Dr. Will Cole
Appearances
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
There's so many health issues that are going on beyond the surface that conventional medicine has not caught up with.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Exactly. So these exist on a spectrum. We want fasting glucose to be under 90. I mentioned triglycerides, HDL, so triglycerides under 150, HDL above 59. I think when you look at metabolic syndrome, These people typically will have high sensitivity C-reactive protein to be off.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So you'll see HSCRP, even if it's not through the roof, you'll see it above one, which the American Heart Association and the CDC want it in the optimal range under one. We would want it under one as well in functional medicine.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
homocysteine which i mentioned earlier it's an amino acid it's supposed to be recycled down into methionine but it acts like a neurotoxin even subclinical like just slightly elevated homocysteine has been linked to increasing blood-brain barrier permeability or what they call leaky brain syndrome which is And when I say it, it's kind of like people like what my brain is leaky.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I can't believe this is happening, man. Really?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, it's not right. It's linked to cardiovascular disease too. So we went home assisting to be under seven. We would run what's called a nuclear magnetic resonance NMR test, which I'm sure you run to. It's like we want those small dense LDL particles to be as low as possible. Those are the not the cholesterol, they're the protein carriers of cholesterol.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So it's not the cholesterol that's the problem. It's the inflammation or oxidation of the particles, the protein that carries cholesterol.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's like Sean Connery was like the ultimate, you know. And then your wife would be like, why are you walking around with a British accent? I don't know, babe.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And so many Americans, they feel disempowered. They think there's something above them. It's inaccessible. Right. And they see... social media is a double-edged sword, right? We see all everybody's highlight reels and you feel like I could never do that.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But a lot of the things that we would say, probably some of the biggest needle movers for the average American or person out there, Western or out there, anywhere you live are accessible. I mean, a lot of my telehealth patients, you know, contrary to what you may hear on social media are just normal nine to five people, right? They're just people that have a why bigger than their excuses.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And they're realizing I'm going to break generational cycles. I'm going to change the culture of my family. You do not have to be a one percenter. And look, I totally agree. You don't. Yeah. Right. And we're there for those people, too. But I don't want to limit this to just being like this elite thing where it no, I want this.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I was on a call with some heads of Walmart the other week because they want to know about this whole Maha thing, because the Walmart customer
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
is wanting they're becoming literate when it comes to reading labels i love that so to me this is about that special time that we're talking about yeah yeah that it's like we're hopefully there's more aha moments from people that shop at walmart that is normal nine to five people that are like you know what i can't do all the things but i want to do something for my health which is more than we can say historically the awareness is making it down to that level i mean my excitement about maha
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
This is gonna be great.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, it's the most common autoimmune disease, right? And I think historically the first, maybe the first autoimmune condition discovered in science, I think it was early 20th century, maybe. And I always find it interesting that guys wanted to name an autoimmune condition after themselves, right? Hashimoto's, Addison's. Is that where Hashimoto's? I think it was. I never really thought about that.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Maybe if your life's work is that, maybe you would. But to me, it's like, I don't want a disease.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
No. I mean, more power to them. I'm sure they were brilliant people. But anyways, it's autoimmune thyroiditis. There's over 100 different autoimmune conditions. Hashimoto's is the most common one. And there's an additional 50 above that 100. different diseases that have at least an autoimmune component.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And then every few years, we hear about more and more autoimmune components to this and to that and to this. The things that we weren't even classified a decade ago as autoimmune, now we're finding autoimmune components. So if you break that word down, auto, that prefix, self-immune, it's when the immune system turns against itself at that event that they sort of
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
seminal event within autoimmunity called molecular mimicry. The case of mistaken identity when the immune system is tagging antibodies, flags for destruction, to destroy. So against the thyroid, it's against thyroproxidase, the enzyme that makes the thyroid, or thyroglobulin, which is the thyroid protein itself. But then you can think about ulcerative colitis, it's in the gut.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Crohn's, it's in the gut. MS, it's in the myelin sheath. Sjogren's, it's the connective tissue. Lupus, it's the connective tissue. Sjogren's, it can impact the dry eyes and the dry mouth. and rheumatoid arthritis, the joints. So we can go on and on, but that molecular mimicry is that connective mechanism within all autoimmunity.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. It's a special time. Yeah, it's a special- Such a time as this, for sure.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And then you think of how researchers even describe molecular mimicry. It says they describe it as the immune system losing recognition of self, which you think about that on a physiological level that's happening. But then you think on a mental, emotional, spiritual level, the immune system, that person losing recognition of self. And then the research around stress and trauma.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And when we talk about Hashimoto specifically, there's a lot of stress and trauma component where these genetic variants that are associated with autoimmunity, like MTHFR is highly associated. The genetics, depending on the study that you cite, it's anywhere between 77% to 91% of the autoimmune inflammation puzzle is due to epigenetics. It's the lifestyle stuff that we're talking about here.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Totally agree. So genetics are part of it, like MTHFR, like HLA, like other gene variants that researchers, endocannabinoid system too. Right. But the majority of it is environmental. So that's why we're seeing this epidemic rise of Hashimoto's disease. You're right. These levels, these TPO, TGA thyroid antibodies are high in so many people.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Normally there's different areas, but if you look at the... When does the switch get flicked? Normally it's leaky gut syndrome. Normally when you look, and I would say most of the research is being done, is there's some sort of breach of the intestinal lining. So undigested food proteins and bacterial endotoxins called lipopolysaccharides, these bacterial toxins in gram-negative bacteria.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
are passing through the gut lining because there's these proteins that govern gut lining permeability called occludin and zonulin. Think of the Z in zonulin, this protein that protects the gut lining, the tight junctions of the gut as a zipper. So this increased zonulin antibody activity, increased zonulin activity, You're going to have things breached, getting from the gut into the bloodstream.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And that is at least part of it that researchers have looked at for the past 15 or 20 years or so as this event of what's happening as to why this molecular mimicry is happening. Because the immune system sees undigested food proteins, sees bacterial toxins and says, what the heck? It's not actually saying what the heck, but I'm speaking for your immune system right now.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And it is tagging the undigested food proteins with that flag for destruction, the antibody, and then cross-reacts because it's similar enough in structure, the thyroid is similar enough in structure that it's attacking the thyroid, but then it could be the joints, the gut, the brain, or anything. Right. So we have to look at what's destroying that gut lining. Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And these environmental toxins like glyphosate. Oh, yeah. You talk about herbicides and pesticides, what it's doing to decimate this gut garden.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
The gut microbiome, big part, microplastics. They're finding it 90% of human tissue. Yeah. There's not a healthy amount of microplastics in the human body. Right. We should not be like microdosing microplastics. But we are doing more than microdosing these microplastics.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, so the first part of the question, you said, how do they find out? If we're looking, and this is a oversimplified Venn diagram, but when we started the conversation with these people that don't necessarily have high, these conventional inflammation markers like HSCRP, they don't have maybe super high homocysteine, their metabolic labs look pretty normal.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
There are obviously a lot of people that have, as I mentioned, 93% of the United States don't have great looking labs. But then there's this other group of people that have these normal markers, but these other biotoxin, inflammatory, immunological type markers
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
labs and then of course many people can have both right so um and and you're right if someone has a poor metabolic health it's going to exacerbate all as a gasoline on that inflammatory fire that's right he has insulin resistance so you want to check all these boxes like look at metabolic health like we talked about look at those those labs that i mentioned but then look at these other autoimmune type
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
labs and things that will perpetuate these inflammatory flare-ups so to understand inflammation 75 of that's in the gut so if i'm thinking of the average person out there like how do i get more bang for my buck on where do i understand the predominance of that where my immune system resides it's it's going to be in the gut right so getting a good microbiome lab is a good place to start
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
um to look at this landscape depending on the study you know upwards of 100 trillion bacteria in the gut we have about 30 trillion human cells we're exponentially more bacteria than human right it's sort of this oh yeah i think you know in the 90s when there was the teenage mutant ninja turtles remember the villain krang where the brain was inside of the robot i don't know i yeah i'm like
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
That's how I feel like we are. We all have cranks that are regulating our mood and our immune system and all of that stuff. Well, that's two-thirds of the immune system. So to look at where inflammation originates, there's a lot of gut-centric drivers of inflammation. So I would look at the gut and then look, look at these environmental toxins.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I get a good blood, urine, blood and urine tests to look at these biotoxins like bacteria, viruses and mold. Look at the environmental toxic load like these herbicides, pesticides, microplastics and forever chemicals and heavy metals.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
look we have to understand the two-thirds of that autoimmune puzzle we have to look at the epigenetic variables of why people have these issues and then we have to look at the one-third because i think looking at genetics helps you understand your own bioindividuality because you can say oh yeah i don't methylate as well oh yeah i don't detox right oh i have this hla gene variant so my immune system isn't as good at calming down whenever i'm exposed to a stressor or a virus or something like this i've used one called vibrant labs
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, but look at environmental toxin panel. Cyrex is another one. Cyrex, okay. Yeah, there's a lot of, I would say, blood, urine, saliva labs that will look at the immune system in this way, both the gut microbiome immune system and then these environmental toxins, both man-made and not nature toxins.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's massive part of my telehealth clinic. Like for people, I didn't say this, but like I started the first functional medicine telehealth clinic like 15 years ago. So I'm like a super nerd when it comes to this stuff, 10 hours a day. I need to get out more. That's why I'm so excited to hang out with you. But also I don't get out of that dang room very often.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
of people that have sexual abuse growing up and physical abuse growing up, neglect growing up. We have to look at these emotional toxins too.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. Just I'm in a room talking to people online, which I love. It's a blessing. I'm super, it's a sacred responsibility for me. but I need a break too sometimes. So this is my, I go to Gary Brekker's place to hang out. Have some HBOT. So that's my, for people that don't like my, the context of which I'm speaking with is not some theoretical pontification.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It is like just real people getting them healthy. And I love what I get to do. Sorry, what was the question?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Oh, yes.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I would not recommend everybody do that. Some people should.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Well, then they stress about not stressing. Cause there's like, oh yeah, you're telling me, I already know stress isn't good, but how do I,
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
actually decrease it and not just talk about it which adds to those ruminating stressful thoughts so the gut and brain are actually formed from the same fetal tissue so when babies are growing in their mom's womb when we all were there uh the gut and brain are formed from that same fetal tissue and they're linked for the rest of our lives through what's known as the gut brain axis so the vagus nerve is the largest cranial nerve in the body it gets its root word from the you know i think it's latin wondering the wandering nerve
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And it's responsible for that parasympathetic aspect of the autonomic nervous system, the resting, digesting, the hormone balance, the anti-anxiety state. So we have to look at the vagal nerve tone for a lot of this conversation. It's innervating, it's connecting the gut and the brain. The gut is known.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
and the research as the second brain most of your listeners know that but if you think about it the intestines kind of even resemble the brain 95 of serotonin is made in the gut 50 of dopamine is made in the gut stored in the gut so our pleasure and our happy neurotransmitters are made in the gut stored in the gut a lot of them are and they work they don't pass through the blood brain barrier the mechanism seems to be they are communicating through the vagus nerve
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
They're working on GM motility. They're crosstalking between the gut and the brain and the brain and the gut, this bidirectional crosstalk. So why we have to look at the feelings, like I wrote a book about this and I called it gut feelings because I saw that cliche of, you know, gut feelings. I just, you know, feel it in my gut. I have butterflies in my stomach, a gut instinct.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But gut and feelings and how the gut impacts the feelings and how the feelings impacts the gut or our physiology is an important part. And you can't look and talk to people with autoimmunity and other mystery illnesses that the world would call that. You can't do that for 10 hours a day for 15 plus years and not see the mental, emotional, spiritual component of this.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
You're not gonna get them better if you ignore it. So I think that as a clinician, it just was compulsive because it was so obvious. We're talking about things like unresolved trauma as a kid and chronic stress in your present life or both.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And how, when you look at the research around the ACE questionnaire, the adverse childhood events or experiences, we have every telehealth patient fill that out. And we're talking about like really heavy stuff, like sexual abuse growing up and physical abuse growing up, neglect growing up.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
substance abuse growing up what's your parents relationship growing up and the higher your a score you're more likely to have these autoimmune issues or metabolic problems or you know um obviously mental health issues so it's a piece of the puzzle these mental emotional spirit spiritual or the feelings part of gut feelings impacts the physical health so much so it's it's part of what dysregulates so as we're talking about environmental toxins
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
We have to look at these emotional toxins too that are stored in our body. So it's an essential part of healing for many people.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, exactly. The body has a memory, so it's living out the past as if it's still happening to some degree. So the autonomic nervous system, again, simplistic way of describing it, but you have the sympathetic, the fight or flight or freeze or fawn, that sort of hypervigilant response, you're being threatened, right? That's the sympathetic and the parasympathetic, that resting, digesting state.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Most people, that seesaw is out of balance. Like sympathetic is overactive and the parasympathetic is underactive. What's governing that parasympathetic is the vagus nerve. So people have, researchers will refer to as poor vagal tone. It's a weak vagus nerve.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Sure. Yeah. This phenomenon that you're explaining is something that I see on a daily basis. People that have things like brain fog, fatigue, digestive problems, anxiety, joint pain, global pain.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yes.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And the environmental toxins, like all that stuff we talked about, unhealthy gut foods, inflammatory foods, etc., all contribute to poor vagal tone, but so does the mental, emotional, spiritual stuff. So yeah, it's not that it's literally, look, we're discovering these mechanisms every couple of years. So talk to me in 10 years, we'll understand even more.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But as we understand it now, yeah, it's contributing to the nervous system and neural pathways living in this hypervigilant state and doesn't know how to calm down. And even that exists on the spectrum. Dysautonomia is the sort of end, part of that, a very severely dysregulated nervous system. But a lot of Americans are somewhere on that dysregulated nervous system.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
They're stressed, they're wired and tired, anxious and exhausted, and don't know how to calm down. Right.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I would say, yeah. And for people to keep like, there's so much self gaslighting with it around this topic, because it's very easy for you to find someone that's gone through worse than you and say, well, yeah, they had trauma. But, you know, I don't have trauma. Like, it's not that bad. It's not the event. It's the experience of that person, right? So there's even bio-individuality with that.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Like, you could have siblings that go through the same childhood and have completely different memories.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So it's like, what's your even bio individuality to and perception in which you handled that event in the past. So I would say an ACE questionnaire is a good way to go. It's not exhaustive, because it's just talking about childhood. And there's a lot of things that can be missed if you're as a clinician, if you're just looking at the ACE, like I have to look at like relationships and life
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
after childhood. And these are things that I'm talking about over an hour and a half to two hours on an initial online console, because you have to look at these things that maybe you never even went back to and gave it much credence, but it's a piece of the puzzle. It's not the entire puzzle, but something to look at.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, joint pain. What the world may call mystery illnesses, they're falling through the cracks. They'll be told from conventional doctors, well, it looks autoimmune, but they're not like checking all the boxes. They're somewhere on that autoimmune inflammation spectrum. And exactly what you're saying, where it's like, yeah, metabolic labs are pretty much okay.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But, you know, I would start we could just assume it's going to be at least a piece of the puzzle is dealing with that stress and trauma component. For some people, it's a big piece of the puzzle. For some people, it's a smaller piece of the puzzle. But I would say bringing in acts of stillness in your life is a good way to. check in with yourself and start to like, look at this thing head on.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Maybe it's the first time you've ever looked at it. You know, things like breath work and meditation can be very uncomfortable for people because they have never quieted their thoughts. They're so looped up and thinking that their thoughts and emotions and not that observing presence of them. It's very scary.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I mean, when you think of people closing your eyes and doing some meditation, creating panic attacks, um, there's a reason why. Or then the average person, it may not be that extreme, but they may be doing some breath work and meditation and be really not good at it, you know? And it's the people that say, well, meditation is not for me. They're typically the people that need to do it the most.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, right.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Because their nervous system is so...
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
disquieted so used to being distracted numb like they want to be scrolling the FOMO inducing content on social media they want to be numbing themselves with food they want to be doing anything but being rooted in the present moment and that's a sign that that nervous system dysregulation is an issue that you are avoiding what is within to heal it and you have to you know that cliche of you need to feel it to heal it is very true when it comes to stress and trauma
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. For some people, that feelings part of gut feelings is... a significant player. And I talk to people and they'll be like, oh yeah, well, I got the food down. I got the environmental toxin thing down, but I never dealt with this feeling side. And for them, that's a big catalyst. And for some people, it's the opposite, right?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
They've really dealt with the feelings part, the mental, emotional stuff. They've done therapy, they've done EMDR, they've done trauma work, they've done somatic practices, but they have an unhealthy gut. They're eating inflammatory foods. They have environmental toxins. So a both and not either or approach is how healing happens. However, it's manifesting in your life.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Believe me, as someone that talks to people all day long, this is a human issue, no matter who you are. Like you said, really wealthy, affluent people have these issues and very everyday normal people, nine to five people are having this issue because we all live in the same dang toxic soup.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
C-reactive protein, high sensitivity C-reactive protein looks normal. Homocysteine is sometimes suboptimal, but nothing crazy. These inflammation markers-
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Conventional inflammation. But you're right. When you look at things like TGF beta-1, C3A, C4A, MSH, these sort of other immunological labs that are conventional labs but aren't typically ran in the conventional setting, you will typically find for that subset of people, those labs will be off. And then when you start looking at biotoxins, it confirms those conventional labs in my mind.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, it does. A lot. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Gratitude is a powerful medicine. It's like it should be prescribed in every PCP's office. And that's not to... Well, you don't see pharma go crazy. What did you prescribe? 30 milligrams of gratitude.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But the reality, and that's not making light of what you've gone through, right? If somebody's like, just be grateful, just have positive thinking. That's not what this is about. This is about what really a present moment awareness of just being surrendered to the present moment and looking at the good things within it and then facing the dark parts and healing that through that.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And I think intimately connected to gratitude is self-compassion. Like I saw a study that measured, they had people doing math and public speaking, two things that stress people out, right? And they measured interleukin-6, IL-6, which is an inflammatory protein. And they found that people that practiced the most self-compassion had the lowest interleukin-6 levels.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Well, it's so much connected to gratitude. It's a gratitude practice.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, self-talk, exactly, exactly. Talk to yourself like you would a good friend. So many people are really harsh on themselves with this inner critic. And they're not really grateful. They're FOMO. There's a lot of comparing yourself to other people in your life. There's not a lot of gratitude. There's a lot of self-judgment.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And we have 30 trillion cells that are eavesdropping on our thoughts and emotions about ourselves. So true. And about other people.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And whether it's compassion to the world around us, which that's a whole other level. There's so much lack of compassion around us. to other people that think differently than us or vote differently than us or are differently than us. But that compassion begins with yourself. Normally people that are really judgmental to other people are really judgmental about themselves. Right, right.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
They're not... content. They're not content. Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
They're dysregulated. Right. And it's easy to lash out. Um, yeah. So, but these things are more nebulous because it's easy and more prescriptive for me to say, well, these foods do the X, Y, and Z or environmental toxins do this protocol. It is a lot more abstract. It's a lot more nonlinear to say, well, like don't have that trauma or don't have that that ungrateful heart, right?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It confirms things like mold and bacteria and viruses. And almost 100%, I don't know if you found this, but almost 100% of these people that check all these boxes, what the world would call mystery illnesses, have these HLA gene variants. Like they're all, which for people that don't know, that's human leukocyte antigens.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's like, you need to practice it. And they call it a practice for a reason. We all suck at it. We all do. That's why we need to do it. So whether you're in is breath work or meditation, whether you're in is prayer and really surrendering to God. The Bible says the
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
our body is a temple of the holy spirit so if you have in any faith it's going to have some sort of similar concept but like how are we treating that temple right oh gosh and it's not just what we're feeding our body with breakfast lunch and dinner like what are we feeding our head and our heart on a daily basis about ourselves and other people and clean crap up like elevate that temple um because it's it's important because that shifts your biochemistry in a powerful way i totally agree with that
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
We have a lovingly, when we have a telehealth patient from Florida, we're like, you're probably moldy.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Probably moldy.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, you got mold. Probably moldy. Probably a piece of the puzzle.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It makes your body more sensitive, if you will, to these biotoxins like bacteria, viruses, and mold. So whereas mold is everywhere, bacteria and viruses, humans have been with symbiotically for a long time, but these people, their immune system doesn't know how to calm down when they're exposed to these pathogens.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So remember, mold, the context around this is mold is everywhere, right? So we're joking about Miami. It really can be any state. I have patients in very dry, arid place. And it's not, you know, in Arizona, for example, it's not the desert that's necessarily moldy, but it's they're piping, they're plumbing within their home. It's leaking behind the walls.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So the more humid a climate is, the more obviously it's going to be, you know, conducive to growing more. But don't count yourself out if you live in a dry area place and they go, I don't live in Florida. I'm fine. It really can be anywhere. It's just more likely to be a more humid area. And the other context is not all mold is toxic.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So we have to understand what type of mold are we talking about? How much and how long have you been exposed to the mold? And then what's your bioindividual tolerance to that mold? That genetic epigenetic puzzle, right? So all these variables matter. Because I think one accusation that we can get in functional medicine is like...
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
fear mongering around something like mold, but it's people lose the context and the nuance. Like when I do a social media post, it's not a two hour consultation. So forgive me if I give you statistics about mold and realize that I don't want everybody to be freaking out. But the reality is it is a piece of the puzzle. And when you talk to people for a living,
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
it's something that's missed very often. So I wouldn't even want to shut up. Yeah, I just want to bring the awareness. Exactly, exactly.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So to answer your question pointedly, it's a blood test and or a urine test, and I would say both are important because I want to look at the immune system's response to the pathogen, whether it's a mold, bacteria, or virus, and I want to look at if you can measure it, and a lot of these things you can, actually quantify the mycotoxins in the body. So looking at...
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
the blood the immunological and the toxic burden of mold and then these other man-made toxins that can be exacerbating it and a lot of these like epstein-barr virus and other things that can be reactivated are because of these other toxins because like the statistic is like somewhere like 90 some percent of people have epstein-barr virus antibodies right 90 percent of people don't have reactivated ebv so just because you have antibodies doesn't mean it's a reactivated yeah yeah there's igm and igg2 so you can see the difference between dormancy and
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But I see a lot of people, they'll see antibodies and then they'll automatically think it's a reactivated. Not necessarily, but it can be. And mold and man-made toxins can be something that's perpetuating these viral reactivations. So that's where you would start. And then I would look at the genetic component because almost always it's going to be this big aha moment.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I'm like, oh, that's why I'm sensitive to mold, but my spouse isn't. Because there's a lot of marital relationship gaslighting going on where it's like, they think they're a hypochondriac. Like the husband, not to generalize, but the husband typically is like, yeah, she's hypochondriac. She's just making it up. But you run his genetics. He doesn't have the same methylation and HLA gene variants.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So you could be in the home and she's reacting very hypervigilant. Her immune system is very sensitive to it.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
but he's not it's not healthy for the family our telehealth patients are typically that canary in the coal mine for our family because these things are carcinogenic yeah it's not healthy for anybody so maybe the guy it's just going to be this slow burner for decades right and it's going to be fueling cancer over 15 years but she's having problems right now and she's going to save his life by getting that mold remediated so good so these are the type of things that it's
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And then we could talk, I think in my mind, there's a environmental toxin component to it when you talk about glyphosate or forever chemicals. I think there's something man-made That is exacerbating these biotoxin sensitivities.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
not uncommon really. Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
These mental, emotional, spiritual, or the part of gut feelings impacts the physical health so much.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's like that bucket analogy that I mentioned earlier. Our patients typically have smaller buckets, right? Because of the methylation detox HLA gene variants. You can't change your bucket size. You can't change your genetic tolerance to handle stressors, but you can change what you put in the bucket.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So maybe like I mean, the people that we're talking about here, they're like, I can't get away with anything. Right. It's like I look at my friends and family and they're eating whatever they want.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Right.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And I can't like look at a food and have a flare up if I look at a food that doesn't light me back. Right. So, yeah, it's that's the epigenetic genetic interplay.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Well, first I would say, come to Gary Brekka's house. Come on over. Yeah. Just come on. I'm sorry.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. So, I mean, look, yeah. I mean, what we do, if they have access to these biohacks and tech devices and therapies, yes, let's give it to them. But it starts with some basic stuff, right? It starts with let's clean up the gut. Let's lower inflammation levels in the body. Let's see how resilient you can be By just allowing your body to do what it was created for.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So it's like you, most people. Yeah. Like let's, if we need to jump to hyperbaric, we will do that when we need to. But most Americans are not there. Like let's just see how much of a needle moving capacity with the free and low cost and accessible stuff.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And then from there, then we have in such, we live in such a blessed time where we do have access to technology that our grandparents, great grandparents, all the generations before us never had access to. So, but yeah, so I would start with really, if we're saying 70, 75, some percent of the immune systems in the gut really focusing on gut health.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So we do a lot of souping and stewing, like things that are really gentle, calming to the gut instead of lots of raw foods. being on very like a proverbial siesta for the gut. This little break, this reprieve, this Sabbath where you can allow, when you're brothing and souping, like just think having hearty soups for meals.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And they could be bone broth based with lots of good meats in them and pureed vegetables or some soft cooked vegetables. And then when they have fruit, I even cook the fruit down or have people cook the fruit down as sort of a compote, like an inside of a pie because these people, their immune system is stressed.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's digesting even healthy foods is stressing and already stressed out gut immune axis.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And not everybody has to start there, but I'm talking about you have to meet your gut where it's at. And a lot of people are there because we've really messed up microbiomes in our culture today.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But carnivore, carnivore adjacent gaps, there's a lot of different therapeutic food protocols that could be helpful from a clinical nutrition intervention standpoint to calm inflammation, to untangle these inflammatory cascades. As far as like supplementation is concerned, like glutathione or some glutathione precursor, like N-acetylcysteine, a great binder is going to be needed.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Like some charcoal. Activated charcoal. Exactly. ZLA, diatomaceous earth, modified citrus pectin. We're seeing some great success.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I don't want to say non-negotiable, but it's on my list of non-food, non-supplement protocol. It's one of the first things, if not the first thing that we recommend. So even if they don't have access to asana, like even asana blanket, like just getting the body sweat, get some exposure to infrared or traditional asana,
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And obviously there's a lot of, you know, better, better, you know, good, better, best when it comes to all of these things, but doing something versus nothing is going to move the needle. Most people aren't sweating enough. So yeah, it's supporting sweating. Detoxing is, is, uh, supporting detoxification pathways through sweating is definitely, uh, I, one of the first things we do.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Ozone is another game changer. I totally agree with that. Yeah. We were talking about that. Yeah. Hawking, uh,
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Well, it's a hormetic therapy, right? It's subject to the law of bioindividuality just like all these other things we're talking about, right? It's like for people that don't know, hormesis, it's the dose makes the poison basically, right? And I've heard, I don't know if it's true or not, but the legend is
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It was the concept of hormesis was a king in the Middle Ages that thought he was going to be poisoned and thought his mom was going to poison him, which if you know anything about history, there was a lot of royal poisonings going on. Oh, really? Just move the older brother out of the way so I can sort of from the younger brother.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
kingdom yeah exactly so this is the legend of hormesis is that the king took low doses of poison so if he was poisoned he would have built a tolerance to it that's what fasting is it's not poison but all hormetic effects in the body which cold plunge hormetic sauna hormetic fasting and fasting mimicking diets like the ketogenic diet hormetic so the dose makes the poison or the dose makes the body more resilient it's not a poison meaning that if you're always in a cold plunge
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It frees to death. It's not good. But just to say that cold plunging isn't good is it's losing the context of it. Same with sauna. You're not always in a sauna. You would die if you're always in a sauna. So intermittent fasting is still subject to that. It's like, okay, who are we talking about? How long are we fasting? So it's the science and art of these therapies, right?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's pushing the body to be more resilient. It's tapping into what Paracelsus, you know, one of the fathers of, he was the father of toxicology. He was known as the Martin Luther of medicine in the early 1500s in Switzerland. He called fasting the physician within, which I think is a beautiful way of putting it. It's like- It's like an inner doctor that we can, for free, tap into.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Some people need more of that inner physician. Some people need less. So too much hormetic effect, just like any of these other therapies that I talked about, could impact thyroid hormones negatively, could impact a lot of things with putting too much stress on the body. But then to throw the baby out with the bathwater, which is a horrible cliche, but it is...
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
striking that balance where it is a needle mover is where like my part of my job is like, it's like, okay, don't be all or nothing. Like what's like the way we can bring this tool within your toolbox. And for some people, maybe they shouldn't do it at all. Right.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But I think a lot of people should, we should find a way to use it because it is a way to tap into these healing pathways, like increasing sirtuins, these sort of
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. Not go too late at night. Just allow your body faster than night.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's, I think we overcomplicate things back to our sort of addiction and dopamine. We're always wanting to consume, consume, consume, consume. So we're going to come up with all the excuses in the book to say why we shouldn't consume for a day, you know?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But the reality is most Americans could benefit from some time where we're giving the body a break.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
we all have different bucket sizes right that's your bio individuality for how much junk can i handle right and environmental toxins man-made and biotoxins like bacteria virus and mold are going to be contributing factors but then stress and result trauma you know not sleeping well foods that don't love you back i mean it's a confluence don't love you back i like that america loves those yeah yeah oh we do they love to be in a toxic relationship with things that don't love them back
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Thank you.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's analogous, I would assume, times exponentially more as 9-11. The people that were at ground zero at 9-11, the things that they were breathing in. I mean, this is an entire metropolitan area of these toxic things that people are breathing in. Yeah, it's not great.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. That's common because they're stored in the fat tissue, right? They're stored in the body and it's not in the urine just floating around all the time. It's not in the blood always floating around. The body's trying to protect you by storing it in the tissue. Right. So you have to provoke and put the lab in context. If it's provoked, of course, it's going to be
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
higher but it's that's in the body right that's not healthy come just come from nowhere yeah right it's not like you are artificially spiking it it's just being chelated out so you can measure it and see what is hiding from the basic tests so urine provoke tests for anybody where it's clinically appropriate we should be looking at heavy metals um because it is an issue so yeah we have to we ask somebody finds out that they have them you know where do they go from there um
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Well, look, I think the chelators, the binders that we talked about, the glutathione and glutathione precursors, sometimes more advanced chelation like the DMSL, there's other chelation tools that we could do. But sometimes it's spirulina, chlorella, right? It's just like the basic food is medicine to be supporting the body. Yes, sometimes we need to be more advanced with chelation and detox.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But I wouldn't start there if you've never done this. I would start with seeing if you have the issue, do the things that I talked about with lowering inflammation, allowing your body to be able to handle this stuff. And things like spirulina, chlorella can be great. Cilantro can be great. I mentioned glutathione, liposomal glutathione. Antioxidants like vitamin C can be wonderful.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And sweating, right? A lot of the things we talked about with the biotoxins, making sauna, whatever you have access to, whether it's a sauna blanket, infrared sauna, traditional sauna in a gym, making sweat at least six times a week, start off low and slow, building up a tolerance to it if you're sensitive. But these are the things over time we can start getting that number down.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
The body's amazingly resilient if you give it the chance to do what it was designed to do.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
yeah i totally agree some people have more impediments than others um but it's it's not we're not fear-mongering but you have to know what you're dealing with to do something about it and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look around and say yeah we are sicker than ever before yes and we're up against things that our ancestors grandparents didn't have to deal with yeah a lot of this stuff is post-world war ii and a lot of this a lot of this stuff is like since the 1980s and 90s
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So it's like, yeah, they were not living in the world we're living in. So of course we have to be talking about these things because we've never been exposed to more in such a short period of time.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Well, I would say we have to start with food because food is something that people are doing every day, should be doing every day. What I call the inflammatory core four are going to be the four food or food additive ingredients are going to be the most problematic. And there's bio-individuality, there's nuance and context to this.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Like there's always better for you versions of all of these things, right? So it's not black or white. But I would say gluten-containing grains would be up on my list.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, right. Is it the gluten or is it what we've done to it? I think it's more what we- GMO. Yeah. Right, exactly. It's herbicides. It's sprayed with things. We are the soil microbiome. It's hybridized. So it's not like in biblical times, like ancient grains, einkorn. It's not what people are consuming now. But historically, grains stored well during times of famine.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But now we're feasting on a famine food and we're not properly preparing it. We're spraying it with tons of stuff and we're over consuming it. So there's a lot of like, okay, it's not all or nothing, but it's something that a lot of people should look at because it is a...
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
gateway food because of the the clutin and zonulin the leaky gut syndrome that can trigger then it really creates a cascade for lots of things i've never heard of gateway i've heard of gateway drugs but i guess it's a good food i would say gluten gluten with glyphosate is a gateway food
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
gateway food to to more inflammation yeah exactly more food sensitivities etc yeah so number two would be of the inflammatory core four would be dairy again it's what we've done to it not the dairy right right it's homogenizes pasteurizes denatured the protein isn't what it once was the enzymes that help break down the lactose and the casein is is beta a1 not beta a2 so
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Humans would have consumed grass-fed A2 raw dairy for thousands of years, but it's a shell of what it once was that people are having. So that would be number two. Third would be seed oils, which is a little controversial. I don't know why it's so controversial. It's being looped up in all politics, but it shouldn't be controversial.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
The overconsumption of omega-6, not enough omega-3s, the omegas-3, 6, and 9 ratio matters. Plus the manufacturing and processing of these things matter.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Exactly. Well, yeah, it shouldn't be controversial. Now, you could make the argument, I don't know if I would, but you could make the argument that there are probably better versions, like organic sunflower oil probably is better than- Yeah, cold expeller pressed or something like that. So yeah, I'm not making blanket statements, but you have to look at the implication.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And fourth would be sugar, right? Obviously, even the- Even the nicer sounding euphemisms, like agave nectar is a nut one. That's like a lot of people within wellness are like, yeah, I'm having all these packaged foods that are healthy, but it's still a lot of added sugar.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And if it looks like agave nectar, it's almost greenwashed in a way where it's like somebody just squeezed the agave and poured it in the cup and it's so natural. But it's still high fructose, lacking fiber. So it's going to impact blood sugar negatively. Right. So that's the inflammatory core four. And then if I could add one, it would be alcohol. Which I lose friends every time I talk about.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
How was it? Yeah. What did you drink?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Well, isn't that interesting? I mean, that's a testimony, right?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
You just need some methylene blue and some hyperbaric. Yeah, yeah.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. You see, you're getting, you're getting the euphoria on things that love you back with not without the crash. And I think a lot of people, they, when I talk about alcohol or those foods, they think like, oh man, like that's a miserable existence. It's not like avoiding things that don't love you back. Isn't restrictive. Yeah. It's self-respect. So we need to get out of that sort of
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
insane unhealthy relationship with things around us like because continuing to eat things that don't love you back and wondering why you're still miserable it's like staying in this toxic relationship totally and wondering why you're still miserable like get out i call cold plunging my drug of choice because like nothing makes me feel better for longer if you've ever been high on your own dopamine for six hours it's like you won't want to do anything else and you'd start getting addicted to cold plunging it's not about living exactly it's not about living this sort of acidic
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
It's being, it's having deep gratitude and, And it's living the life that God has called me to and being not thinking I have that entirely figured out. Yeah. Right. Being open to not becoming overly identified with what I do. Right. But just being a vessel for him in this life. That's what it means to me.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, thanks, man. Everything's at drwillcole.com. The information about the telehealth clinic, the books, the podcast. My podcast is called The Art of Being Well. I'm about to be on it. Be on it. Thanks. Thanks so much. Yeah, but everything's there. I'm on at drwillcole on Instagram and TikTok and all that stuff. Amazing, guys. So we'll link all this stuff in the show notes.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And as always, until next time, that's just it.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah, so the first part of the question, you said, how do they find out? Well...
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
No, but you're right. There's so much medical gaslighting going on to these people. Unintentionally most of the time, right? Right. Because they're just... They're a square peg in a round hole. They're just not fitting in the conventional system, which it is looking at the diabetes. It's looking at the heart disease. They're being screened for these things.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
But there's so many health issues that are going on beyond the surface that conventional medicine has not caught up with. They're seeing it on a daily basis, but they don't know how to help these people.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Sure. So depending on the study that you cite, we have upwards of 93% of the United States is metabolically unhealthy in some way. They're not checking all the boxes of saying, I'm in great metabolic health. But you're right. It's kind of... kind of abstract, nebulous term. People maybe think of weight gain, which is a part of it, but it's so much more than that, right?
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So yes, it can be weight loss resistance or trouble losing weight, but poor metabolic health can manifest like low sex drive. It could... it could manifest as sleep issues, it could manifest as brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, depression, it doubles your rate of that when you're insulin resistant. That's really what's going on.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I mean, there's a central seminal event that's happening in most of these people. It is some degree of insulin resistance. There's somewhere on that insulin resistance spectrum, which if you're looking at that statistic, seven, only 7% of America is metabolically healthy. And I would say that's kind of, they have loose standards.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Like if you, as you know, like in functional medicine, we're looking at a tighter range of where does vibrant wellness live, which is where we get our name in functional medicine. Where does the body function the best? So we want triglycerides even tighter than what they want in the conventional setting. And most people, a lot of Americans have triglycerides above 100.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And that is like that proverbial Paul Revere. Paul Revere.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
I'm glad you said triglycerides. Yeah, triglycerides above 100. is typically an indication that the body's saying, I don't know where to put this blood sugar, so I'm gonna store it as circulating fat or triglycerides. It's gonna store it around the liver and spike those liver enzymes, AST and ALT. It's gonna start raising that A1C, that three month average.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And there's, depending on the study that you cite, that's about four to 10 years prior to someone having type two diabetes. These people were on this insulin resistance spectrum. For most people, it didn't happen overnight. And that high triglycerides and that low HDL, so triglycerides above 100, HDL below 59, that ratio is a proverbial metabolic Paul Revere
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
And if you're a history nerd like me, Paul Revere didn't actually say in effect, the British are coming. But to use that analogy, it's saying diabetes is coming. And if you don't do something about this, and this, you may feel fine. You may feel like, ah, I'm just getting older. Maybe I'm just a little tired.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Those are check engine lights that your body's saying, you know, let's figure out what's going on. So metabolic health. And when I say metabolic flexibility, or when we talk about metabolic flexibility, it's the ability to burn both sugar and fat. It's the, the flexibility to be, have energy and have optimal mitochondrial function. Most people are stuck in the sugar burning mode. They're hangry.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
which is hungry and angry is evil spawn. They're irritable. They feel like a shell of themselves. And then they gaslight themselves. And then they say, I'm just getting older. They get gaslit from doctors because the doctors are just screening for these big pathologies. And then they go for years not living their best life. And they settle for it.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
We have upwards of 93% of the United States metabolically unhealthy in some way. They're not checking all the boxes of saying, I'm in great metabolic health.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
So that's what we're talking about with metabolic health.
The Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
159. Dr. Will Cole: Autoimmune Crisis? Uncover Mold and Toxins Harming You
Yeah. Some other ones that I would recommend. And look, these are conventional apps. Like, yeah, we can run them in functional medicine and we do for people around the world, but you don't, you can go to your PCP, your GP, your endocrinologist and ask for these. So A1C, that's just three month average of your blood sugar. We want it at the very least under 5.6. Yeah.