HouseCall: Trigeminal Neuralgia, Low Carb Benefits, Milk Protein & Casein, Food Stuck in Throat, Find Your Answer, OCD & Gut Health

Welcome back to our weekend Cabral HouseCall shows!

This is where we answer our community’s wellness, weight loss, and anti-aging questions to help people get back on track!

Check out today’s questions: 

Anonymous: Hi, I´d like to stay anonymous on the podcast if possible. I am a big fan of your book “the rainbarrel effect” and your podcasts, they have made a big impact on my daily life, I suffer from Type I diabetes and was able to lower my insulin dosage after following parts of your protocol! I would love your advice on trigeminal neuralgia. My mother first expierienced trigeminal neuralgia after my father suddenly passed away at a young age, 2 years ago. She had severe pain on the left side of the face, the first and second branch of the nerv were affected. Touch and even wind lead to a lot of pain and sometimes even brushing teeth or washing her hair was impossible due to the pain. Many years earlier she has had a herpes infection in the same region. If stress was high, the pain went up immediately. After a while of unbearable pain she gave in to take prescription drugs (Neurotop) which helped a little but had big side effects like bloating, hair loss, severe diarrhea and change of mood. We identified a tooth in the left upper jaw that was inflamed and she got much better after extraction of the tooth, she was even able to stop taking the neurotop. Unfortunately, another stressful life event threw her back to having unbearable pain and having to take Neurotop again. She tries to detox her liver and reduce stress but nothing seems to work. Unfortunately, we cannot order your supplements to Austria. Would you have any suggestions? Thank you very much, looking forward to your answer in the podcast!

Meghan: Hi – I was wondering if you could tell me the current wait time to get in the rotation for the 3-month program with Dr. Cabral? Thanks in advance.

Rachael: Hello Dr Cabral, My name is Rachael, and I’m looking intently for a PCP trained in functional medicine for my family of 5. I am 44 years old, husband 45, daughter 18, son 16 and daughter 14- with no known health probs/diagnosis. We live and RI and are frustrated with the fact that our state/Health Department does not recognize NDs as a distinct medical and health entity- as you may be well aware. I am unable to find a Functional Medicine practice of docs that practice as a PCP. Do you practice as a PCP? I heard you interviewed on the Ben Greendfield podcast and July and was super excited to learn you were in a neighboring state- still an hour drive from where I live, but am more than willing to venture out for care from a physician like you. I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you and in great health, Rachael

Nicole: Hi Dr. Cabral, my name is Nicoleand I was wondering if you could clarify some things for me please. I follow and love your content. I am learning a lot but I feel like I’m confusing myself. I have stuck to the keto diet for about a month and a half, feel great, extremely energized and lost weight. I am not a diabetic just trying to be healthy and manage my diet and a lung condition. I am a fairly active person and being on keto is the best I have ever felt for a consistent period of time. My 16hr fasted glucose in the morning was at 93 which I thought was high but I thought it was a good sign that when I eat my glucose doesn’t go up too much maybe like 101 and then comes back down fairly quickly. After I worked out for about an hour my glucose went up to 128 and then started to come down to 93 after 30 minutes and then 87 after 2 hours. I was wondering if you could explain this process to me and If I am burning fat adequately if my sugar is spiking like that? Also, I am starting to incorporate homemade green juices of just green vegetables, ginger, and lemon because they help facilitate better breathing for me and it is something I want to include. My second question is would the increase in carbs from the vegetable juice coupled with maintaining the higher fat lower carb diet (most of the carbs I am consuming are from vegetables) that I have been following lead to weight gain or throw off insulin sensitivity and fat adaptation? I’m sorry for the lengthy email I just don’t know who else can clarify these things for me. I hope to hear back from you. Thank you
Nicole

Brandi: Do you have any podcast or information related to a milk protein (casein & whey) allergy? I was just diagnosed with this allergy and I know its different than lactose intolerance, but I’m still trying to figure out how to fit calcium into my diet. I feel like my bones are suffering b/c they aren’t getting what they need.

Anonymous: Hi Dr. Cabral. Over the past few years I’ve had a few occasions where it feels like food is stuck in my throat. If I drink water it feels worse and makes me choke a bit. I know two people who have had a procedure done to stretch the esophagus but this sounds invasive so wondering what you might recommend.

Stephanie: Dear Dr. Cabral, Right off the bat I apologize for the length of this message as I am certain you receive thousands of emails! However, I can’t help but hope you’ll be able to address mine. I just read your amazing book, The Rain Barrel Effect, and for the first time IN MY LIFE I felt like someone understood, AND HAD ANSWERS to what has been ailing me for years. I am currently 51 and have been sick most of my life. I really have had no (quality of) life, but my spirit refuses to give up the fight/belief (though it was close) that one is possible! I just have not been able to find any doctors/resources that seemed to truly know/understand what is going on with me, and therefore have had no solutions. I’ve been told, by various doctors, that I’m a “complicated” case. I really appreciate that you shared your personal story in the book. It brought me to tears because I found someone who actually knows what it’s like AND had ANSWERS as well! (I never would have been able to put all those pieces together on my own, and thus far, nor has any provider I’ve seen!) So, THANK YOU, TRULY, for ALL your vigilant studies, the time and dedication you put into seeking and finding answers, and then your willingness to compile and share these findings so that others could get well! (Your many painful years of being ill were not in vain…they became your victory!) And although my story is not completely like yours, I can relate to so much of it. I scored a 117 on your quiz which only confirmed to me that my system is a mess. I don’t have a lot of money (currently on Disability), so I will need to save up to see you, but I REALLY believe you can help me, help myself. You do a beautiful job outlining the “how to’s” in your book, I just feel so sick, tired and overwhelmed that I really don’t know how best to start?! I would like to have an appt with you in order to establish a structured, goal oriented health/wellness plan that is best suited for me. I’m more than willing to do the work! I’ve been trying for years to find answers! You really brought back my hope that I can actually get well and have a life! So with that…finally, my questions:1) Unless you know of a doctor, such as yourself, whom you respect, that lives in/near Minnesota, may I schedule an appointment with you? 2) How much do you charge (appt, labs, follow-up, etc.) I realize it would be an estimate? 3) What do I need to do to make this appt and what would you need from me? (Again, I have to save up money and this will take some time, but I SO WANT to do this! I would even try and stay in Boston for a bit, or make a couple trips so I could some follow-up work with you.) Forgive me if I sound desperate…I guess I am! I just SINCERELY want to get better, to learn more about how it was possible, so I can then actually HAVE A LIFE and proceed forward (in health and wellness), as a testimony to your findings, in order to help others! Thank you in advance for your time and your response!
Sincerely – Stephanie

Troy: Hello Dr Cabral, My name is Troy, I’m from Australia, and looking for help regariding my long-term struggle with anxiety, panic, OCD, and gut health. I was compelled to contact you as I heard you on a podcast today. I have given ‘alternative’ medicine a try in the past, spent lots of money, and gotten no results in improving and or beating my mental health and gut issues. I’ve seen two functional doctors here in South Australia, one who got me to do the MTHFR gene mutation test, which turns out I was positive in one of the mutations. (He was making lot’s of money here in Adelaide claiming that this mutation was the cause for anxiety and panic, my first exposure to false claims, and charging clients $300 AUD just for an initial consult!) He got me to take a supplement by Thorne (Methyl Guard-Plus) which was going to be the ‘magic pill’, it did nothing. The second doctor got me to do a stool test, and it came back saying I had high Strep, and low e-coli – he recommended I take a strong probiotic, coupled with a magical strain of probiotic which was derived from a WW2 soldiers stool called Mutaflor!?!? This also had no effect. I’ve seen a Chiropractor/Nutritionist who got me to do a ‘leaky-gut’ test, a treatment my GP has never heard of and doubted, which came back I had a leak, and it needed to be sealed with a certain diet and supplementation. His theory was that I had too much sugar in my brain that was making my anxious… The next person was a Naturopath in Melbourne who got me to try Glutamine powder for my gut, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) for OCD issues, and Inositol for god knows what! Again, nothing happened. This was all done at different stages by the way, and after all the frustration I’d try someone else again. Later on down the track after swearing that anxiety/panic is definetly a genetic issue, I thought I’d try a Nutritionist, he was young, and I thought I’d go this diet/supplementation route again. I told him my past trials, and he tried a hair folicle test, which came back with some issues according to him, one being that I was really low in Lithium, so I tried the magic pills he suggested, I can’t quite remember what they were but I spent again lots of money I didn’t have. One of the pills were called Molybdenum by Seeking Health, I can’t remember what it was supposed to do, but once again……nothing. As you can see I’ve tried a lot in this alternative field, I also just remembered one of the first people I saw was a Homeopath. She got me to take all these wonderful ‘potions’ that were going to take away all my anxiety and severe OCD at the time, but you guessed it, nothing. In amongst all this, I kept going back to traditional methods, in the form of Psychology, which to this day has been the only thing that has helped. Not cured me, but I do manage and function okay day to day now, but I would definitely say I’m not cured. Other therapies I’ve tried are psychiatry, tapping, NLP, six different, Hypnotherapists, Psychotherapy, CBT, ACT, and many other forms of alternative and traditional forms of health care. I’m 38 years old, pysically fit, yet frustrated, depressed, jaded and angry. I’m single and had to move back home with my parents form the time when I had the severe OCD issue, I’m desperately looking for answers and help, and am willing to keep trying anything even though this has already cost me thousands of dollars that I don’t have. Well, this is again me trying this diet and supplementation approach. I listened to a podcast you were on today, and I thought I have to keep trying. I have lost trust in your field, but am that desperate to fulfill my dream of travelling the world I ‘m willing to try again. So, Dr Cabral, would you be able to help me out? Before I knew you had a Ayurvedic background, I was actually about to contact a lady here in Adelaide who is an Ayurvedic practitioner, but since hearing you today I thought you might be better to talk with considering your qualifications. I was wondering however if you think it’s going to be worthwhile me using your services and not someone here in Australia who does the same thing, if there is any, only because of the money (Australian dollar to US), and logistics of the situation – me buying anything from the US online is double the price after the exchange rate. I’m just SO confused. From the podcasts I listen to they say anxiety/pancic can be a symptom of poor gut health, leaky gut, SIBO, bacterial overgrowth, H-plylory, gut infections etc etc, it’s just too much it’s doing my head in! I’m not sure what to believe anymore. I still firmly believe that my anxiety has been around as a young child, and I’ve always been a sensitive kid. The panic began around the time I smoked some pot with my cousin when we were about 17. But I have always had some form of a digestive issue, and from about 20 years old I’ve had a gut pain/cramp every so often (once a month) which usually lasted about 24 hours. My GP has told me I have IBS, where I was told by a dietitian to get on the FODMAP diet, which helped my chronic diarrhea, and helped me get better sleep. Anyway, I’d love to know what your thoughts are and if you could help, refer and or diagnose my long-term health issues I would be very grateful for your advice. Thank you in advance, I look forward to hearing fro you. Kind regards Troy

Thank you for tuning into today’s Cabral HouseCall and be sure to check back tomorrow where we answer more of our community’s questions!