Instagram Q&A 6/3/2024

Q: Best things for anxiety and depression overall? Like if someone has tried everything

A: Psychobiotics, FMT (or other microbiome interventions) neurofeedback, vagus nerve injections, Stallate ganglion block, neurofeedback, Fischer Wallace neurostim, TMS, electrical vagus nerve stimulation, psychedelic assisted forms of therapy, good meditative practice, PE-22-28, Semax, photobiomodulation.

Q: Best budget supplements for joint health?

A: UC-Il form of collagen. UC-ll collagen has bioactive immunomodulatory components that attenuate the exocytosis (so basically the proteolytic enzymes responsible for the catabolism of type Il collagen) so it can possibly decelerate the inflammatory cascade that eats away at cartliage and collagen. We're actually finding now that some of the proposed benefits of collagen go far beyond its glycine/ lysine content and is more related to some of these cell signaling mechanisms from nucleoproteins and short chain peptides. And this is exactly what bio-regulators do just on a smaller scale. With that being said, cartalax (the connective tissues bio-regulator) would be another good one. I wouldn't really say that's budget friendly but it does work well

Q: Any for BPC? human trials

A:

I would look into Edwin Lee. He did a really small 'trial' on 8 patients and got partial regrowth of knee cartilage I believe. All of the patients had subjective improvements in pain scores as well. The regrowth is big though. Is this an RTC? No. Is the sample size large enough to be considered 'solid' proof?

Absolutely not. But we have TONS of 'N = 1

trials' and small group case studies showing similar benefits with no downside. I think we can compile enough of these to almost create a pseudo-meta analysis where we can say something like 'we know this intervention is relatively safe given the experimental and anecdotal evidence we're seeing from practioners'. If someone doesn't feel comfortable using it because there's no RTC that's also fine. We just need to be upfront and honest with patients so that they can make those decisions for themselves with the help of an informed physician. And we definitely shouldn't be taking these things off the table as options for people. Otherwise they're going to buy them from shady vendors which is where the real risk is.

Q: Are there controlled trials on all the bio-regulators

A: No. The Siberian RTC was the largest controlled trial ever conducted on a 'longevity' intervention though. I can't remember example what the sample size was but it was massive. That was looking at thymalin, Vilon, Epitalon and vesugen.

So the 4 'primary' bio-regulators. So those 4 have a lot of really good clinical evidence to back their use. There's also quite a few seperate human trials that have been conducted. Some of the 'newer' bio-regulators don't have quite the same level of experimental evidence.

But they are in wide use in Europe and there hasn't been a single case report of an adversity to them yet. So they basically fall into the same category as most supplements where we'd say there's 'good' but not 'great' evidence with those SPECIFIC bio-regulators.

Q: Thoughts on Mike Mentzer method or minimum effective dose paired with zone 2 wkly?

A: It just depends on what the context is. I don't think Mentzer was entirely right and I don't think what he had people do was even remotely 'ideal' for hypertrophy like he claimed. Where I think that paradigm shines is in it being an ideal option for people who 1. Still want to get stronger (and maybe a little bigger) but 2. Really don't have that much time to spend in the gym or have other obligations and goals like a sport. It can work. And that's all you really need to worry about. From there it's just deciding wether it's an ideal fit for you based on your goals. I like it because I'm still able to get just as strong (which is really my only goal with strength training) and I only have to train twice a week to accomplish exactly what I was aiming for wirh 4 sessions a week. I'm not the type of person that 'needs' to be in the gym all the time either so this just frees up more time for me to do other things.

Q: Thoughts that probiotics didn't have good evidence?

A:

There's a meta-analysis on over 81 randomized controlled trials looking at probiotics for things like SIFO and SIBO.

And there's mounting evidence for things like fecal transplants (FMT) in treating a variety of chronic disease (which is basically just a poop transplant probiotic lol) and it's virtually the only thing that has a 99% success rate against infections like clostridium.

Anyone telling you that there isn't really good evidence for probiotics is a moron.

And or they're probably part of the group of individuals who collectively call themselves 'evidence based' but conviently ignore looking at any evidence that may mean they have to retract statements they made previously on the subject

Q: Thoughts on DMSO for injuries

A: Yes. It's one of the things I have listed up for subscribers on the comprehensive 'injury' section. It's the only topical that really works for injuries. In Canada and EU topical products that include DMSO are sanctioned for treating joint isssues. In Germany there's a product called Dolicur (1 think) that has approval for over-the-counter sales to alleviate pain from sports injuries. And some regions in Russia have implemented regulations permitting the use of DMSO for musculoskeletal injuries. It's only the in the US that they try to classify it as 'not for human consumption' even though there's suffiencent evidence backing it's safety profile and efficacy. We know what it does and we know when and where it's contraindicated.

Q: GF got psoriasis after two rounds of antibiotics. Any supp or bio regulator recommendations?

A:

Candida (yeast) is one of the first things to re colonize the GI if you don't restore healthy flora post antibiotics. Skin issues are a common side effect of that. Fungal protocol plus maybe a good spore based probiotic like the one I have in my bio from Just Thrive.

Saccromyces bulardii can also be useful. Make sure you're using one that has the I-745 form. That's the one that has the most clinical research supporting its use in humans.

Q: Have you ever tried ems training? Do you feel there are useful applications?

A: Yes. I have a pheonix waveform. To be honest, I don't really use it all that much though. Mostly just the micro-current settings. While I'm never the person who's going to poop something because there isn't a lot of research on it (I.e like most of the benefits that Jay talks about) I find it impractical (in some circumstances) and mostly an opportunity cost. There are some theoretical benefits that I think are interesting (like a lot of the high velocity contraction stuff with reverse current) but I just haven't really seen any of those benefits in my own practice. Depending on how you use it it also reduces the amount of load you can use. And anything that detracts from things we already know are cornerstones of training and rehab is a massive dissavsntage.

Also Applies if you’re picking exercises solely fit convenience with using the device. A lot of people people will toss out a lot of good exercises they're doing just to move their arm around with an ARP on lol. Which is wild, especially if you’re spending an extra 20-30 min of training time develop protocols and routines around it. ISO holds are virtually the only thing I'd ever use it on.