Advertise on podcast: Inspired Living with Autoimmunity

Most of us have heard EMFs are a problem. Almost nobody explains what that actually means or what to do about it. Brian Johnson does. He came up through construction and mold remediation, then got his own functional medicine testing back loaded with mycotoxins despite a dialed-in lifestyle — and his doctor told him to go build healthy homes instead. In this episode Brian breaks EMFs into four types in plain English: electrical fields, AC magnetic fields, RF, and dirty electricity. Then he gets specific about your bedroom, because that's where you have the most to gain. Moving your bed off the wall with the outlets, swapping a metal frame for wood, putting your router on a timer — none of it requires a renovation and most of it is free. We also cover why brand-new airtight homes grow mold, why "green" doesn't mean healthy, and the cabinet under your kitchen sink that's outgassing into the air you breathe all day. If your total toxic burden is already full, your home is where you have the most control. This one is about progress, not perfection — small steps you can actually take this week.

Dr. Shivani Gupta spent years on antibiotics and doctor visits before she found her way to Ayurveda, healed her gut, and went on to earn a master's in Ayurvedic sciences and a PhD in turmeric. When I asked her for the single most important health habit, she didn't say diet and she didn't say exercise. She said sleep. We talk about the 10-to-2 sleep window and what your body is actually doing during it, why you should put yourself to bed the way you'd put a baby to bed, and how to shift your bedtime without blowing up your whole routine. We also get into how you eat mattering as much as what you eat, eating with the seasons instead of salad 365 days a year, the truth about turmeric absorption, and why the spice box in your kitchen holds more than the superfood aisle does. If you're waking up tired, achy, and foggy no matter how clean you eat, this one gives you somewhere practical to start — including one 10-second morning habit you can add tomorrow.

If you've ever been told your pain was all in your head, this one is for you. Dr. Anna Esparham developed polyglandular autoimmune disease and severe fibromyalgia while she was still getting through med school and residency, and she walks us through what is actually happening in the body — nervous system and immune inflammation, interleukin-8, small fiber neuropathy, and the study that points toward an autoimmune cause. Anna is a triple board-certified physician, so none of this is vague. She explains why the standard medications only reach pieces of the problem, why she says medicine got her 30 to 40% of the way and what took her the rest of the way, and how emotional pathways and pain pathways run along the same anatomy. She also shares the two-minute morning practice she'd hand to every person listening. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 15 years ago, and I learned a lot in this conversation. Whether you have fibromyalgia or not, this one is worth your time.

Heather Aardema woke up with terrible pain in her wrist and blamed her ski poles. It was rheumatoid arthritis. Her rheumatologist handed her brochure after brochure for drugs with side effects like liver damage, and when Heather asked about food, she was told there's no research and don't go looking. She went looking anyway, changed her diet, and around day 31 she woke up with no pain at all. She has never taken RA medication. We also talk about clutter, and not the kind you're picturing. Heather's definition includes the stuff on your counters, the people on your calendar, the thoughts in your head, and even the air in your house. And we get into the part that stops most of us: she cites a study where people were told they'd die if they didn't change, and only one in seven did. If you already know what you're supposed to be doing and still aren't doing it, this one is for you. Heather closes with one small step that takes a few minutes, and I tried it myself.

The root chakra is linked to the immune system and the adrenal glands. If you're living with autoimmunity, that's a strange thing to have never heard about. My guest Lisa Erickson is an energy healer and meditation teacher who spent a decade in corporate tech before her own health crises sent her in a different direction, and she has a gift for making this stuff plain. We walk through all seven energy centers and what each one connects to physically — root and the adrenals, throat and the thyroid, solar plexus and digestion. We also get into why so many of us check out of our bodies when they hurt, why medical trauma is real trauma, and how survival patterns like people-pleasing and hypervigilance can actually be rewritten. Lisa calls it physical therapy, not surgery. If you've been told to try yoga or meditation and it never stuck, this is a different door in. And Lisa's one starting step takes about as long as brushing your teeth.

ER doctor turned cellular medicine expert Dr. Siobhan Newman spent years saving people in a busy LA emergency room — and watching none of them actually get better. Now she helps people rebuild health at the cellular level, and her approach challenges a lot of what we've been told. We get into why adding exercise when your mitochondria are already underwater just drives more inflammation, how the low-fat era damaged our cells in ways we're still paying for, and her "three nos" — the simple starting point she gives every patient. We also talk about why very low cholesterol is linked to worse outcomes, what peptides actually do (and why buying them online is genuinely dangerous), and why your gut is where immune dysregulation really starts. If you have an autoimmune condition and you've been pushing through fatigue or following advice that isn't landing, this conversation will make a lot of things click.

I sat down with Johanna Dahlman, the Alopecia Angel, because she treats hair the same way I treat autoimmunity. The label on the scalp is not the disease. Johanna reversed her own alopecia areata after years of appointments that either piled on pharmaceuticals or told her to live with it. In this episode she names the blind spots even functional doctors miss, why minoxidil is a lifelong trap with rebound shedding, and why hair is the whipped cream, not the cake. If your hair is thinning with Hashimoto's, postpartum, or another autoimmune label, this one is for you. Stop treating it like a shampoo problem.

Rheumatologist and integrative medicine specialist Dr. Aly Cohen has spent 15 years connecting the dots between everyday chemical exposures and chronic disease. In this conversation we get into what's actually in your tap water (and why bottled water isn't better), the foods that support your body's own detox pathways, and why US chemical regulation is decades behind. What I love about Aly's approach is that it's not about perfection. She started this whole journey because her golden retriever got a rare autoimmune diagnosis — and the questions she asked about his environment changed the way she practices medicine. Her book Detoxify lays out a one-swap-a-month strategy that anyone can follow, starting with the product that touches almost everything in your house. If you have an autoimmune condition and you've been told your labs are normal but you still feel terrible, this episode is for you. We talk about self-advocacy with your doctors, where to actually spend your money, and how small changes add up to real results.

Dr. Casey Kelley got diagnosed with POTS in medical school after years of fatigue, dizziness, and a heart rate that wouldn't quit. She tried multiple medications — none of them fixed anything. It wasn't until she dug into functional medicine that she discovered her POTS was actually a symptom of adrenal burnout and chronic tick-borne infections. Once she addressed those, the POTS went away. In this conversation, we get into what POTS actually is, why infections and toxins are behind so much of the immune dysfunction we're seeing right now, and the stress you've probably become "nose blind" to. Casey also shares her go-to breathing technique (and why box breathing can backfire), the three foods she pulls first with almost every patient, and the foundational pillars that apply whether you have POTS, autoimmunity, or just want to feel better. If you've ever wondered whether your diagnosis is really the full picture — or you're stuck managing symptoms without understanding why they're there — this one's for you.

Dr. Cory Rice is a board-certified internal medicine physician who went from forensic science to running a functional medicine practice treating tens of thousands of patients in Dallas. In this conversation, we bust three autoimmune myths that keep people stuck — that autoimmune disease is rare, that there's one root cause to find, and that these conditions can't actually improve. We get into why 80% of autoimmune patients are women, what hormones have to do with immune function at every age, and why Dr. Rice went from gut-testing skeptic to making a functional stool analysis mandatory for every single new patient. His take: if the gut isn't sealed, it doesn't matter how clean you eat. If you've been told to just manage your symptoms and accept your diagnosis, this one's for you. We talk about what actually moves the needle — and why hope might be the most important deficiency to address first.

Functional wellness practitioner Hali Laricey reads standard lab work through a functional lens — and she's really good at finding answers in the labs your doctor stamped "normal." In this episode, we zero in on the CBC with differential, one of the cheapest and most common blood tests out there, and how its five markers can reveal chronic infections, immune stress, and early signs of autoimmune flares. Hali walks through each marker — neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils — with the functional ranges she uses and why they're tighter than what your lab report flags. She also explains why pulling three to five years of labs from your patient portal matters way more than any single draw, and shares a simple ratio you can track on your own to watch for flares. If you've ever left a doctor's appointment holding "normal" labs while still feeling terrible, this one's for you. You'll walk away knowing exactly what to request and what to look for.

Tiffany Kaloustian was told lupus was basically the end of the life she expected. In her twenties that landed like a life sentence — heavy meds, little education, and a lot of grief. We talk about what changed when she stopped wearing the diagnosis as her identity and started treating healing like a dance: hard days included, mindset and nervous system first, and food and root-cause care that actually moved her markers. If you have been living under a diagnosis like it already decided your future, this episode is for you. Come for the honesty. Stay for the reminder that a label does not get the final word.

I'm talking with Dr. Anik St. Martin, a chiropractor and author of Skin on Fire: Healing Psoriasis Naturally, who spent over 12 years battling psoriasis before discovering the one piece she'd been missing — her mindset. After years of dialing in her nutrition, supplements, and gut healing, Anik's skin finally cleared completely after a self-directed 5-day intensive where she did nothing but walk, observe her thoughts, and flip every self-deprecating thought to its opposite. We get into the science behind why this works — from a 1940s Harvard placebo study to real-time synaptic rewiring — and why the fact that your skin turns over every 21 days is actually great news. We also cover: • The environmental triggers that worsened her psoriasis (vaccines in one sitting, formaldehyde, tattoo ink) • Why obsessing over a "perfect" healing protocol can be just as harmful as the condition itself • Her go-to supplements and GI repair formula for managing flares • The one morning practice she recommends everyone start today If you've tried everything and still aren't where you want to be, this episode is worth your time. For the complete show notes, links and transcripts, visit inspiredliving.show/254

If you've been eating well, doing all the right things, and still not feeling better — this one's for you. I sat down with Stephanie Nelson, a trauma-informed somatic coach and founder of The Stress Healers, to talk about something most health conversations completely miss: what happens in the body when stress and trauma don't get processed. Stephanie was diagnosed with arthritis, bursitis, and tendinitis in both hips at age 12. She spent years trying to heal through diet, yoga, and supplements — and while those helped, it wasn't until she discovered nervous system and somatic work that things actually shifted. In this conversation, we get into: • Why your nervous system — not your diet — is the master coordinator of your health • What fascia actually is and why it's your body's richest sensory organ • How perfectionism, procrastination, and anxiety are all adaptive survival strategies (not character flaws) • The three body languages we're born with — and how Western culture teaches us to ignore two of them • Why the goal of somatic work isn't to be calm — it's to have *choice* • A simple 10-second practice you can do today to signal safety to your nervous system Stephanie also shares how her forever-free "Resourced" membership is a great starting point if you want to actually try this work. Find her at thestresshealers.com or @thestresshealers on Instagram. For the complete show notes, links and transcripts, visit inspiredliving.show/253

If you've been told your labs are fine but you still feel terrible, this episode is for you. Dr. Pamela Cipriano is an ILADS-trained nurse practitioner who spent ten years watching her own son deteriorate from undiagnosed Lyme disease — dismissed by doctor after doctor — before she finally figured out what was wrong and healed him herself. In this conversation, she breaks down why standard Lyme tests are practically designed to produce false negatives, what the HNK-1 natural killer cell count reveals that most labs miss, and how a co-infection called Bartonella is quietly being misdiagnosed as ALS. She also gets into the Lyme biofilm problem — why even IV antibiotics can't touch it — and the stevia + serrapeptase protocol that finally broke through for her son. Plus, her emerging research on ivermectin for Bartonella, and what she's seeing with seizures triggered by Herxheimer reactions. If you or someone you love has unresolved neurological symptoms, autoimmune markers that don't quite add up, or a history of tick exposure, this is a conversation worth your full attention. Find Dr. Cipriano at thepracticeofhealthandwellness.com For the complete show notes, links and transcripts, visit inspiredliving.show/252