Ep. 65 - The Healthy Detour: Turning the Tide Against Chronic Disease - with Dr. Dave Waldman

Dr. Dave Waldman is a natural healer and the founder of The Healthy Detour, a virtual practice where he blends nutrition, exercise physiology, functional medicine, and his expertise as a Wahls certified practitioner to help guide patients back to optimal health. Dr. Waldman started this practice because he realized first hand that one’s health can veer off course, and a system is needed to help the body prioritize and maximize healing in order to thrive and prosper in life.   Veering Off Course   It was 2005 when Dr. Waldman started experiencing bouts of lower back and leg stiffness after extended periods of weight-bearing exercising. He went from being able to walk 2 miles to 100 yards to, sometimes, even less.   One day in 2006, he woke up with double vision tingling hands. His wife had to button his shirt, he had to wear an eye patch to see correctly, and he couldn’t recognize his own handwriting.   After having an MRI, Dr. Waldman was referred to a neurologist because he may have M.S. But, as a doctor himself, he knew that there is no known cause of MS and no cure. There is only medication to slow the progression; inevitably, most in the allopathic world will tell you that disability and possibly a wheelchair are inevitable.   Dr. Waldman was in his early 30’s and he wasn’t going to settle for anything less than moving on with his life. He delved into natural remedies and sought guidance from other natural health care professionals, who were able to help him reverse almost all of his symptoms, except for the tingling in his hands.   He put MS out of his mind and went on with his life – But it wasn’t something he could ignore for long.   Around 2014, he started losing his ability to walk again. He tried PT and chiropractic to little avail, and he was again told to see a neurologist. He was able to hide and live with the little nuances that MS had caused, but when he could no longer walk, it was increasingly difficult to hide what had been an invisible condition to others.   Dr. Waldman and his family started researching natural cures for MS in earnest when they came across Dr. Terry Wahls. She designed that helped her reverse years of destruction on her body and secondary progressive MS, which there is supposed to be no coming back from, according to mainstream medicine. However, Dr. Wahls was able to go from wheelchair to riding her bike for many miles!   Dr. Waldman went on to study functional medicine in depth and, ultimately, founded The Healthy Detour, to not only help himself but others that are lost and have nowhere to turn.   So, what is MS?   It's considered an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. In the case of MS, this immune system malfunction destroys the fatty substance that coats and protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord (myelin).   What’s the most important thing that you’ve done or are doing to overcome MS?   It’s not going to a particular medical practitioner, finding the right supplement, or taking the right drug that can help people reverse or delay the effects of chronic disease – it’s lifestyle changes.   You have to holistically address your brain-body connection so that your body can start to heal itself again, which is exactly what it’s designed...