How to Find and Treat the Root Cause of Autoimmune Conditions with Dr Gil Kajiki on The Healers Café with Manon Bolliger

better? It’s not.

 

Manon Bolliger 03:08

So, can you explain that in in greater detail? I mean, it makes sense to me, that you can’t go after an organ trying to play with its ups and downs, when an autoimmune ism is a generalized, you know, condition, right. But is there anything more specific about that, that people would understand what an autoimmune condition is? And the symptoms?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 03:39

Right. So autoimmune, by its definition means your own immune system is attacking a body part. So, if your own immune system attacks your thyroid is called Hashimoto’s. If your own immune system attacks your joint is called rheumatoid arthritis, if your own immune system attacks your pancreas, it’s called diabetes one. If your own immune system attacks your colon, they call that ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. So, it’s your own immune system going haywire, for some reason, and then it starts attacking a body part. And that body part that it attacks could be anything. It could be a genetic disposition, you might have a family history of thyroid disease, or Crohn’s or brain disorders. And so there are multiple factors. We don’t know why immune system attack certain body parts, but there seems to be a genetic disposition, a digestive disorder and an environmental trigger. And all three of those come together create the perfect storm, it turns on the genes for autoimmunity and your immune system is now programmed to attack your own body. Now, this is my opinion. Autoimmune conditions can be managed and controlled; they cannot be cured. So, once you turn on the switch for autoimmunity, you always have autoimmunity. But you can control it like a light switch, you can manage and get it to the point to where you don’t even know you have it anymore. And that’s how I came to start treating autoimmunity is my wife came down with Hashimoto’s. And I knew that treating her with Synthroid or levothyroxine wasn’t going to fix that. And that’s what her doctor wanted to do. So, I learned through my colleagues and online courses and seminars, that we look for the root cause of why that immune system is attacking that thyroid, and we start addressing those root causes through different kinds of natural protocols. And what I found out is, it’s the same for every autoimmunity, whether immune system attacks your joints, your brain, your pancreas, your liver, we look for the root cause, and that will help that immune system be calmed down and not attack that body part so often.

 

Manon Bolliger 06:01

Yeah, that’s well, well stated. And it is always looking at the bigger picture, not where the symptoms end up manifesting, right. And that’s a fundamental difference between sort of allopathic drug-based approaches to taking a more natural look. So, my second question to you was actually what got you into the field of all of this?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 06:31

Yeah, I’ve been a chiropractor for 36 years. And as chiropractors, we mostly focus on musculoskeletal, spinal, you know, neck pain, back pain, headaches, and I was really good at that. But when my wife started coming down with this myriad of symptoms of fatigue, 50 pounds of weight gain, hair loss, insomnia, heart palpitations, digestive issues, dry skin, dry nail, loss of libido, her symptoms were all over the map, I had no idea what to do. So, I relied on allopathic medicine, traditional medicine, to diagnose this and figure out what’s going on. And after two or three years of her going to allopathic doctors and saying, the lab tests are normal, it’s just stress. Oh, you have a high stress job, you just need to rest somewhere. Oh, you have teenage children, of course, you’re having a lot of stress. And I just wasn’t buying that after two to three years. And so, I started studying functional medicine about third year into her condition. And I found out she had Hashimoto’s. And then when her doctor wanted to treat her Hashimoto’s with Synthroid, that’s when I just took over, and we fired the doctor, and I started learning how to treat the root cause of her Hashimoto’s. And then that was the beginning of my functional medicine career, and I no longer treat patients with chiropractic, I just do functional medicine remotely all over the world.

 

Manon Bolliger 08:05

That’s interesting. And do you find that? I mean, obviously, there’s functional medical doctors that are not chiropractors. But given that you have both and outside of the last two years where it’s found that depending where you live, it’s been difficult to do physical therapy. But do you still see a space for like physical therapy or chiropractor in which like that can help with auto immune conditions?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 08:38

You know, I’m gonna say in theory, it can help. But knowing what I know now, if somebody walked into my office, and I didn’t know how to do…well, I knew how to do functional medicine, but I was a chiropractor, I would not treat an autoimmune condition with a physical type of protocol. I believe autoimmunity is lifestyle, it’s dietary, its metabolic, and you can adjust somebody or do physical therapy or stretch or strengthen all you want. And it is gonna make a very minor minor impact on that autoimmunity, because that’s just not the root cause.

 

Manon Bolliger 09:21

Yeah, it’s interesting because I use something you mean it’s not very well known, but it’s called Bowen Therapy. B, O, W, E, N. And I have used it for autoimmune diseases. Not alone, but I did to really allow the body to sort of reset itself and reset the nervous system because sometimes I’ve noticed that people, you know, can’t digest well because they’re so in sympathetic overdrive or something like that. So, but it’s different than chiropractic’s. It’s, it’s much more fascia based and a little bit more like osteopathy than chiropractors. So, I was curious.

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 10:12

I believe every case is a component of emotional, psychological, neurological, physical and metabolic nutritional. So, my specialty is metabolic nutritional. I can’t treat people through physical over the phone. I can’t treat people neurologically over the phone. And I can’t treat people emotionally psychologically over the phone, that’s just not in my wheelhouse. But I know what to do where to send them. So I agree with you that maybe 10% of their autoimmunity is physical based. So, we would have them go to the appropriate physical protocol to address that. But that’s just not something that I can do with them over the over the phone.

 

Manon Bolliger 10:58

That makes sense. Totally. So, what do you find? And I hate generalizations because every individual has their own history and different angles. But could you kind of walk through…and I don’t know if it’s in your book, which I didn’t have the chance to read. But what are the…sort of what would you be looking for generally?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 11:23

Yeah, so all patients know is they have symptoms, they have fatigue, they have weight gain, they have dry skin, dry nails, brain fog, memory loss, whatever all they know, is the symptoms. And when they go on the internet and start looking at the symptoms, what could be the causes, though, we’re gonna come up with 100 different types of conditions. But what we found out or what I found at least is this is that when people think they have a thyroid problem that has all these different symptoms, it’s the same exact symptom of something that I call triggers. And triggers are body dysfunctions that very closely mimic a thyroid problem but isn’t a thyroid problem. So, these triggers, they look like a thyroid problem, act like a thyroid problem, feel like a thyroid problem had the same symptoms as a thyroid problem, but it’s a trigger. And so, what I look for in every case is I look for these nine triggers. So, I look for anemia, blood sugar instability, adrenal gland dysfunction, hormone imbalance, inflammation, gastrointestinal problems, food sensitivities, hidden infections, and chemical sensitivities. So, I want to distinguish, is that a thyroid problem? Or is it a trigger problem? Do they have three of these triggers? Do they have 9 of these triggers? And that’s how I start troubleshooting a case to start my treatment plan.

 

Manon Bolliger 12:55

That makes sense, it’s very comprehensive in that sense. And then you can go okay, is it you know, do they have so called leaky gut? Or you know, is that what’s happening? Or not? Or if it’s, you know, chemical exposure? Yeah. Cuz any of them could grab all of the symptoms. Right?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 13:16

Right. Exactly. And I think, I mean, one valuable piece of advice I want to give your listeners is this is that you have to figure out what’s wrong before you can figure out what to do. And I tell you, I get phone call, I have these consultations every day. And these patients, they want to know, what supplement do I take? What kind of diet do I do? What kind of food do I do? And you can’t know what to do until you know what’s wrong. So, you have to figure out which of these triggers do you have? What kind of testing are we gonna do to find these triggers? You have to prioritize these triggers, then you can come up with a treatment plan to figure out how to get these triggers resolved. And then you can figure out how much it cost.

 

Manon Bolliger 14:04

Yeah

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 14:05

But until you do all those steps, you don’t know what to do. You don’t know how much it costs. And I know what frustrates people because they want to know what do I do, but as you said, everyone is different. Every Hashimoto’s case is different. So, it might be a different diet, it might be a different supplement, it might be a different trigger. We have to figure all that out first before we know what to do.

 

Manon Bolliger 14:26

Okay, now, I’m gonna ask you questions a little bit on diet. Again, this is for generalized. Have you found that there’s certain diets that generally, of course there’ll be exceptions, tend to work better for people who have you know, maybe high inflammatory markers, and that are being triggered? Or have you seen that you know, you can be both a carnivore and you can be a vegan and I mean done properly, like does it seem to…have you seen trends is what I’m asking?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 15:07

Well, I think it’s based on your philosophy as the practitioner number one, that’s going to be the biggest influence.

 

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Dr. Gil Kajiki 15:53

Is if you go to a vegan practitioner, I can guarantee you they will not recommend that you have animal protein. That, so, but I think that’s wrong also, because just because that’s good for you, that doesn’t mean it’s good for them. So, I will tell you that an autoimmune paleo type of diet works well for most people. Now, you may be that 5% that it doesn’t work for. So just because I said it works good for most people, that doesn’t mean it’ll work good for you. So, every case is different. So, I may give somebody a de inflammatory protocol, I may give somebody an autoimmune paleo protocol, I may give somebody a paleo protocol. I do have vegetarians, but I will tell you that my style of treatment and the way I look for these triggers is you can do my eating plan as a vegetarian, but it’s very, very difficult. Because I believe the body was made to have animal protein. So, we have the teeth that are designed to tear and break down foods, we have the digestive enzymes, so our body was designed to be a omnivore. So, to have strictly as a carnivore, or strictly as a vegetarian, I think most people will fail, trying to get their autoimmunity under control that way.

 

Manon Bolliger 17:24

Yeah. Well, I would concur from just my experience as well. I mean, the vegans were the ones that have the most health issues. Not necessarily autoimmune, per se, but you know, the most health issues for sure. So, what about the carnivore diet that’s so popular?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 17:47

Well, yeah, I, you know, I would say of all the types of eating plants, the carnivore diet is the one that I hear least about, and it’s the most specific for specific kinds of conditions. Rarely have I heard any doctor promote that diet for a general part of their patient population. It’s mostly been for I have cancer. I have this type of cancer. That’s usually when they recommend that kind of diet.

 

Manon Bolliger 18:17

Yeah, yeah. No, I was just curious. Okay. So, what else do I need to ask you here that people are thinking about? Besides the misdiagnosis? Well, okay, so here’s the thing. So many people have been on sort of the roller coaster of taking, you know, different things for their thyroid. When you end up seeing them, like, is it…not easy, but can they be weaned off properly, be able to then really look at the bottom-line problem? Or is the yo-yo-ing from the medications to damaging and you’re experiencing?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 19:09

Well, once again, Hashimoto’s is an immune system problem, not a thyroid problem. Yes, there can be some thyroid problems because of that immune system attack. And if you’ve had this immune system attack long enough, it has destroyed enough of your thyroid, that you have to be on some medication in some cases. So, it all depends upon how long this person’s had this Hashimoto’s case and how much of that thyroid is damaged. We know that by doing the thyroid testing, if you do the proper testing, you’ll know if that theory can produce enough thyroid hormone to support your physiology. But you have to get away from that thyroid because that’s not the issue. The issue is the immune system problem. So, my first goal with a person who’s on medication is are they…do they really have a thyroid problem? Do they really need medication? And if they do, are they appropriately medicated? So, once I’ve determined that, now I can get to the root cause of why that immune system is attacking that thyroid. So, the goal is never to get somebody off the medication, the goal is to calm down the immune system agitation, and the immune system attack on the thyroid, once you get those triggers resolved, and that body is stable, that immune system is attacking that thyroid. Now, you know, what truly is the thyroid issue. And at that point, we can determine if we want to start cutting back that medication slowly, slowly, slowly or not. Now, that’s a decision that I can’t make for that patient. I’m not licensed to prescribe. So, cutting back or changing that medication that has to be up to the patient and or their prescribing doctor, but I can guide them through that process if they choose to go that route. But they have to be working with me long enough to get to that point. Because the initial goal is identify the triggers, remove the triggers calm down the immune system attack, so thyroid is way down the line.

 

Manon Bolliger 21:11

Yeah, no, no. And that’s the biggest misconception, right? That people will think, oh, and they come in first with that. And then, and then there’s like, well, why can’t you just give me something natural from my thyroid? It’s like, No, it’s not like that.

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 21:27

It’s not the problem, right.

 

Manon Bolliger 21:28

Yeah. So, and in your experience? How long does it take, again, in general, and I know, there’s exceptions. But if a person is listening to this, and going, Oh, my God, I wonder if I’ve been misdiagnosed.

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 21:49

Right. Right.

 

Manon Bolliger 21:50

And then they, they want to connect with you or something. And I know it’s individual, because it could be one main thing, or it could be, you know, six or seven of these nine or whatever. But how long do you generally tell people without being specific because you can’t?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 22:09

Alright, well, I hear about patients being with their doctors for a year, two years, three years, and having no improvement. You have the patience of a saint; I could not do that. I could not be with a practitioner for a year or three years with no improvement. So, my criteria is this, I want to know if I’m on the right track, and you want to know if you’re on the right track without wasting a lot of time and money. Okay. I typically get a report back from my patients, around six to eight weeks, that they’re feeling noticeably better. Sometimes it’s two weeks, sometimes it’s 12 weeks, but on the average, I get a report back that they’re feeling noticeably better. That tells you you’re going the right direction. That tells you that probably what we’re doing is working. Because if you’re going to feel noticeably better in six to eight weeks, that’s a pretty good marker and guideline for me to know, am I on the right track. So, you’re not going to be with me for six months with no improvement. You’re going to be with me for at least six to eight weeks. And I’m going to say alright, how are we doing? And if you feel like you’re improving, and you’re on the right track, then we definitely keep going. But it’s not going to be a year, it’s not going to be three months, right? Six to eight weeks is about what we’re looking at, for people to say, I feel noticeably better. I feel like I’m on the right track.

 

Manon Bolliger 23:44

So, do you attract people who mostly…because even the title of the book is about Hashimoto’s? who think they have that? And then discover that truly, it’s an autoimmune problem, or do you also take people with autoimmune problems?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 24:02

I do. I do both. But really, my best work for people comes in when they’ve already been to the endocrinologist. They’ve already been to the PCP they’ve already been to the MD they may even have already been to the acupuncturist and the naturopath and a functional medicine doctor, and now they’re on their last step. Because for me, that’s great, because I know what doesn’t work now.

 

Manon Bolliger 24:29

Right.

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 24:30

I know that they’ve already been to the medication route and that doesn’t work, or they do need medication. So, one of my criteria tell people is, look, if you haven’t been to your doctor in the last two months, go to your doctor, get a blood test done. It could be as simple as you just need thyroid medication and it’s done. But if all that doesn’t work, okay, before you give up, contact me.

 

Manon Bolliger 24:57

Okay, that sounds totally fair. And so where are you located? And how do people actually get to work with you?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 25:06

So, I’m in Fort Collins, Colorado, I’m in the northern part of Colorado, I just moved here actually from Los Angeles. And I have a strictly remote practice. So, if you get an internet signal, if you have a phone, if you get deliveries, I can work with you. I have patients in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, England, Canada, all over. So, there is no geographical boundaries of me treating you. Now, the best way to get in touch with me is go to my website, and it’s drkajiki.com. So that’s D R K J I K I .com. And start off by downloading some of the free thyroid resources to help you understand is that a thyroid issue is that a trigger issue is an autoimmune Hashimoto’s issue. And you can purchase some online streaming videos, you can purchase my book from an Amazon link. And, uh, you could just get right to it and purchase a $97 – 30-minute consultation. And we could have this kind of discussion, I could figure out what’s going on with you. And what’s your next step?

 

Manon Bolliger 26:18

Oh, wonderful. I think that’s so it’s easy access, which is actually one of the biggest problems that least I’m calling you from Canada and Canada, it’s very slow on the uptake as far as getting, you know, medical help, and it takes so long to get medical help. And then when they find out that that doesn’t work, then, you know, it’s a long road that people are going on. And just before we close, I was gonna say, I mean, autoimmune diseases are on the rise, generally.

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 26:58

I agree.

 

Manon Bolliger 26:59

What is your…why do you think that is?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 27:03

I think it’s…I think it’s a big combination of things. Never in history has our generation of people had to deal with pesticides, herbicides, electromagnetic waves, weather changes, stresses, I mean, never in history have we had had to have so many things working against us. And the food quality has suffered horribly, horribly it suffered. So, I think that whole combination of these external triggers that we have, the emotional psychological stresses that we have to endure, and the food chain, I think that just creates a really perfect storm for us to get these diseases that come down the line. And it’s, you know, we just are fighting too many things, like, it’s time for us to get back to very simple, you know, lifestyle. Stay away from the electromagnetic waves as much as you can, right? Stay away from the stresses. And I think if we simplify our lives will find that we have less disease processes to deal with.

 

Manon Bolliger 28:23

And also, if we get the right nutrition, like you said, because you know, without getting proper valuable content in our foods, then how can our immune system work?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 28:36

Exactly the soil is depleted of all of our minerals and vitamins nowadays, and you know, you’ve got radioactive soil, and you’ve got pesticides and herbicides and hormones in that, I mean it’s just, it’s horrible. A carrot is not a carrot anymore.

 

Manon Bolliger 28:52

Exactly. And it doesn’t taste like one. That should be the dead giveaway. Well, it was real pleasure to have you here and any closing words we know where to get you, we know that you have a book all this will be underneath our interview. Any other…yeah, words of hope, I think?

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 29:15

I’ll tell you this, is that there’s always an answer. Okay, you may not feel like it like when people say I’ve been everywhere. No, you haven’t. You haven’t been everywhere. Okay. Just because I don’t know the answer. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. So, I will either find the answer or I will direct you to somebody who can. But there’s always an answer. Every condition can be improved. It may not be cured, but every condition can be improved. So, I take on any kind of case, as long as they’re qualified, and they have that commitment. I’ll take on any case because I’ll tell them, look, we can improve this. We may not cure it but if it’s 40% better, that’s enough for you to live your lifestyle the way you want.

 

Manon Bolliger 30:08

Exactly. All right. Well, thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge with us.

 

Dr. Gil Kajiki 30:16

All right, thank you very much for your time.

 

ENDING: 41:33

Thank you for joining us at the Healers Café with Manon Bolliger. Continue your healing journey by visiting TheHealersCafe.com and her website and discover how to listen to your body and reboot optimal health or DrManonBolliger.com/tips.