YouTube Livestream Q&A Transcript, May 26, 2026

Question
“My Dad had surgery for a hernia today. When should he start taking the systemic enzymes? And what is your post-surgery protocol for detoxing antibodies, etc.? Thank you.” [0:03:27]

Answer
Well, I hope it all went well with your father. I know who you are, and I met them at that lecture during the COVID years when I went up to L.A. and taught on that. We always say that the minute you get injured, undergo surgery, or become sick, you should stop eating. And when they do surgery, they ask you to fast for 12 hours. And then after they take you out of recovery, they usually put you on a light kind of clear liquid, junky kind of JELL-O sugary juice to make sure you can hold your food down after surgery for your first meal. Again, it's just full of sugar primarily, and they kind of lean on you in the hospital to eat, eat, eat with the knee-jerk responses because you have to heal now. Well, they're one of the greatest healing modalities – fasting. You'll notice that in the animal kingdom, all animals stop eating the minute they're ill or injured. Now, you can't fast forever. But if you go into surgery with 18 hours of fasting, after surgery you come out of surgery, you wake up and you just say, "I just want chicken broth or beef broth for another 24 hours," you should have enough protein albumin in your system because, with that degree of fasting, especially for men, men can have almost 2000% increase in human growth hormone secretion in a fast of beyond 18 hours. You can get up into those 24 hours and start seeing tremendous human growth hormone for repair, and for all kinds of needs of the body. For women, it's about 1000% increase. So, if you get out of surgery and you're already at the 24-hour mark, if you can make it another 18 to 24 hours, you're just going to mobilize tremendous microvasculature, if you stay well hydrated, opportunities for your body to work on the surgical site and the healing. After surgery, we recommend taking the systemic enzymes like u Vascuzyme systemic enzymes, Vitalzym on an empty stomach. That's why we like you not to eat. You could have broth. And those enzymes help reduce the inflammation to improve the microcirculation and reduce the swelling, so it amplifies the healing that takes place. So, after any surgery, that's what we suggest. 

Now, when you break the fast, and you start eating, we would recommend you eat some very healthy, rich protein with butter on it, like having some salmon or halibut. These are very gentle proteins. Butter them up, put butter on your salmon or your halibut. Or a very long roasted beef. You know, prolonged roasting makes it fall apart. It's very much easier to digest. But we would suggest taking a digestive enzyme when you start eating the protein. And you could have chicken, of course, you could have eggs, but I would butter it all up. So, fat and protein are your primary choices for breaking the fast selections for your menu. And as long as you can do that and feel comfortable, I'm not against cooked vegetables as long as they are cruciferous, very high fiber, low carbohydrate type vegetables of broccoli, asparagus, green beans, Brussels sprouts, spinach, kind of things like that. And I would not eat past say 3 o    clock in the afternoon for the latest. You could finish swallowing your food at 4 o’clock. Not sitting down to start eating at 4 o’clock, you would finish your last swallow at 4 o’clock because, again, you need time for your stomach to digest, and your body is all focused on wherever the body is at where the surgery is being done and not so much on your food. And so, it's going to be slower to digest and slower to transit. That way, if you eat late at night, which is the optimal time for healing and repair of all human bodies, and animals in particular, if you're not a bat or a nocturnal owl. The concept is to have an empty stomach when you go to bed. And the older you are, the longer the food stays in your stomach and the more you need support to use digestive enzymes to help move it along. So, that's the general venue. A very low-carb diet, try to prolong the fast another 24 hours after surgery, plenty of water, not eating late, breaking the fast with a rich protein choice that's easy to digest, and using digestive enzymes. And then of course, we would certainly recommend all the other nutrients like the vitamin D and the multivitamins and the methylated B complex and iodine, and that will cover pretty much all the needs that you would have afterwards. So, hopefully that's a suggestion that you can work with. Do the same thing if you get sick. If you come down with a cold or something, chicken broth, sore throat, fever, and chills. You know, I don't feed a fever. I know the jingle goes “feed a fever, starve a cold.” Essentially, I don't worry, as long as the person is coherent and lucid and they answer questions. Let them have the fever up to 103. And that really goes for children, too. Not that that does not apply to neonates and newborn babies, but most people and children can tolerate it as long as they're drinking their fluids, answering questions, and they're alert and cognizant. A fever is designed to stimulate interferon. These are very special peptides in your body that are secreted to stimulate the immune system to help heal you. So, we don't treat. I don't use Tylenol or aspirin, especially in children, and never aspirin in children. So, those are just suggestions that I would give you on that. Hopefully, that helps you. Say hi to your dad and tell him I pray for a wonderful and successful response to that surgery. 

Question
“Is there any truth that eye styes are related to high cholesterol. Eating a carnivore-like diet, cholesterol runs a lot higher than typical norms. I’ve had 3 within a month, but never before this. I’m 58 years old, normal weight, no high blood pressure, hemoglobin A1C 5.7, take enzymes and Juice Plus daily.”  [0:11:01]

Answer
There are collections of plaque you might see in the skin, right in the inner corner of the eye, right in this area. They just look like little white fatty pillows, and these are cholesterol deposits. I think that's maybe what you're talking about. 

So, I would say that hemoglobin A1C at 5.7, even though it's in the normal range for most labs, is not normal for us. We like it at 5.2 or less. There are various things. Eating cholesterol does not make your cholesterol go up. That has been settled. The American Heart Association published that in their cardiology in 2015. They made a silent retraction that the saturated fats of cholesterol-rich foods do not cause heart disease or raise cholesterol. So, no, that's not an issue. And in fact, I'd like to know your blood type, and I would say, the more you stay extremely low carb, the more that will resorb the cholesterol. I think they call those cholesteatomas in the eye. Maybe the ophthalmologists have a special name for it. But that's what I would suggest. And that hemoglobin A1C, I would want to see it come down to 5.2. Insulin under 4. Glucose 85 or less. Triglycerides are about 50 or less. And then you should see that happen. I would be a weightlifter three times a week. I'm in my gym clothes right now. I'm in my new patriotic shirt. I have the United States of America. And so, I'm going to go work out at the gym now after I'm done here with the heavy weights. So, weightlifting will help bring it down, too. 

Question
“I am almost 70 and had a bone density test. It showed osteoporosis in the right and left femoral neck and the total hip on the right. Total hip right T -2.5, Z -1.0. The other numbers were a little less. What to do?”  [0:13:56]

Answer
So that's just the beginning of osteoporosis. Well, of course, you should see your physician. I'm not getting medical advice over YouTube, but in general, doing weightlifting, resistance training in a gym on the machines, and putting in 45 minutes to an hour three times a week is very, very important, getting those heavier weights and resistance activities going on to put stress on your body/your bones. That will stimulate them to reform and remodel, which will make your osteoblasts build, and your osteoclasts will help to remodel. And you need these Ying and Yang plus and minus impacts because the way you're using your body, your body is always ready to reform and modify. So if you lean forward with age all the time, your body is going to have stressors on parts of the bone, and your body will curve into that positioning. So, staying in a toned, healthy, exercised state will help all the little muscles that go down your spine, and there are many little lumbricoides muscles that help you sit upright and keep your posture going, but you have the big, big muscles that you can see that the machines will be helping you with. So, that would be number one. Number two, you'd have to be on a low-carb diet because carbs are inflammatory. Inflammation makes it acidic. Acidicness causes the minerals to demineralize. You have to be well-hydrated. You have to get a good night's sleep. Have a routine bedtime, lights out, and get up early in the morning with sunrise. Stand in the wet grass with your bare feet for 3 to 5 minutes. Take a brisk walk before you eat in the morning, 20 minutes if you can, every day. And then get your vitamin D level up to about 100 would be the goal until you start seeing your bone density numbers improve, then maybe you could drop to 80. So, we like our D to be between 80 and 120. We check the liver enzymes with that just to prove that it's quite safe thing. I've been doing this for many decades with all my patients. So, I have thousands of patient years on this; it's quite safe. I would be on natural hormones, estradiol, and progesterone. I would get on the DHEA to keep the stress hormone, cortisol, low, because DHEA is a precursor for cortisol. And I would use the estradiol and the progesterone cyclically. I would eat plenty of healthy, mineral-rich foods, such as the grass-fed, prairie-raised beef, the grass-fed, prairie-raised chicken, eggs, wild-caught fish, and prairie-raised pork. The best source and organic – well, let's say amino acid chelated minerals are just rich in animal foods, and it's very easy for us to assimilate these minerals as opposed to trying to get them from a plant or a multivitamin. So, that's why we go out of our way to get chelate minerals, and I have the TLC Multimin that I use, but I eat a huge amount of protein, animal-based, every day of my life. So, those are the things I would do, and probably in a year, I would check it just to be sure. The D, the hormones, the resistance training, the healthy nighttime, bedtime, and morning grounding, and getting that infrared light are all stimulating this in the right direction, and work on that with your doctor. 

Question
“Hi Dr. E., my sister-in-law was just diagnosed with Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency(AATD). Because it is genetic, the doctor is telling her that the only option is protein IV weekly. Are there other ways?”  [0:18:21]

Answer
Well, it depends on her blood type. It depends on her age. It depends on her other comorbidities, how frail she is, or not. I mean, she certainly made it this far in life, I wouldn't think that your sister-in-law is, you know, anything but a grown woman. So, there are many factors that go into this. However, get her blood, have them find her blood type, and if she's a blood type A, I would strongly recommend that she use digestive enzymes to help her process, break down, and make available more of her food. I bet you she's a blood type A. It'd be interesting if you found that out, and then let us know later on down the road. There are so many things to look at. I would do a complete digestive stool analysis and look at her gut microbiome, digestion, short-chain fatty acids, the predominant bacteria that are there, and the inflammatory markers. All these things need to be looked at and not just go with one simple genetic alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Syndrome, and then, you know, make a decision unless you have some of these other things. So, have her see a good functional doctor who can do those things and work with her doctor and specialists, and see if she can maybe avoid having to get those IVs. We'll find out. Maybe that's not a possibility, and she'll have to do it.

Question
“Do you recommend DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide) for back pain, and what would be the dilution?”  [0:21:12]

Answer
I don't use it. DMSO is a solvent. It helps to solubilize almost anything. In fact, it can actually solubilize bad things and toxins in our toxic environment as well, and make your body absorb them. Some of the polyester clothes, so much of the underwear and clothes we're wearing are made of polyester synthetics that they can dissolve parts of the clothing too, and the bandages and stuff. So, I don't use DMSO. It was used even intravenously. When I first came out working here on my own at Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach back in the mid-90s, we were giving DMSO intravenously, along with the EDTA chelation, minerals, B vitamins, and high-dose vitamin C to enhance the absorption and delivery. But I found, over the years, we don't need to do that. We get just as good results. And it smells, it smells like garlic, a heavy garlic smell. So, the whole IV suite was just rank with the smell of garlic. So, I'm not against DMSO, and I suppose there may be some very valuable applications still available, but I don't use this topically or intravenously anymore. I haven't for many years. So, I wouldn't even begin to recommend a dose. 

Question
“Are the colonoscopy preps, Dulcolax, and Suprep, ok? How is it best to prep the week before, as far as diet?”  [0:23:11]

Answer
Well, that's the job of the gastroenterologist and their nursing staff to tell you what they want. In general, yeah, Dulcolax is fine to use. And I don't know what Suprep means. I'm assuming it's the bottle that you can get at the drugstore of magnesium citrate. This bottle of magnesium citrate will produce a cathartic large bowel movement, and that's the unpleasant thing. People don't like that feeling. But it is usually required over and over again. People go through the big effort of a colonoscopy, and they are skittish about taking the whole bottle of mag citrate, or they don't do an adequate job, and then it makes the value of the whole effort of the colonoscopy questionable because there was so much poop left in the system. So, prep-wise, even my own husband tried to do fasting five days beforehand, and he did some of the prep that his GI doctor gave him, and afterwards the GI doctor said you apparently didn't do it the way I said because you had a good amount of residual stool in your colon. So, I would follow their advice and go with that. I would take a probiotic afterwards, and I would eat a low-carb diet. I would not eat late ever. I would have a morning routine to get up, stand in the grass, grounding for three minutes, deep breath, getting the parasympathetic calming of the cortisol wake-up hormone, and look towards the east and let that sun infrared get in your eyes, and that creates an entire body synergy and movement of peristalsis. It's like waking up all the engines at the starting line of the day. So, having routines, your body really biochemically likes this. Energetically, it likes this. And grounding is no laughing matter. It's something we need to do and get in contact with the earth as a routine. Stay well-hydrated, exercise, and be low-carb. So, that's about the best I can offer my background advice on the preps. 

Question
“Options. She is 60 years old. Her protein level is 20%. The doctor is recommending all vaccines. She does not want to do them. Also, no exercise except walking.”  [0:26:02]

Answer
Oh, she was the one diagnosed with Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. Yeah, find out her blood type, and find a good functional doctor who will do her complete digestive stool analysis from Doctor's Data out of St. Charles, Illinois. It's the best one out there. It's got the longest history. It's the original complete digestive stool analysis that set the whole functional medicine into motion regarding gut health. There's just tremendous background history on that. I worked with the doctor who helped develop that. That was Dr. Levine out of the Great Smokies. It used to be called the Great Smokies Complete Digestive Stool Analysis. He started that in Asheville, Tennessee. Yeah. So, I know the whole story behind that, and that's what I would do. 

Question
“Psyllium Husk. What’s your view? Thanks.”  [0:27:27]

Answer
I'm not against it, and I'm not necessarily for it because it's a fiber, it's a non-digestible fiber that you take, and it will bulk up your stool. It may be of value in helping with bowel movements. But in general, I don't know that you need it. A pure carnivore that doesn't eat any fiber will have just as normal bowel movements as someone who claims they have to have all these plant, undigestible plant fibers. So, I'm neither against nor for it. I think it depends on the situation. You'd be amazed what a routine for waking up within three or four minutes after you awaken and empty your bladder, walk outside for three minutes standing in the wet grass every morning you get up, looking without any glasses on, and letting that infrared light and the lumens of the wonderful morning sun around 5:45 to 6:00 in the morning hit your eyes, and taking deep breaths and slow exhales for a minute. I also stand up on my toes and go down on my heels when I do that, up on my toes and down on my heels. That helps mobilize the morning glycogen sugar in my blood that the cortisol released from my liver, so it gets into my muscles and is not deposited as fat. That morning, an energetic wake-up of my whole system online, circadian rhythm, helps me get ready for sleep at 9;00, get the lights off, and helps me sleep and have nice dreams, and then to wake up without an alarm, with sunshine. And those cycles are also making the bowels and the peristalsis work, so that we don't need to be on fiber. So that's my thought on that. 

Question
“Do you have any recommendations for neuropathy in the feet? I'm already taking B vitamins per your recommendation. Walking daily.”  [0:29:48]

Answer
The B vitamins should be methylated. Methylated products are metabolically superior to help solubilize and make better access for multiple metabolic functions, countless functions of all the cells in your body. Some of which are the repair of the nerve linings that your feet, you pound on your feet, and in between each toe, there's a nerve on each side, there's an artery on each side, and there's a vein on each side. So, where it meets right there at the breakoff to branch the nerve vein and artery, there's a bundle, and that can get pinched, causing trauma to the lining of the nerves. And you know, the nerve is a myelin sheath covering the neurons. They are rich in healthy phospholipid fats. We've all been lied to and told not to eat meats, eggs, and butters that are rich in phospholipids that help us grow healthy skin, hair, bones, nerves, cell tissue, and membranes. So, eat a rich, healthy, simple menu rich in your meat, your fish, your chicken. Be very low in your carbs. Use systemic enzymes on an empty stomach to keep the debris and inflammation tremendously down. We usually do EDTA chelation with high-dose vitamin C, and it has the mineralized chelated minerals, along with the methylated B vitamins. We use methylcobalamin. We never use cyanocobalamin or hydroxocobalamin, or even adeno-cobalamin. We use methylcobalamin. And so, that chelation with the vitamin and nutrients, along with your healthy low-carb diet, being well hydrated, stretching, over time, if you did luck in an IV once a week or six months, say 20-30 IVs, usually neuropathies will be notably improved with enzyme therapy and a healthy diet. That's what we usually see here. So, hopefully that would be a help to you. 

Question
“What causes the pesky sores on the tip of the tongue, and how to get rid of them?”  [0:32:34]

Answer
Are you talking about little aphthous ulcers? Very often when we're eating, actually, your teeth and your gums and your tongue, it's a big traumatic area. You can imagine you're taking in foods that are 170, 60 degrees, you could have actual heat injury to the tissues. You can have acidic foods. You can have foods that are too cold. You can be chewing and accidentally bite your tongue. So, I mean, it's a multiplicity of things that's going on in your teeth. That's why it's good not to eat late, so your body has a good 12 to 18 hours for all this tissue to heal and not be bothered with chewing or further trauma. Viruses. We all have bacteria and viruses and fungi, and these things live on our skin, our nose, everywhere in our body, our mouth, our gums. Many of these bacteria are beneficial, but some of them become increasingly detrimental as we eat a higher and higher starchy, sugary, fruit, sugar-rich diet, and that makes it acidic, which helps promote the breakdown of the tissue. So, you have to be low-carb as well. We would encourage high doses of vitamin D, in the sense that at least 5,000 to 10,000 IU a day. We would encourage you not to be a mouth-breather. If necessary, tape your mouth or get a mouth guard that helps you keep it shut. I have a small pillow, and I will tend to tuck it under my chin at night so I don't open my mouth. And the saliva and being hydrated are what heal your teeth and correct dental cavities, the gumline, and the tongue. I don't recommend brushing your tongue or tongue scraping, if at all, very minimally, because the healthy bacteria that are supposed to be in your tongue and around your teeth are very important, very special, and unique to the oral flora. But even more importantly, some of these special type of bacteria is associated with making nitric oxide, and that's so important for male erection, for cardiovascular blood pressure, blood flow, just a tremendous amount of activity required from nitric oxide production. And if you're using Listerine or products that claim to kill off 99% of all oral flora, you're really setting yourself up for long-term problems with erectile dysfunction and high blood pressure. There are studies out there that show people just stop using their pharmaceutical drugstore mouthwashes, and two weeks later, their blood pressures are down. So, I never recommend mouthwash. The toothpaste I recommend is xylitol with hydroxyapatite, morning and evening, with a very soft brush or a vibrational brush that you just let the vibrations go over your teeth, and that at most you could rub your tongue with gently but not every day and not aggressively, and they have to stay well-hydrated and low-carb. Those are my thoughts on that. Hopefully, that is a help for you on your pesky sores on the tip of your tongue. 

Question
“Do you recommend the RDA 1200 mg of calcium? Is dairy an ok source of calcium? Or Almond milk fortified with calcium, ok?”  [0:36:50] 

Answer
“Do you recommend the RDA 1200 mg of calcium?” Absolutely not. 

“Is dairy an okay source for calcium?” It's a preferred source because it's an animal product. And like I was saying earlier today or this evening, the animal products we have are so mineralized that the requirement for supplementation, especially of calcium, is really negated by people who eat a rich protein wild-caught, grass-fed, prairie-raised type of animals and their dairy products. So, yeah, that's a great source. We should not need to take in calcium as a supplement. 

“What about almond milk fortified with calcium?” No, I would not recommend any of that. And the dairy I would use, I would use raw dairy. Even heavy whipping cream is the type that I would have, a raw dairy kefir. These are the best sources. They aren't homogenized or pasteurized. That's my recommendation. So, I have had so many decades of women on their natural hormones doing their weightlifting, lowering their sugars, getting into a healthy morning and evening bed hygiene and sunshine exposure, and their bone densities in their 80s are normal. So, we never, I don't think I've ever in my decades of practice prescribed any prescription, you know, Fosamax (alendronate) type bone prescriptions at all ever ever. So, no, I don't think you need calcium at all. 

Question
“Is silver ok to use instead of mouthwash? Is it better for healthy bacteria?”  [0:38:57]

Answer
I would say yes. Is it better for healthy bacteria? My understanding is yes, but I can't think of an article, a dental health article that looked at nitric oxide production and using Argentyn silver as a mouthwash. I will do it before I have any dental work done or a checkup. I will use it especially after workup, and I'll do that, you know, for a few days afterwards. I don't have a routine of every day swish and swallowing the Argentyn silver, but I can't tell you for sure because I haven't seen any tongue, healthy mouth flora, or nitric oxide production in the presence of Argentyn nano silver rinses used regularly. I can't think of anything like that. 

Question
“You recommended 'walking' in the 'wet' grass in the early morning. Must it be wet? Will standing suffice, or is walking necessary?”  [0:40:09]

Answer
Yes. Must it be wet? Well, preferably, but it doesn't have to be. Will standing suffice, or is walking necessary? No, standing is what I do. I stand in the same two spots. Again, my husband cuts the grass and the (0:40:28) of my feet are impressions... Yesterday, he asked, walking, he says, "Why do you stand in the same spot?" It just makes me smile to think there I am every day. That's my quiet time with the Lord in the morning to start thinking about God, the creation, and the wonderful human being design, and I get to see people every day. I love it. And that's my prayer time too. And I rock up and down because I do want my calf muscles and my buttocks to tighten up, so that my major muscle groups are crunching because the study was done that once you wake up, the cortisol stimulates glycogen mobilized out of your liver. So, your blood sugar goes up. That means your insulin will go up with your high cortisol. If you get out in the morning and you let that infrared come to you, like today was terribly cloudy and it has been for quite a few days, then even the infrared will get into the photo receptors in my eyes without my glasses on, and then the electrons from the earth will be able to flow into my body, the earth is negative, anionic, and I will just rock there and taking in a deep breath and then exhaling it always through my nose, a very slow breath. That expands my chest cavity and pushes my diaphragm down, which will stimulate my vagus nerve naturally to create a parasympathetic quieting down of my wake-up cortisol surge and just get my day started right. So, I'm not in that cortisol sympathetic tone, you know, to awaken and be flustered, and it just starts my day. And I do it within the first three minutes after I empty my bladder, and then I'm out there. 

Question
“I just got diagnosed with shingles on my torso. How do you usually treat shingles? The dermatologist prescribed the antiviral famciclovir. Thank you!”  [0:42:57]

Answer
Well, that's typical standard Western medicine. I'm not against it, and they're the ones who saw it. You know, the older you get, the more difficult it is to manage because our immune systems fail with age. We strongly recommend you come in and get a high dose antiviral because vitamin C is antiviral and you do that right upon the earliest knowledge that you have shingles, and you do that one or two, well at least two IVs in the same week, take oral high dose vitamin C, up your vitamin D for a week, five days, just like as if you had a viral illness so that you stop the inflammatory damage along that nerve and that will quiet down any post-inflammatory damage to the nerve, called post-herpetic neuralgia nerve pain from shingles that stays long-lasting like that. That's a very good time to fast for 24 hours, which will stimulate your own human growth hormone to know exactly what to do and how to help repair. And again, don't take a high-carb diet because that will suppress your immune system. 

So, in general, we take high-dose vitamins, like the vitamin C IV from two to three IVs the first week, maybe another two the next week, and then one a week for another week or two, and then we're going to see everything heal down, calm down. So, the course of the high-dose vitamin C is very, very critical, I think. Oral vitamin C, vitamin D, your multivitamins to get the zinc up there, and systemic enzymes, natural anti-inflammatories, to minimize the inflammatory nerve damage. You might add quercetin to that; that's an antiviral. I take quercetin every day because I'm B positive blood and I have terrible, terrible allergies, but that's another thing you could add. 

Question
“I have advanced osteoporosis, extreme scoliosis, and inflammation. I am 69 years old and weigh 120-ish. For a few decades, I used weights at a health club and walked daily. Since then, I have done a daily exercise routine and walked (physical therapy and chiro care included). Would hormones be helpful? And can it cause weight gain?”  [0:45:15]

Answer
Most definitely, hormones will be very helpful because hormones are anabolic. They are basically helping you to build and repair, in general, all your tissues from your hair to your skin, to your muscles, everywhere. So, I would definitely say find a good functional doctor with some experience, hopefully that can help you with human bioidentical hormones, both the estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone, and DHEA, all of them together. I would do stomping, just like you're an angry little tantrum girl, and stomping on the cement floor. That's jamming, so to say, reasonably, creating a little jamming, shuttering effect of the legs. You could get a rubber hammer and hit the floor with it, and that shuddering up your arms will help jiggle the tendon attachments and stimulate bone growth. Stretching, low carb, and being well-hydrated so you're not acidic. Anti-inflammatory systemic enzymes are always smart. Have good hygiene of your wake-up and going to bedtime, getting the sunshine, and grounding. All these things are very, very, very important. That would be the direction. Try to find a good functional doctor to help you do that.

And can it cause weight gain? I'm going to say no because, in general, we live in a society that promotes weight gain, and everyone's blaming this on hormone therapy, and I just reject that. I just see too many wonderful benefits. I would never give up the multiplicity of repair, immune, bone-building, cognitive, healthy sleep, immune-enhancing functions, cardiovascular-enhancing functions of my bioidentical hormones versus worrying about a few pounds, which is probably the result of not exercising enough with resistance training and eating too many carbohydrates, a carbohydrate-pimped society, social pressure, and eating too late. So, no, I'm not going to blame it on the hormones. 

Question
“I’m confused about skincare, especially as a new mom. I don't wash my 9-month-old every night to help protect his skin microbiome. Makes me think, should I be washing my face 2x (am/pm) a day?”  [0:48:03]

Answer
Yeah. I never wash my face ever, ever, ever, ever. Never, never, never, never, never. Never has soap and water touched my face in my decades of life. The only time soap and water touch my face is when I take a shower every six to eight weeks. I only shower once every six to eight weeks and wash my hair. And when the soap comes down, of course, it touches my skin. But I don't rub it into my face. The only place I'll rub soap is every day with a sponge bath to my pits, where the pubic and axillary hair is, and where the bacteria reside. No, we're not designed to get wet every day. Not at all. So, I'm proud of you for protecting your 9-month-old. I don't wipe my makeup off. I use my estradiol Eucerin cream base. And when I put my Eucerin there, what little maybe stain from my mascara that I use, it just wipes away with the hormones that I put on, and I never wash my makeup off. Never, never, never, never. So, I have a nice layer of the furthest to the skin that you actually touch are all the dead epithelial cells that have been pushed up, and you have this healthy fat that your body makes less and less of with aging. And then you wrinkle, and you dry up, and you crack, and little bacteria gouge their way in, and you get worse and worse cracks, and so forth. So, I just don't let that happen. 

Question
“Hi Dr. Ellithorpe, last week you mentioned Eucerin Cream (I may be spelling it wrong) as a safe cream for HRT. My pharmacist uses VersaBase Cream in the HRT he makes. Is that as safe a base for the HRT? If not, how do I spell it, so I can correctly request my pharmacist to use what you recommend?”  [0:50:05]

Answer
Correct. That's what I use and what I compound here myself. You can get it from us and support us. That would be even better. But I went ahead, I had seen that question, and I looked up VersaBase, which the pharmacist used. And you can see here the list of all the things that go into that cream and maybe even others. Lots of things that go into it. And I just don't like these things. It's water, of course, Ethylhexyl stearate emolument, emulsifying wax NF to control acetate, which is vitamin E, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (Aloe Vera), Disodium EDTA, Sorbitol humectant, Cyclopentasiloxane (silicone derivative for smooth application, Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone preservatives, and it could be other things. So, no, I don't think this is natural. 

Now, what is Eucerin cream? On Eucerin cream, you could see, if you ask AI at the top, what it is made of – water, petroleum, and mineral oil. So, I like to keep it simple. I keep it simple, and I put my natural hormone in it, and that's what I've used all my life since my 40th birthday, I think not, maybe 43 years old, I started using hormone replacement therapy, somewhere in that time zone. So, yeah, use Eucerin as the source or get it from us, and you'll get the thing that I approve and have used, clinically tested here at this place, TLC, 25 years, a quarter of a century. 

Question
“I know you've addressed the hormone question over and over ( with the general consensus that HRT poses no risk to senior women over 70. Does that also apply to women with congestive heart failure? I already use a minimal amount of estradiol, and my PCP would like to start small amounts of testosterone.”  [0:53:00]

Answer
“Does that also apply to women with congestive heart failure?” Yes, correct. 

Well, the original treatment for idiopathic congestive heart failure, meaning most heart failure is really of unknown origin or an iatrogenic cause. Like if you're on statins and you're destroying your CoQ10 and your mitochondria in your heart, you're going to have cardiomyopathy and dilation and failure. So, yes, testosterone is wonderful for the heart. It was the original treatment for heart failure. So, please use that. I would use (Dehydroepiandrosterone) DHEA also because that's the precursor in a woman for her testosterone, and a man for his testosterone. It also dampens the stressful effect of cortisol, which is a catabolic teardown kind of a hormone that we make under stress. So, you need the DHEA to kind of repair that. 

Question
“Your thoughts on Benfotiamine? Says it's good for neuropathy.”  [0:54:43]

Answer
Yeah, benfotiamine, I thought I looked that up. I guess that was another one I wasn't aware of. I may know the trade name, but I might not know the generic name. So, thank you. Thank you so much. I don't know exactly. I'm going to have to look up benfotiamine and check on that. 

I don't think drug therapy is the way to go for neuropathy. You know, they have Lyrica for the neuropathy. So, I'm not in favor of that. Let me look it up, and then we'll come back next week, and I'll do that check on there.