A short segment from Jill Carnahan, MD interviewing Nafysa Parpia, ND
for her podcast Dr. Jill Live. Learn how Dr. Parpia begins treatment
with complex patients, using testing to find the specific toxicant burden
and creating a custom path to begin detoxifying.
I want to detox. Can’t I just start?
Most of our patients need to detoxify. In fact – many people in the general public know that due to the toxic burden on the planet, there is likely a high toxic load that their bodies now have to deal with.
You need to know what toxins are affecting you so you can target those when you detox.In a previous post and video, we talked about the importance of cleaning up your food and water, and the parts of your environment that you can have control over in order to help to lower new toxins your body is absorbing from the outside world. What about the chemicals and toxins you already are dealing with in your body?
Determining your toxic burden is key.
Each person is individual in terms of how they absorb and process toxins. Some may easily be able to excrete toxins already accumulated in the body with little interference to their health. For others, their system struggles to remove toxins, either due to genetic issues with detoxification, or because of a pre-existing high toxin load. Still others may have issues with detoxification if they have gastrointestinal issues (constipation, SIBO, leaky gut, dysbiosis for example) or other underlying diagnoses.
Depending on what is involved, we may use different strategies for detoxifying. We don’t want to cause more illness when we mobilize the toxins – this can happen when the appropriate strategies are not in place.
We recommend personalized lab testing
In order to look at a wide range of inner biochemical as well as environmental toxicants: herbicides, pesticides, and toxic chemicals from products like pharmaceuticals, packaged foods, household products, and environmental pollution. We also look at heavy metals in the blood and urine, and as well we may take a look at the toxic burden of metals at a cellular level. If appropriate, we evaluate for mold/mycotoxin illness by testing for mold IgG allergens, mycotoxin load, and mycotoxin allergens.
Other factors affecting toxic load
Along with the more common toxicants, transient environmental events and geographical location can cause abnormally high levels of specific toxins not present in other areas.
For example, on the West Coast, we are seeing higher levels of arsenic and aluminum as compared to what we have seen in the past. Some areas may be more populated and people commute more, some may live near an airport, and some towns and cities may have a higher number of homes built with certain materials that contain toxins not present in other areas. The toxic chemistry from houses, cars, and other buildings has an effect on air quality. The reality is that the possible combinations of toxic chemistry are endless and ever-changing.
Genetics also plays a part
We also look at genomics and how different mutations may work together in symphony to create certain biochemical states. While we may run the same labs for different patients, we find different pieces of the puzzle in each person, and each person will respond to treatment in their own way. How you respond to your environment hinges a lot on your genes, so it is important to have an idea of this when creating your personalized detoxification plan.
One size does not fit all
Since your inner biochemistry and environmental toxin load is unique to you, we recommend personalized detoxification strategies rather than a one size fits all plan.
