dr. davidson: hello! this is dr. jay davidson from...

©2016 www.DrJayDavidson.com. All rights reserved. 1

A Ketogenic Diet’s Role with Lyme Disease Guest: Dr. Nikolas Hedberg This presentation is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure your condition or to be a substitute for advice from your physician or other healthcare professional. Dr. Davidson: Hello! This is Dr. Jay Davidson from DrJayDavidson.com. I’m excited to welcome you to this very special segment of the Chronic Lyme

Disease Summit. According to the CDC, there are more people affected with Lyme disease each year than breast cancer. That’s including invasive and non-invasive together. Today, my special guest is Dr. Nikolas Hedberg. And we're going to explore nutritional ketosis as it relates to Lyme disease. But before we do, a little bit about Dr. Nikolas Hedberg. Dr. Hedberg is a board-certified naturopathic physician, chiropractic physician, and is board-certified in nutrition by the American Clinical Board of Nutrition, is a board-certified chiropractic internist. Dr. Hedberg is founder of the Immune Restoration Center in Asheville, North Carolina, where he treats patients worldwide with a variety of health problems. He sees many individuals with thyroid disorders, autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue, hormone imbalances, depression, weight gain, digestive system problems, and many more. Dr. Hedberg is an avid writer, researcher, and speaker with regular speaking engagements, presenting the doctors on a variety of topics, including thyroid disorders, and the connection between infections and chronic illness. Dr. Hedberg is the author of the new book that came on last year, called The Complete Thyroid Health and Diet Guide. You can get that on Amazon.com. He can also be reached at his website, DrHedbergcom. Dr. Hedberg, I want to welcome you to the Chronic Lyme Disease Summit.


Dr. Hedberg: Thanks for having me, Dr. Davidson. Dr. Davidson: It's amazing the education that you've went through. Just so many years. Dr. Hedberg: Many years of education and practice. Dr. Davidson: How long have you been practicing? Dr. Hedberg: Twelve years. Dr. Davidson: Okay. Yeah, there's a whole plethora of initials behind your name. It's just awesome when you see that. You can just tell you're a seeker of truth, always wanting to educate. And, of course, those people that always learn end up being the teachers themselves, too, because they learn what's going on. So one of the topics that you wanted to cover in the Chronic Lyme Disease Summit was ketosis. Can you explain what ketosis is? Dr. Hedberg: Right. So basically, the human body can produce energy from two sources, one being glucose and one being ketones. And most people are running on glucose, making energy from glucose. But we do have an adaptive mechanism that’s just part of our evolution. And we can produce energy from our fat stores. And the reason why we developed that ability is because fat stores have a tremendous amount of energy compared to carbohydrates. And so basically, instead of burning sugar, in ketosis, you're burning ketones. And the body will draw energy from its fat stores. So it'll take fatty acids and it'll convert them into energy in the cell. And it can do it just as efficiently as glucose. And so ketosis has a number of benefits. So many people may be somewhat familiar with it if they ever tried an Atkins diet, which definitely puts an individual into ketosis. And it's actually a healthy state to be if it's done right.


It can be highly beneficial for a number of conditions, especially Lyme disease, which we'll be getting into today. Dr. Davidson: Yeah, I definitely want to hit that topic. Where did ketosis and ketogenic diet, where did that come into play for yourself? Dr. Hedberg: So I was actually a bodybuilder many years ago when I was in college. And we actually used to drop into ketosis to get extremely lean, get our body fat levels down. Studied it as an undergrad, studying exercise science, did it a lot myself, and then just reading up on it, learning about it. First, of course, you learn about its use in seizures and epilepsy. It can be effective for those things. But there's a whole host of other conditions that it can be beneficial for. Dr. Davidson: So you had firsthand experience a long time ago, in other words. Dr. Hedberg: Yeah, firsthand experience, many, many days and weeks in ketosis. Dr. Davidson: Awesome. So the ketogenic diet, nutritional ketosis, where does that fit in for being really effective for somebody that's dealing with chronic Lyme disease? Dr. Hedberg: Pretty much everybody who has chronic Lyme disease is going to be inflamed. And the interesting thing about ketosis is that it mimics fasting. If you were to look at someone biochemistry while they're in ketosis, it looks exactly the same as if that patient is fasting. And one of the main benefits of fasting is a significant reduction in inflammation. So at the core of many of the symptoms of Lyme disease, whether it's the brain, the nervous system, joint pain, things like that, ketosis is going to significantly reduce that inflammation. And oftentimes, you'll see rampant


improvement in the patient's symptoms, especially related to the brain. Because of the Lyme's spirochetes are in the brain creating a lot of inflammation, the brain, when it runs on ketones, will have a lot less inflammation. And you'll see a rapid improvement in things like the brain fog, memory decline, headaches, and other neurological symptoms. Dr. Davidson: So oh, yeah, that's really, really good to know because yeah, you see different camps in the Lyme world from people being very brain, neurologic affected, to the massive joint pain, to different camps. So ketogenic, in other words is, no matter if somebody has chronic Lyme disease or not, is very beneficial for the brain, basically, for dropping inflammation. Dr. Hedberg: Exactly. But there's already a tremendous amount of research on ketosis and prevention and even treatment of Alzheimer's and dementia, so highly effective for those types of brain disorders, as well. Dr. Davidson: So with all of this good stuff about ketosis and why it's good to drop inflammation for somebody suffering from Lyme disease or other health issues, how does somebody get into ketosis or how do we get our body into this state versus the sugar burning state that pretty much most Americans are in? Dr. Hedberg: Right. So our bodies have adapted an efficient way of converting into a ketogenic state. There's a couple of ways to do it. The first way is just to keep your daily carbohydrate intake lower than 30 grams a day. And after about 72 hours on average, your body will drop into ketosis. Then the other way is just to fast. You'll get there a little bit quicker. Sometimes 24 to 48 hours of fasting and you'll be into ketosis. That's really the basics of it. It's not that hard. Our bodies are very efficient at doing that. And interestingly enough, the longer you've been in ketosis and the more times you've done it, the faster you can get back into it. So if you've been in it for a month and then you drop out of it for a month, you're actually going


to be able to get back into it much quicker than if you had never been in ketosis before. Dr. Davidson: So getting into it in the first place is the more difficult. And then the more you're used to it, the more the body can adapt and basically flip the switch quicker? Dr. Hedberg: Right. It's called keto-adaptation. Our bodies just become more and more efficient at converting into ketosis. Dr. Davidson: Okay. And when you're talking about fasting, so let’s say I wanted to go a little quicker and get into ketosis, and I wanted to fast, is this you just drink water fast, bone broth fast? What's your recommendations in that category? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah, it's mainly just a water fast. And you'll be in it in a day or two. Most people don't choose that route though. They do eat food, just very low carbohydrate. Dr. Davidson: Okay. And you said 30 grams typically is a good level to stay under to get into ketosis? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah, that's the general recommendation. There are some recommendations out there that you can get into it if it's less than 50, but you will get into it a little bit quicker if you keep it below 30. Dr. Davidson: Okay. And once you're in it, it probably depends how well adapted your body is and how used to it is. But what is generally the number of grams somebody has to stay under to stay in ketosis? Dr. Hedberg: It's the same. Once you're in it, as long as you don't go above 50, you should stay in it very efficiently, depending on the individual. Some people, they just can't go above 30, otherwise they'll break out of ketosis.


Dr. Davidson: Okay. So when you're looking at ketosis and you're cutting carbs, 30 grams or less, what is the portions of food that you're generally consuming then? Dr. Hedberg: Right. So my favorite is actually the Spanish-Mediterranean version. It tends to be a much greater emphasis on olive oil and fish. And so basically, we have patients consume three meals a day, ideally a small amount of fatty fish or wild caught fish with each meal, and then a small amount of salad, vegetables. And we have them make their own olive oil based dressing. And they use plenty of that because the more fat you throw on, the hotter you burn, so to speak, or the faster you get into ketosis and stay there. That's mainly it. People can have all different types of meat as their protein sources: poultry, grass-fed beef, lamb, things like that. But the Spanish or Mediterranean version tends to work a little bit better because the higher you get saturated fat intake, the more you can [decrease] insulin resistance. So you'll still get the benefits if you have other types of meat, but the type of diet where it's more olive oil and fish tends to work a little bit better. Dr. Davidson: So the best types of fat that you like from a clinical side then is more like the fish oil and olive oil. Are there other types of fat that are good for ketosis or that you tend to lean towards? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah. So the guidelines that I like to use are about one third omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil, like you said, and then one third monounsaturated, which is mainly from the olive oil, and then one third saturated. So it’s fine to get some saturated. And people like to use coconut oil, which works really well, macadamia nut oil, a little bit of butter or ghee if they want to throw that in there, but those tend to be the best fats for getting the best results in ketosis.


Dr. Davidson: Okay, so the butter, ghee, coconut would follow into the saturated fat category? Dr. Hedberg: Exactly. Dr. Davidson: And in the monounsaturated fat would be the olive oil? Dr. Hedberg: Right. Dr. Davidson: And then, a third omega fish oil. Can that be supplementation along with food, primarily food, or primarily supplementation? Dr. Hedberg: It just depends on how much fish they're eating. I have the patients get the wild planted sardines soaked in olive oil, and then just increasing salmon and other types of fish. So they're getting a lot just from their diet. If they're really not eating fish or they don't like, then we will have them supplement with fish oil. Dr. Davidson: Then, I have to ask, I never ate sardines until I met my wife. And my wife eats sardines. And it always weirded me out with the spinal cord in the sardines. Do you recommend eating the entire sardine or do you personally pick the spinal cord out of that? Dr. Hedberg: Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely eat the spinal cord. You get a lot of calcium from that. So I do recommend you eat the entire sardine. Dr. Davidson: Okay. You see, I'm glad I asked that question. Dr. Hedberg: Right. Dr. Davidson: It makes sense. You get obviously a lot of minerals that make up the bone in the sardine. So if fats are a third omega fish oil, a third monounsaturated, and a third saturated, where does the protein fit in to this?


Dr. Hedberg: Right. So that's a good question because, as you know, protein can be converted into glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis in the liver, so if you eat too much protein you can get a spike in insulin and glucose. So you have to keep it somewhat modest. The general recommendation is about 25 to 35 grams of protein per meal. And that's three meals. As long as you stay within those guidelines, you're going to get plenty of protein. And you're not going to get too much that could potentially spike you out of ketosis. Dr. Davidson: So like an example, if somebody is eating their proteins, some beef or some chicken, when we're looking at 25 to 35 grams of protein, how big of a portion of meat is that, typically? Dr. Hedberg: Right. So what I tell people is to use their hand, and one palm-sized piece of protein, like about a chicken breast. A chicken breast has about 30 to 33 grams of protein on average, so that should give people a good idea. A quarter pound patty of, say, turkey burger or grass-fed beef burger or bison, that's going to be around 25 to 30. So that's a pretty good visual idea of how much to eat. Dr. Davidson: Okay. Like give me an example of maybe a typical meal that you would eat. Like if we have a palm size amount of meat for the protein, what goes along with that? Because I feel like with our modern day culture, I grew up with the meat and potatoes as my parents did and passed that on to me, you've got the portion of meat. And then you've got that starchy, carby vegetable, which probably isn't even a vegetable. Dr. Hedberg: Right. Yeah. So it can a little bit limiting over time, so you have to get creative. But a good meal, a good ketogenic meal, a good Spanish-Mediterranean style would be a palm-sized piece of wild salmon and then a pretty good sized salad just with a variety of salad greens. You can put a little bit of Parmesan cheese on there and then make your own olive oil based


dressing with some lemon juice, some salt and pepper. You can have small amounts of dairy in the ketogenic diet. But you’d but you’d want to stay away from milk, yogurt, anything like that that's going to have lactose or sugar. So the only dairy you can really have is going to be the hard cheeses or some Parmesan cheese. But you can definitely use those in your meals, as well. Dr. Davidson: Okay. Yeah, that's a good visual. So with the ketogenic diet, what are maybe some misconceptions or what have you heard from your patients when you've recommended the ketogenic diet of maybe certain things people are scared about it? Dr. Hedberg: Right. There's really two main things that people get scared about. The first is if they have any medical background, they might confuse nutritional ketosis with what's called diabetic ketoacidosis, which happens in diabetics. And that could be a life-threatening situation. But if you're not diabetic, that's something that you don't have to worry about at all. The second area that people get concerned about is, a lot of people think that the ketogenic diet is the Atkins diet. And so they have an idea of eating large amounts of sausage, bacon and eggs, butter, lots of cheese and stuff like that. And so they might get a little bit scared in that regard. But once you explain to them the emphasis on the types of fats, the large amounts of vegetables, and healthy protein, and fats that people are eating, that usually calms down any concerns about ketosis. Dr. Davidson: Okay. Yeah, I think in America we have such a phobia of fat. And, of course, if you take fat out, all Americans seem to replace it with carbs. And now there's the big gluten-free craze. But inevitably it's carbs that tend to raise your glycemic index even higher than wheat or gluten-containing whole grains do. So I guess what would be a favorite on the go snack, or what have you noticed with food cravings when you're in ketosis? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah, that's a really good question because when someone's in


ketosis, they're really not hungry at all in between meals, so they're not going to want to snack. Ketosis has an appetite suppressing effect. And so you're just not going to be hungry in between meals. But if you absolutely had to eat something in between meals, then a few easy things to do would just be to have a hard-boiled egg or some beef jerky. Those are two examples of some easy snacks. Dr. Davidson: Okay. Dr. Hedberg: But again, no one is really hungry in between meals in ketosis. Dr. Davidson: Yeah, because you basically have that steady fuel of ketone bodies rather than the sugar roller coaster. Dr. Hedberg: Exactly. It completely levels out blood glucose levels and completely eliminates the cravings for carbohydrates or sugar. Dr. Davidson: Yeah, that's just a modern day epidemic right now in America is cravings and this roller coaster of sugar. And even the Starbucks frappuccino latte, things have so much sugar in them and they're fat-free that we're just obsessed with this and we stay in that. So I think balancing the blood sugar glucose level is extremely important with getting well. Switching gears just a little bit, when you look at in your practice and you see patients, whether they're diagnosed with Lyme disease or in their past they've been on a high amount of antibiotics or heavy use maybe for a couple of years, where does ketosis or the ketogenic diet fit in to that realm? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah. So this is an extremely important benefit of ketosis for Lyme patients. The longer someone has been on antibiotics for Lyme disease, the more drug-resistant bacteria they're going to have. And they're going to have permanent changes in the genetic structure of the bacteria, not just in their gut, but throughout their whole body.


And the longer they've been on antibiotics, the more likely they have what we call small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. So normally the large intestine has a lot more bacteria than the small intestine. But in small intestinal bacteria overgrowth, it's the opposite. You get a lot more bacteria in the upper GI. And then you start getting GI symptoms like gas, cramping, bloating, really irritable bowel type symptoms because of the antibiotics. Now, the great thing about the ketogenic diet is that it's inherently anti-small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. And basically what that means is that it's low in what we call FODMAPs. And if anyone has heard of the low FODMAP diet, it's kind of the same, in some ways, as the ketogenic diet. So FODMAPs are basically foods that ferment very easily in the small intestine. And that's what creates all those symptoms that people have. Now, the ketogenic diet is very low in those types of foods, so that bacterial overgrowth doesn't really have much to feed on and ferment to cause those problems. So I'll see a lot of people with chronic Lyme, they've been on antibiotics for a really long time, and they have all these GI problems. And the ketogenic diet helps to suppress the overgrowth, and then we add in some herbal antimicrobials to suppress the growth even more, and we get dramatic improvements in their digestive system function. So that's where the ketogenic diet compounds itself in its benefit, not just as anti-inflammatory, but also it really helps to heal the gut. Dr. Davidson: That's great. I hadn't thought about that about ketosis and it being anti-SIBO, anti-small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and having so many similarities with the FODMAPs. That's definitely gained popularity in the last couple of years. And I think it gets a little daunting when you think of all the different types of diets and ways people eat from Atkins to Mediterranean to low fat to ketogenic to FODMAPs to Paleo to 900 different versions of Paleo. So as a practitioner,


with obviously the vast experience with not only on the clinical side, but on the educational side, too, what do you see being more of an ideal way of eating for, not only somebody suffering with Lyme, but the general population? Do you see it being more of like the Spanish-Mediterranean variety of ketosis? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah. So long-term, the Mediterranean diet tends to be...It has the most research behind it as far as long-term health and health benefits. It's inherently low in sugar, refined carbohydrates, which is really at the core of a lot of these issues, very high in vegetables and plant-based foods, low in processed meats. So for the general population, once we get someone healthy, that is the general recommendation for most people is a Mediterranean-style diet. Dr. Davidson: Okay. So you use more of ketogenic and nutritional ketosis as a way to work somebody through more of when they're in a health condition issue, where they're having health issues, and then work them into more of the Mediterranean diet afterward? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah. Once they're feeling really good, they're feeling healthy, then we transition them because food is so much more than just nutrition. And it's been demonized and torn apart in so many ways. We’re to the point where people are afraid of what to eat or they have anxiety and stress over food because there's so much misinformation out there. So my goal is to, once they're healthy, I want them to enjoy their life and their food and their meals. And so that's why I don't really follow any extreme type diets or fanatical type diets because there's a lot of that out there. You have a lot of fundamentalist and fanatical type individuals saying that one diet was the best for everybody. And I'm really the antithesis of that. Dr. Davidson: Okay. So that really helps to clarify. So when you're talking about ketosis really helping with SIBO, so obviously there's many uses for a ketogenic diet, not only just for somebody with Lyme, but if they have


digestive distress, which, of course, a lot of Lyme patients do, when you talk about using some antimicrobial things for SIBO, what would fall into that category as tools that you tend to find to be effective or that tend to work to help with people that are suffering from really stubborn SIBO? Dr. Hedberg: Yes, there are a number of different herbal medicines that work really well for SIBO and GI problems. Some of the top ones are going to be oil of oregano, wormwood, neem, berberine, black walnut. Those are some of the main ones off the top of my head. Those tend to be highly effective. They tend to suppress the bacterial overgrowth and fight off any infections like parasites, candida yeast, and bacterial overgrowth or dysbiosis. Dr. Davidson: Okay. Great. Yeah, those are definitely some powerful herbs and effective in that category. I definitely agree with that, as well, too. So from a clinician standpoint and seeing people with Lyme disease, as well as thyroid and other things that you see, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, when you're looking at somebody—and, of course, everybody is individualized—but what is an overall approach that you would take when looking at somebody with chronic Lyme disease? Dr. Hedberg: Right. So people with chronic Lyme are very complex, much more complex than people with a lot of other types of conditions, so you have to look at the whole picture. And as I mentioned earlier, the gut is definitely a big focus. That's where 70% of the immune system is. But we'll take a very detailed look at nutrition, gut function. And then, we'll look at hormonal health, the adrenal hormones, the sex hormones, thyroid hormones. And then, we'll do what's called an organic acids profile. And that's going to give us a very detailed look at the patient's metabolism, how well they're producing ketones and burning fat, how well they're metabolizing glucose and producing energy. That gives us some nice signs of detoxification, a neurotransmitter metabolism.


So we're looking at a lot of those things. And in the blood, we're looking at the whole picture: their immune system, signs of insulin resistance, thyroid function, iron levels, etcetera, etcetera, so really take a comprehensive overall look at every patient. Dr. Davidson: Okay. So when you're working with somebody with Lyme, and let's say they have the gamut of issues from hormonal problems to gut issues to Lyme plus maybe some co-infections like Bartonella, Babesia, along with maybe energy issues and thyroid problems, as a practitioner where do you start? Or do you have to incorporate all of them to some degree right away to start to beginning to move people forward? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah, you have to prioritize. But the first place that you want to look is any external or environmental stressors. These are the things that are often overlooked. So we have to have a good conversation about all the potential stressors in someone's life, whether it's their relationship, their work, any stress in their environment at home, toxic relationships, and things like that. Anything that could be having a negative effect on their physical and their emotional health, I found that it's really difficult to get people well if they have something ongoing like that. So that's the first conversation that we have. After that, once we look at all the potential external stressors, then you have to do everything at once because with chronic Lyme, like I said, it's so complicated, you have to do a delicate dance with all the systems of the body at the same time to really have a successful outcome. Dr. Davidson: Yeah, chronic Lyme cases, I think, are in the most complex of other health issues and other health conditions. I definitely would concur on that one. When you're looking at, "Okay, we got to deal with the body systems with somebody with Lyme," what type of therapies or therapeutic approaches would you fall into?


Obviously, dietary recommendations like Spanish-Mediterranean variety of a ketogenic diet. You talked about using some herbal formulas if somebody’s got like SIBO. But is there any other tools or is a lot of what you do in the herbal world? I guess, give me some details on that. Dr. Hedberg: So yeah, I do use a lot of herbal medicines. So we'll be targeting reducing inflammation, reducing microbial load, so using herbs that are specific for all the different types of infections. Those are the big two that we're doing is bringing down inflammation and targeting the microbes. And then the other thing that I focus a lot on that I think a lot of people overlook is creating what we call an anabolic state, and that just means trying to build the patient up because their the opposite when they're chronically inflamed or catabolic, meaning they're breaking down. Their muscle tissue’s breaking down. Their gut lining is breaking down. Their detox enzymes are being stolen. And so we want to reverse that and create a more anabolic state where we're building lean muscle mass. We're building up gut lining. We're building up immune system cells, white blood cells so they can fight infection. We're building up detox enzymes. And so we'll definitely want to use good protein sources, possibly a protein supplement like whey. Then we might use branch chain amino acids like leucine, which are highly anabolic and they prevent that breaking down of all those body systems that I talked about. Dr. Davidson: Okay. So I was thinking this, I just forgot to mention it. I find it very interesting that the very first thing to address is really looking at the mind, emotional stressor of a patient when they come in. Dr. Hedberg: Exactly. Yeah. We as functional medicine practitioners, it's not necessarily our area of expertise, the psychology. But we have to be able to recognize it and point it out to the patient upfront, and maybe even refer them or have them work with someone who can really address those things because


sometimes what happens is people will become more antisocial because they're sick, so they're not getting out with friends and loved ones. They become a little bit more isolated. And that's been shown to have significant effects on the brain, the immune system, hormones, everything. And if someone has an abusive partner or if they hate their job, they have an abusive boss, etcetera, etcetera, those things...You may only get someone 75%, 85% better, but that last 10%, 20%, 25% to get them feeling really good, they're really going to have to deal with those issues in their life. Dr. Davidson: Yeah, I think the mind-emotional piece is so important. And I think it's a missing link in so many treatment programs. I’ll say that. So when you're talking about anabolic state and getting the body to really get into an anabolic state, rather than this catabolic state, the first thing I always think about when I hear the word anabolic is, "Okay, well, let's ..." And you mentioned being a former bodybuilder, too, lifting weights, and building muscle mass, from somebody that works with a lot of people with autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue, Lyme, where does exercise fit into the realm? Where do you recommend it? Is there certain things to start with if somebody’s in a really severe state of having health issues? Dr. Hedberg: Right, because a lot of these people are just too tired to exercise so we have a very simple guideline. And even if it's just starting out with something very simple like some light yoga, stretching, walking, some light dance, as long as you use this rule of thumb, patients usually do quite well. And so I just tell them that, "Whatever you're doing, whenever you're done doing it, you should feel energized. And you should feel like you could do the entire workout over again." So if someone does, say, 20 minutes of a gentle flow yoga, which is pretty easy, when they're done they should feel like they could do another 20 minutes. If they don't, then next time they just need to do 10 minutes.


So even if they're just starting out with 5, 10, 15 minutes a day, as long as they use that rule of thumb, it works quite well. And, as we know, even just a little bit of exercise is going to reduce inflammation. Dr. Davidson: So in other words, after exercise really use how you feel. And if you could repeat it as a gage to, "Okay, I'm going too long or to intense or that's okay?" Dr. Hedberg: Exactly. Most people are overdoing it anyway, even healthy people. So as long as they use that rule of thumb, they should recover well and they should get stronger each time. Dr. Davidson: Great. Is there anything that you are a big fan, as far as maybe equipment or certain protocols people can do at home, obviously besides a ketogenic diet? But for the listener right now on the Chronic Lyme Disease Summit, is there certain things that you’d like to recommend sometimes with clients or often with clients for people to do at home? For instance, like a hydrogen peroxide bath or dry brushing or sauna or anything that would fall into that realm. Dr. Hedberg: Yeah. Yeah. One of the things that I really like is the Epsom salt bath. So a lot of chronically ill patients, there's going to be a lot of inflammation. There's going to be a lot of what we call metabolic acidosis. So they're very acidic. And about one cup of Epsom salts in a moderately warm bath for about 15 to 20 minutes tends to help a lot. That's a lot of magnesium, helps to draw out a lot of the metabolic acid residues into the bath water. It’s relaxing. So that's something that's really helpful. And then a lot of people are doing just too much on their devices. So one of the apps I recommend is called Twilight. And you can install it on your Android or your iPhone. And basically what it does is it knows where you are, and so later in the day it reduces the blue light from the device. And so your screen will look a little bit more red.


Now, it's the blue light that tells your brain that it's still the middle of the day, there's still sunlight, and then that can negatively affect your sleep. And so if you're going to be on a device in the evening or late in the day, the Twilight app, which is free, works really well. And then, there's another free app you could install on any computer. It's called f.lux. And it does the same thing as Twilight, except that'll do it on any laptop or computer. Now, those are important just to reduce your electromagnetic radiation and exposure. And a lot of Lyme patients, they have sleep problems. And this is one more thing that they can do to help them sleep better. Dr. Davidson: Yeah, sleep, I find that so important. People don't sleep, then there’s no energy during the day. Then the next night, they can't sleep either. With the Epsom salt baths is there a certain time that you usually like to recommend those or just get those in? Dr. Hedberg: Usually in the evening because they're relaxing and it helps you calm down and it’ll help you sleep a lot better. Dr. Davidson: Okay. So the magnesium gives that relaxing effect getting the body prepared for sleep? Dr. Hedberg: Mmm hmm. Exactly. Dr. Davidson: Okay. That's awesome. The app was Twilight. And then, if you have a computer, it's called f.lux. Then that pulls basically the blue light out of the screen. And it’s, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the blue light, obviously the blue wavelength that's in the sun, for instance, will tell the body to basically suppress melatonin, that it's still during the day. So if you're on a device later in the evening and there's blue light, even though it's dark outside, you're basically telling the body it's still day time because the


blue light is shining on the eye? Dr. Hedberg: That's exactly right. Yeah. So people who are checking their cell phones in bed or in the evening, just a little bit of that blue light exposure, your brain really, it doesn't know the difference between sunlight or light from any type of device. So it can't distinguish it. So it's going to think that it's noon. And that's going to, like you said, it's going to suppress melatonin. Brain activity is going to be increased. And that can affect people's sleep and the quality of their sleep, as well. Dr. Davidson: Great. I love that. They’re free apps, too. I definitely think everybody should take advantage and download that on to your phone. You can just see so many people at night on the phone or if they wake up and they can't fall back asleep, why do we pull out? We pull out the electronics, which is probably only going to make the situation worse by getting exposed to blue light, so definitely love that. Any final tips or words or things that you want to mention about Lyme disease that you've seen as a practitioner that have seemed beneficial or misconceptions about it, that you think need to be clarified? Dr. Hedberg: Yeah. I would say the biggest thing is that sometimes there tends to be too much of an emphasis on the infection itself, whether that be heavy amounts of antibiotics for months or years on end, or even herbal medicines or natural medicines targeting the microbes. And that tends to make a lot of people sicker, number one, if they're not ready for it. And then with the antibiotics, like we talked about earlier, that begins to create all kinds of problems with the bacteria in your body. So I would say that one of the most important things is really laying the groundwork, so to speak, the bedrock, before you go there. And if you do need antibiotics or you do need to use some powerful herbal antibiotics, once that groundwork, that foundation is there, they tend to just work a lot better.


Patients have fewer side effects, fewer Herxhiemers. And so just have a little bit of patience in that regards. Spend a little bit of time, one, two, three months maybe, getting the rest of the body really healthy and ready to attack those microbes, so to speak. And then, in some cases, fixing all the other things in the body, the immune system becomes healthy enough to just metabolize and control whatever infections the patient may have. That's definitely what we would call a successful outcome when you can do that. Dr. Davidson: Awesome. Love that advice. Focus on basically improving the body overall, rather than just focus on the big old bug bomb that the medical establishment is all about. Dr. Hedberg: Exactly. Dr. Davidson: Awesome. Well, just great advice Dr. Nikolas Hedberg. I really want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to join us on the Chronic Lyme Disease Summit. I think it's just such a needed topic and really appreciate your expertise, perspective, and knowledge in this category. Dr. Hedberg: Well, it's been great to be on, Dr. Davidson. I appreciate it. Dr. Davidson: Great. Well, as you've heard from Dr. Nikolas Hedberg, ketosis is a great way to reduce inflammation, and can be a big piece in even helping battle some of the antibiotic use that maybe you've been on in the past. And there's definitely some great apps that you can reduce blue light, and focus on really looking at the body as a whole holistically, rather than just focusing on the bug bomb as Lyme is more than just a tick bite. So definitely take this life-saving, life-transforming information home with you by clicking on the banner beside or below. And definitely share this with your friends and loved ones as they're counting on you because otherwise they're


probably not going to hear this. And don't forget to visit Dr. Nikolas Hedberg. His website is DrHedberg.com. You'll not be disappointed. Maximum blessings. This is Dr. Jay Davidson.

dr. davidson: hello! this is dr. jay davidson from...

Documents