Fighting Chronic Fatigue with Dr Evan Hirsch
On this episode, Dr Evan discussed the challenges of chronic fatigue and long Covid, with Evan emphasizing the importance of addressing underlying causes and adopting a holistic approach to improve overall health. He also explored daily habits that contribute to a toxic load, the dangers of exposure to chemicals, and the need for a mindset shift towards making small, gradual changes towards a healthier lifestyle. Lastly, he discussed the potential for environmental hazards, such as mold, in old and new buildings, and the long-term effects of Covid-19, also known as 'long Covid'.
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Episode Summary:
Understanding and Addressing Chronic Fatigue
Evan and Andrea discussed the challenges of dealing with chronic fatigue and long Covid. Evan, who has personal experience with chronic fatigue, explained that it is a complex condition, often caused by a combination of factors. These can include lifestyle deficiencies such as poor diet, lack of sleep, and inadequate movement, as well as toxicities from heavy metals, chemicals, molds, infections, and trauma. Evan emphasized that addressing these underlying causes is crucial for resolving chronic fatigue, as it is not merely a symptom, but a condition with significant consequences for physical and mental health.
Introducing Energy Md Method for Health
Evan presented a four-step process, known as the energy Md method, aimed at reducing fatigue and improving overall health. The method involves identifying and addressing the underlying causes of fatigue, replacing deficiencies, opening up drainage pathways, and removing toxins. Evan emphasized that this is a gradual process that requires patience and commitment. Andrea acknowledged the comprehensive nature of the approach, noting that it not only tackles fatigue but also other health issues, thereby rebalancing the body for optimal functioning.
Toxic Load and Daily Habits Discussion
Andrea asked Evan about daily habits that might be contributing to a toxic load. Evan explained a typical day could start with exposure to electromagnetic fields from devices and sleeping near a smart meter. He noted that people often start their day by checking social media and emails, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy and the need to quickly respond to requests. To combat this, Evan suggested a 'daily mindset practice' that involves gratitude, envisioning an ideal day, and reframing negative thoughts. He also touched on the importance of choosing filtered water.
Healthy Lifestyle and Exercise Tips
Evan discussed the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. He highlighted the role of the Environmental Working Group's tap water checker and suggested using a carbon filtration system or distiller to ensure better quality water. Evan also emphasized the need to consume at least 2-3 liters of water daily and advised on making good food choices, focusing on protein and vegetables. He suggested that dancing could be a fun way to incorporate exercise into the daily routine. He noted that many people spend a significant amount of time at work, suggesting that they could use this as an opportunity to be active.
Toxic Exposure and Reducing Chemical Intake
Evan discussed the high levels of toxic exposure that many people face on a daily basis, highlighting the dangers of chemicals in personal care products, household items, and even the air we breathe. He emphasized the importance of reducing exposure to these toxins to avoid health complications and maintain a healthy immune system. Andrea acknowledged the difficulty of avoiding these toxins, as they seem to be present in everything, and expressed concern about how people can begin to tackle this problem.
Mindset Shift for Healthier Lifestyle
Evan emphasized the importance of a mindset shift towards making small, gradual changes towards a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle. He suggested setting regular milestones, such as examining personal care products once a month, and seeking support from practitioners or like-minded communities. Andrea agreed with Evan's approach, highlighting that every step, no matter how small, contributes to a healthier lifestyle and reduces exposure to toxins. Both stressed that this process should not be overwhelming but instead, it should be seen as a positive and proactive measure for a better future.
Mold Assessment and Building Hazards Discussion
Andrea and Evan discussed the potential for environmental hazards, specifically mold, in old and new buildings. Evan advised starting with a mold assessment test to determine the types and presence of mold, stressing its importance in identifying potential health risks. Evan also underscored that mold can develop in any building with sufficient moisture, debunking the common perception that it's only a problem in old or damp buildings. Andrea added that new buildings can also have issues with mold and other toxins from building materials, highlighting the need for proper ventilation and prompt addressing of water leaks.
Long Covid, Management, and Virtual Shift
Andrea and Evan discussed the long-term effects of Covid-19, also known as 'long Covid'. Evan explained that long Covid can follow any viral illness since 2019 and can result in over 250 different symptoms, with those who already have toxicity being more susceptible. He also discussed the management protocol for long Covid, stressing the need for hyper coagulation and possibly different herbs or nutrients to block the spike protein's function in cells. Lastly, Evan talked about his book 'Fix Your Fatigue' and his company's shift to virtual operations, including initial visit programs and longer 12-month plans.
Transcription (unedited):
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Welcome back to the holistic health bytes. Podcast today we are gonna talk about all things, fatigue with industry, expert. Dr. Evan Hirsch, who is gonna share all about things with fatigue and kinda underlying causes, and probably some toxicity. And we're gonna talk about all kinds of things. But Dr. Evan is a medical doctor as well as a speaker author, just all the things and knows so much. So I'm honored to have you here. Thank you for joining.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Andrea, thanks so much for having me on. You can call me Evan.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And will you just kinda tell everybody a little bit about you? I know I just hit the highlights. But tell everybody a little bit about you, and how you got to where you are.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Sure. So my journey really started when I started my Residency program out here in Olympia, Washington and I met my wife, and we fell in love. And
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and then, 6 months later, she couldn't get out of bed, and that lasted for about 3 years, and then she was about 80% better. And then we got married and had a kid, and I started my own practice. And then a couple of years after that I got chronic fatigue.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and it lasted for about 5 years, and just about destroyed everything just about destroyed my relationship with her. I couldn't be a good dad to our new child in my business. My business was suffering significantly. I I
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): I was napping under my desk every single day. I had lots of shame around that because I had, I was practicing functional medicine at that point in time. And finally, I realized that, and I knew from my functional training, if I could find all of the causes that I would be successful, but I was so burnt out, and I had so much fatigue, that was really hard for me to think my way through it. But I went on this journey of finding all the causes that I had.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and I fixed all of them, and I got over it, and I wrote a book about it, and now that's my mission in life. And then and then, because of everything that happened with Covid and Long Covid. Now, which is really just an extension of chronic fatigue, we've incorporated that as well. And so now we're specializing in chronic fatigue and long covid.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Oh, such a powerful story. And you know, I think a lot of us get into this because of our own story. So that doesn't surprise me, really, that you have your own story. Sometimes it's our own personal story, sometimes as someone in our family, and you happen to have both. So I think that definitely gives you a unique perspective, having gone through it yourself. And you understand what your patients are deal then dealing with.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: So can. We just kinda like start at the beginning? I know most people, I mean, that's the common complaint. Nowadays. People are just tired, and we're tired all the time, and it doesn't seem like we can get out of that. But there's a difference between just being tired and actually true chronic fatigue. So can we talk about like really what the differences are, and how you might know if chronic fatigue is really your situation.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Yeah, and it, it is really subjective. And so you know, the you know, the simple definition is tiredness. That's not relieved by rest.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So it's kind of like when we were in our twenties, and you had your final exams, and you like studied all week, or and then partied on the weekend, or whatever it was, you would come home, and then you'd sleep for several weeks, maybe a month, right, and then you'd get back to Baseline. This is kind of like where, when you try to catch up like that, and you're trying to get more sleep. And you're working on all the lifestyle habits stuff that you that you know to do, or that you're working with the natural path, or a nutritionist, or whatever.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And you're still not getting better. You know. So that's really when when there, your body is telling you that there's a problem, you know, if you're surviving on energy drinks, if you have to nap through the day. You're yawning throughout the day.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): That's definitely a problem and needs to be addressed because it means that there's there's toxins that we'll talk about in a little bit that are kind of building up in the body that are having consequences on your hormones and your mitochondria and your new, and your nutrients and all of these other things, and consequently, when when things start to go and you start to get fatigued, and you start to have this chronic tiredness. Consequently this means that other things and and inflammation and
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): potentially diseases of longevity, like heart attacks, heart disease stroke. Alzheimer's cancer, those are all potentially going to happen as well. So we have to pay attention when the body starts telling us that there's a problem.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Okay, yeah. And you've talked a little bit about, you know, toxins being one of the main things. But what are some of the other contributing factors that might lead someone to developing this chronic fatigue.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Yeah, so there's really 2 categories that I look at when we're looking at all these different causes. And there's deficiencies. These are things that are not present in the body and in your life that are supposed to be. And these are things that
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): well, and then there's toxicities which are things that are in your body that aren't supposed to be there. So in terms of the deficiencies, these are things people are most familiar with. So there's the lifestyle habit component, which is like not enough good food, not enough good water, not enough good movement, not enough good sleep.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And then there's the the supplements that most people take. So maybe it's vitamins and minerals that have become deficient. Maybe there's hormone supplements that are being replaced, or hormone deficiencies that are being replaced where it's adrenals, thyroid sex hormones. Or maybe it's mitochondrial function which makes like 70 90% of our energy and is found in every cell in the body except for red blood cells. So those are like the deficiencies. And when you replace them you're gonna feel
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): good or a little bit better, typically with the people that I work with. But it's the then you plateau. And you're really not getting to where you want to go, because the reason why people have those deficiencies for the most part, besides the lifestyle habits is because they have toxins that have built up in their body over time. So these are, I call the toxic 5. And these are heavy metals, chemicals, molds, infections, and trauma.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So those are the toxic. 5 that have kind of built up in your life since the moment you came out of the womb, and consequently that ends up causing a number of these deficiencies. And that's really the real root cause it's not like in a adrenal fatigue, or like Hashimoto's or thyroid. Yes, that's true that you have those things and those hormones are lower. But the reason why those hormones are lower is because of the toxic 5. And if you really want to get complete resolution, you gotta make sure you're focused on those.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Okay, and those all sound like they're not super easy to get rid of. It's not like you just throw your plastic water bottle away, and all things are fixed, that these are things that are around us all the time, and that are kinda hard to get rid of. So is that what makes chronic fatigue so difficult to not only identify, but also to resolve.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): That's definitely part of it. Yes, and so there is. There's this. Everybody's got different causes, I mean, that's part of it as well. And you know, and oftentimes there's a combination of causes. You know, when we're looking at so many different causes. Usually everybody that I see has a combination about 20 causes or so. When I had my chronic fatigue, I had 30 of the 36 or 38 causes that we're now looking at so
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): that can feel overwhelming. But the reality is is that when you start down a process and you're fixing each cause as you go, and you're removing the toxins that are in your environment, and then also the toxins that are in your body.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you eventually getting you eventually get there right? And as humans, we overestimate the amount of time, the amount of time it takes to get something done in a day, and we underestimate the amount we can achieve in a year. And so.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): I have to coach a lot of people on like this expectation that to get rid of these toxins out of your body takes a while, but they've been accumulating over the last. How many decades right? But at the end of that year it's kind of like doing a master's like. At the end of that year you turn around and you're like, Oh, my gosh! I accomplish so much! And now I've got the rest of my life to look forward to.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Yeah, I love it. And you know that's the same thing with anything in health. We want results overnight.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: But it took
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: probably decades to get to where you are right now. So of course, it's not going to turn around overnight. It generally doesn't take decades to undo. But it's not gonna happen overnight. So I think, with setting expectations, upfront is always important to do. So. I know that you just mentioned that there's like 38 different underlying causes and things that can contribute to these things. But you've kind of boiled it down to a simple process that you take your clients through right? Can you kind of walk us through what that process is.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): so I have a 4 step process that I call the energy Md, method, that i've been working on for the last decade
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and the first step is to figure out which causes you have
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): now of those causes that we just mentioned, 90% of those can be determined by history and symptoms.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So that means the 10% require labs.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): It's like $500 for the labs that I recommend, which kind of blows people's minds cause. Wh. Generally, when they go to see a functional medicine doctor I've heard of up to $7,000 is the amount that people that that doctors and practitioners will run labs initially like before they even see you, or anything like that which I think is ridiculous. But part of it is also that with my
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): my clientele, the people that I see everybody who has chronic fatigue and gets to that point of their energy being, you know, 5 out of 10 or 4 out of 10 or less than that, where they're really not as functional as they wanna be.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): They have they? They have all of these the toxic 5. So I used to test for all of those, and every 3 months we would do testing, but inevitably over the course of a year all of those toxins would come out. The heavy metals, the chemicals, the molds, the infections, and every kind of infection, viruses bacteria. Spirits. Like all of this sort of stuff. So then I realized, okay, I can save people a ton of money. And instead of using that for testing, we can actually just be treating those things. And so
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): everybody has different causes, and but and but everybody has the toxic 5. So that's kind of like what I've learned. So that's the the 90%.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So that's the good news about figuring out your causes. And then we also have, you know, depending on which program people join. In our system. You're gonna know your causes in like about one or 2 h, whether you're filling it out in our, in our workbook and course, or whether we're doing it on a one on one. So you start off knowing the causes that you have, and then the rest of the process kind of matching up a treatment that works with the causes you have. So then, the second step is to replace the deficiencies.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And so that's kind of like we talked about with the adrenals and the thyroid and the mitochondria. I call those the Big 3 cause they give you the biggest uptick in your energy.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and they're really important, even though this process is all about removing the toxins. It's really important to become more resilient.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And so that's kind of what we're doing with replacing the deficiencies, making sure the lifestyle habits are in order, making sure that these deficiencies have been replaced so that you you actually have an uptick in your energy. You have more resilience, your. It's easier for you to manage the stress in your life and to function in your life.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): because when we start removing these toxins in step 4, it actually is stressful on the body. And you need to have that support in step 2. So then in step 3. We're opening up the drainage pathways or the detox pathways. These are like the exit pathways in your body, the liver, the kidney, the lymph, which is the garbage system in the body, the neural lymph which is in the brain, the intestines, the gall bladder.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Those are all ways that we get toxins and things out of our body, and when you have chronic fatigue they're all clogged. So we have to open them up. It's kinda like a funnel
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): where it's really compressed at the bottom, and we kind of have to open it up so that toxins can flow out, and then we get into Step 4, where it's about removing the toxins, and each of those steps takes about a month, except for step 4,
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): which is, gonna take you 9 to 24 months, depending on the number of causes you have, and the severity of each of those causes.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Okay, yeah, that sounds really comprehensive and yet doable. I mean something that people can really go through. And it's actionable. And it's not only gonna fix just the fatigue, but it sounds like it's gonna fix a lot of other things along the way as well, and just kind of rebalance the body to be optimal in all the ways which is obviously ideal. If you can.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: you know, take out all the problems at once. That's awesome.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Tell us a little bit about like.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: what are some things people are doing on a daily basis that are maybe contributing to this toxic load. What are some mistakes people are making, whether they know it or they kind of know it, and they're ignoring it.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So let's let's go through our day right, or or an example of a day. So you wake up in the morning so you know how close is your phone to your head? Has been your your phone been left on all night? Are you sleeping near a smart meter, or or what other things are plugged in, where you're having exposure to electromagnetic frequencies, electromagnetic fields that are interfering with your DNA, causing DNA damage and increasing inflammation
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and then oftentimes the first thing that people do is that and interfering with your sleep potentially. First thing that people do is they wake up and they check their phones right? And so if they if you go on social media, you're basically looking at other people's ideal lives right? You know, posting on Facebook or whatever. And so that puts us into comparison. There's a quote that my wife likes to quote all the time, which is comparison is the thief of happiness. I don't know who said it, but it's a really good quote.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and so if you start off your day in comparison, all of a sudden, you're not as happy as potentially, you could be right. And then if you check your email, what's in your email, it's people who are requesting things from you right? So all of a sudden, now, you feel an urgency to kind of like get back to people right? So what we coach people on is to start a a mindset practice. And so we teach them what I call daily mindset practice, which is 4 steps.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and it's about gratitude and envisioning your ideal day, and flipping any negative beliefs into empowering beliefs and asking ourselves empowering questions, and so that can really start to set your day for success as opposed to some of these other things. And then so you get up in the morning and like, what choices are you making in terms of water consumption. So you want water that's filtered, you know. If you go to email.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Wg, org, slash, tap, water, TAPW, a, TER. That's the environmental working group.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): You can put in your Zip code and they will tell you all of the toxins that you have in your tap water. So we think that our municipalities are doing are such a great service by filtering out our water, and they are to some extent, but in general it's pretty awful.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And so you're still being toxified by your water. So, having a good carbon filtration system, I have all this on my recommended page on our website of what of the different brands that I recommend, or even a distiller to the to the next degree, can be really helpful at making sure that that you're consuming water that's really healthy for you. And then you also should be really consuming most people close to 3 liters of water a day, especially when you're doing like a program like ours where we're getting rid of toxins out of the body.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): The adage is that you want, like half your body weight, and ounces, and so, if you weigh like 150 pounds, you should be consuming 70 ounces or 2 liters of water, you know, somewhere between 2 and 3 liters really is ideal. And you want to start your day off with that, you know, consuming as much water as you can initially, is really good for kind of like flushing things out
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and then moving on to food, you know, making good food choices. Oftentimes it's more about what you're not eating, as you know, is much better than you know it. It it it decreases the inflammation so that you can. You can feel better in your life. And so I tell people, you know, protein and vegetables is really ideal at every meal. Maybe a little bit of fruit and vegetables should be like half of your plate.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): At every meal, you know. Try to have maybe dinner for breakfast or lunch for breakfast. Oftentimes our breakfast foods aren't really that great and protein can be meat as long as it's grass fed and hopefully grass finished or or it can be some sort of vegetarian meat as well beans, or whatever.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So making good food choices is important. So you've got your water and your food choices, and then kind of going throughout your day, working on your mindset and then getting some exercise at some point during the day, making sure you're getting movement.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): I tell a lot of people that if you don't have a lot of time and and and you and you don't wanna do something that is considered. Quote unquote exercise. Then, putting on your favorite song and dancing to it, we actually had a dance party last night, my daughter and I and that was super fun. And it's just a great way to to get some exercise in throughout the day. And then a lot of people are going to to work at that
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): point.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and whether you're working at home, or whether you're working outside, you know there's some stats to show that about 500 women are exposed to about 550 different chemicals before they even leave the house in the morning
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): from all of the crap that you're kind of putting on your body. So cosmetics and soaps and this that and the other thing. So making choices, you know. And this doesn't happen overnight, you know. Basically, you create a plan, for you know, every month or so you're gonna examine a different part of your cab in a tree. What's in your pantry, or what's in your in your closets, or whatever to determine. Okay, what do I have? That's toxic
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): that I can kind of swap out for something that's a bit healthier. So making trying to decrease these 89, 90,000 different chemicals that were exposed to on a regular basis that haven't been appropriately evaluated by government bodies or scientific organizations that are monit supposed to be managing our health. Right?
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So then you get into a car. If you're if you're I'm just. I'm just going here. You can interrupt me at any point. So you you get into your car and you're driving to work, and if you don't have your car on recycling, you're not recycling your air, then you're breathing in gas fumes from other people, and these show up on a number of these tests that we run. If you've got new car smell, then you're getting exposed to some of the
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): What is it? Not, Boron. It's
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): There's there's some chemicals that are in that as well, and some heavy metals, you know. If you have mercury fillings in your mouth, the silver fillings every time you buy down you're absorbing mercury vapor. If you have sushi or fish, or any sort of seafood at work. Unfortunately, like a hundred 95% of of all the seafood we're consuming at this point in time has mercury in it. And so
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you're gonna be increasing the mercury in your body. If you're smoking or exposed to smoke, you're getting cadmium, which is another heavy metal. If you're working in a place that has that was built before 19 72 or whatever there's gonna be potentially lead paint in, you know, in the dust, in the, in the space
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): at home, and then also potentially at work. If you've ever had any sort of water damage in the space, there can be mold that you're being exposed to.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So these toxin just kind of and just build up in your body over time until your body kind of calls. It quits. The last thing that I'll say is
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): coming out of the womb. We now know that we're exposed to over 300 different chemicals that are found in babies cord blood. So this is from moms dumping all their good stuff and not so good stuff into babies. And so you just have to understand that we're like coming out of the womb behind the 8 ball right? And with all these toxins, and then they end up accumulating throughout our lives, and then it becomes
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): too much. Oh, and the last thing I'll say, you know, in terms of infections, is that when you have heavy metals, chemicals, and molds in your body, they distract the immune system, and consequently that allows infections to become opportunistic.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And so we have this relationship with infections in our body. But oftentimes it's in balance until it's no longer in balance by any sort of really significant stressor or these toxins. And then these infections come out, or you get the the jab, or you get covid, or, you know, stuff like that that end up
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): contributing and increasing inflammation in the body. So that's kind of big picture. A lot of the exposures that we get throughout the day and throughout our lives.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Yeah, and there really are so so many places that we're getting these exposures from both from things we're actively choosing, like our personal care products and home care products, and also things that we don't really choose like what's in our air and what's in our water and those kinds of things. So obviously, we have to take extra precaution around those things because
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: we can't really stop them. So we just have to do what we can to filter them out. But I hear from my clients all the time that this just seems impossible. They're coming at us from everywhere, toxin. They're in everything.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Where do people start if they're like? Seriously, everything around me is toxic. How do? What? Why, even bother.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Yeah. And so that's part of the mindset practice and asking yourself a a better question. Right? So it's like the question of
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you know there's there's no way to do this, or it's overwhelming, or I guess that's more of a a statement. But the reality is is that all you gotta do is one thing you know, these are like, it's all about baby steps.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So you know, it's like once a month, or once a year. If you do one thing like this year, it'll be like, let's get a whole house water filter. Let's research that. Let's figure that out. Let's do that. And then you're good for the next 50 years. You know what I mean, and let's do and then the next year it's like, let's look at our personal care products. So you can obviously make more faster decisions than that. But
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you know it, it can. It can happen over the course of several years, and you're gonna be very successful when you do that. So it's all about. Yes, I totally understand that this is all overwhelming.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): But you have to work with a practitioner. Ui! Other people out there who can kind of like hold your hand and kind of like walk you through this process, and it becomes a lot easier, you know, when somebody's kind of doing that for you.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): But if you wanna do it on your own great and just kind of set these milestones. Put alarms on your calendar. Be like, you know, once a month on a Saturday it'll be like, examine personal care products, you know or or go to that list that you know Evan was talking about, or whatever you know, that you've you know, or you go to chat, Gpt, and you ask, you know. Tell me all the ways that I'm being exposed to toxins in my life right now
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and then give me some solutions, and so then you can start like working through that checklist.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Yeah, I think that's a great way to look at it. And I'd love the baby step concepts. I always tell my clients to like when you run out of something just before you replace it, find a better alternative, you know, if your dish soap is, you need new. You know you need a new new bottle.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Get a better quality one, get one that's less toxic. Same thing with your shampoo. Same thing with me makeup, you know, whatever that looks like, just as you have to replace stuff, just find a better option. And so every little bit helps. It does feel overwhelming. And it does seem like. There's toxins and and things bombarding us all day every day, and that's true, but every little step we take
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: is helping you. And so you know, every baby step you can take is a good thing. So I wanted to go back to the, you know, a lot of people live in really old homes or work in really old buildings. So if you know, you live in a house that was, say, built in the fifties
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: that probably has potentially. Several decades of water leaks over the years, you know, probably lead, paint, and you know just all the things. Wh. What would you recommend to someone who lives or works in one of those environments, you know. Does it require Mitigation Company? Do you just have to like, plow your house under and start over. What what do you do if you live in that kind of environment?
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Yeah, we have a 1924 home that is having its hundredth year anniversary this year.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And so we we know this very well.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And yeah, it's it's definitely a process. But the first the first step is to test, you know. And so in the the 2 tests that I really recommend when it comes to chronic fatigue, is one to make sure that you're not living in mold, or if you are to figure out what to do about it. And then 2 is like some blood tests that we're looking at. But the the mold one is really huge.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So it's doing a test. I like the Emma test which is environment mold and micotoxin assessment. And so this is looking at the spores. But it's also looking at the microtoxins, which are the toxins produced by the molds. So it's really the best test that's out there.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): It's about 300, and I think $20 on our website, and and that's that's the first step is to determine whether that's the case. Cause the challenge is is that you know you may have mold in your body, but you may not have mold in your home.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you know, or you may have mold in your home, but if it's so, if it's in your home, and you've been there for at least 6 months. Then it's gonna be in your body right? But you may have had mold exposure when you were 5 years old.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And you lived in a place for a couple of years, and you may have had no mold exposure since, which is rare, but it's possible, and you may be 50, 60 years old, and you still have that mold from when you were 5. Okay, so it just stays in the body, and so it and it, and it does build up. And it does bloom at different times of year and stuff like that, so you may feel worse, but it's to determine whether or not you're living in it
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): right? So doing. An assessment like that, if you do just have access to mold plates. You can put out the mold plates, stick them in a closet for 5 days, see what it grows out.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Generally you have to send it into a lab, though, to get it assessed and determine. What are these different mold strains?
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): But you know it's once again it's baby steps. It's one step at a time, you know, and and getting that assessment is is is crucial. The other thing I I just wanna comment on that is that you don't have to be in an old home. So you know, that's kind of I
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): I get that. You said that because that's what most people think but what you know, if you're driving around town and it's raining.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): are there still homes that are being built? Absolutely right? And so you see, these these homes that are wooden structures, and it's raining. And then the first sunny day.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you know, the workers are back and they're sealing it up, and new homes are sealed up really tight. So if you wanna grow mold, you take you get something wet, and then you add heat to it and warmth right? And you, you seal it up right? So that is something to be concerned about as well. Cause I've definitely seen people who have new homes, who also have mold.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So it's an important assessment whenever you feel tired, and if you can associate feeling tired with a new job that you had to go to.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): or a new house that you moved into. That can definitely be significant in your health journey.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Yeah. And you know the the new home. I love that you mentioned that I actually live in a new home, and it is incredibly airtight that all the things that are off gassing all the brand new carpets and new cabinets and new paint, and all the things are also trapped in your house. So it's not just about molds, but all these other toxins that just come with
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: our lives today. And so it's important to open windows and get air filters and water filters and all the things that we've talked about. So I think that was a great point to make that it's not just about old homes or old buildings that you might work in, but it really can be, even in new environments, with
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: mold that got trapped when they were building it, or even new homes still have water leaks like it doesn't take decades to build up these things so.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Well, and that's the joke. When you know people I live in the Pacific Northwest. And so people are like, Oh, and if they live up here. They're like, Oh, I'm just gonna move to the southwest. I'm gonna move to Arizona, and the joke is, are you gonna have indoor plumbing.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Right.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): You know. Does it still rain there.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): right, you know, like it's an issue, no matter where you live.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Yeah, yeah, I live in Colorado, and we often hear, oh, it's an arid climate. Mold only grows in in humid environments. And people just completely just miss it. And that's totally not true. Not all mold has to live in a musty, wet environment. It just takes a little bit of water to get it started, but it doesn't necessarily require a lot of water to kind of keep going.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: So let's talk just briefly about the long Covid side of things, because that's still fresh on a lot of people's minds. And yet I don't think people really understand what that is. What signs would you look for who's susceptible? And of course you know, what do you do about it?
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. So yeah, so if you got, if you had Covid, and even if it was really mild symptoms. Actually, this happens more when you have 5 mild symptoms than it does if you have major symptoms.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and so we can talk about why, that happens in a minute. But if you, if you get some sort of viral illness since 2019, and after that you end up with some new symptoms or weird symptoms, and Covid can cause over 250 different symptoms, so it can be everything from fatigue to brain, fog to sweating, to muscle, pain to
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): loss of senses of smell and taste stuff like that. Headaches. Then you have to consider covid
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): or if it happened after you got the job right. So you have to kind of consider these things.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and so the people who are most susceptible actually already have the toxic 5 in their body. So the covid becomes the straw that breaks the camels back.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Okay? So you already had heavy metals, chemicals, molds, infections, and trauma in your body, and it wasn't an issue until you get the covid. And what ends up happening really is that those toxins are distracting the immune systems. Immune systems often left field, and then the covid comes into the body and is like there's no immune system around here to take care of me, so it's actually better to have a really strong reaction like you're like, Oh, man, worse flu of my life. Because your immune systems actually doing something to get rid of this spike protein out of the body.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): and if it doesn't, then the covid can come in and be like, Oh, I'm just gonna do what I wanna do in the body, and go into every compartment and start causing a bunch of inflammation, and take over the production of of this and that and the other thing in the cells. And so that's why it ends up taking hold, and oftentimes it also takes more hold when people try to go back to exercise sooner rather than later. So if you think you got over, you're like on a mild case, and then you're training for a marathon, and you go for a 10 mile run, and then you're laid out.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you know. Oftentimes that's because the covid has gotten into the mitochondria. The mitochondria produces energy, and and you're just kind of like fostering this environment for the for the Covid to be able to grow.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): One other thing that's important to note is that sometimes you get Covid, and then your symptoms persist. Sometimes you get Covid, and this, and you feel like you're fine and your symptoms go away. And then, a month later, 2 months, I've even seen like 6 months later, all of a sudden weird symptoms start popping up. So you do have to kind of keep it in mind. It needs to be on everybody's differential right now since 2,019. Unfortunately.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Okay? And those weird symptoms is that just fatigue related, or what other kinds of things should people be watching for.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Yeah, so it can be fatigue. It can be like sweating. It can be brain fog and can be muscle pain. It can be
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): loss of smell and taste. It can be sleep issues that can be a major one. And it's and the stats are like 20% of everybody who gets Covid, or who's gotten Covid ends up progressing with some sort of persistent symptom.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): you know, there's there's a significant uptick in memory issues. There's significant significant uptick in cancer. Since 2,019. So these are all things that that most likely covid is contributing to, or the spike proteins contributing to.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Okay. And if if someone's thinking as they're listening to this list of things, and they know they had Covid or the vaccine, or whatever
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: do they go through the same kind of protocol as the chronic fatigue stuff that you've already talked about? Or is it different when it comes from Covid being the trigger.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): It's very similar. So because there's the toxic 5 that are still present, and we're still going. We're still figuring out the causes, replacing the deficiencies, opening the drainage pathways and then removing the toxins. The only thing is that we do add on more of an emphasis on on hyper coagulation which is removing the microclots which we do for chronic fatiguers, anyway. But we just do oftentimes a little bit more of that. Sometimes there's some different
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): components of clotting that we end up using, or different or different treatments that we do specific for removing the the spike protein out of the body, so might be some different herbs or some different nutrients in order to to inhibit the spike proteins function in the cells and inhibits its attachment onto the onto the cells in order to be able to get it out of the body.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Okay, yeah, good to know that it's similar, but a little bit different. So if you know, you might have this problem, that's a good thing to really hone in on and make sure that you mentioned if you're gonna go work with a practitioner that you think it might be related to long covid, because protocols a little bit different. Thank you so much for sharing all of this amazing information. If people are interested in learning about you and your work, and all the things that you can share with them. What is the best way.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): So I'm at energy. Md, method.com and we are. We're 100% virtual now. So we work with people all over the world on our website. You can actually text me directly. There's a little text bubble bubble in the bottom right corner, and we can have a conversation. We have initial visits. We have a starter program of 3 months, so you can kinda get to know whether or not you like us.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): And then you can join one of our longer 12 month programs to get to the resolution of everything. And then, if you're not sure, or you just want to have a conversation. I've got free. 20 min calls right now that are available.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: I love it, and of course you have your book. So if people wanna get to know some of the stuff that way as well, talk a little bit about your book.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Yeah, so that's on Amazon. It's called, fix your fatigue, and it is it goes through the 4 step process. It is from 2,017. So it's 7 years old at this point in time, but a lot of the tenants are still the same. The protocols are different. It doesn't talk about Covid at all. Obviously, but it can definitely be a good starter to see if if we're good fit.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Love it, love it. Thank you so much for sharing all of this amazing info. We will link up all your stuff in the show notes, so it'll be really easy for people to just click over and find you easily. So thank you again so much. This was amazing. I learned a ton, and I'm sure everybody else did as well.
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Evan H. Hirsch MD (EnergyMD): Thanks so much for having me on.
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Andrea Nicholson, MS, BCHN®️: Absolutely to everyone out there. We'll catch you again on future episodes.
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