Grey Matter Nuclei Atrophy
Grey Matter Nuclei Atrophy
Sent by JUDY CHO | June 18, 2022
We are back from Costa Rica and getting back in the swing of things. Our boys have weekly summer camp so I’ll be sharing meat-based lunchboxes again in my stories. Make sure to check Instagram and Facebook stories!
Since Instagram jail looks like it’s going to be for awhile, all Nutrition with Judy short video clips are now being shared on TikTok. Make sure to follow me there!
STUDY OF THE WEEK — Grey Matter Atrophy Restored with VIP
I focus on getting to root-cause healing. The truth is that the body will constantly suffer if we don’t get to the root cause of illness. Suffering can be healed with diet and lifestyle, but some disease states need additional support.
One of those illnesses is chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS).
Twenty-five percent of the population is estimated to have a specific genetic type that does not allow for proper biotoxin removal from the body. This can include mold, Lyme, spider and tick bites, and many other biotoxins.
We have two parts to the immune system: the innate and adaptive immune response.
The innate immune response is non-specific and includes the physical, cellular and chemical defenses against pathogens. The innate immune response is responsible for preventing the spread and movement of pathogens in the body.
Think general malaise and fever. That’s your innate immune response at work.
The adaptive immune response — also known as the acquired immune or specific immune response — is the second line of defense. The adaptive immune response is specific to the pathogen presented.
The adaptive immune response attacks non-self pathogens but can sometimes make mistakes and attack itself. This can cause autoimmune illnesses in the body, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
The innate side usually does a hand-off (via antigen presentation) to the more advanced, specific adaptive immune response.
For 25% of the population, the hand-off never happens. The antigen is not presented.
Imagine your innate response is trying to flag the adaptive side to get rid of the mold or other biotoxin and the adaptive side has no idea.
That’s CIRS in a nutshell.
You get exposed. You never feel the same again. You can never fully heal until you remove the biotoxin from the body. This is not a “I’m going to detox it out of my body.” “I’m going to carnivore it out of my body.”
And the more your toxic bucket fills, the more you will feel unwell. That’s why carnivore can make you feel better but not well enough. For these CIRS sufferers, histamine is a very real thing. Their bucket is so full that a histamine response can be released just from food. (e.g., fish that is high in histidine can be converted to histamines).
The answer isn’t to cut down high histamine foods (temporarily, yes). But long term, it’s a bandaid. Find the root-cause that’s making your toxic bucket full.
All whole foods should be tolerable. If not, look deeper.
Unless you use the correct supports to bind to the biotoxin, 25% of the population cannot remove the biotoxin.
If you’re part of the 25%, and you’ve been exposed to harmful mold, simply changing the environment is not enough. The mold biotoxin will continue to circulate in the body. This eventually causes inflammation in the body that causes multi-system, multi-symptom illness.
My carnivore clients will say, “but Judy, my CRP is less than one!”
Well, yes, that’s the adaptive immune response.
hsCRP doesn’t measure the innate immune response.
The same is true about the western sedimentation rate.
To measure inflammation in the innate immune response, you want your provider to measure TGF-b1, MMP-9 and C4a.
Eventually, with all this excess inflammation (as most cortisol receptors are in your brain!), your brain will protect itself by first expanding with the inflammation but eventually shrinking.
Grey matter atrophy can be seen on brain scans such as neuroquant and Genie.
And with brain shrinkage, many things start going wrong in the body.
One is a decrease in melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) that controls many functions in the body.
LOW LEVELS OF MSH
- Problems with sleep patterns and melatonin leading to disturbed sleep (low MSH causes imbalanced melatonin production and levels).
- Problems with salt and water balance through interaction with ADH/AVP and serum osmolality, leading to increased thirst and urination, palpitations and postural orthostatic tachycardia (POTS).
- Dysregulation of the immune system with increased inflammatory cytokines and increase in autoimmunity.
- Increased pain due to decreased endorphin production.
- Issues with increased gut permeability (leaky gut, SIBO, UC).
- Reduction in androgens/low testosterone.
- Colonization of the nose with MARCoNS.
- Weight gain is unresponsive to changes in diet and exercise (leptin resistance)
I share about CIRS because many carnivores are unknowingly suffering from CIRS and while meat-only carnivore will heal a lot, it won’t stop the brain atrophy.
As the innate immune response can’t reduce the circulating biotoxin and the adaptive inmmune response has no idea, eventually the body will degrade. You can see it with the inflammatory markers mentioned above, as well as the brain imaging tests.
The biotoxin is negatively charged. Cholestryamine is an anion binding resin that has a positive charge. It’s the perfect size and correct charge to bind to these negative charged biotoxins.
I know there are many mold advocates online that say to sweat and use natural binders like clay and activated charcoal. While these tools can help remove other toxins, it will not remove the biotoxin.
For one, clays and charcoals are also negatively charged. Negative + negative do not attract. These natural binders are the same charge as the biotoxin.
Consider the toxic load. If you have CIRS, using these tools may help you feel better as you are detoxing other things (e.g., parasites, heavy metals) but you are not getting to the root-cause of removing the biotoxin.
You can always test yourself by testing those three innate inflammatory markers and MSH. Everything from Dr. Shoemaker is measurable.
Once you remove the biotoxins (and assuming your environment is safe), your blood markers will improve and you can then eventually use VIP.
VIP is a peptide medication to essentially restore grey matter. You can read how this intranasal application of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) helps to regrow a shrunken brain.
This is why root-cause is so absolutely critical.
I want our community to truly heal and not become bed-bound or have permanent neurological issues. And even though I have to share some difficult-truths at times, I will be the bearer of hard news if that will allow us all to get to root-cause healing.
My interview with Dr. Bruce Hoffman talks about treatment for CIRS and other multi-system, multi-symptom illnesses. In two weeks, the Cutting Against the Grain podcast will share a deep dive into Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome.
If you aren’t getting fully better on a meat-only carnivore diet, struggle with autoimmune, have had chronic illness since you were a child (especially gut and candida issues), and have family members with autoimmune or thyroid illness, it’s time to consider CIRS.
DO YOU HAVE CIRS?
If you fall into 8 of the 13 clusters, you may want to consider CIRS. If your child falls into 6 of the 13 clusters, you may want to consider CIRS.
Having one symptom in a cluster, deems you positive for that cluster.
If you want to learn more about CIRS, you can work with our NwJ nutritionist team. Here is a free resource and some videos (Dr. Hoffman video, Dr. Dorninger video, Dr. Shoemaker video and my CIRS intro video).
This short documentary explains mold illness pretty well.
When you work with the NwJ team, we will provide you with client confidential checklists to make this as easy as possible. Everyone deserves to get to root cause healing. We hope we can be that support to get you there.
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHT
“It’s What Else You Eat Not the Meat”
When you get stuck in Instagram Jail — you pivot.
👋🏼Hello, TikTok.
🤺I’ll always try to put out meat-only carnivore content for people to heal.
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nutritionwithjudy
CATG PODCAST: Ep 64 Adding More Meat to the Diet
In this week’s Cutting Against the Grain episode, Laura and I chat about how to add more meat to the diet for non-carnivores.
- The Power of a CGM
- How to Get Kids to Eat More Meat
- Balancing Real Life with Kids
- Prioritizing Protein and Fat First
- Cutting out Snacks
- Limiting Drinks
- Kids Feeling Different
- Treats other than Food
- Kids and the Impacts of Sugar
- Nutrition and Schooling
- Keeping Junk Food out of the House
PODCAST SPONSOR: Carnivore Bar
The Carnivore Bar is a high-fat, meal replacement bar made with only beef, tallow, and salt — no other ingredients.
They also have no salt options.
I love that the carnivore bar is 100% meat with no additives or fillers and is shelf-stable. I also love that it’s higher fat than most on-the-go meals.
It’s a perfect snack or small meal replacement bar when you’re on the go but don’t want to compromise on food quality and sourcing.
Make sure to support the podcast by trying Carnivore Bar at carnivorebar.com.
Enter “NWJ” at checkout to receive 10% off your order.
NUTRITION WITH JUDY PODCAST: How Chronic Illness Requires Multi-Layers of Healing — Dr. Bruce Hoffman
I’m excited to sit down with Dr. Bruce Hoffman. We talk about how to get to root cause, omega-6’s, and much more.
We discuss the following:
- All about Dr. Bruce Hoffman
- How to start getting to root cause
- Laboratory tests
- Thoughts on histamines
- Root cause of MCAS
- How much diet plays a role on our health
- Histamine-rich foods
- Thoughts on omega-6s
- Mold free environment
- Robert Naviaux’s research
- Best test for Lyme
- How to get better
You can listen here or watch here.
NwJ NEW ARTICLE: Waking up in the Night
If you’re having trouble sleeping through the night, you may want to read this article.
I’ve literally heard it all from my clients: my bladder is small, I drink too much water, my thoughts are always running.
Usually waking up in the middle of the night has to do with blood sugar dysregulation. It can also be related to low MSH and CIRS. (see above). Make sure to read the article to learn more!
NwJ INSIDER TIPS
My parents joined us in Austin this week and it’s always nice to have my parents spend extra time with our kids.
I grew up seeing my grandmother all the time and I was very, very close to her. When she passed away, a little bit of me was lost. I will never forget her laugh and her kind, warm hands. Althought my parents live far from us, I hope my children will have fond memories with their grandparents.
My grandmother passed away from diabetes type II complications at the age of 89. I wish I learned about meat-based earlier. Maybe she would have been able to meet my husband and kids…
I was on the Keto Answers podcast with Chris Irvin. Make sure to check out the episode. Chris Irvin will be on an upcoming episode on the NwJ channel. Stay tuned!
Next week on the NwJ podcast, my interview with Dr. Robert Lustig comes out. You will be surprised on his stance with fruits (I was!). Make sure to catch the CIRS podcast episode on Cutting Against the Grain (6/29). Next week, Laura and I chat about personal fat thresholds.
Thank you for being part of this community. ♥️
Make sure to share this newsletter with your friends and loved ones as all freebies, inspirational hope, and evidence-based research is shared here first.
with ♥️ and hope for healing,
DISCLAIMER:
While I am a nutritional therapy practitioner and provide nutritional support, I am not providing medical advice. Any information provided in regards to nutritional therapy should not be considered medical advice or treatment. Always consult your primary care physician or medical team.