Anxiety, phenibut, toxins, cold showers for detox and more. All of this and more is being covered on the upcoming online Diabetes Summit.
Starting Monday March 20th
I’m really pleased to be a speaker on this summit this year. I cover the anxiety diabetes connection. Anxiety is very common in diabetes – some research shows it’s as high as 25%, and women with diabetes are twice as likely to be affected with anxiety and depression. I also cover how and how GABA helps reduce physical anxiety AND how new research shows GABA is also a promising treatment for diabetes!
Dr. Mowll asked me about using phenibut instead of GABA:
I’ve seen a number of papers that talk about tolerance. I’ve talked to practitioners who’ve said they’ll rotate. They’ll have people be on Phenibut for five days, two days off. And I’ve seen some really scary drug forums where people are using Phenibut as a sort of mood enhancing and performance enhancing drug. They are using very high doses and there are protocols on how to safely taper off Phenibut.
So when I see things like that it concerns me. I’ve had a handful of people, who’ve had some pretty bad side effects from Phenibut. So with someone who’s going through anxiety I just don’t want to add anything else into the mix that may cause problems.
The concern is it does seem to work really well for anxiety and sleep, so that’s why I think a lot of practitioners are drawn to using it. And it may be that they’re not recommending the GABA/ Gamma Amino Butyric Acid sublingually. And they may not be doing a trial to find the optimal dose [so that’s why they are not seeing the results they’d hope to see]. So I would steer clear of phenibut.
We also cover the following (all relevant if you have diabetes AND if you don’t have diabetes):
- doing a GABA trial and the blood brain barrier controversy
- benzodiazepine tapers and nutritional support during a taper
- rooibos tea for metabolic support and adrenal health
On day 2 of the summit, Razi Berry shares this about the toxins in our environment and the impacts they have on our health:
Out of the 80,000 chemicals that we have in our world, we have barely studied any of them. A couple presidents ago, the Environment Protection Agency was supposed to study the first 300 of these 80,000 chemicals. And so far they’ve only studied one, which is BPA. And BPA is all around us
She had to get rid of the toxins in her environment to help her fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
I had to stop using the body sprays that I love from Bath and Body, and the perfumes
I got rid of everything fragrant. And I didn’t use essential oils at first either because you still want to use them judiciously and in the right way. So I switched to everything unscented. And I found a lot about beeswax candles. Beeswax candles are so not only beautiful, and they have this honey like scent to them, but they actually neutralize odors and toxins in the air. They don’t just cover it up. So you actually can clean the air by burning beeswax candles. For centuries churches could not burn tallow or paraffin. They could only burn beeswax.
She covers tons of other everyday toxins we are exposed to and how we can safely avoid them. And then importantly, how we can detoxify from these toxins. One approach she covers is hot and cold showers or hydrotherapy (very powerful and very easy to do at home):
Hydrotherapy is a really old technique. It became really popular in the last turn of the century, the late 1800s, early 1900s. And it’s this use of water and/or temperature to help prime your body to get rid of toxins.
So one of the ways that you can do hydrotherapy at home is through what’s called a constitutional hydrotherapy shower. And it’s basically taking a hot and cold shower where you alternate. You start with the water as hot as you possibly can handle it. And you do that for like 12 seconds. Then you turn it to as cold as you can take it.
And the first switch from hot to cold is the most important because it really creates this pump in your lymphatic system, the hot, cold, hot, cold, and really helps to move toxins through your body so it can be eliminated by your kidneys, by your liver, through your respiration.
As you can see there’s plenty to learn from these experts!
Here are just a few of the topics being covered (general topics and applicable if you have diabetes):
- How food allergens can trigger blood sugar problems, and how to detoxify the body safely
- Understanding the stress continuum and how children trauma, adverse life events, and daily stressors can lead to diabetes (all of this is applicable to any health condition)
- Natural strategies to balance blood sugar including new supplement recommendations, essential oils, and using food as medicine
- Breaking down various eating strategies including the ketogenic diet (vegan diets and raw food diets are also addressed but I must add that I don’t endorse this way of eating if you do have anxiety)
- Menopause and blood sugar issues (insulin, cortisol and oxytocin)
- How to get your sleep right to balance insulin and blood sugar
And some topics taking a deeper diver into very specific diabetes areas (if you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes):
- Developing a deeper understanding of peripheral neuropathy – how to test for it and how to treat it, naturally and effectively
- Important strategies for those dealing with type 1 diabetes in themselves or a child
- Autoimmunity and diabetes
I hope you’ll join us to learn from these experts on the online Diabetes Summit. My friend and diabetes expert, Dr. Brian Mowll, is hosting this life-changing event for the fourth year, and this year’s event looks amazing.
You can register for this online event here.
Feel free to ask questions in the comments below.
Drew says
Love hydrotherapy contrast showers, been doing them for years, feel so invigorated afterward – have always wondered though if they could be quite stressful on the body and not good if you have any sort of HPA axis regulation issues which could lead to sleep problems? Any thoughts?
I don’t do well with hot baths interestingly, always feel foggy and fatigued afterward, whereas cold showers give me a spring in my step for hours afterwards…
Trudy Scott says
Great to hear Drew and good question I don’t have the answer to – I’ll see if Razi will come and respond
Marie A. Whitehurst says
I tried phenibut for sleep and anxiety when I was recovering from cancer. It made me feel “too good “, which scared me. I went back to taking GABA, melatonin for sleep.
Trudy Scott says
Marie
Thanks for sharing. I’m curious how long you took it for and how much? And if you had any issues stopping it? Glad GABA and melatonin is working for you!
Jaci says
My doctor had me taking kavinase 2/bedtime plus l-theanine during the day (300-600/day). At the time, I was having undiagnosed/unawareness anxiety and 30second seizures related to exposure to formaldehyde at work. One day while prepping dinner I cut my finger chopping onions. And I immediately started crying and couldn’t stop. Within five minutes suicidal thoughts, very strong and unrelenting came on. It was frightening. I took 6 kavinase and 6 l-theanine and sat praying and meditating until it stopped about 30-45 minutes later. Those two supplements became my best friends after that. Since getting to a better understanding of my health and core triggers with your help and others, I’ve stopped the kavinase. I initially had increased anxiety for two months upon quitting. And I no longer take Xanax. All good
Jaci says
I would add to the above that what made the biggest differences, besides quitting my job, was learning about mitochondria and focusing on building it back up through many different ways. Also understanding my 23andme results, blood type non-secretor status.
I’ve tried the hot/cold shower, but only couple seconds. I’ve thought about jumping into a cold pool, Wim Hof style lol. I have gotten benefits from a Infrared cocoon at local tanning salon. It seems to have a all-in-one benefit; infrared heat, red light therapy and vibration. The infrared heat induces sweating. The red light seems to have helped clear an inherited skin condition. And the vibrating I’m thinking is helping stimulate the lymph. When it shuts off I can feel my heart beating and flowing, like gentle exercise.
Kaye says
Trudy, was wondering after doing research and recommendation from my funt. med dr to use infrared saunas but they are expensive for home use and there are none in salons in our area. I did see they have portable ones but not sure how affective they are. Do you have some info on some that are good and less expensive? Or are there ways to make one with red light bulbs?
Trudy Scott says
Kay
Dr Lawrence Wilson has instructions for making one in his book “Sauna Therapy for Detoxification and Healing” (here on Amazon http://amzn.to/2ofXA0L). I also like many of the portable ones
Kaye says
Trudy , thank you so much. trying to convince my husband to try saunas. he just had surgery for stomach cancer in Jan. and I really think this would be great for us if ever buy another thing!!! If we could build on cheaper he might try it……thank you so much. which portable ones do you think are good. The one my doc has is $700. and tad bit over our budget but I have seen some on Amazon that are quite a bit cheaper but do you get what you pay for? Love, K
Jaci says
There are lots of on-line and youTubes on making your own infrared sauna in your shower or small closet. I like using onevat a local tanning salon. A monthly fee and I can use it every day. It’s called IR Cocoon wellness Pros. I like my head sticking out. I can tolerate the heat better. In addition to the heat/sweat, this cocoon also has red LED lights (healing) and vibrates (helps lymph). Check your local tanning salon, more and more are offering these things. I’ve seen more and more men coming into the salon for it. Very popular.