138: How To Fix Hair Loss and Hormone Imbalance

Transcript of Episode 138: How To Fix Hair Loss and Hormone Imbalance

With Dr. Daniel Pompa, Meredith Dykstra

Meredith:
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Cellular Healing TV. I’m your host, Meredith Dykstra, and this is episode number 138. I’ve got Dr. Pompa here. How are you, Dr. Pompa?

Dr. Pompa:
Very well – and just Dr. Pompa today, right?

Meredith:
Not just, but it is just us, but you’re definitely – I’m excited to feature you and just to have a conversation today, just us. This is going to be a fun topic today.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. We get a lot of questions. I’ve been trying to do a few other YouTube videos answering some of them. I did a three-, four-minute video on Candida because I got so many questions on it. I talked about how Candida runs with heavy metals in that video. You’ll see that coming up. I did another one on the gut that you’ll see in the future. You haven’t even seen that one, yet. I think doing some of these shows on some of these more broad questions that I can answer in three or four minutes is probably a good idea. That’s how I came to this show.

Meredith:
Yes. This is a hot topic today. A gentleman wrote in on some of his hair loss challenges. I’m going to read his letter that he wrote to you and Merily, and then we’re going to delve into this topic. I think it’s going to pique the interest of a lot of the audience out there. A lot of people have hair loss challenges, and there’s a lot more to it than just the cosmetic issue. Before we dive in, I’m going to read his letter.

“Hi, Dr. Pompa and Merily. I’m really glad to know that you’re Christians, and it’s so cool to see people who have faith in God and are directing people to natural cures. I’m wondering if you would do a show on hair loss. It goes along with cellular health and the endocrine system subject. I believe Dr. Pompa himself touched briefly on his hair in one YouTube video in regards to a time in his life concerning his health.”

“I’m a 35-year-old male who has graduated grad school. The past eight years have been hard in just about every way, but to add to it, I drank alcohol a lot during this time. I’m experiencing thinning around the crown of the head, and I’m trying to get things right with God and myself. I know that in the medical field, hair is not something that has a lot of people’s attention, as many view it as cosmetic. All people seem to know is that male pattern baldness is caused by dihydrotestosterone or DHT. I just hope and pray God can heal my body. Thank you for any insights.”

That was his letter. All right, Dr. Pompa. Take it away. What do you think, and what is DHT? I’m excited. I don’t know a lot about hair loss, so this is – there’s a lot to learn here.

Dr. Pompa:
We talked a little bit about, in some past shows, about how the body can form toxic estrogen for multiple reasons, one of which is toxicity, and how Merily had formed these toxic estrogens. Really, we know they lead to cancer and other major hormone problems. We don’t hear a lot about toxic testosterone, but DHT is a more potent form of testosterone that can cause hair loss. There’s something called 5-alpha reductase that – many people may have heard of these drugs because they’re called 5-alpha reductase inhibitors that they give for prostate cancer. They do that because DHT can also drive prostate inflammation, potentially cancer.

This enzyme, these 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, the drug, what it does is it inhibits this production of the DHT thereby possibly helping the prostate problems, but there’re some other problems. What studies actually show is that, yeah, it actually decreased the frequency of prostate cancer. However, the cancers were more severe, so I don’t know if that was a good answer.

Anyways, there are some natural things that we can look at to diminish – to do what the 5-alpha reductase inhibitor drugs actually do. We looked at some of those, and there’s actually one in Designs for Health, their prostate product called Prostate Supreme. Really, you would say, “I have a hair problem. I don’t have a prostate issue,” but it does the same thing. It affects the enzyme and affects the DHT. It helps the testosterone not convert into the more toxic form, if you will, that can drive hair loss.

I think there’s a test that we can run. We have run this test for women, and we like to run this test for men. It’s a 24-hour urine collection, complete hormone. It’s the most accurate way to assess some of these more toxic hormones and even the toxic metabolites from these hormones. For example, 4-Hydroxyestrone is a very toxic metabolite, and 4-Hydroxyestrone can cause these free radicals that lead to breast cancer. My wife had very high levels of that and even another one called 16-Hydroxy.

Point being that her toxicity drove malfunction, if you will – lowered her methylation and some other problems, and her body wasn’t getting rid of these toxic forms, and therefore, they were building up, and leading to hormone problems. We discovered that by that test, this 24-hour urine. You can actually get the test off our website under Discount Labs, under Services. Look. You get the test, but you need a coach to read it. That’s why we train doctors in these tests like this. It is another way to look at even, like I said, DHT, 5-alpha reductase, some of these other anabolic pathways. Go ahead.

Meredith:
Are you commonly seeing methylation as being an issue connected to hair loss?

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Methylation can allow some of these more toxic hormones to build up. Methylation really is involved in detox. Methylation involves in protecting the DNA.

Meredith:
Sorry. It’s cut out a little bit. I did not hear the last little bit of what you said.

Dr. Pompa:
Methylation gets rid of toxins, toxic hormones, but it also protects the DNA. I want to give some other reasons why hair loss can be an issue that I jotted down, that I’ve ran into over the years, honestly, one of which is a gene. We can turn on certain genes, and the drop in methylation can allow certain susceptibilities, even male pattern baldness, etcetera, to be turned on, which leads me, actually, to something that just happened recently to one of my patients.

Stressful events can drive certain types of hair loss for multiple reasons, by the way. It can trigger certain genes, stressful events. It can trigger autoimmune, which can drive your body to attack the hair follicle and cause hair loss. It can drive other types of autoimmune, hypothyroid, which we’ll get to. Stressful events are known to – all of a sudden, people have hair falling out in clumps, I mean literally.

What are stressful events? It could be toxic in nature, so the body releases a lot of toxins, or you get a lot of toxic exposure, or you’re not getting rid of toxins. We see that sometimes happen to people who – we need to slow the detox down. We also get it in people who need to detox. We also see it in pregnancy, after pregnancy. It’s a stressful event. They’d categorize that as the stressful event that can trigger hair loss. There’s a condition known as telagon – it’s T-E-L-A-G-O-N. I actually wrote it down because my dyslexia, I knew I wouldn’t pronounce it correctly. Telagon effluvinna or something to – E-F-F-L-U-V-I-N – and I can’t even read my own writing. It’s a condition that stressful events can cause, and the hair falls out, but that’s more rare.

Most of the time, it just triggers the other types of autoimmune. Even after surgery, it can trigger those types of events. Stressful events is one thing that I just saw recently with somebody. I guess the question would that, “What do you do?” If it’s an emotional or a physical stressful event, just some good, solid nutrition plays a big role. Adrenal supplements like GA, Seriphos, Calm; those are three that we have that actually can make a big difference in helping the body adapt to stress, and therefore, the body will come around on its own.

Then also, just like I said, some good nutrition. There’s the Spectra, which is a natural multivitamin. We did the ENERGYbits. That helped one of my patients with their hair. It’s an algae, spirulina, that’s loaded with nutrition. Because of it, it made a massive difference in this woman’s hair, and it started growing back. That’s a big deal. Again, that has a lot of things in it. We know biotin deficiencies can also cause the loss of hair, other B vitamins, too. B vitamins play an important role. You had a question.

Meredith:
Yeah. I’d like to go back to the nature versus nurture conversation on this because as we know, the genes that we have, especially with male pattern baldness, don’t necessarily have to be triggered. I’d like you to talk a little bit more about your specialty, too, toxicity and how that can trigger, maybe, the male pattern baldness gene, and then what to do about that with detox.

Dr. Pompa:
The gentleman in the letter actually raised – said I had said my story, which is true. When I was sick and I still didn’t really know what was wrong, there was just hair through my drain all the time, and I realized I was losing my hair. I wasn’t even healing the same. I recall that, as well. My hair definitely changed rapidly. Mercury is known actually to – obviously, it could trigger genes. So can any heavy metal or toxin, neurotoxin, and turn on certain genes.

I think, in my case, it was more of the fact that my body just became so depleted at the cellular level that – I’m sure it was my deficiencies that were causing my hair to fall out. My hair did become thin and brittle. My thyroid was affected, which is another cause for thinning hair, especially, but it also – you lose the hair. My thyroid and adrenals were just not functioning normal at all. Something I always say is I addressed my thyroid and my adrenals for a long time, and it really never worked. My body temperature was low. My skin was not the same. My hair was obviously thinner, drier, and more brittle.

It was when I got my heavy metals down to a certain point that my thyroid started to come back. Mercury binds to the same receptors as thyroid hormone. It’s a selenium-type of receptor so it attracts these types of heavy metals. The thyroid is known as the canary in the coalmine, meaning it’s very sensitive to heavy metals. It’s very sensitive to that halogen type of chemicals like fluoride, chlorine, and those types of things. Iodine binds to those same exact receptors, so we need iodine to make thyroid hormone, so those chemicals interfere with that process.

Many people are drinking fluorinated water, chlorinated water. Bromine’s another one. The point is that that exposure to those chemicals really affect thyroid just like heavy metals, which one of the first signs you can start to see your hair thinning, and start to lose it when it gets more severe.

Meredith:
Wow. So many causes it seems like for hair loss that – these triggers in our environment, the stresses, the chemical, the physical, and the emotional that’ll trigger that gene; then it gets turned on.

Dr. Pompa:
I think that it can – male pattern baldness, obviously there’s a heredity there. We know that there’s genes involved. Genes get turned on, so stressful events will turn it on. Again, we know that if we change the stressful events, the body can turn it around. However, certain genes, once they get turned on, it’s very difficult to turn them off.

Meredith:
Mm-hmm. Do you think it’s always possible to avoid turning it on if you maintain a healthy lifestyle even if you’re genetically susceptible to it?

Dr. Pompa:
Remember, genes get turned on even in the generation before or the generation before. Remember, epigenetics affects four generations. You could live this perfect life. The Duke University study, I think, was really evident of that. They exposed two identical twin groups of mice, identical twins, same DNA. They fed them the same, exercised them the same, did everything the same. They exposed one group, however, to a chemical, BPA, which we get in make-up. We get plastic, we’re exposed to BPA. Even teeth sealants and fillings – BPA is everywhere.

They exposed the mice to an equivalent level, they felt in the study, what humans get exposed to today, especially the younger generations. It triggered a gene called the agouti gene. Guess what happened? The mice hair became dry, turned yellow, became very, very unhealthy. I’m sure that nobody would have liked hair like this. They became obese, and they became more susceptible to heart disease and other diseases. Triggering that gene was one thing to see in that generation, but what happened is the next generation they didn’t expose to the chemical. They were born with the gene triggered. They had the yellow coat, the yellow, dry coat. They became obese as little, teenage mice. They were fed the exact same diet, and yet they still had that gene turned on.

Now, the good news is when we can take the stressors away, we can give methylation groups, and do all these things, and fixing the cell membranes, the body can turn off the gene. In that study, they did turn it off so the next generation then was born good.

Meredith:
It was one more generation, you said? How long did it take to turn it –

Dr. Pompa:
No, no. In those mice, they actually turned it off, and they did become healthy. Then the next generation was born with it turned off.

Meredith:
Wow. Now, do you think that that would be transferable to the human model as far as the next generation? If one generation had it terribly, passed it on to the next generation, that current generation was able to control it and turn it off. Do you think that it would pass onto the next generation? How do you think that works with humans?

Dr. Pompa:
Absolutely. One of the things that – people always say, “Okay. I’m detoxing.” It’s like, “Okay. Great. You’re detoxing.” However, as we know, there’s much more to it than that. We forget about the cellular healing component. My 5 Rs is really a roadmap that years ago I started teaching doctors on how to fix a cell. If you actually look at the 5 Rs, it’s really mostly about turning off those – that epigenetics in the cell.

R number 1is removing the stressors, removing the sources. That plays into epigenetics. R number 2 is regenerating the cell membrane. If you remember our interview with Dr. Bruce Lipton, who wrote the book, Biology of Belief, he showed just our thoughts will change that epigenetic. Thoughts alone can change genetics and the epigenome. So do toxins. His point was, though, in his book – if you’ve read, some of you. It’s a great book. You should read it, Biology of Belief – that fixing the cell membrane is really the key to fixing and changing the genome.

In the cell membrane lies the intelligence. In the cell membrane are the receptors, IMDs, integral membrane proteins – IMPs, integral membrane proteins. I think we’re talking nuclear weapons when I said IMDs – IMPs, integral membrane proteins. These are basically a.k.a hormone receptors. They’re receptors that communicate with the outside of the cell, bring information inside the cell. He really says that’s where the intelligence really lies.

When the membrane is inflamed, which so many Americans is, then that information in epigenetics – bad genes get turned on. We know that if we can fix the membrane, fix the receptors, we can change the epigenetics. A lot of his research and now, many others, have shown this. R number 2 is regenerating the cell membrane, very, very important for epigenetics.

R number 3 is restoring cellular energy. Again, cellular energy runs parallel to many things like restoring glutathione, inflammation, which plays a role in epigenetics. R number 4 is reducing inflammation. Again, inflammation is what’s driving a lot of the disruption for the epigenetics. R 5 is reestablishing methylation, which I just told you the methylation, these methyl groups, which so many people are depleted in today because of emotional stress, physical stress, and chemical stress – depletes these methyl groups. Now, it leaves your DNA more vulnerable.

In the Duke study, they gave these mice an abundance of methyl groups, and they turned off the gene. When you put the 5 Rs together, you can change the epigenetics, and then we can turn off autoimmune if that’s what’s causing the hair loss. We can turn off a gene that was turned on if that’s what’s causing the hair loss. You see, we can change the thyroid condition because remember, thyroid conditions get turned on just like diabetes, just like other things. Yes, we need to remove the stressors. That’s part of the detox. We also have to turn off that gene.

If you remember the article that I wrote, The Autoimmune Answer, I said a gene gets turned on in autoimmune. However, there is a stressor – so three legs. Think of the analogy of a three-legged stool. All three legs have to be there for it to stand up. All three legs have to be there for it to cause an autoimmune. All three legs have to be there to have a solution for it. A gene gets turned on in autoimmune. In this case, it could be one that’s related to hair loss. The stressors that turn it on have to be removed so we can turn the gene off.

Then the gut plays a significant role, we know, in certain bacteria being needed to even make cells to turn off the immune system. Anyways, three-legged stool applies here, as well. You had a question.

Meredith:
Yeah. I think that three-legged stool illustration for autoimmune, as you’ve said in the past, too, applies to so many different diseases because those three components play into how a disease arises. Then you have a stool, as you’ve kind of created for how to fix it, as well. Do you want to kind of go over that a little bit?

Dr. Pompa:
Yup. Yeah. Look, the 5 Rs plays into how we turn off the genes. Think about the 5 Rs playing into that leg of the stool. True cellular detox is how we get the toxins out. Look. We say this again and again. It’s worth saying. You won’t get well until you fix the cell, but you won’t get well until you actually detox the cell. All these downstream detox things, whether it’s this cleanse, that cleanse, juice cleanse, liver cleanse, you name it, colon cleanse, they really don’t get to the cell.

We have to get the cell doing what it does. That’s the toxins that are affecting that genome. We have to remove the stressors. If you don’t remove the stressors that turned on the gene, you’re never going to turn the gene off, so very, very important. R number 1 is removing the sources. Whether it’s physical, emotional, or chemical, we like to talk about all of them on this show.

Then the last one is the gut. That’s more of where our ancient healing strategies apply. That’s where a lot of the fasting, intermittent fasting, moving people in and out of ketosis, diet variation, changing their diet, that’s where a lot of those strategies play into. Fixing the gut isn’t as simple as just giving probiotics, as people want it to be, but oftentimes, that actually causes dysbiosis. Again, fixing the gut – all of these things play into one another. How do you fix the gut without going upstream to the toxins, getting rid of the toxins that are destroying the gut?

People have root canals, these things, and silver amalgam fillings, putting toxins down into the gut day in, day out. You’re creating dysbiosis. Your stress, your thoughts, according to Bruce Lipton – so all of these things play in. It really is a real answer, but again, there’s complexities here. It’s a little different for everybody. However, it is the real answer, but nobody wants to hear it. Everyone wants that one thing. It’s never the one thing.

Meredith:
Yeah. I love your multi-therapeutic approach, Dr. Pompa, because it’s not a simple answer, but it’s a real answer. It’s funny. Your store here where I work, two people call in, and they ask for – “I have hair loss. What’s a good supplement for this?” A woman texted me today, like, “Oh, my stomach is feeling off. I need a supplement to ease my stomach.” It’s never that simple, unfortunately. So many people either want a pill or they want a supplement, but the multi-therapeutic approach is truly the answer, and it’s multifaceted. It’s time, and resources, and strategy, but if people want real results, then they’re going to have to commit.

Dr. Pompa:
Yup. Yeah, it’s true. I think people come out of that mindset because of the way medicine has been over the years. It’s, “Take a drug for a symptom. Take this for that. Take this for a headache. Take this for a stomachache. Take this.” We are driven with that philosophy from the time we’re children. As adults, when the bottom starts falling out, we want to reach for that one thing.

When you look at how illness really is created or – not just illness but not feeling well – where it starts, it’s very complicated. It starts with a lot of different stressors that we call perfect storm, turn on a lot of bad genes, create a lot of cellular inflammation, dysfunction, and it’s been going on for years. Disease starts years before the symptom starts.

Now, people don’t believe that. They don’t want to hear that, but that’s the truth. Before you ever express a symptom of hair loss, the problem started years before. Thyroid conditions start years before the blood work comes out. Even before your symptoms start, the dysfunction starts. Health is the same way. It’s years, not months. It’s not one thing. It’s reversing, if you will, everything that you’ve done wrong, and that is a multi-therapeutic approach. It really is. You have to be taught, right?

I love to say this. I can say this. The reason why we – I can say “we” as a group of doctors around the country who have been trained – and I’ve been training in a multi-therapeutic approach, cellular healing, cellular detox, the ancient strategies, everything that we talk and love. Look. It is a coaching situation that – why we see the results we’re seeing. People want to be treated, but I’m telling you once you hit a certain thing of chronic disease, you don’t want to be treated. You want to be taught a process. You want to be taught cellular healing. You want to be taught how to turn off epigenetics. You want to be taught how to detox a cell. That’s the key.

Although I am a physician, you don’t need one. You need a coach. I repeat that many, many times to people in a day because you do. Doctors today are not teaching. Doctor means teacher in Latin, but we’re treating. We’re giving people things. If it took years for you to become sick or years to become not well, you need to learn the process to get your life back. That’s what doctors today need to do. That’s the difference. You hear me tell our doctors that all the time. “You coach. You teach people these processes.” Nobody’s doing that today. If someone wants to learn, they will get well, and I believe that.

Meredith:
Yeah. It’s a powerful message. It can be a tough pill to swallow, so to speak, for some people who want a simple answer, but it’s also – it’s helpful, too, because real results are able to be achieved, and people’s lives transform. That’s really the magic of implementing all of these different strategies while working with a trained coach because you can really get your life back and get better health than you ever dreamed of.

Dr. Pompa:
Yup. Absolutely. I saw this shadow move out here – my windows here. The other day, a mother and its two baby moose walked by here. I don’t even know if you can see this, but there’s not much room between that wall – do you see that wall? – and the window.

Meredith:
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Pompa:
There’s a path that goes through there, right through there. Can you believe that? You don’t want to mess with a moose and her babies. I can tell you that. My dogs are going berserk. I wish it would have been during one of these shows so we could have showed that.

Meredith:
That would have been fun. A little moose, hey, that’s the fun of living in Utah. You’re in a good spot out there.

Dr. Pompa:
So true. Let me give a couple other reasons for hair loss that, maybe, people didn’t think about. Iron deficiency can cause it, so anemia, iron deficiency anemia, can be a cause. Again, the one that took the ENERGYbits, that really clean spirulina, that could have been the B vitamins. It could have been some iron. It could have been many different things. That’s another one that people don’t think about. Looking at your serum ferritin levels – ferritin being too high can create oxidation. Being too low can lead to other problems, hair loss being one of them. That’s another.

I don’t even know, did we finish the thyroid conversation in the sense that it really does lead to multiple different problems? Here’s the thing that most people have to understand: So many thyroid conditions are autoimmune. Doctors don’t typically even run antibodies because the treatment is the same whether you’re autoimmune or not. My gosh, it shouldn’t be. However, the antibodies, even if they’re negative, you can be in an autoimmune state, and again, it could take years before the antibodies start to actually rise. Autoimmune, again, read the answer, Autoimmune Answer, the article, Autoimmune Answer because most often, that’s the key.

I’m always asked, “Can these thyroid conditions be reversed?” Absolutely. Get rid of the cause; the body reverses them. The doctor doesn’t. The body does. When you get rid of the causes through a multi-therapeutic approach, the body can do amazing things. Turn that gene off, and the body can fix it. There’s no doubt about that. PCOS –

 

Meredith:
Oh. This kind of tied in a little bit, too, with the thyroid. I just wanted – if you could talk a little bit about gender differences with hair loss, as well. I know it seems to be a little more common for women to be hypothyroid and experience hair loss as a symptom of that. If you could kind of speak to that and if treatment is different at all for men and women with the hair loss issue.

Dr. Pompa:
The male pattern baldness, obviously, that’s more of a male thing. The DHT we would think of as just a male thing, the more toxic, potent testosterone, but that can happen in women, as well. Matter of fact, a condition in women that we see hair loss is PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome. By the way, what is that? Women run too high of testosterone levels. That’s one of the tests. We look at testosterone.

Again, that 24-hour urine test is a good test to look at – as well as too high DHEA. DHEA converts into testosterone – and as well as DHT. I have seen all of those with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Again, for males or females, it would be the same. We have to fix the hormone cascade, and typically, that’s toxins in nature. Obviously, methylation plays a role there, as well. That’s – go ahead.

Meredith:
Is that 24-hour urine test the best test for methylation, as well?

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. I think it is. There’s something that is known as the methylation priority principle that Dr. Vinitsky – actually coined the term, and I think it’s very appropriate. We see it in practice all the time. Methylation is so important and has so many functions, protecting our DNA. Matter of fact, you need methylation groups to turn on DNA and turn it off. It acts like a switch.

To adapt to stress, you need it to turn on cortisol to adapt to stress, turn on adrenalin to adapt to stress. It turns on our stress response, but methylation also turns it off. A lot of people have chronic anxiety. A lot of people who are left in panic attacks, they’re so methyl depleted from other stressors that they can’t turn off the stress response. That’s a sign that they’re severely methyl depleted. Think about this. The methylation priority principle means that the number one priority for a human is to adapt to stress. Therefore, it will steal methyl groups from any other jobs that it would do to adapt to stress.

Therefore, if you’re chemically, physically, or emotionally stressed, it’s stealing methyl groups from your DNA. It’s stealing methyl groups from getting rid of toxic hormones. Because people are emotionally stressed, physically stressed, chemically stressed, they become very methyl depleted, and therefore now, we’re leaving our DNA vulnerable. We’re leaving our hormones to be more vulnerable, building up these toxic hormones. Yeah. We see that often.

In that test, we can look at methylation and how it’s affecting hormones. Because it’s downstream, then we’re able to see that, “Wow! The methylation’s depleted here because it’s being used up there.” It’s a neat way to assess methylation. Of course, we always get asked about the MTHFR gene, which is a SNP in a gene that can possibly lead you more predisposed to having methylation problems because you don’t process regular folate, and therefore, it can – folate is part of this methylation circle, if you will. It can leave you more methyl depleted.

We can look at certain genetics. I think we thought it was very simple in the beginning. It’s a little more complicated. They body has ways to compensate, but we can still look at these genes, and say, “Some people definitely, genetically, have susceptibilities to that.” Therefore, they end up with more methyl depletion, and they can end up with other conditions, diseases because of that methyl depletion.

Meredith:
Yeah. A lot of your clients need methylation support. It does seem pretty common just from what I’ve seen a lot, too, that so many of us today are methyl depleted. Supporting methylation is a good idea for a lot of people.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, it is. MORS is a great product that’s sold on the Revelation Health website because it uses active forms. Some of these methyl depleted people, some of these genetics SNP type of people, they’re not able to take regular folate, so they need the active from called methyltetrahydrofolate. We want to use these more active forms.

There’s even different forms of B12. There’s a hydroxocobalamin; there’s a methylcobalamin; there’s a cyanocobalamin. Some people have different places where they’re filed up, so to speak. Even toxins can interfere. Giving them one type of B12 will help one person; this type may help another. I like to use different forms and even rotate different forms because of that. I don’t like just to rely just on one form oftentimes; I like to rely on different forms just because people can have different problems in different areas of those conversions. Give people those certain forms that they need, they really light up. It really makes a difference for them.

Meredith:
Yeah. Now, I know you’re not a huge fan of using exogenous or supplemental hormones, but do you think as a crutch in a situation like for hair loss or hormone imbalance that possibly some testosterone would be helpful in the short term?

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. If you look at one of those 24-hour hormone tests and you have a practitioner who’s really good at looking at that, that’s the way to go. At least then you can see the whole hormone cascade, the whole hormone pathway, and you can make much safer assessments. Some people need crutches whether it’s thyroid hormone, estrogen, progesterone, whatever it is, and that’s the way to do it, the safe way to do it.

Here’s why: Oftentimes, we see people – when we look at that test, we see people taking hormones, saying, “I feel better.” They do whether it’s this type of – one estrogen or progesterone. Who knows what it is? “I’m feeling better.” However, when we’re looking at their test and all of it, or a portion of it, I should say, is spilling off into these toxic estrogen metabolites, that really can cause problems and lead to cancer. You could feel better developing cancer. It happens all the time. It does.

Whether it’s bioidentical or not, if your body can’t get rid of these toxic estrogen metabolites, that’s a problem. The safe way to use those crutches is to look at a test. Then you can see if you’re making these more toxic forms of hormones or their metabolites.

Meredith:
Yeah. Very, very important point. Getting tested in that area is very key and working with a trained practitioner who knows how to look at that, and read it, and use those hormones very strategically.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Estrogen, progesterone, and those levels, that plays into so many different other hormone pathways, and it plays into hair loss, as well. We talked about PCOS as being somewhere where we see hair loss. Again, estrogen and progesterone can play into even forming more testosterone and toxic testosterone, so it really – one hormone affects the other. The test is a good idea, no doubt about it.

Meredith:
Yeah.

Dr. Pompa:
I’m sure some of our viewers have heard of alopecia, which again, autoimmune in nature. The body can literally start to attack the hair follicle. Again, read The Autoimmune Answer. There’s not a simple answer here. Any type of autoimmune, a good test is to have your practitioner, doctor, run an ANA test. ANA tests are very common for just general autoimmune.

Lupus is another autoimmune where we see a lot of hair loss. I mentioned alopecia. I mentioned lupus. I mentioned thyroid, autoimmune. Look at those areas, as well. Again, we look to the answer for that three-legged stool, the answer of autoimmune.

Meredith:
What does ANA stand for?

Dr. Pompa:
Oh, gosh – antinucleus antibodies, something like that. Yeah, something like that.

Meredith:
I wasn’t as familiar with that test, but ANA test for autoimmune. Okay. I know you’ve said before that autoimmune testing is in the Stone Age in a lot of ways, too. They still haven’t developed a lot of really accurate tests because there’s so many different autoimmune problems and conditions.

Dr. Pompa:
That’s exactly right. There’s a lot. We really haven’t caught up. So many people have autoimmune and just don’t know it. It’s because the testing is in the Stone Age. An ANA test is a general test that you can just start with, but again, it’s – it really is. It takes years being autoimmune before these tests actually show a positive. That’s the problem.

Meredith:
I think you’ve said, too – you’ve said that so many people with major chronic conditions and unexplainable symptoms, it’s very, very likely that there is an autoimmune challenge going on. It’s safe to assume that it’s probably autoimmune.

Dr. Pompa:
Mm-hmm – especially when you have large amounts of hair – losing hair very rapidly. Most likely, I would say, that’s true. Mild hair loss could be just nutritional deficiencies being driven by toxicity like my case, or it could be nutritional deficiencies just from other types of stressors. Who knows? Autoimmune, I would say, and then hormonal. So many things, of course, affect the hormones. Multiple stressors affects the hormones.

Those are the majors. Here’s one that a lot of people don’t realize. Again, I think of these things because I’ve actually had these cases. Just using too much crappy hair product – I use the word crappy. I should use the word toxic.

Meredith:
Toxic.

Dr. Pompa:
Toxic hair product. They literally are constantly using these crappy products whether it’s hair dyes, their product that they’re using daily, day in, day out. These toxins break down hair, and they get into the follicle, and it can break down that. It can drive hair loss. Of course, it can drive different types of dermatitis of the skin, which that can lead to hair loss, dermatitises, different things like that. Change your hair product.

Meredith:
Yeah. In all of those external toxic products, not only are they affecting us at the external level, but they’re getting absorbed, too. Then they’re creating the internal cellular toxicity, so it’s kind of a double whammy there.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no doubt. No doubt about it. You know, there’s a few places we can look at somebody for whether they’re healthy or not, and the hair is one of them. I believe the eyes are the other. We can look at people’s eyes; we can look at people’s hair and just know. It’s the thing that you don’t know you’re looking at that go, “Ooh, that person’s sick.” I would say a third is the skin. You look at someone’s skin, hair, eyes, and that’s just kind of what our brain does and assesses people.

I think that’s one of the reasons why people really pay attention to their hair. It’s a big deal. Listen. I’ve had many, many really sick people, very sick, and their number one concern is their hair. I would lean towards the women on that, no doubt about it, but there’s exceptions. I’m not saying that’s wrong.

Meredith:
No.

Dr. Pompa:
It’s self-esteem. It’s how we feel about ourselves. It’s a horrible thing. Hair is a big deal. It’s not just vanity is my point, I guess. It’s really not. It is an assessment of how we are and how people perceive us. The hair is a really important thing. I never ever get on my patient for saying – “Oh, my gosh. If you’re worried about your hair? Look at this.” No. I would never say that because how we present ourselves is – that means a lot to everybody.

Meredith:
Yeah. They’re all expressions of our inner cellular health. As you said, too, it’s very primal how we assess others, too, with these external traits to know how they’re healthy on the inside, too. Our ancestors didn’t have all of these tests, and to look at blood work, and to look at hormones, and to know whether things were in the right balance, but they looked at each other, and energetically could assess how healthy someone was. I think that God put those instincts in us for a reason just as far as creation goes.

Dr. Pompa:
I forgot one. I forgot Weston Price’s favorite, the teeth. Look at somebody’s teeth, and you can see health. When you see somebody’s teeth that are rotting and – again, that’s why people really care about their teeth because it really is another one of those signs that you’re healthy or not. What did we say? We said hair; we said eyes; we said teeth; and we said skin.

Meredith:
Skin.

Dr. Pompa:
All right here. Yeah. It is. Those are all reflections of inner health. It really is. When I was sick, my gosh. Obviously, my sickness started in my teeth, but they were rapidly getting worse. I lost the gums. My gum recession, Dr. [Jerry] fixed all that. I had all these things up there. It was horrible the amount of recession that I had, and it was just getting more and more rampant. It was just getting worse and worse.

Obviously, my eyes were constantly red. My skin had this gray look. I looked back in pictures, and it was just remarkable to me. It was like I could just see – and of course I already talked about my hair. All of those areas were affected on me. Again, I didn’t know it because it kind of creeps up on you. It’s when I could look back in pictures and go, “Oh, my gosh! I looked worse even though I was much younger than I am now, but I definitely looked worse.”

Meredith:
Mm-hmm. Yeah. It’s okay to focus on those cosmetic things sometimes, as we said, because there is a deeper meaning behind all of it. That’s why this was such a great question to write in. You said, “Well, let’s do this show on it.” We get a lot of great questions, but I think this is such a topic in particular that affects a lot of people, and needs a multi-therapeutic approach, and it is more than just cosmetic. There’s a much deeper underlying issue here. Great topic and great question.

I know we talked a lot about the causes, so just to review a little bit, some of the supports you wanted to bring in to kind of help treat hair loss is obviously the multi-therapeutic approach, looking at methylation, and possibly using the Genova 24-hour hormone test to look at that; focusing on proper nutrition, so the cellular healing diet, the cyclical ketogenic diet, bringing in a lot of those different nutritional tools and therapies that you suggest. Adrenal support, possibly then just brining in targeted supplementation, as well, like the algae, the B vitamins, methylation donor products like MORS. Anything else you want to add?

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Those were all just kind of brought up along the way. You did a good job recording them there. Yeah. All of those things are really, really good. The Spectra is a great just general nutrient. Again, the ENERGYbites, just general, great, general nutrients. I think your B vitamins – you had mentioned them, right? – are very, very important. Adding some extra biotin has worked for people, but again, just a general B complex can be helpful for certain people.

If you don’t have the deficiency, it won’t help you. It won’t hurt you. It’s a water-soluble vitamin, but it plays a role. Getting in the sun, I think, would be one thing more I would add to that. It has an effect on so many different pathways. Here’s one more. You kind of said it, but I’ll repeat it in a different way. Many people today still are not getting enough quality fats in their diet. Cholesterol is not something to be feared. Cholesterol is at the top of the hormone chain. Cholesterol plays into hair. It plays into the skin, the collagen, the cell membrane. Getting these types of things in is really important.

I’m doing a lot of study right now on fish oil and how many people, again, just are taking just fish oil, and they’re taking it forever, on, and on, and on. They’re staying away from things like butter that have arachidonic acid that we used to think just drove inflammation. Now we know that it balances it. If you’re taking fish oil, that can lead to thin skin, thin hair. You may want to add butter. Again, I would say take your fish oil more randomly. Be careful. Eat more fish, some clean fish like sardines. We know that they have an incredible – but in the fish, you’re getting all of these other antioxidants. You’re getting all these other fats that help balance that out.

Again, just a caution there. In the list of things – let me just see one thing. We have a minute here, but let me see if I can find this. On my desktop right now, I have – oh, gosh. You should see all these studies. Now, if I pull this one out, it will be a bloody miracle. Let’s see here.

Meredith:
You do your research, Dr. Pompa. That’s for sure.

Dr. Pompa:
I love it. That’s not it. I’ll have every one of these pulled up here.

Meredith:
Forty different tabs open.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, exactly. Remarkable how many I have. You know what’s happening right now is I’m going through this thing of like, “Oh, my god! I have all this work to do!”

Meredith:
As you look, too, I just wanted to mention, too, I love your suggestion, Dr. Pompa, as far as the vitamin D, going out, getting the sunlight, and the fish oils, as well. If you do need to supplement vitamin D or supplement fish oil instead of eating fish, to give it sporadically. Instead of going out and getting regular sunshine, taking a high dose of vitamin D sporadically, like taking the vitamin D3 supplement that you like, taking a large dose like five or ten at a time, like you would have gone out and just gotten a big dose of natural sunlight. I think that’s such a great idea – or taking fish oil at a higher dose randomly as if you would have eaten fish versus just taking it daily at the same amount. I think that that’s such a brilliant approach.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, exactly. Oh, I might have found it. It prevents that overdose. Let’s see if we can –

Meredith:
Yup. You got it?

Dr. Pompa:
Here you go. These are signs of a DHA deficiency. That means fish oil deficiency – numbness and tingling, weak, pain, poor cognitive function, blurred vision, poor immunity, poor growth, inflammation. Here’s the symptoms of an arachidonic acid deficiency. That means butter, organ meats –

Meredith:
I just ate grass-fed heart today for lunch. It was really good.

Dr. Pompa:
Oh, man, loaded with this good stuff, right? Listen, here’s the deficient – first thing, hair loss. You may need more butter. Dandruff, dry, scaly, itchy skin – you see it’s hair and skin. Reproductive difficulties, gastrointestinal disturbance, food intolerances – wow. Kidney disease, inability to maintain weight – so people need to gain weight. Poor immunity, as well, and poor growth, inflammation – so interesting, right? Those are the people that start to take in too much fish oil actually start to get skin and hair problems.

Meredith:
Yeah. Wow.

Dr. Pompa:
You need some butter. You need some organ meat. You need some egg yolks. Yeah.

Meredith:
For those who are dairy-sensitive – what if you can’t have butter? What would be another good source of arachidonic acid?

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Like I said, the organ meats are good.

Meredith:
Organ meats and egg yolk, those are good. Okay.

Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Organ meats and egg yolks are great sources, and of course, you’re getting some just in general meat, just some, obviously –

Meredith:
Red meat.

Dr. Pompa:
Exactly. Yeah.

Meredith:
Grass-fed, organic, local, ideally.

Dr. Pompa:
Yup. There you go. We gave some tests to run. We gave some immediate solutions. We gave some, obviously, some ideas of causations. I hope that helps. I always say that. I hope that helps. This is an important topic, and who knows? It may be one of the most shared topics that we’ve done for that reason.

Meredith:
You never know. Yeah. If you’re watching, continue to send in those topics, and we’ll bring more shows like this to you. If you like it, give us feedback. Let us know if you like little Q&As with Dr. Pompa because this is questions that you guys have. We want to get this information to you, and Cellular Healing TV is a wonderful vehicle that we’re blessed to be able to do that. Thank you, Dr. Pompa. Awesome show. Great information, as always. So grateful for you and for bringing this message to the world.

Dr. Pompa:
Yup. Love it. Can’t wait to do another one. We’ll see you on the next show.

Meredith:
Awesome. Thanks, everybody. Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next time.

Dr. Pompa:
Yup.