Medical Disruptor™ by Dr. E

Dr. Efrat LaMandre PhD, FNP-C
  • 4.9 (49)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

The Medical Disruptor™ Podcast was made for people who want to take their health to the next level. Dr. E’s mission is to give you reliable, science-based health information through a unique lens, using functional medicine to help you get the answers you’ve been looking for. In our episodes, Dr. E explains the root cause of your symptoms so you can take control, stop suffering and start living. Dr. E wants to empower you to realize your symptoms are NOT in your head while giving you the tools to take control of your health.

  1. 1d ago

    Your High Cholesterol Could Actually Be A Thyroid Problem ft. McCall McPherson

    High cholesterol does not always start in your diet. When your thyroid is slow, everything in your body slows down with it, including how you clear cholesterol. So you can eat well, move your body, do everything right, and still watch that number climb. If you were handed a statin prescription and never had your thyroid checked, this episode is for you. McCall McPherson is a PA and the founder of Modern Thyroid Clinic. At 27 she was spending 16 hours a day in bed, losing her hair, gaining weight, and struggling to think clearly. Her doctor ran one lab and offered her medication for her cholesterol. That was the whole visit. In this episode she explains why running only a TSH misses the real picture, and which labs actually tell you what is happening. She explains free T3 and why a large number of people cannot turn their thyroid medication into the form their body can use. We talk about Hashimoto's and how she has kept her own antibodies in remission for over 12 years. She breaks down the word subclinical and the single flawed study that taught a generation of clinicians to wait until patients get much worse. And she explains why so many people end up on medications for cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure that trace back to a thyroid nobody treated properly. When you know what to ask for and what the lab results actually mean, you can get your life back. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ Get Dr. E's FREE 5 Red Flag Phrases guide here: 5 PHRASES THAT ARE RED FLAGS Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandrehttps://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandrehttps://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 1:45 - Bedridden and Dismissed: McCall's Thyroid Story 5:02 - What the Standard TSH Test Gets Wrong 8:45 - Hashimoto's and How to Lower Your Antibodies 15:58 - Subclinical Hypothyroidism and the Flawed Study Behind the Guidelines 28:53 - The Optimal Thyroid Numbers and What to Ask Your Doctor Guest Links: FB: https://www.facebook.com/modernthyroidclinic IG: https://www.instagram.com/mccallmcphersonpa YT: https://www.youtube.com/@McCallMcPherson Website: https://www.modernthyroidclinic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. Aug 11

    Why Your Sleep Never Went Back To Normal ft. Dr. Daniella Marchetti

    If you have not slept properly in years this episode is for you. You lie down exhausted and your brain goes a million miles an hour. You wake at 3am for no reason and you are running on empty. This week's guest on the Medical Disruptor, Dr. Daniella Marchetti, holds the highest credential in behavioral sleep medicine. She works with veterans at the VA and with women in private practice, and she noticed something that changed how she treats insomnia. The gold standard treatment for getting a good night’s rest was built on men's sleep. Women's sleep is different. The hormone shifts are different. The daily load is different. And when treatment does not account for that, women drop out of it. In this episode she explains why being wide awake and wired at night is usually not anxiety. It is your nervous system doing exactly what it was trained to do. We talk about how your sleep tracker may be making things worse by turning rest into a score you keep losing. She explains what melatonin actually does, why the doses most people take are far too high, and what she recommends instead. She also shares the one question to ask a provider before you trust them with your sleep. It’s time to get a good night’s sleep. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ Still second guessing yourself in the exam room? Click here! https://freechapter.lpages.co/self-gaslighting-habits-to-watch-for/ Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandre https://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandre https://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 5:02 - Why Women Need a Different Sleep Treatment 9:13 - Are Wearables Making Your Sleep Worse? 16:47 - "Mom-somnia": Why a Mother's Sleep Changes 28:56 - Ambien, Lunesta and the Truth About Sleep Meds 32:30 - The Truth About Melatonin Guest Links: IG: https://www.instagram.com/drdaniellamarchetti Website: https://daniellamarchetti.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. Aug 4

    What Your Mitochondria Have To Do With Brain Fog And Chronic Fatigue ft. Dr. Benjamin Busch

    Have you been exhausted, carrying weight you cannot lose, losing your words mid sentence, feeling older than you are? Those are not four separate problems. They are energy problems, and your body makes energy in one place. We all learned that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Then we closed the book and never thought about it again. Which is pretty rude, when you think about it. That little thing has been working double shifts for you since the day you were born. It got you through tenth grade biology and you paid it back with four hours of sleep, a drive thru coffee, and a vitamin you bought in 2022. Dr. Benjamin Busch worked in the emergency room for twenty years. Then he left and built a practice that measures your energy instead of guessing at it. In this episode of the Medical Disruptor, he explains what VO2 testing shows, why a normal lab result only means you look like most other sick people, and how food, toxins, and hormones break the way your cells make energy. We also talk about brain injury treatment, why fibromyalgia was never a mental health diagnosis, and the money reasons the system is set up to manage you instead of fix you. This show gives you the conversation you did not get in your fifteen minute visit. Nothing is for sale here. Just real, board certified clinicians who trained inside the system and will tell you where it falls short. You are not lazy. You are not aging badly. You are running low on power. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ "Fine" isn't the same as well. Stop waiting to collapse before someone listens. Build your case https://freechapter.lpages.co/how-to-build-a-case-for-yourself/ Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandre https://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandre https://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 3:05 - Why He Walked Away From the ER 11:44 - Inside a Mitochondria-Focused Practice 16:11 - Why the System Profits From Sickness 22:16 - How Modern Life Damages Your Mitochondria 27:34 - Intranasal Biologics for Brain Healing Guest Links: FB: https://www.facebook.com/ViveWell.Health/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/vivewell.health/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/@ViveWell.Health Website: https://vivewell.health/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. Jul 28

    The Real Driver Behind Most Heart Attacks Is Not Cholesterol ft. Dr. Philip Ovadia

    Half of the people who show up with a heart attack have completely normal cholesterol. That statistic is exactly why I brought back Dr. Philip Ovadia, a board certified cardiac surgeon who spent years operating on hearts while morbidly obese and pre-diabetic himself. In 2016, before Ozempic or any of the GLP-1 medications existed, he lost 100 pounds and reversed his own prediabetes, and it changed what he believed about the disease he had spent his whole career treating. We get into why insulin resistance carries six times the heart disease risk that elevated LDL cholesterol does, based on the Women's Health Initiative data, and why nearly 90 percent of adults are walking around metabolically unhealthy without knowing it. Dr. Ovadia walks through fasting insulin, a simple and inexpensive blood test that can flag this risk years before a cholesterol panel ever would, and explains why imaging that actually looks at your arteries tells you more than blood work alone ever can. We also talk honestly about statins, what the real numbers behind their benefit show once the marketing is stripped away, and why he now tells patients that meat, not cholesterol, belongs back on the table. It is a conversation that reframes what actually predicts a heart attack and gives you real questions to bring into your next cardiology appointment. Normal cholesterol does not mean a healthy heart. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ Get Dr. E's FREE 5 Red Flag Phrases guide here: https://freechapter.lpages.co/5-phrases-that-are-red-flags/ Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandre https://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandre https://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 2:15 - From obese surgeon to carnivore & "meat is medicine" 8:18 - Insulin Resistance vs. Cholesterol & the $15 Test 19:36 - Why Doctors Miss It: Fasting Insulin, CRP & GLP-1s 23:45 - Gut Health, Fiber, Fermented Foods & ApoE4 31:25 - Fixing the Cardiology Visit & What to Ask Your Doctor Guest Links: FB: https://www.facebook.com/ovadiahearthealth IG: https://www.instagram.com/ifixhearts/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@IFixHearts⁩ Dr. Philip Ovadia New Book: https://stayoffmykitchentable.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. Jul 21

    The Thyroid Hormone Behind Your Metabolism ft. Dr. Amie Hornaman

    Your thyroid does not make one hormone. It makes five. Your last panel probably only tested one. That gap is exactly why I brought Dr. Amie Hornaman onto the show. In this episode of theMedical Disruptor, she shares her own thyroid story, including the 25 pounds that showed up in a matter of weeks and the seven different doctors she saw before anyone gave her an answer. From there we get into why testing TSH and T4 alone misses so much, what a full thyroid panel should actually include, and why she believes most people need more than T4 only medication like Synthroid to feel like themselves again. We break down reverse T3 and what it means when it is elevated, then go into T2, a thyroid hormone that is not T3 or T4, has decades of research behind it, and may play a real role in metabolism and fat burning. We close with what to actually ask for at your next appointment so a normal result is not the end of the conversation. As always, this is a free conversation with a vetted, board certified clinician, no products and no upsells, just information you can take straight into your next appointment. This is how we address medical gaslighting directly, by giving you the language and the data to advocate for your own thyroid health. You are not fine. You are just not sick enough yet. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ "Fine" isn't the same as well. Stop waiting to collapse before someone listens. Build your case https://freechapter.lpages.co/how-to-build-a-case-for-yourself/ Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandre https://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandre https://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 3:22 - Amie's 25-Pound Mystery & 7 Doctors 7:27 - Why TSH & T4 Alone Aren't Enough 19:55 - T2: The Forgotten Thyroid Hormone 28:08 - How to Stop Getting Dismissed 33:21 - "You're Just a DC, Not an MD" Guest Links: FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dramie IG: https://www.instagram.com/dramiehornaman/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/dramiehornaman Website: dramiehornaman.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. Jul 14

    What Is Actually Living in Your Gut That Is Making Every Other Symptom Worse ft. Izabella Wentz

    What Is Actually Living in Your Gut That Is Making Every Other Symptom Worse ft. Izabella Wentz Your gut symptoms have a cause. Finding it just requires someone willing to look past the standard playbook. More than thirty distinct root causes including SIBO, parasites, celiac disease, bile acid malabsorption, food sensitivities, and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency can produce the exact same symptoms and most of them will never show up on a standard workup because the tests that catch them were never built into the protocol. Dr. Izabella Wentz is a pharmacist, Hashimotos specialist, and four-time bestselling author who spent years watching her own body fall apart while the medicine she had been trained in had no answers for her. Explosive diarrhea, brain fog, anxiety, hair loss, fatigue. Each symptom managed in isolation, and none of them ever connected. It was not until she started looking at what was actually happening in her gut that everything shifted. The IBS went into remission, her Hashimotos improved, and the acid reflux disappeared. In this episode we get into why IBS is no longer being treated as a diagnosis of exclusion and what that means for anyone who has been handed that label without a real workup. Izabella walks through the first places she looks before any testing even begins, including medications most people never think to question and food additives hiding in products marketed as healthy. She breaks down the functional tests that actually reveal what is driving symptoms and why parasite infections are far more common than conventional medicine is willing to admit. She also explains the three conditions that have to be present for autoimmune disease to develop and why a disrupted gut barrier can precede an autoimmune diagnosis by a decade or more. The Medical Disruptor exists to bring you board-certified clinicians who were trained inside conventional medicine, learned its limits firsthand, and came out the other side with real answers. Your gut is not just a digestive organ. It is the command center for your immune system, your hormones, your brain, and your ability to absorb every nutrient your body needs to function. When it is compromised, everything else follows. And the longer you go without finding the actual cause, the longer everything else keeps breaking down. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ Still second guessing yourself in the exam room? Click here! https://freechapter.lpages.co/self-gaslighting-habits-to-watch-for/ Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandre https://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandre https://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 2:45 - Izabella's Decade of Dismissed Symptoms 9:58 - What IBS Really Is and How It's Diagnosed 16:47 - Medications and Food Additives That Trigger IBS 21:11 - Functional Testing to Find Your Root Cause 25:06 - The Gut-Thyroid-Autoimmune Connection Guest Links: FB: https://www.instagram.com/izabellawentzpharmd/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/izabellawentzpharmd/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThyroidPharmacist Website: https://thyroidpharmacist.com/media/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. Jul 7

    What Your TSH Number Isn't Telling You ft. Dr. Brittany Henderson

    What Your TSH Number Isn't Telling You ft. Dr. Brittany Henderson Your TSH can look "perfectly normal" and you can still feel exhausted, foggy, cold, and stuck at a weight that won't budge. In this episode of the Medical Disruptor, I sit down with thyroid specialist Dr. Brittany Henderson to find out why. Dr. Henderson is fellowship-trained at Duke, ran thyroid programs at two major academic centers, and now runs her own thyroid-only practice, the Charleston Thyroid Center. She told me flat out that TSH alone is not enough, and that most doctors don't even know how to read a full thyroid panel. In this conversation we get into why TSH is actually a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid hormone, and why the "normal" TSH reference range was built on flawed population data that included undiagnosed Hashimoto's patients. I ask her what free T4, free T3, and reverse T3 actually reveal that TSH can't, and she walks me through why muscle mass is the missing piece in thyroid hormone conversion, since it's muscle tissue that activates T4 into usable T3. She also explains why up to 95% of people with severe Hashimoto's or a thyroidectomy may need combination T4/T3 therapy instead of T4 alone, and we break down the real differences between levothyroxine, desiccated thyroid extract, and combination treatment. We talk about patients who've been on the wrong thyroid medication for decades and what happens when it's finally corrected, plus the flip side: patients who never needed thyroid medication in the first place and how to tell the difference. Along the way we cover how birth control, inflammation, steroids, and menopause quietly throw off your thyroid labs without anyone telling you. If you've ever been told your thyroid is fine while your body is telling you otherwise, this episode gives you the exact labs to ask for and the language to ask for them. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ Still second guessing yourself in the exam room? Click here! https://freechapter.lpages.co/self-gaslighting-habits-to-watch-for/ Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandre https://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandre https://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters 0:00 - Introduction 2:10 - From Duke-Trained Endocrinologist to Questioning the Standard of Care 12:38 - Why TSH Alone Is Not Enough 23:16 - Combination Therapy and the Muscle Mass Connection 25:17 - Desiccated Thyroid Extract: History and Misconceptions 35:19 - Pushback, Broken Guidelines, and Where to Find Dr. Henderson Guest Links: FB: https://www.facebook.com/DrHendersonMD/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/mythyroiddoctor/ Website:charlestonthyroidcenter.com | mythyroiddoctor.com | thethyroidfoundation.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Jul 2

    How to Help Your Gallbladder Heal Before It Turns Into a Problem

    Can you heal your gallbladder instead of removing it? Maybe. In this episode I break down what's really behind gallstones, gallbladder sludge, and gallbladder pain, and what you can actually do before surgery. I'm Dr. E, the NP with the PhD. Most people get told "you have stones, let's take it out" and that's the whole conversation. Nobody asks why the gallstones formed, or what happens to your digestion after gallbladder removal. That's what we're fixing here. We cover: What causes gallbladder sludge and gallstones Why gallbladder attacks and biliary colic happen The root causes doctors skip: insulin resistance, thyroid, hormones, bad bile What gallbladder removal actually does to your body When you truly do need surgery Already having symptoms? Get checked by your GI first. If you're in wait-and-see mode, you deserve to ask the deeper questions. Welcome to The Medical Disruptor, where smart humans get answers they won't hear anywhere else. I help humans go from medically gaslit to medically empowered. Want more practical health tips? Join my newsletter! https://freechapter.lpages.co/newsletter-opt-in/ Still second guessing yourself in the exam room? Click here! https://freechapter.lpages.co/self-gaslighting-habits-to-watch-for/ Check us out on social media: https://www.instagram.com/drefratlamandre https://www.facebook.com/drefratlamandre https://www.tiktok.com/@drefratlamandre #functionalmedicine #drefratlamandre #medicaldisruptor #NPwithaPHD #nursepractitioner #medicalgaslighting Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 2:31 - Gallbladder Pain, Stones & Sludge 5:42 - The Root Cause Nobody Talks About 7:50 - Why the Gallbladder Gets Sluggish 10:04 - Life After Removal: Post-Cholecystectomy Syndrome 13:37 - How to Support Your Gallbladder Naturally Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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4.9
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About

The Medical Disruptor™ Podcast was made for people who want to take their health to the next level. Dr. E’s mission is to give you reliable, science-based health information through a unique lens, using functional medicine to help you get the answers you’ve been looking for. In our episodes, Dr. E explains the root cause of your symptoms so you can take control, stop suffering and start living. Dr. E wants to empower you to realize your symptoms are NOT in your head while giving you the tools to take control of your health.

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