We're very excited for today's webinar with none other than Dr. Ameet Aggarwal who's here with me today. Hi, Ameet. 

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Dr. Aggarwal:  Hi, Romina. Greetings from Kenya. I hope everyone's well. I'm really excited to presenting here. Thank you. I just finished treating a few trauma victims from the terrorist attack we just had in Kenya, so excuse me if there's a bit of emotionality in this webinar today, but I think it's going to be special. Thank you. 

Click here to listen to Dr Ameet Podcast.

Click here to watch the interview on Dr Ameet YouTube Channel.

Romina:  Thank you for joining us even in spite of all the attacks that happened today, and I know that it was a difficult period for everyone. But today we'll be talking about leaky liver and detoxification specifically using medicinal mushrooms. And I'd like to introduce Dr. Aggarwal or at least his background before we start off the webinar. 

Dr. Ameet is not just a naturopathic doctor but he actually specializes in psychotherapy. So I think for all of us practitioners here I think it's a really interesting combination to understand how the body and the mind have such a deep link with each other. He's also the author of best-selling holistic medicine books, one of which is called heal your body and cure your mind, a very interesting read I must say especially not just for myself as a practitioner but also for my own clients. And he's also recently finished an online health program that's been actually CBD-approved by North America. So again, thank you for being with us today. And over to you, Dr. Aggarwal. 

What supplements are good for the Liver

 Dr. Aggarwal:  Thank you, Romina. Really a pleasure. Hi, everyone. Again, greetings from Kenya. I'm really excited to share my thoughts on leaky liver and its importance in clinical practice, because I find the liver is often ignored in most holistic practices even though it is the seat of the health. In Chinese medicine we call it the master organ because it controls everything, and I'll go into that more in the lecture. 

So if you're having difficulty with your patients in your protocols, if you're just doing leaky gut or adrenal fatigue and things like that and things are not moving as it should be then always consider healing the liver, because I find treating the liver with the best herbs for liver repair is really fundamental to almost every single protocol out there. So without any delay, let's go into the lecture. And I'll just turn on the slide. Thanks, Romina. And we'll get right in. 

Romina:  Thank you. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Pleasure. Awesome. So let's get started. That's how you spell my name in case anyone's interested. 

And we're going to cover the liver, the basics about the liver and it's linked to inflammation, mental health. We will spend some time doing mental health. And leaky gut and dysbiosis. And then, of course, the solutions towards leaky gut and solutions especially for the liver. And then we'll dwell into mycotherapy solutions for liver support, and it's really interesting to see how valuable mushrooms are towards liver health, amongst the best herbs for liver repair. A lot of people think mushrooms are only for immune modulation or adrenal support and we're finding that mushrooms have a fantastic effect on the liver in terms of protection as well as detoxification. 

Then we'll go through a few case studies and each case study will have a few protocols that you can write down and follow. Then Romina will make some exciting announcements about the next webinar coming up. And then we'll go straight into Q&A. So let's get started. 

Natural Cure for Fatty Liver

So liver, the master organ in Chinese medicine. What is it related to or what is it involved with and also what is the best tea for liver repair? I'm just changing my screen here a bit, sorry for the delay. So the livers involve a detoxification, everyone knows that. So with excessive toxins we will have free radical damage that leads to cancers, acne, skin issues, chronic illness and, of course, with excessive toxins we have excessive inflammation and that leads to cortisol imbalances which causes a myriad of symptoms. So I'm just showing you what can go wrong when the liver is not working well. 

Then the liver is in charge of bile production. And if the liver is stagnant according to Chinese medicine then we have less bile production or poor bile production or even the consistency of bile is off, it's not optimal for gut health, for your microbiome. And so if you have poor bile production you're going to have poor digestion, leaky gut syndrome, of course, a worsening of inflammation, IBS and chronic disease. 

Again, in TCM and even in other medicines your liver is the master organ for hormonal regulation. So usually with liver stagnation or liver toxicity we can go into estrogen dominance or progesterone deficiency and then we're looking at exacerbations of cancer, PMS symptoms, low sex drive, even painful sex because of lubrication issues due to hormonal imbalances. 

We're also seeing chronic female conditions such as endometriosis, PCOS and ovarian cysts heal better when we treat the liver because of its central role in hormonal regulation as well as the detoxification. 

The liver is paramount in cholesterol processing, right? So we have receptors on our liver for grabbing the LDL cholesterol from the blood and detoxifying it through bile. So if your liver's stagnant, and that's the beautiful characteristic of one of the mushrooms we're going to talk about today that actually increases receptors for cholesterol management on the liver. So you can see through its cholesterol processing mechanism your liver is directly connected to hyperlipidemia and heart disease. I'll also talk about why it's connected to high blood pressure. 

And then of course, the liver is responsible for glycogen storage, and so if your liver is not working well then you're going to have sugar metabolism issues, fat storage issues leading to obesity and chronic weight gain. Your liver also stores vitamins and iron, so we're looking at malnutrition issues, fatigue and anemia and chronic disease issues. 

And then immune cell activation, not many people know this but your liver is paramount to activating immune cells. So you want to look at supporting your liver in low immunity and cancers as well. 

And then I'll talk about this in the mental health slide where lactic acid or lactate is converted back into glucose by your liver. So lactic acid is, of course, increased with high sugar intake, alcohol intake, etcetera. And if your liver is stagnant your conversion of lactate back into glucose is compromised and high lactate levels have been directly correlated to anxiety.

Natural remedies for leaky gut

So let's start with the basics now. So let's start with leaky gut, so you're eating inflammatory foods - typically it's wheat, dairy, too much coffee, too much alcohol, etcetera. That's going to create damage to your intestines, it's going to kill off your good bacteria as well. With that, you get holes in the intestines leading to leaky gut syndrome. With leaky gut syndrome, of course, you have toxins going into your bloodstream causing chronic inflammation everywhere in your body - leading cause for asthma, eczema, arthritis, a lot of chronic conditions. And now all this inflammation also creates more toxicity. So these toxins go to the liver which is now also inflamed from leaky gut. 

So remember, inflammation is not only in your intestines, inflammation is throughout your body. So (1) your liver is inflamed, (2) your liver has to deal with excessive toxins from inflammation. So of course, your liver is going to get bunged up and you get liver stagnation. With liver stagnation then you have less bile being produced and less enzyme activity in your gut leading to poor digestion and worsening leaky gut syndrome, worsening dysbiosis and the cycle goes on. And that's why you'll have IBS issues, Crohn's disease, etcetera. 

Now a very interesting thing about the liver as well because it produces bile it's very necessary to relieve constipation. So the mistake a lot of practitioners make I find in my practice is they give a lot of laxatives for constipation, and for me that's a no-no because that's not treating the root cause. When somebody has constipation most likely their liver is stagnant, so I combine mushrooms, homeopathics, herds, etcetera, to free the liver off and then constipation, of course, resolves. 

My favorite topic, this is where I specialize in, mental health. How is your liver connected to depression and anxiety? Here we go. 

Which hormones are produced by the liver

So number one remember I told you the liver is connected to hormonal balance? So with liver toxicity or liver stagnation we usually see a progesterone deficiency, and progesterone is directly related to the efficacy of GABA in your brain. And GABA is a neurotransmitter that helps reduce anxiety, right? And so with low progesterone levels GABA doesn't work as well in your brain leaving you more prone to anxiety. And then like I just discussed, if your liver is toxic then we have an unhealthy microbiome due to dysbiosis and poor bile production and the studies are showing that a lot of your serotonin, GABA, all that, a lot of neurotransmitters are actually produced in your gut so if you have an unhealthy microbiome your production of neurotransmitters is going to be compromised leaving you more prone to anxiety and depression (check out herbs for anxiety and depression). 

If you have a toxic liver with an unhealthy microbiome then, of course, you're going to get more leaky gut and more inflammation. And chronic inflammation then creates a cortisol imbalance. And with a cortisol imbalance then we see a suppression of melatonin, serotonin, dopamine and GABA and, of course, that's going to lead to a lot of anxiety depression. And also I see OCD issues also improve with improving liver function as well. 

Before we go into this slide I want to cover one more thing. With anxiety and depression especially when there's irritability in depression I often treat the liver first with natural remedies for anxiety and depression. Along with leaky gut but irritability is a big sign of liver stagnation because in Chinese medicine irritability and anger are directly connected to your liver. So you can see the connection between western medicine, scientific explanations and TCM here. 

Now what is this slide? It's a very strange slide, it's going to take your eyes some time to adjust. If you look we have a little baby, then a toddler, teenager growing up to an adult. And we have clouds, layers of clouds, around each stage of a person. 

When you're born usually you're clean, emotionally clean, no traumas except you might be carrying ancestral trauma and family history trauma, and that's a whole new topic of family constellations that we'll talk about another time. But in the general sense you when you're born you have very little trauma. And then let's say your parents are fighting or there's a divorce or there's trouble in the home, your body goes through stress and there's difficult memories that are stored in your limbic brain and that creates one layer of trauma around you. 

Now as you grow up your perception has been altered based on your previous trauma, so now as you grow up (1) you're interpreting the world as dangerous or unsafe so you're interpreting things in a stressful way, and (2) you are exposed to even more trauma which adds another layer on top of you. So two things are happening here - previous perceptions, creating wrong interpretations as well as new traumas. And the list goes on, as you grow up and you grow older you have other stresses and other traumas that add more and more layers to your life. 

How to Cure PTSD

So for example, the victims of the terrorist attack that I treated today they have childhood issues and suddenly they're seeing gunmen running around or they've lost loved ones so they're going through multiple layers of trauma at this time, those are acute traumas, compounded with their work stress and their mental history based on their upbringing. So these layers of emotional experiences need to be healed layer by layer. And we do that through psychotherapy as well as homeopathy. I love using homeopathic remedies such as aconite, ignatia, etcetera, that actually release trauma. And rescue remedy is a beautiful Bach flower combination that's excellent for shock and trauma as well. 

So when we heal these emotional holding patterns ... see, these emotional holding patterns they get stuck in the brain and they trigger a fight-or-flight response in your body. And who deals with that is your adrenal system. And so over time if these traumas are not resolved your adrenal system remains in a fight-or-flight or a compensated way and goes into adrenal fatigue. And with that adrenal fatigue you get a cortisol imbalance and therefore neurotransmitter imbalance as well leading to anxiety and depression. So even though we're going to talk about adrenal support using the mushrooms and other herbs it's very, very, very important to heal trauma as well. And I talk about different exercises in the Free Holistic Medicine Courses Online I've created and the gut health book and you can also refer your clients to different psychotherapists or you can learn techniques such as emotional freedom technique, I personally do Gestalt psychotherapy and family constellations as well and EMDR. This is holistic trauma healing.

Great, so that's the mental health side of things, combining liver support and contributing to cortisol imbalance as well as I just want to mention the importance of healing trauma as well.

Let's move on to the next role of your liver. Your liver actually converts T4, inactive thyroid hormone, into active T3, up to 60% of T4 is converted to T3 according to a study by Malik and Hodgson. So if your liver is stagnant you're going to convert less T4 to T3 and you're going to get subclinical hypothyroidism. The funny thing is the reverse is also true, your liver cells need T3 to function well, so low thyroid function actually compromises liver function. So your liver will be detoxifying less and releasing less bile into the intestines, and so that's the reason I personally think is why people with low thyroid function have constipation because of poor bile production. 

How to balance thyroid hormones

And of course, there's less peristalsis because T3 also affects the motility of your gut muscles. So multiple things are happening with low T3. And remember, low T3 is not only because of low thyroid function but also poor liver conversion. 

Let's go to liver and cancer now, a beautiful topic especially since we're using mushrooms as well in cancer. I think you're getting the picture now of how if you have a stagnant liver you have less bile production so more leaky gut, more constipation so more inflammation and toxicity. With more inflammation and toxicity you'll have more free radical damage, more oxidative stress related to cancer. 

Your liver is also in charge of hormonal production or hormonal balance so if you have estrogen dominance then your estrogen sensitive cancers are going to proliferate. So it's a really good idea to detoxify your liver and your lymphatic system, of course, as well if you're prone to cancer or if you have cancer. 

Then we want to, of course, improve liver function in cancer because your livers in charge or very directly related to or responsible for immune cell activation. I'm reading from the right side of the screen to the left. 

And then with stagnant liver, remember, your blood is toxic, right? Because your liver is not absorbing so many toxins out of your blood. So your blood is toxic and the toxins back up into your lymph as well, so you have lymphatic toxicity. And when the lymph is toxic, of course, remember, your lymph is all the juice surrounding all your cells, in your interstitial system, and so if there's toxicity there (1) your cells are not going to be able to detoxify so you're going to have mitochondrial or DNA damage. Also with more toxicity in your blood your body gets more acidic, and when your body's more acidic your red blood cells actually start clumping together, and that's called Rouleaux formation. And when your red blood cells clump together you have less surface area of oxygen being delivered to ... less amounts of oxygen being delivered to all your cells because your red blood cells are clumped together so there's less surface area exposing your cells to oxygen delivery. And we know that cancer proliferates in a low oxygen environment. 

So when you detoxify your liver your blood gets cleaner, your lymph gets cleaner, and your body becomes less acidic and hopefully you're alkalizing your body as well so you'll have less Rouleaux formation and therefore higher chances of oxygen delivery to your cells. And other studies are also showing a strong correlation between acid and acidic body and cancer proliferation. 

Natural Cure for Fatty Liver

Great, hopefully I'm not going too fast. Romina, you can let me know to slow down somehow in case the listeners are asking me to slow down. 

So what's the protocol I use for chronic disease? Before we go into fixing the liver we have to remove inflammatory foods. There's no point supporting the liver without removing the cause of inflammation. 

Thanks, Romina. 

So inflammatory foods, what are they? Typically we're avoiding gluten in most cases, dairy, wheat, dairy, too much coffee, too much alcohol, sugar is a no-no for sure. I'm finding a lot of are people sensitive to soy sauce. Then I ask them to do food allergy tests. 

Now a lot of food allergy tests even though they say the person is not sensitive to wheat or something else, the funny thing is when we remove those typically inflammatory foods the person still feels better. So I don't always rely on food allergy tests except to expose foods that I'm not thinking about. 

And then I'll also get my patients to do a diet diary, so they write down the foods they're eating - breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks - every day. And then there's a column on the right hand side for symptoms. You can grab this diet diary off of my website. The symptoms you write, what time you're having the symptoms, so at 10 o'clock you have more gas or bloating and you see, "Ah, in the morning I ate eggs, so maybe I'm sensitive to eggs." So if you're getting any gas, bloating, fatigue, dark circles around your eyes, runny nose, etcetera, those are signs of inflammation and you need to look at the foods you're eating because all those signs are also indicating that your liver is becoming inflamed. 

And then we fix the dysbiosis, the leaky gut. And there I use probiotics and mycotherapy, and we'll talk about lion's mane and other mushrooms that are very, very important for leaky gut syndrome. 

Then third step or in conjunction with fixing leaky gut we're supporting the liver. This is using herbs that I'll talk about, and also using mycotherapy. And with detox, of course, we also want to strengthen the liver cells, so certain herbs detox and strengthen liver cells at the same time. Mycotherapy seems to protect liver cells a lot and strengthen them. Detoxification happens with one of the mushrooms that we'll talk about shortly. 

Natural Remedies for Adrenal Fatigue

Then the last step after everything's cleaned up is, of course, supporting the adrenal system. When you support the adrenal system you stabilize the adrenal system, there's two ways - one, of course, is we have to remember I said, "Release stress and trauma," because if you have stored emotional memory and stress then it's going to perpetually stimulate your adrenal system and no matter what herbs you give it you're always going to burn out. So we want to come out of compensation by healing trauma using the psychotherapy, using EMDR, using homeopathic remedies. And then we go into supporting the adrenal system with the herbs and the mushrooms. 

And the importance of, of course, supporting the adrenal system, I just want to add some more information here, one is, of course, improving immunity, secondly is stabilizing cortisol balance because when you stabilize cortisol balance then neurotransmitters also come into balance - so that's your GABA, serotonin, melatonin and dopamine, and that's really important for mental health. So adrenal support is very important for anxiety and depression.

And then when cortisol comes into play into balance, what happens is you see cortisol also affects your TSH levels and your conversion of T4 to T3. And T3 is very important for the cells in your intestines to stick together, so if your T3 is low your cells in your intestines are not going to stick well together perpetuating leaky gut syndrome. And so if you're stressed and your cortisol levels are off then your T3 levels will be off in your gut and, therefore, you'll have more leaky gut because of a cortisol imbalance that's coming from stress. And that's why I believe people who are stressed out have an exacerbation of inflammatory conditions such as eczema, arthritis, etcetera. 

Hopefully that makes sense. 

All right, so what are we doing for dysbiosis, leaky gut, inflammation? Well, Reishi is the go-to mushroom for inflammation. The triterpenoids in Reishi are known to inhibit inflammatory cytokines. And I love Reishi also as an adaptogen, we'll talk about that in the adrenal support section, but we want to reduce inflammation number one. 

Then there's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful mushroom, lion's mane. I love trying to say this name, I don't always get it right, but hericium erinaceous. It sounds so delicious. So we got ... lion's mane has a tropism for the digestive tract. What does that mean? It has an affinity, it really affects your digestive system. And it has a reconstructive action on your digestive epithelia (1), and (2) it acts like a prebiotic for your probiotics, for your intestinal flora. So it's like food for your good bacteria. So those are your two go-to mushrooms for healing leaky gut and inflammation. 

And then, of course, there's options to add probiotics, glutamine, vitamin D and omega-3, and I talk about all that in the Free Holistic Medicine Courses Online. Glutamine is an amino acid that helps repair the gut lining and vitamin D, of course, helps with inflammation. And vitamin D actually helps your ilioceal valve work better, and when your ilioceal valve works good or well, that's the sphincter between your large and small intestine, so you want those compartments separate so that the bacteria in one area, your small intestine don't mix with the bacteria in your large intestine. 

So there's lion's mane, remind me for lion. Just to summarize - has a positive effect on gut flora as a prebiotic and it helps regenerate your epithelium. And if you look at that like it's just like all those microvilli, just beautiful, beautiful mushroom. 

What are Medicinal Mushrooms

And here are some studies where they've actually shown that lion's mane does have a healing effect on the epithelia. The study involved inducing ulcers in animals. Sorry, I don't condone animal studies but I have to mention it here. Where they induced ulcers using ethanol and they showed those ones taking lion's mane had a faster repairing or a protective effect on the epithelia. And then they showed also increased production of mucus in the stomach lining when taking lion's mane, so significant protective effect on your digestive tract. So it's almost working like a demulcent it seems like. And it also has a reparative effect. 

Great, let's carry on here. Just checking the time to see we're good for time here. 

So mycotherapy solutions for liver support. Liver cells, remember, become sluggish due to inflammation and toxicity and oxidative damage, and when we repair our liver cells and we protect them we have stronger liver cells and that leads to improved bile flow, better microbiome, better detoxification and, of course, better liver functions such as hormonal balance. So where mushrooms come in is their impact on protecting the liver cells, and I'll talk about one mushroom that also has a detoxifying effect. 

Awesome, so the beautiful mushrooms related to your liver - shiitake, maitake and cordyceps. Shiitake and maitake are mostly liver protectors. And cordyceps actually has a detoxification effect by increasing glutathione. And hevastitera has a beautiful mix called mico mix, that's reishi, maitake and shiitake. So we have the liver protection from the maitake and shiitake and we have the reishi there to help with inflammatory damage or modulating inflammation. 

Now you can understand why mico mix was originally designed to help people with metabolic syndrome, so obesity, hypoglycemia, hyperlipidemia and hypertension. Remember, with hypertense tension and liver, Thomas Rau from biological medicine from the Paracelsus Clinic, he explains it beautifully - when we have Rouleaux formation, that's the red blood cells clumping together, we have less surface area of oxygen being delivered to your cells so your body thinks it's deprived of oxygen. So what does it want to do? It wants to increase your blood pressure in order to increase oxygen delivery. So definitely think about mico mix when healing your liver. 

And then I use herbs such as milk thistle, dandelion, etcetera, to stimulate bile flow as well. 

So the main mushrooms we are working with today are lion's mane, that's the digestive tract, then we got shiitake and maitake for liver protection, and then cordyceps as well for liver detox. 

 How do Medicinal Mushrooms work

And there is your lovely shiitake, lentinula edodes. So it's often used in Japanese and Chinese cuisine and it also has a lot of therapeutic actions. What I love about shiitake is it also has amino acids, high in iron, calcium, zinc, which is excellent also for your adrenal system and your immune system and your B vitamins which are also excellent for adrenal support, your E vitamins for oxidative damage, and then we have a lot of polysaccharides, and the most important ingredient in shiitake is your lentinan molecule. 

And here are some studies showing the effects of shiitake where we had oxidative damage or hepatic damage to liver cells, and we showed less increase of enzymes, of liver enzymes, when this mushroom was added to these animals. So you can see a direct hepatoprotective effect. The damage was induced by paracetamol by the way. 

And then, again, we show hepatic protective effects and reduction of inflammation in liver fibrosis in mice exposed to chronic liver injury. So there have been really important studies done on this and I'm going to go through some more studies as well to show other properties of mushrooms as well related to the liver. 

Now we have maitake. Actually I'm going to go back to those slides just in case people want to look at them and take some notes here. Now the website's at the bottom. I'm going to go to the previous slide as well. I think you'll actually be getting this presentation later, so we'll zip ahead. 

Okay, maitake, grifola frondosa, known as the dancing mushroom. Some people say it's because people would dance when they saw maitake, other people say just all the mico leo or the leaves of this mushroom, I don't know what to call that part, the movement of them, they're just ... yeah, they're like fans. 

So we have studies as well showing the importance of maitake in improving lipid metabolism by your liver cells. So remember the liver has receptors to grab LDL out of your blood and detoxify it into the bile? So maitake seems to improve the quantity or the efficacy of these LDL receptors, so it's excellent for lipid metabolism. 

Zipping ahead to cordyceps. Now this is the mushroom I was talking about that actually also improves liver detoxification as well as having a hepatoprotective effect. So cordyceps is often known for its immune function, but cordyceps also increases glutathione which is really, really important for protecting liver cells as an antioxidant and it helps with also liver detoxification in phase two. Remember, phase two it needs glutathione to work well. 

The other study that's done on cordyceps is related to portal hypertension. And in terms of TCM I look at that as liver Qi stagnation. So in TCM most conditions are caused by liver Qi stagnation. So I really believe cordyceps would be an excellent mushroom to deal with liver Qi stagnation, and we're going to show you a case study about liver Qi stagnation and what I mean. 

Here's another study showing the increase of superoxide dismutase and glutathione when cordyceps has been administered. So great research. Well done. 

All right, time's running out so let's get to some case studies. 

So we'll call her Sarah, 35-year old female, gas, bloating, so you're already seeing now the liver picture there - PMS related directly to progesterone deficiency and hormonal imbalance and anxiety. Anxiety could be due to either the food she's eating or low progesterone levels affecting GABA, so you're seeing the full picture now how liver is so important in almost every single symptom out there. And TCM would call this likely live Qi stagnation, maybe some heat in the heart as well. 

Why take Medicinal Mushrooms

So what did I do with this lady? First step, as usual - low inflammatory foods, right? Get rid of the inflammation. Then you got to heal the gut, before even going to liver I always heal the gut and that's where lion's mane comes in. And then, of course, we have the probiotics. And then because I see a direct picture of liver Qi stagnation my go-to mushroom would be cordyceps. And then we can add in the maitake to help protect the liver, strengthen the liver cells and improve liver function as well. But first I started with cordyceps because that has more of the ability to move stagnation. 

And then to help the mushrooms work well as well then we can always add the milk thistle, the dandelion, artichoke leaf, other herbs that stimulate liver bile production. 

The protocol we used here is the protocol, so we're doing lion's mane twice a day, morning and afternoon and to regenerate the epithelium. Then we're doing, of course, the mico mix which is a great mix for liver work. And of course, the reishi in there is also reducing inflammation. And then other naturopathic protocols are the typical ones - acidophilus and glutamine, amino acids - to repair the gut lining and, of course, the herbs as well for detoxification. 

Next case study here, we got Peter. So Peter had an issue with a lot of stress, burning out, turned to alcohol to manage his stress and everything and then just went to basically became an alcoholic almost. So now he has burnout and a lot of stress. Where's the stress coming from, right? Likely childhood memories and work stress and life issues. So instead of just supporting the adrenal system with a bunch of mushrooms first step, of course, is trauma release - and how do we do that? EMDR, counseling, I do Bowen therapy, acupuncture, etcetera and some homeopathy. That is key. 

Because when you release trauma, remember, that the body then relaxes and all the cells relax so they function better as well. If your body is super tight and a lot of trauma then I don't like adding too much adrenal support because it creates too much heat in a clogged up system. So remember, detoxify first and then support the adrenal system. 

So we've detoxed, de-stress him and released all the trauma. And then we go into building him up. And what do we use? Of course, reishi would be excellent to repair any oxidative damage in the body especially from excessive alcohol use. Now with the burnout as well reishi is excellent for the adrenal support. And cordyceps is fantastic for adrenal support and fantastic for liver health, right? Liver detox. And then you got the glutathione production which will help with the damage from the alcohol use, right? 

Now because of his burnout he also has low immunity, right? And cordyceps as we know is excellent for also promoting immunity in a person. So cordyceps seems like the central mushroom in this case because of the adrenal support, the liver detox, as well as immune protection. Then to back cordyceps up we got his friends or brothers or partners, whatever you want to call it, shiitake and maitake, of course, improving liver health as well. 

Are mushrooms medicinal?

What I love about mushrooms is that they have a synergistic effect with each other. They really help each other. And so there's no problem combining different mushrooms together. Romina will talk more about certain mushrooms that we don't use, I think in quinoa I believe, and because of a stimulating effect in cancer. But in this case I love combining the mushrooms especially with liver issues and burnout. 

The beautiful thing about shiitake, again, is it's high in zinc so excellent for the adrenal system as well. And then other herbs are used in adrenal support could include ashwagandha, astragalus, rhodiola, ginseng, depending on the picture of the person and depending. You see, I test energetically, so I'll test which other adrenal herb I can use in conjunction with the mushrooms. 

And because of his history of alcohol use, remember, what's been damaged? The gut, right? The gut is completely damaged so another mushroom to consider, of course, is the lion's mane to repair the gut cells, glutamine and probiotics. 

And here we have the protocol. Again, mico leo, combined with probiotics, excellent combination for gut flora, gut health. Mico leo, generally one in the morning, one in the afternoon is enough. And then mico mix, again, to help protect the liver and reduce inflammation. That one I guess up to three times a day depending on how far gone your patient is. So even twice a day can be enough in most cases, but in this case I use three times a day. And then cordyceps as well, we have mico cord with Hifas. And remember, cordyceps is for adrenal support, liver detox, as well as liver protection. 

Great. Now a lot of people ask, "Okay, what's the go-to combination for cirrhosis?" So if somebody has a lot of a history of alcohol use. See, there's a lot of herbs out there as well people use like the milk thistle, etcetera. I find them very bioavailable when they're in tincture form, but for alcoholics I don't give tinctures because you don't give any alcohol just in case that triggers cravings again. So I love going to the mushrooms in these cases, they're excellent for liver fibrosis and hephaestus products are very potent so we don't really need the alcohol extract, so they're fantastic for repairing liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. So we've got micro cord again and the mico mix. 

All right, so interesting studies have been done. The great thing about mushrooms is they don't interfere with cytochrome P450 enzyme, so they can be used in conjunction with chemotherapy and radiotherapy and certain drugs and medications because they don't interfere with the metabolism of the drugs. The mushrooms can have though anticoagulant properties, so you want to be careful blood thinners. So there are some interactions with certain medications with mushrooms, and Romina can talk about that a bit more. 

So I'm going to pass it on to Romina right now and she's going to talk to you about some important webinars coming up. And then we'll go straight into Q&A. All right, thank you very much, everyone. And here's Romina. 

Romina:  Thank you, Dr. Aggarwal. I don't know where you've disappeared, but we'll be right back with him for the Q&A. Thank you for that insightful presentation. I personally found it very, very interesting especially your case studies as well and understanding this link between the body and the mind and how, as you said before, mental health can have such a big impact or rather a poor detoxifying liver can have such a big impact on mental health. I think that was quite a fascinating side of things that we usually don't look at as practitioners. 

For those of you who have enjoyed this webinar we have more webinars on our website, so do log on to our website, but the next one will be on the 6th of February on allergy defense using medicinal mushrooms, one of our in-house practitioners, Annie Breen, will be taking up this fascinating topic on the 6th of February. And if you don't know already about our Facebook group or if you haven't joined it yet, do type in and ask to be part of our Facebook group called Mycotherapy with Hifas da Terra. Thank you, Ameet, that's the slide. 

However, so that we can accept you in the group we do request you to sign up as a practitioner and all you have to do is just log on to health.hifasdaterra.co.uk and sign up and then we'll give you access to our 750 strong group of mycotherapists and practitioners on that Facebook group. 

Thank you, again, for your time. So I'm quite intrigued because we've never had so many questions ever on any other webinar so clearly this topic is quite fascinating. I'm going to dive right in because I know we're tight with time. Some of the questions, Dr. Aggarwal, are directed to you and some generically so we can take them as they come. 

First question from Nicola who's been ill with a virus for over two weeks now, "What is your recommendation for an antiviral immune boosting mushrooms for a vegan person with Crohn's disease?" Would you like me to start, Ameet? 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Go ahead, go on, Romina. Go ahead, yeah. 

Romina:  So clearly as Ameet said before when we're referring to lion's mane because of this being Crohn's disease we would always say to use mico leo or lion's mane in this protocol. One of the reasons being Crohn's being an autoimmune disease, mycelio, so the lion's mane and mico rei, the reishi, will help not only to repair the damage in the gut but it will also help with the inflammation that is triggered. 

But as an antiviral it's not one of the mushrooms we have here, Ameet, so I'll talk about that one. Coriolis or turkey tail is the main mushroom we're using as an antiviral protocol. So what I would advise is to use the mico corio which is the coriolis mushroom, the mico rei and mico leo which is the lion's mane for gut health. I don't know if you have anything else to add there. 

Best inflamamtion supplements

Dr. Aggarwal:  Well, generally we want to improve immune function. And remember, gut associated lymphatic tissue, that's all the immune cells in your intestine need to be repaired. So of course, removing inflammatory foods as well to ensure that there's no dysbiosis. And then you can throw in some probiotics and some zinc in there to improve immune function as well. 

Romina:  Sounds good. Next question, "Will we get a copy of the slides so that we can focus more right now?" And I will say yes, absolutely. With Ameet's permission we'll send in the slides tomorrow, a day after with all the questions. Great, great. 

Another question for both of us, "Where can one buy the mushrooms in Kenya?" 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Where can one buy the mushrooms in Kenya? Well, Romina's sending them over. 

Romina:  Maybe one day we sign up. I mean, we send there. It's difficult to send in Africa, but definitely we can look at postage fees together and send that over. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  And then I'm also doing some research and I've discovered some reishi out here and Hifas is generously testing them for us. And so when that comes through we'll know more about that. 

Romina:  Yes, indeed. Next question, "Does lion's mane help with dementia?" And I think Darlene asked that question and then she asked another question right after which was, "Does lion's mane help with the brain?" 

Now I know that today we looked at the properties of lion's mane extract on gut health as Ameet shared with us today, but actually there's been a lot of scientific evidence and research behind using lion's mane for the nervous system and for neurodegenerative diseases. So I would say absolutely yes for dementia. In fact, I've had a client myself that has Alzheimer's and just by taking two of the mico leos for around four months she actually started to notice huge differences in her cognitive functions. So definitely one of the mushrooms to look out for the brain and for dementia as asked. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Amazing. Well, I didn't know that. Thank you. 

Romina:  Another question, "What do you recommend as a protocol to a detoxification in a patient that consumes anti-inflammatory foods?" So the recommendation for detoxification in a patient that is actually already on an anti-inflammatory diet. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  So it's really the mico mix I like and the cordyceps for liver detox and then ... and you also want to look at herbs for detox as well as the milk thistle and dandelion and then exercise and deep breathing. Remember, when you're breathing deeply your diaphragm moves more so it massages your liver. And people who are stressed do shallow breathing, they don't breathe with the diaphragm as well, so they're using their upper muscles, their lung muscles and that's why stress people get tight shoulders because they're breathing wrongly. So also keep the movement going and deep breathing along with the supplements. 

Romina:  Excellent. Next question, "If someone has issues with candida or yeast overgrowth or sensitivity to mushrooms, can they use medicinal mushrooms?" I think that one's for me. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Yeah. 

Romina:  It's a very interesting question because we get it very frequently. Mushrooms are a fungus so how can we use it for yeast overgrowth or candida? And normally I would say that people who are actually allergic or intolerant to mushrooms aren't actually intolerant to mushrooms, they're intolerant to some of the toxins that may accumulate in non-organic mushroom production. So that's one to look out for. 

And the other thing is that we actually interestingly have a protocol for candida and yeast overgrowth using mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms specifically. Now it's very important to understand the difference between powder and extract. If you're using mushroom powder the fiber in that may trigger candida or yeast overgrowth or may exacerbate that. But if you're actually using a mushroom extract then actually that will because of the purity of the extraction process you would actually see a healing process happening in candida. And specifically for that condition we would recommend the shiitake, so the mico shi, again, for its antibacterial properties and the mico rei due to its ability to really increase hose function resistance basically. 

Next question, "How do you test the medicinal properties of the mushrooms that are kept once they're processed into a supplement?" That's actually very easy to do because as we're organic we have the organic seal and we have very specific processes in terms of our production, cultivation and extraction. We actually have external independent labs that are constantly checking our batches. So the way we we process the drying, the extraction - we're making sure we're not losing the enzymes and the nutrients in the mushrooms. 

Next question for you, "Does Dr. Aggarwal have any recommendations for skin conditions such as granuloma annulare?" 

How to naturally boost immune system

Dr. Aggarwal:  That's a tough one. Always reduce inflammation first and modulate your immune system. So for me most conditions improve when we heal the gut and detoxify the liver, probably 90% of the cases. And then I add homeopathic remedies for specific symptoms. So start with healing your gut, and that's your mico leo, your probiotics, glutamine, vitamin D, etcetera. And then detoxifying the liver with everything we talked about. I think that will get you 70% of the way there. And of course, removing inflammatory foods. And then if that doesn't move well enough then I would say seek out the help of a homeopath because homeopathy just takes that one step further. 

Romina:  Interesting recommendation. Thank you for that. "When a client has finished chemotherapy the liver may be toxic, which protocol would you recommend to improve detox and help heal?" 

Dr. Aggarwal:  I want to answer that but I want you to answer that as well because I think you have the better answer, Romina. 

Romina:  Well, it's an interesting question because when someone's actually going through chemotherapy as we know, as this person may be asking, there is a toxic buildup in the liver. But what I'm more concerned about before the toxic buildup in the liver is actually the immune system being compromised because, again, when you're using such conventional treatments what you're actually doing is killing your immune system. So for me the mushrooms have a very fundamental key role in making sure your immune system is afloat, and actually we have specific protocols for cancer clients, so we actually have specific protocols that are used in conjunction with conventional treatments such as chemotherapy in this case that actually help you to awaken the immune system and stimulate the specific cells that will trigger the tumor to be attacked but also for the immune system to remain afloat.

So for me in terms of a protocol for cancer, on the one hand I would say depend on the type of cancer because we have five different formulations. If we're talking about breast cancer, for example, we would add in the mico mama which is a specific formulation, high potency formulation. So at the same time some of these mushrooms like Ameet told us today contain, the sun mushroom they're containing reishi or cordyceps, and we're using the synergy to be able to not just detox by the liver at that time but also to awaken and support the immune system for someone who's been diagnosed with cancer and who's actually taking a chemotherapy drugs at that point. So what I would say to you is do email us in the type of cancer it is and then we can give you a proper protocol for that. 

Next question, "How long was the protocol given to the case study number two, Ameet?" So what were the results or the timeline of the protocol? 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Case study number two, I believe that was the alcohol. If I remember correctly I believe that was about three months. Three months. Usually I do like adrenal support and liver detox and everything for most of my clients for about two to three months especially if it's really chronic. 

Romina:  Absolutely, I do believe that you need a minimum of four to six weeks for any supplement or any protocol for it to actually ... for the liver and for the immune cells as well as the mitochondria to start seeing the changes. Thank you for that. 

There are so many questions, we're getting overwhelmed here, but I think that's really good, we'll try to to answer as many as possible. "Can you test for Rouleaux formation?" 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Yeah, dark field microscopy, some naturopaths and functional medicine practitioners do that. It's called dark field microscopy. 

Romina:  Sorry, I didn't hear you, Ameet. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  It's called dark field microscopy. Some naturopathic doctors or holistic practitioners and functional medicine practitioners do those tests. 

Romina:  Great. I was just looking at the next question. "For a patient with psychiatric drugs for life, which mushrooms would you use? Would it be the cordyceps?" Would you like to say something? 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Yeah, first I don't want ... because psychiatric, remember, you want to heal the whole system, right? Where's the issue coming from? One, always remove inflammatory foods because bipolar even improves with just removing inflammatory foods. Then has there been stress and trauma? That has to be released as well. And then healing leaky gut, paramount. 

So rather than a specific mushroom for a specific like sign or mental sign, think about healing the foundations of health for any person. And then seeing what symptoms are left over. So the foundations of health would be the leaky gut - do the leaky gut protocol then heal the liver, right? And then support the adrenal system. And also that protocol gives you a chance to see which mushrooms and which herbs, etcetera, are having what type of impact on the person. Because if you just start throwing a specific mushroom without the protocol like healing the gut or detoxifying the liver you might be just suppressing symptoms and you might be confusing yourself as well as the practitioner. 

Anti inflammation herbs

Romina:  Very true, very true, I agree. We have to look at the aims first before getting into the adrenals. Although the positive thing about using the mushrooms is that because they have very low or practically no interaction with any medication or drugs at least we know and we have the peace of mind that there is no harm done to the enzymes. 

I think that someone asked about any interaction with centroid. We will email you once we've checked this, but as I said before there's barely any known interaction using our mushrooms. The only known drug ... yeah, sorry? 

Dr. Aggarwal:  I'll let you finish then I'll go back to the question about the psychiatric question. 

Romina:  Yes. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Go ahead. 

Romina:  Sorry, that was the next ... there was another question, hence, the answer to that. So the only actually known drug that has some kind of interaction with our mushrooms is called centrum. Now centrum actually interacts with every single supplement or even foods, so I would just say to steer away from any supplement or anything when you're taking centrum. But we don't know of any interaction as such specifically with this drug called synthroid but we will answer that in more detail when we send you the question answers. Go ahead, Ameet, sorry. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Okay, so depending on the psychiatric condition, so for most emotional issues I find is an adrenal issue or adrenal fatigue. If there is, then you want to stabilize the adrenal system. And I like reishi for that. But again, please check with the practitioner or with Hifas because we need to know the drugs the person is on, the psychological history, the mental traumas, etcetera, before going into that. So that's all I want to say. 

Romina:  Thank you. So again, another question on the drugs, "Can you use mushrooms for someone taking [unclear 58:20]?" Again, we'll check that, but as I said, the only known one is for centrum. 

"May I please have the Facebook address again?" Yes, that's Mycotherapy with Hifas da Terra, but as I said before, if you could kindly register first as a practitioner, all you have to do is go on help.hifasdaterra.co.uk, fill in the form and ask to be added into the closed Facebook group and we will add you. 

"Is it possible to use more references to human studies or are human studies lacking to date?" That's an excellent question actually. We do ... interestingly, mycotherapy is a term that was coined actually just 10 years ago by our founder, Catalina Fernández de Ana Portela, long name, but what's interesting is that so far it's only been since the 1950s that clinical trials have been done on this side in the west. Before that you've had a lot of traditional Chinese medicine and herbalists that have mentioned it but there weren't any formal clinical trials done. 

So usually clinical trials do start with mouse studies or animal studies, but we do have a few human studies that we're actually doing at Hifas da Terra as well. We have three or four now that are actually officially being done and they should be done by the end of this year, some for cancer, we have one that's already been done for metabolic syndrome and we have a couple of other ones, really exciting ones, on neuro degenerative disease as well. So we'll keep you posted, but, yes, we'll definitely add in as many human clinical trials as possible in our presentations. 

Next question, "Appreciated the case studies, how long was the treatment?" So I think you said it was three months. "When the mushrooms, milk thistles are given concurrently what are the outcomes?"

Dr. Aggarwal:  When they're given together, I find a faster outcome, I find mushrooms very hepato protective and the milk thistle stimulates the bile flow. Cordyceps also helps with bile flow and like liver detox. But definitely adding the herbs helps the protocol move faster. And generally, the herbs I like giving on an empty stomach. 

Romina:  Mushrooms are also given on an empty stomach so I think that settles it there. Continuing the same question someone else asked, "What duration would you suggest to take these mushrooms? For example, the protocols that you showed today, would you slowly add each stage, example, reduce foods then add cordyceps then add other mushrooms, or would you give everything at the same time?" 

Dr. Aggarwal:  I love that question. So I detox, I first heal inflammation so remove the inflammatory while repairing the gut at the same time. I also do the liver detox at the same time unless ... so unless mushroom is very adrenal stimulating I'll add it in the beginning, but I prefer to add adrenal support after the body is detoxified because from an energetic point of view if the body is too inflamed and there's too many toxins then I don't want to add more fire or support or ... how do I say that word? Mushrooms have this nourishing effect or even like a strong or strengthening effect, but I like the body to be clean before strengthening it. So the adrenal support I usually add at the end. 

How to reduce inflammation in the body fast

Romina:  Interesting, very interesting method of functioning for you. Next question, "What is the protocol for liver cancer?" I think since you mentioned and talked about liver cancer this is the next question. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  I'll let you answer that, Romina, because I think you have a nice mix for liver cancer there, right? 

Romina:  Yes. So we specifically have a formulation called mico digest, and that specific formulation is a very high potency mushroom extract combination and it contains reishi. Again, I won't explain the mechanisms, but some of the reasons we're using them, again, is for the inflammatory awakening, so inflammatory cascade as well, as well as awakening the immune system. So it's got reishi, maitake, sanagarikus as well as the lion's mane. Again, when we're looking at digestion and we're looking at healing the gut but also helping with liver support this combination has had the best results for liver cancer. 

But if you do email us details of that specific client we can talk more about the dosages for that specific person. So if they are using a conventional treatment then the dosage is different, if they're only using the mushrooms then we recommend at least one vial a day of the mico digest. 

Next question, "Would you recommend a client that has completely stopped drinking alcohol while detoxing, what if they refuse to?" So what if they refuse to stop consuming alcohol but want to detox at the same time, what do you do at that point? 

Dr. Aggarwal:  They're not detoxing though. They need to use a different word. They need to be supporting their liver function while intoxicating themselves. So when you challenge your client on their language, the use of language, they get a perception shift as well. That's coming from a psychotherapy perspective. 

So definitely worth supporting the liver system with the mushrooms because you want to repair that liver as fast as it's been damaged number one. And then generally I find when you release stress from the person and you balance cortisol levels by healing leaky gut then the experience of stress reduces in a person, right? So stress could be the trigger for drinking more, so as we're stabilizing cortisol levels and neurotransmitters hopefully the mood is improving which I'm hoping will also reduce cravings. 

Romina:  Very interesting. Are the doses ... yeah, sorry. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  It would just be interesting, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a mushroom that actually reduces cravings, but I don't know. And that's another study. 

Romina:  Actually there is a mushroom that reduces cravings, we're actually ...

Dr. Aggarwal:  Oh, wow. 

Romina:  We're actually using the mico coprin which is the copernius mushroom to regulate blood sugar levels. So we know that cravings have a role in blood sugar dysregulation as well, so we have had good results ... 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Your voice went. 

Romina:  Yeah, sorry, Ameet? 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Maybe the audience can let us know who you can hear, myself or Romina. 

Romina:  That's a shame because ... I'll repeat that, I said that mico coprin, the copernius mushroom, is the key mushroom we're using to regulate blood sugar levels and that itself has an impact on ... 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Romina, I've lost you but maybe the audience can hear you, I'm not sure. 

Romina:  Okay, if we're not working we are anyways over time, so I know there were lots of other questions here, however, I'm getting messages that they can hear both of us so maybe it's your computer that has an issue. So let's continue, a couple of questions more. I know we're tied with time, we'll have a couple more and the rest of it we'll answer as soon as we can in the next coming days. 

So what I was saying is that this specific mushroom, copernicus, actually contained naturally occurring chromium and glucomannan, specific ingredients that are helping to regulate blood sugar levels and reduce cravings. We're actually using this protocol for both clients with diabetes one and diabetes two and we've had very, very good results with that.

I know we're running out of time so I'll ask you two more questions as I said. Next question is for you, Ameet, "Do you recommend milk thistle or dandelion tea as part of a herbal protocol?" 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Absolutely. So back to the addictions part, also ear acupuncture, the NADA protocol, five-point ear acupuncture is excellent for cravings as well if they're refusing to quit alcohol. Combine your mushrooms with some ear acupuncture. 

Next question - milk thistle or ... was that an or dandelion? Do I prefer either or? Or do I like that while doing detox? I love doing the tea. 

Romina:  There's an or there. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Gosh. I love my milk thistle. Dandelion you're using the root, the leaf is for the kidney, the root is for the liver. Most teas are a combination though - they put dandelion and milk thistle in the tea and they add other blends in there. So I like using blends because they have a synergistic effect on all parts of the liver. 

Romina:  Okay, I'll keep that in mind for myself next time. Next question, "I'm on an alkaline diet, but mushrooms are not alkaline, is it still okay to take your supplements please?" I would say that if you're taking mushroom extracts, again, as I said, it depends on the type of dosage and the type of extraction process you're going through. But when there's pure mushroom extract actually that helps to alkalize the body, so the pH levels actually change, so I would actually recommend to continue with these mushroom extracts. Again, medicinal mushrooms are quite different to your normal portobello and button mushrooms that grow in two days and might not be alkalizing because of the environment. But as long as the mushroom is organic and you're taking extracts it's actually beneficial for an alkalizing diet. 

"So sorry, I missed the leaky gut protocol. What was that again?" You might want to just quickly go back to that slide, Ameet, the one for the protocol for leaky gut and liver. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Right here. We got the mico leo probiotics and then we go to mico mix for the liver. 

Romina:  Yes, we will be sending you the slides so if you want to look at the protocols again we'll be sending you all the slides as we said in the beginning. 

"Is there a lower age limit for using these mushrooms? I mean, small kids age one, two or three. Can they get them? If so, how do you figure out the dosage?" That's a very good question. We do use our mushrooms for children, however, we have a very specific range for children up to three years old. So we're looking at between 18 months onwards to a three we would recommend using the Dr. Leo and the Dr. Rei syrup formulas that contain acerola cherry and either lion's mane extract or reishi extract. And then when children grow older we actually recommend taking the powders, the mushroom powder, so we have a whole bio line which have mixes of reishi powder or shiitake powder, a combination of those. And once the child turns ... once they're teenagers they can actually safely start taking extracts because, again, remember, extracts are very, very strong and potent. 

But we usually decide the dosage according to the weight of the child. So the standard protocol would be one gram of extract for a healthy adult. If they have something chronic, as Ameet said before, we can go up to three. The oncology line has about three to six grams of mushroom extract. So the way we calculate that is we say, "Well, if the child weighs about 40 kilos then we would just give them one capsule of the mushroom extract." So we're just actually halving the dose of a normal average person. 

I think we are out of time now. The slide ... I think because it's concerning your presentation I'll take this last question, "The slide with trauma from baby to adult is exactly my husband's story but he refuses counseling, how can I help?" 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Okay, he refuses counseling. I have videos on the website, some people like watching the videos and then when they get an awareness of how the mind affects the body etcetera they're more willing to look at it. Just going for a walk and talking about his problems, getting him comfortable talking to a friend about his issues. So don't call it counseling - call it coaching. A lot of people are into success. So they can book with me and say, "It's coaching." You can tell him he's coaching with me instead of psychotherapy. It's about performance and stuff like that, that's another way to get people into it. 

My holistic medicine books have interesting exercises that when somebody reads it they get familiar with it's not therapy, it's not psychotherapy. I'd love it if you can ask a bit more on this specific question based on what I've said so far because I'd love to answer you more fully because that's a big block people have, so I'm happy to answer more after you've typed something in if you can still type. 

Tapping techniques are excellent as well, EFT, that's in the gut health book as well and the Free Holistic Medicine Courses Online What else? It's a tough one because we all have family members who refuse counseling, who refuse therapy, and that's very damaging to a family because the family walks on eggshells or tiptoes around, etcetera. I don't have a clear-cut answer. I don't have a clear-cut answer except maybe get therapy yourself so that you have ways of coping and communicating and changing your communication style so that you're more patient with the person and can ask the right questions as well so that they feel more relaxed and less triggered. Those are my best answers off the top of my head. 

Romina:  Thank you, Ameet. I'm sure that the person is online, they haven't said more about it, but what we can do is that if you have more questions please do email us. You can email us directly on our help inbox, so [email protected] and I'm more than happy to forward them to dr Ameet and he can reply to you directly if you have a specific question for him. 

I think we are kind of ... there's one last question that's come up, I think we'll ... and many more, but I think we'll take this last question up because I know Ameet is three hours ahead, so it's 10:15PM for him right now, it's getting quite late. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  I need to rest my system. 

Romina:  Yes. "Please suggest something for an underactive kidney for my mom. Her creatinine levels are 3.9 right now." I've actually had a very interesting case recently of someone that was actually going to ... was on their way to experience kidney failure and their creatinine levels were actually quite similar to your mother's. What I would suggest is definitely the cordyceps. Cordyceps has been very, very effective in helping to regulate and rebalance kidneys not just in traditional Chinese medicine, it was considered as a kidney tonic, but we've had a lot of scientific papers and studies showing that effect to help with kidney failure. 

In the case of this specific man that I had to take up in my clinical practice we were looking at giving him about three to four of the mico cord, so it's quite high dosages, we're looking at two grams of cordyceps extracts. But definitely I would say to monitor her creatinine levels after a month and come back to us and let us know how her creatinine levels are doing. 

The lady whose husband is refusing counseling has given us more information, she says, "Regarding my husband he's a lovely man but he is full of blocks. It would be too long to explain. Thank you very much." So again, feel free ... tomorrow when we send in the recording of the webinar as well as the slides and the questions I will put in Dr. Ameet's contact details so if anybody wanted to directly email him please feel free to do that. 

Thank you again. It's been a very interesting evening. We didn't expect so many questions but I'm pretty sure there are at least 30 questions that came up tonight. Thank you again, very, very insightful. And I hope you can join us again. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  I just want to say thank you everyone as well. I'd love you to get my Free Holistic Medicine Courses Online, please, it's going to help my community work in Africa. This week it's on special, you'll see on the website a video of my mobile clinics which I want to start again with funding from the Free Holistic Medicine Courses Online and my book. I'd love you to spread the word. I really appreciate you listening in. And thanks, Hifas, for really this opportunity to speak about the liver. And I love it that mushrooms are so connected to the liver. So thank you. 

Romina:  Thank you very much. And good night, everyone. 

Dr. Aggarwal:  Good night, blessings.

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