YouTube Livestream Q&A Transcript, May 12, 2026

Question
“What would you recommend to get rid of H. pylori and an overgrowth of Staphylococcus aureus in the gut? Have a high level of B-Glucuronidase and test results show resistance to clarithromycin.” [0:03:38]

Answer
Well, H. pylori is different from Staphylococcus aureus. And so, there are many things I would say. I would ask the question, you know, what are your other health problems, comorbidities, if you have any? How old are you? Are you pre- or post-menopausal? Will have an impact. Do you have diabetes? What is your insulin level? What is your fasting blood sugar and insulin? Because all these things inhibit your immune system. So, the average increase in your fasting blood sugar is going to be associated with a depression of your white blood cell count all throughout your body, not just your stomach area. It'll also foster the overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut, and it'll compromise and reduce the good bacteria. So, what you're going to find is that what you have to do, and every time I get here every week, is a healthy lifestyle supports all systems in the body. So, a carnivore diet would be the first direction I would go. If you have any chronic gut infection, it would probably take three months or four months of a carnivore diet. And I would use systemic enzymes on an empty stomach morning and evening, and find out your blood type and probably use digestive enzymes with betaine hydrochloric acid to support healthy digestion and breakdown of your proteins, your fats, and your carbohydrates. I would stop eating at 4 o’ clock in the afternoon. I would do a routine exercise program, which will help reduce insulin. I would take maybe something like Mastic gum. You can get that at a health food store. You could take grapefruit seed extract. You could take a multimineral with zinc in it. You should take a D that would have probably 10,000 IU with K2 90 mcg and use that daily. I would probably take a good methylated B complex. And I would probably take iodine tablets every day. If you went with that kind of protocol and work with your doctor or work with your gastroenterologist, and then retest the stool or the breath test for H. pylori after about 3 to 4 weeks, you should see improvement. And I forgot to mention, Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus are also very helpful in rebuilding the probiotic good bacteria. So, a very good probiotic should be taken as well. Those would be the baseline things that we would use. Argentyn silver, taking a tablespoon, swish and swallow morning and evening after you brush your teeth. That's another good thing. You could take extra oral vitamin C. I would use maybe 1 or 2 grams, 1 to 2,000 mg in the morning and in the evening. You could do high-dose vitamin C drips. But this would be the direction I would go. 

If you have high levels of beta-glucuronidase, that's an enzyme that breaks down products of your detox in your liver. For instance, if you're going to take a toxin or break down estrogen in your body, the body will conjugate it with other biological molecules, and then it'll become water-soluble and go into either the urine or the stool to be excreted from the body. And if you have the enzyme beta-glucuronidase, that tends to digest that, a bond that your liver worked on to help detox it, and then it becomes toxic again if that beta-glucuronidase is high in your gut. So, the very things I told you, like a carnivore diet, iodine, vitamin D, systemic enzymes, the zinc in the multimineral, the Argentyn silver, the exercise, sunlight, all these things help to keep that depression as well, so that the enzyme isn't as active, and probiotics will help diminish beta-glucuronidase activity.

Question
“Hi, Dr. E! I finally went to see a bio dentist. He said I should do a liver detox, which consists of drinking a full glass of apple juice chased by a tablespoon of olive oil and lemon juice. That’s a lot of sugar. What do you think?”  [0:09:20]

Answer
I am not sure that I agree with that biological dentist. So, I'm just not going to agree with him. It would probably be wiser to take alpha lipoic acid and be on a very low-carb diet. That would be a better choice, in my opinion. So, yeah, I think he should do his very good dentistry, biological dentistry, and the dam and all the kind of stuff that they do and their 3D X-rays. And you're a very healthy person, and because I know you personally, I just don't think that they are – unless he sees something or you can bring a test in to me and we can discuss it here privately as a patient-doctor relationship. I happen to know you, and I don't see why you need a liver detox. 

Question
“What would you use instead of an NSAID after dental implant surgery?”  [0:10:46]

Answer
What would I use instead? Enzymes. Systemic enzymes like Vascuzyme or Vitalzym, and I would fast for another 24 hours after surgery. I would just have clear liquids and take enzymes and extra vitamin C, and that will support better tissue healing. Lots of water. You could come in and do a high-dose vitamin C drip. Those are the things I would do. I had a dental surgery, an implant I had to have, and I took no pain medicines whatsoever, and I was totally fine by doing that. Of course, I went into the implant. I went into it fast anyway. I didn't let them know I was fasting. And after the procedure was done, I spent another 24 hours without eating. So, I had a very, very good ketone, low sugar, low likelihood of bacteria being fed sugar for growth, and I had all the enzymes, so I was in good shape. 

Question
“Do you recommend L-Citrulline for high blood pressure?”  [0:12:09]

Answer
Well, yeah, that’s fine, but that helps with the production of nitric oxide formation, which is a vasodilator. But exercise or doing wall squats and being well hydrated or getting a good night's sleep or getting up with the morning sunshine right when you wake up and the first daylight, you know, you don't have any coffee or anything. You go outside in the morning in your bare feet, stand in the wet grass, and through your nose, you breathe in for three seconds, four seconds, and hold in another three, four seconds, and out. And do that four or five times over the course of a minute, standing on wet grass, without sunglasses or your glasses on in the morning, first morning sunshine, infrared light. Those are other wonderful things you can do. Be on a low-carb diet. Do exercise. Take a 20-minute walk after that. Don't eat late at night. So, there are many things you can do besides L-Citrulline. 

Question
“Hi, Dr. E! My almost 2-year-old granddaughter is getting germs and sharing with her family. Can she have Silver by mouth to support her immune system? How much daily or when sick?”  [0:13:25]

Answer
Yeah, there's no restriction on children and toddlers getting Argentyn silver. And I like putting it as a spray. And so, we kept those spray bottles around all the time, and we would spray the face. It would be like a little peekaboo game that we would play with the little toddlers. And we would give them a teaspoon in their mouth, and they would swallow it. So, a teaspoon morning and evening, especially if they have a cold or congestion. We sprayed their hands often to help with germ control, and they could wipe them off better. So, it's quite, quite safe for toddlers. I know of no restriction. We put silver in the eyes of newborns, you know, to drops in their eyes to prevent disease and so forth. So, that's quite safe, in my opinion. So, go for it. 

Question
“Have any of your patients successfully transitioned off of the Evenity bone drug, and what recommendations do you have for that transition? Is estradiol enough to hold gains made on a bone drug?”  [0:14:36]

Answer
I've never heard of that, Evenity. Maybe it has a generic name I'm familiar with, but I have never heard of that, so I'm going to have to look it up. Evenity for bones. But the answer is, I have never prescribed, in my life in 45 years, I've never prescribed Fosamax or any of these alendronate-type drugs. And we've always been able to help the patient with natural hormones, estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, resistance weight-bearing, stomping, and high-dose vitamin D, but we monitor it. We bring their D levels up to the 120 range, checking their liver enzymes all the time. We keep them uninflamed, well hydrated. So, I've never transitioned anyone off of that, any drug for bone density, because all the women I've worked with, and men, a few, have used the natural hormones and these natural therapies to build their bones and never needed to go back on them. So, that's my experience. Hopefully, that's helpful. 

Question
“Good evening, Dr. Ellithorpe. I’m on BHRT., I recently found that my Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is elevated; it appears my hormones are not balanced either. How is this managed? My follow-up appointment is in July.”  [0:16:44]

Answer
It's elevated in anyone who's menopausal, and the reason is that we make fewer hormones. And your body is not stupid, it knows it. And so, it'll start secreting through feedback mechanisms more of these signals to try and find and hold on to hormones. So, sex hormone-binding globulin will go up because your amount has gone down. And so, we don't worry so much about sex hormone-binding globulin. I never have in the 45 years I've been doing this, and I probably have the most experience as a practicing doctor in the nation. So, I don't see a reason for this, unless some kind doctor or patient, if I'm in error, can let me know. I just don't see it ever as a concern. 

So, what we have to do, if you're one of our patients, is see the hormone levels. Now, we aren't cookie prints. We're similar, but we're not exact. We don't have the same stresses, same diets, going through our lifestyles, and our blood types, and various stressors going through our lives. So, we'll have to look at the symptoms, your sleep quality, your exercise output, when you eat, when you stop eating, what your labs are, not only of the hormones, but of your cortisol and your insulin, glucose, stress response hormones as well, and look at those DHEA and testosterone, and then try to put that together. I like to use creams because I can adjust those more cutely than the standard plasticized estradiol patches. I don't like them, especially the more we learn about plastics. And what you have to do is work with a doctor who has experience in this. So, that's the best I can suggest to you. Don't worry about sex hormone-binding globulin. Work with an experienced functional doctor. And if you are my patient, we're going to look at those labs and go from there, or try to get an earlier appointment. I'm always getting a cancellation here or there every week or two. And so, if you call in, you should be able to jump in earlier if you need to on that, and we'll go from there. 

Question
“I have two crowns that I just found out need to be replaced. Both molars have no root canals. The dentist said that bacteria are leaking into both. Other than EDTA, I do that, what probiotics?”  [0:19:51]

Answer
Well, EDTA with high-dose vitamin C is what I would suggest. So, you need to be on high-dose vitamin C with the EDTA. And I would say, I would use a toothpaste that has hydroxyapatite and xylitol in it. That's what I would brush with in the morning and evening. And I would floss. I would also stop eating around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Your saliva is what helps heal your teeth at night, especially if you have the hydroxyapatite minerals. I would take a very good amino acid chelate mineral. We have TLC Multimin that does just that, to help with filling in any of the micro cavities that you might have, especially under a crown. Even though you have the work done. And I would use Argentyn silver. The day of the dental work, I would swish and gargle and swallow the Argentyn right even before I'd take a little sip, like you're drinking a little sip of alcohol. Swish and swallow before you go to the dentist's office. And I would swish and swallow that evening as well. So, my suggestion to you is to take extra vitamin C buffered, which gives you more minerals. Buffered vitamin C. We use buffered C here from Ortho Molecular. Excellent product. I use it every day of my life, have for years. And that's what I would do, and go from there. 

Question
“Have you heard of PolarAid? If yes, what do you think of it?”  [0:22:15]

Answer
No, I haven't heard of that, PolarAid. Sorry, I can't help you on that one. 

Question
“Hi Dr Rita, my son broke out in hives today. I don't know what caused it. An antihistamine helped, but is there anything I can give him that's natural? Thank you.”  [0:22:40]

Answer
Yeah, I would use a lot of quercetin. We have Seasonal Shield, which is natural quercetin, high quality from Ortho Molecular. It's called Seasonal Shield. I would load him with, I don't know how, is he a toddler, is he a teenager? Essentially, over 85 pounds, you can treat him like an adult if he's 85 pounds or more. Usually, we give a loading dose of quercetin, but a loading dose would hurt even a toddler. It's natural. I don't know of any ill side effects at all. It's a natural antihistamine, quercetin, which works as an anti-cancer, and it does not make you drowsy. I'm on it every day of my life. I take 600 mg because I'm B-type blood and Bs have the highest allergies. So, quercetin is what you need. High-quality product. Ours is Seasonal Shield. Ortho Molecular makes it for us. Their product is called D-Hist. 600 mg is the maintenance dose for an adult. Loading would be something like 800 mg twice a day for a day or two just to get all the histaminic receptors. 

Another way to handle this is with high-dose vitamin C or in conjunction with quercetin. Taking a couple of grams a day, 1000 mg, 1500 milligram. Take a buffered vitamin C capsule twice a day or two twice a day. Vitamin C is very helpful with that as well. And just get them off junk food. In general, dairy is not dairy. It's pasteurized, homogenized. So, we tend to take everyone off dairy with new-onset hives. We take them off all grains. And we just ask them to eat cooked vegetables and protein until their immune system calms down. And I typically give a probiotic as well because this is usually gut-mediated. Hopefully that's helpful to you. 

Question
“Hi Dr Rita, The doctor I have an appointment with says she prescribes FDA-approved estradiol pills and patches, and they are considered bioidentical. Is that correct?”  [0:25:05]

Answer
Yeah. I would say it is the true estradiol on the patch. If the patch is Dotti or Lyllana, or the Minivelle or the Vivelle, these are all brand names of true estradiol, and that is bioidentical. There's a tablet of estradiol, and then they have gel forms of estradiol. What I don't like is that these are set standardized robotic-type boxes of stuff. So the patch has plastics. That's why I don't like any patches, and I try to resist using them. The gels have these chemical matrices, alcohol, and other components in the gel, and the little packages that you're going to be absorbing all those chemicals through your skin. So, I like to put mine in natural Eucerin cream, period. I make mine here, and I just really like it because I can adjust the dose a little more, a little less, change the locations we place it on the body until we're very sure and confirm that you're getting the relief you need and the results you want. And so, that's how I feel about it. But yes, it is estradiol. I just don't like the packages they put them in. 

Question
“Quercetin, is it good to take every day? Also, may I ask about Iodine use for health?”  [0:26:58]

Answer
I've used quercetin every day of my life since 1994. Yeah. So, that's when I learned about it. And yeah, it's quite safe. I've been on about 600 mg quercetin every day of my life for my terrible allergies, sneezy, itchy nose, and rashes I get very easily. It works as an anti-cancer. It works in many different mechanisms to stop abnormal cell division. It stops out-of-control histaminic inflammatory pathways for allergies and so forth. Yeah. So, it's very good. And I use iodine because the entire food system has turned into a corporate oligarchical system that profits the elite few extremely wealthy people and corporations. They narrowly slide by and give payoffs through lobbyists' legal loopholes. And what they call food is really just junk, junk for the mouth. All these grains, when I was a little girl, in the early 50s, all the bread was iodinated. All the salt was iodinated, Iodine and everything. I grew up in the Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin farmland area, and this was the goitrogenic, slow metabolism, obesity, big thyroid goiters, and this was solved with food supplementation, and it was everywhere. Since then, since corporate food industries have taken over, industrial farming couldn't care less about your health. They just love it when you buy their stuff and eat their junk food. So, they will strip it of all the soil, the wonderful minerals. They won't make sure it's iodinated. And so, we basically have iodine deficiencies all over the place, slow metabolism, dropping IQs, and mental acuity is going down. And the prevention, you know, your ovaries use a lot of iodine. Your thyroid, of course, uses it, your breast glands, and your prostate. These are glandular tissues, and they need a lot of iodine for metabolism. And if they don't get the iodine they need, they tend to get enlarged, just like a goiter will get enlarged, trying to make more tissue just to try and capture more opportunities to find a single iodine molecule. Therefore, we see goiters, we see fibrocystic breasts, we see ovarian cysts, and we see enlarged prostates. And so, that's part of the problem. It's not the only part of it, but it's part of it. And we have found that those people who take iodine have better memory with aging, better recall, mental acuity, are emotionally more stable, have less fibrocystic breast tenderness, less prostate hypertrophy, and less incidence of cancer. I can just say clinically from my experience here as a doctor with patients I've had since forever, I just don't get new breast cancers, I don't get new heart attacks, I don't get new thyroid nodules. 

If you get the patient young enough and you teach them these healthy ways, they become a population of people who live a long, long time. I do get a lot of patients who are brand new with, you know, 50, 60, 70 plus years of their poor lifestyle, probably unbeknownst to them, from the lousy food and pay off an industry to buy out small farmers and have corporate growth of farmland that's stripped of the nutritive density that it used to be back in the 50s. I have this book here, Corine Netzer’s Encyclopedia of Food Values. Corine Netzer. So, that's an Encyclopedia of Food Values all the way back in the 1950s. And today's food values for the same weight of food is 50% less, and all these things. So, why do I use iodine? Because it has anti-cancer benefits, mental and cognitive benefits, metabolism benefits, and immune benefits. So, that's why I use it. 

Question
“Hi Dr E., my teen's stool test showed elevated Secretory IgA 978 and slightly elevated Valerate. Is SBI Protect and BioPC Pro a good choice to handle this? Blood type O.”  [0:32:15]

Answer
Yes. But you know, anytime you get a cold, or the flu, or you eat something unbeknownst to you, and you get an upset tummy, your Secretory IgA will go up. It goes up and down. We're not static little concrete beings. God designed us so that we make more immunoglobulins, and secretory IgA is secreted, increased if there's something irritating in the gut or a virus or something you're fighting off. So, I don't know that you necessarily need to be concerned. I really am never concerned unless there's a long, prolonged history of diarrhea and stomach complaints. So, that alone wouldn't concern me. And the slightly elevated valerate is a short-chain fatty acid that is really good to see. It's the low short-chain fatty acids that pose health dangers. So, I'm not so sure that I, although I – you know, I don't make a lot of money here, but I would love to sell you all the products in the world and vitamins, but I can't because I'm a Christian and I don't want to lie. I'm not sure that you need any of that. The SBI Protect or the BioPC Phospholipids. Okay. So, it certainly is going to help, and it is protective to the lining of the gut; it immediately works, but I'm not sure you need it. But of course, I know you live out of state, so make sure you follow up with your local doctor with any of your daughter's needs. 

Question
“Can you please help me? I have a cyst the size of my uterus, and I do not take any hormones. Finished menopause 20 years ago.”  [0:34:09]

Answer
So, you have a cyst where I would assume it's off of one of your ovaries, but this is too little information to give you any idea. What I would suggest is that you find a good functional integrative doctor. www.ACAM.org, that's the American Academy for the Advancement of Medicine. Very often, these are doctors who went to learn what they weren't taught in medical school. They learn about IV chelation therapy, high-dose vitamin C, a community of doctors and systems that support a more natural lifestyle, ways of healing people, and detoxifying them. Systemic enzymes are what we would give people with these cysts, whether it's a fibroid, uterine cyst, or an ovarian cyst, or any cyst whatsoever. For any cause of abnormal tissue accumulation, even in cancers with growths of tumor mass, you need a lot of enzymes to chew up that mass to get rid of it, like Pac-Man chewing it up. We take systemic enzymes on an empty stomach. We use five twice a day. I know of no contraindication for taking them whatsoever. You take them on an empty stomach, and you eat a very low-carb diet. You drink plenty of water. You exercise. And if it's hormonal, we use progesterone. See your functional doctor, get your hormone levels, which should be very low. But adding in progesterone tends to be beneficial. Once in a while, I see a post-menopausal woman who is still making her own estradiol. It's very rare, but you can actually still find women who make estradiol. So, if your estradiol level has not been studied or looked at, that should be done. 

The other thing is to find your local doctor. Get an ultrasound or study of whatever that cyst is, and follow that with your local doctor. Very often, you can see a decrease in the size of these fibroids and these cysts even within two to three months if you do this. Of course, we would like the whole protocol, not eating late, exercising, getting up in the morning in the sunshine, good vitamin D levels, multimineral with zinc, probiotics, and weightlifting three times a week. I mean, there are many things that promote a healthier immune system and circulation to remove the debris with your enzymes, but that's the direction that we would go. But find a good doctor who will be functional and work with you, but primarily, systemic enzymes help. 

Question
“Lysozyme was elevated slightly, too.”  [0:37:14]

Answer
Lysozyme is a minor inflammatory response. The fact that the lactoferrin and the calprotectin weren't elevated means that this isn’t a serious type of gut inflammation. Any one of us could have a slight lysozyme elevation. 

Question
“Hello. My husband and I take Clinician's Preference Oils from your shop. We also take Juice Plus and just read about their EFA supplement. How does that compare to the Clinician's Preference?”  [0:37:38] 

Answer
They do not have the clinical research and data support that the Clinician's Preference Oil does. So, I have to go where the majority of the research is, and I'm going to still stick with my Clinician's Preference Oil. Now, I like Juice Plus the capsules. I don't support the gummies. I don't support any of their other products. Sorry. I just have to stick with research. And so, the only thing I support about Juice Plus is their capsules, the fruit, vegetables, and the Vineyard berry blend as a capsule. 

Question
“Fibroid is in my uterus.”  [0:38:39]

Answer
Okay, so that's what it was. It's a fibroid. Yeah. So, the progesterone would definitely help suppress that. You would need a transvaginal pelvic ultrasound to follow it¸ and watch how the progesterone and the low carb diet, and the not eating late, and the exercise, and the enzymes all will help to reduce the fibroid. Now, if the fibroid is humongous, then maybe the best course is to let them do surgery, you know. So, I don't know the situation. I'm not your doctor. I can't treat over the YouTube, but there are cases in which I have recommended a hysterectomy for a fibroid that has gotten too big, and I just haven't seen it chewed up enough with over years it would take to bring something like that down. So, everyone is unique. So, you have to get a good doctor with some experience, and so forth, to work on things like that. 

Question
“What is DHEA supplement supposed to do? I have been taking it and don't notice any benefit. Thank you. God bless.”  [0:39:48]

Answer
I've been taking my DHEA 50 mg for decades since my 40s, and the reason is that it is a precursor for cortisol for stress, and getting old is a stressful transition. There's more strain and difficulty in all metabolism. So, cortisol is called upon in stressful situations in the body's homeostasis. That will create weight gain, that'll create immune suppression, and these various problems. So, since DHEA is the precursor to cortisol, and I live a very, very stressful life, I take this all the time. It is also a precursor to testosterone. So, I work out, and I need my muscle strength, and that helps buffer weight gain and weakness and immune failure so that I can do my sugar metabolism well and have insulin under control. I work out with heavy weights three times a week, and that's where I'll be going in about 20 minutes. I'll be going on my machines for an hour. And so, that is why I take it. And also because it helps with metabolism, muscle mass, insulin sensitivity, weight maintenance, and it helps with your immune system. So, an aging person has a failing immune system. So, DHEA also helps with that. So, hopefully that's a good enough reason to use it. 

Question
“Can drinking tea count toward a person's daily hydration requirements?”  [0:41:37]

Answer
In general, we say no because tea has changed from water by taking on the solutes, the colorings, and the molecules that make water turn into tea. So, it's taking on all that debris from the tea bag. So it can no longer function to take on waste material from the body. So we recommend water as a separate entity from coffee, tea, or any other type of drink. 

Question
“I have just been prescribed WEXLA, an inhaler, after being diagnosed with COPD (I have never smoked). Because this prescription contains a type of steroid, and also has concerning side effects, and additionally, I have an intolerance for yeast, I have not yet taken it. Would you have any comments regarding COPD?”  [0:42:18]

Answer
Well, I know who you are, and I've known you for decades. The definition of COPD is having a cough, often with sputum generated, occasional wheezing or some wheezing, a feeling of shortness of breath, and fatigue. Well, who doesn't fit that diagnosis? Tell me who? I fit that diagnosis. Okay. So, do you really have COPD? And if we do a pulmonary function test, are we going to, you know, look at the figures and say, well, there's some age-related changes in the volume and the number of alveoli you have. And so, yeah, you have some early mild COPD. Well, there's no life expectancy loss with mild COPD. So, what you do is you do healthy lifestyle things. You eat a high-protein diet, very low sugar. You stay with your weight training, your natural hormone replacement, your testosterone. You stay well hydrated, and you don't eat late at night. Get up with the sunshine. Get outside right away. Get sunshine, whether it's winter or summer. Let that sunshine come to you. Do some nice nasal inhalations and slow exhalations for a minute to get your cortisol wake up, spike down, and get your body grounded in the wet grass, you know, or the wet snow for a minute or two every morning. And then stay well hydrated and take systemic enzymes, which help prevent scarring of the lung, and take N-acetyl cysteine, which is a mucolytic agent. Take iodine, which is a mucolytic agent. And then live the best life you can. That's how I would address that.
But again, when you see me next, bring me any information from your pulmonologist and pulmonary function test, and we'll talk more about it because I have never ever seen you have anything significant with that issue. But again, I don't want to practice over the internet. You come in and see me and talk to me about this.

Question
“What would you recommend in the case when a person has a lot of neurological symptoms around the body, pain, weakness, huge memory problems due to lots of different toxicities in the body (glyphosate, mold exposure, etc.), also fatty liver and gastritis — where to start? How about EDTA? Good idea or not? Thank you.”  [0:45:08]

Answer
You're describing almost every American in the United States who has been exposed to all this stuff. God forbid, they took the shot for COVID-19 so-called prevention. We are all being exposed to this, and heavy chemtrails and so forth with metals in it, metal oxides landing on the grass in the air and the water, and it grows up in our plants. Yeah. So, find a good functional doctor. Start somewhere. Just like a land surveyor sets down a plot and shoots it off of something, you start from somewhere to plot the land out, and you start making a plan. You find a good doctor who'll start somewhere with you and build upon that and be there for you year after decade after decade after decade to be there for you and build on a healthy lifestyle, lawful good standard medical treatments, or imaging if necessary. But most of the stuff, we can do on our own. I would say 93% of all Americans have metabolic dysfunction from all the high fructose corn syrup getting into the liver. Fructose metabolism is like chronic alcoholism to the liver. So, we all need to heal. We all need to support each other and do the right thing, not eat late, and so forth. 

Question
“Hi, Dr. Ellithorpe, we are TLC patients (husband and I). My question is about the daily use of low-dose melatonin for children. I recently discovered that my two grandchildren (7 and 5-½) have been taking gummy melatonin nightly to get them to sleep. Can you comment, please?”  [0:47:01]

Answer
Yeah, I know something about this. I don't primarily take care of children anymore, but I know that it is available, and at a milligram or two strength, I think it's very safe. So, I don't think I would worry about that. What I'd worry more about is their teeth getting brushed after the sugar from the gummy and whatever colorings they're using, hopefully there aren't, it's only all natural. So yeah, I'm not worried about melatonin at 1 mg or 2 mg for young children. I would be more concerned about them being exposed to blue light screens, not being outside enough, and getting infrared light. I would rather them have incandescent light or red lights and sleeping with their room darkened, getting them up in the morning, keeping their circadian rhythm going. That's what I would look to. 

Question
“Hello Dr Rita, what would you recommend in this situation, a young lady in her 30s missing periods for more than a year, can’t get pregnant, trying to lose weight but nothing helps, asthma, allergies, trying to eat clean, fitness almost every day? Thank you.”  [0:48:26]

Answer
I would probably ask her to see a functional doctor who will get her fasting insulin and get her fasting triglycerides, her fasting glucose, her hemoglobin A1C, her progesterone level, estradiol level, testosterone level, cortisol level, and DHEA level, along with a general chemistry and lipid profile. And then I would just start her on natural progesterone to take two weeks, the same two weeks out of every month as if she ovulated, and she probably won't have an elevated estradiol. I would start giving her estradiol until she starts menstruating again. And then in the meantime, working on her insulin, triglyceride, glucose, and hemoglobin A1C to get those sugars, which usually are the cause of insulin resistance that creates polycystic ovarian disease, which creates infertility. She would probably need a nutritional study to get a multimineral. Zinc is very important, but don't forget men are terribly low in zinc and associated with infertility as well. So, the husband needs to be looked at, too. Do the weight training three times a week, weightlifting for an hour. Get a good circadian rhythm up with the sunshine outside, you know, for 20 to 30 minutes or something every morning, and be well hydrated. And find a good functional doctor. Get an ultrasound of her pelvis to look for cysts on her ovary and fibroids, things like that. But get a good work-up like that with someone. 

Question
“I've heard that saffron supplements can help with perimenopause symptoms. What is your opinion on this? Apart from HRT, are there other natural ways to help with perimenopause symptoms? My doctor wants me to try an SSRI (big thumbs down), but is cautious about HRT because of my history with migraine + aura. Thank you!”  [0:50:33]

Answer
I don't have a lot of experience with saffron. It is the flower, whereas things like ashwagandha come from the roots of certain plants, but they're both plant extracts, and they both have a kind of mood-supportive modulation. Women with menopause have irritability and often a depressed mood. So, both of these seem to help as mood support. I don't think you would put these in the class of estrogen mimickers. I don't think they, like Dong Quai or black cohosh, can actually have somewhat of a receptor, estradiol receptor activity. I think saffron works in a different way. So, are there other ways to help with perimenopause other than hormones? Yeah, you can use, like I said, black cohosh or Dong Quai. They're very helpful.  

Well, if you do all the natural health things, often my patients with migraine and auras tend to lose their migraines once they get their natural hormones stable and their bodies with normal insulin resistance and hydrated. So, find a good functional doctor. 

Question
“What are your thoughts on resolving a swollen lymph node that started about 9 years ago?”  [0:52:23]

Answer
Well, I would see your medical doctor. And if it's nine years, it should be an ultrasound, maybe biopsied. How big is it, where is it located, what is it draining, and is there a skin irritation or some chronic infection around it? You need to go to a doctor and have that looked into. 

Question
“I normally eat a low-carb, low-sugar diet, but I was curious about lentils. If you find them acceptable, or are they too high-carb? Thank you for your thoughts and expertise.”  [0:52:53]

Answer
The answer is they are too high in carbs. Yeah, it's just not acceptable to think that they are anything but a high-carb source of food. 

Question
“My husband has been on a solid 3 months of antibiotics, just removed the midline. What would be the best protocol to counteract the effects of those and also to build his immunity in general?”  [0:53:20]

Answer
Well, I would put him on probiotics. I would put him on both kinds, the gram-positive and gram-negative. We have Ohhira’s Probiotics, and we have Ortho Biotic Probiotics. I would use one of each. I would put him on a carnivore diet for three months to try to heal his gut. We could do a complete digestive stool analysis and really find out what's going on in his digestion. So, the low-carb and the probiotics. Find out his blood type. Depending on how old your husband is, he may need digestive enzymes as well. And exercise. You'll be surprised how many stud studies show that weightlifting helps generate a very good biofilm in the gut. So, those are the directions I would go. Get his blood insulin level, his blood triglyceride, glucose, and hemoglobin A1C. That'll help. 

Question
“I have extremely low ferritin (18), but my iron is fine. Do you know what would cause that? I am starting to supplement with iron, but I’m nervous because I have a history of breast cancer. Thank you so much!”  [0:54:47]

Answer
I don't know that I'm worried about that, then if your hemoglobin and hematocrit are normal. I don't know that I would supplement you with iron. I would have you eat red meat, liver. You could take organ, you know, liver organ capsules from grass-fed beef, things like that. But to have a low ferritin may actually not indicate anything other than you're healthy if your total iron and your blood count are normal. So, a low ferritin would mean there's no inflammation. So, talk with your doctor about that. I don't know that I'd worry about that. If your hemoglobin, hematocrit, your blood count, and your iron levels are normal, then the ferritin is more just an indicator that there's no inflammation in your body. 

Question
“My mom, who is 81, seems to be having difficulty with memory. I am sure her diet could use an overhaul, but I am wondering if you have any easy ways to implement suggestions to help support her cognitive health?”  [0:55:47]

Answer
Well, I'm a supporter of exercise. Number one, weightlifting three times a week. Gradually build it up. And then number two, creatine, a scoop, 5 grams in water or her food twice a day, three times a day, up to 20 grams a day. There are usually 5 grams per scoop. That's another easy way to do it; exercise is easy. Keep her involved in social and family purposes, supportive work. Natural hormones are always smart to use. Iodine supplementation. The ketogenic diet is very helpful, and you can get a hold of oral ketogenic supplementation that will help support oral ketone levels because it feeds the brain. So, those are some suggestions you could start with. 

Question
“My husband's CKG test recently slipped to stage 3; he has been using creatine since last December. Could taking creatine be the cause of his CKG going from stage 2 to stage 3? Is it reversible? Do you recommend using DMSO? I've begun taking it with castor oil for its anti-inflammatory properties. I've heard that it can alleviate many maladies. What is your opinion?”  [0:57:37]

Answer
I think CK is some kind of creatinine kidney function test. Stage 2 to stage 3, it's minimal in general if I'm thinking of chronic kidney disease stages. Stage 3 is still mild to moderate. Yeah, EDTA chelation is the way to go for that. Go to a YouTube channel called Chelation Therapy Data and Development, Dr. Dorothy Merritt, MD. Watch that. And at the 30-minute mark, you'll see the nephrologist work on all chronic kidney disease, creatinine levels that are declining, and you'll see them turned around, stabilized, and improved when you do chelation therapy. This has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and there are multiple studies on this. So, go to the 30-minute point, and you'll see Dr. Lin and all his research as a nephrologist. 

Question
“Is it ok for a 10-year-old girl to eat fresh edamame a couple of times a month?”  [0:59:43]

Answer
Sure, it is. Of course, it is. That's a soy derivative type of food. Yeah, it's totally fine to do in and of itself, especially only a couple of times a month.