adenoids had grown back because they can do that. Yeah. So I said, Well, look, why don't we? Why don't we pull the tonsils and the adenoids. This was about a year and and they said, you know, that's not really necessary. And I said, Yeah, but I did. It just makes me feel better. So we did that. And then I had them biopsy the tonsils. And they said, Well, you know, that cost extra and whatever. And I said, I don't care. I want to know what's in there. And so the end comes back, this guy's in his late 60s at this point. And his face is just ashen. And I said, What's going on, and he goes, I have never ever in the entire, I think he had said been practicing for 40 years or something, seen this type of strap in someone's tonsils. And he said, we have to immediately put them on Rifampin, which is kind of one of the end of the line. Antibiotics so all that time of antibiotics treating the strep and never actually killed the strep because the strep would then just go back and hide in the tonsils until it passed. You know, it means a living organism, right. Yeah. And so we had finally gotten that and, and so that was important. So it was and then when we started the the oregano, olive leaf extract, the frankincense, the tumeric, that's when we noticed I started to see a dramatic difference within six weeks. So it does take time. I really, really like leaning on data, whether it's professionally or personally. And so that's where that lab work, I think is so important. And that's where I'm looking to find partners that can come up with easier ways to really do this in the privacy of your own home. Yeah. It's I think that's so important.
David Sandstrom 14:23
Yeah, there are more and more labs that are doing that these days where they send labs your house and you can even do blood draw at your house and send it in and you can skip the doctor's office but of course consult with the with the doctor or the practitioner. But it's a lot more convenient that way. So you mentioned MTHFR MTHFR and it is a it's a snip it stands for single nucleotide polymorphism. And you would do inherit those they are genetic and we inherit those but just because you have it doesn't mean that that's a that's a life sentence. Right? Yeah mean. Just means that you have a weakness, right and lifestyle. has far more influence over the our health outcomes than our genes do. So, you know, I just wanted to put that out there. And you know, there's there's this notion out there that there's a genetic destiny that everyone has. And, you know, it's just everything depends on that one lucky roll of genetic dice, when that's just simply not true lifestyle has far more influence on our health outcomes. And I'm sure that you took that approach. And you said, Okay, let's compensate for this weakness. And let's do what we can do. To see about turning his turning this boy's health around. And obviously, you are successful. So how's he doing today?
Pamela Wirth 15:38
He's amazing. He's a straight A student, elite athlete, thriving teenager. And so he's doing great. And, and I will say, Absolutely, I think a lot of us have this genetic makeup, but there's certain things that come into our life that may act as a trigger. But I think if you put the right ingredients back into your body, that your body will heal itself. And so but you know, to do that, you've really got to take a look at what you're doing in your environment. And with your nutrition in terms of am I having an inflammatory diet or anti inflammatory diet? On those sugars, simple carbohydrates, and then making sure that your environment is as detox friendly as possible, or at least helping your body detox and I've really efficient manner.
David Sandstrom 16:22
So get the good in and get the bad out, right?
Pamela Wirth 16:25
Yeah, a lot of people struggle with heavy metals. That was something that we tested for. And thankfully, that was not the case. But a lot of people do have some really serious health challenges, and they come up with with high levels of heavy metals, too.
David Sandstrom 16:36
So speaking of heavy metals, did he does he or did he have mercury amalgam fillings?
Pamela Wirth 16:43
No, never did?
David Sandstrom 16:44
Never did. Okay. And then did you? Did you vaccinate him? And it was kind of a personal question.
Pamela Wirth 16:50
Yeah. No, I did for sure. And a lot of people said, well, don't you think? And I said, No, because at the age of five and a half, six, there's not anywhere during that year period, that there's a vaccination that would have been the trigger here. So I really think it was the the viral infection, the bacterial infection that act as a trigger. Plus I was that mom that was caving into the chicken fingers, the mac and cheese, you know, the carb loading. And we dramatically changed and brought in more fruits and vegetables and protein.
David Sandstrom 17:17
Let's talk about that. So. So he, every five, six year old loves chicken nuggets, right? They love to they love french fries, chicken nuggets. So how did you overcome that? How did you say, Hey, this is okay once in a while, but you know, we're not going to be living this way anymore. How did how did he take it? No, how did you handle it?
Pamela Wirth 17:36
He didn't love that idea. But at the end of the day, thankfully, at that age, they don't have a lot of say around all this, then you do as the parent and yes, the temper tantrums are terrible. But they're far worse as the kid gets older. And it's better to just deal with the temper tantrums, and they're fairly short lived. Once you figure out how to make some interesting food yourself. And it was more work for me, I, it required me to do more more meal prep over the weekends. But, you know, I got used to it. And we just kind of now it's kind of gotten to a point where you know, it's kind of like folding laundry, it's annoying. But by the same token, it's just kind of mind clearing at the same time while you're chopping or, you know, get stuff ready. And there's a lot of things that can be done. Where you can just make it put in the freezer and then pull it out the day before or the day after while it's in the fridge and then pop it in the oven or whatever else.
David Sandstrom 18:29
So before you started on this journey, you I'm assuming you pretty much had the SAD diet, the standard American diet that most of us did when we were kids. And you made some changes. I'm assuming you made them gradually or did you kind of just make one fell swoop, you know, let's clean out the cupboard. And
Pamela Wirth 18:46
it was abrupt. It was abrupt.
David Sandstrom 18:48
It was okay. Oh, yeah. Okay, so you you were really motivated.
Pamela Wirth 18:52
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it was just see, it was time. You know, who got the hardest brunt of it was was it brother? His brother's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm healthy. And I'm like you've got ADD. We're gonna take care of that, too.
David Sandstrom 19:05
Yeah. Yeah, well, the best time to address your health is when you're healthy. Right, it's a lot easier to maintain your health than it is to recover your health. So yeah, hats off to you for doing that. So let's talk some more specifics about what what dietary changes you made. So you you started eating more fruits and vegetables, more natural foods, so Whole Foods. So what did that look like? What are the what are the typical day look like for you?
Pamela Wirth 19:30
Yeah, so it was really hard to get enough fruits and vegetables down a child, period, end of story, let alone yourself. So I went ahead and I made the investment in the VitaMix. And then literally, it will blow and it'll blend anything up for you. If if your family is tolerant, you know, adding things like a banana or some peanut butter or some almond butter or something, I mean, it can hide the taste and the everything else that kind of goes in there. So I definitely have a big lever in the smoothies. And then you know, we did more. I called it mommy meatloaf because I would grind up a bunch of stuff. And then I throw it in there with the ground turkey. You know, so at least get that in there. And now, you know, they don't mind any of that stuff. But at the time, it was like, yeah. And then you know, the chicken breasts, you know, you can cut it up into strips and then almost make your own, you know, chicken strips, if you will, by kind of dredging it. And that's pretty tasty. And then if you get ground turkey, you can actually make some pretty yummy chicken patties too. And you can add in some sweet potato and things like that. That sounds weird. But it's actually it's it's delicious.
David Sandstrom 20:43
No, that sounds good, actually. Yeah. Well, I'm wondering, do you offer some some of the resources like recipes and whatnot, and you're you have a Facebook group? Or what kind of a community is it?
Pamela Wirth 20:54
Yeah, so growing the Facebook community, and then also growing out more of a, an online. It's currently in the process of being built off of Facebook so that folks can log in and really share with each other. One of the things that kind of worries me in retrospect was that I leaned in so hard into a private Facebook, well, several private Facebook groups and sharing a lot of really confidential things. And now knowing what happens that data worries me. So what I want to finish building out is this community where people can actually share, you know, stories and and help each other without, you know, worrying about the data being sold. So that's yeah, that's currently in the mix.
David Sandstrom 21:30
Okay. Wow. That's, that's exciting. Yeah, you know, this privacy is a big deal these days, isn't it?
Pamela Wirth 21:37
Yeah, it's scary. And without, and I'm still so grateful. And all these people that that were so kind and helpful as I was going through such a scary time, and without them I never would have gotten through. But I worry about some of the after effects that I may have done.
David Sandstrom 21:49
Yeah. So what was it that something inside of you that said, Hey, I'm not just going to roll over and accept this diagnosis, I'm not going to put him on Prozac. I'm not going to I'm not going to accept the idea that my kid is just autistic. And he was born that way, because I know he wasn't. So what gave you the courage was the difference for you to keep pursuing looking for answers? What made the difference?
Pamela Wirth 22:14
Oh, I was just scared to death. And I didn't know if I was making the right decision or not. But I just kept trusting that there's gotta be a different reason why. And, you know, it's interesting. So many doctors treat things so differently. And then I would talk to parents and families and these private Facebook groups that had gone down certain roads. And I'd say, so tell me a little bit about what that journey looks like. And how are they now and, and it just never, never really felt like the place where I wanted things to end up. Nothing felt permanent, nothing felt. Okay. It just, it always felt like pins and needles, and you live like that for long enough. And you get used to it, but it's just way too stressful.
David Sandstrom 22:57
Did you ever test your son for food sensitivities?
Pamela Wirth 22:59
Oh, yeah, yeah, we did all that. What do you what did you discover, not sensitive for anything. But I did take him off gluten for a year. And I took him off dairy for about six months, just because they are inflammatory in nature, and it can't hurt. So, but then we added some of the back end, like when when we're out and about and restaurants and stuff, he'll eat gluten now and he's fine. But in terms of at home, I try and keep things as clean as possible. And so we lean more into potatoes and rice and stuff, which is still you know, it's not necessarily a great idea. But I think it's probably better than I mean, I was raised, you know, on bread and butter, bread meal and Costco and everything else, you know, nothing against Costco, but you know, just trying not to lean too hard into the process stuff.
David Sandstrom 23:48
Yeah, well, you know, Costco these days has does have a first selection of organic. You gotta wonder a lot of the organic does come from China. You know, and China is pretty well known for their cheating and copying and those kinds of things. So you gotta wonder what the how valuable the organic certification is something from China. But, you know, I think there's actually my opinion is the USDA does a pretty decent job of regulating that, you know, there's always, you know, corrupt people in every organization. And I'm sure there is a USDA but I think for the most part, they do a very good job and there are some pretty stiff penalties for getting caught and if you're going to build a brand around being organic, you sure don't want to be the one that's you know, making headlines for the wrong reason. You know, getting fined. So yeah, being eating organic is a huge step in the right direction. And yeah, I totally agree that if, if you want to address food, eliminating eliminating gluten and dairy for a period of time is is a good choice. You know, and when I have my office people say you mean I can't eat bread ever again. No, that's not true. When you when you eliminate you will cool down the inflammation which is a very good thing. And as your You were doing the prebiotics to probiotics, the the other herbal supplements that you were doing the tumeric. I think you said and then the oregano is huge. Well, yeah, yeah. All those will contribute to better gut health. And as your gut heals, then you're more able to tolerate those less than ideal foods, right? You know, wheat and dairy both have a lot of nutrients in them. So you'd like to be able to eat them at least once in a while for the nutritional value, but you know it while you're recovering, especially in the early stages, not a bad idea at all to to eliminate.
Pamela Wirth 25:35
Yeah. And then when it comes to dairies and meats, I really strongly believe is paying that extra dollar two for the organic just because of the pesticides. And the hormones. Yeah, those are so scary. And it really, you know, the kids are going through puberty earlier and earlier. And as they're saying that, you know, your risk for certain health disorders later in life can be mitigated, the longer you can push out, going through puberty. So
David Sandstrom 26:02
Yeah, well, you know, it's, it's my contention that we should eat food as close to its God given natural form as possible. The more a man gets his hands on our food supply, the worse it is for us. So if it comes through a window, or it's in a box or a package, it's suspect. The way to go is you don't get from a buy from a trusted farmer that you know, or farmers market. Or buy single ingredient organic foods at the grocery store. And that's the best way to go. You want some cauliflower, then buy cauliflower, you want. You want an apple, then buy an Apple don't don't buy an Apple roll. Yeah, you don't know what went into that roll that Apple roll. So yeah, so the more natural it is, the better it is. And God never designed our dairy to be full of hormones that fatten the cows up and cause them produce, you know, 2-3-4 or five times as much dairy as the cow would naturally produce more profitable, sure. More healthy? No, no, it's definitely detrimental. So it's a pretty good rule of thumb. And another rule of thumb I like to throw out there is buy food that spoils and eat it before it does. It's another good rule of thumb. So, Pamela, do you have any other low hanging fruit that you'd like to share with the audience that someone might be struggling that start implementing right away?
Pamela Wirth 27:31
You know, the reason that I created the supplement company was because it's supplements that taught me how to make at home. And I had folks that were just kind of blown away by the healing of our son. And so I said, Well, you know, and they asked if they could buy them from me. And I'm like, No, not at my house. No. So then I kind of went down this whole thing of formulators and manufacturing and certifications and making sure everything is great. And so we take them as a family today. And as I was going through and I was creating these, I had a lot of folks telling me that I should do it in the form of gummies. Because they're just more fun. And I said no, but then they're full of sugar. And that kind of is counter productive to what it is we're trying to do. And then I had a lot of folks say, why don't you do a liquid, and I said, But you know, the hard part with liquids is messy, and it can spell and you're not sure if you get the right dosage or whatever. So we ended up doing heat resistant vegetarian capsules, and then found the most bioavailable ingredients. They're, everything's made in the U.S. Everything is from the US sourced in the US except for tumeric and Boswellia, which is from India, and then organic olive leaf, which is from France.. You know, just because you buy supplements doesn't necessarily mean that they're not made from an ideal ingredients or an an ideal country. So just buying supplements based on cost can be dangerous. And so really do the research in terms of the company and why they're in business and in and really thinking carefully about that. And then we are going to be launching a liquid line just because there is so much demand. But the hard part now is we're currently going through flavorings because I don't want to add sugar. And so how do you make something taste acceptable without it being loaded with sugar. And so taking a look at different lemon or lime or berry options. So just really watching that sugar content is so important. It really screws up the gut. I mean, imagine that you've got as many outside bacteria and viruses in your body as you do cells. And it's you've got your own ecosystem going on here. And the bad guys like to eat a lot of sugar and then they out. It's like the good versus the evil and then the bad guys out outweigh the good and right so limit the stuff that that really can take things out of whack in your body and that really
David Sandstrom 29:55
Yeah, well the gut gut health is so foundational you mentioned that you know, it causes There's mental emotional issues, cost issues, it causes mood problems, it causes concentration problems, sleep problems. And then when you're when you got as unhealthy becoming inflamed, it's porous. So you are passing large food particles through there, when they should be digested further before they make it their way into the bloodstream. So once you have these food particles, you know, causing inflammation systemically throughout the body. Now you got, you're introducing all kinds of that can express itself in all kinds of health challenges, you know, and you can get diagnosed with all kinds of things. And you know, everything from MS to fibromyalgia, in the root is you have an unhealthy gut. Yeah,
Pamela Wirth 30:43
and it's all due to inflammation. One out of every five now is being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. And the list of autoimmune disorders keeps growing. So basically, what they do is, every time you've got a symptom, they put a name to it, and then they can put a diagnosis code to it. And so really getting to the root mean, all these autoimmune disorders are so similarly, kind of rooted in the fact that you've got to take care of the inflammation that's going on in your body. And so taking a look at why your body is so inflamed, or angry, if you will, it's really, it's really important. And, you know, similarly with autism, some of these folks that are on I'm not saying that there isn't a hard and fast diagnosis for autism, but a lot of these ones that are on the spectrum, it's truly a puzzle, that you're trying to figure out what pieces might be able to be positively impacted to minimize some of the symptoms that are being experienced. So I know it's, it's scary and hard but important to keep that journey.
David Sandstrom 31:43
Did you when you eliminate gluten, did you use some gluten substitutes? Or did you just eliminate grains altogether?
Pamela Wirth 31:50
Um, we, when I first went hard and fast and took all the gluten out of the house, I immediately started substituting gluten free just so that the folks didn't feel like oh my gosh, what's going on here? So yeah, and then started to peel back in as much of the carb loading even gluten free as you could because you know, not all Gluten Free is good for you either, you know, right. So,
David Sandstrom 32:15
yeah, so did you
Pamela Wirth 32:17
look at the number of ingredients in there?
David Sandstrom 32:19
Did you look Did you explore anything you mentioned non toxic home? Did you explore anything like Wi Fi and cell phone exposure and other toxins in the home?
Pamela Wirth 32:28
Yeah, so and I even went a little step further than that, which may may sound a little crazy to some folks, but we lived in an area a nice part of Scottsdale, Arizona, but it was under a landing zone at the Scottsdale airport, which is one of the busiest private airports in the country. And come to find out that you know, the, those plans are allowed to put off leaded fuel. So we ended up and then that That house was close, it was within two miles of a freeway. And it was close to power lines. Major power lines. Oh, that's yeah, no, it's terrible. It's just amazing that that's all allowed. So ended up moving to a home, we pulled out all the carpet because carpet can put off toxins just put down tile, and then made sure that it was at least a mile away from a major power line at least two and a half miles away from the freeway. And then we are nowhere close to landing or taking off sound of the of the airport. So nice. Yeah, it's just in case where the Yeah, and then I did take a look at where the power comes into the house to make sure it didn't share any walls of any bedrooms. It shares with the garage. So that's, that's good. Yeah, no, all this stuff. I mean, it really is, uh
David Sandstrom 33:49
Yeah, really good. And you're one of the things that people don't think about I had a guest on not too long ago. I can think of his name here I'll share with you but he was a EMF guy who electromagnetic frequencies. And he said, you know, you got to check call your power company and find out if they put a wireless meter in your house. Because that is like having a cell tower in your house is constantly broadcasting to the to the home base. And that's that's a powerful signal that you don't want expose yourself to on a daily basis. So I called up power company after that interview. Sure enough, they say oh, yeah, your your wireless. I'm like, Well, I'd like to change that back to the analog meter. And like, well, we can do that. It's gonna be $18 a month. So Well, that's what I want. So that's what we did. And you know, the meter was is out right outside our bedroom wall, right where my head rests. And once we change that, I felt as though I was sleeping better. So you know, those are those are invisible hazards that the real unit, especially if you're dealing with a serious health challenge, that should be addressed. You know, they can
Pamela Wirth 34:51
Yeah, I mean, it's impossible to take away all the inflammatory causes, right, you know, trying to chip away at what you can is really
David Sandstrom 34:59
right But you can't eliminate it. You know, when when you walk into any place of businesses these days, there's going to be Wi Fi, there's going to be formaldehyde, there's going to be led, there's going to be all kinds of things. But at least in where you spend most of your time your home, do what you can, you know, again, it's easier to keep up than it is to catch up. So, you know, prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Pamela Wirth 35:20
Yeah. Isn't that the truth? Yeah.
David Sandstrom 35:24
Well, any closing thoughts, apparently, that you'd like to share with the audience before we close this out?
Pamela Wirth 35:29
No, I'm just so appreciative to share the message. I hope it provides some inspiration to others to kind of take a look at their own life and see how they can, you know, really help ramp up their own health and their family's health. Continue to ask questions, continue to push for answers, continue to seek out a number of different types of practitioners, if you're going through something don't just put up with what the first five or six days it just doesn't feel right. And, you know, continue to have that courage to keep on going.
David Sandstrom 35:57
Yeah, that's great. So if someone would like to get a hold of you, what's the easiest way to do that, Pamela?
Speaker 2 36:02
Yeah, my email address is Pamela at hello dot health, that's P A M E L. A. The website is www dot hello dot health. And we'd love to Instagram or Facebook as well. So thank you, I really appreciate your time.
David Sandstrom 36:18
Excellent. Thank you for your time family, I really appreciate it. For more, go to the show notes page at davidsandstrom.com/115. There you can find a video as well as an audio version of the podcast that I always put links to all the resources that we've mentioned. And it's also a free downloadable transcript. And I also put some kind of a content upgrade on every episode to help you go deeper with that subject. If you're enjoying the podcast, I sure would appreciate you sharing it with a friend. The number one way people discover a podcast is someone tells them about it. So we're helping help me get the word out there and spread the word and tell your friends about the show. Thanks for listening. I'll talk with you next time be blessed.
