Dr. Dylan Petkus reviews Joe’s journey – from napping to basketball again in just 6 weeks after specialists told him he “looked healthy,” but Joe knew something wasn’t right.
00:00
Dylan Petkus, MD
Awesome. And everyone, I want to really share with you today, Joe’s journey. He was a lot like many of you out there. 18 months of just seeing this functional medicine person and that functional medicine person, all these different people, looking up all these things online, and then really getting to a point of where Joe will talk about this more. But just being someone who, when he got to work, he had, you know, kind of hideaway somewhere to take a nap and is now out on the basketball court almost as much as his teenager and all of his friends, just being able to, I would assume you’re schooling them. You can say yes. Yeah, okay.
00:49
Joe
Absolutely.
00:50
Dylan Petkus, MD
You’re dunking on them all that mean, this is really for Joe, just for someone who has put so many of the things that we teach into action, and really this is all about and how he did such an amazing job. I’m not a magician. It’s really the people who show up do the work, like Joe. And he has such a similar story to many of you guys out there that I really wanted to share it with. You know, we’ve all been there where you feel like your health is just like nothing can be done about it. You try all these different things, and that goes on for a while unless you find something that really works. So that’s what really Joe’s journey is all about.
01:35
Dylan Petkus, MD
So, Joe, where would you say you were, like, some of your biggest problems that you had when we first connected? Or I guess you can just tell us how it all started in sort of a short, brief synopsis.
01:48
Joe
So it was almost, I turned 41 and somebody who led a very active lifestyle, constantly finding stuff to do, stay active, try to avoid a sedentary lifestyle. And I started to notice that I was getting more tired than norm, especially after workouts. And it consistently persisted to where I started to have some gut issues, nausea. And initially, I kind of chalked it up to just getting older. And that was kind of the protocol when you get older, and you start exercising and realized that something was a bit off. So I had gone to my primary care physician. They ran blood work, which came back normal; the gut issues persisted, went to a GI doctor, had the endoscopy done, and nothing other than some gastritis. So, of course, it was medication, a proton pump inhibitor for the next six months.
02:54
Joe
And see, in a year, when I started to kind of do my own research, I noticed that proton pump inhibitors for over a long period of time were not something that I was willing to do. So kind of went cold turkey with that, against the advice of the GI doctor. And just, again, the fatigue wasn’t getting any better. And then it started to affect my sleep to where was suffering from insomnia and was waking up in the middle of the night, not being able to go back to bed. So it kind of snowballed into a bunch of symptoms that I was not used to, not accustomed to. And when I really started to reach out to specialists, it was kind of the same routine where it was, do blood work.
03:42
Joe
Your blood work comes back, everything appears to be normal, you look healthy, and I don’t know what else to tell you. So you start to hear or start to believe that maybe it’s in your head, and maybe none of this is actually happening. But you know your body, you know when something’s not right and you know when something’s off.
04:02
Joe
So fast forward after months and months and blood work, I had actually reached out to a company and did a stool test, and I had also done a sensitivity as far as maybe, you know, had Celiac’s disease or something that was just not allowing me to heal, to which I was on Facebook one day and I saw one of your videos, and next thing I know, I was kind of at that point where, well, I’ve tried all these different protocols, and I’ve tried this diet, and I’ve been eating clean. And I’m the type of person that if you tell me to do something and it’ll cure you or fix it, fix the problem, I’m pretty good about it. So I was, at the time, fairly living a healthy lifestyle, which I was still exercising, probably more than would have been recommended.
04:55
Joe
I had cleaned up my diet, I had eliminated alcohol, and there was a lot of things that I was doing right. I just wasn’t seeing the results.
05:04
Dylan Petkus, MD
Let me pull out a few things from there. And so does this journey sound familiar to anyone out there right now? You saw this person on a white coat, that person on a white coat, and they all walk into their room, or maybe they give you a call. I’m not sure what was the protocol back then, but they’re just like, you know what? This all looks normal. I don’t think there’s anything really going on here. And that’s pretty much it, right?
05:28
Joe
Oh, absolutely. I had one physician come in, and I quote verbatim: he’s like, “You’re one healthy dude.” And that was it. And I walked out of there thinking, well, he must be right. He knows what he’s talking about. But why do I feel this way?
05:45
Dylan Petkus, MD
But when you go to medical school for four years and do residency, you actually completely know someone’s body better than, no, you don’t, because that’s one of the big issues, is that the things you’re feeling, they’re real. And just because you didn’t see some H’s or some L’s indicating high or low on some lab work doesn’t mean there’s not an issue there. And not only is it the lab work there, it’s because are they even looking for the right things? Like if you had the flu and they do a test for, like, rubella, it’s not going to show up, obviously. So these are a lot of the things that people go through and experience. When you explained your journey to me, it sounds like you have everyone’s like ten ten-year journey, but you crammed it into a year and a half, which has been impressive.
06:34
Dylan Petkus, MD
I’ve been to seven doctors, like what.
06:37
Joe
I can’t even name. When people ask me, I think I have to write it down because it’s more than probably ten or twelve specialists. Whether it was an infectious disease, endocrinologist, functional medicine, you name it, been there, done that. And I’m not saying everything that they said was not helpful, but I think the game changer is when I contacted you for a phone call, and I believe it was a Sunday afternoon that we had talked. And I can understand how when you, and it’s out of state, or it’s somebody that you can’t physically go to see, you’re skeptical because you’re going, okay, is this just another program to which they’re going to tell me in 14 days they’re going to be cured with this supplement and everything is going to be back to normal.
07:31
Joe
And, of course, being let down so many times, extremely skeptical until I talked to you and you had asked me questions that nobody had ever asked me before, which was, where do you see yourself in eight weeks? Do you see yourself? If I were to tell you that you were to have energy and your sleep would improve, and some of your symptoms would improve in eight weeks, what do you plan to do with that? Because there were doctors that said, hey, this might be lifelong, meaning if you have an autoimmune disease, there’s no way of curing it, and this is something that you’re going to have to deal with the rest of your life.
08:08
Joe
Walking out just feeling defeated and discouraged, saying, well, that wasn’t the news that I was hoping for, whereas you had already had given me hope in saying, hey, listen, if you do this and you do this right, and it’s not going to be perfect. But in eight weeks, if you have an abundance of energy and some of the things that you have neglected, or maybe like playing basketball, that was not something that I was doing eight weeks ago.
08:36
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah, let’s expand on that because Joe is someone here. He has a Spartan race t-shirt on. I guess this episode is sponsored by, you know when he talks about how he was sleeping, how you’re showing up at work and just being almost like dysfunctional after work. Can you tell us about that and just kind of like where you were?
09:02
Joe
Yeah. It was to the point where I felt like a good night’s rest for me would maybe be three to four hours just because I would be up, I would get up, I would walk around, and then I would let that control my entire day because I would wake up or finally the alarm clock would go off, and my mindset was, well, I only slept 3 hours. It was choppy sleep. So now the rest of it. So let’s just chalk up today to a bad day. I have to go to work. I’m going to be tired. Let’s just get to the end of the day, get home, and then that way I can lay down and rest. And unfortunately, that meant putting off some of the responsibilities, not only as a dad but as a husband.
09:46
Joe
Meaning, I don’t want to go to the movies. I don’t want to go play basketball. I don’t want to do anything but come home and put my head on a pillow and catch up on sleep or just be left alone. I had a miserable day, and I just wanted to be left alone. So that went on for weeks, if not months, to where I was finding every excuse in the book not to do something or get out of doing something that required any physical activity, whether it was a hike, whether it was a run, whether it was playing basketball. And if I did go, I just showed up because I had to, not because I wanted to. And there was no enjoyment in that.
10:28
Joe
And I felt like that was going to be something that was going to be my future, that was something that was permanent, and this was my new life and new lifestyle, and learned to deal with it, and it was unacceptable. And when I talked to you and you started to mention, what are you going to do with that energy when you get it back? I had never even fathomed that it was taken off guard because I can’t tell you what I could do with it because I don’t know. I never thought about that. I’m just waiting for the day where I wake up and I’m 100% healthy or cured. And until that day comes, this is going to be the rest of my life or my journey in a depression.
11:16
Dylan Petkus, MD
This is such a huge point here in that you pretty much just feel like life is just, not to sound facetious about it, but life is just like literally passing you by. Like, you come home, and your son’s going to go out there, play basketball, your wife’s going to do this thing over there, and you’re just kind of over here on the couch, not really being able to get up and enjoy things. But the thing that was really why we’re here speaking about how successful you are, is because you found it unacceptable. You start to like this is happening, but I’m going to do something about it.
11:52
Dylan Petkus, MD
And that is sort of the spark that people always need to be maintaining as they go through their journey, which as people I’ve spoken to, once you get, I feel, past two, three, five years, people start to really adjust things. And rightfully so. We’re humans. Like, you have to be able to cope with it in some way. But when you still have that just degree of, like, this is just unacceptable. That’s critically important to being where Joe is today. And then also kind of what we’ve been talking about in terms of just being able to, when we’re like, all right, Joe when you wake up and you’ve had 7 hours of sleep and you feel like, what are you going to do on the basketball court?
12:32
Dylan Petkus, MD
And he’s like, oh yeah, I can go back to doing that, and just being able to entertain that thought and have that there to really sort of pull you forward is just as critical in anything that you do. And the other big thing I don’t want to pass up here is you’re using sort of the big three in terms of getting your health back on track without much avail. You had a quote-unquote good diet, you were exercising, so obviously, you’re healthy. And then, third thing, you tried all the supplements, functional medicine stuff, da da. And so, in terms of where you were eight weeks ago and where you are right now when I say that diet and exercise are not that important, what do you say now as opposed to eight weeks ago?
13:21
Joe
I agree with that. And that was hard to agree with that simply because every advertisement that you see on Facebook or social media or just talk to somebody in general and they, you know, I’m having gut issues. The first thing is you need to go paleo, you need to go gluten-free. You need to go on the carnivore diet. You need to do this, and this. You need to change your that. To me, for somebody who was pretty on point when it came to diet and wasn’t seeing the results, that, to me made me realize that diet was not the only thing. And I think when I started this program and realized that, yes, it helps to eat clean, it helps to eat healthy, but that’s just one component. There are a number of other key components.
14:17
Joe
I can’t tell you how much that changed things. When I started to really follow the program and start looking at the modules, and it was almost like a thought would come up. And then, the next day, I would watch one of the modules, and it would answer my question from the day before. One of the major contributing factors to anybody’s journey to get better because if you have that victim mentality, like, it’s never going to happen. And even if you have a setback, my setbacks would be last weeks. If I had a bad day, that could change the dynamic of that entire week to where it’s like, okay, here it is again. It’s Monday, so try again next week.
14:58
Dylan Petkus, MD
Let’s try it in 2021.
15:00
Joe
Exactly.
15:01
Dylan Petkus, MD
Are you saying that mindset is important? Is this what I’m hearing correctly here in that it’s not just the physical component, it’s not just the environmental component, but also sort of the mind component? Would you say the things you were doing were workable in your life or just absolutely crazy, insane work?
15:23
Joe
100% workable.
15:25
Dylan Petkus, MD
Workable.
15:25
Joe
And now you’re going to get to work. And there were little, small victories like, hey, I’m not tired for the first 2 hours. That’s different than it was two, three months ago to where now I have energy, to where now I’m being able to exercise a little bit more. And then when I really started to notice a difference, is coming home and not feeling like I had to crash on the couch. And it was almost surreal in the fact that within only a couple of weeks, I started to notice that change in terms of energy and spending time with family and activities again; that was kind of a game changer at that point.
16:11
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah, hats off to you, because when we first spoke, it was funny because Joe’s an Ohio State fan. I’m a Penn State grad. And it was funny. I was like, oh, man, here’s a 40-year-old tough guy. He’s going to really love when I tell him to do certain things, when I have him eat certain ways, have him change up his daily routine, and have him do certain things to his environment. And there is no way in hell this guy is going to do any of the mindset work. And lo and behold, this is the one person, because there’s a lot to the program in terms of we adjust supplements, some people, not in Joe’s case, but we’ll talk about how you should be working with your doctor on medications.
16:57
Dylan Petkus, MD
We talk about how you need to tailor your diet even further, and how we need to mitigate certain risk factors in your environment. And Joe, I think you sent me an email like three days into this, and you were like, yeah, so I’ve been doing the mindset work, and my gut pain just like gone. And I was like, well, there you go. Mindset master has emerged.
17:24
Joe
And I think when you bring up the fact that I emailed you, there was, on my part, skepticism. And I think when the program first started, the fact that I would send you emails or have questions, I remember, I think I was like a Friday. And I was like, okay, hopefully he gets back to me by Monday. And then, looking at my email and on Friday night, you had responded to me and sent me a voicemail. I was like, okay, this is a guy that clearly is in it and completely, 100% committed to helping me with this. That’s another thing that if I were to call my primary care physician and leave a message with them, they might get back to me in a week or two, if I’m lucky, where you were responding.
18:13
Joe
And that was where I really started to buy in and say, okay, if he’s committed to this program and he’s going to answer these questions, then the least I can do is be committed and do what he asks me to do, and take this seriously and not blow this off. Like, okay, well, it’s been two days. Why am I not healed? Which is something that, again, I would have more good days. And when I started to see more good days and bad days, then I was starting to realize that this was something that I needed. I think this was something that I almost like I said, a game changer in the fact that this was different than some of the other protocols and things that I had really thought were going to work that didn’t.
18:58
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah. And I think one of the biggest things there is that, like you said, I’m like, right there in your inbox, that thing is barely leaving your computer, and I’m already sending the response back. Because a lot of the issues in overcoming fatigue, issues like this, is this sort of like information lag, you kind of ask someone something, and then they’re like, okay, well, if they ever reply, that’s cool. But when you’re really there to just, like, you see what you’re missing and then just get that missing piece like that helps you move forward so much more quickly. And this was such a thing with Joe because he would, like, send me. We had our initial session, and went over some labs. He’s like, oh, yeah, I found these labs. And then, like, two days later, oh, yeah, I found these labs. Oh, yeah.
19:46
Dylan Petkus, MD
And all the way in between my couch cushions, I found these labs. And we just kept going back and forth like that. And it really helps get a bigger picture of what was going on with the gut issues, how it’s coming together with the fatigue, and how that all sort of plays together to really give Joe really the best sort of plan for him. Because that’s what varies a lot here, is that actually, I would say that fatigue and gut issues, they’re kind of like, they go together like this. But then there are other issues. On top of, you know, you had some gut pains, other people have histamine intolerance, other people have mood disturbances really badly. But no matter how it kind of comes out, we’re able to really figure, like, what do you need to be focusing in on?
20:32
Dylan Petkus, MD
And that’s what were able to really do for Joe, and that’s why he was able to get the results that he was doing, because he was doing the work. This isn’t like a do-nothing get-better. I wish it was. That’d be awesome. But it’s really Joe showing up, waking up, doing the things, living differently throughout the day, living differently in the evenings, and just really making smarter decisions based on real principles that, and I think this is one of the best things, is that I don’t like to think of it as like, we do protocols and we do IV therapy and all that stuff. It’s kind of like we get on your boat, and we adjust your sails, and we’re like, okay, you need to go this way using these tools because it allows.
21:21
Dylan Petkus, MD
I’m assuming you’re not just going to completely drop off all the things we’re doing after these eight weeks and just go back to having pizza and beer, right?
21:28
Joe
No, negative. Not at all.
21:33
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah, that’s going to be one of the things that, because you’ve already gone from someone who was having to take a nap when you got to work to now you’re able to go a full workday, don’t have to crash and hide anywhere. And then when you come home, you have that life after work, and then where it goes from, there is just a testimony of you sticking to this 100%.
21:56
Joe
Again, there’s a sense of accountability where you can tell me things that will help, and it’s up to me whether or not I choose to do it. And this is not something where, after eight weeks, like you said, going back to eating and doing whatever you please, it’s something that I plan on. It’s a lifestyle. That’s not something where I get off the phone with you, and now it’s like, okay, let’s order Domino’s pizza. This is, hey, I’m going to continue to eat things that are helpful, things that would help my body rather than put me back in that situation where you have gut issues. And going back to a lot of times, I would get test results or stool results and think, oh, my gosh, there was two red markers on there, and this is horrible.
22:52
Joe
And then send it to you, and you’d be like, okay, calm down. Relax. It’s not the end of the world. There are actually things you can do to fix that and treat that. So stop. My mind tends to go to the worst possible scenario. And getting that kind of sense of calmness from you. Where it was, hey, relax. There are things we can do to alter this or to get maybe those levels down, which was something that I needed. And be honest with you, wasn’t really explained thoroughly from the people that actually did the test. It was kind of like, hey, this is what we got. Figure this out on yourself. And then when you start to figure things out on yourself, that’s usually Dr. Google, and they typically don’t give you the best advice or the answers you’re looking for.
23:44
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah. And like you said, I send you this voice recording, I’m calming you down, and the next thing you know, I’m talking about protons and all these things. You’re like, what is your reaction when I just start to talk about protons? Biophotons.
24:01
Joe
You’re just like, we all have a gift in life, and I think that the human body and protons and everything else that really excites you, that is your gift in life. And I think that if that’s what you enjoy doing, then continue to do it, because obviously, I feel like you can talk about that for days. And kudos to you because I think 9th-grade biology class was as far as I went, and that was 25 years ago. You explain it a lot of the times so that somebody like me can understand it and not use it. Yes, I can. See, sometimes it’s easy to get carried away, and you’re, like, thinking you’re talking to one of your medical professionals. But I understood it. I understand. And it made sense to me, which was excellent.
24:54
Joe
And that goes to a lot of times I would be waiting to maybe get a question answered and waiting for that Q and A, and I would notice that a video would come up, and it just so happened that you were talking about something that I was inquiring about, and I would get that question answered again, the videos. And I went back even to some of your prior videos and just was fascinated with those videos because it was something that, for me, was very interesting. And every time I would watch your video, whether it was you or Molly, was always educational and something that was applicable to maybe something that I was going through or had a question about, or maybe I tried. And then you explained why, hey, this is why that might not have worked.
25:44
Joe
So anytime you would post something for a video, I would get excited and be like, oh, I can’t wait for tomorrow to see what they’re talking about. Because, like I said, every video that I watched was educational and something new that I learned, which was something that I did not expect at the beginning of the eight weeks I thought it was, hey, I talked to you one time. I talked to you halfway there. I’ll go to the answer, the Q and A’s. But the fact that a lot of those videos were spot on in terms of some of the things that I had questions about.
26:19
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah, it’s like, we’ve been there before, and we kind of know what we’re doing. It’s this weird concept.
26:25
Joe
Yes.
26:26
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah. Well, that’s awesome. I mean, Joe, it’s been such a pleasure working with you because you do the work. You might have setbacks, but you bounce back stronger than you were. And really, someone like you, now that you have all the tools, your trajectory is just like. I think about when people, they maybe choose not to work with us, or they maybe watch a video, and they’re like, I don’t like that guy’s beard. He’s stupid.
26:53
Dylan Petkus, MD
They go this way, and they know, stay with all the functional medicine, Google or someone like Joe, who’s, well, kind of going towards the light here, which isn’t a good euthanism, but on a brighter path, where just the next 40, 50 years for you, now that you understand so many of the fundamental tools of what it takes to be healthy, live healthy and have a healthy family that you can have the energy and time to enjoy. That’s what this is all about. We say, like, oh, we help people fix fatigue, but it’s really about being able to help people create that life that they know is possible. There’s this fatigue in the way, there’s these gut issues in the way, and they’re not able to really get in there.
27:39
Dylan Petkus, MD
But once you do the work like Joe has in a system that works, because that’s the other missing thing here, because people put a lot of effort into things and don’t get a lot out. But when you have the right principles in place, that’s when you can have that progress. Where when I ask you, like, okay, you can play basketball with your son. Now, what’s next? Which would have never been on the radar eight weeks ago, and now it is.
28:06
Joe
And I think the main thing, too, is what people don’t understand is even though you and Molly are very young in your careers, you live this lifestyle, and you’ve gone through your own trials and tribulations that people can relate to. It might not be the same as mine, but you have your own story to tell people and say, hey, this wasn’t always easy for me. There was a time period in my life where I went through tragedy or dealing with fatigue, and this is how I bounced back. So when you go to a gym, and you hire a personal trainer, and they’re 200 pounds overweight, and you’re like, why am I getting advice from this guy?
28:49
Joe
Whereas the both of you had your own personal experience with this and were able to, through trials and tribulations, bounce back and now living a healthy lifestyle to where now you can share that story with your clients and say, hey, listen, it hasn’t been rainbows and unicorns for us either. We’ve had to go through our own personal issues that we are openly sharing with our clients and the public to where you kind of relate with that, and you say, okay, this is somebody that obviously had to go through some major trials in their life. I can relate with that.
29:31
Joe
And when you’re giving me advice, I’m saying, okay, this person went through something not exactly the same, but similar in the sense that they had to figure out how to get their health back and get back on track and live a normal and healthy life, which is what I think everybody in this group is. That is their ultimate goal, whatever their journey is, again, not the same as mine, but at the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to find that optimal health and get back on track to where they can live a healthy, fulfilling life.
30:06
Dylan Petkus, MD
Yeah. And that’s like, couldn’t have said it better myself. And we have thought about, stop telling our stories and we’re just going to dye our hair gray a little bit and grow out some more facial hair because then people will think we’re. Yeah, I mean, it’s really all know, finding someone who’s gone through it themselves, taken other people through know, because once you’ve gone up the mountain, been up the mountain with other people, it’s all just a matter of taking the right steps in the right order. And so, Joe, thanks so much for your time today. And really, thank you so much for the commitment to doing new things that other people might be like, what the hell are you doing? And really stepping outside of your comfort zone, because that’s really where your true self lies.
30:55
Dylan Petkus, MD
That’s been kind of hidden by a lot of these illnesses and really being able to stretch yourself and see yourself there. So I want to really commend you for that journey. And what I really want to say to the audience here is, know eight, nine weeks ago, Joe was where you are, where he’s gone through everything. He feels like he really can’t function as much as he could have at work. He gets home, there’s really no home life. It’s just kind of this cycle. Rinse and repeat of go to work, get burned out, try to rest, and just hit that on repeat. And on the weekends, it’s just kind of a crash. And so that’s really what we’re able to get people out with. Really, one of the first steps you have to do is speak with us.
31:40
Dylan Petkus, MD
That’s really the first thing to do here. And so that’s why we’ll put a link here for you to grab your slot for a call that Joe and I did about. I guess it was two months and three days ago to the date here, where we really talk about, really what the big issues are around your fatigue, how it’s showing up, how bad it really is, and also where you want to go. What are your goals?
32:06
Dylan Petkus, MD
Because if you’re not someone who you don’t have goals, and the peak of existence is eating bomb bombs on a hammock, which sounds kind of nice, but if you want to be that person who’s succeeding at work, being able to fulfill those obligations as a father and just as a husband or wife as well, that’s really some of the key factors you need to succeed with anything. And when we talk about that’s when we really talk about what is the best plan for you? Is it with us? Is it with someone else? Are you doing great? You don’t need any help at all? Probably not if you’re watching this video. And so go grab that spot, optimalcircadianhealth.com/talk. You’ll click the link, find a time, fill an application and speak to you, everyone. And so, go check that out.
32:53
Dylan Petkus, MD
And Joe, I want to thank you again so much for sharing your, I guess, Sunday afternoon. It’s my evening here, and look forward to speaking to you soon. Okay.
33:03
Joe
All right, take care. Bye.