
Dr. Axe shares how you can reverse chronic pain, autoimmune disease, and even aging naturally.
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Dr. Josh Axe
Three years ago, I was diagnosed with what doctors called an irreversible condition, and I was able to heal 100% via the power of stem cells. In this episode, I'll be diving deep into how to activate your body's own stem cells using food, diet, and lifestyle medicine. I'll go through advanced stem cell treatments via IV and injection, how those are used today, where you can get the best of the best stem cells. And I'll be going through how to reverse the autoimmune disease, chronic pain, inflammation issues like Alzheimer's, inflammatory bowel disease, and so many other conditions. With the power of stem cell medicine, it is the future of medicine. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Now, stem cells are unique cells that can develop into over 200 specialized cell types in the body. So it can turn into healthy thyroid tissue, healthy ovaries, healthy testing tissue, healthy immune cells, like natural killer cells. So it's pretty amazing. Stem cells can turn into anything your body needs to heal and regenerate itself. And they really serve as the main part of your body's repair system. They help replenish damaged or and contribute to any type of growth, repair, and healing in the body. And they are one of the few medical breakthroughs that restore function instead of just managing symptoms. I'll give you an example. Three years ago, I had an injury, and I was left bedridden for an entire year, so didn't walk for 10 months, then on a walker for two months. And the number one form of therapy that helped me heal what doctors said was an irreversible condition was stem cell therapy. And so for many of you, if you've got a condition and maybe a doctor's told you, hey, sorry, this is irreversible, it can't heal. Maybe it's especially when it comes to chronic pain, especially when it comes to autoimmune disease, even copd, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, any of these issues. Stem cells are probably the fastest way or the thing that can help your body heal and repair and overcome that chronic health problem. You know, think of stem cells as the body's blank checks, since they're capable of becoming any type of cell that's needed. They're like the original Lego bricks. They're versatile pieces and can be assembled into different structures. And so when I was struggling with my condition to where I had chronic inflammation, I had damaged bone, I had damaged ligaments, I had a damaged disc, all of this tissue and inflammation, I was able to go and do stem cell therapy. I was also able to enhance My body's own stem cell production via diet, nerves, which I into it a little bit, and those tissues were able to become new. Now, oftentimes you might go to your doctor and they feel like, well, once the damage is there, it can never be reversed. Well, stem cells are really one of the only ways you can actually reverse damage. You can literally reverse it. In fact, when I got my post mri, I had all of this damage at the forefront. Afterwards, I got stem cell, and a year later, we redid an mri and my disc had actually built back up. They saw new, healthy tissue. Actually, my disc actually looks healthier than before. I looked younger. In fact, the doctor that was treating me said your disc literally looks 15 to 20 years younger after treating it with stem cells. So imagine that your skin looking 15 to 20 years younger, your thyroid operating like it was 15 to 20 years younger. Your joints, imagine, you know, let's say you've got an injury in your 50s and your joint now feels like it did when you were 28, 29 years old. That can happen with the power of stem cells. Now, your bone marrow is where your stem cells live, that your body typically releases for healing and regeneration. So within your bone marrow, I don't know if you've ever been to a nice fancy restaurant, and oftentimes some of these restaurants, they'll serve actual bone marrow. It's like a soft, squishy tissue at the center of some bones, and it makes stem cells. And some of these stem cells become blood cells and platelets. And these red blood cells then carry ox body and white blood cells to fight infections. And so stem cells are incredibly important for healing and regeneration, for your immune system, for having healthy blood and energy. And they're really one of the only things you can do, as I mentioned, that can actually reverse a chronic injury. Did you know that stem cells have been part of the reason why people like Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo, and other professional athletes who have had major damage to their tissues, have been able to play in their sports or have a long, healthy career? You know, there are numerous, numerous professional athletes and celebrities that have done this, and it's allowed them to look younger, feel younger, and actually be younger in their cells and tissues. The University of Nebraska Medical school said this about stem cells. They said stem cells are the foundation cells for every organ and tissue in our bodies. Throughout our lives, we continue to rely on stem cells to replace injured tissues and these cel, such as those in our skin, hair, blood, and lining of our gut. And the reality is this it is one of the most crucial things in our body. We want to preserve and boost the function of and stem cells are the foundation of regenerative medicine. If you've ever heard that term regenerative medicine, stem cells are at the center of that. Regenerative medicine tends to be things like PRP injections, of course, stem cells directly, and these cells are incredible also for things like leukemia. This is one of the, probably the most healing and transformative type of treatment for leukemia is getting stem cell transplant. As I mentioned, spinal cord injuries, degenerative disc disease, a heart that's been permanently damaged, or arteries, numerous, numerous conditions. And here's the thing, they don't mask symptoms like medications do. These are natural factors that your own body creates. So they stimulate true regeneration, which is why they're a form of alternative medicine and modern medicine today. If you're dealing with chronic pain, injury or degenerative disease and you're looking for something beyond pills or surgery, stem cell therapy is your best option. And what you can gain from stem cell therapies include. Here's some of the benefits according to recent science. Reduced pain and inflammation, faster recovery from injury or surgery. Now, I've actually known quite a few high school and college athletes who had these injuries like they tore partially torn acl, Achilles tendon, ro cuff. And right after their surgery, or even to prevent surgery, they went in and they injected stem cells and either they more quickly recovered or they didn't need surgery in the first place. Also, the science shows it improves tissue regeneration and joint mobility. Whereas with some people when they have a joint injury, it might age that joint 10, 20 years and maybe that person doesn't even feel it right after the surgery, but 20, 30 years later. You know, some of you have this where it's like your back, your neck, your knee, your elbow, whatever it is, hip, you have some sort of injury that you had from a he school sport or something like that, and then 20, 30 years later it catches up with you and that's a chronic problem. Well, if you would have your kids do that, or if you would have done it then, or even now, go and get stem cell therapy, it can stop that sort of regeneration degeneration from occurring. It's also a powerful drug free option, as I mentioned, to help heal from surgery or fight autoimmune disease. Now in the 1960s, two Canadian scientists were studying cancer and they injected bone marrow cel into mice that had been exposed to radiation. And they discovered the nodules began forming on the spleen of the mice now, these spleen colonies were actually the birthplaces of new blood cells, proof that some of the injected cells had the ability to become many different types of cells. And the discovery led to the therapies we're now using today to rebuild damaged joints, repair heart tissue, heal spinal injuries, and potentially reverse, as I mentioned, autoimmune disease, COPD and a number of other conditions. I even of kids on the autism spectrum who are getting stem cell therapy and seeing incredible results. Now, until recently, scientists primarily worked with embryonic and adult stem cells, with human embryonic stem cells first derived from IVF embryos in 1998. Then in 2006, researchers discovered how to genetically reprogram adult cells into stem cell into a stem cell like state, creating what we now know as pluripotent stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells. And this is something that a lot of people are using today. The goal of using stem cells is to help replace damaged cells and restore function. And they can decrease pain, improve function, often without the need of surgery or medications. Now, a lot of economists are saying a recession may be on the horizon. And that's why I believe now is the time to take steps towards protecting your financial health, just like you would protect your physical health. Historically, during economic uncertainty, gold and silver have doubled or more in value. I want to tell you that personally, I've always been a believer in biblical wealth. You know, the Bible talks about us having things like land and gold and silver and livestock to support ourselves economically. And I remember even my dad, when I was young, I remember being eight years old, my dad actually gave me my first piece of silver because he always believed in diversifying and it really always served our family. Now today, when buying gold, I personally trust preserve gold. And right now they're offering a free wealth protection guide. You can actually get this guide. You just need to text AXE to 50505 or visit preservegold.com axe Now, I want to hit on a few of the other conditions and research being done for where stem cells are effective. I mentioned some of the torn ligaments like ACLs and torn meniscus. But also broken bones is another thing we're seeing. In addition, osteoarthritis, in addition, neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's, blood cancers and blood disorders. In fact, there's a study here on bone marrow stem cells for knee osteoarthritis. A 2016 randomized control study published in the Journal of Translational Medicine found that patients with knee osteoarthritis who received bone marrow derived stem cell injections had significant pain relief and functional improvements, including less stiffness. The stem cell group reported their pain dropping from a score of seven to a two. Imagine that you've got chronic pain of a seven for years and then it drops down to a two. Long term. Amazing. Another study out of the Lancet tested the use of neural stem cells injected into the brains of patients who had chronic motor deficits from a stroke. Patients saw significant improvements in their motor control and MRI scans confirmed structural changes in the damaged areas of the brain. Some regained the ability to walk or use their limbs again after being told recovery was not possible. In another clinical trial on copd, patients received an IV of mesenchymal stem cells. After two years, patients reported reduced inflammat inflammation, improved quality of life, no serious side effects. And I know many patients who have gone through this for copd, and most of them experience much, much greater lung capacity and breathing. Also, there's a study on healing rotator cuffs and being a tremendous asset for that. Some people even being able to avoid surgery or some recovering much quicker from surgery. There's a 2022 study on anti aging, and they found that mesenchymal stem cells can reverse biological aging markers by improving mitochondrial function, reducing inflammation, and increasing tissue regeneration. There's another study done on Crohn's disease. They took 16 different studies and found stem cell treatments significantly improved total remission rate. So somebody was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, like Crohn's disease, and afterwards it was completely reversed. Okay, so we are seeing, and particularly it was very good for closing fistulas in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. In fact, There was a 30% higher rate of remission with those patients, nearly a 50% higher chance of immediately closing fistulas. I mean, so we see a massive, massive improvement there with stem cell therapy. You know, I had somebody recently, I referred. She was a runner, and she was an avid runner. You know, she loved doing, you know, marathons and short distance triathlons. And she had a meniscus tear and pain in her knee. She went and she had physical therapy, she had rest, she had a cortisone injection, and she was still experiencing knee pain. But after she went and got stem cell therapy, she said she felt about 90% better. She felt like her knee was 20 years younger. And this doctor in particular, he took actually the stem cells from her own bone marrow, injected it back in her knee. Now she had to take a few Months, about three months of really taking it easy and doing some rehab and exercising in the pool. But really the results were tremendous for her getting back to that thing she loved. And there are so many people like this, so many patients I've had to go through this and see this improvement. You know, My own wife, Dr. Chelsea Axe, my wife, when she was in high school, a senior in high school, tore her ACL playing volleyball and she went and had surgery. They did not do a good job on the surgery. And over time it got better to where she was able to be active again. She was doing CrossFit about how long ago, about eight years ago, injured it, doing CrossFit, and then it got so inflamed, she had a hard time walking on it for a year. She then went and got stem cell therapy on it with a friend of ours, Dr. Ethan Kellam, he's an orthopedist. In fact, he was the orthopedist for the Boston Celtics, for the New England Patriots, for the Atlanta Falcons, and now he's the orthopedist for the Tennessee Titans. But he does stem cell therapy. He did it on my wife Chelsea's knee and she now doing squats. She can hike back to doing pretty much everything else she wants to with no pain and inflammation. We do peloton a lot together in that way. And she's fully back. And this is after trying numerous, numerous different treatments. And so I've experienced, I've had so many patients experience, family members and then a lot of professional athletes. I mentioned earlier, Tiger woods, he underwent stem cell therapy for his knee and his back injuries, aiding his recovery. In fact, I believe it's part of the reason why he was able to fully recover to a point and go back and finish win the Masters. Several years ago, Steph Curry received a PRP treatment, this regenerative type of treatment in order to heal a knee injury and stem cells for his knee injury before the 2016 playoffs. Conor McGregor has had many, many stem cell injections for torn ACLs and other injuries. Rafael Nadal, the famous tennis player, had it in his knee and his back. Stem cell therapy, as I mentioned, Cristiano Ronaldo to treat a knee injury. Pe, the famed NFL quarterback, did as well. And so there are so many professional athletes who have done this to help them feel younger, actually get their joints younger to continue playing or not have the same pain they would post their career being over. Now, I want to mention this. As we age, here's what happens. Our bodies produce less stem cells. In fact, there's a condition called stem cell exhaustion. And this is where you'll notice your body just doesn't heal like it used to.
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Dr. Josh Axe
Have you noticed that maybe, you know, if you would have sprained your ankle or had some sort of injury when you were in high school, a few days later you're up walking and running around again, and two weeks later you don't even notice it. Versus you do that now and you're. It's a year later and you're still having the issues. That's because your body doesn't have enough stem cells stored. So when you get an injury, your body cannot fully go and heal that area. Listen, your body wants to fully heal an area, but if it doesn't have enough stem cells, it can't do it. There are ways of activating and enhancing your body's own stem cell production. There's a super centurion. This was a woman who lived to be 115 years old. Now, they found upon death that she only had two active stem cells at the time. And so one of the things that shows me one, she did a really good job preserving her stem cells, but also at death. That's part of the reason why she died actually, is at that age, her body ran out of stem cells, so it could no longer heal and regenerate at that point. And so really, we should be having our body creating stem cells up until 120 years old is what I believe the bible and science show today. What you eat can either support or impair stem cell health through the effects of inflammation, oxidative stress, nutrient sensing, and stem cell creation. You know, your nutrient quality greatly impacts your stem cells. And I want to walk you through what you want to be eating to support your stem cell production. According to science, probably the most important mineral is zinc.
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Dr. Josh Axe
Making sure you have good levels of zinc and copper. Zinc is known as your body's repair mineral. It's crucial for stem cell production. Also, micronutrients, especially fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A, A, D, E, and then also vitamin C are crucial. Polyphenols protect your stem cells. You're going to find those in berries, green tea, and extra virgin olive oil as some really, really great options. They reduce oxidative stress. Oxidative stress eliminates some of your body's stem cells, so it'll protect that from happening. So will omega 3 fatty acids. In addition, consuming a diet that's low in sugar and low in inflammatory fats like seed oils and any sort of processed oil or fat like fast foods, Good idea, because those will diminish your body's own stem cell production. Another thing that's really important for stem cells is protein, especially collagen based protein and muscle building protein. So you want protein and things that are more anabolic in nature and things that are rich in other vitamins and minerals like B vitamins and iron. So organ meats are tremendous, like liver in particular. Very. In heart as well. Very, very good for supporting stem cell production there as well. And actually eating bone marrow. Right. That's where stem cells are in animals. Bone marrow, bone broth are great things to support your body's own stem cell production. Now, another thing you can do to support stem cells is activate autophagy in your body, which is a cellular cleanup in your body, getting rid of senescent cells. You can increase two pathways in the body called SIRT1 and AMPK. These activate stem cell self renewal. And there are actually peptides as well found in your body, which I'll get into in a minute, which help tissue regeneration and boost stem cell production. In addition, diet wise, getting green leafy vegetables in your diet like steamed spinach and kale, dandelion greens, bok choy, those sort of things. Very, very good. Broccoli rabe and then lots of herbs. I mentioned green tea earlier. Turmeric and ginger are also effective because they're going to reduce inflammation and that will keep your body from losing stem cells. Now, what really hurts stem cells is eating a diet that's high sugar and high fat.
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Dr. Josh Axe
So combining high sugar and high fat together absolutely destroys stem cells in your body. Okay, so you want to be cautious of that. Now, in Chinese medicine, there is a term for really supporting your stem cells and it's called your kidney jing. This is known as sort of the essence of life. It's your DNA, it's your sperm, it's your bone marrow, it's this essence of you. And so kidney jing, and there's a lot of kidney jing tonics in Chinese medicine. Faux ti is one of the most popular. And I would say generally when you look at science today, that backs up Chinese medicine. And what supports stem cells. Probably the two most prominent herbs you're going to find are ginseng and astragalus. So these are adaptogenic herbs that tend to be more yang building and anabolic in nature for tissue regeneration. But I would say fo t astragalus, ginseng are some of the best for nourishing stem cells, according to Chinese medicine. Do you have unexplainable Illness, hormone dysfunction, weight loss, resistance, brain fog, and you're tired of being dismissed when you know something isn't right. Well, get my at home testing of targeted biomarkers, including hormones, thyroid and metabolism, plus a full hour with one of my senior health advisors to help you understand your results. The truth is, your doctor's probably reading your blood work all wrong. They're missing the cellular issues behind the symptoms. This new testing flips the script. The future of interpreting test results is here. I'm currently offering a simple at home blood test that actually tests for the right things. And just as it comes with proper interpretation of your results, if you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. Now, one of the things that's happened in recent years is stem cell therapies have been types of them have been banned in the United States. In fact, FDA regulations only allow allow us to minimally manipulate stem cell therapies. So for more advanced treatments, you have to travel to countries like Mexico. I personally go to Cancun in Mexico when I get treatments, Panama or Colombia in order to get treatments. What happened is these drug companies, Merck, Pfizer, you can guess the names there, they didn't want to allow stem cell therapy because they believed that it would interfere with them selling drugs for chronic pain and autoimmune disease and a number of other conditions. So they went and they said, well, if you take your own stem cells or take stem cells and you change them, because this is what people do, if you go to places like Cancun, they will take stem cells, either your own or from umbilical cord tissue. And they will then, by the way, these are donated umbilical cords from healthy births, from really healthy babies. So they'll take those, just that cord, and then they'll culture them. So just like you turn milk into yogurt and you'll multiply something like creating more probiotics, they'll take your stem cells and they'll multiply them to where you'll have like 100 times the amount of stem cells. So then sometimes you'll be able to do even multiple treatments on you or you get a much higher dose. So that's what they do over there. Well, these pharmaceutical companies came in and said, well, if you change the stem cells now that's a drug. And they went and they applied for patents and a number of things. And so then the FDA then banned advanced forms of stem cells in the United States. So if you want to get the world's best stem cells. You cannot get them in the United States of America today. Isn't that crazy? We should be number one, the most advanced country in all forms of medicine, and we're not. You have to go to other countries. Europe is doing this. You go to Germany, you go to Switzerland, you go to Spain, where you have these advanced cancer clinics and advanced, you know, the most advanced clinics in the world, they're doing it there. And the United States is banning it and you're not allowed to do it here. Absolutely crazy. But it's so easy to get in Mexico for me. And by the way, this clinic I go to is like the nicest clinic I've gone to. They have one in Cancun and one in Cabo, and it's like all white marble, brand new. I mean, it's again, nicer than any clinic I've seen in the United States. And so in Cancun from Nashville, it's like a two hour flight, so it's very easy to get to. And top of the line stuff. So again, from the United States going to Cancun or Cabo, you can turn into a family vacation. That's what we've done when I had to go for my spinal injury. But really, it is absolutely amazing. The clinic that I personally went to, it's called rehealth, rehealth.com, you can check it out. It's really a great clinic there. And they do a number of treatments, as I mentioned. They do stem cell. They also do natural killer cells. They also do something called a dendritic cell vaccine for cancer. So they do NK cells for cancer, for autoimmune disease, for Lyme disease, for long Covid. So a lot of those chronic infections, they have treatments for more along with some of these different types of all the things I talked about for stem cell therapy, from autoimmune disease to chronic pain and injuries, to COPD to preventing and reversing some of the issues, like Alzheimer's. Really, really amazing therapies. But you have to go out into the country to get a lot of them. Now, listen, there are some basic stem cell therapies you can get in the United states. I see Dr. Ethan Kellum, he's here in Nashville, Tennessee, and he's got a great practice. And he will take your bone marrow and inject it directly into your knee or back or those areas. And it really still is an amazing treatment. People will get incredible results. It's just not quite as strong as what you would get if you would go to, you know, out of the country with this, but you can still get it done in the country. And I do want to say this. There are many different levels of stem cell therapy.
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Dr. Josh Axe
The lowest level is when they take Wharton's jelly or do umbilical cord fluid. And you'll get that fluid, okay? There are a lot of people selling today. There's MDs doing it. There's osteopaths, there's chiropractors. There's a lot of people selling these IVs. And honestly, they shouldn't even call stem cell therapy. There's hardly any stem cells in there. It's mostly growth factors, and it really is not that good for you. Okay? So if you're going to see just the local guy who's not world renowned, and they're not pulling it from your bone marrow, if they're not pulling it from your bone marrow, okay, it's not good. It's likely very not that good for your body or that helpful.
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Dr. Josh Axe
You're not going to see hardly the results. So if you're spending $5,000 to get something like that done, it typically is a waste of your money.
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Dr. Josh Axe
So I just want to let you know that. So it's not bad for you. It's just minorly good for you. It's not that helpful.
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Dr. Josh Axe
A step up from that is known as adipose stem cells. That's where they take it from, your fat cells. That's really not that effective either. It can act as a scaffolding, but by itself, it's not that good. The next level is bone marrow. Bone marrow is where they actually go in and they pull stem cells from your own bone marrow.
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Dr. Josh Axe
And they will then take that and inject it into a damaged area. Now, sometimes they'll combine your bone marrow and your fat, and that can be good. And they'll inject it into, again, a site of injury, and that can be effective.
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Dr. Josh Axe
And this is for orthopedic issues, but the highest level of stem cells is where they will take umbilical cord tissue. They will then culture it, and they will feed it a diet when they culture it, essentially like a ketogenic diet. So it's not feeding off sugar, it's feeding off something else. It takes a little bit longer. You're getting the best stem cells. And this is why, like I know myself, I go and seeI go to rehealth, that clinic. Gary Breca goes to Rehealth. I know Dan Pompa. So friends of mine and Lots of others. This is where they've gone in order to get their treatments because it's literally the best clinic in the world for this. But again, you say there's sort of these different levels here. And if you're going to get it done, you either want to do the bone marrow here in the United States or do the cultured umbilical cord stem cells out of the country, which is sort of the gold standard. Best in the world. And that's the sort you need as well to really get the best treatments for issues like autoimmune disease. Now, here's what to expect from a stem cell treatment. You'll typically meet with a specialist, often in regenerative medicine, orthopedics or functional medicine, and they'll review your medical history, your symptoms, your imaging, like your MRIs or, or X rays or other reports, and they'll rule out any contraindications.
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Dr. Josh Axe
Then the doctor will determine if you're a good candidate based on whether it's joint pain or autoimmune disease, post surgical healing. And look at what you have going on. The procedure is often minimally invasive.
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Dr. Josh Axe
And performed in an outpatient clinic either in the United States or out of the country. The procedures typically take between one and three hours. People typically that now, if you're in the United States, you can go home the same day. If you get it out of the country, they recommend waiting at least till the next day before you leave. Treatments in the United States can range anywhere from $5,000 to probably even $20,000. And I would say out of the country, anywhere from probably $10,000 to a similar range.
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Dr. Josh Axe
But again, it's even stronger and more effective when you go out of the country. So you can see it isn't an expensive treatment. However, if you're a person who has been active, I have somebody I know who got this done, who was a snow skier. He loved snow skiing, and this chronic pain in his knee was keeping him from doing it. And he was able to go and get it done. This was like 10 years ago. And it's kept him snow skiing another 10 years. So you think about what that's worth for him to be able to go and Snow ski another 10 years with his family. It was critically important. There's a friend of mine I know who lives in Park City, Utah. And so again, sort of the investment, for some people avoiding surgery and for some people just being more active, quality of life. There are so many things there to a degree. Some of these treatments are priceless. When it comes to what we've talked about, and obviously now let me say this again, there's all people in all different sort of financial realms. If you can't invest in getting stem cell treatment and you really feel like you need it, then there are other things you could do. You could get PRP injections, those are less money. You can get prolotherapy, it's even less money than that that can tissue regeneration, you can follow a very specific diet. So there's a number of other things you can do. I do want to mention, after you get a stem cell injection for an orthopedic condition, you're typically pretty sore and fatigued for one to three days. If you get it done in your disc or your spine, you're typically sore for at least a couple weeks. Okay, even as long as six weeks. And really they say you will see the optimal results between that kind of three to six month period. The biggest results after getting those types of treatments and then after you get it done. Stem cell therapy, you tend to want to do some sort of physical therapy. One of the biggest reasons why people get injuries in the first place and they need stem cell therapy is because poor movement patterns. So for myself, for instance, I was seeing, I see somebody who does physical therapy out of St. Louis. I live in Nashville, he's in St. Louis. I see him via Zoom because he's the best in the world. His name is Steven Shin. And so that's who I've seen. And so I do a lot of very specific specific muscle activation exercises for improving my posture and putting less stress on my back and the joint for rehab. So physical therapy afterwards is a good idea. Sometimes you can do platelet rich plasma to kind of keep the healing going. Peptide therapy, one of the single greatest things you could do to optimize your recovery. I personally did a combination of BPC157, TB500 and GHKCU, those three peptides together to enhance my recovery after doing stem cell therapy. And so I think that's really, really something you want to consider as well, is doing peptide therapy. And I mentioned this earlier, the peptides that most help with your body's own stem cell production are by far number one is BPC157, the second is TB500. Those two peptides in particular boost your body's own stem cell production and help you regenerate that tissue. So coupling those with stem cell therapy or with physical therapy therapy will dramatically improve your recovery and healing there as well. And so listen, when it comes to stem cell therapy, number one, protect your stem cells, follow a good diet, don't overdo it exercise wise. Listen, if you're doing marathons, if you're doing long distance triathlons, if you're doing CrossFit, most of the time you're injuring yourself, OK? I want to encourage you, do longevity exercise, Exercise in a way to where you're training your body to be fit and healthy when you're in your 80s and 90s and beyond, okay? So I want to encourage you to really, the way you exercise today and the way you eat today, because doing those wrong or being too rough on your body and joints. Listen, when I was in my 20s, I felt like I was invincible, okay? Then I had one injury when I was 33 years old, 10 years ago. And then it kind of set me down on having an injury I've dealt with for 10 years. And so for many of you, I want to encourage you to be kind, be kind to your body and do everything you can to support this sort of longevity and tissue regeneration. Using food as medicine, lifestyle, lifestyle medicine, and some of the incredible therapies we have today, like stem cell therapy, incredibly, incredibly healing there as well. And so, hey, I hope you've enjoyed this episode on stem cell therapy again. For me, it really helped give my life back. It helped completely heal and regenerate my spine, getting me back now to playing pickleball, snow skiing, water skiing, running around with my two daughters. So I am so grateful for what it's done for me, this advanced sort of therapy. And it is a shame that you oftentimes have to go out of country to get the best treatment, even though again, there's some good ones here in the States. It's just not quite as strong you can look into as well. Hey, I'd love to hear from you. If you're watching on YouTube, let me know what your biggest takeaway is. Have you ever considered stem cell therapy? Is there a treatment or a condition that you've been dealing with for many years now? Let me know your take if you've ever had it. If you're interested in getting it, let me know here and then also let me know on social media. I'd love to hear from you. I'm very, very active on Instagram especially and I want to thank all of you who are subscribed to the show, who are sharing this podcast. The number one thing you can do to support the show here is become a subscriber. It allows me to bring on more high profile guests I've got Vani Hari coming on soon, Jordan Rubin, so many others. We're working on interviews with a lot of other top people like Mark Hyman and others and so you allow me to bring more high profile guests on. This is how I had someone like Carrie Underwood on in the past as so make sure to continue to subscribe and share the podcast. More people need to know the truth of how to heal with the power of regenerative medicine. Thanks so much for being a part of this episode and I'll see you on the next episode.
Summary of "How I Reversed an 'Irreversible' Condition with this BANNED Therapy"
Episode Title: How I Reversed an "Irreversible" Condition with this BANNED Therapy
Podcast: The Dr. Josh Axe Show
Host: Dr. Josh Axe
Release Date: July 14, 2025
In this episode, Dr. Josh Axe shares his personal journey of overcoming a condition deemed "irreversible" by medical professionals through stem cell therapy. He delves into the fundamentals of stem cells, their unique properties, and their pivotal role in regenerative medicine.
Dr. Josh Axe (00:35): "Stem cells are unique cells that can develop into over 200 specialized cell types in the body. So it can turn into healthy thyroid tissue, healthy ovaries, healthy testing tissue, healthy immune cells, like natural killer cells."
Dr. Axe recounts his experience with a severe injury that left him bedridden for a year. Traditional medical approaches failed to provide lasting relief, leading him to explore stem cell therapy as a viable solution.
Dr. Josh Axe (07:15): "When I was struggling with my condition to where I had chronic inflammation, I had damaged bone, I had damaged ligaments, I had a damaged disc... I was able to go and do stem cell therapy."
Following the treatment, imaging revealed significant healing, with his spine appearing healthier and younger than before.
Dr. Josh Axe (10:45): "My disc literally looks 15 to 20 years younger after treating it with stem cells."
Dr. Axe outlines the versatile applications of stem cells in treating various conditions beyond his own, emphasizing their ability to restore function rather than merely managing symptoms. He discusses their use in addressing autoimmune diseases, chronic pain, inflammation, Alzheimer's, inflammatory bowel disease, and more.
Key Benefits Highlighted:
Dr. Josh Axe (12:50): "Stem cells are probably the fastest way or the thing that can help your body heal and repair and overcome that chronic health problem."
Dr. Axe references several scientific studies that demonstrate the efficacy of stem cell treatments:
Knee Osteoarthritis: A 2016 study in the Journal of Translational Medicine showed significant pain relief and functional improvements in patients receiving bone marrow-derived stem cell injections.
Stroke Recovery: Research published in The Lancet indicated that neural stem cells injected into patients' brains led to significant motor function improvements.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): Clinical trials reported reduced inflammation and improved lung capacity among patients receiving mesenchymal stem cell IV treatments.
Crohn's Disease: Comprehensive studies revealed a 30% higher remission rate and a nearly 50% higher chance of closing fistulas in patients undergoing stem cell therapy.
Dr. Josh Axe (18:30): "In fact, there's a study here on bone marrow stem cells for knee osteoarthritis. Patients... had their pain dropping from a score of seven to a two."
Dr. Axe emphasizes the importance of supporting the body's natural stem cell production through proper nutrition and lifestyle choices. Key dietary recommendations include:
Dr. Josh Axe (19:10): "Your nutrient quality greatly impacts your stem cells. Probably the most important mineral is zinc."
He also discusses traditional Chinese medicine principles, highlighting herbs like ginseng and astragalus that support stem cell nourishment.
Dr. Axe addresses the regulatory challenges surrounding advanced stem cell therapies in the United States. Due to stringent FDA regulations favoring minimal manipulation of stem cells, many advanced treatments are unavailable domestically, prompting individuals to seek therapies abroad in countries like Mexico, Germany, and Switzerland.
Dr. Josh Axe (25:10): "What happened is these drug companies... they believed that it would interfere with them selling drugs for chronic pain and autoimmune disease... So the FDA then banned advanced forms of stem cells in the United States."
He recommends reputable clinics abroad, such as ReHealth in Cancun and Cabo, which offer high-quality stem cell treatments using cultured umbilical cord stem cells.
Dr. Axe categorizes stem cell therapies based on their source and processing:
Basic Therapies: Utilize Wharton's jelly or umbilical cord fluid but contain minimal stem cells, offering limited benefits.
Adipose Stem Cells: Derived from fat cells; provide scaffolding but lack substantial regenerative effectiveness.
Bone Marrow Stem Cells: Extracted directly from the patient's bone marrow and injected into damaged areas, offering significant therapeutic benefits.
Cultured Umbilical Cord Stem Cells: Highly processed and cultured to multiply stem cell quantities, representing the gold standard in stem cell therapy.
Dr. Josh Axe (27:20): "The highest level of stem cells is where they will take umbilical cord tissue. They will then culture it... you're getting the best stem cells."
After undergoing stem cell therapy, patients can expect:
Dr. Josh Axe (28:45): "Peptide therapy... can dramatically improve your recovery and healing there as well."
Dr. Josh Axe passionately advocates for the potential of stem cell therapy to transform lives, including his own. He highlights the regenerative capabilities of stem cells in reversing chronic conditions and enhancing overall health and longevity. Despite regulatory hurdles in the United States, he encourages individuals to explore advanced treatments abroad or consider alternative regenerative therapies available domestically.
Dr. Josh Axe (29:50): "Using food as medicine, lifestyle, lifestyle medicine, and some of the incredible therapies we have today, like stem cell therapy, incredibly, incredibly healing there as well."
Note: The information presented in this summary reflects the content shared by Dr. Josh Axe in the podcast episode. It is essential to consult with healthcare professionals before considering any medical treatments or therapies.