The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick - 055 - Kids, Mental Health, & Mold with Pediatrician Dr. Pejman Katiraei

055 - Kids, Mental Health, & Mold with Pediatrician Dr. Pejman Katiraei

11/15/23 • 71 min

The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick

Ok so, I knew Dr. K was awesome, but I didn't know he was THIS AWESOME.....
This is an interview with pediatrician Dr. Pejman Katiraei, DO from Santa Barbara, California. In this interview, Dr. K talks about how common it is to see mold involved in mental health issues for all ages, but especially in kids. We discuss how he evolved to where he is now regarding diagnosis and treatment and how mold and mycotoxins initially came onto his radar for these kiddos suffering from mental health issues - ADHD, OCD, anxiety, hyperactivity, etc - which I think is always interesting to hear how someone in the conventional medical field learned through experience and research how critical these mold (and other) airborne toxins can be to kids health.
This interview is seriously FILLED WITH GEMS. Most of this entire conversation we are talking about the connections between mold and mental health - mycotoxins are known to disrupt dopamine, they inhibit glutamate clearance, they are neurotoxic, they activate innate immunity and neuroinflammation, they drive histamine responses, and ALL OF THIS leads to neurotransmitter, mood, and behavioral changes....so the whole time we are talking basically about the problem(s) and the solution(s), which are both varied and complex, but our conversation includes topics like:
- Diagnosis or "suspicion" of mold in kids - in what kinds of cases are we (maybe) thinking mold?
- How do you KNOW if you have mold in the home?
- How do you KNOW if you (or your child) have mold in the body?
- What are (both of our) favorite tests and treatments or supportive supplements?
- How can we clean the air? HEPA filters, air purifiers, ionizers...
I think my favorite part about Dr. K is that his integrity shines through in our conversation, he clearly wants what is best for the patient's outcome, he considers realistic options and cost, and he is open minded and not trying just to defend his biases. I'd like to think we are really similar in those regards, I hope so, but I just know I had a GREAT time talking with him and have a lot of respect for him, and I think a lot of people will enjoy this episode!
Check out his website https://wholistickids.com/
Follow him on Facebook under Wholistic Kids
and on Instagram @wholistickids where he puts out GREAT CONTENT!!!!!
And - send this to 3 friends with kids, and leave a rating and review if you enjoyed it!

Previous Episode

054 - Dizziness, Vertigo, and Vestibular Rehab - Interview with Dr. Ashley Contreras of VizStim

I see a lot of neurological cases that experience symptoms like dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, inability to tolerate motion, flashing lights, sounds, etc. Many of these people are not local to my area, and they are all wondering "What else can I do to help myself get better?" so I am always looking for new ways to help them.
While I focus primarily on looking deeper into underlying mechanisms, root causes, neurotoxins, pathogens, gut health, autoimmunity, etc, one thing that anyone who is experiencing these symptoms can do is VESTIBULAR REHABILITATION, so we have recommended VizStim kits to many of our clients.
My guest on today's episode is Dr. Ashley Contreras, the creator and founder of VizStim. She is a physical therapist who specializes in vestibular issues and vestibular rehab, and throughout her 15-year career has developed this amazing kit of exercises to help people retrain their vestibular system. It's an inexpensive, easy-to-use, at-home kit with a wide variety of different exercises, journals, and levels of difficulty designed to walk through your progress as you are retraining your vestibular system. I've used it with my kids, it's super easy to use, easy to teach, and as long as you are willing to do the exercises and put in a few minutes of rehab each day, it is AWESOME.
The vestibular system is a complex system in the brain that detects how your head and body are existing in relation to their surroundings - are your eyes level with gravity, are you moving, what position are you in, etc. When those signals get disrupted, from concussions, infections, neurotoxins, spinal subluxations and other injuries, etc, even the slightest miscue in signaling can make your body feel uneasy, unstable, nauseous, like the room is moving, or can fire to the amygdala and create a lot of anxiety or fear. When this system is disrupted, it can be retrained and rewired. I discuss the vestibular system quite a bit more in podcast number 47 (Brain Regions), and we discuss this much more in this podcast episode, so listen to the episode to learn more, and check out VizStim , and follow VizStim Recovery on social media for some great tips and tricks!

Next Episode

056 - Stress, Grief, and How I'm Doing After Losing My Dad

SO - the title of this podcast pretty well summarizes what this episode is about - how I'm doing since suddenly losing my dad.
3 months ago, my dad died. He had been fine 4 weeks earlier. He had just turned 68, he was still working, he was an 8 handicap golfer, and he was perfectly fine. On December 19th he was told he had cancer, and he died exactly 3 weeks later.
In this episode, I tell the whole story of what went down, but I also talk about my experience afterward handling this grief and heartbreak. It's still new, and I'm not an expert, and I think the highlight that I want people to take away is that "there is no right way", but I hope my experience and perspective is helpful and valuable to someone. This episode is just me rambling about my personal story, and then I'll be getting back to educational content :)