The Dr. K Show

What does it mean when a woman in her fifties says her life force has just leaked out?
In this episode of The Dr. K Show, Dr. K sits down with Dr. Julie Merriman, a licensed professional counselor supervisor, yoga therapist, and university professor whose new book carries a title that turns heads: Are We Gonna Have Sex or What? Dr. Merriman has watched her clients age alongside her over the years, and around fifty she started hearing the same thing over and over from the women in her practice: something felt gone, and they assumed they were broken. Her research pointed her toward the nervous system, and toward a pattern she believes gets missed in most conversations about hormones and menopause: a woman can be on hormone replacement and still not feel desire come back online if her body has spent thirty years bracing for the next item on the to-do list.
They talk about why so many women hit fifty with a nervous system that has been running on fight or flight for decades, why hormone replacement alone often is not the full answer, and why Dr. Merriman believes an earth shattering orgasm might be one of the best resets available for a body that has forgotten how to soften. She also shares how she and her husband have kept their own forty-year marriage playful, and why respect, communication, and a little novelty matter as much as anything that happens in the bedroom. If you have ever felt like you have been carrying everyone else's needs for so long that you forgot where your own body finds pleasure, this conversation is for you.
Key Takeaways:

0:00 Introduction 
0:27 The story behind "Are We Gonna Have Sex or What?" 
0:59 Why the women in her practice felt their life force draining 
6:59 Thirty years in fight or flight, and why the nervous system goes numb by fifty 
15:02 Unlearning that heavy emotions were never okay to feel 
19:26 Why hormone replacement alone does not bring desire back online 
24:11 Sex as the best reset for a dysregulated nervous system 
29:32 Respect, communication and keeping a forty-year marriage alive 

Schedule a Free 15-Min Cancer/Lyme Consultation at The Karlfeldt Center: 208-338-8902

Resources:
Are We Gonna Have Sex or What? - https://www.amazon.com/Are-Gonna-Have-Sex-What-ebook/dp/B0GHZCYSKZ 
Sexy After 50 (Dr. Julie Merriman's podcast) - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sexy-after-50-improve-sex-intimacy-by-healing-your/id1865726696

Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or replace professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or treatment decisions.

What if the fastest way to protect your bones has nothing to do with a pill, and everything to do with the way your heel hits the ground?
In this episode of The Dr. K Show, Dr. K sits down with Rush Simonson, a former Medtronic spinal implant distributor who spent eighteen years inside more than a thousand spinal surgeries before turning to molecular medicine, where he co-discovered a novel protein complex behind chronic back and joint pain now in FDA Phase 2 trials. Simonson walks through mechanotransduction, the process by which the simple impact of a footstep signals the skeleton to rebuild itself, and how his company built the microimpact device Juvent around that discovery.
They get into why cushioned running shoes can work against your bones, why a proton pump inhibitor prescribed for heartburn can quietly starve the body of calcium, and why more stimulation isn't always better; Simonson's own protocol is just ten to twenty minutes a day. He also shares what he's seeing in Parkinson's patients using microimpact for lymphatic drainage, and why physician-guided bone density programs are seeing gains of three to six percent a year. If you've ever been told your bone density will only keep declining, this conversation makes the case that it doesn't have to.
Key Takeaways:

0:00 Introduction 
0:30 From spinal implant surgeries to discovering the protein behind chronic back and joint pain 
11:35 "If you lie, you die": why constant motion drives cellular repair 
17:17 Olympic swimmers with osteopenia, and why osteoporosis often starts in the teen years 
25:11 Unexpected results in Parkinson's patients: microimpact and the brain's lymphatic system 
28:30 The right dose: ten to twenty minutes a day, and why more isn't better 
31:40 Panic attacks, arrhythmias and restless legs: the hidden signs of calcium deficiency 
38:18 Why Juvent alone won't fix osteoporosis, and the physician-guided programs seeing 3 to 6 percent bone density gains a year 

Schedule a Free 15-Min Cancer/Lyme Consultation at The Karlfeldt Center: 208-338-8902

Resources:

Juvent - https://www.juvent.com/ 
Juvent Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation - https://www.juvent.com/blogs/news/juvent-launches-next-generation-bone-health-supplement-hydroxybmd3-at-the-national-bone-health-amp-osteoporosis-foundation-bhof-symposium-in-washington-dc-2

Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or replace professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or treatment decisions.

What happens when your body finally heals, but the rest of you never got the memo?
In this episode of The Dr. K Show, Dr. K sits down with Amy Kurtz, health coach, patient advocate, and author of But You Look Fine, to talk about a stage of recovery almost nobody prepares you for. After decades of misdiagnosis and a late stage neurological Lyme diagnosis, Amy got physically better, and then fell apart in a completely different way. She named it Medical Trauma Brain: the nervous system staying locked in survival mode long after the illness itself is gone.

They talk about why medicine is built to treat parts of the body instead of the whole person, why "you look fine" can feel like the loneliest sentence in the English language, and what actually helps when someone you love is struggling with something you can't see. If you've ever felt like your body healed before your mind did, or you're supporting someone who has, this conversation gives you language for something you may have felt for years without a name for it.

Key Takeaways:

0:00 Introduction
1:46 Why it took 36 doctors to finally name Medical Trauma Brain
6:36 Medical Trauma Brain, when your body heals but your nervous system doesn't get the memo
9:13 Why treating recovery as "sick vs. well" keeps patients stuck
15:40 Feeling fine and still far away, the mask patients wear in public
20:48 The loneliness epidemic hiding inside invisible illness
30:15 What people going through illness actually need, to be seen, heard, and believed
33:49 The best thing to say to someone who's struggling, and a Tig Notaro story that proves it

Schedule a Free 15-Min Cancer/Lyme Consultation at The Karlfeldt Center: 208-338-8902

Resources:

But You Look Fine (Amy Kurtz's book) - https://amykurtz.com/but-you-look-fine/
Amy Kurtz - https://amykurtz.com/

Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or replace professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or treatment decisions.

What if Parkinson's disease doesn't start in the brain at all, but in the gut? In this episode of The Dr. K Show, Dr. Michael Karlfeldt sits down with Martha Carlin, citizen scientist, founder of BiotiQuest and The Bio Collective, and author of Connected, to unpack the 22-year journey she and her husband John lived after his Parkinson's diagnosis at age 44. Martha explains how removing processed food and GMO soy changed John's visible tremors within months, and how that discovery pulled her out of a corporate career and into two decades of independent microbiome research.

The conversation moves through the science she uncovered along the way: the glycocalyx, the gel-like layer coating every cell in the body; how endotoxin from gut bacteria drives chronic inflammation across dozens of diseases; why H. pylori can quietly eat the dopamine that Parkinson's medication is supposed to deliver; and a striking account of fecal transplants shrinking tumors in cancer patients within two weeks. Martha also breaks down why endurance athletes face a hidden Parkinson's risk tied to the very same gut mechanisms. If you or someone you love is navigating a Parkinson's diagnosis, or you simply want a clearer picture of how the gut shapes chronic disease, this episode reframes the conversation.
Key Takeaways:

0:00 Introduction
1:51 Husband John's Parkinson's diagnosis at 44
7:03 Removing processed food eliminated his visible tremors
15:46 The glycocalyx: the fuzzy layer controlling every cell
28:06 Endotoxin as the hidden driver of chronic disease
35:25 Fecal transplants shrinking tumors within two weeks
43:42 Why endurance athletes face a hidden Parkinson's risk 

Schedule a Free 15-Min Cancer/Lyme Consultation at The Karlfeldt Center: 208-338-8902

Resources:

Connected: Love, Loss, and the Unseen Forces Behind Chronic Disease - https://a.co/d/0af28yWa
BiotiQuest - https://biotiquest.com
Martha's Quest - https://marthasquest.com 

Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or replace professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or treatment decisions.

What if the word "medicine" has quietly narrowed down to mean nothing more than a pill? In this episode of The Dr. K Show, Dr. Michael Karlfeldt sits down with Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark, board-certified family physician and co-director of the Culinary Medicine program at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Maker-Clark, author of Medicine for All People: Science and Ancient Wisdom for Revolutionary Healing, explains why conventional training alone wasn't enough for the patients she saw, how she helped bring food-as-medicine training into a major medical school curriculum, and why she now defines medicine as anything that actually heals, not only what comes in a capsule.

The conversation covers the circadian rhythm reset she calls dusking, why plants deserve a personal relationship rather than just a prescription pad, and why she considers community one of the most powerful medicines we have, backed by research showing chronic loneliness carries health risks on par with smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. If you've ever wondered what a doctor trained in both conventional medicine and ancestral healing actually prescribes for a full life, this episode lays it out.

Key Takeaways:

0:00 Introduction
1:32 Why food alone wasn't the whole story for her book
3:18 Conventional training wasn't enough tools in the toolbox
6:48 Bringing culinary medicine into the University of Chicago curriculum
11:10 Redefining medicine as what actually heals
16:21 Reconnecting to nature and the practice of dusking
27:55 Community as medicine and the true cost of loneliness 

Schedule a Free 15-Min Cancer/Lyme Consultation at The Karlfeldt Center: 208-338-8902

Resources:

Medicine for All People: Science and Ancient Wisdom for Revolutionary Healing - https://a.co/02lCVyCv
Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark - https://drgeetamakerclark.com/
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine-Culinary Medicine program - https://pritzker.uchicago.edu/
Endeavor Health - https://www.endeavorhealth.org/ 

Medical Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or replace professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or treatment decisions.