Holistic and functional approaches to pediatric healthcare focus on addressing the root causes of health issues rather than just treating symptoms. By looking at the whole child, these methods integrate natural treatments like homeopathics, essential oils, and dietary adjustments alongside conventional care. This approach prioritizes preventive measures, reduces the overuse of antibiotics, and improves outcomes for chronic conditions such as eczema, allergies, and behavioral concerns, all while promoting healthier development through balanced nutrition and minimized exposure to toxins.
This philosophy emphasizes collaboration between healthcare providers and families, fostering open communication and informed decision-making. By addressing modern challenges like poor diets, hidden food additives, and the effects of stress and screen time, this approach supports both physical and emotional well-being in children. Ultimately, it aims to offer personalized care that nurtures long-term health and resilience.
Highlights of the Podcast
00:34 - Introduction to Dr. Christie Potter's Practice
01:11 - Difference Between Holistic and Traditional Pediatrics
02:47 - Overuse of Antibiotics
04:50 - Impact of Diet on Children's Health
06:00 - Functional Medicine and Its Training
07:56 - Root Cause vs. Symptom Management
12:02 - The Role of Gut Health in Mental and Physical Well-being
22:12 - Concerns About Food Additives and Sugar
25:56 - Challenges in Modern Parenting
30:52 - Functional Medicine as a Solution
36:42 - Issues with Standard Care and Statins
41:30 - Healthcare Resources
43:03 - Closing Remarks
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:02] Well, thanks for joining me. I wanted to have you out of all of my professionals that I know I had to have Kirsty on Dr. Potter on because, you know, as far as the pediatricians go and as far as kiddos go, you are by far the person that I lean on the most. It's, it's funny whenever people ask me questions like, How do you know so much about pediatrics? I'm like, I doubt I just have a really smart friends. So that's always been beneficial for me. So you to be a favorite kind of tell everybody kind of who you are and the practice you run and kind of how you do that type of stuff and well, what kind of start with a introductions.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:00:34] Sure. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Happy to help. So I am a pediatric nurse practitioner. I own a practice locally in the area that focuses more on holistic, natural minded approaches in treating kids. So I love Pedes. I've been working in pediatrics as an MP for well over almost 20 years now, and it's definitely a passion of mine. So I love the health outcomes in my patient population compared to when I worked in more of a traditional approach to pediatrics. I see the health outcomes are vastly improved and vastly different. So it's it's definitely a big passion of mine.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:11] So real quick for people, what is the because we people use the term holistic, I would tell you are usually improperly. So kind of give a very general rundown of the difference between a normal medical pediatrician and a person who has the functional medicine or the holistic training as well.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:01:26] Yeah. So traditional pediatrician usually, or traditional health care providers usually have 1 or 2 things in in their toolbox. They can use medications or they can refer you to specialists. Oftentimes a lot of them are specialized and can do a few more things. But in a holistic world or holistic approaches, they usually look at the whole person, the whole child. So we will a lot of times utilize other modalities in treatment. So we'll use homeopathic essential oils, supplements, vitamins, other health care practitioners oftentimes involved in the treatment protocols, things like that. So it's more of a holistic approach. Sometimes we use medications if we need it, but we really try to kind of have a foundation of just looking at the whole child, the whole patient, and treating appropriately based on that.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:19] There's a there's an idea that is starting to kind of percolate up that the holistic, more natural community has been saying for a while about the overuse of antibiotics. And and I always like to preface this with like, I understand that antibiotics have saved millions and millions of lives. But that doesn't mean that everybody needs them for every sniffle. So just from your standpoint, when you see kiddos as far as the antibiotic stuff go, how overused do you normally see that being and what kind of dangers as opposed to the child?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:02:47] Yes, this is a pet peeve of mine as well. I see this all the time. I feel like a lot of times pediatricians, health care providers, they feel a pressure to write a script, you know, write something the parents want to have something to do at home for their child, but it is not always necessary. 65% or more of your infections are actually viral. So you're writing a prescription for something that's a virus. Antibiotics are used for bacteria, so it's definitely over overprescribed, overused. And there are lots of other things that you can do for ear infections. Sometimes we on our practice, we will use, you know, other holistic things like homeopathic herbals. We recommend chiropractic approaches. A lot of times if you can get their neck and ears adjusted in a very gentle way that can help clear out the ear infection. There's lots of approaches, but antibiotics is is definitely there as an option if you need it. But it is overprescribed for sure.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:43] So when we see these kiddos who have more issues with with any long term issues that you see with antibiotics, I know the research is coming out and showing major depression issues and yeast overgrowth and things like that. Have you seen any issues you know that you've had to deal with from, you know, other kids who came in with too many biotics to transfer to your practice or anything? Have you seen any long term damage from antibiotics?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:04:06] Sure, absolutely. I see, you know, even some eczema, you know, you can see some things in the skin that it's an itchy, chronic, itchy, uncomfortable skin condition, lots of frequent or long term diarrhea. The thrush and yeast issue is huge, for sure. Stomach aches and pains and they don't sleep well. So there's a lot of side effects to antibiotics. If they're not used appropriately, know that or overprescribed. That can definitely cause some long term issues.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:35] So as far as diet plays and like how often is do you see the issues that kids, the illnesses, the issues kids are having? It's not so much a viral bacterial, but it's more of a dietary problem that they're just not getting the stuff they need.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:04:50] Yes. Sadly, our diet in the United States is not the best. We don't have the best quality food, unfortunately. I don't really love all the things that they spray on our foods or, you know, genetically modified. I know a lot of people have heard that. And that's, you know, big news and stuff, too, but really organic, whole food, nutrition. A lot of times I'll tell parents like, look at the look at the ingredients in the food. If you have more than five ingredients, it's probably not the best choice. You know, I mean, you can't always do that. But five or less ingredients, you can kind of be pretty healthy there. Just kind of pay attention to healthy whole food, nutrition, you know, your local farmers, if you have access to to that is definitely a great thing to lots of farmer's markets and stuff.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:32] So how many how many patricians are functionally Madison trained?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:05:37] Well, that's a good question. I don't know if I have an exact number, but I know. I mean, there's probably, if I was to guess, maybe a few thousand in the United States total, not as many as people would love to see. It's a huge demand and definitely would love to see more pediatric people functionally trained, but it could definitely be more.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:00] I should I guess I should ask because that's I know what that is, but a lot of people don't know what a functional, functional medicine doctor is like. Can you can you walk into the additional training? Look, much involved and all that type of stuff.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:06:14] So it depends on the route you go. Some people kind of learn along the way and they go to conferences and, you know, lots of additional training along the way. Or you could do things like there's the IFM or different organizations like in Pediatrics, there's a group called Maps and Maps, which is pretty much pediatrics for special needs kids. But it just it depends on which route you go to. And I IFM is Institute of Functional Medicine and that's an official training approach that you can get. You have to do it after you graduate from any of your medical schools or nurse practitioner schools, things like that. It's an additional after the fact training.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:51] So how long is that training? If you're going to complete the whole thing.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:06:55] It can be a few years sometimes. You know, they usually have internships and things like that. So it's definitely a lot of extra commitment that way as well.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:03] So it's basically going to med school all over again.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:07:06] Right? You don't really want to continue after all the years that you go to school, continuing on even more schooling. But that's why I say and I started out by saying I think it has to be a passion. It's something that people really it's a lifestyle choice sometimes for a lot of health care providers that they see that in their lives and their children and they want to, you know, share that with their patients or they see kind of the way that the traditional medical world functions and they see a lot of problems with that. And it just doesn't sit right with them or feel right with them. So they start asking questions.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:41] And those can be really good. It's sometimes a little dangerous, but those are also like, those are your best guess. So the is there a is there a difference that you see between the philosophy of functional medicine and and traditional medicine?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:07:56] Yes. The biggest thing I see is just the root cause. What is causing the issue? You know, you you can have a patient that comes in with multiple ear infections or chronic eczema, skin conditions, but why are they having that? Are we having an overgrowth of yeast or are we having parasites? Are we having toxins? Are we having too much dairy products? You know, cows, milk, dairy products can sometimes cause lots of mucus and the kids can have infections or allergies. You know, what is the cause? We need to kind of delve in further, further. So I would say that's the biggest difference is just figuring out root cause, you know, medicine or health care approach.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:30] So the typical medical is more. Yeah. And this is this is I want to make sure I'm asking this question cause this is my bias. The typical medical is find a symptom and then cover the symptom up with with a drug versus the more physiological issue of what in the chemistry is broken that we can go in and fix. Is that is that more or less?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:08:50] Absolutely. That's absolutely correct.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:52] Coca-Cola. So like, you know, whether the rise of guys like Gary Breck and, you know, the guys who are coming out and giving all this physiology and all the DNA and all that type of stuff of, you know, inflammatory systems and, you know, you know, damage we've done to ourselves with with the chemicals in our food and, you know, accidental damage from, you know, from medications and things like that. This would be more of a if you're looking for that type of thing, you're looking for a functional nurse and trained doc.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:09:18] Correct? Yes. Somebody that's going to look at the root causes, whether they're officially functional medicine trained or they just have a lot of experience in it or they really, you know, that's a big passion and you feel comfortable with those approaches. Absolutely.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:31] So if we're looking at because I know a lot of people have the long term eczema, they have, you know, the autism is such a gigantic spectrum now with A.D.D. and all this type of stuff. So because you've gone through the training, is there outcome result based is a better for a functional medicine trained person to be treating these long term issues like autism and asthma and psoriasis and these reactions? Or is there typical medical routes that are actually working?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:10:00] I would say the better outcomes we see are definitely with the functionally trained approaches for sure. I mean, you can, you know, see your traditional docs, but usually you're not going to have. Like, you know, groundbreaking changes or. And I and I don't want to, you know, put down traditional docs There are some great ones out there, but they just don't know. They don't know. They don't have the training. They don't ask the questions sometimes. And I feel like you could make such a big difference in these family's lives and and the health of the child. If you can kind of get more to the root causes and fix some of those, you know, this huge gut brain connection and and the microbiome and that research has definitely been out there while and up and coming and more and more we know over the years. You know I definitely think there's a lot more that can be done for these these children and patients.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:51] Yeah, there's there's a lot of like the new research that's coming out. And it's always funny because like we have new research, I'm like, did we just do this? No, this was done 30 years ago, just telling you about it now. And I'm like, What? What?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:11:03] So why now? You've been screaming that forever. You're like, I've been talking about the gut forever. I mean, I've known you for so long. I'm like, Yes, it's been out there. People just don't I don't know if they're just not ready to hear it yet. Or maybe we have to say it 200 times. And finally, they they see it. It's hard.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:19] Maybe that's it. I don't know. But, you know, it's funny because like like it's always one of those things where I feel like the parent who has been saying things to their children for years and then like, someone is also like, you should drink some water. And they're like, maybe I should drink more water. And you're like, my, I.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:11:34] Swore.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:36] Ten years I said that. Yeah, but like the gut thing, like when they're saying Mountain Dew, new research shows that, you know, when people have young people have too many antibiotics, it it creates depression later. And you're like, yeah, all your serotonin is made in your gut. Yeah. By your probiotics. If you don't have any bacteria, your gut, you can't make serotonin. So obviously you can be depressed. And it's like, this is not new news. This is how the body works. But I'm glad that it's kind of starting to come up.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:12:02] Become more mainstream. Sure.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:04] Yeah, because we'll have parents come in and they're like, Hey, you know, kid has X, Y and Z. You know, we don't you know, we the pediatrician gave us an antibiotic, but we want to do something else if we can. And so, you know, lots of times we'll be able to give them, you know, Alison or titanium or whatever. And, you know, they're like, they're better now. Like, great, you know, Or at least that. The other thing is, is that I feel like and this is again, I've got lots of soapboxes on this but. What if your doctor is going to prescribe? Let me ask you this, since this is this is kind of a new thing. If your doctor prescribes an antibiotic, should you at least ask for an antifungal and a probiotic to go along with it?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:12:42] You definitely should at least ask for a probiotic. Minimally. Yes. A lot of times they won't necessarily write you in antifungal, but if you have the right, appropriate probiotics, that can help protect the gut for sure. Absolutely. But I just think everybody there on their own health journey, Right. They don't you know, it's hard to trust people. And the medical establishment is kind of let us down over the years. And I think people are starting to realize that and feel more comfortable asking questions and knowing, you know, kind of in their gut. Parents have a great gut. You know, they know, you know, when something's not quite right with their child and eventually they will start asking the questions.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:13:16] So yeah, it's always been funny because moms will bring some people their kiddos and they're like, Something's not right. And it always irritates me. Like I went to pediatrician, I told them something wasn't right, and I looked at them. They just sent them off. They told me I was there. Everything was fine. And I'm like, I have never known a mom to be 100% wrong. Like they might be. It might be. We figured out what it is. It's not that big of a deal. Like, you know, sometimes it's like, hey, they have a slight sensitivity to the food you're feeding them so we can either decent size them or you can quit feeding that food. But that's what's causing the extra gas. It's not that huge issue. Or a lot of times it's, this is actually a pretty big deal. Like, they can't they can't have X, Y, Z, or they need these extra nutrients. Like, you know, there's a lot of, you know, B vitamin issues that these kiddos need that all the docs, like you said, just haven't been trained on. So, you know, the idea of not listening to the moms when they come in and they tell you something's wrong, I'm just like, no one knows that child better than their mom. Like, if you if you're going to start dismissing what mom says, you you should you should find another field to be in because mom knows best.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:14:23] Absolutely. 100%. And then you just have to find a practitioner provider that you can establish that trust you. You want somebody to partner alongside you and walk that journey with you that you feel comfortable asking questions. So many times I get parents in my office and they say like, I just I couldn't even have a conversation about certain things. And, you know, that's just disheartening and frustrating. And it just goes to show like there's only it's just a one sided. It's not a one sided health care approach. You're you want to seek out a pediatrician that is going to support you and your choices and be willing to have discussions with you. And it keeps us on our toes. You know, in the pediatric world, we want to stay up on the research and we want to be able to answer those questions. And I feel like it's, you know, disappointing if you can't even have the conversation with your provider.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:15:07] But yeah, I think one of the issues we run into and this is something I see with the adult doctors as well as, you know, the medical. Your medical group gets so little actual education and physiology and nutritional biochemistry and, you know, supplementation. And, you know, it's I feel like it's hard because when you start asking them these questions, it's not that they don't want to have the conversations that they don't know any of the answers. And so there's nothing they can do, which is, I think, scary and problematic. So what is happening is that these parents are starting to look, you know, Google on their own, which the Google and your own thing is. I always love that because I realize a lot of docs hate that. I like it because it's like, look, you're obviously you care enough that you're going to start doing your own research. The problem we get into with it is that not all answers that come back with AI or not, all questions that come back on Google are 100% accurate. But you know, I love it because they were like, well, when I Googled it, this is what it said and I can go, Well, okay, that would be accurate in this instance, or this isn't accurate at all, or Yeah, that's right. Go ahead to do that. And so, you know, that's beneficial. But they're like, well, I asked my doctor and they wouldn't even have the conversation with me. And I don't know how much of that is. You know, I have to see 26 people today in order to make enough money to pay my rent or I don't know anything about this topic. And so I can't talk to you about it or I just don't care. And I don't know which one of those it is because I think there's a there's a healthy, you know, breed of all those because the way insurance has got us all stacked up, you know, if you want to if you want to make sure that you're paying all your bills, you've got to do exactly what insurance says and you've got to make sure you see, you know, it's volume of people, not quality of care, which is irritating. But, you know, I think that's where a lot of the Well, as I can't I'm not going answer your questions or you know I think I also think it's a giant lack of just knowledge because I talked to these guys I've talked to like I have several medical buddies who will text me and be like, hey, a patient ask about, you know, lysine for viruses today is anything. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. It's it's a that's the best course you could use for any virus You should I I'm sad you don't know that right.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:17:25] Well I think they say they only get like maybe a half a day, you know, in medical school, half a day on nutrition. You know, it's it's really pretty sad. So I think you're you're definitely on to something as if they even have the knowledge base and and do they have time to address it? You know, it's it's amazing when I come across people that they say, yeah, my doctor actually said, you know, do this. And it's something that's like natural or holistically minded. I'm just like, yes, I need to know these people. You want to build the team around you because you want to refer to people and have a network of people that are kind of like minded. So I always love that.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:17:56] Well, I always my whole goal is, you know, I just want to find the people who care enough to sit at home and read on their own. Like, you know, don't you know, what your school told you was great and what your pharmaceutical rep told you is great, but why don't you go start asking questions and reading some stuff on your own? You know, the people who are who are looking to do those things, you know, like yourself, who are who are dedicated to, you know, I have to find all the ways of helping Timothy. Like the way the way it worked for me was when people would come in my office and I either couldn't fix them or I didn't know where to send them. That really bothered me. And so that was one of the things where like, well, fine, if I can't if nobody else is going to do this, if I can't for anybody else, I will. I'll wake up at four and I'll read all the research. And so finding a team, that's one of the one of the reasons I want to do this is because, you know, now people know to look for functional medicine. Now they know to look for if I'm certifications now they know the kind of kind of the difference this is the type of idea if you're looking for a better level of education, a better level of care, you know, you need to know what you're looking for. And so, you know, when you when you we can develop teams of people who are looking at these things and trying to expand their personal knowledge, they can treat people better. That's why I wanted to get some you guys on and be like like this is what you guys need to be looking for. So, you know, that's, that's the whole purpose of this was, you know, what kind of doctor should we be looking for? Because, you know, we could sit here, we can come up with ideas of things and areas, ear infections. And, you know, everybody has like colic is a real easy thing to to fix with adjusting manipulation. But there's a lot of little things out there that people just don't don't know that they should be looking for. The idea that your pediatrician or your doctor should be, you know, part of your team and should be listening to you, I think is also unfortunately lost for a lot of people.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:19:48] So actually.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:19:50] I know you guys use additional supplementation for your kiddos to boost immune systems. Is there anything specific like what are your favorite like go to supplements for for just general health?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:20:02] Sure. I mean, I love vitamin D, I feel like a lot of people are definitely lacking. We can always use, you know, some vitamin D supplementation, any kind of things that especially through the winter, that are going to help boost immune system, including probiotics. Omega three fish oils like some really good quality omega threes multivitamins. But I say quality multi vitamins, you know, a lot of people sometimes purchase it at their local drugstore or sometimes online, but you don't always know the, you know, the sourcing of those and where they're coming from. So if you can find some good trusted places to purchase supplements, that can really help. Those are some of our favorites, you know, that we like to use as well in our office.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:20:42] So how dangerous is Sherman? Because I know we're talking a lot about that. So how dangerous is the sugar that you're seeing with your patients?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:20:50] You know, this one, I think is probably that one's a hard thing to approaching in kids because I think our food that we have in the United States is is packed full of excess sugar. And it's designed to be addictive for these kids. And it can create so many health challenges, including, you know, yeast and, you know, candida and yeast, skin things, gut problems, sleep issues, hyperactivity. When you see a lot of ADHD stuff, even emotional, you know, I guess, what do you say? What's the word? Emotional like? I would see a lot of it in some anxious kids or anxiety and depression. You see that in a lot of these people actually have crazy high sugars and they just don't feel well. They get headaches, you know, physical ailments that way, too. But sugar is way too much in our diet on a daily basis. They hide it in everything and they call it 50 different names, you know?
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:21:44] Yes. Yes. The the you know, we're talking a little bit about, you know, some of the stuff everybody's freaking out about, you know, the RFK stuff. And he's like, they're going to take the dyes out and, you know, things are going to be the same color and they're going to taste different. And who are the I've done a dozen radio interviews on that. How bad are some of these dyes for? Is it one of those things we should really start working on and pulling out? Like did you see with kiddos? Like how bad are some of these dyes for their brain and for their bodies?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:22:12] Yes, they should not be in our foods at all. They're terrible for people, not only kids, but terrible for people in general. They're banned in many other countries. I mean, we have like I think it's like I saw 400 chemical, maybe more than 400 chemicals in our foods in the United States that they don't even allow in other countries. It's crazy numbers. I mean, the food dyes are just horrible. I don't care if there's yellow dye in my pickle. I just want to help you pickle, you know? Right. Like nobody cares there dyes and things that you don't even think I found it in a pie crust the other day that shouldn't even have a color at all. I mean, it's just. It's sad and it's ridiculous. And I totally agree. We don't need any food dyes. I don't know if you've seen all the big, you know, things with Kellogg's and they're really trying to, you know, get get them to to take their food dyes out. I think it just starts with one big food company like that. And we can hopefully make a big difference and go towards that for all companies in the U.S., we shouldn't have those at all.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:23:06] So I know that people are talking about seed oils are being really, really bad for adults. Like how big of a deal is a developing system to have seed oils and stuff like that?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:23:16] Sure. Well, kids are really sensitive to and I start to see a lot of families. It's in a lot of the processed foods and I see a lot of kiddos starting to have kind of that we call like central adiposity, like on the middle section, you know, the abdomen and middle section starting to kind of have bigger and bigger guts. You know, a lot of times kids are real thin if they, you know, they're busy and active and all that kind of stuff. But you kind of start seeing a little bit more and more of that with gluten and seed oils and things that they're consuming. And I think long term, it's it's going to wreak some havoc on us. Like if you look at pictures back in the 50, 6070s, the body types were so vastly different before they put a lot of these things in our foods. And I think it's just a complete a complete different almost a population like you wouldn't even know. These are people in the United States, you know, back then versus now. It's pretty sad.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:24:06] So, you know, maybe not in your practice, but how how big of an issue is the is the obesity issue and how. Because I see the way I see it. I tell I tell patients that goes obesity, diabetes, dementia like that. That's your that's the path you're on. How big of an issue are you seeing it with with kids that you're seeing or kids in your area with the obesity issue? How many how big of a deal is that really?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:24:34] I mean, we definitely see it for sure, but it depends on, you know, the the factors of the family dynamics with the food, I think is a big issue. And I definitely agree with that. You're going to see that if they're overweight and obese in childhood, it's the numbers are statistically they're going to be obese and have the diabetes for sure, at least by early adulthood and into exactly what you mean, what you're saying, dementia and those kind of other challenges. I do see see that. But I hear a lot of times parents say it's such a challenge. They always eat this stuff at school or they go to their friend's house and they want to eat the junk food there, too. So it's so hard. You know, I think it's definitely a challenge. Not as much as adults, but we're starting to see a lot more numbers shifting in children over the last ten years than we did before.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:25:22] So, you know, and the other one that I always like to point out, because when I when I talk to parents and they're like, I don't know what's going on, I'm like, your kids under a giant amount of stress. And they're like, what am I, kid have to be stressed about. So I always it's always like it's it's different. They don't have the coping mechanisms and they have social media and you didn't. So how big of a of an issue are you seeing? I know you work with a lot of younger kids, but in these in these 12 to 20 year olds range, how how big of a deal is the psychological stress on these kids that, you know, as far as their health in that manner goes?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:25:56] Well, actually, I get to see it because we when we do wellness exams, we have them fill out some mental health screenings and we kind of get to see and track, you know, what's going on with them. And the social media is huge. And I even saw a thing I think, this week about Australia possibly looking at banning social media under the age of 16 based on research, which I think is great, but even down to infancy under two, they say children shouldn't have screen time and there's these kids are spending a lot of time on screens and that developing brain, which goes all the way into, you know, the early 20s, is really being affected by that. So even into the teens. To answer your question, you know, all that the pressure, the social media, the screen time on their brains, the, you know, really affects their sleep. It affects their functioning and attention at school, their self-esteem. You know, there's so many factors just from social media alone that I think really makes a huge difference in their health. We're getting ready to to do something in the spring where we're looking closely at social media and how that affects. We're going to do a kind of like a research project at our our office to look at that. So I'll get those numbers back to you at the end so you can kind of see, you know, what we found. I think it's going to be really interesting to see how social media and screen time affects the teenage and adolescent patients.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:27:12] That is that. To me, that's a good study. I am I'm excited about about that coming out the I think that I think it's funny cause I talk to parents all the time and like you say, they're like, I know it's not great, but I don't know what to do about it. And so, you know, we'll have to figure out like, one, how to dial it down and to how to how to remedy the issue. I'm I'm a big sports person, like, go out and be active. Like go find something that's related with my kids. I was like, you can do any sport you want, but you have to do a sport and you can do any artsy thing you want, but you have to do something in artsy. So music, theater or whatever, because I want both of those things. I want you to be able to be developed in both those things. And so that's been beneficial for us, you know, But it's one of those things where. It's becoming more and more difficult, I feel like, to be a parent because, you know, we've got all we have more stressors, we've got more things, we've got more stuff we've got to deal with. And there's a whole lot more things that we have to avoid. Like, you know, when when we were kids, like, you know, back in the day, you know, we had a whole lot less chemicals in our food. And so that was better. You know, I think I don't know when they stopped doing it, but McDonald's even had healthy French fries like they were they were frying them in tallow, which I hear. They there's discussion they might go back to doing, which are fantastic. But there is just there's a lot against us and against our kids right now that, you know, I think if we don't start choosing our our health care providers, A, the better somebody who's going to sit down and and they get this soap box of mine. I tell people like, you know if there's one if there's one term, I think we need to really sit down and define its health care provider. Because if you go to your doctor and they give you drugs all the time, they're not a health care provider. You know the person who's giving you the the diet information, the exercise information, that's the anti-stress watching your sleep, watching your hormones. You know, those are the type of things who are like that's how you promote health, not necessarily with pharmaceuticals. And so, you know, getting the functional medicine training, you know, getting you that type of stuff. Seeking people out who are functionally mass and trained, being willing to pay extra for it. That market, I think, is the more we grow that market, the more I think a lot of doctors will go, maybe it is a thing that I should start leading into and doing. And, you know, I don't I don't see maybe you can correct me. I'm wrong on this. I don't see the medical schools or the medical establishment teaching more diet and supplementation function because and again, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like most medical education is entirely pharmaceutical driven. It's basically like, you know, you know, problem, you know, symptom and pharmaceutical symptom, pharmaceutical. It's not, you know, there's no other options for these people than just we're going to teach you how to sell pharmaceuticals. And so you're going to have to start finding people who've taken upon themselves to get secondary training in how the body actually works, what to do. So that's why I want to, you know, talk about the functional medicine stuff, because now that people know one, there's not a whole lot of docs out there who have actually gone through the process, actually gotten trained. And so you need to find that's what you need to be looking for. If you want more options, if you want, you know, the standards, you know, status quo, what every other kids getting, which is I think if you look at again, that's my opinion. If you look at the trend in health care, the trend in allergies, the trend in, you know, long term disease, the trend, and, you know, we are we are the least healthy country in the world and we're one of the richest countries in the world. And we are getting worse every year than we were the year before. We got to figure out what the problem is and that, you know, maybe it's the fact that we're too pharmaceutically driven.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:30:52] You know, the chronic disease is huge. It's it's ridiculous and it's getting very out of control. I mean, we used to have our medical schools before we we had drugs and medication. They were, you know, homeopathic glee based. We used to have homeopathic medical schools and hospitals, you know, and I think in in Europe now you can only still find three there's three homeopathic hospitals where they'll actually incorporate other things into their treatment protocols. And the outcomes are fantastic. But it's it's I think unfortunately, like what you mentioned, it's more financially based and it, it really you have to follow the money, as they say. Right. And look and see who's funding the schools and things like that too. So it's not financially beneficial Sometimes when you can give certain supplements and homeopathic things that are like $8, you know, it's really it may work fantastically well, but it doesn't pay the bills at the end of the day for a lot of pediatricians and docs.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:31:47] So the as far as the the protocols that get handed down. So this is one of the flows I like to make sure people understand is a lot of doctors don't get to make up their own treatment plans. These things come down from the NIH, the CDC, the FDA to the medical schools and then are taught to the providers. And then that's the standard of care. And if a doctor steps outside of the standard of care, they can get in significant trouble. And so the the education, what they're taught, how they're taught, what they're taught to do, what they're taught to use, all isn't a doctor really decision that much as much as is FDA and CDC and now is that is that flow more or less accurate and how information and protocols are disseminated?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:32:37] Yes, that's usually the case. And it depends on your institution as well, too. You know, if you have if you're working within a hospital system or your clinic or practices owned by a hospital system, you really have to follow the protocols even if you want to, or you've seen better outcomes with other approaches, you're really not allowed to. A lot of times go outside of that, and if you do, it's considered like off label use. Which, you know, health care providers are supposed to have some autonomy with that and be able to utilize things off label. But it just depends on what that is that you're doing. A lot of times that can, you know, cause a lot of scrutiny or, you know, people to kind of start looking a little further at you and and things like that. But it's you should be able to, you know, treat the patient and it shouldn't be one size fits all. You should definitely be able to have customized, you know, health care approach. You know, it's not like this is the only antibiotic. What if you're allergic or what if there are other things like what if you respond so poorly every single time? Is there nothing else they can do for you? And that's, I think, the frustration for people. You know, there's got to be something else I can do. You know, that's what I think people are just hungry for.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:33:48] Other in that in that line if you do step out if you if you do something different. Are there. I know we hear a lot about the pressures that are on docs. If you wanted to step outside that and do something different. Are there are there are there negative consequences from licensing and from, you know, the boards and stuff like that about, you know, you're going to do what you're told to do from the FDA and the NIH. If you don't, we're going to take your license. We're going to do terrible things to you because that's one of the things that you hear. And I just didn't know if that was how real that is.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:34:28] Yes, definitely. We've we've seen people that that has happened to for sure. I've known several people that have been reported to the board for certain things. And, you know, people are scared to draw attention to themselves. And I totally get that. I completely understand that you want to do what's best for your patients, but you sometimes it's hard to live in the confines of this little tiny box when you know there are some other things out there that can be beneficial. So yeah, absolutely. That's true.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:34:55] No, because like, that was what we saw during and I think it's just becoming a bigger and bigger deal like with Covid and when people are talking about ivermectin, you know, it won a Nobel Prize for people medicine. It's been given billions of doses and it's been phenomenally helpful. But because it was against what the narrative was supposed to be, it was demonized and the people who were using it were demonized. Joe Rogan isn't even a doctor, and they ripped him to pieces for saying, I took something and it made me better. So, you know, that that type of a thing from when I when I talk to my friends and they're like, I can't I can't talk about this. I can't talk about that. I can't do these things because, you know, I'm going to get you know, I'm worried about what's going to happen to me. Those are those are the things that make me really sad that, you know, because, like, when I tried to get on and talk about Covid, when I when I put out my the treatment protocol that I was using, it was working. It destroyed my social media reach. I got shut down like we were getting pretty good results. And it was nothing for a while. So, you know, I see it from that standpoint. But, you know, it's got to be really, really difficult for a lot of these docs who are trying to do the best thing they can and trying to say, hey, this this medication or this protocol, you know, we could do better. But because, you know, and this is where I see with statin drugs a lot, you know, the idea that cholesterol is the bad guy. And so we have to use statin drugs to push back against cholesterol is we have lots of research showing that that is 100% wrong, but it's still the standard of care. And so if you don't, you know, I know docs, I've talked to my cardiology buddies and they're like, I got to put him on a statin. I'm like, Why? And they're like, because that's the standard of care. If they have another heart attack, if I don't put them on a statin, I get sued and I but it's not going to help them. I. Sometimes it's not. That's not what happens.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:36:42] Have you seen. I'm not. I'm not an adult, you know, health care provider by any means. But I don't know if you seen this most current cardiologist that came out and was discussing this, the actual statistics on statin drugs and the percentage of people that it helps, it's 1%. Yeah, one person and I'm like, that is ridiculous. But like you said, they have to they're forced to put them on there. But 1% of people, if they knew that with all the side effects, as you know that statin drugs have on these people, it's it's affects their life. They feel terrible sometimes in some cases. Right. But if you knew it was on, it could only help at the most 1%. Would you still want to do that? It's just these are the logical questions that I think people sometimes and health care providers sometimes forget to ask, Like what? You know, I have to though it's a protocol. Why am I doing this? Is it really help? Yeah.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:37:33] So and that's that's the setting drugs are a big it's kind of one of my big you know issues because whenever I work on dementia, the first thing I did was I had to pull him out there. Certain drugs, his your brain were like, your brain's made of fat. It's made of cholesterol, that your liver makes your liver makes the cholesterol, your heart runs on cholesterol. All your hormones are made of cholesterol. You can't heal that testosterone which is made from your cholesterol. So that's one of my biggest soapboxes. Like that's my biggest issue. And I know there's other things in the Pedes world that, you know, are irritating to people. But, you know, that's one of the things I like I said, I talk to these guys and they're like, at the moment, there's nothing I can do. That's that's the protocol. Like if they, you know, I've talked to them, it's like, well, he had, you know, this issue from a medication reaction. I was talking to one guy the other day and I'm not going to name him name because he'll get in trouble. But he got took a Covid vaccine, had myocarditis from it and had an infarct from it, had a had a heart attack, mild heart attack from it. And the guy has zero calcium score. The guy has no plaque in his arteries whatsoever. But the doc put him on a statin because that's the protocol. And I asked him was like, how is that going to help him? And he's like, It's probably not as like, then why'd you do it? Is it because he has another one? And I don't put him on the SAT and he's like, That's a breach of protocol and I can get in trouble for it.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:38:46] So it's terrible.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:38:47] And it is. Well, thanks so much for coming in. Is there anything else that you'd like to throw out that, you know, just make sure people know where to look for some advice in Texas. Is there something that they should, you know, look for, try to try to get in touch with?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:39:00] You know, just ask questions. Like I tell parents, if you're trying to pick a dog or a pediatrician, you know, interview them, ask questions. Read reviews on online to talk to other parents. You know, a lot of the people go online for social media. You know, that can be a benefit to that. You know, like what are you seeing as anybody found? These are things that are my health beliefs. You know, are is there a local pediatrician in our area that has some similar beliefs? Those are kind of the best ways and resources that way to just like even talking to other parents. But just make sure you find somebody that's willing to have the conversation with you. Just ask the questions. Have the conversations allow your choices that you want in approaches to your kids?
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:39:43] Well, thanks for being one. First of all, being that person that I can always lean on and be like, hey, what's the what's the best protocol for this or that? Because like I said, you've got more education. You've chosen to get more education than 99% of any of the pediatricians that are out there because, you know, there's only a thousand functions and trained docs.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:40:02] Yeah. Percentages are like, I need to look that number up. I'm curious, now that you mentioned it, what that is. But I just love and appreciate everything that you do, you know, and you teach me so many things all the time. I could never know all the things, you know. But I am curious if you knew how many soapboxes you do have, because I love them all.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:40:22] There's. There's lots.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:40:23] Yeah.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:40:24] I if I sat down to count them all, I think I would be I would be irritated at how many. But it's just, you know, it's one of those things where it's like when you see something obvious, like, you know, when, when we, we had all these hyperbaric chambers during Covid and we didn't use any of them. And it was a low oxygen issue. And hyperbaric is designed to increase oxygenation of the tissue is it's physics. It's not even medicine. It's boils law. Like why do we not use these like things Like this irritates me to no end. You know, when we have research that's 30 years old, like we know how to treat addiction, we know how to fix it. We know how to fix PTSD. And almost 85% of the times we've known this since the 1960s. But we won't use psychedelics because we have accessories to sell and because that's not a big, big push for the pharmaceuticals. So you know that these type of things, why I have so many where I'm just like, why are we doing this so wrong? And you know, that's that's been that's been my issue for the longest time is, you know, we can fix things a lot better than we are if we just decide to take a little bit of money or a lot of the money out of it. And that's that's the problem. So.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:41:30] You know, Bill, you're doing great work for sure. Definitely making a difference. So I appreciate it.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:41:34] Thank you so much. So well, thank you so much for coming on. And if you, you know, need to get a hold of you, I'm sure that we can, you know, get them through. What's the best way to your website? Do you have anything that you know you wanna direct people to?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:41:46] Yeah, we have a website natural choice pediatrics.com if you want to check that out you can also I love sharing another resource for people if you have questions. I know in pediatrics a lot of people talk about immunizations and they have questions there. So there's a website called I can Decide Dawg, if you have some questions, you want to look up research. They have a lot of great resources there. So I can decide.org is a great place to go as well.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:42:12] So fantastic. That'll be that. That'll be a big one. I think everybody should you know before you start choosing your pediatrician, definitely start going there and getting enough information that you know what questions to ask.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:42:23] So I guess I would say one other thing is Dr. Green mom, she has a website out there, too, and I think she has a list of like, you know, health care friendly pediatricians on her website to across the US. So if you don't live in Texas, there's some other options there as well.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:42:38] Is there a is there like a search for the IFM docs? Is there a way to kind of look for that?
Dr. Christie Potter [00:42:42] I do think they probably do have that as well. A lot of those are more adult based and not necessarily pediatric based, but I can also the med maps or maps, I can share that with you if you want to link that in your notes, I can send that information. That's a great resource as well for pediatric, especially special needs, autism, things like that.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:43:01] Perfect.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:43:02] Awesome. Yeah. I'll send you.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:43:03] A yeah, we'll put them all in the show notes. So, Chrissy, thank you. Dr. Potter, thank you so much for for saving and chatting with us. Hopefully when we get some people who can start learning to ask better questions and find their health care for their kiddos there.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:43:15] Thanks for having me on.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:43:16] I say.
Dr. Christie Potter [00:43:17] Bye.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:43:18] Bye.
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