Stories of Hope Stories of Healing: Dr. Elena Shockman

Welcome to Integrative Medicine with Dr. Leland Stillman, the podcast where we explore the best of East and West, old and new, conventional and unconventional, in search of answers to medicine's toughest cases and most difficult problems. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Diagnostics and therapeutics discussed on this podcast may or may not be right for you, so talk to a qualified practitioner before taking action based on what you learn here. If you'd like to become a patient at at my practice, go to StillmanMD.com to schedule a complimentary discovery call. Thank you for listening and welcome to today's episode. Hello everyone. Dr. Stillman here. Today, I'm delighted to be joined by Dr. Elena Shockman, a veterinarian, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, is the technical DVM, right?

Well, I'm a VMD because Penn grads are, it's Latin. So we get a lot of flack for that. Gotta be careful.

So I like to start by asking everybody who they are and where they're from.

Yeah. So thanks for having me, Dr. Stillman. I'm Alaina Shockman. I'm a veterinarian. I've been practicing for, wow, 16 years now. The last 9, first several years were in general practice, last 9 were in emergency medicine. Living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with my husband who's a chiropractor and does active release therapies and, um, my 3 little kids. And my little miniature poodle, Rocco, and also now, believe it or not, sounds weird to say, but I'm the founder of a veterinary health platform.

Wow. So how did you get into integrative and natural medicine?

Well, it was a, a little bit of a journey. I definitely started and am trained in Western medicine. I graduated actually 2010, uh, from University of Pennsylvania. I really, really wanted to be an equine surgeon. And, um, 2010 was after the recession, so there was no jobs for surgeons. There was minus 2 positions for 32 graduating residents. Didn't seem like a great idea with all the student loans I had. So I ended up doing an internship in sports medicine, equine sports medicine, California. Loved it. Super fun. Anesthesia. Worked on these million-dollar Grand Prix horses. I felt like we were selling the medicine a little bit short, but the cool part about equine medicine is that horse people are very forward-thinking and use a lot of integrative therapies. So I ended up using that in my small animal and emergency experience. So I was able to pull on that, but I ended up pivoting to small animal medicine. We moved back from California to Pennsylvania and couldn't get an equine job to save my life. Got a great offer, um, to be a relief vet for a small animal vet that was a friend of ours. He needed surgery. He said, come work for me. If you don't like it, I'll write you a letter of recommendation. If you like it, you could stay. So I ended up staying and started my GP years, which were great at first. And then I found that I sort of outgrew it.

Hmm.

And kind of became bored and underwhelmed and I would say depressed. So then I found emergency medicine and we had this unique hospital here in Lancaster. It's kind of a unique scenario. So 27 of the general practitioners pool pooled their resources together so that to have this ER clinic so they didn't have to be on call 24/7 and go in for the C-sections in the middle of the night. And so they were doing nights, weekends, holidays, so they needed somebody to work that. I had just had my daughter and I was like, oh, this is perfect for my schedule. So I started relief and yeah, I, I just loved it so much. I had my first bloat surgery, you know, I don't know if humans get that gastric dilatation of ovulus.

Sure. Yeah, we do. Yes. Some people do, unfortunately.

Thanksgiving. Um, so, and they're like, don't worry, you're not alone. We have surgeons on call. So it's like 1 in the morning, this bloke comes in, I stabilize it, I get the owner's permission for surgery. I call the vet and he's like, I can't do that surgery. You're on your own. Good luck, kid. And then hangs up the phone. So I'm there doing the surgery, textbook on the Mayo stand. Yeah. Dog's in V-Tac. My nurse anesthetist is freaking out. So I'm running anesthesia, doing the surgery, and I was like, wow, I really love this. Right. So, um, that sort of lit a fire in me and I sort of became obsessed because I wanted, I wanted to be that person that could answer the phone at 1:00 AM and be like, yeah, I can do this. Right. Because they can't travel an hour and a half to Philly to go to a full referral clinic. And frankly, most people around here don't want to travel. Um, we sort of built up this critical care emergency care specialty center right in Lancaster. I had some really dedicated nurses and other doctors, and I was really proud of what we built.

How did you get into integrative medicine?

Well, I was, I really ran myself down, so I was really exhausted, but yet never felt more alive at the same time. And then sort of the cracks started to show. And so after I had my daughter, I started getting really bad joint pain, started the horrible Total brain fog, irritability, brain fog, fatigue, like just absolutely debilitating. I was calling it a work hangover, but it would last for days. And I was that, as you say, wired but tired. Like I would come home and just be like exhausted, but couldn't sleep. And when I looked back, I didn't mention this, but when I was in vet school, I actually, did I tell you about the facial neuralgia that I had ever?

So, oh, no, you did not.

Oh, so I got mono and then I got this terrible vertigo and then I had atypical um, facial neuralgia, debilitating pain, bedridden for 5 months, and nobody— I went to doctor after doctor after doctor and nobody could tell me what was wrong. There was no answers. There was no nothing. Um, so finally our family friend that was a physiatrist, he helped get me on a supportive care regimen and I just slowly rehabilitated. Then again, in my third year of veterinary, uh, I was in clinics and I herniated 3 discs in my back. 2 resolved medically, 1 didn't. I needed back surgery. So took 2 weeks off clinics, back surgery, and rehab that. Not a great idea. 0 outta 10. Don't recommend. But, um, I did it and I just, it all came to a head after I had my daughter and I was like, why do I keep white knuckling it? Why do I keep doing this? There has to be a better way. A little bit after that, I got remarried to my now husband who's a chiropractor and he sort of reawakened this whole alternative therapy, um, functional medicine journey, which then led me to you. You popped up in my Instagram feed and I really identified with you and really trusted you because of your Western medical training, your expertise, your knowledge, but also your ability to kind of take a broader approach. And like you say, like integrate East and West, new and old. That I feel like is the art of medicine. That's where it's at. Right. So then I was hooked. Then I took your mineral balancing class. And I realized there's nothing wrong with me. I'm not defective, not broken. I was just depleted. So, and you helped me realize that. Started on the middle of bouncing and then I hit a little bit of a wall. I would say at this point now I have 3 little kids. So I was like, when am I gonna fit in, you know, red light sauna, the supplements, eating 8 cups of vegetables a day, which spoiler alert, I still don't do that. But you were like, I get it. Seen these great results with the light therapy patch, right?

That's right.

So I was like, really?

But then I was like, I want to slow down though. Tell me what, what did you see in terms of benefit from the mineral balancing that you did even without the perfect diet?

Yeah, this is my cheat. Like, did you—

well, I'll be honest with you. I'm amazed by the fact that some patients do 10% of what we recommend and some do 90 and very few do 100. And almost no one does less than 10, but some people will do 10% and get 90% of the results they want. Some people will do 90% and get 0% of the results that they want. So I'm always curious what people see exactly with particularly the mineral balancing, which is really the core, the foundation of what we do, because, and for people who want to understand sort of the science here, the base foundational level of all life is the periodic table of elements on the material side of things. There's also light and energy and sound. And so you have to fix the minerals first, and then above the minerals are the vitamins, which also incorporate minerals. So it's sort of the approach moves through different layers of energy and matter in a sequence for optimal results. So what did you see with the mineral balancing?

Well, I saw a lot of benefits. Definitely the brain fog resolved. The crushing—

completely, like 100% of your brain fog went away just with the right minerals.

I'd say, I'd say, you know, I still have kids, so it's still like—

no, I know, but there's a difference between mom brain and I can't remember where my keys are.

Oh, good point. Then I would say 90% resolution. Amazing. Yeah.

Great. What else?

Because at one point I had a vomiting dog come in, which is like the easiest case we get. Right. And I remember being like, it took me way longer than it should to figure out what to do. Yeah. And then I was like, this is a problem. And I need my brain not just for my work, but for my kids and my newborn. Of course. So that improved. The other thing that was really terrifying me, and I had like, I think peripheral neuropathy, I couldn't feel. Like if you handed me something, I kept dropping things if I wasn't directly looking at it. And it was fine for surgery cuz I, you know, very intentionally holding my instruments. But if you were just to hand me something, I couldn't feel the end of my fingers and know that I had it and I would drop things all the time.

Yeah.

To the point where it became a joke. My husband's like, are you really a surgeon? I was like, fine motor. Okay. It's fine motor, Paul. It's not gross motor.

So that went away?

Yeah. 100% resolved. Minimal joint pain.

Tell me about what does that mean? And where did it go from to, like, how often were you having joint pain? How many joints? How severe?

And then very much my hands, right?

Like my knuckles, small joints of the hands.

Yes.

Very common. Every day.

Oh yeah. Every day.

If 10 is being stabbed with an ice pick and 0 is no pain, where were you?

Oh, I was probably a 5, 6.

Okay.

But. You know, it really matters if you're trying to do an RNA.

Oh my gosh. Yes. Yes.

Not ideal.

I mean, half an ice pick is not pleasant.

Good point.

Right. Okay. So, and that completely went away or how much better is that?

That is much better, but a little curveball was I was diagnosed with Lyme this past summer. Both my knees blew up. I had terrible effusion in both my knees and I was like, This is strange. I have no injuries. Mm-hmm. Well, I have lots of injuries, not my knees. And bilateral was concerning.

Yes.

So I did a Vibrant panel and had IgG antibodies for Lyme. And I can't remember which ones. One is the European one, Axon.

So did you take antibiotics for it?

I did. I did 3 months of doxy and rifampin.

And what happened to your wrists?

My wrists?

Or your small joints of your hands where you had pain. So I guess what I'm, what I'm getting at is I'm curious if you saw the antibiotics have an impact on the small joint pain, cuz I've seen that happen?

I would say I had pain in my one toe and that improved.

Okay.

Not my joints in my hand, knee, a fusion went away, but I also could still work out because I believe because of the light therapy patches. Yeah.

Tell us about when did you find out about light therapy patches?

So that would be when I was doing your mineral balancing class. That would be last fall, I want to say.

Something like that.

Yeah. Yeah. And when I first tried them, you know that feeling like after you've gone through exams and you go home on break and you go to your parents' house and you just suddenly like let down and relax and sleep for 2 days. Mm-hmm. That's what it felt like.

Amazing. That with your first patch?

Yep. Day 1 and 2. Okay. And my husband's like, well, aren't you supposed to have more energy? I was like, this is different. This is like, I am repairing. I know it, I feel it. And I just, it was almost like my nervous system could just like let down. I have not been able to relax or sleep like that, or I had not been prior to that.

So we often, patients will sometimes say, you know, I just started the protocol. It could be any, almost any protocol we recommend, and I feel really tired. And we'll ask them, do you feel tired or do you feel relaxed? And they'll sometimes pause and they'll say, uh, I don't know. And we're like, you know, maybe you're supposed to be tired right now. And they're like, oh really?

Yes.

I'm supposed to be tired.

Yes.

And it's, it's this interesting, the body hasn't had what it needs in order to rest and rejuvenate. And that's why so many people who come to see us at the practice will say I'm wired, but I'm tired.

100%.

I can't stop going, but I wish I could. I feel like I'm stuck at 6,000 RPMs on my engine, but all I want to do is hit the brake and I don't know how. And it's about putting the right minerals back into the system because the minerals are the spark plugs of life. But that also means that they're the critical junction points, the critical transition points for your nervous system, your metabolism, everything. So if you can't relax, a lot of the time what we'll see is a mineral balancing problem where there's a lot of toxic metals that are turning on the sympathetic nervous system because that's how they work, because they're dysregulating the brain. There's a lack of healthy, nutritive minerals that help the body run its necessary processes. And also that help turn on that parasympathetic nervous system. So I'm not surprised by that. We hear it all the time.

Well, it was amazing. And I'm so grateful because I could finally let down and truly rest. And what I realized is you have to rest to repair.

You do.

You can't be on all the time. You can't be all gas, no brake.

Apparently you cannot. Nope.

So I tried, didn't work. I just ran into a ditch, as you and Clark say, the wheel's still spinning.

So what else happened with the light therapy, the patches?

Well, I noticed that I can also, I mean, this is a side, but I mean, everyone's like, oh, your skin is glowing. You look so great. I look younger than I did in my twenties.

Has anyone asked you if you started Botox?

Not yet. Well, they do, you know, they don't ask me that, but they ask me who they should go to for Botox. You know what I mean?

Be like, I love that. It's sort of a, sort of getting at the same statement a different way. That's really funny. Cuz Meredith Oak, people started asking her, did you start Botox? I know you would I would never do that, Meredith, but did you start Botox?

Yeah. So that was a nice side benefit, but I can also work out. I'm never sore anymore after I work out. Mm-hmm. You know, I used to be so sore and my legs would be sore and you're trying to go down the stairs and chase after the kids. And I was like, and I really pushed myself at each workout. So that's a nice benefit. And just to be getting stronger, healthier, more vibrant. I just have more vital energy.

Did it improve your sleep?

Yeah. Yes, very much so. I have the Oura Ring to prove it. Also recommended by you.

Yeah. Sorry. What, what did you see the improvement in your sleep?

I don't have the 3:00 AM wakeups, which is probably related to being more parasympathetic. I would believe. I used to always wake up at 3:00 AM, which I think is a cortisol, right?

Yeah. It has to do with cortisol and progesterone, particularly as women get older, they tend to have 3 o'clock, 2 to 3 o'clock awakening. Yes.

Yeah. Sorry, that's my guard dog.

No worries. Yeah, he's very fierce. So the 2 to 3 AM awakening is gone.

Yes.

If you had to say— what was that?

My sleep latency is like 2 minutes, which is great.

What was it before?

Oh, probably 45 minutes an hour.

Oh my gosh, it took you 45 minutes to an hour to go to sleep, and now you go to sleep in 2 minutes? Yeah, that's a big deal.

Right?

Yeah, I know, I know, I know. That's great. But I will tell you, it's funny you say that the sleep latency of 2 minutes is good, because technically you want it to be a little bit longer than that, because if 2 minutes, it means you're actually under— you're under-rested. It's not the end of the world. It's way better to be 2 minutes than 45 or an hour.

True.

That's a big step in the right direction. So if you had to rate your sleep, 0 is where you were before mineral balancing and light therapy. Where did you move with mineral balancing and light therapy?

Uh, I would say I'm a good 9 out of 10.

Amazing. What gets the credit? If you had to divvy the credit up between the two things, what gets what as a percentage? And you can bring other things in because we didn't talk about sauna or diet changes or exercise or anything else you may have done in that period because it's been about probably 7 or 8 months or a year at least that you've been on this journey now, right?

Yes. Yes. And I would say that's really hard.

Everyone tells me it's hard because they're— but I like asking the question that way because I want people listening to understand that it's never one thing. Right. And at the end of the day, you have to be more concerned with did we get the job done than how exactly did the puzzle pieces fit together and who gets the credit. It's like, it would be like trying to say like, who gets the credit for the win of this championship team? It's a team. It doesn't work that way.

Precisely.

Still, it's useful feedback for me when people say 50% of it was the supplements or 20% of it was the light therapy. And it's so different for so many people. So, but, but if you had to say, what would it be for you?

If I had to say, I would say 60% mineral balancing for sure. Cause I had already been eating well. I've exercised. And been, I've been doing all the things then, so I would say maybe 30, 35% light therapy and then the rest 5 to 10% would be all the other things. Cause I don't really sauna that often. Basically substitute out sauna, red light therapy for the, the patch.

The patches. Yeah. And, and it's funny you bring that up because it's just moms, dads, business owners, even our retirees do not have some surfeit of time. To go out and sauna. I will tell people that if they want best results, I care that they take the time to sauna, but you're really, you're a 9 out of 10. You're not trying to recover your health. You have, and you did it with light therapy patches, supplements. It's such a great story.

Thank you. I'm so thankful that I found you because yeah, like I said, I was turned over in a ditch. Great. You really did. You really gave me my life back. You gave me a better life. You gave me an upgrade.

Thank you.

I really appreciate that.

I'm glad we've been able to help you.

Thank you very Thank you very much. Well, it's funny cuz I actually, another thing you said really resonated with me, which was the, um, you know, you can't, you have to live it, right? You can't keep doing the stressful lifestyle. And I really loved emergency medicine, but I could hear your voice in my head. And then between that and the results that I experienced, I was like, I think I'm gonna pivot. And so that's why I decided to develop this, um, veterinary platform and kind of pay it forward to pet parents. And, you know, all my patients so that they can experience the same degree of integrative medicine and the benefits that I did.

So tell us about the platform. What is this project?

So this project is a software platform that allows veterinarians to recommend bundled supplements and prescriptions all in one place.

Okay.

Kind of similar to Fullscript in human medicine, but different, and also has a central communication platform. So because vets typically only see patients once or maybe twice a year, and in that time it's like a wild west. Pet parents are going online, you know, these big box retailers and whatever comes up. Okay.

It's really funny that you say that because I'm sure you realize human medicine's the same thing.

Yes.

And so it's, it's really funny cuz I work very hard to try and create a cadence in our practice where we check in with patients. I like quarterly if we're trying to make significant progress. I like annually if we're at goal. So, you know, they're, they're feeling good, they're looking good, they're doing good, they're not trying to overcome a major illness or control a major symptom that's out of control. It's very funny though, because I, I do find, and part of why we make content is we want to have these touchpoints that aren't necessarily one-to-one or even one-to-many in a group coaching program, but it's, I see the need for what you're doing.

Yeah, because vets really lose that oversight. As you know, human patients, veterinary patients, they're looking for that, right?

Mm-hmm.

So, um, we're going to be the platform and we're gonna have, um, client education library. So basically short videos that vets can lean on us to help explain the benefits of omega-3s and minerals. And eventually I really want to incorporate mineral balancing for pets because we have so many animals with chronic illness, IBD, all these, and they're just so depleted. And I'm like, yes, I know. And the light therapy is phenomenal because I don't know if you notice, but every cat, every dog is always laying in the light. Right.

Uh-huh.

They know, they know.

We have tons of animal testimonials about light therapy.

It's phenomenal. And they do so well with so little. Yeah. And the big hurdle that I came across in emergency medicine was the financial, right? So a lot of times it's cash, there's no insurance. So yeah, really people have to make heartbreaking decisions.

Mm-hmm.

And sometimes it's that continued care, right? It's the fracture that needs sedated bandage changes every week. Well, ah, if we can supplement that. With a light therapy patch for less than a latte a day, I don't know many pet owners that wouldn't do that.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I think one of the keys there is that it, I mean, I've just seen it shorten the recovery time.

Yes.

Which if you're dealing with sedated, we don't have to deal with this in medicine as far as I know, sedated bandage changes or whatever you said, cast changes, I don't remember.

Yeah.

Wow. Any closing thoughts for people out there?

Yeah. I, I think what I wanna tell people is that if you're exhausted or, uh, you feel like you tried everything. If you feel like you've forgotten what healthy feels like, just give it a try. Just try it. You know, the other thing I want to say is just don't lose hope. Healing is possible.

Absolutely. That's why I have a Stories of Hope, Stories of Healing podcast series. People who are curious about supplements I recommend, there is a link below. We have a product called Dr. Stillman's Vitality Plus, which is what I use when we don't have labs to personalize mineral balancing supplements. It's got the key minerals and vitamins I use and rely on in my practice to get our patients well. Elena, in the mineral balancing protocol you would have been on basically all of these ingredients and usually in the ratios we use in this product. I've also got other supplements that I use in my practice, like Dr. Stillman's Omega Plus, digestive enzymes, things like that, all in the online store. So where can people find out more about you?

Yes. So we have Instagram. Of course you can find me on Instagram, which I believe our link will be Is that the best place for people to follow you? It is right now.

We have, um, how can they find you on Instagram?

So it's paw_and_pestle is our handle.

Paw_pestle.

Paw_and_pestle.

Oh, okay. Got it.

So to separate the paw and pestle.

I'm glad I got that. I'm glad I got that detail. Include a link below for ease.

Yep. And pawandpestle.com is coming soon, but we are still in the development phases, so we haven't fully deployed the website, but pet parents will be able to go on and all of the Supplements are pre-approved by me, so they're all veterinary curated, pre-approved. I create an algorithm to ensure safety and efficacy.

I love it. That's the way it should be. Dr. Shockman, thank you for joining me.

Oh, Dr. Stillman, thank you so much. Thank you for having me and thank you for helping me heal, honestly.

You're welcome.