I’m passionate about LISTENING.  I know that may sound weird, but let me explain.

EVERY person who comes to my clinic has a STORY.  It’s THEIR story.  And their story is IMPORTANT.  I know Listening is the MOST important skill a doctor can learn.

I'd like to share with you how I learned that skill.  

Like so many things in life, it's a lesson that I learned from my wife.

And like you, my wife has a story.  Her story was our clinic's tipping point.  

It was the moment that caused an unstoppable chain of events that inspires us to this very day.

Here's her story… 

It all began in June. She had just turned 40.

At first, it started with allergies…

Swollen eyes, dry cough, runny nose, and sinus congestion.

This was the first time she has ever had to visit her family doctor as an adult. She actually had to introduce herself. 

(She had come a long way over the years because she actually was quite sick when she was younger. I'll get to this in a minute).

Her new doctor told her it was standard allergy stuff and gave her pills.  When she asked why she's only starting to get allergies now, he told her that these things' just happen'.

(I know these things don't 'just happen.')

So…she continued her regular routine.

She ran 3-5 miles every weekday and longer runs on the weekend.  But, by August, the allergy pills weren't working, and she had a hard time breathing and had to stop running.

Her symptoms were getting WORSE.

So…

She returned to see her family doctor.

He told her that she now had asthma and gave her a few different types of inhalers.

When she asked him why she now had asthma, he told her he again that these things' happen.'

(I know now that asthma doesn't 'just happen).

But the inhalers didn't help.

In October, we rushed her to the hospital, semi-conscious, and her oxygen levels had dropped.

After being admitted to the hospital, they ran a bunch of tests, and she was given oxygen and more inhalers.

She was diagnosed with hypersensitivity pneumonitis.  That's a fancy way of saying, she was pretty much allergic to EVERYTHING, and her lungs were paying the price.

She was also taking medications every hour on the hour. Her quality of life evaporated.

A short time after, she started experiencing joint pain all over.

She could hardly walk.

She was also EXHAUSTED…yet, she couldn't sleep.

She was FRUSTRATED.

Her health got much worse over the next three years.  After waiting for what seems like forever, she was finally able to see a neurologist.

The neurologist ran a lot of different tests.

Based on what he DIDN'T find... he told her she had a condition doctors were calling chronic fatigue syndrome.

We were both relieved. Finally, a diagnosis.

As soon she was diagnosed, she began to ask him a lot of questions.

She asked him why?

He said we don't know why yet.

My wife didn't let that answer get her down.

She then asked, what's next?

He said, come back in 10 years, we may be able to help you then.

She was devastated. I did everything I could not to show disappointment on my face. I wanted to show her that everything was going to be okay.

But the truth was, I was frustrated.

I knew deep down if my wife was going to get better, we had to step outside of traditional medicine.

I had to start looking outside the box. 

Doing research back then was much more difficult. There was no Internet, no Google, no emailing universities or research facilities, and definitely no Wikipedia.

One thing I found early on in my research on chronic fatigue syndrome, was how many women were being affected by it across the world.

It was shocking.

I then wondered why this new disorder wasn't front page news. Millions of women were suffering from this unique disorder, and nobody was talking about it.

I wasn't getting anywhere by reading medical journals, there wasn't much in there.

At this point, I started to think of cause-and-effect. If I could figure out the cause, then it should be much easier to deal with the treatment.

I spent considerable time thinking about my wife's medical history.

When she was young, she lost a kidney to illness. Because of that, she had to take antibiotics for seven years. (Back then, we knew nothing about the effects antibiotics had on the microbiome.)

But one thing I did know was she had a messed up immune system. It seemed like her body was overreacting to everything.

I continued to read everything I could get my hands on, and finally, I had a breakthrough.

At first, I thought It was too simple and obvious. I didn't know how dozens of doctors and specialists couldn't make the connection.

But, when I thought about it, I did know how they missed it, they never listened to her story. 

What was the breakthrough I discovered that caused years of fatigue, brain fog, pain, breathing problems, and insomnia?

Mold.

About a year before my wife got sick, we put a hot tub in our basement. We set it up in a room with no ventilation or any circulating air.

Even thinking about the hot tub now causes my eyes to water and get irritated. The minute you entered the hot tub room, you were hit with the smell of strong chlorine.

But strong chlorine smell wasn't the only problem. Because there was no ventilation or any air circulation, that room had a mold problem.

To make matters worse, our bedroom was also located in the basement. The second you headed downstairs at our house you can feel the humidity and smell the chlorine.

There wasn't a lot of information about the harmful effects of mold on our health, but I found a few interesting facts.

First of all, the mold was very hard on the lungs. Her breathing problems started after we installed the hot tub in the basement.

Not only did mold cause symptoms, but it also created a bigger problem.

It caused her body tremendous stress. This caused her adrenal glands to overwork and secreted a lot of cortisol.

Now, it's important to understand we need cortisol, just like every hormone in our body. But, it needs to be controlled.

Cortisol is a hormone released from your adrenal glands in response to stress, which is why it's called a stress hormone.

When you feel stressed, your cortisol levels go up. But, even if you don't "feel" stressed, there are many things that your body considers to be stress.

Cortisol doesn't distinguish between physical or emotional stress. That's why things like chemicals, pollution, processed foods, too little or too much exercise can all elevate cortisol.

As far as my wife's body was concerned, it was under extreme stress.

But, there was more to the story.

When I was a kid, the Wizard of Oz movie used to terrify me, especially the flying monkeys. The film tells the story of Dorothy, who lives with her dog, Toto at a farm in Kansas.  

As a tornado strikes her home, she's knocked unconscious by wind-blown debris. When she wakes, she finds herself in the Land of Oz surrounded by Munchkins.  

Dorothy is welcomed as a hero because her house happened to kill the Wicked Witch of the East.

The rest of the movie finds Dorothy following the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, so she can ask the Wizard of Oz to help her get back home.

Of course, Dorothy is also being chased by the Wicked Witch of the West who wants her magic slippers.

Near the end of the movie, when Dorothy and her new friends finally meet the wizard, they discover something shocking.

The "wizard" is nothing more than a middle-aged man operating machinery and speaking into a microphone.

The adrenal glands are kind of like the wizard. There's something else going on behind the curtain.

The more I looked into the adrenal glands, the more I realized they were a victim. Sure, they were producing a lot of symptoms, but they had no choice.

The real problem started with two small, but essential parts of the brain, the hypothalamus, and pituitary gland.

In a healthy person, the hypothalamus is the CEO. It tells the middle manager, the pituitary glands to get the adrenals working.

But, when the body is under a lot of stress, the lines of the communication between all three of them get messed up.

Why does that happen?

Because stress causes inflammation, free radical damage, and less blood flow.  Inflammation is a big problem and is in all diseases.

But inflammation also causes serious communication problems between your cells.  

What is free radical damage?

Everyone knows what happens when you slice an apple and leave it on the counter for a short time. It turns brown.

This is a glaring example of what happens when something is oxidized. The very same air we breathe to give us life takes it away. We are 'rusting' out because of free radicals.  

Stress causes our bodies to make a lot of free radicals. The more free radicals we have, the more we age, and the risk of diseases like cancer and heart disease increases.

It's widely accepted aging is caused by free radicals and oxidative stress.

We also now know our brain is susceptible to free radical damage. Stress-related free radical damage can hurt the hypothalamus and pituitary glands.

Now, stress does more than create more free radicals and inflammation. It also causes poor circulation. 

Your body makes a gas called Nitric Oxide.

Nitric oxide has a crucial role. It delivers messages between the cells in your body, and it increases blood flow.  

If your nitric oxide levels are low, then you will have poor circulation. Since every organ in your body needs healthy blood flow to function, low nitric oxide can cause a lot of symptoms.

Pain, cramping, fatigue, restless legs, swelling, numbness, and brain fog are a few symptoms of low nitric oxide.

It also makes sense your brain won't function as well if you are having blood flow issues.

At this point, I was confident I had figured out what was causing my wife's fatigue, shortness of breath, insomnia, brain fog, and pain.

She had a problem with her Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal area because of a vicious combination of inflammation, free radical damage, and poor circulation.

And, it was all caused by stress.

Now, it was time to find a fix.  

I needed to find something that would improve blood flow, fight free radical damage, and lower brain inflammation.

It was time to hit the books again.  

While doing research, I came across a nutrient I thought may help my wife.

I was excited. Based on what I'd read, this nutrient was a powerful antioxidant which meant it would fight free radical damage.

It was also able to boost our body's ability to make more nitric oxide, which meant it was suitable for blood flow.

Now, what got me excited about this nutrient was its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier.

Our brains are protected by a barrier, which is a good thing. But, the same wall makes it hard for things to get through and actually help the brain out.

But, this nutrient was able to get through the barrier.

Unfortunately, my excitement was short lived. I discovered the nutrient was hard to get.

After calling in some favours, I managed to get a few bottles.

This is where things get exciting.

My wife started taking the nutrient on a Thursday.

On Sunday morning, she woke up…amazed.

She was amazed because she woke up, which meant she had fallen asleep.

Up to this point, she was awake most nights…even though she was exhausted.

She was also amazed she didn't 'feel' as sick.

But, she was still skeptical.

A few days later, she noticed the 'cloud' she had over her brain for the past two and a half years had lifted.

She used to describe her brain fog like she was trying to think through a heavy blanket.

But now…her thoughts were clear.

She was sleeping better, thinking better, and….her energy was much better.

She got her life back.

Her story caused significant changes in my life and the direction of the Martin Clinic.

At this point, I knew I had to make this nutrient available to EVERYONE.

But, this proved to be complicated.

Finding the right source was hard. Most of them on the market were made from inferior quality ingredients from China. That's not what I wanted.

The second challenge was price and dosage.

The bottles I managed to get for my wife only contained 20mg of the nutrient per capsule. She needed to take at least 1mg of the nutrient for every pound she weighed.

That's the smallest dosage I've found to be super effective over the years. Ideally, a person would take much more than that.

Not only was the cost of each bottle high, but she also had to take a lot of capsules every day to get the least effective dosage.

This wasn't acceptable. And, as I mentioned, I wanted a much higher dosage for my patients.

After a lot of research, I managed to find the best source of the nutrient. When contacted a company to have my formula made…

I was crushed. They told me it would cost over $100 per bottle to make the numbers work.

Now, I knew I was asking a lot of them. I wanted 350mg of the nutrient per CAPSULE, not the standard 20mg.

When you consider how powerful and effective the formula was, it was a steal at that price. It was much cheaper than the one my wife was taking when you factored in dosage.

But, it was too expensive to fit my mission of making it available to everyone.

So…I decided to cut out the middleman and deal directly with a manufacturer.

Which brings us to where we are today.

One of the reasons why so many feel better on with pine bark extract is because of the positive effect it has on NO. By promoting better circulation, pine bark extract can increase recovery rates of injuries, reduce fatigue during exercise, and ease the pain and swelling of sore joints.

But it doesn’t end there. By boosting NO levels, you also notice...

- Increased alertness and clear focus, a better and stronger immune system, and stronger and longer lasting endurance.

Glutathione, like NO, is something that your body produces on its own.  BUT, there are many things that we do in life that will have a devastating effect on the production of glutathione.  

Things like free radicals, bad diets, pollution, chemicals, toxins, stress, aging, infections and radiation can all negatively affect our glutathione levels.

The ability to fight free radicals is very important to our health.  While vitamin C and E are important for their antioxidant capabilities, pine bark extract is 20 times more effective than vitamin C and 50 times more effective than vitamin E at fighting free radicals.  

It’s for these reasons, and these reasons alone that we turned our research on pine bark extract into the flagship product that not only saved the lives of my wife, thousands of patients, and even our small family clinic.

Introducing….

It’s specifically designed to help you maintain healthy levels of energy, but it goes so much further than that.

What makes it so effective is it effects 4 important areas of your body.

First it boosts the health of your adrenal glands which are responsible for your cortisol and energy levels.

Next, navitol is extremely powerful at increasing your circulation and blood flow. That means few aches and pains and reduced risk of heart disease and stroke.

Navitol has been clinically proven to cross the blood brain barrier better than any other antioxidant you can find. It will boost your brain function, clear brain fog and keep your focus sharp.

Finally, navitol has the added benefit of increasing your levels of glutathione which is known as the regulator of your immune system.