Leslie Brown | When Doctors Say, "We Don't Know" | Episode 403

Welcome to the show. My name is Eva Vennari, founder of the Elevate Institute, and I'll be your host for today's podcast. When Doctors Say We Don't Know is an inclusive conversation. So many are craving to share their stories and experiences, and today's guest is no exception. Today's honored guest is Leslie Brown. She's the creator of Reduced Stress Method that is for busy professional women for better energy, to find focus, And sleep. She is a pioneer in the space where tech meets holistic health and chronic illness. I can't wait to hear more. Well, Leslie, welcome to the show.

That's awesome. Thanks. I am thrilled to be on your amazing podcast. Thanks.

Absolutely.

I am. I'm tickled. Yeah.

I can't wait to hear more about all of this because I'm known as the tech queen every once in a while, but you, you have got something going on for your company. I can't— I want to kind of— I want to know more about this. How is it That you are pioneering this space where tech meets holistic health. But tell me more about that.

Well, sure. On this one, when I started as a health practitioner, in particular in, in this particular space, I was just excited about helping people get their lives back from illness, from stress, from all sorts of things. And I didn't think about all the paperwork that's behind the scenes and creating individualized plans and just all that And I've always been pretty interested in streamlining systems, so I turned to tech for a solution to help me do that. And that's what I started to build out. And then I got this idea, like, I want to reach a million people. And I thought, there's no way that's going to happen just with me doing this by myself. So I'm creating it so other practitioners can use it as well. And that'll be all sorts of professionals, from licensed doctors or nurses to certified or accredited people and chiropractors and other health coaches to be able to do the same thing I'm doing and save them the administrative time so they can focus on the people they're trying to serve.

So we're going to get into more of what you're doing. But first, I just want to know, is the tech world— is that natural for you?

Oh, no. No, not at all. No, no, no. Hold up the cross and give me the silver bullet. No, it is definitely not. So it took a lot of brain—

Yeah, good.

Yeah, I'll tell you, it was, uh, took a lot of brain power. And then fortunately I ran into some great tech people who could kind of help me think things through. And then once I caught the rhythm, I was okay. But no, but I was determined to streamline the systems so I could help more people. So that's what motivated me past my fear, my ignorance, my lack of natural talent in that area. And it's turned out rather well.

I commend the— I don't know, it's not so much bravery, but I suppose it can be because tech can be daunting. But also the deciding that just because you don't know how to do something doesn't mean you're not supposed to do it.

Oh, that's my life. That's absolutely right. It's absolutely right. And it's the same in the health world. You know, it's like, just because if you're not getting well, it doesn't mean there aren't solutions out there. You have to just stick with it and stay focused until you find the one that's going to work for you.

That is exactly why we're here.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

Yeah. So what is it that, you know, I'm assuming that a personal story, usually that's the way it is, the personal story of your, your health led you into be a practitioner. Let's start back there. Let's start with what happened with you where maybe a doctor said, we don't know what's wrong with you. Like, you must be crazy in the head. Tell us the story. How did this start?

Yeah, more than a few times I heard that. So it turns out that I had over 40 years with Lyme disease and didn't know it. So I started out when I was 17 is when I got bitten by that tick, apparently a tick that I never saw. And it was loaded with all sorts of pathogens that went into my bloodstream. So I spent decades with double pneumonia each winter, and I'm just— all sorts of issues, migraine headaches that have started to rain or snow, I just about pass out in pain and all sorts of things. And then I finally found a medical doctor who took me seriously and gave me— I didn't know what the phrase brain fog was. I had never heard that before. I always said, oh, I was cotton-headed and I just couldn't think, felt like my brain was stuffed full of cotton. And she said brain fog and tears just jumped out of my eyes.

Oh.

I had been to major clinics all over the country, major universities, and they all said that there was either no hope or There was nothing wrong with me. And some of those places actually were forbidden. They were not allowed to make a Lyme diagnosis. Yeah, so that's how that started.

Why weren't they allowed to make a Lyme diagnosis?

You know, I really don't know all the ins and outs of that, but it's really a rather huge issue. There's a book entitled Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory. So it might, it might have to do with some implications on a broader spectrum of possible legal liability. So that's a lot in there. But other than that, I truly don't know. I truly don't know. That's just one explanation.

You had an inkling that it could be Lyme but couldn't officially put it down as a diagnosis.

Actually, I'll back it up. I had no clue what it was until I hit a doctor who specialized in Lyme disease, and I was referred by a friend of mine, and I went and saw And she said, yep, a lot of doctors just won't diagnose it, but I'm very glad to. So she did. And that was the first time I'd ever heard about it. And then I went on a straight-up learning curve trying to figure it out.

So now, is Lyme disease fairly new in the world of, you know, disease?

No, it's been around quite a long time. Definitely in the '60s is when it started to become at least acknowledged. And I'm confident that it's existed before that. In other nations, And here Lyme technically is Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, so it's just one bacteria. And other nations call it by that formal name. We call it Lyme here, which is an umbrella name for a whole host of bacteria and viruses and fungus like mold and parasites that seem to travel in these ticks that bite us. And infect us with all this stuff. So it's not new.

But in the—

I'm— oh gosh, I hope I'm remembering the date right. But it was in the '60s. All these moms had their children on one side of the river in Connecticut, and all these kids went to the doctor and the doctors diagnosed them with juvenile arthritis.

Oh my goodness.

And the moms go, why did they get it? But the other side of the river, the kids didn't. And it took them a good 10 to 20 years before they could get anybody to identify for what it was. Which included the Lyme bacteria.

Because it physically seems to be like you have to be in certain areas geographically in order to pick up a tick that's carrying the Lyme.

Well, I think those ticks are worldwide now.

Okay.

Because I'm in Kansas City area and I was bitten. So, and I hear people all over, but also often gets misdiagnosed as other illnesses like MS or asthma or Parkinson's or Just all sorts. There's fibromyalgia. There's a whole host of other diagnoses because nobody thinks about picking up, about testing for the Borrelia, which is the official Lyme bacteria. Other combinations of pathogens will show up, but they don't think to look for that one. So no, you don't have to be in a particular geographic area. My hypothesis on that is that that one side of the river happened to have infected ticks that hadn't made it I don't think they swim, but they hadn't made it to the other side. They travel on deer, or they can kind of travel in the wind on leaves and stuff. So I think that's what happened. They probably had an infected deer population, and the ticks bit the kids on that side. So it's not geographic specific, but that would be an explanation as to why one area would have symptoms where another didn't. Wow.

I mean, it's making my head spin because I'm going back to that it could be misdiagnosed under the Wrong under all of these other things. Easily. Yeah. I want to ask the question, why is that? But that seems like the wrong question.

No, no, let me jump in.

All right.

I can help. I wrote down just a few. So here were my top 10 that I had. CMV, Epstein-Barr, HHV-6, strep, 3 different kinds of mold, Babesia, which is a parasite, Bartonella, which is a bacteria. I had the Borrelia bacteria. I had Rocky Mountain spotted fever and mycoplasma. Now that's just a few of the things that I had. So that tick that got me was loaded. And then as the immune system goes down, our bodies become a host to just about anything else that wants to come live with us or live in our bodies. And I think in this case, it's really— it's tough for doctors. And I think it's an unrealistic expectation for them to figure all that out. And fibromyalgia, for example, may be a combination of 2 or 3 of those items. And if you find that you have an answer, then why would you search further?

Right. Well, that's a good question. So, so it's like you could have anything that suppresses the immune system, any one of those one things, and then you end up with the, the famed autoimmune disorder. The thing is, at some point, with, with whatever treatment a doctor or a practitioner is giving to a patient or client, you know, whoever is treating Then it seems like you should eventually get the immune system more improved and better responsive. So then would a good sign that you should keep looking be that you're not getting better but worse?

Oh, you know, Eva, that's— it's just a tough one because sometimes people do feel worse when they're actually getting better.

Oh God.

And you'd eventually, right? You'd eventually want an end to it. So you'd hope for that. But I happen to think that there are different kinds of problem-solving models when you look at the body. And one is the belief that we need chemicals in our body to live on the planet.

Yes.

And the other is that our bodies are actually equipped and by design are self-healing. So depending on which track you go down mentally, that depends on what you decide to choose for your wellness.

I was going to say, are you suggesting that a person who chooses the, I'm going to take this prescription for, let's say, fibromyalgia, MS, and for, you know, whatever it is to get rid of this virus, whatever, whichever ones it could be, or the parasites, um, that a doctor, a prescription may be, may have the label of you have to take this now for the rest of your life. It could prop you up for a while and you could feel like you're at least being treated, but you'll never get better.

Well, that's, you know, that's really— that's plausible what you're saying. And I'm going to add to that. So I read off 10 things that I have. Well, some of those take antibiotics with that chemical plan. Some take antibiotics, some take antifungals, some need something to break through the biofilm that these things encase themselves in. I mean, there's so much medication when you Attack each one, and I'll tell you my Lyme doctor. I think she had a lot of wisdom. She also did supplementation at the time. It's a lot different than what I do now in my online health practice. But as soon as I started to take some of those supplements in addition to the pharmaceuticals, that I started to feel better. In fact, I walked into her office and she and her nurse practitioner were both astounded. And I go, "Why are you guys looking at me that way?" And they said. Because you're so much less— what'd they say? Wasn't stressed. Oh, so much less anxiety.

Oh.

So I didn't even have— Lyme messes with the brain, so we don't really have an accurate picture of ourselves or how we're behaving or who we are. And I had no idea that I was displaying signs of anxiety, but clearly on their faces that it changed. So the supplementation helped. Now, later on in my journey, with Lyme. I was almost dead in 2014 and knew I'd be gone by Christmas. I'd been in bed for 8 months straight. On a good day, I could go to the bathroom. On a really good day, I could also go to the— take a shower.

Wow.

But I knew I was on my way off planet when I believe it was really a divine appointment. I met up with a whole different doctor who was no longer practicing medicine, but doing this mineral balancing work, which I do now. And within 3 months, after 40 years of dealing with Lyme, and for my husband, after 50 years of dealing with Crohn's, he was the Energizer Bunny in 3 months. And I was turning around studying the science so that I could do this health practice that I'm doing now.

Yeah.

So the turnaround was dramatic. And when we changed models, and so when you talked about, you know, doing, let's, Medications for the rest of your life. Well, I think that also can apply to nutrient mineral supplements. You know, the body gets drained of these things and we need to fill it back up. So I do think that whatever choices for wellness people make, once you find something that works for you, I'd say I'd stick with that the rest of my life. The planet's not getting any less toxic or healthier, so we kind of have to do what we have to, to take responsibility for our own health and wellness and to follow through. That's kind of a long answer.

No, no, no. I think, I think, I think that's, that's an excellent answer. And, you know, just so everybody knows, even you and I, we are certified in the same practice, but your focus is different than mine. Mine is, yes, mine is more, more geared towards the busy professional who just does not have the time to try to figure out these things for themselves, and they're either so tired. For those who are infected with Lyme or has this It's just, it's a hot mess of all these different symptoms. Sometimes it takes more. It takes, it takes your personal education, your, your ability to walk somebody through, because it's more than just taking supplementation. It's more than just a few lifestyle changes. So, as you were becoming a practitioner, what all besides the supplements did you notice you needed to do in order to feel better?

Well, with the Lyme stuff in particular, and I, I want to echo what you're saying, it really makes a difference when you're with a practitioner who has walked through where you are and come out on the other side and can show you light at the end of the tunnel and hold out his or her hand and say, hey, I'm right here with you.

Right.

And it's really tough with Lyme because the brain's not working well. I mean, literally, the bacteria in the brain cannot stops thinking from occurring. So it's a very challenging, challenging set of pathogens to be able to fight. And the other things that happened with me, which I think was your question, I, I did that, took the supplements. I needed to rest a lot because it was as if my body was in this huge battle between good and evil. You know, something wanted to take the life right out of me and the My body wanted to live, and the nutritional supplement, the mineral supplementation, really helped my body regain function. That was powerful. But I also had a lot of pathogens come out. So these, these things, the bacteria, the virus, the parasites, fungus, all that stuff can get buried deep in the tissue. And I found as the body, as my body healed itself from Lyme and all those co-infections I mentioned, Plus more, they came out in my skin or in my stool, through my ears. I had, I want to say 80, but 80 different pathogens come out. But just to be conservative, let me say 60, because at 60 I stopped counting all the skin eruptions, different kinds of blisters, the rashes, skin color change, all that stuff. And so a lot of things came out, and when they did, it was very important to rest because my body had enough energy to push that. Stuff out, but not enough energy to do things like go to the grocery store or exercise or some days even think. It took a lot of rest. I did the near-infrared saunas. There are a lot of different things you can do to help your body detoxify, and that's one of them. Near-infrared saunas were wonderful besides helping me relax and sleep. And another detoxification process was the coffee enemas, which People kind of squirm when I first say enema. You may run into that too, but it's like, oh man, I talk about everything. I want to know what your poops look like. I want to hear it all because—

They don't know what it is, where it came from, why we do it. Why would you put coffee in the rectum?

Well, it's worth the conversation.

It sounds icky, but you know what? You have to do what works.

Oh yeah. Yeah. And it seems to open up the uh, Bile Ducts in the liver, which helps you cleanse. And now this is something because people with Lyme disease get a lot of brain fog and they might understand the phrase cytokine storm, but when all these little beasts that have taken up residence in your body start to die off, they don't go quietly. So they'll throw off a lot of different toxins.

Right.

And sometimes it gives you a stomachache or you just feel yucky like you've got the flu or your brain fog just goes nuts. And the liver can get backed up pretty quickly. It's like a big filter in your body. So the coffee enemas help open up the bile ducts and release that, help you literally get rid of it and get rid of it. And I'm going to tell one— I mean, one embarrassing— I say it's embarrassing, but then on the other hand, I say I talk about anything. About 18 months into it, I passed an 18-inch-long tapeworm.

Wow.

That I had no idea was in there. And all those things like to eat the nutrition that you eat. So it's in there robbing me of nutrition. My funny part is usually they're kind of whitish or clear, but I'd had so many coffee enemas, mine came out dark brown.

So that's like people who drink a lot of tea, you know, it stains your teeth. I suppose it can stain other things too. That makes a lot of sense.

It sure did on mine. It threw me for a loop. But you— and you were asking, I think, the other— my food choices changed because there are certain foods that will help your body heal. And of course, the testing you and I both do will bring that to light, which foods are going to help people best. And, um, the other thing I did was castor oil packs. So it was a white wool soaked castor oil. You put Saran Wrap on top and heat on top of that. And I put that over my liver and my spleen, and quite a few things came out on my belly that way because the castor oil packs seemed to open up the lymphatic system and help clear out a lot of that stuff. So it's work, but man, it's so exciting to be able to live again and to help other people. Oh my gosh.

Well, and I want to throw a word of caution in there. If you're listening to this and thinking, well, I'm going to try some of these things on my own, I'm going to say, please don't. No. And I want you to share it because I know, you know, the story and you probably tell it better or as well as I do, why a person should not just simply go out and Wild West this type of recovery. Oh yeah.

Don't do it. It's just, it's too scary. Um, yeah, one thing's going to happen and you don't know what's going on, but majorly we do a lot of, we do testing regularly, at least quarterly, to be able to see what it is exactly that your body needs. And you had your own story. Somebody didn't know how to read the results of the testing that we do and gave precisely the wrong stuff, right? Which put you down for a long period of time. And that can easily happen. And it's, it's just not worth it. In fact, I think it's really important to get concrete feedback from somebody who knows what they're doing regularly. It can inform your own decisions as you take responsibility for your health. But there is a maxim in business that says, what you measure, you can manage, and what you can manage, you can grow exponentially. And applied to the health, what you measure, which is exactly what foods and what particular nutrient mineral supplementation your body needs, you can measure that, you can manage that, you have control over what you put into your body, and then you can grow it exponentially. Your health starts to— you get vitality and health back, and it's It's as if you're living on a whole new planet. You get better energy, you get your brain back, and you can sleep at night, which are 3 major things that most people in this country are having a hard time doing right now.

They're having a hard time doing that without Lyme. So, yes, you know, just imagine. Yeah. And well, the other, the other really important thing is when a person, especially when going— when they have Lyme and they've been tested positive, or if they even just think they have it, it's a good idea to go get the test and say, yep, I definitely have it. I see it in the blood. Once you do and you decide to go through a process like this that allows the body to go through healings, you need that expertise to walk you through the different modalities that are appropriate for that time.

Yes.

Because you don't want to just plaster your body with a bunch of healing modalities and hope for the best. You know, if you do the, um, that pack you were talking about, And you don't bother to follow up 3 weeks later, well, then all of the little eggs from that first parasite are going to hatch and they'll end up wreaking worse havoc than the first one.

Exactly right. And speaking to coffee enemas, it'll take out good stuff as well as the bad. So you want to make sure that you're keeping your body maintained, you're keeping your correct levels maintained as, as the coffee enemas draw this stuff out.

Yeah.

And yeah, things to know.

Yeah.

Oh yeah, much better. And I wanted to add on that, on the Lyme testing, you know, so much of these, so many of these tests now, and the poor doctors— I say poor doctors because we have a tendency to blame them, and I'm thinking, man, kiss their feet if they're there to walk through life with you. But they do these tests, and a lot of them are false negatives, meaning you take it, you do the test, you have those pathogens, But it doesn't show up on the test.

Oh, goodness.

So in another way, I say trust your body and trust your symptoms. And the solutions that you offer and that I do too will help that. We look at symptoms as your body crying out and saying, hey, I need some help here. I'm missing the nutrient minerals and other things that I need to be able to take care of you. Instead, we go the route, oh, it's a symptom, just suppress it. And then the problem gets worse and worse. So I say pay attention to your symptoms and reach out.

Absolutely. And on that note, I want, I want everybody to know if they're listening to this and thinking, oh my God, I had no idea even to look for Lyme disease, they want to have a conversation with you. How do they get a hold of you?

You know, I'm so glad that you remembered to ask me that. And I'm so glad we had a chance to visit about that. In the beginning, I do not— I want to give your people an opportunity to get a 1-hour just appointment with a phone call with me that we'll just explore and see if this is a method for you or not. It's just a phone call, doesn't cost you anything. And this is really a gift because I'm so appreciative of the work that Eve is doing. It's because you can't even get an appointment with me now. I no longer work one-on-one. I'm doing one-to-many. So I don't take those private calls anymore, but I sure will. And if you do that, you want to take advantage of that. And I'll do that through 2021 because I don't know how, you know, who hears podcasts when, but I'll do it through the end of this year. And you would just reach me at my— I'll give you my public account, and then if we decide that we want to work together, I'll give you a private email to contact me. But the public one is Coach Leslie Brown. @gmail.com. So just like it sounds, the word coach, C-O-A-C-H, my name is L-E-S-L-I-E, and then brown like the color, @gmail.com. And most of those emails I won't look at unless they have— unless they flag me in the subject line. So you must say Eva sent me. Yeah, Eva sent me. I will open it up as soon as it dings on my phone or as soon as I see see it, and I would be honored to be able to just pour some stuff into you that was poured into me.

That's a lovely gift. So I personally, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. And we'll be repeating that in the show notes as you go on to theelevateinstitute.com and you follow the links for today's podcast. You will find Leslie's email there in the show notes and also on Anchor, iTunes, wherever you listen to this podcast. We will have that available for you. So thank you. That's an amazingly generous gift.

It's my pleasure.

Yeah. And because there are things that not every practitioner who does mineral balancing has been exposed to Lyme disease and understands the— there's a word that she put to it. It's the cascade effect, right?

Yes.

Of Lyme and how one thing that suppresses the immune system can lead to a link that's very, um, I want to say a weak link in the system, in the body system, and then creates another environment that allows for another weak link and just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. So it really makes a lot of sense to talk with a practitioner, to speak with somebody who knows the process of, uh, creating stronger links in the body. That's really what it's all about. So please reach out to Leslie. I really want to make sure you get the resources you need. And Leslie, one final question for you. I ask all my guests, what do you feel is the most important thing to remember when searching for answers?

I'll tell you the big, the big red pill moment for me when my eyes opened up to a different kind of truth. And this cost me 40 years of my life to learn. So I hope anybody who hears that values it, because the words are few. But again, it cost 40— that's 4 decades of my life— which is this: the body is designed to heal itself. And if you keep that in mind as you make your decisions about what direction you want to go, It'll— it's got the potential to change your life. It has the potential to change your life. And I am not a physician. I am not qualified to talk about medicine. So what I'm doing is sharing my own life experience with you. And this is all my opinion and my insights and what I've learned. But if you keep that one thing in mind, the body is designed for self-healing, then you can better decide. So if you get a really terrible infection, Don't go the slow route with mineral balancing. Go figure out something to take care of that infection right away so your body's not so stressed. But don't, don't disregard— actually pay attention to the nutrient mineral side as well, because that's what supports your body and self-healing long term.

I call it the 2-pronged approach. You can take care of— stop the bleeding, right?

Yes, so to speak.

Yes, whatever it is that's causing the problem. And then as At the same time, make sure that you do that whole, uh, create the stronger links for your body so that it doesn't have the same problem again in the future. You can't really stop car accidents. I'm not talking about that kind of trauma.

No.

I'm talking about, you know, it's just, it seems to me very silly that we focus so much on waiting until we're diagnosed with something like diabetes or even as bad as Lyme to finally do something about it. It's like you can create the body that's fortified that can either prevent or slow down something that is life-altering, such as these things.

It's exactly right. And may I add one more thing?

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, there's— this could not only change the listener's life, but the lives of their family, because something I've also learned along the way is that Lyme is transplacental. So a lot of these pathogens will travel through the blood to unborn children, to children in utero. They can pass, we believe, from a man to his sexual partners, the semen. You can get them, yeah, in a lot of different ways. So those are 2 ways, but a lot of times people think, oh, we've got generations of this particular illness. Let's say juvenile arthritis, for example, which is where we started out. Well, what may have been passed on was the Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme spirochete bacteria. So then the children had the same symptoms as the parents did. So these are— Yeah, that, and people think it's genetically linked when what it is, is it's really transferred in birth. So it looks genetic, but it's transferred in birth. And that's a big difference in how you think and the problem solving. So these decisions, now they don't, you know, for the people who embrace it and move forward, it changes more than their lives. It can impact their entire bloodline and people who are around them for the better. For the better. Just remember, the body is by design, will heal itself.

I believe that too. That was the one thing that drove me to find the answers. And so, yeah, yeah, I think that's a beautiful place to leave the show. Leslie, I want to say thank you so much for being on with us today as a guest.

Thank you again. I'm so thrilled to be here.

Absolutely. And thank you out there for listening in on this episode of When Doctors Say We Don't This has been yet another engaging conversation. And my goal for those of you listening is to hear that message of hope so you too can turn your experience of pain into triumph. And if you're driving or simply can't click on the links to the show notes, remember you can always hop onto theelevateinstitute.com and follow the podcast links at the top menu. And for today's show— and there's so much more to talk about— tune in next week for a new episode of When Doctors Say We Don't Know. This is Eva Vennari reminding you to question everything.