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Autism Parenting Secrets
Cannabis Is Medicine - If You Know How To Use It
00:36:41
This week, we’re joined by Dr. David Berger, a nationally recognized holistic pediatrician and expert in the responsible use of medical cannabis for children with autism. He explains how this often misunderstood plant medicine can support calm, focus, and regulation when used safely as part of an individualized, integrative plan. The secret this week is… Cannabis Is Medicine - If You Know How To Use It
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- [00:00]
A
One of the very nice things about cannabis treatment is, you know, immediately, as in that first day, sometimes first hour, first five minutes, depending on how you take it, you know, what you got with that particular dose of that particular product. And so unlike a lot of other pharmaceutical things where it takes a long time to build up, to assess, you know, I'll tell people, wait three or four days before either increasing or making a change, unless there's a negative reaction, because you don't, you know, maybe you had a good day or a bad day that day, but three to four days, you should absolutely know what you have with that. And then you can make adjustments quickly. You can use it as needed, as opposed to every day. You can give an extra dose if it's a particularly stressful or difficult day or the kid has a meltdown, extra meltdown, or something like that. So, you know, in terms of the properties of what you would want US medicine to have, that can help a family and help them figure it out. It's kind of the ideal one.
- [00:49]
B
If you're a parent of a child with autism, you are being called to rise with love, courage and clarity. This journey isn't easy and most parents aren't equipped, but you can be. This podcast is your invitation to rise higher because how you navigate matters. I'm lan, and this is Autism Parenting Secrets, where you become the parent your child needs now. Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. It's Len. And today's episode shines light on one of the most misunderstood and often controversial therapies in the autism world, medical cannabis. My guest is Dr. David Berger, known to many simply as Dr. David. He's a board certified pediatrician with over 25 years of clinical experience. He's the founder of holistic Pediatrics and Family Care in Tampa, Florida, where he helps children and adults address the root causes of challenges like autism, adhd, allergies, and immune dysfunction. He's also the founder of Holistic Relief, Florida's first pediatric medical cannabis clinic, where he's helped countless families explore cannabis based therapies safely and effectively under expert guidance. Dr. David brings both compassion and clarity to this conversation, helping parents understand how cannabis can support calm, focus and balance when used appropriately. As part of a broader integrative approach, we're diving into the science, the misconceptions, and the practical realities of using cannabis as medicine and what every parent should know before considering this path. The secret this week is cannabis is medicine, if you know how to use it. Welcome, Dr. David.
- [02:39]
A
Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
- [02:41]
B
Great well, we're coming off of meeting each other for the first time, although I've heard about you for many, many years at the TACA conference on the west coast. And I know your presentation was extremely thought provoking for many of the people in attendance. So I'll hand to you to just kind of share the highlights of that discussion for that pretty large group of parents. And again, I know you've really been focusing, not exclusively, but really exploring and being on the cutting edge of how cannabis can be something that really can be beneficial.
- [03:14]
A
Yeah. Well, thank you. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, the TACA conference and I've been involved with TACA on the medical board for well over a decade and been lectured for years and years with the group. It all got started for me when I was speaking with the family doing a consultation of a child who actually had a brain injury at birth. And rightly so. Parents were consistently concerned, but dad was also a rather disgruntled individual just because of everything that went on then. The history was. It sounds as if things didn't have to go down the way it did. That led to the problem. And so he would come in and they're great parents, but I could always tell he just had this depressed kind of disgruntled in them. I'm guessing about two years in, he just comes in and he's sitting in the chair and he's just smiling and just chilling out. And literally to the point where I said to his wife, what's with him? And he immediately chipped in. He's like, cbd. I'm like, what have you know? He's like, I started taking it. It's completely changed around my mood, completely changed on my attitude. And the wife's over here going, you know. And he told me the name of the product that he had been using. And so I investigated it and, you know, learned about the incredible safety profile when it comes to non THC containing cannabinoids. And I started using that product and started seeing some great things. So this would have been about, I'm guessing 2012ish 2014 somewhere around there. So I've been using CBD in my practice for, again, way over a decade. And as we'll get into all the other different cannabinoids, both THC and the other ones that are hemp derived, not intoxicating versions. And being that as a holistic pediatrician, I started using herbs to treat children in 1995. So there was a journal article in our Academy of Pediatrics trade journal, which is called Contemporary Pediatrics. That was called seven Herbs Every Pediatrician Should Know About. And I asked the department chair and the residency director at Tampa General Hospital if I could start using these herbs, and they said, absolutely. In fact, the person who started Contemporary Pediatrics way back when is also the person who started the USF pediatric department in the first place. And so she's like, as far as we're concerned, this is our home journal. Anything that's in that journal is absolutely fair game. So I started using herbs in the clinic, and then it started going really, really well, and other families started coming to the clinic just to see and to learn from me and everything. And so when it came around that cannabis became available, and rightly so, I understand why a lot of other clinicians and pediatricians were very worried and concerned and didn't know what to do, quite frankly. But I had spent the last 15 years before that figuring out individualized treatment plans for herbs and supplements and all the kinds of amino acids and fatty acids and everything that we talk about that certainly doesn't have a pediatric indication, research done to the way to know how he would treating penicillin. Right. So when it came about for me, I was like, well, it's just another herb. And so why don't I just apply the same principles that I've used for everything else? And that's kind of how it just got started. And then soon after that, the state of Florida did pass the law, the Charlotte's Web type of law, that allowed for CBD only for a limited number of people. And then soon after that, then THC became available. And so I then started being able to dabble with that with children as well, as well as with my adult patients. And so that's kind of just how it explore, expanded over time. And from what I've been told, I've certified more children than anybody in the state of Florida. And it's kind of nice because it's something that I'm passionate about with herbal medicine. And one of the very nice things about cannabis treatment is, you know, immediately, as in that first day, sometimes first hour, first five minutes, depending on how you take it, you know, what you got with that particular dose of that particular product. And so unlike a lot of other pharmaceutical things, where it takes a long time to build up, to assess, you know, I'll tell people, wait three or four days before either increasing or making a change, unless there's a negative reaction, because you don't, you know, maybe you had a good day or a bad day that day. But three to four days, you should absolutely know what you have with that. And then you can make adjustments quickly. You can use it as needed, as opposed to every day. You can give an extra dose if it's a particularly stressful or difficult day or the kid has a meltdown, extra meltdown or something like that. So, you know, in terms of the properties of what you would want us medicine to have, that can help a family and help them figure it out, it's kind of the ideal one.
- [08:08]
B
Oh, that's great. Now I think just the idea that you framed it right, you were just working with herbs, right. That herbs. How herbs can be extremely effective. And this is just one additional one. Right. That just warranted the same amount of scrutiny and investigation. It just obviously it has a stigma to it in terms of some parents, maybe not. And I think that's definitely lessened.
- [08:30]
A
Oh, for sure. But it's still there. And understandably so. I mean, like, you know, I mean, like, we know that there's a big difference between THC and CBD in terms of the impact on developing brain. You know, brains are developing until 22 years of age. And so that's a rightly concerned. But also, let's remember the patient population that I'm doing this with, right? We're not just doing it, hey, your kids, you know, your kid had a bad day. Let's give your kids some medical. No, we're talking about children predominantly with autism, but other mental health and behavioral health types of conditions, the occasional patient with cancer who needs it for their chemotherapy, et cetera, you know, recovery type of thing. But we're talking about very affected children here. We're talking about kids who have, you know, it's rare, if never that I use it as a first line therapy. I mean, you know, most of the time it's parents who have either a had success from another sibling or a friend, and so they're sooner to get it or they've been through everything else and nothing's worked. And they're like, well, I feel like I gotta give this a try.
- [09:31]
B
I know you glossed over it a little bit, but I think just my understanding in this space, you do have different options in terms of leveraging the power of cannabis and the th. You know, the THC including or not to include is kind of a debate. And obviously there may be situations where one versus the other. Can you give a little bit of 101 on the types, the options within this category?
- [09:56]
A
Yeah. Okay, well, let's go to 100 before 101 simply because I think it's important for the audience to understand what this is all about and how it works in the first place. Okay, so it's. So these are cannabinoids, plant based cannabinoids, but there are also mammal made cannabinoids, cannabinoids called endocannabinoids. We all make cannabinoids in our body. We all have cannabinoid receptors in our body. All mammals do. Most vertebrae, even some subvertebrae do. So this is something like epinephrine, right? I mean it's like a core adrenaline, you know, serotonin. This is like a core substance that we have evolved to make over the years. Okay. And the role of the endocannabinoid system is to maintain balance homeostasis for the individual. And the two most common cell or tissues that they work on are nerve cells and inflammatory cells. And there's actually the two different receptors actually work on two different versions of it. I won't go into too much detail with that. But this is also what we call a retrograde system. So normally if like there's one nerve and a second nerve, this nerve is putting neurotransmitters into like serotonin, dopamine, whatever it ting and it fires the nerve this way. This system works in the opposite, where this cell is actually, if it's being overstimulated by this cell, whether it's pain, nerves, whatever, then it sends a signal back over here, across the synapse this way, retrograde, and basically tells this cell over here, chill out and calm down. You're overexciting me. I need you to excite me some, but you're overexciting me. Now what? When we take plant based cannabinoids, CBD is predominantly keeping around the cannabinoids that we naturally make longer stays in that synapse for a longer period of time to tingle over here. Then what THC predominantly does is it hits the same receptor but in a stronger fashion. Okay. So they both are end result of stimulating the endocannabinoid receptors, but kind of like one's more indirect versus one that's more direct. And then of course, on top of that, you know, and I talk a lot about other types of cannabinoids. Now we're into the 101 of the. You know, there are additional cannabinoids that are non intoxicating. And I think it's important for people to understand about them. The mother cannabinoid that's made by the plant and that's true, whether it's for a THC plant or a CBD plant. And when you hear about a CBD plant, that's what you typically would consider a hemp plant, although they've now genetically modified marijuana plants in order to be all cbd. So it's kind of like they retrograded what hemp was in the first place. But the very first cannabinoid that's made is called cbga, and that's the mother one. And it gets differentiated into all the other forms. Whenever you hear the A there, that's an acid form. And it usually needs to be then re. And then to be activated to the other form. So, for instance, so CBG will go on to cbg, I should say, goes on to make THCA and cbda. So thca, which is actually the form that's found on, like the natural plant, if you were to do a smoothie or eat regular marijuana, you don't get high from it. It's because it still is the THC A form, and it's only less. It's heated, decarboxylated, does it become what's called 9Delta THC. And that's the active form that when people get high for marijuana, that's what it is, 9 Delta THC. So then there's an additional thing. But in addition to that, THC itself can be converted to another non intoxicating cannabinoid called cbn. That is the best one that I have found for sleep, maintaining sleep. Okay, Then in addition to. Then the CBG becomes the cbg, the CBDA to the cbd. But there's another one, but the CBG itself. So the CBGA first gets to cbg, unless the acids go off into the THC CBD part. Sorry if I'm getting a little technical, but the thing about the cbg, it is one of the best I have now found for things like anxiety, depression, overexcitability, panic attacks, those behavioral flares that the kids can get. I use a lot of CBG for that. So knowing what the symptoms are helps me choose the different cannabinoids. And sometimes I will use a CBN at nighttime for better sleep, but I'm using CBD during the daytime for general calmness. And then I have to throw some CBG in for some additional work, maybe for school or whatever. So there's a lot of options that are there that we go by.
- [14:48]
B
Yep, Understood. Yeah. So in terms of what the symptom might be, there might be different options that might be more on point. But as Long as we're hovering on this, in terms of just taking a step back, if CBD in a variety of forms is helpful to reduce those symptoms, presumably it's because in some way it's addressing some root cause that's going on within a person, within a child. And so is it safe to assume that it's just that endocannabinoid receptor is overactive or it's damaged? Like, what's the root cause that might be going on within a child where. Okay, this is something that's going to sure, address the symptoms, but really get to something that's fundamentally happening at the root.
- [15:33]
A
Okay. So a lot of that is not figured out yet, of course, because of the regulations aspect relative to cannabis in our country, it's been very limited amount of research, and you could imagine even less so in children. Okay. But we do know that there's been a lot of research relative to things like seizures and things like that that have been very helpful. But as far as coming back to the root cause when it comes to autism, and to be understanding this is modifying the root cause, it's not fixing the root cause, because let's say there's over inflammation happening in the body, you still have to go back and look at, well, what are all the things that are causing hyperinflammat autoimmune types of conditions. And you know, coming back to the old standards of gut health and vitamin D levels and zinc levels and the interleukins and cytokines that we now know all about, but with kids with autism, there was research that was done around 2017, 2018, out of Israel, that they measured the levels in the kids for those two endocannabinoids, and they found that they had significantly lower levels than neurotypical children. So kids with autism, for some reason were not making the same level. Now, we don't know why. So does that therefore make sense that if the endocannabinoid is not hitting enough, the endocannabinoid receptor would be taking more endocannabinoids to stimulate the receptor more make the work happen. So in a very basic nutshell, you can think of it that way.
- [17:08]
B
Yeah, I think that's helpful. And obviously there's multiple root causes going on. There's like no one. But in terms of just looking at this with, you know, I think listeners trying to come to terms with this endocannabinoid system and why it matters, it sounds like for whatever reason, perhaps some of these kids especially just may be low. Right. So therefore giving something that the Body's not generating enough of, for whatever reason is how you get the improvement in terms of, you know, what you're hoping for and maybe a reduction in what you're not wanting.
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A
And there's also the possibility that the body's breaking it down too fast. Right. So obviously you have a low level. Cause you're not making enough or because you're breaking it down too quickly. And that's like, we know metabolism for medications work that way. So it's a theory, It's a likely to be true theory. But there's also that possibility they can be making enough, but they're breaking it down too fast.
- [17:59]
B
Got it. And that's why all this is within the context of a. A more comprehensive, integrated plan. Sure, you can try this and see if it helps, but otherwise, it is more complicated in terms of what might be going on. But I do think having just more awareness on, okay, if this is helping, what fundamental issue is it helping to address? Is a useful conversation. Again, you can say everything's chronic inflammation, but specifically for some of these kids, yeah, it's chronic inflammation. But as you mentioned, it's because of huge gut issues and gut dysbiosis. Other kids, it's more of a toxicity that's causing that state of chronic inflammation. Others, it's just like a dysregulated nervous system, perhaps from a number of things, including mold exposure, et cetera. So that's where it can get complicated in terms of all the possibilities. But just having a sense for your child what might be going on, what clues do you have of what's creating this more dysregulated state? That's why it's so powerful to be able to work with a practitioner like yourself who can help you piece it together.
- [19:08]
A
Exactly. And it's a great tool. It's not the only tool. It's not gonna be for everybody. I've had one kid who, even on cbd, freaked out. We don't know why every one of these types of cannabinoids did not go well. But the nice thing is that you don't do it the next day, and you get a reset button. So that's why I'm comfortable kind of pushing the limits with it, because it's not something that lingers or it's not like a lot of the SSRIs that you need a couple weeks to even know what you got in the first place. And you can't just stop it. Right. You know, you can't just stop this. You know, so that's nice.
- [19:38]
B
Is it fair to say though that the majority of the patients you've had have responded favorably in some way to having this worked in?
- [19:47]
A
Yeah, very much so. Very high percentage of success rate, I would honestly put it probably at 75 to 80% in terms of seeing something meaningful happen. And it's very nice and kind of the cool thing is one of the best side effects of the main side effects of cannabis is reduction of other medications, whether it's inflammatory medications, whether obviously on the pans, pandas type of side of things and reducing a lot of those types of things. But also even the psych medicines. The number of kids who I've seen who have been successfully able to be reduced or taken off of risperdal or the ADD medications or the SSRIs, it's quite common. What I tell parents is don't make that the first thing that you're going to do. Get your kid as stabilized as you can get the maximum that you know out of the cannabis and then we can start leaning back. Because one of my other core philosophies is don't make more than one change at a time. So you don't want to stop something while you're starting something because that's two changes. I tell parents if you want your kid off it, stop it before you start the cannabis so that you know what just happened. But as long as you make one change at a time, you give yourself a few days to observe, you can't really get in trouble with this stuff in terms of hurting somebody.
- [20:57]
B
Yeah, got it. Great. And in high level and I know you touched on sleep, but if you had to identify like a top three, top three issues or behaviors or situations that you found that are really good fits for this approach. Sleep I'm guessing is one of them.
- [21:15]
A
Sleep would be one. Anxiety slash panic, slash that. Hyperexcitability, I probably would say two. And then for some of the kids also gut pain because it's also anti inflammatory for the gut and other discomforts that they may have. One of the challenges that we've known for a long time with people, especially if they're non verbal is a lot of times the behaviors that they're acting out that may be a physical situation that's going on for them but they can't express themselves so they manifest it with behaviors. So obviously if there is some inflammation that's causing pain, it could be potentially helpful there too. Yeah. And let's face it, it can increase appetite, you know, so if I some of my picky eaters or low eaters. I mean, we know that that's a side effect of marijuana, even the munchies. But some kids, I can get a really, in fact, a really good effect on them and just be more open to trying new foods or eating more food.
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B
Oh, I'm sure many ears are perking up as you're talking about that because that's, that's something I never really thought of.
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A
And I probably use more of the THCs. Right, right, right, right.
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B
But in terms of whether you're providing a product that has THC or not, is there any guidance, any, any use cases that you can share?
- [22:24]
A
Yeah, well, first and foremost, I always would do THC last, and I would exhaust all of the other cannabinoids before I introduce my kid to thc. Okay. So, you know, I typically start with a CBD as a basic start, and then again, but then I'm also asking, like, what are the other symptoms? Because CBD can take care of every symptom. Okay, so I got done, but let's start the cbd. But if sleep is still an issue, if that was an issue, then we'll next bring in the cbn. If behaviors, calmness, you know, that type of thing, irritability is the issue that's still remnant. Then I would start with the CBG next. So it's kind of like all of those things. Now if I have a kid who's about to be institutionalized or like being taken away from their. Or the parents can't handle it anymore. There's been times where I've given THC on the early side of things just because I want to keep the kid at home and not institutionalized. But that's the very exception, not the rule for it. But it's also good to. And why it's important to work with somebody because, you know, the amount of milligrams to start with for any of these products, the amount of milligrams to jump on, that's gonna be individualized based upon the person. You know, some kids are more sensitive than others. Obviously none of these kids have been exposed to cannabinoids for the most part anyway. So you have to approach that a little differently. Like most people, you know, I've taken some vitamin C already before you give them vitamin C, so you kind of need to, you know, really know about that. And then another really important thing to understand about the other main active ingredient in these plants besides cannabinoids are what are called terpenes. So terpenes are non intoxicating, but they have different effects. There are certain terpenes that are more calming, certain ones that are better for pain, certain ones that are better for inflammation, certain ones that are better for sleep. So not just getting a product, but knowing what the other ingredients are in the terpenes can make all the difference in the world. Now people have heard about things in the cannabis world like sativas versus indigas. And sativas are often thought of as more stimulating and indigas are thought of as being more sedating. Although at least one in 20 people will tell me the exact opposite happened for them. And it's. But you know, I mean, I guess you could also say that's true for how Ritalin works or how SSRIs work, but it's so individualized. And so. But these terpenes can make a difference too because if you give somebody one that's really good for attention and focus during the day and energy during the day, and then you give them it at nighttime, you can induce insomnia. So that can be. Or on the opposite, if you have something that's really calming during the calming, but maybe it's too calming. We don't want to get fallen asleep in class either. So you really have to know how to utilize these different products and how to titrate them in order to get the best chance of success.
- [25:11]
B
Yeah. And that's why I'm really excited about having this conversation because you know, if a parent's heard about this and they're aware of it, I mean you can go to grocery store and there's CBD products out there that you could, sure, you can add and then see what happens. But again, it's just like everything else within particularly autism, it's so individualized that in order to use something like this, well, the precision really, really does matter. Yeah.
- [25:37]
A
And another thing to realize, because they are herbs and they're not regulated, this is a very, very buyer beware situation because of things like pesticides. The plant itself, the herb, the roots itself actually gathers heavy metals. In fact it gathers radiation. They planted it around Chernobyl afterwards to reduce the communities exposure. So making sure that you're using products that have every single batch tested for impurities and for accuracy in labeling. And what I tell people to do if it's not listed right on their website of the company, ask to see the last three certificates of analysis or look back at their last three. And so a, you can see how often they're testing for, you know, if they've done three tests in the last seven months a year they're checking if one's from like 1947. I'm kidding. But you know, from years apart. Or they won't give you that information in the first place. I'd be very hesitant to trust that kind of company. But, you know, the good companies are checking every batch.
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B
Right. And what do you ask for a certificate of what?
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A
Certificate of analysis of analysis. This is like when they said they should be sending it out to a third party for retesting for the metals, the plastics, the pesticides, all of that. But also it should say the terpenes that are on there. What percentage? Percentages, as well as all those different cannabinoids by milligrams or percentage, depending on how they're presenting it. So you want to know that you're getting what you get because I mean, getting things off of the street, obviously we know all the problems, let alone before fentanyl became a problem. And so there's a very buyer viewer. When people are buying it at grocery stores and gas stations, et cetera, you have no idea what you're getting because they're not required to report support the certificates of analysis. It's just the educated consumer should know to look for it.
- [27:28]
B
Yep, that's wise advice, especially since the first step for parents in terms of what's going to help your child is make sure you're not inadvertently giving your child poison. Right. Something that's toxic, even if it's got a benefit. I mean, just to be more conscious of what's in whatever you're providing to your child. And that brings me to, especially since my son, you know, I've been going to conferences, autism conferences, ever since my son was diagnosed in 2008. And it was interesting because all these conferences and there have been a number over the years, but cannabis was never mentioned until like 2017. All of a sudden I went to a conference and it was all cannabis, different vendors, because it was, it was in Colorado, so it was kind of exploding at the time and I just thought that was really noteworthy. So there's a lot of vendors, a lot of people who have options here. And the key is to be discerning. But I've also found it interesting that since around that time, I haven't really seen it at conferences anymore. It's almost like it popped up, it became really big and then it disappeared. Why is that? Is it just because of how complicated it is from state to state?
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A
Well, when you're talking about purely hemp derived CBD products, not much of an issue. Obviously, the THC is a very different thing, besides the fact that obviously it's a controlled substance that hasn't been declassified or rescheduled. And so there's that aspect of it. But of course, every state has its own rules, its own laws, so it's obviously, while recreational, is not available for anybody who's a child. There are some states who have medical for THC and some that don't, you know, even carrying it across state lines and, you know, things like that. So it is because of the legality of it and the fact that the government hasn't moved to ease this, which we've been hearing for a while, that they said Biden said they was going to do it. It was talk a few months ago under the Trump administration. No one's done it. And it kind of seems to me one of the least controversial, or maybe I should say most bipartisan things that are out there. I really don't see much of a partisan difference, you know, in terms of approval and people who are willing to use it. You know, people want to help their kids. You know, again, that's different from recreational, right?
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B
Absolutely. So you're not seeing any positive headwinds based on a new administration? It seems like it's still something that's not getting much attention.
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A
I haven't heard anything. There was more talk during Biden, and then he didn't do it, but I've heard very, very little. I mean, Trump mentioned it, like four or five months ago favorably, but nothing happened after that.
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B
Got it, Got it. And so I think in terms of the awareness, making parents aware of this option, putting it more on the radar as to what is it, how it works, how it helps. I know you've been giving a lot of thought to that lately, so I believe you have a book coming out relatively soon. Can you talk about that a little bit?
- [30:30]
A
Yeah, well, the book that I have that's coming out is called Making Healthy Kids From Preconception to Infancy and Beyond. And actually, I'm not gonna be very much going into cannabis on that. But this is more the more global of what we are talking about, certainly at autism conferences forever. But, like, you know, autism, as you, I'm sure, know, has always been like the canary in the coal mine, where we find things and discover things in people with autism, and then we expand it out to other populations. But it is very, very clear now that toxic chemical exposures combined with poor nutrition, combined with genetics is a trio that's really messing some people up. Okay. And Obviously our genetics we can't fix. But even though, but we have epigenetics and we obviously have our genetic hacks like MTHFR treating with methylfolate and things like that. But one of the things that we absolutely can control is making sure we have good vitamin D, zinc levels, gut microbiome and correcting for those. And how do we minimize the amount of toxic exposures that we're getting? You know, whether it's the metals, whether it's the plastic, the phthalates, the microplastics, you know, all of those are things that can be minimized if you just know what the exposures are. Now one of the things that we are also doing as part of P2I being preconception to infancy the ecosystem that we are developing and launching now over the next year we are going to be having lab tests available where people can do through urine and blood testing to check for every one of those toxic chemicals, not just the categories, but them individually, and building a database that is looking to be global, that people depending on where they live may have a better understanding of what, where that particular toxin is coming from or this particular toxins are coming from, or just in general, what are you eating? You know, are you, you're obviously on the pesticides thing. Are you eating conventional strawberries that suck up the pesticides like nobody's business as opposed to organic? So once you know what the toxic chemical is, then you can talk about how to minimize the exposure while you're also optimizing by doing things like MTHFR and glutathione, you know, systems and acetylcysteine. What are the things that we could do to make ourselves detoxify better, right? Improve that while we decrease the toxic exposures? That's huge. So we are actually in the process of this is a global thing, it's going to be doctor led, actually. Former Assistant Surgeon General and former president of the American College of Obgyns and her protege are actually the three other doctors who are working on this with me. And this even as a case in point, Puerto Rico, where there's a 1 in 5 chance, 20% of having a preterm birth. Rest of America, it's 10%, which is still too high. Just by getting these women's pee for 5,000 patients and telling them what the toxins are and how to minimize them with no other intervention, reduced the preterm birth rate from 20% to 10% in a five year period. And obviously what we know for area kids who go to the ICU and all the things and the extra antibiotics and all the sensory stimulation and all the things that happen to those youngest and smallest of children. So, yeah, we're building this entire ecosystem. The book will be out, should be out at the end of the spring. But also just the fact that, I mean, we're also making like completely pure tested baby foods in glass without the tops that have the plastic on it, to baby clothing without flame retardants, to safe sleeping materials with natural fibers and bamboo frames and proper air filtration and water filtration and all of that. Because we realize that the only way that we're going to save this planet is by making healthy kids. Our generation, we're screwed. We've been exposed to this stuff for too long. But what can we do for the next generation which then gives birth to the generation after that? So that's kind of what my big time project is about.
- [34:37]
B
Oh, that's phenomenal. And yeah, ultimately it is as simple as become aware of what's going on. And there's a lot of things you could do to play defense. Right. It takes effort, it's inconvenient. But there's so much you can do to play defense. With better data, you can definitely pinpoint your efforts on what your child may need most. And again, really kind of be more precise with what you're doing. So all those things. I love that your book is more comprehensive. Cause that is the roadmap that parents need. And again, how does medical cannabis fit in there? Okay, well then great that we've had this conversation and I'm sure that'll be touched on in your book. But if parents do wanna find out more about the initiative that you mentioned or to reach out to you about your practice, where can they go?
- [35:25]
A
Yeah. So P2I Health is the website for P2I, my own website, which is holisticfamilycare.com that's the practice. But Dr. DavidMD Dr. DavidM is my personal website and I do a lot of work on YouTube. I have about 800 videos up now. And so it's Dr. David, like Dr. David MD. If you just Google Dr. David MD put into YouTube, you'll find it. So like, and subscribe. But you'll see that I have like, you know, topic everything that we've talked about today in a lot more detail and a lot of other topics that we didn't get to cover today are all on those videos.
- [36:05]
B
All right, wonderful. Well, Dr. David Berger, I really appreciate you taking the time shed light on this topic. And again, I'll include everything that you mentioned in the show notes and wishing you great success on your initiatives. Nothing's more important.
- [36:19]
A
Thank you. I do appreciate it.
- [36:20]
B
Your child needs you running on all cylinders now and the fastest way to rise is with personalized one on one support. Get started today. Go to Eleanor. Elevate how you navigate dot com.