In this weeks episode LIsa interviews Dr Greg Brown a medical doctor and hyperbaric specialist and medical director of Wellington Hyperbarics.
Dr Greg shares his insights on this incredible therapy following on our series on hyperbaric oxygen therapy with Dr Jason Sonners and Dr Scott Sherr previously.
Lisa has also now opened her own hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic In Oakura, New Plymouth and you contact support@lisatamati.com to get on a discovery call to see if this is appropriate for you.
Here are some of the benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and discussion points in this interview:
Benefits
Improves brain tissue oxygenation
Stimulates brain tissue regeneration
Regrows nerve fibres
Forms new blood vessels and improves blood flow stimulating idle brain cells to function '
Speeds recovery and rehabilitation time
Stimulates tissue repair
Increases levels of neutrophils and nitric oxide
Reduces inflammation in the brain and body
Stimulates up-regulation of growth hormones
Reduces brain damage from swelling
Improves cognition, thinking and brain performance
Builds new collagen, skin and tissues
Reduces pain and swelling
Regrows health tissue, skin and bones,
Heals ulcers, wounds and injuries
Kills bacteria and infections making antibiotics more effective
Stimulates angiogenesis for axonal regeneration
Enhances mitochondrial function
Promotes stem cell reproduction by up to 800%
Increases cerebral blood flow
Decreases Cerebral edema
Reactivates quiescent neurons
Safe, comfortable, easy and pain free
HBOT is a non invasive treatment that can address a variety of medical conditions either as a primary or complementary therapy.
Lisa now has her LT Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy clinic open in Oakura, Taranaki. Find out more here
Dr. Greg Brown
Dr Greg Brown has been a Medical Doctor for nearly two decades. He originally hails from the UK but is now a proud New Zealander. He has a background in general practice, military medicine, travel medicine, and nutritional and environmental medicine. Greg is the Medical Director of Wellington Hyperbarics, an expanding community-based network of clinics providing medically-supervised hyperbaric oxygen therapy for a variety of conditions, and also continues to work in general practice. He is the father of three teenagers and the husband of one very patient wife. He lives in the Wellington region with his family, an evil ginger cat, and a few productive chickens. He is a keen musician, enjoys lifting weights, and has become a Wellington coffee snob.
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To pushing the limits,
Lisa and team
Transcript:
ell hey everyone welcome back to
pushing the limits today I am super
excited to have a very good friend Dr
Greg Brown to guest Dr Greg welcome to
the show it's fabulous to have you Thank
you Lisa really lovely to talk with you
this morning I had
a head Bridge of going down to your
clinic last week and having a beautiful
barbecue with your lovely family
um having a wonderful meal with
everybody there and with your business
partner Mike Winton so that was
absolutely fabulous so thanks for
hosting me
um you guys have Wellington hyperbarics
in today's episode is going to be well
we're going to stop you know cover a
couple of different topics because
soccer Greek is a very interesting
background
um but we'll be focusing
um largely on hyperbaric oxygen therapy
um and diving into the weeds there but
before we do that uh Greg can you tell
us a little bit about your background
wherever you come from your Specialties
what you do
okay yep so as uh astute listeners and
viewers May uh May pick up I'm not a
kiwi um well I am now but not by birth
uh so I I originate from the UK and uh
trained as a doctor in in Sheffield in
Yorkshire which is a great place to
train because the people are really
lovely
um so I finished up there in 2005 uh did
all my junior Hospital rotations and
eventually trains in general Practice in
that area uh and then came to New
Zealand ostensibly for about 16 months
uh 11 11 and a bit years ago so
um so general practice is my backgrounds
I then took a
um a turn into left field by joining the
the New Zealand military where I spent
the best part of a decade in and out of
uniform and the the Navy was my service
because I don't enjoy uh shaving
sleeping in Holes
um all running too far I'm sorry to say
Lisa talking to you
um
and then subsequent to leaving the uh
the Defense Force uh I've got involved
in Hyperbaric medicine and in really
trying to break the the mold in this
country yeah and and you're really at
the Forefront uh what you and Mike are
doing is just you know revolutionizing
I've been banging on about hyperbaric
oxygen therapy for eight years
I haven't really made much of a dent in
the universe yet
um uh but as a super powerful I I credit
uh hyperbaric oxygen therapy with saving
my mum twice
um both you know uh certainly in the in
the aneurysm
um and stroke that she suffered seven
and a half years ago
um it was absolutely pivotal in the
rehabilitation of her brain uh and since
with the uh cancer that we've been
dealing with it's been an adjunct
therapy
um it's not a cure for cancer it's an
adjunct therapy that can be beneficial
and I certainly think it's had a big
role to play in the fact that she's
still alive when she was meant to be
dead a long time ago
um and I'm very very passionate about it
I've got a clinic that's why I came down
to see Dr Greg because he's going to
help me with with my clients uh but you
guys have got the the Rolls-Royce of
hyperparage Chambers I don't quite have
the Rolls-Royce I got a single hard
shell chamber and a soft shell chamber
the soft shell you see in the background
but you guys have got the real
granddadding of them all you've got a
couple actually tell us about the
chambers yeah I mean I would I would say
it's more more Alexis than a Rolls Royce
I mean you know the the Rolls-Royce
um needs to be seen to be believed they
exist in places like Dubai where there's
an awful lot more money sloshing around
than there is in little old New Zealand
but but yes we have we have Chambers
made by a company called oxy help and
this is a company that does its
Manufacturing in in Europe
and really it's
it's almost the iPhone of hyperbaric
chambers yep
think what perhaps goes unrecognized or
under recognized is that the technology
has moved on really quite a lot in the
last last 10 years or so
and what you get with with something
like what we have is a very large degree
of of automation on the technical side
of things so the way that it manages the
pressure the way that it increases and
decreases safely the the controls that
you've got inside or outside the chamber
it really is next level as well as being
extremely comfortable and very spacious
and quite a quite a pleasant place to be
yeah it is absolutely you know and and
your chamber of course goes up to uh or
does it go up to 2.4 is that correct it
goes to 2 2.0 yeah so yeah we don't go
beyond that yeah yeah and so and and my
one for listeners is is at 1.5
atmospheres I would love to have one
that goes up to who but you know we are
talking a heck of a lot bigger
investment and the 1.5 can be very
effective in certain things I would like
to have a bit more pressure for for
other ailments but sometimes it's a case
of
get the best you can get
um and it's certainly going to be you
know sort of massively beneficial
um even at 1.5 uh two has got you know
certainly for things like diabetic
wounds or Crush injuries or after
surgeries or even with cancer it would
be better to be at the two if you can
get access and Greg and Mike have you
know you've got your clinic in
Wellington but you've got some sister
clinics in Palmerston North and
um Nelson I've got my one in New
Plymouth there are other ones popping up
around the country uh shout out to my
colleague who has is opening in pukekohe
shortly Dr Dean Carter who managed to
get his Hyperbaric technician
certification with Dr Jason Saunders
last week as well so fantastic to have
him now qualified in that
um and it's exciting it's an exciting
time for Hyperbaric uh people are
starting to hear the word bandied around
and and you know occasionally people
will know that that's the thing that the
divers have isn't it or when they get
the beans can you just briefly go over
what is Hyperbaric and and then we'll
dive into the the benefits of it
absolutely
everybody's Minds go to dive medicine if
they've heard of hyperbaric oxygen
therapy at all and of course it is it is
the same modality it's the same
principles but the application of those
principles is much broader than
generally ghost recognized
very very simply it's a dual drug
therapy that involves delivering high
flow supplemental oxygen at precious
higher than atmospheric pressure and
that's really it
um
it's
certainly better I would suggest
delivered in a hard shell Chamber from
the perspective of the
of the pressures that you can achieve
um
but the um the reality is that it
depends on the indication which which
sort of pressure you want to treat at
and um and this certainly you know
benefiting uh in in both sorts of
approaches hard or soft shell but we've
we've chosen to go the hard shell routes
because
um we think that especially under
medical supervision at those higher
pressures we can treat a broader range
yeah in terms of in terms of how it
works if there is there is the The
Upfront effect of direct oxygenation you
you do dissolve a very very large amount
of oxygen uh it doesn't just saturate
hemoglobin that can happen very very
quickly it also puts oxygen directly
into the blood plasma and that's just a
function of the way the gas laws operate
um but in the longer term and the way
that it's delivered these days uh there
are there are other effects around
growing new blood vessels and increasing
the amount of circulating stem cells and
actually also epigenetic changes that
that are now apparent and continuing to
be researched and you know and the exact
mechanisms are you know very very
complex and to an extent they're above
my pay grade but uh you know in in terms
of uh you know being able to deliver
this um this safely the
um the research base is is considerable
it's impressive and it just keeps
getting bigger yeah exactly all around
the world studies are being conducted
all the time and I know Israel is one of
the leading countries in this as well as
America who've got some great doctors
like Dr hatch and Dr Jason Saunders
who's been on the show and Dr Scott
shear and many others
um and it so it's hyper oxygenating the
body it's getting the the oxygen into
the plasma as you said when that is the
case then it can actually get through
because also the oxygen molecules
themselves have been compressed like a a
can of coke with with the gas in it
right it's got you know the carbon
dioxide or monoxide whatever it is and
you open it up and bubbles out right and
that's the gas expanding so that's
actually what's happening it's
compressing it down and then it can
permeate through damaged tissue hypoxic
tissue inflammation where there's
inflammation and these are areas of the
body that can be very hypoxic meaning
low in oxygen I say after surgery if
you've got a swollen joint if you've you
know twisted your ankle
um in the case of cancer there's more
oxygen around the tumors
cancer does not like
oxygen uh the blood-brain barrier you
can get through the blood-brain barrier
and rejuvenate neurons that are
quiescent that aren't working properly
can't do anything about the dead ones
sometimes when you've had a stroke or a
brain injury this did tissue that's dead
however it can help with rewiring and it
can help regenerate these these neurons
that are not quite doing their job
properly is that is that an accurate
yeah or anything wrong all of the above
yeah the um I think you've raised an
important distinction there between
tissue that's that's necrosic that's
completely dead and is unsalvageable by
by anything I'm including hyperbarics
and tissue that's under oxygenated that
is metabolically dysregulated it's
unhealthy it's unhappy and you would
find that around the area of of an
infarct in the case of a stroke so
you've got your dead bit of tissue
you've then got what's referred to as
the ischemic number so ischemic meaning
obviously lower lower blood flow less
less blood flow than it needs and it's
that area that you can get oxygen into
and rejuvenate unfortunately as I say
the the infarct is the infarcts that's
that's gone but the brain um is an
incredible thing you know obviously the
younger somebody is the the grade of the
degree of neuroplasticity but um it is
capable of making new connections
um and solving solving problems yeah
absolutely
itself yeah given the right conditions
and and I mean what what hyperbarics is
doing is it's essentially attempting to
signal to the body hey look there's a
there's a problem here go and fix it
um as much as anything else and um and
then the body being a wonderful thing
does its thing yeah and it's a you know
the great thing with just hyper
oxygenating is you're not introducing a
toxic substance a drug or anything into
the mix it's actually using the body his
own mechanisms you know the increase in
stem cell production the increase the
decrease in inflammation the
angiogenesis you know the the creating
of new capillaries and things that can
actually help reroute things you know
um and that thing like getting through
the blood-brain barrier is is quite a is
is quite problematic so
um getting the oxygen to damage stroke
or concussion or TBI and these can be I
mean obviously if you've just had a TBR
or a concussion or a stroke and you can
get into a hyperbaric straight away then
all the better but it's not that it's um
too late for people who've had these
things years ago it can also be
beneficial and I mean mum when she had
her she was 74 years old at the time and
now 80 when she got cancer
um her brain and neuroplasticity you
know I've lived this I've lived somebody
losing their brain almost completely
being not much over a vegetative state
to coming back to a person who can drive
a car function fully in society to then
going back again after the the brain
tumors to being a baby again and to come
back to being a near uh fully
functioning I'd say mum's operating at
about 85 these are some deficits see for
sure now
um but she's still you wouldn't sitting
at a coffee table with mum you would not
know she has anything only when she goes
to walk and things that she's a little
bit more fragile and a little bit more
unstable but to see the brain go for it
like this
complete damage right back complete
damage you know like just absolutely
phenomenal and it gives me hope for
people who are you know definitely for
the younger for younger people
um who are having brain injuries or
early onset dementia or Alzheimer's or
any of these things that this is we need
further studies there's a hell of a lot
of studies however that have been done
in this area and it's not really being
recognized
um as with all things in medicine hey
Greg
oh yeah yeah ABS absolutely right
um and you know your mom's story is is
absolutely incredible and is is on is
unmatched really by anything that
conventional medicine
um could offer or did offer in that
scenario right which having having read
your book um is it was a it was a fairly
wild story of of you know really just
frustration
um at a sort of fatalism
um that that that's it you know she's
she's had this um this is how things are
going to be you know and we've we've
seen we've seen people 10 years after
their after significant traumatic brain
injury
um and seen unreal improvements you know
it's uh it's absolutely not too late um
no the degree of improvement um and
exactly what that's going to look like I
think that's that is that's the variable
that's the frustrating thing you know
you you look at what the um the Israelis
and the Americans do using things like
um you know spect scanning just like it
was like if you know functional you know
blood flow um scan essentially there's
there's nothing that that we can do here
that um that matches that and no we just
don't have speed we don't have it no and
and nothing else is any good you know
functional MRI is is is to um is too
inherently variable just depending on
what the person is thinking about on the
day even you know it's um well it's not
a substitute so
unlike people who can get spec scans we
we can't say well actually that bit of
that bit of the brain's gone I'm not
going to improve your left arm but I
might improve your speech whereas the
um overseas people can do that so we've
we've got a ways to go there yeah and
and I think you know part of the problem
you know as as we've said is that you
you are switching on the body's healing
and regenerative processes right so you
are doing so with something that
essentially is non-pharmaceutical I mean
oxygen you know is a prescribed drug you
know so we we prescribe it I prescribe
it for for the um for the patients under
our clinic and and in our satellite
clinics understanding orders but that's
about it you know there's no
um it doesn't fit the medical model it's
not
um
it's it's not getting any traction
um because uh it's seen as it's seen as
Fringe um and it you know it's been
around for hundreds of years as you've
set the evidence base
um it is huge highly compelling And if
every single study that's ever done in
in its conclusions pretty much you know
one of its conclusions is you know needs
needs more studies
yeah it is it is and you know where
where do you draw the line on that and
and I think as well the part of the
malaise I guess in in evidence-based
medicine which has morphed into
something that that it was never
intended to be I mean you know
potentially we can get into that but
part of the malays is is really this
fixation on the randomized controlled
trial as being the only way of assessing
the efficacy of an intervention now the
the only people really that have the
money to do big randomized controlled
trials that are actually as well as
being the gold standard they're also the
most manipulatable but the only people
who've got the ability to do that at the
scale that you need to achieve the power
to get the result that you're looking
for is the drug companies exactly you
need very very Deep Pockets so when are
we ever going to get the same evidence
base and probably never so where do you
draw the line and say well actually
we've got enough and that's the position
that we came to to then put you know
money where mouths are and and to start
doing this stuff yeah and you know to
set up what you guys have set up is next
level expensive this is not a a get rich
quick scheme because who can tell you
it's like you've got to do the education
you've got to do you you know
um and I'm and I've you know done that
here too to the degree that I'm able to
do that to do that because we're
passionate about this because I've seen
it save mum and I've seen it save many
of my clients uh and and have incredible
results and I've read the studies and I
know that this is a impactful uh amazing
therapy but we like you said there's no
money behind there's no big dollars to
be made in this area of Science and so
it's not going to get the attention and
you know Jason Sonic has this beautiful
analogy um who's also a hyperbaric
expert of um talking about randomized
controlled trials if you had a plant
that stuck in a Cupboard and toxic soil
who hasn't had any water and it's
looking pretty grim and you go right I'm
going to change the one variable and
this randomized controlled trial and I'm
going to change and I'm going to give it
water and see whether it survives but
it's still in the dark cupboard and it's
still in the lead soil and then you come
to the conclusion that the water does
nothing it doesn't help it's still a
sick plant and you know and it goes on
the story of in changing the soil and
but taking the water out in other words
it's the Synergy of all these things
yeah it's a good analogy isn't it
because you know if if you if you ask
the question well actually where do we
see plants thriving in the world you
know and what conditions are present you
know that's that's a really different
question and that's a different
different way of doing the study isn't
it exactly yeah let's look at the
elements of what makes a healthy person
and let's look at you know and this is
why I love cellular health and cellular
Health like going right down not even to
a systems level but down to a cellular
level and trying to help the cell be
optimized trying to optimize the
mitochondria because I do believe that
the mitochondria are absolute key when
it comes to Optimal Health you know if
your mitochondria is sick you're sick
um and you're not going to have much
energy to repair yourself you know so
anything that works on that really sort
of deep level which hyperbaric oxygen
does
um this is has got to be good and
anything that uses natural
um the body's natural healing processes
it's just but it's doing it on you know
I was going to say on steroids it's
probably the wrong analogy
doing it extra strong
um I mean if I just run through some of
the things that you know can improve
brain tissue oxygenation stimulate brain
tissue regeneration regrow nerve fibers
that's mind-blowing uh form new neural
connections regrow new blood vessels and
improve blood flow stimulating idle
brain cells to function speed recovery
and Rehabilitation time stimulate tissue
repair increased levels of neutrophils
and nitric oxide
reduces inflammation in the brain and
body stimulates upregulation of growth
hormones which we all know is anti-aging
reduces brain damage from swelling
improves cognition thinking and brain
performance new collagen skin and
tissues reduces pain and swelling I know
it's getting boring me reading this list
but I want you to sort of get the point
Rigo's healthy tissue Skin and Bones
heals ulcers wounds and injuries kills
bacteria and infections makes
antibiotics more effective stimulates
angiogenesis and external regeneration
enhances mitochondrial function promotes
stem cell production by up to 800
percent increases cerebral blood flow
decreases cerebral edema reactivates
quiescent neurons and it's safe and
comfortable and pain-free well why the
hell would you not do this yeah it's
great isn't it and and if if I said all
of that in a newspaper advert the
medical Council would come down on me
like a ton of bricks even though even
though it's it's it's true and
clinically proven yeah and you know
um my listeners might have heard my
story about my dad who was you know
unfortunately died two and a half years
ago in in terrible circumstances in the
ICU and you know I came with the
clinical research
for intravenous vitamin C in relation to
sepsis and the reduction in mortality
rates of 48 if you can get it early
enough and I was told we're not
interested in the clinical research this
is a legal matter so my diet did my
opinion my opinion died because of a
legal matter because I couldn't get him
what he needed at the time when he
needed it and so one of the you know one
of my dreams is um is to as I've said to
you Greg is to get the right to try law
here which is uh they have it in America
in some states where at the end of life
you if your doctors have run out of
options for you you you're allowed to
try such things like that anything that
could be possibly helping whether within
them it's obviously of common sense
um of course and and you know Paul
marrick proved the efficacy in in the
ICU environments really beyond all
Reasonable Doubt and um I'm I'm just
I mean I'm not surprised right because
I've I've been working in medicine for
23 years so I know
um I know what it's like I know the
sorts of conversations that take place I
know the sorts of personalities involved
and the you know the vested interests
and um and often just the sheer
blinkered arrogance but it's but it's
actually still profoundly shocking yeah
it is yeah um to hear an experience like
yours um and I and I don't know I don't
know that there's an easy fix for that
you know because it is a it is a
cultural thing within medicine and part
part of the problem you know back in
back in the day you know if we go so
when I when I was a when I was a young
doctor or when I was a medical student
you know before before all the gray
hairs
um
the uh the whole evidence-based medicine
thing was coming in you know and it was
like this is this is fantastic right
because you know what we used to do was
Eminence based medicine you know you you
had your eminent Professor you know my
first job as a as a qualified doctor was
for the professor of surgery in
Sheffield you know great great job you
got the professor he he knows he knows
his stuff um you do you it's an
apprenticeship model you train under
this person you do what they do
um you learn from them and their
experience you add your own experience
to that and you develop an approach that
then works for you going into your
career and hopefully you keep learning
and keep evolving in that sense
um that there were issues with that
model and you know certainly there there
is a huge place for doing you know
decent scientific trials in in medicine
um but the way that then that's evolved
was for evidence-based medicine to
become the new version of eminence-based
Medicine just with more arrogance and a
and a bigger brick bat to hit people
with who who didn't um comply with what
somebody on some guideline committee
thinks is the right thing to do right so
I think you know in a sense you know as
some in in my GP work I mean I you know
I I almost hesitate to say this publicly
but I mean I think I you know walk a a
tightrope between
what I think in in my experience and my
reading of the literature and everything
else what I think is in the best
interest of my patients and what I think
I can get away with without being
branded you know a Bad Doctor
quote-unquote yes you know because those
those guidelines the doctors work to the
things that say for example you know
vitamin C is not to be used on the ICA
well those guidelines are developed by
guideline committees those guideline
committees invariably involve
Specialists of a single single area you
know the cardiologists Cardiology
guidelines all that sort of stuff yeah
by the time it comes down to general
practice uh you've got you've got a
highly filtered view that's focused on
that one disease or one body system
there are usually four or five drugs for
each one of these things and you start
to add that up you end up in a situation
of polypharmacy which is where which is
where we are you know people being on
really I mean five or more drugs is is a
is a problem in my view because you've
got you've got really no idea what the
interaction between those things are
um but the key thing is that guideline
is then constraining that practitioner
because that guideline is then the
standard against
is judged yeah so you know if if then
there's an adverse outcome and the
doctor is shown to be not practicing
according to the guidelines they can be
disciplined and censured for that
um and and fundamentally that means that
that contract that contract between the
doctor and the patient you know that
involves such old-fashioned Notions as
you know informed consent and shared
decision-making right yeah that's that
that has largely gone out of the window
because the guideline says it if I don't
do it I'm a Bad Doctor therefore I have
to do now I I I skate close to the edge
on that
um and and I'm probably a much lower
prescriber than some of my colleagues
um but it's still but it's still there
you know and in the case of say you know
Ivy IVC or
um or hyperbarics
um it's not in the guidelines so um we
haven't heard of it and we've had that
locally here from from a stroke
physician um yeah in a meeting with with
patients and uh concerned family and
friends who said well we've we've never
heard of this
um so how could a stroke physician not
have heard of hyperbole yeah I don't I
don't know if it's not available yeah
you'd have to head in the sand wouldn't
you like I know that the state of you
know the amount of research that's going
on in the world and the amount of
research that's coming out that no one
doctor can be across everything there's
just absolutely impossible nobody can
and we have to specialize in stuff but
you know the the Specialties even like
that you separate the cardio you know
the the heart from the loan guy you know
like or or these are interrelated
um systems and I and I get the the you
know the reasoning uh someone who's a
specialist in the heart can't possibly
be the specialist in what's going on in
the brain but these guys need to talk to
each other more and and you know
arrogance needs to be put aside that you
don't know everything you know like I've
come across arrogance like you know just
a couple of weeks ago when I was in the
hospital mum's got a GI bleed she's
nearly died from blood loss twice the
blood the level of blood in her body was
you know horrifically low
um the bleeding stopped on its own
accord they send you home again and
without any any diagnostic and now and
I'm doing the research and I'm seeing
that MRI and I'm talking to my doctor
friends outside of the hospital and
they're saying yes MRI is a good
diagnostic tool for uh such a bleed
um I go to them and they the The Surge I
came prepared with the research like a
court case every time I go to the
hospital I prepare like I'm a lawyer
going to fight a battle in court because
that's exactly what you're doing
uh he he as soon as I got half a
sentence out of my mouth he said to his
junior staff take care of it and just
walked off to the next one and I was
just like you know like Andrew was sent
home in an extremely fragile state
knowing that if she had another bleed
she wasn't going to make the hospital
you know and I'm I know and and I I've
gone then since that point gone to my
doctors outside and said what the hell
can I put in just just make sure that
she doesn't leave now and we've gone
hard out with things like peptides and
bpc157 and glutamine and we've gone you
know all the Natural Things the
microbiome stuff
it's it's all we got right it's all I've
got and is that enough
um touchwood she's doing okay again
she's bounced back again and her blood's
back up and it's sort of you know
reasonable levels still slightly anemic
but uh reasonable levels again so that
she may survive another bleed but this
is the frustration right
they don't want to spend the Thirteen
hundred dollars whatever it costs for an
MRI for an 81 year old who's got all
these common britishies
so they'll just tell you that it's not a
diagnostic tool yeah yeah and it ends
you know fundamentally they don't they
don't want to be challenged in any way
yeah they don't like me yeah I'm sure
I'm sure they don't um but that that
attitude take care of it I mean that is
that that's profoundly shocking yeah it
is
and my brother was opposite me and he
thought oh God here we go you know
but yeah but the you know in those
circumstances they also have you by the
balls because if you're rude to them
then you're really in trouble because
then they really shut down all of the
support that you can possibly get you
know and that is this precarious
position that the loved ones are in when
they're fighting for their their their
their family member and so by sharing
those stories and these have
unfortunately been over and over and
over again stories so goodness knows and
and I I I I hear stories back because I
tell these stories so people come and
tell me their story so I hear this over
and over and over again
um I share these stories so that the
person who is in that situation knows
that they're going to have to fight for
resources that they're going to have to
fight for their loved one that it's not
going to be automatic and that you
better push back and that you better go
and do your own research as best you
possibly can and yes you'll be rubbish
and yes you'll be ridiculed as oh you're
coming with Dr Google are you I can tell
you that all of these stuffers that you
have access to I have access to as well
there may be a few hidden papers that I
don't have access to but I can get them
through my doctor colleagues and friends
that I have
don't treat me like an idiot just
because I didn't go to med school
I think these days that's probably an
advantage to be honest not having a med
school yeah it is an advantage because
you you know you you can you you you're
not like this with your hand up the back
and I know really good doctors who like
yourself are going it's just so
frustrating I know what I should be
telling this person I can't say it
I can't do it and this is where we need
to change this model and I think this is
where people like me sit uh also walking
Fine Lines sometimes
um but we have to be brave because we're
standing up for the people we care about
and our clients and and and their loved
ones to get the best that there is
available
you know and hyperbarics is like well
this one's a no-brainer for most people
there are a few contraindications
um yeah and on that note we you know we
did one yesterday we had a client that
was under your uh consult with you to to
make sure that they're okay to come in
because with Hyperbaric what are some of
the contraindications where you'd say oh
we have to have a look a bit closer here
yeah there there are a few there's
there are relatively few absolute
contraindications
um you know a uh a pneumothorax a uh you
know a collapsed partially collapsed
lung um is definitely one
um because that's going to get uh you
know significantly worse and possibly
tension
um and
um and you don't you don't always
survive that so that's that's a that's a
bad thing but also you would look quite
carefully at people with chronic chest
disease or previous chest surgery in
that regard right so if somebody's got
really awful emphysema so that they've
got these great big dilated
um sacks called bullet in the in the
lungs that could burst um and cause a
pneumothorax
um so that would be that would be a a
big thing
um you've then got certain sorts of
chemotherapy that if you're within a few
days of them there can be effects that
there's there's a couple weren't
bothered about going through what they
are but there's a there's a couple there
that we just have to be a little bit
careful of
um and then you're talking about
um things like
um uh sinus issues middle ear issues you
know things things that are going to be
a problem under under pressure diabetes
you have to be a little bit careful with
just because blood sugars can drop a bit
in the chamber so um you know
essentially it's just a case of checking
blood sugars beforehand to making sure
that it's not not lower than that than a
reasonable level so if you've got a bit
of wiggle room there for its drop
um but those those sorts of things you
know we've we've we've got a list here I
mean I I don't like people going in
after recent dental treatment because
sometimes the pressure can actually
cause a tooth fracture if there's a you
know if there's a cavity there or some
you know some defect so
um we we screen everybody and we've got
to see you know standard ice tool that
that we use to to do that to look
specifically for all the
contraindications and and also just to
take a general view of somebody's Health
uh and then I I speak so certainly in
terms of what we do here in Wellington
I've talked to all the patients
initially
um make sure that there's nothing there
in the background that we haven't picked
up brief them thoroughly on how to
manage their ears in the chamber and
then I will go in um for the first
session because we have the luxury of
that with a multi-place chamber I can go
and sit in an adjacent seat and just
keep an eye on them through that first
treatment to make sure that they've
they've equalized their ears properly
and they're they're pain-free and
enjoying it so
um as you say overall very safe few
absolute contraindications some relative
ones that you just have to be a little
bit cautious about
um and yeah touchwood we haven't had any
major issues up to this point at all
we're not perforated an eardrum which is
excellent
um and and then there's the thing you
know people might be hearing this and go
right I'm I'm going to come and I've got
I don't know major concussions that I've
had in the past or something like that
on stroke or whatever
do I just need to come once uh
unfortunately the answer is also no if
if only yeah I mean and this is and and
this is the thing I mean this this is
the other barrier to treatment
especially where the um the Public
Health Care System don't come to the
party you know this is a um this is
relatively expensive uh and uh it's
extremely time consuming so you know if
you've got if you've got a historic
a traumatic brain injury
um something really even moderately
complex then you'll you're going to be
needing you know 40 to 60 sessions of
this and that and that is far better
delivered
um in you know consecutive weekdays you
know five days on a couple of days off
at the weekend
um consistently for several weeks where
where people do that they have much much
better results we find that's what I
found and and the the ability to
dedicate that much time on a daily basis
is is a luxury
um for some you know that yeah that they
just can't afford and I think you know
like that you know on on that road you
know it depends on the severity of the
condition too so some people don't need
a full 40 but someone like Mum would you
know like mum's been doing it
oh we do have the occasional break where
she has a month off here and there uh
and that's part of the protocol too that
you know but
um basically for the eight years she's
had hundreds and hundreds of of
Hyperbaric treatments I've lost count
when I got up to 400 or something
um so it is a you know something that
can be ongoing you know and and
supportive but if you've just you know
like my brother just had a hip surgery
uh hip replacement and I was trying to
just get him to do three treatments
before three treatments afterwards
absolutely we've managed the after
it didn't come before
um but just those three would have been
beneficial going into surgery and you
know two or three afterwards just to
speed that recovery so it doesn't always
have to be a you know a block of 40. 100
yeah so you've got you've got something
so post-surgery would be one
um and you know there is there is
benefits even to just one um post post
surgery for wounds healing one of the
first patients I treated was my wife
because she's very unexpectedly develops
acute appendicitis last last year on on
Mother's Day
um
which uh which fortunately I picked up
earlier we managed to get her in the the
surgeons took 12 hours to scan and
pontificate and eventually go oh yes it
is the dumb GP was right um with his
hands and his eyes and his ears um but
uh you know she she then she was
actually then one of the first patients
quote unquote that uh that that I took
through our our new chamber that had
recently arrived from from Europe and uh
uh and three sessions afterwards I mean
the women's hitting was absolutely primo
and it was laparoscopic so we're we're
not talking great big wounds here but uh
it was absolutely super cool and I think
you know the other thing around that
would be you know we talked about
um adjunctive uh cancer therapy
um radiotherapy you know if people are
undergoing radiotherapy you know the
trouble with trouble with that is the
the huge amounts of Friendly Fire you
know the collateral damage that you get
from all the surrounding tissues and you
think about really hard to treat
conditions like um radiation cystitis if
you're having
um irradiation to your prostate gland
for example uh having hyperbarics you
know ideally concurrently but you know
alternatively straight afterwards is is
really going to minimize that because
we're we're healing we're healing wounds
we're healing Burns whether they're on
the inside or the outside and it doesn't
necessarily need that many to achieve
that effect and to at least limit the
damage there there are some there are
some forms of radiotherapy I think
particularly head and neck that's just
absolute hell on Earth I mean I I think
that's a the worst medical job I ever
did in my life which was an oncology
um rotation um back back in my native
Sheffield and it was
heinously understaffed and um and just
just really uh such a traumatic
experience that I about six weeks into
the job I developed um uh pomflix you
know sort of a particular sort of stress
related eczema
um I can sort of say what the hell's the
value with your hands boy you know I'm
like oh I don't know boss but um
but you know the the the level of of of
the mucus Isis that people get you know
male um when they just can't eat from
from this stuff it is it is your worst
nightmare I I would love to see
radiotherapy patients getting
hyperbarics as absolute standard you
know it's it's it really isn't a
no-brainer in a before and after in that
case because you know lots of people
have to go for radiation and
radiotherapy and and and
um one of I have a friend who's just
producing a movie uh Maggie
um Megan Bradley and she is making a
movie called cancer Evolution and it's
all about the metabolic approach to
cancer and she had metastatic cancer
stage four like tumors everywhere I
think there was something like 80 tumors
like she's got the MRIs of the tumors
and it's just insane and she wasn't
meant to love him obviously and she did
to help me to be an orthopolic approach
and has healed herself and now she's
years down the track and she's making
this movie about the metabolic approach
right and she said the only thing that
I've got
um damage from was the radio irradiation
and if she'd know now she could have
done other things to prevent some of
that damage that she has ongoing is a
problem
um so you know this is something that
you really really want to think about if
you are stuck on that horrible position
of having to have that
um in a you know there are reasons to
have it for certain things in certain
times
um
if you can do something to mitigate your
suffering this is what I what I you know
what frustrates me because I I have a
very preventative mindset like like just
because I've experienced such horrific
things in my life with my family and
myself even
um it's like hello I don't want to go
there again you know like just to save
me or save my family you know what am I
missing so I'm constantly studying and
researching to be in that preventative
space I hopefully you know can catch
things early and stop things horrible
things happening to us
um and you can't obviously take all the
risk out of the universe because
something's going to come and hit you
sideways that you didn't think about
that there's always something that you
short I wish I'd studied that now
um however I can mitigate a lot of the
risk and I can repair after the damage
has been done and you know like if I
could just if I if you could put people
into the into the brain of mum after her
aneurysm for a few days and then bring
them back out as for their normal self
they would be not eating the rubbish
they would not be drinking the massive
amounts of alcohol they would be losing
the weight they'd be going to the gym
because they would know how horrific
that Journey was
you know and when you can when you can
transfer that this is what it feels like
I mean you know even with my brother the
other day he wouldn't come prior to the
surgery after the surgery it was like oh
when can I get in you know because it
was worse than you thought because
you've forgotten how bad it is and how
bad the pain is and we as humans tend to
do that I know with ultra marathons you
get to like you in the middle of the
ultra marathon you're going like never
again am I going to experience this pain
this is horrific why the hell am I doing
it and then you get across the finish
line and you're never again and then
when within 24 hours
because of the excitement you finished
you got the medal and you've forgotten
the pain where you've delivered the baby
you've got the baby you've forgotten how
bad the birth was right and then you're
off planning the next one the next race
or whatever
hey I'll take your word for it on that
you forget though the pain and the
suffering that you went through very
very quickly whereas I try to like know
uh let's be preventative you know and I
try to get this across to my healthy
clients who come is let's do some
baseline testing while you're healthy
yes it's some money in investment now
but if you do that Baseline testing then
when things start to go south
we've got and I'd love to go and get it
you know MRIs and things like that so we
have a complete you know and clearly
scans and things like that have a
complete data set of what is you healthy
and then when things start to go
pear-shaped then we do another and go oh
that you know your hormones have dropped
off a cliff or you're you've got a
spinal you know scoliosis that's now
starting to develop in the last two
years and we because then we can you
know make a comparison and you can
actually see
um you know but that's not always doable
because it's always a resource and and
sometimes as well I mean yes screening
and uh you know going on fishing
Expeditions for uh for for problems
before they manifest
um just increases the amount of time
that you know that you have a diagnosis
you know without being able to to change
the outcome but I guess I mean it comes
it comes down to what what your Paradigm
of of preventative Healthcare is right
because you know general practice has a
has an idea of of what that looks like
and like you know got to say I mean it's
it's
fundamentally unsatisfying medicine
today really yeah the micromanagement of
um of risk factors
um and that's that's really what it's
all about you know if everybody has a
cardiovascular risk assessment that's
you know that's based on nump lipid
profile and um and blood pressure and
you know family history and a few a few
other
things blood sugars that that sort of
thing uh it spits out a uh a percentage
risk that may or may not be accurate and
then um the algorithm says you know this
this person needs a needs a Statin
um consider this consider that consider
the other
um and you know even even in my you know
20-year career I mean I've I've seen
I've seen the pendulum swing so many
times you know aspirin's a good thing in
primary prevention it's a bad thing in
primary prevention or maybe it's all
right for some people you know and and
when you've got the patient for you I
have to I tend I tend to go to the the
the online risk calculators where I can
show them what the benefit of an
intervention is because the reality is
that the majority of the time uh it's
extremely modest so you look at figures
like the number needed to treat you know
it's a good sort of stats measure
um it's the reciprocal of the of the
absolute risk reduction so it it really
just tells you how many people need to
have this intervention for one person to
benefit you look at things like you know
blood pressure and and that sort of
thing you know it's it's sort of in the
order of you know 80 you know to 100
depending on whether you're talking
about stroke or heart attacks
um lipid lowering in um
in uh low risk people is a is a complete
Fool's errand and I think yeah in a
dangerous one really yeah I need
cholesterol you know argument the whole
hypothesis I think is is is actually
fundamentally wrong and is based on on
bad premises I mean that's been
rehearsed by you know by lots and lots
of people far smaller than me but I mean
I you know I discovered Malcolm
Kendrick's work on that very early in my
career I think I was a GP registrar so I
was about to pop out
um as a specialist generalist at the end
of the of the treadmill and I'm thinking
holy cow this is um this is really bad
like we we've we've based
um an entire industry
um on on a study that was extremely
fraudulent
um and and also
um policy that came out of the US
Department of Agriculture um related to
our food now diets so I mean you know
you've you've got micro manager of risk
factors and then you've got what what is
actually prevention you know which which
starts with attrition and you you asked
me the other day
um how much nutritional training I'd had
at med school and um and and I had to
say hands on hot I don't remember any
right none at all you know so that's
something that that I have had to
educate myself on um postgrads you know
did I did a fairly deep dive on that
stuff um you know just over a decade ago
um you know discovered
um the the you know the sort of paleo
movements some some of the people you've
had on your podcast you know so Avid
consumers of Rob wolf and people like
that and uh uh fixed fixed my own health
that way it got quite overweight sitting
sitting on my fat backside in a in a GPS
chair advising people on on nutrition
that wasn't working for me you know so
then the power of that and the the
broken nature of the medical Paradigm
was was then very very obvious to me you
know
um and movement you know
um you you've got one expression of that
that's awesome you know there are that
there are multiple expressions and and
just just getting patients to walk
getting people to walk every day you
know you did 20 minutes of walking a day
that's achievable for most people
um even in New Zealand with its
frequently shocking weather you can just
put on a better Coach and go and go and
do it so you know that that's one aspect
and then you get into like really basic
stuff that for some reason is The
Preserve of of functional medicine
because conventional medicine doesn't
want to touch it but I mean couldn't
speak vitamin D yeah I mean you know how
how many pandemics yeah exactly
um and there was a there was another
there was another fantastic study that
came out quite recently
um and out of Canada I think and it was
a it was a 10-year prospective study of
um of people you know so two groups
vitamin D no vitamin D in a place that
obviously gets even less Sun than we do
um
and they showed that the risk of
Alzheimer's was was dramatically reduced
and you could see those two the two line
starts to diverge after 12 months I mean
it didn't take very long for that to be
the case we cannot in New Zealand we
cannot do publicly funded vitamin D
tests the patients have to pay for it
right yeah and then I asked every doctor
to do everyone for my clients and some
doctors have done it have done it but
I've mostly send them to my tests which
is an online thing where you can
self-order pay the 25 get that tested
yeah and I mean yeah we obviously we can
request it but but they happen they have
to go they have to go and pay for it
which is which is okay but you know why
why is that the case for vitamin D you
know why is it the case that the only
formulation that we've got is that is
the massive there's a massive dose um
supposedly once a month you know yeah
what is with it yeah and so that's why
it confuse me like the fat soluble
vitamin and you know like I'm a fan of
five to ten thousand IU so quite High
dosages
genetic testing and I if I have my
client and I've done genetic testing you
might see uh there's three genes
involved with the with the or three main
ones involved with vitamin D you know
receptors are transport and activation
genes and if they've got poor genetics
we definitely want to know what your
vitamin D's are and then usually it's a
five to ten thousand IU dose with K2 by
the way D3 plus K2
um and
it's just like a no-brainer there's this
700 I want to say processes in the body
that vitamin D is is implicated in
yeah yeah bone health adrenal you know
the adrenal system HBA axis there's just
so so many the Alzheimer's also new one
on me I didn't know that one yep
um and and this is so cheap so easy to
fix if you know in a time of covered why
were we not handing them out on every
street corner
yep some countries did some countries
did yeah not us and and therein lies the
problem it's it's cheap so yeah I I
personally take uh 5 000 units in the in
the summer months you know between
daylight savings times and and ten
thousand in the in the winter and that's
and that's the result of of having done
some levels back in back in the UK
um and seeing that 5000 just wasn't
wasn't enough to optimize my levels
um so you know where you can go online
at the moment and you can buy that um we
have to import it in New Zealand I guess
your your um us-based and other other
viewers and listeners won't so won't
necessarily know this but the maximum
that you can buy in New Zealand I think
is is a 1 000 IU yeah um tablet you know
which is which is fair highly sub
therapeutic you may if that's all you're
taking every day okay but you may as
well not bother
um or you're taking multiple and it's
and it then does become expensive
whereas imported out of the states yep
me too me too and and that's that's so
that's so basic you know and then you
know vitamin C and zinc and some of
these other these other basic things I
mean you you imagine a Public Health
Care system that prioritizes these
things not fascinating the population
and and constantly shifting the
thresholds lower and lower and earlier
and earlier in life where you start to
look at these things I mean you know
that's
um that's how you improve health yeah on
that canister of cholesterol friend you
know why is this an overly simplistic
View and why can't we get you know LP
little a and plac and apriloper protein
A and B we can actually now online order
those two actually particularly
um through my tests which great go and
do that people
um but but explain to a little bit the
whole cholesterol panel if I mean I'm
putting on the spot here but
um
why is it a very simplistic overview
when we get the cholesterol we get to
the LDL the HDL the the
um coal HDL ratio and that's it
was it not enough info yeah
um they they measure the stuff that's
easy to measure uh and then prescribed
drugs that that Target what you can
measure and of course we know that just
because something can be measured it
doesn't necessarily mean it's important
um and that you know the converse is is
true uh yeah so the classical standards
um cholesterol panel quite I'm saying
cholesterol in inverted commas because
yep
um we know that it's not as simple as
that uh in this country at least
includes the um the total cholesterol
which is you know people look at it and
they go oh your total cholesterol is
high and I go so what meaning yeah
if you're a woman particularly it's it's
it's way better
um you've then got
um LDL which is a calculated value and
LDL is made up of different
sub-fractions of different sizes some
may be implicated in in heart disease
most are not
um and then you've got the only two that
I actually look at to be honest I ignore
total and LDL and I look at HDL and
triglycerides um
essentially you can infer quite a lot
about somebody's diet just by looking at
those two measures the triglycerides are
going to be raised in a situation of
standard Western diet lots of refined
carbohydrates you see very high levels
in diabetics and they get brought in to
see me to get all their triglycerides a
high do you want to give them a drug and
I go no they need to improve their
glycemic control
um ideally through diets not through not
through the medications if we can get
away with it so that's that infers
something about the carbohydrate levels
and then the HDL is often a proxy for
how much natural Whole Food fats people
are eating so somebody on a somebody on
a on a you know paleo Primal low carb
high protein you know lchf however you
want to you want to term it gotta keep
colleagues like Grant Schofield Happy by
mentioning lchf
um which he seem to remember yeah he
rebranded his low carb healthy fat which
I think is much is is much better
um all of all of those approaches that
they're going to they're going to raise
your raise your HDL in most cases and
they're going to lower your
triglycerides and if you you've got a
ratio of high HDL and low triglycerides
low triglycerides being under 1.3 or
under one well I mean ideally into one I
think I think the last time mine were
measured
um in fact this this is how much I how
much store I sit around doing lots of
blood tests so the LA the last of the
blood test I had done on myself were
just prior to my second immigration
medical when I decided to stay in the
country and um and back then they were
still doing fasting lipids which is
which is a nonsense for everything apart
from triggers right
um all right and uh I uh I I ate four
eggs cooked in butter um before going to
uh to have my cholesterol test done um
and
um my HDL was was two in our units which
is different in America my my trigs were
were 0.5 you know but if you've got
affordable ratio so you can easily
easily get it under one
um with a low carb diet That's The Only
Thing Worth looking at yep that there
are much more complex um tests that can
be done the week that we can't do and
that's not really an area of of my
practice is in any detail at the moment
um but certainly this fixation on total
cholesterol and LTE yeah like my total
cholesterol came back the other blood
test and I do like to do blood tests
because I do like to read you know like
what's I'm going for optical not what
the Rangers are not the in you know
that's the way I've been taught by by my
teachers is to look for the optimal and
you know trying to you know things like
albumin you know the the albumin should
be nice and high and you know lots of
lots of nuance here but um
that can help us but my my
um HDL come back at three which I was
quite shocked at myself
that was quite high but the doctor was
concerned about that and should be
closer to two they thought and my um
trigs were 0.7 I think and
um my LDL was too high though it was uh
what was it but the ratio was okay but
the the whole yeah and the total total
cholesterol was seven it's very high
right and I'm like panicking
because my hdls are high you know and
again I probably should go into a do the
the other ones but I'm still learning
those ones the April Loper proteins and
all of that well I think I mean you can
you can infer
quite readily from that from that ratio
of HDL to tricks that the LDL that you
have is is likely to be not a problem
it's likely to be the larger you know
larger fluffier LDL
um without without necessarily the need
to dig into
um
obviously you're you're particularly
interested so perfectly fine to do that
but you know again talking about Skating
close to the edge yeah somebody like you
would be brought in
um by the practice nurses who get the
blood results back and go okay you know
whoever signs of offices bring them in
for a you know for a chat about about
their cholesterol
um what we're supposed to do is to have
a conversation about uh low-fat diets
and and statins and then
yeah and then I look at that and I go
well from your diet looks like you're
doing this and this and they usually you
know I'm usually right and I go
excellent carry on don't darken our door
again
um do not worry about about your
cholesterol again and particularly for
females you know very very clear that um
that you lots and yesterday did just
assume your gender you lot run a a
higher level generally than us and that
is extremely helpful going into the
later years exactly why
and for hormonal so you know I want my
hormones to be the best I can be I am on
hr2 full disclosure
um as well
um but um by identical HRT by the way
um but I want my brain functioning well
you know and I want my membranes to have
the good fats and so yeah I do take the
good fats you know I do pour my olive
oils and a bit of butter and uh you know
things like that that oh
the evil butter
you know um it's not you know the carbs
we we generally have too much carbs I
think you know and um simple carbs in
our diet and God I love them as well
it's bloody hard that sourdough that
your wife made the other day beautiful
it's pretty special there yeah yeah I
have to limit that yeah yeah but you're
right I mean yeah certainly um a
cellular acellular refined carbohydrates
real issue um you know uh plants
carbohydrates potato kumara something
that we've got here like a sort of sweet
potato is is absolutely delicious really
really fantastic especially you know
post exercise
um to refill your muscle glycogen but
you know that's a that's a particular
situation and and the time you know the
timing of carbs you know the timing of
carbs the circadian rhythms and things
we're much more insulin sensitive around
you know lunchtime and then there's a
genetic component which I you know
there's a huge genetic component to us
so um you know you want to know what
time of the day and how often it's we
can help with the genetic testing
um but yeah in other words yeah the the
the standard guidelines that come out
you know the food pyramid and Grant
Schofield you know who's been on the
show too and he's just like you know um
blowing all that stuff apart you know
and it's all upside down we shouldn't be
having a ton of grains we shouldn't you
know we we
um definitely don't we should all be
trying to avoid gluten as much as
possible without being anal about it you
know but we want to be don't follow the
food pyramid you will get sick
and don't follow the RDA on the vitamins
and stuff because it probably won't be
enough you know what is it like vitamins
I've interviewed a ton of vitamin C
researchers and they're just like trying
to get the vitamin C RDA put up to you
know from what is it 50 milligrams or
something to 100 when they know that
actually we need a ton more than that
for Optimal Health but they're not even
trying to go there because well no if
you can't get it in one you know serving
of kiwi fruit a day then it's too much
to be putting on the RDA because it's
unrealistic no it is what it is like we
need to be optimizing
um you know and then this is why I'm so
grateful to you know have you as a
friend now to
um have doctors that are willing to have
these Brave conversations and I think
you know without getting too political
we need Brave conversations we need open
conversations and we need to have less
censorship more open discussion uh
intellectual debate you know where did
all that go it just seems to have
disappeared in the last few years where
we've got this
dogmatic overreaching
um
100 system that's that's it it's a whole
other conversation but I mean to give
you an idea you're returning to to
hyperbarics you know we we can't
um we can't take out Google adverts
okay so we can't really I haven't even
tried to do that yet
so this is this is the extent of the
this this Unholy Alliance of of big Tech
and the medical industrial complex that
because this is a quote-unquote unproven
therapy they won't let us advertise wow
and we we know darn well how much search
results are manipulated and things are
down you know down rated
um so a bit hard so that they're hard to
find and and it's been obviously the
most egregious during the um the last
three years
um but it is continuing to occur and uh
it it affects you know all of us who
have approaches that are not considered
by somebody somewhere to be mainstream
and evidence-based and and who is that
exactly who is that in judgment yeah
yeah exactly and you know I I mean I've
I've seen it I've spent 10 years
building a brand of it's been 10 years
building a audience
um a couple of the people that I had on
the show who
um weren't of the mainstream opinion
shall we say I had to take a couple of
my podcasts down I was censored
immediately and I can't I don't have the
resources the income to withstand an
attack like that I'm not Joe Rogan
so I had to take them down you know and
that that's that's me the little fish
you know
this is happening all around the place
censorship is a is a very big problem we
need to have open you know discussions
and that's you know we're not inciting
anything we're not doing anything bad
we're not saying we're just saying let's
have intellectual debates on this stuff
this is the thing it's you know the the
marketplace of ideas right the free
exchange of ideas and may the best one
win you know if you don't if you don't
like what I'm saying refute it give me a
better argument and I'll listen to it
you know it's it's so fundamentally
um unscientific that it's that quite
frankly it's it's a bit dystopian I mean
I think I I I worry about I worry about
really the the totality of the medical
evidence that I am resting my practice
on in the in a conventional sense right
because so much of it
um is likely false you know the one one
of the most cited papers ever is John
iannidi's um paper
um from two it's from 2005 it's from the
year I graduated and I think I read it
that year and it probably had a somewhat
disproportional effect on my practice
but uh you know that that paper was
entitled why most published research is
false well you know yeah and if we can't
challenge
if there is a if there is an Orthodoxy a
a correct a right opinion that is
staunchly defended that cannot be
debated
um we're in trouble actually we're in
massive trouble because we are
essentially then controlled
um in relation to to our health and
well-being um there are some opinions
that you can't have there may well be
some approaches that you can't do you
know we're we're facing down a very
significant
um Act of Parliament that looks like
it's going to go through in New Zealand
that will be substantially yeah yeah it
purifies me yep yep therapeutic products
bill it's um it's absolutely horrific
it's going to reclassify Natural Health
as um as medicines under the same uh
regulation regulatory framework
um and we're going to end up with
um with our choice being fundamentally
restricted in that area yeah like down
to this point where you won't be able to
get vitamin C or you won't be able to do
your natural herbs in your garden or you
won't be able to to uh take any you know
uh and this will be controlled by who
pharmaceutical companies you know
government
um you know like if you look at Maori
medicine and traditional medicines they
are going to be gone
their entire you know this is a horrific
over
um this natural therapeutical has and
it's slipping on under the radar you
know I had the privilege of going to a
big natural health conference um
recently where I was speaking and um
they had a representative from the
government there who was talking about
what they're doing with a natural
therapeutic Spore and I tell you she got
completely roasted
because the CEOs of those big companies
that were there
you know and I won't name names or
anything but they were like you haven't
even asked us as an industry what we
think you haven't let us submit anything
we're taking our company one of them
said we're taking our company that has
over 500 employees and we are buggering
off
you're not giving us the ability to get
the export licenses you you are
hindering this and they were angry
yeah and this is you know like people
don't know this is happening because
they're really good at just bringing
things under the road and stopping it in
the dark at night and it's not just New
Zealand there's there are similar Moves
In in North America you know yes um one
of my products has been taken off the
market in North America nicotine I
bought a nucleotide a really powerful
great anti-aging NAD booster
um that's been helping a lot of people
around the world in America they've
taken it you know because that it's
going to drag Discovery or something so
people are not able to get that anymore
yeah uh they have to go offshore if
they're going to get it good for us
because they come off short buy from us
you know or other companies but this is
not you know this this worries me you
know on so many levels this worries me
and you always have to look at where is
the money and like you know the amount
of lobbying in you know American
um politics is you know the obvious
place to to lock with the billions of
dollars in lobbying government and who's
putting that behind that in the
pharmaceutical companies that you know
the the the powers that be it's not
about your health it's not about
personally you know you making an
assessment and as a doctor you know when
you've got a person who's sitting there
before you you've got to do public
policy for one in one thousand people
this is going to be a benefit and for
the others it's probably not we're going
to give it to you
you know that type of decision making is
just like shouldn't you be looking at
that person and all of their data points
and making the best assessment for them
I find the best thing is to give them
the figures and say does that does that
uh does that reduction in Risk from 15
to 12 excite you I mean not really and I
get cool me neither
and the side effect list is yeah that's
right how about we don't how about we
don't do that cool yeah
yeah that's right that's right and do a
bit more exercise and try to make some
other changes somewhere else uh Dr Greg
you have been absolutely amazing thank
you for sharing so openly and honestly
on the show I really really do
appreciate that
um thank you to you and Mike who for
setting up Wellington hyper barracks and
there's Nelson and there's Palmerston
Harbor barracks and now there's one in
New Plymouth that's me there's a new one
coming up in Auckland and pukekohe there
are others in Auckland as well my my
friend Dr Dean will be and Marianne will
be opening in pukekohe they're going to
have two hard shell Chambers this stuff
is coming and why is it coming because
it works so um you'll be able to find
this near you hopefully soon if not now
um and ring and contact Greg at
Wellington hyperbarics where can people
find your Greek
so we have the domain www.hbot.kiwi
we'll put the links down below and
otherwise reach out and um you know
check this out if it's something that
you need to think about that's great
thanks so much for your time today very
super grateful thanks ever so much Lisa
it's been wonderful
What listeners are saying
My favourite running podcast by miles⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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I am getting my mojo back with regards to my health and running after treatment for breast cancer, I connected with Lisa as I was looking for positive influences from people who are long distance runners and understand our mindset. Lisa’s podcasts have been a key factor in getting me out of a negative space where I allowed others limiting beliefs to stop me from following my heart and what I believe is right for me. After 18 months of being in cancer recovery mode I wanted to get out of the cancer mindset and back to achieving goals that had been put aside. Listening to Pushing The Limits has put me onto other great podcasts, and in the process I have learnt so much and am on a pathway to a much better place with my mindset and health. Thanks so much Lisa for doing what you do and always being you.
L.Faire