Episode 94
Dr Miles Nichols:
The Real Enemy Within: Understanding Autoimmunity and Its Role in Mental Health
In this episode, I sat down with Dr. Miles Nichols to explore autoimmunity's intersection with mental health. We discussed Miles' personal health journey, the role of autoantibodies, vitamin B12, and how these affect our overall wellbeing. Challenging common mental health misconceptions, Miles emphasized the significance of holistic treatments, autoantibody testing, and the impact of stress perception. He left us with valuable advice on self-assessment and readiness for the health journey ahead.
First Aired on: Jul 3, 2023
Episode 94
Dr Miles Nichols:
The Real Enemy Within: Understanding Autoimmunity and Its Role in Mental Health
In this episode, I sat down with Dr. Miles Nichols to explore autoimmunity's intersection with mental health. We discussed Miles' personal health journey, the role of autoantibodies, vitamin B12, and how these affect our overall wellbeing. Challenging common mental health misconceptions, Miles emphasized the significance of holistic treatments, autoantibody testing, and the impact of stress perception. He left us with valuable advice on self-assessment and readiness for the health journey ahead.
First Aired on: Jul 3, 2023
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Miles Nichols, the mind behind the Medicine with Heart Functional Medicine Clinic in Colorado.
We touched on some profound aspects of health, and here are the highlights:
Connect with Dr. Miles Nichols through the Medicine with Heart website for more resources and check out the Mind Body Functional Medicine website if you're interested in training as a practitioner.
Until next time, stay healthy and inspired!
We touched on some profound aspects of health, and here are the highlights:
Dr. Nichols' Personal Health Journey
Miles shared his journey battling chronic fatigue and brain fog. This struggle sparked his passion for functional medicine and understanding autoimmunity.Unraveling Autoimmunity
We dived into how autoantibodies can impact our bodies and brains. By understanding and addressing these, we can improve our overall wellbeing.The Role of Vitamin B12
A chat about vitamin B12's role in battling fatigue and neurological problems was enlightening. Remember folks, regular tests for autoantibodies are key!Chronic Health & Mental Health
Miles challenged the conventional wisdom around depression, emphasizing the role of infections, toxins, and emotional trauma. This fresh perspective helps us see mental health in a new light.Holistic Treatments for Autoimmune Responses
We discussed how comprehensive treatments addressing the root causes can reduce autoantibodies and enhance mental health.Autoantibody Testing
A deep dive into autoantibody testing underscored its role in managing chronic illnesses. Miles' take? Lifestyle changes can significantly impact your health, and retesting is crucial for tracking progress.Stress Management & Emotional Health
Stress and how we perceive it can dramatically affect our health. Practices encouraging brain retraining and inner joy can supplement traditional treatments.Dr Miles' Advice
Perform a self-assessment of your daily activities and embrace where you are health-wise. Stay ready for the journey ahead, it's worth it!Connect with Dr. Miles Nichols through the Medicine with Heart website for more resources and check out the Mind Body Functional Medicine website if you're interested in training as a practitioner.
Until next time, stay healthy and inspired!
Other Resources:
Connect with Dr Miles Nichols
Episode Transcript
Julie Michelson: [Page//00:00:00] Welcome back to The Inspired Living with Autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michelson, and today we are joined by Dr. Miles Nichols, founder of the Medicine with Heart Functional Medicine Clinic in Colorado.
Dr. Miles specializes in Lyme mold, illness, gut, thyroid, and autoimmunity. In today's conversation, we're talking about various elevated auto antibodies and how they can affect [Page//00:01:00] different areas of the body, including the brain, and how we can take steps to address the triggers and reduce those antibodies to feel better.
Dr. Miles connects the dots between autoimmunity and mental health challenges, and the connection may surprise you. He also underscores how important it is to consider our relation to what we do to heal and not just the external steps we take.
Dr. Miles, welcome to the podcast.
Miles Nichols: Thank you so much for having me.
Julie Michelson: I am so excited for our conversation and I'd love to start by having you share your personal health journey with listeners. Cause I always feel there's so much value there.
Miles Nichols: Yeah, happy to. I growing up had. A father who was a doctor, who really was an inspiration because not only was he doing medical work, he was into [Page//00:02:00] public health. He taught at the public health school and then he became interested in trying to make bigger change in the world. So he decided to become a state legislator.
He tried and lost and tried again until he won it. Take, took a few rounds,
Julie Michelson: Good for him.
Miles Nichols: Then he was able to, to pass some interesting legislation that took tobacco and moderate tax money and put it into a pool and made it available for people who fell below the poverty line who weren't eligible for healthcare.
He passed many different things that, that were helping lots of people, and yet when I was 15, i, I, I got a call, I was babysitting for a, a friend of my sister and. I got a call, it was someone from my family church, and she said, something's happened that you're gonna have to leave your, someone's gonna come take over for you, your, your father's in the hospital.
And he had passed on suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. And that just threw me [Page//00:03:00] for a loop because I didn't see it coming. And he had. top-notch medical training. He had medical school at Stanford. He had a master's in public health from Harvard. He had the top of the top of the education in health, and yet he had passed on at 64, and that really threw me for a loop.
At the time, I didn't know. One, I had to deal with my own grief around that experience, and I started to learn about mindfulness and I started to learn about stress management and I realized these things aren't taught in medical school. And then I started to struggle with my own. Health issues. A few years later, in early twenties, I was struggling with chronic fatigue and I, and, and lots of brain fog and I was struggling to even get through school and I got called into the principal's office and she said, something's going on.
You're academically doing great. I can tell you have the capacity here, but. [Page//00:04:00] You're not arriving on time and some things are going on that, that tell me something medically might be happening. And I said, I think so, but I don't know what, I went to the doctor and they said nothing's going on, and, but I, I sleep for eight hours, nine hours, 10 hours.
I still feel tired, hard to get out of bed, hard to get through the day. And she said, I think something's going on. And I said, you know what? You're right. I need to figure this out. So, I took, took me on a journey. I really, I, I started to do some practices, some meditation, mindfulness practices, movement practices.
Those helped a lot. And then I started figuring out some of the functional medicine piece and got some mentors and I started doing some lab testing for some things that really, I realized that even though my doctor had said everything was normal at the time, I. My thyroid markers were a little bit high normal actually.
And when I discovered that high normal, that out of the optimal range, but within the conventional range, I started to get really, really [Page//00:05:00] interested and curious in, hmm, I wonder about this opt, this, this optimal function versus disease process. And I started to get really, really passionate about how do what, what is optimal function?
How do we look at prevention and how do we look at chronic? Debilitating things like chronic fatigue, brain fog, and it led me on a journey. And that journey led to discovering that I had auto antibodies against cells in my stomach and. No one had talked about that, and I had to figure that out through doing a lot of self-research and looking into research studies and seeing that 20 to 40% of people with thyroid issues had these auto antibodies and then just, Hmm, I wonder if I do and testing them and I out that, oh, I did, and then I had the research, well, how do I treat that?
And then started treating that and then I felt tremendously better. And then I found that. I had these chronic infections. I had [Page//00:06:00] Babesia, Bartonella, these, these tick-borne infections. And I grew up in Arizona. It wasn't a thing. I didn't have that as an awareness. And, but later, just a few years ago, I found out there was a tick problem in the dog yard.
And they had, as a kid, the, they had to go between some times of having a dog. My parents said, oh, we couldn't have a dog for a while cuz of a tick problem. And it starts to, it starts to become, Clear over time and, and I start to think back to the allergies, the eczema that I had, the things that as a little kid that I didn't think much of at the time, and that now I'm starting to piece together the puzzle.
And then I was living in a moldy environment and I tested and had the multi susceptible gene, which is one of the worst. Genes for accumulating toxin from mold, creating a chronic inflammatory response. And I had to get out of that house and I had to do that whole treatment and figure that out for myself.
And so after all of that, and there's others, but I'll just [Page//00:07:00] leave it there.
Julie Michelson: It's enough.
Miles Nichols: I I, I decided I. You know, this, this was really hard for me, and it took lots and lots of years to do this and figure this all out, and I wanna help other people to do it quicker and have a more streamlined, systematic, step-by-step approach.
And so that's, that's why I've created the clinic, that I've created, the practitioner training in institute, because I want to help people to be able to move through these kinds of chronic, sometimes mystery illnesses with a little more grace and ease than I had in my journey.
Julie Michelson: Amen. That's why we do what we do, right? It's. And, and I'm always grateful that we're, we've all been able to, many of us piece together, even though it may have taken, you know, years and years and years and we know now we can streamline it, as you said. We have so many parallels to our story. But let's tie in.
Well, I'm [Page//00:08:00] fascinated. Now I'm gonna shift from what I thought we were gonna talk about. Let's talk about those autoantibodies to the stomach. Tell share a little, this isn't something anyone's talked about yet on the podcast.
Miles Nichols: Yes, sir. These cells called parietal cells. Parietal cells in the stomach make stomach acid, and they also make something called intrinsic factor. Stomach acid, of course, is helpful for breaking down protein for metabolizing nutrients and especially minerals, and so people who have stomach acid issues often have issues digesting.
Protein like meat might feel heavy in the stomach, or it might be that mineral levels are chronically low or there's maybe an iron, a deficiency or anemia or other things where stomach acid is an issue and other people get acid reflux when stomach acid is an issue and parietal cells are what makes stomach acid so, There are [Page//00:09:00] autoantibodies against these cells, and because these cells also make intrinsic factor, intrinsic factors responsible for metabolizing vitamin b12.
Now, this is really important because vitamin B12 is one of the vitamins that when deficient creates issues with things that overlap with thyroid and other things, fatigue, neuropathy, nerve problems. Some neurological problems. So, To have a B12 deficiency could cause a lot of issues. And these, this intrinsic factor is how people metabolize b12.
And what's really mind boggling to me is that when parietal cell antibodies are present, often B12 levels will start to become low, but people can supplement with b12. I was supplementing with B vitamins, including b12. My blood levels looked good. But the research on parietal cell antibodies is if they're [Page//00:10:00] elevated, if the immune system is attacking these cells, what helps that to go down is injectable b12.
And that's odd because taking oral B12 and getting blood B12 levels up, I would think, oh, well that probably is taking care of that deficiency. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But what is clear in research is that what helps those antibodies to go down? Is injectable B12 and oral does not work. And I've tried oral, I've tried topical, I've tried liposomal, I've tried sublingual and injectables.
The only one I've found to reliably bring in patients down the elevated parietal cell antibodies. And so that's interesting, and I don't completely understand why, but I but it, it's there. It's in the research, it works and. And, and what I noticed personally is that injecting B12 had a totally different effect for me than oral b12, sublingual [Page//00:11:00] b12, all the other forms of B12 that I had taken.
It took a little while for me to experience it, but it made a dramatic difference in my energy, and I thought the energy was related more to the thyroid being subclinically low, and it probably had something to do with that, but 20 to 40% of people who have. Thyroid issues have parietal cell antibodies, and then pariet cell antibodies are also elevated in a number of other autoimmune conditions.
So people who have one or more autoimmune conditions, which hypothyroidism is often an autoimmune condition in an of itself most of the time. People who have one or more are at higher risk for having parietal cell antibody elevation, and yet it's one that doesn't tend to get tested all that often. So I tested frequently in people and even people who don't have known autoimmunity.
Sometimes I'll find parietal cell antibodies still, and it explains some, [Page//00:12:00] especially when I see there are oral symptoms. So there are a few oral symptoms that are almost. Guaranteed to have paral cell antibodies, which is quite strange. Th this sore tongue, this feeling of, of a sore tongue, waking up with a really dry mouth and having a sense of if people get a lot of, a lot of oral symptomatology kink or sores and certain other throat issues, chronic sore throats and.
And, and strange feelings in their throat, their tongue, their mouth. That's almost the in, in research they see like nine over 90% with some of those symptoms have bridal salient to body elevation. So it's very fascinating and it's a topic that I wish more people understood about. So thank you for asking.
Julie Michelson: Oh my gosh. I see. I'm, we can stop now. I'm good. No, I'm kidding. I, I just love, I have, I so enjoy the conversations that I have and I know that, that listeners [Page//00:13:00] get so much value, but I, I get excited when someone goes in a totally. I'm like, oh my gosh. So is this testing that, that can just be included on a functional medicine panel?
How, how do people go about I. Because I'm sure listeners are gonna be running out saying, oh my gosh, I've never had that tested.
Miles Nichols: Yeah. Alci antibodies can be ordered through LabCorp, through Quest, through the big labs. Yeah, it's, it can easily, yeah, easily be ordered.
Julie Michelson: Amazing,
Miles Nichols: not very expensive. Even if it doesn't go through insurance either.
Julie Michelson: which is always a blessing when it comes to this kind of testing. So that leads me to, I know you have this pretty systematic approach to streamline things for your patients. Are, is this, are you, are you a tester? Is that something, do you do certain kinds of panels and in the beginning, you know?
Miles Nichols: Yeah, I do. I, I do quite a lot of testing because I really, I tend to get the people who have [Page//00:14:00] been through a lot of other stuff and they're still struggling so often. People I get are, they've done a lot with diet, with lifestyle and with supplementation, and they've done usually some treatments in the functional world by the time they get to me.
So often I'm, I'm trying to figure out those weird mystery things that a lot of people haven't tested for. I do a lot of. Neurological auto-antibody testing, so antibody testing against brain and brain tissue. I find that a number of people have immune autoantibodies against things like dopamine receptor one or cerebellar tissue, or Perkin G cells or these other structures in the brain, and that really.
It concerns me about where we're headed as a culture because the stats on cognitive decline on Alzheimer's dementia, mild cognitive impairment are significant. The stats on mental health issues are significant, and I see an overlap. What was interesting is I was treating [Page//00:15:00] a lot of chronic infections, toxin issues, gut dysfunction, methylation issues, mitochondrial issues, and.
What I discovered is a lot of people were saying, wow, my anxiety went away, my depression got better. And I, I started to think, huh, I wonder why that's happening. And I started to look into the research about these mental health concerns, and I recognized something that just totally was a surprise to me, which is that there isn't a good link between the neuro, the, the neurochemical imbalances that people talk about, like.
Like serotonin and depression. When I look at the most recent umbrella review papers on that, the peer review clinical trials that are looking at a meta-analysis of all the other trials, there's no good evidence that serotonin depletion causes depression, and that's just mind, mind boggling to me because that's still the perpetuated norm.
That's [Page//00:16:00] what people think. Even in the research in the medical communities, a lot of people think that unless they're really up to date on this, and so. That led me to think, okay, well what is it that's causing these issues? So I've, I've gone deep into encephalopathy and looking at brain changes, structural and functional changes in the brain.
Often this happens post-infection. Of course, traumatic emotional experiences can play a role in the development of mental health issues, neurologic issues of cognitive issues of brain fog, of headaches, of chronic fatigue, of neuropathy, of chronic pain, and. Also auto antibody attack against brain tissue, post-infection, post toxin exposure.
So I started to piece together, oh, infections. Actually, there's a huge body of literature, a huge amount of research suggesting post infectious and encephalopathy, and this became abundantly clear [Page//00:17:00] with covid. It became abundantly clear with Lyme because I treat a lot of Lyme and co-infections that. Post this infection.
Often in doing case history, people say, oh, well, I was doing pretty well with stress. I was feeling pretty energetic, pretty good in myself until this time. And then what happened in that time? And when we dig into it, it's either some kind of a, an infection, some kind of a toxin exposure, could be a big emotional stress.
And often with that infection, with that toxin exposure, sometimes what happens is, It initiates an auto antibody attack against the brain tissue. And this is well documented in research. It started with pediatrics and looking at children and children and finding that some children had significant behavioral changes after getting strep throat.
And what was discovered is that that streptococcal bacteria can actually have this. Ability to trigger an [Page//00:18:00] autoimmune response against brain tissue, and that autoimmune response against brain tissue could change behavior and mood, and children could start to get really angry, really upset, really having behavioral problems, getting psychiatric diagnoses, and yet, The root of it has been discovered in many cases, not every case, but in many cases, to be a post-infectious auto-antibody response against brain tissue.
So infections or toxins trigger this. Auto-antibody response against brain tissue. And then there's also a lot of gut dysfunction that can cause this auto-antibody response against brain tissue. So part of the testing that I do are looking for those antibodies against brain tissue, looking for other autoantibodies in the body as well as looking for.
What's hormone function like? What's gut function like? Is there any gut [Page//00:19:00] dysfunction? What's cellular function methylation like? What's mitochondrial function like? And doing that kind of a broad spectrum of testing in the beginning. Give a nice picture because what I have found is that a lot of people, when they're.
Doing one thing, like a lot of people come for Lyme and they want Lyme treated, and if I just treat Lyme, I don't see great results usually with
Julie Michelson: It's never just lime.
Miles Nichols: yeah, need to address the gut mitochondria, methylation, toxins. It, it's a bigger picture and so, so I do a long answer, but I do a battery of testing in the beginning to look for a variety of things.
To paint a picture and look for patterns and that painting a picture and looking for patterns gives a few markers that can be tracking markers that we can retest along the way to help to evaluate, engage progress and treatment together with how people are feeling. Of course,
Julie Michelson: Yeah, but it's a. Always nice to see that data too.
Miles Nichols: [Page//00:20:00] absolutely.
Julie Michelson: For sure. So, because we're not a doom and gloom podcast, I am assuming that, you know, even if you identify these, these antibodies, again, by treating the whole person, we, we get to correct some of this because we hear all the time and you see it all the time.
Anybody with chronic illness, it it. Kind of goes hand in hand with, okay, you know, that can lead to anxiety, that can lead to depression. And, and so it sounds like though, by, by treating the whole person, we can turn things around.
Miles Nichols: Yeah, absolutely. So if I test autoantibodies for someone against brain tissue, I see a. Elevations, let's say in three or four of those. Often we'll treat something like an infection and then we'll retest those brain autoantibodies. And many of them have gone down. Sometimes all of them have gone down, and oftentimes they can all [Page//00:21:00] become in normal range, or many of them can become in normal range as if the immune system has Its response against that brain tissue. And the idea is there's what's called a cross reactivity where. The infectious load, the immune system's trying to attack the infection. It just so happens that, and there's studies on this, so there's a study on Lyme, for example, where the Borrelia bergdorf fry bacteria that causes Lyme.
There's a segment of the D N A there that looks like thyroid tissue and that overlap. Is probably part of where the immune system is confusing and attacking, trying to deal with brelia, borre, bacteria, and inadvertently also attacking thyroid tissue. And same with some of these brain tissues. So it's likely that the immune system is trying to take care of something legitimate, and if we treat that something in a way that helps [Page//00:22:00] to lower the burden.
To lower the burden, the immune burden, then the immune system can relax that attack against the tissue because the tissue's cross reacting with the other pathogenic factor that the immune system was aggravated about. And so what that leads to is that and this is part of the value of the the, the auto-antibody testing is if there are autoantibodies.
There's likely three components in place. A genetic predisposition, we can't do much about that likely some permeability. So blood-brain barrier can become permeable and allow for these antibodies to form. And then a also usually a trigger that creates that cross-reactivity and initiates that process.
So the genetic predisposition we can't do much about, but we can do something about the. Blood brain barrier issue, and we can do something [Page//00:23:00] about the infectious load. And so those are really the targets, is how can we help the blood brain barrier? How can we help the infectious load or the food trigger or the intestinal trigger or the toxin trigger, but we don't know what trigger it is.
So, That's where retesting the antibodies comes in is when we test the antibodies. We make a hypothesis and we do other testing to see maybe it's this infection, maybe it's this gut issue, maybe it's this toxin, and then we start to treat one or more of those areas and then we retest the brain autoantibodies.
If they're going down, we've on the right track for the right triggers. If they don't go down or they keep going up. Now we have to go back to the drawing board, maybe order more testing, maybe look for other things, maybe start to treat the next layer that we hadn't gotten to yet. And that's where we get to be able to do this kind of investigative interesting process where we're allowing the data to help guide making hypotheses along the way.[Page//00:24:00]
And when those antibodies come down, knowing we're on the right track. And it, it, sometimes with chronic illness, it takes a while for people to feel better. So seeing the, seeing the data change first helps us to know, okay, let's keep going. We're on the right track, and then people can feel better after a little longer sometimes.
So,
Julie Michelson: I always say it usually took a while to get to be feeling as badly as as they are. And I love the, again, I, I love tracking. I, I just, I just had the experience of a client I've been working with for a while who, among other things, has had elevated thyroid antibodies, which we had, they were almost completely corrected through lifestyle change and identifying triggers, as you said.
And she, we actually. Have a lab review today. But she, she got her lab, most recent labs back and, and she's a character and she tends to, you know, she texted me, am I dying? [Page//00:25:00] And her antibodies were back up. Funny enough, so was her a1c. And I said, Have you been eating anything you shouldn't. And she said, does ice cream count?
And I'm like, yep. That would answer both things. Right? It was like, becau, but it, it's, I, I like for people to understand it's not just, You know, cuz Julie says the dairy is an issue for the thyroid. Like now she can actually see like, wow, I took it out. I was completely corrected. I was, you know, not telling my coach I was eating ice cream again, but look, my lab's told on me.
And so luckily she's still feeling great and she can turn it right back around cuz she knows what to do. But I, I think that for me, the biggest. This is a, a technical conversation, but the biggest takeaway is that when somebody is experiencing any kind of chronic illness[Page//00:26:00] and even maybe when not we can, we can talk about that too, but if you are dealing with any kind of psychological, emotional.
Depression, anxiety. Don't just discount it. Like I said earlier with the like, oh, I can explain it away because of course, you know, I'm, I'm struggling with these physical symptoms. I think it's, it's really an exciting area. That, that you're focusing on and, and as you mentioned, hugely important with the mental health crisis, the cognitive decline crisis.
I mean, this is, this is an exciting area of functional medicine that you're focused on.
Miles Nichols: Yeah. And to your point about not being doom and gloom, there's, there's a lot of hope here. There's a lot of change that, that we can see. There's not, I mean, it's, people get afraid when there's. Immune attack against their own tissue, against their own brain, and, and [Page//00:27:00] rightly so. I mean, I, that's not a good thing, but, but to, to, to, to be able to have the tools to see it go down and to be able to also understand that there's also a way in which there's the inner and the outer.
Like it's not all the outer, it's not all. Just what you do, it's how you relate to what you do too. And that's where in my journey it came in, that that meditation movement practices became incredibly important. And I often have conversations about things with, with patients like. The diagnostic label and what's a dysfunctional way of relating to that diagnostic label, and what's a functional way of relating to that diagnostic label and how to perceive stress because there are also studies that show that the people who perceive stress as negative and problematic have worse outcomes.
All cause mortality goes up. They die more easily from any cause is what [Page//00:28:00] that means. And then the people who have the same kinds of levels of stress, but perceive that it's not. Negative. And it's, and there are studies where they take the same stressor for two groups and they tell the groups different things.
So one group, the researchers say, oh, you're gonna get up on stage, you're gonna do this thing. It's, it's kind of stressful, but that's stress Actually. What it is, is it's, it's giving your body the energy that it needs to perform to do well, and it's really a good thing. And then the researchers tell the other part of the group that it's.
That, that, you know, it, it, it's negative. Stress is bad and, and so try not to be stressed. But when you do those things and, and, and what they found is that interestingly, both had heart rate increase, both had blood flow increase, but the ones who perceived that stress as negative, the vessels contracted and their blood pressure went up.
The ones who perceive that stress as [Page//00:29:00] beneficial. Their vessels dilated. The same increase in blood flow, didn't increase their blood pressure because the vessels got bigger to handle that blood flow. In other words, the way that we perceive stress actually impacts the physiology, and so sometimes, I really feel like one great access point that a lot of people have missed, especially people who have been doing a lot with diet, a lot with exercise, a lot with lifestyle, already sometimes looking at how does the inner relate to.
That experience, that moment to moment physiological experience and, and the emotional experience. How do you relate to the emotion if you're anxious? How do you relate to anxiety? That's a really interesting place to explore with people and there are many practices of brain retraining practices, limbic system practices, practices to help the vagus nerve function, and that all helps the other treatments tremendously.
It helps the outer treatments [Page//00:30:00] tremendously. So it's another side of the treatment process that I think is really important and underappreciated. Applying certain breath practices, meditation practices, movement that are mindful, focused movement practices that are joyful, that bring about a sense of inner.
Passion and joy and, and, and just pure love for this moment in time no matter what's happening external. If we can get this, irrespective of the external feeling of peacefulness and contentment and wholeness inside, it goes a long way towards the outer treatments and how those outer treatments interface.
So I like to tell people there's how the outer interfaces with your health condition and there's how the inner interfaces with your health condition. And both are incredibly important, and please do address both, and that's really something that can take treatment to the next level for a lot of people.
Julie Michelson: Absolutely. So, so [Page//00:31:00] important. We abso we, one isn't gonna get you to your, your goal at all. Which leads me to my question. I love to ask everybody, and you have so many answers to pull from. What is one step that listeners can take today to start to improve their health?
Miles Nichols: So, I would recommend that, that, that people take what I call an honest self-assessment. A lot of people are looking for something external to do and sure we can talk about that, but they're looking externally for something to do instead of looking internally. And I know a lot of people probably feel exhausted with, I've tried so much. And I don't know. I don't know what's gonna help. I feel exhausted by trying so much. And that being said, I think a lot of people, if they were to take a moment to do a [Page//00:32:00] real honest self-assessment on what might I be not doing or doing that I know that I probably shouldn't be doing that. If I were to change that my health may improve, that my mindset may improve, my joyfulness about life may improve, and most people, I think, have something, have something there that they're putting off.
It is true for me. It is true for I think most people that, that, you know, I know, I know there's a thing or two that I could do or not do
Julie Michelson: too.
Miles Nichols: that could improve things. And sometimes I think people lose sight of, of that when they're looking and seeking external treatments. So one thing that I recommend that people do, take an honest, stock and honest self-assessment on, where are you right now?
Where do you want to be [Page//00:33:00] and what do you perceive as a possible obstacle to getting there? And then a part two of this is, Don't just look from where you are to where you want to be, because what that does is you're at the bottom of the hill looking up and it's daunting sometimes. So also take a look back.
Take a look at where you are. Be grateful for where you are in the sense that you could be worse. Everyone, there's a worse for everyone, right? So, Look at, and that's, that's the structure of gratitude. Gratitude what, what it's saying. I'm so grateful that I have shelter. What it's saying is that there are people in this world who don't have shelter or I could be homeless and not have shelter, and I.
That's a weird thing to think about that that would helps people, but it research is clear. It makes people happier. It makes people more grateful. It, it helps bring about improvements in mood, nervous system function. It does a lot of good for people. So [Page//00:34:00] to not only look from where you are to where you want to be and what obstacles are a along the way, but also to look from where you are.
At how grateful you are. If I, when I was chronically fatigued to say I am so grateful that I'm not bedridden in the hospital. At least I'm getting out of bed and that is something I'm getting out of bed in the morning and yes, I have these struggles. Even though I have these struggles, even though I'm struggling to get through school, I'm so grateful that I have the capacity to even try to even get there.
To even show up is something, and to feel good about something that you have and where you are. So to make it a spectrum of yes, here's where I want to be and here's where I'm so glad that I'm not, you know, I'm somewhere in the middle. And to feel that sense of being in the middle, not at the bottom looking up.
Because that's the, the dysfunctional pattern that, that so many of us get stuck in is like, I'm thinking about where I am compared to where I want to be. And to also bring into the picture where I'm glad that I'm [Page//00:35:00] not, and, and both are really important to hold.
Julie Michelson: Such amazing, amazing advice. I, I hope everybody that hears this. Pick, you know, pick. Not only does the exercise, but but write it down. It's a, we need those reminders for sure. For people that listen on the go. Where's the best place to find you?
Miles Nichols: Medicine with Heart is the name of my clinic. So Medicine with heart.com is the best central resource. There's lots of free blog articles there, great information there that people can access. And then if people want to inquire about working with the clinic, they can book a call with a staff member to discuss what that looks like as well.
And. Then for providers or practitioners, I have a practitioner training institute as well, and that's mind body functional medicine.com. So people can, if they're interested in training as [Page//00:36:00] a provider or practitioner, go to mind Body functional medicine.com for everyone else. Medicine with heart.com is the best resource.
Julie Michelson: Wonderful. Dr. Miles, thank you so much. You have given us amazing gold today.
Miles Nichols: Thank you so much. I really appreciate you, Julie.
Julie Michelson: For everyone listening, remember, you can get the transcripts and show notes by Visiting InspiredLiving.Show. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week. [Page//00:37:00]
Dr. Miles specializes in Lyme mold, illness, gut, thyroid, and autoimmunity. In today's conversation, we're talking about various elevated auto antibodies and how they can affect [Page//00:01:00] different areas of the body, including the brain, and how we can take steps to address the triggers and reduce those antibodies to feel better.
Dr. Miles connects the dots between autoimmunity and mental health challenges, and the connection may surprise you. He also underscores how important it is to consider our relation to what we do to heal and not just the external steps we take.
Dr. Miles, welcome to the podcast.
Miles Nichols: Thank you so much for having me.
Julie Michelson: I am so excited for our conversation and I'd love to start by having you share your personal health journey with listeners. Cause I always feel there's so much value there.
Miles Nichols: Yeah, happy to. I growing up had. A father who was a doctor, who really was an inspiration because not only was he doing medical work, he was into [Page//00:02:00] public health. He taught at the public health school and then he became interested in trying to make bigger change in the world. So he decided to become a state legislator.
He tried and lost and tried again until he won it. Take, took a few rounds,
Julie Michelson: Good for him.
Miles Nichols: Then he was able to, to pass some interesting legislation that took tobacco and moderate tax money and put it into a pool and made it available for people who fell below the poverty line who weren't eligible for healthcare.
He passed many different things that, that were helping lots of people, and yet when I was 15, i, I, I got a call, I was babysitting for a, a friend of my sister and. I got a call, it was someone from my family church, and she said, something's happened that you're gonna have to leave your, someone's gonna come take over for you, your, your father's in the hospital.
And he had passed on suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. And that just threw me [Page//00:03:00] for a loop because I didn't see it coming. And he had. top-notch medical training. He had medical school at Stanford. He had a master's in public health from Harvard. He had the top of the top of the education in health, and yet he had passed on at 64, and that really threw me for a loop.
At the time, I didn't know. One, I had to deal with my own grief around that experience, and I started to learn about mindfulness and I started to learn about stress management and I realized these things aren't taught in medical school. And then I started to struggle with my own. Health issues. A few years later, in early twenties, I was struggling with chronic fatigue and I, and, and lots of brain fog and I was struggling to even get through school and I got called into the principal's office and she said, something's going on.
You're academically doing great. I can tell you have the capacity here, but. [Page//00:04:00] You're not arriving on time and some things are going on that, that tell me something medically might be happening. And I said, I think so, but I don't know what, I went to the doctor and they said nothing's going on, and, but I, I sleep for eight hours, nine hours, 10 hours.
I still feel tired, hard to get out of bed, hard to get through the day. And she said, I think something's going on. And I said, you know what? You're right. I need to figure this out. So, I took, took me on a journey. I really, I, I started to do some practices, some meditation, mindfulness practices, movement practices.
Those helped a lot. And then I started figuring out some of the functional medicine piece and got some mentors and I started doing some lab testing for some things that really, I realized that even though my doctor had said everything was normal at the time, I. My thyroid markers were a little bit high normal actually.
And when I discovered that high normal, that out of the optimal range, but within the conventional range, I started to get really, really [Page//00:05:00] interested and curious in, hmm, I wonder about this opt, this, this optimal function versus disease process. And I started to get really, really passionate about how do what, what is optimal function?
How do we look at prevention and how do we look at chronic? Debilitating things like chronic fatigue, brain fog, and it led me on a journey. And that journey led to discovering that I had auto antibodies against cells in my stomach and. No one had talked about that, and I had to figure that out through doing a lot of self-research and looking into research studies and seeing that 20 to 40% of people with thyroid issues had these auto antibodies and then just, Hmm, I wonder if I do and testing them and I out that, oh, I did, and then I had the research, well, how do I treat that?
And then started treating that and then I felt tremendously better. And then I found that. I had these chronic infections. I had [Page//00:06:00] Babesia, Bartonella, these, these tick-borne infections. And I grew up in Arizona. It wasn't a thing. I didn't have that as an awareness. And, but later, just a few years ago, I found out there was a tick problem in the dog yard.
And they had, as a kid, the, they had to go between some times of having a dog. My parents said, oh, we couldn't have a dog for a while cuz of a tick problem. And it starts to, it starts to become, Clear over time and, and I start to think back to the allergies, the eczema that I had, the things that as a little kid that I didn't think much of at the time, and that now I'm starting to piece together the puzzle.
And then I was living in a moldy environment and I tested and had the multi susceptible gene, which is one of the worst. Genes for accumulating toxin from mold, creating a chronic inflammatory response. And I had to get out of that house and I had to do that whole treatment and figure that out for myself.
And so after all of that, and there's others, but I'll just [Page//00:07:00] leave it there.
Julie Michelson: It's enough.
Miles Nichols: I I, I decided I. You know, this, this was really hard for me, and it took lots and lots of years to do this and figure this all out, and I wanna help other people to do it quicker and have a more streamlined, systematic, step-by-step approach.
And so that's, that's why I've created the clinic, that I've created, the practitioner training in institute, because I want to help people to be able to move through these kinds of chronic, sometimes mystery illnesses with a little more grace and ease than I had in my journey.
Julie Michelson: Amen. That's why we do what we do, right? It's. And, and I'm always grateful that we're, we've all been able to, many of us piece together, even though it may have taken, you know, years and years and years and we know now we can streamline it, as you said. We have so many parallels to our story. But let's tie in.
Well, I'm [Page//00:08:00] fascinated. Now I'm gonna shift from what I thought we were gonna talk about. Let's talk about those autoantibodies to the stomach. Tell share a little, this isn't something anyone's talked about yet on the podcast.
Miles Nichols: Yes, sir. These cells called parietal cells. Parietal cells in the stomach make stomach acid, and they also make something called intrinsic factor. Stomach acid, of course, is helpful for breaking down protein for metabolizing nutrients and especially minerals, and so people who have stomach acid issues often have issues digesting.
Protein like meat might feel heavy in the stomach, or it might be that mineral levels are chronically low or there's maybe an iron, a deficiency or anemia or other things where stomach acid is an issue and other people get acid reflux when stomach acid is an issue and parietal cells are what makes stomach acid so, There are [Page//00:09:00] autoantibodies against these cells, and because these cells also make intrinsic factor, intrinsic factors responsible for metabolizing vitamin b12.
Now, this is really important because vitamin B12 is one of the vitamins that when deficient creates issues with things that overlap with thyroid and other things, fatigue, neuropathy, nerve problems. Some neurological problems. So, To have a B12 deficiency could cause a lot of issues. And these, this intrinsic factor is how people metabolize b12.
And what's really mind boggling to me is that when parietal cell antibodies are present, often B12 levels will start to become low, but people can supplement with b12. I was supplementing with B vitamins, including b12. My blood levels looked good. But the research on parietal cell antibodies is if they're [Page//00:10:00] elevated, if the immune system is attacking these cells, what helps that to go down is injectable b12.
And that's odd because taking oral B12 and getting blood B12 levels up, I would think, oh, well that probably is taking care of that deficiency. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But what is clear in research is that what helps those antibodies to go down? Is injectable B12 and oral does not work. And I've tried oral, I've tried topical, I've tried liposomal, I've tried sublingual and injectables.
The only one I've found to reliably bring in patients down the elevated parietal cell antibodies. And so that's interesting, and I don't completely understand why, but I but it, it's there. It's in the research, it works and. And, and what I noticed personally is that injecting B12 had a totally different effect for me than oral b12, sublingual [Page//00:11:00] b12, all the other forms of B12 that I had taken.
It took a little while for me to experience it, but it made a dramatic difference in my energy, and I thought the energy was related more to the thyroid being subclinically low, and it probably had something to do with that, but 20 to 40% of people who have. Thyroid issues have parietal cell antibodies, and then pariet cell antibodies are also elevated in a number of other autoimmune conditions.
So people who have one or more autoimmune conditions, which hypothyroidism is often an autoimmune condition in an of itself most of the time. People who have one or more are at higher risk for having parietal cell antibody elevation, and yet it's one that doesn't tend to get tested all that often. So I tested frequently in people and even people who don't have known autoimmunity.
Sometimes I'll find parietal cell antibodies still, and it explains some, [Page//00:12:00] especially when I see there are oral symptoms. So there are a few oral symptoms that are almost. Guaranteed to have paral cell antibodies, which is quite strange. Th this sore tongue, this feeling of, of a sore tongue, waking up with a really dry mouth and having a sense of if people get a lot of, a lot of oral symptomatology kink or sores and certain other throat issues, chronic sore throats and.
And, and strange feelings in their throat, their tongue, their mouth. That's almost the in, in research they see like nine over 90% with some of those symptoms have bridal salient to body elevation. So it's very fascinating and it's a topic that I wish more people understood about. So thank you for asking.
Julie Michelson: Oh my gosh. I see. I'm, we can stop now. I'm good. No, I'm kidding. I, I just love, I have, I so enjoy the conversations that I have and I know that, that listeners [Page//00:13:00] get so much value, but I, I get excited when someone goes in a totally. I'm like, oh my gosh. So is this testing that, that can just be included on a functional medicine panel?
How, how do people go about I. Because I'm sure listeners are gonna be running out saying, oh my gosh, I've never had that tested.
Miles Nichols: Yeah. Alci antibodies can be ordered through LabCorp, through Quest, through the big labs. Yeah, it's, it can easily, yeah, easily be ordered.
Julie Michelson: Amazing,
Miles Nichols: not very expensive. Even if it doesn't go through insurance either.
Julie Michelson: which is always a blessing when it comes to this kind of testing. So that leads me to, I know you have this pretty systematic approach to streamline things for your patients. Are, is this, are you, are you a tester? Is that something, do you do certain kinds of panels and in the beginning, you know?
Miles Nichols: Yeah, I do. I, I do quite a lot of testing because I really, I tend to get the people who have [Page//00:14:00] been through a lot of other stuff and they're still struggling so often. People I get are, they've done a lot with diet, with lifestyle and with supplementation, and they've done usually some treatments in the functional world by the time they get to me.
So often I'm, I'm trying to figure out those weird mystery things that a lot of people haven't tested for. I do a lot of. Neurological auto-antibody testing, so antibody testing against brain and brain tissue. I find that a number of people have immune autoantibodies against things like dopamine receptor one or cerebellar tissue, or Perkin G cells or these other structures in the brain, and that really.
It concerns me about where we're headed as a culture because the stats on cognitive decline on Alzheimer's dementia, mild cognitive impairment are significant. The stats on mental health issues are significant, and I see an overlap. What was interesting is I was treating [Page//00:15:00] a lot of chronic infections, toxin issues, gut dysfunction, methylation issues, mitochondrial issues, and.
What I discovered is a lot of people were saying, wow, my anxiety went away, my depression got better. And I, I started to think, huh, I wonder why that's happening. And I started to look into the research about these mental health concerns, and I recognized something that just totally was a surprise to me, which is that there isn't a good link between the neuro, the, the neurochemical imbalances that people talk about, like.
Like serotonin and depression. When I look at the most recent umbrella review papers on that, the peer review clinical trials that are looking at a meta-analysis of all the other trials, there's no good evidence that serotonin depletion causes depression, and that's just mind, mind boggling to me because that's still the perpetuated norm.
That's [Page//00:16:00] what people think. Even in the research in the medical communities, a lot of people think that unless they're really up to date on this, and so. That led me to think, okay, well what is it that's causing these issues? So I've, I've gone deep into encephalopathy and looking at brain changes, structural and functional changes in the brain.
Often this happens post-infection. Of course, traumatic emotional experiences can play a role in the development of mental health issues, neurologic issues of cognitive issues of brain fog, of headaches, of chronic fatigue, of neuropathy, of chronic pain, and. Also auto antibody attack against brain tissue, post-infection, post toxin exposure.
So I started to piece together, oh, infections. Actually, there's a huge body of literature, a huge amount of research suggesting post infectious and encephalopathy, and this became abundantly clear [Page//00:17:00] with covid. It became abundantly clear with Lyme because I treat a lot of Lyme and co-infections that. Post this infection.
Often in doing case history, people say, oh, well, I was doing pretty well with stress. I was feeling pretty energetic, pretty good in myself until this time. And then what happened in that time? And when we dig into it, it's either some kind of a, an infection, some kind of a toxin exposure, could be a big emotional stress.
And often with that infection, with that toxin exposure, sometimes what happens is, It initiates an auto antibody attack against the brain tissue. And this is well documented in research. It started with pediatrics and looking at children and children and finding that some children had significant behavioral changes after getting strep throat.
And what was discovered is that that streptococcal bacteria can actually have this. Ability to trigger an [Page//00:18:00] autoimmune response against brain tissue, and that autoimmune response against brain tissue could change behavior and mood, and children could start to get really angry, really upset, really having behavioral problems, getting psychiatric diagnoses, and yet, The root of it has been discovered in many cases, not every case, but in many cases, to be a post-infectious auto-antibody response against brain tissue.
So infections or toxins trigger this. Auto-antibody response against brain tissue. And then there's also a lot of gut dysfunction that can cause this auto-antibody response against brain tissue. So part of the testing that I do are looking for those antibodies against brain tissue, looking for other autoantibodies in the body as well as looking for.
What's hormone function like? What's gut function like? Is there any gut [Page//00:19:00] dysfunction? What's cellular function methylation like? What's mitochondrial function like? And doing that kind of a broad spectrum of testing in the beginning. Give a nice picture because what I have found is that a lot of people, when they're.
Doing one thing, like a lot of people come for Lyme and they want Lyme treated, and if I just treat Lyme, I don't see great results usually with
Julie Michelson: It's never just lime.
Miles Nichols: yeah, need to address the gut mitochondria, methylation, toxins. It, it's a bigger picture and so, so I do a long answer, but I do a battery of testing in the beginning to look for a variety of things.
To paint a picture and look for patterns and that painting a picture and looking for patterns gives a few markers that can be tracking markers that we can retest along the way to help to evaluate, engage progress and treatment together with how people are feeling. Of course,
Julie Michelson: Yeah, but it's a. Always nice to see that data too.
Miles Nichols: [Page//00:20:00] absolutely.
Julie Michelson: For sure. So, because we're not a doom and gloom podcast, I am assuming that, you know, even if you identify these, these antibodies, again, by treating the whole person, we, we get to correct some of this because we hear all the time and you see it all the time.
Anybody with chronic illness, it it. Kind of goes hand in hand with, okay, you know, that can lead to anxiety, that can lead to depression. And, and so it sounds like though, by, by treating the whole person, we can turn things around.
Miles Nichols: Yeah, absolutely. So if I test autoantibodies for someone against brain tissue, I see a. Elevations, let's say in three or four of those. Often we'll treat something like an infection and then we'll retest those brain autoantibodies. And many of them have gone down. Sometimes all of them have gone down, and oftentimes they can all [Page//00:21:00] become in normal range, or many of them can become in normal range as if the immune system has Its response against that brain tissue. And the idea is there's what's called a cross reactivity where. The infectious load, the immune system's trying to attack the infection. It just so happens that, and there's studies on this, so there's a study on Lyme, for example, where the Borrelia bergdorf fry bacteria that causes Lyme.
There's a segment of the D N A there that looks like thyroid tissue and that overlap. Is probably part of where the immune system is confusing and attacking, trying to deal with brelia, borre, bacteria, and inadvertently also attacking thyroid tissue. And same with some of these brain tissues. So it's likely that the immune system is trying to take care of something legitimate, and if we treat that something in a way that helps [Page//00:22:00] to lower the burden.
To lower the burden, the immune burden, then the immune system can relax that attack against the tissue because the tissue's cross reacting with the other pathogenic factor that the immune system was aggravated about. And so what that leads to is that and this is part of the value of the the, the auto-antibody testing is if there are autoantibodies.
There's likely three components in place. A genetic predisposition, we can't do much about that likely some permeability. So blood-brain barrier can become permeable and allow for these antibodies to form. And then a also usually a trigger that creates that cross-reactivity and initiates that process.
So the genetic predisposition we can't do much about, but we can do something about the. Blood brain barrier issue, and we can do something [Page//00:23:00] about the infectious load. And so those are really the targets, is how can we help the blood brain barrier? How can we help the infectious load or the food trigger or the intestinal trigger or the toxin trigger, but we don't know what trigger it is.
So, That's where retesting the antibodies comes in is when we test the antibodies. We make a hypothesis and we do other testing to see maybe it's this infection, maybe it's this gut issue, maybe it's this toxin, and then we start to treat one or more of those areas and then we retest the brain autoantibodies.
If they're going down, we've on the right track for the right triggers. If they don't go down or they keep going up. Now we have to go back to the drawing board, maybe order more testing, maybe look for other things, maybe start to treat the next layer that we hadn't gotten to yet. And that's where we get to be able to do this kind of investigative interesting process where we're allowing the data to help guide making hypotheses along the way.[Page//00:24:00]
And when those antibodies come down, knowing we're on the right track. And it, it, sometimes with chronic illness, it takes a while for people to feel better. So seeing the, seeing the data change first helps us to know, okay, let's keep going. We're on the right track, and then people can feel better after a little longer sometimes.
So,
Julie Michelson: I always say it usually took a while to get to be feeling as badly as as they are. And I love the, again, I, I love tracking. I, I just, I just had the experience of a client I've been working with for a while who, among other things, has had elevated thyroid antibodies, which we had, they were almost completely corrected through lifestyle change and identifying triggers, as you said.
And she, we actually. Have a lab review today. But she, she got her lab, most recent labs back and, and she's a character and she tends to, you know, she texted me, am I dying? [Page//00:25:00] And her antibodies were back up. Funny enough, so was her a1c. And I said, Have you been eating anything you shouldn't. And she said, does ice cream count?
And I'm like, yep. That would answer both things. Right? It was like, becau, but it, it's, I, I like for people to understand it's not just, You know, cuz Julie says the dairy is an issue for the thyroid. Like now she can actually see like, wow, I took it out. I was completely corrected. I was, you know, not telling my coach I was eating ice cream again, but look, my lab's told on me.
And so luckily she's still feeling great and she can turn it right back around cuz she knows what to do. But I, I think that for me, the biggest. This is a, a technical conversation, but the biggest takeaway is that when somebody is experiencing any kind of chronic illness[Page//00:26:00] and even maybe when not we can, we can talk about that too, but if you are dealing with any kind of psychological, emotional.
Depression, anxiety. Don't just discount it. Like I said earlier with the like, oh, I can explain it away because of course, you know, I'm, I'm struggling with these physical symptoms. I think it's, it's really an exciting area. That, that you're focusing on and, and as you mentioned, hugely important with the mental health crisis, the cognitive decline crisis.
I mean, this is, this is an exciting area of functional medicine that you're focused on.
Miles Nichols: Yeah. And to your point about not being doom and gloom, there's, there's a lot of hope here. There's a lot of change that, that we can see. There's not, I mean, it's, people get afraid when there's. Immune attack against their own tissue, against their own brain, and, and [Page//00:27:00] rightly so. I mean, I, that's not a good thing, but, but to, to, to, to be able to have the tools to see it go down and to be able to also understand that there's also a way in which there's the inner and the outer.
Like it's not all the outer, it's not all. Just what you do, it's how you relate to what you do too. And that's where in my journey it came in, that that meditation movement practices became incredibly important. And I often have conversations about things with, with patients like. The diagnostic label and what's a dysfunctional way of relating to that diagnostic label, and what's a functional way of relating to that diagnostic label and how to perceive stress because there are also studies that show that the people who perceive stress as negative and problematic have worse outcomes.
All cause mortality goes up. They die more easily from any cause is what [Page//00:28:00] that means. And then the people who have the same kinds of levels of stress, but perceive that it's not. Negative. And it's, and there are studies where they take the same stressor for two groups and they tell the groups different things.
So one group, the researchers say, oh, you're gonna get up on stage, you're gonna do this thing. It's, it's kind of stressful, but that's stress Actually. What it is, is it's, it's giving your body the energy that it needs to perform to do well, and it's really a good thing. And then the researchers tell the other part of the group that it's.
That, that, you know, it, it, it's negative. Stress is bad and, and so try not to be stressed. But when you do those things and, and, and what they found is that interestingly, both had heart rate increase, both had blood flow increase, but the ones who perceived that stress as negative, the vessels contracted and their blood pressure went up.
The ones who perceive that stress as [Page//00:29:00] beneficial. Their vessels dilated. The same increase in blood flow, didn't increase their blood pressure because the vessels got bigger to handle that blood flow. In other words, the way that we perceive stress actually impacts the physiology, and so sometimes, I really feel like one great access point that a lot of people have missed, especially people who have been doing a lot with diet, a lot with exercise, a lot with lifestyle, already sometimes looking at how does the inner relate to.
That experience, that moment to moment physiological experience and, and the emotional experience. How do you relate to the emotion if you're anxious? How do you relate to anxiety? That's a really interesting place to explore with people and there are many practices of brain retraining practices, limbic system practices, practices to help the vagus nerve function, and that all helps the other treatments tremendously.
It helps the outer treatments [Page//00:30:00] tremendously. So it's another side of the treatment process that I think is really important and underappreciated. Applying certain breath practices, meditation practices, movement that are mindful, focused movement practices that are joyful, that bring about a sense of inner.
Passion and joy and, and, and just pure love for this moment in time no matter what's happening external. If we can get this, irrespective of the external feeling of peacefulness and contentment and wholeness inside, it goes a long way towards the outer treatments and how those outer treatments interface.
So I like to tell people there's how the outer interfaces with your health condition and there's how the inner interfaces with your health condition. And both are incredibly important, and please do address both, and that's really something that can take treatment to the next level for a lot of people.
Julie Michelson: Absolutely. So, so [Page//00:31:00] important. We abso we, one isn't gonna get you to your, your goal at all. Which leads me to my question. I love to ask everybody, and you have so many answers to pull from. What is one step that listeners can take today to start to improve their health?
Miles Nichols: So, I would recommend that, that, that people take what I call an honest self-assessment. A lot of people are looking for something external to do and sure we can talk about that, but they're looking externally for something to do instead of looking internally. And I know a lot of people probably feel exhausted with, I've tried so much. And I don't know. I don't know what's gonna help. I feel exhausted by trying so much. And that being said, I think a lot of people, if they were to take a moment to do a [Page//00:32:00] real honest self-assessment on what might I be not doing or doing that I know that I probably shouldn't be doing that. If I were to change that my health may improve, that my mindset may improve, my joyfulness about life may improve, and most people, I think, have something, have something there that they're putting off.
It is true for me. It is true for I think most people that, that, you know, I know, I know there's a thing or two that I could do or not do
Julie Michelson: too.
Miles Nichols: that could improve things. And sometimes I think people lose sight of, of that when they're looking and seeking external treatments. So one thing that I recommend that people do, take an honest, stock and honest self-assessment on, where are you right now?
Where do you want to be [Page//00:33:00] and what do you perceive as a possible obstacle to getting there? And then a part two of this is, Don't just look from where you are to where you want to be, because what that does is you're at the bottom of the hill looking up and it's daunting sometimes. So also take a look back.
Take a look at where you are. Be grateful for where you are in the sense that you could be worse. Everyone, there's a worse for everyone, right? So, Look at, and that's, that's the structure of gratitude. Gratitude what, what it's saying. I'm so grateful that I have shelter. What it's saying is that there are people in this world who don't have shelter or I could be homeless and not have shelter, and I.
That's a weird thing to think about that that would helps people, but it research is clear. It makes people happier. It makes people more grateful. It, it helps bring about improvements in mood, nervous system function. It does a lot of good for people. So [Page//00:34:00] to not only look from where you are to where you want to be and what obstacles are a along the way, but also to look from where you are.
At how grateful you are. If I, when I was chronically fatigued to say I am so grateful that I'm not bedridden in the hospital. At least I'm getting out of bed and that is something I'm getting out of bed in the morning and yes, I have these struggles. Even though I have these struggles, even though I'm struggling to get through school, I'm so grateful that I have the capacity to even try to even get there.
To even show up is something, and to feel good about something that you have and where you are. So to make it a spectrum of yes, here's where I want to be and here's where I'm so glad that I'm not, you know, I'm somewhere in the middle. And to feel that sense of being in the middle, not at the bottom looking up.
Because that's the, the dysfunctional pattern that, that so many of us get stuck in is like, I'm thinking about where I am compared to where I want to be. And to also bring into the picture where I'm glad that I'm [Page//00:35:00] not, and, and both are really important to hold.
Julie Michelson: Such amazing, amazing advice. I, I hope everybody that hears this. Pick, you know, pick. Not only does the exercise, but but write it down. It's a, we need those reminders for sure. For people that listen on the go. Where's the best place to find you?
Miles Nichols: Medicine with Heart is the name of my clinic. So Medicine with heart.com is the best central resource. There's lots of free blog articles there, great information there that people can access. And then if people want to inquire about working with the clinic, they can book a call with a staff member to discuss what that looks like as well.
And. Then for providers or practitioners, I have a practitioner training institute as well, and that's mind body functional medicine.com. So people can, if they're interested in training as [Page//00:36:00] a provider or practitioner, go to mind Body functional medicine.com for everyone else. Medicine with heart.com is the best resource.
Julie Michelson: Wonderful. Dr. Miles, thank you so much. You have given us amazing gold today.
Miles Nichols: Thank you so much. I really appreciate you, Julie.
Julie Michelson: For everyone listening, remember, you can get the transcripts and show notes by Visiting InspiredLiving.Show. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I'll see you next week. [Page//00:37:00]
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My Guest For This Episode
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Dr Miles Nichols
Dr Miles Nichols is a functional medicine doctor specializing in Lyme, mold illness, gut, thyroid, and autoimmunity. After Dr Miles personally struggled with chronic fatigue in his early 20s, Dr Miles dedicated himself to figure out the root causes. He suffered with and recovered from thyroid dysfunction, autoimmunity, gut infections, Lyme co-infections, and mold illness.
Dr Miles has authored two books. He founded the Medicine with Heart functional medicine clinic in Colorado as well as an institute that trains other doctors in functional medicine. Dr Miles has been a featured speaker at national conferences, professional associations, podcasts, and summits.
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