Rebekah Kelley: Welcome to the Humanized Podcast, all about personalizing your health. I am your host, Rebekah Kelley. Today we’re going to be exploring the Fully Alive Breathe Easy Program with Dr. Rav Ivker. Before I introduce Dr. Ivker, I want to remind everyone to subscribe, to get all our variety of casts in audio, video and transcription at HumanizedHealth.com. I also want to thank our lead sponsor, Village Green Apothecary at MyVillageGreen.com.

Today’s guest, Dr. Rav Ivker, has been practicing medicine for nearly 50 years. He is a holistic healer, family physician, cannabis clinician, health educator, and author of eight books, including the bestselling, Sinus Survival, Asthma Survival, The Complete Self Care Guide to Holistic Medicine, and his latest book from 2017, Cannabis for Chronic Pain.

Since 2011, in his Fully Alive Medicine practice in Boulder, Colorado, he has worked with nearly 10,000 chronic pain patients using medical marijuana to relieve their suffering. Dr. Ivker is a  board certified, integrative holistic physician, the co-founder and past president of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine, past president of the American Holistic Medical Association, and a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Thank you so much for being here, Dr. Ivker. One of the first questions I want to ask you is, what is the key ingredient to be successful with the Fully Alive Breathe Easy Program?

Rav Ivker: This program was developed as a result of what began as my own personal quest to cure my chronic sinusitis back in the 1980s. It has evolved for over 40 years. The Fully Alive Breathe Easy Program is a synthesis and an update of the Sinus Survival and Asthma Survival programs that I’ve developed over these past 30 years. I presented it in the editions of Sinus Survival and the book, Asthma Survival.

The primary objective of the program is to heal the chronically inflamed respiratory mucosa. This is the tissue that’s lining our entire respiratory tract.

It’s been very effective, primarily because it addresses each of the causes of the inflammation of the respiratory tract. The respiratory tract consists of just the nose, sinuses, and the lungs.

As most of the listeners have heard, the body will heal itself; it’s a self-healing organism. The problem is, that’s true if you can help the body to heal itself. I mean, a perfect example is if you broke your leg and you were in a long leg cast for and on crutches for 6 weeks, and you went back and got an x-ray after 6 weeks and the bone was completely healed ­– well, what did you do for 6 weeks? You had no weight bearing at all; you were not using your leg.

Unfortunately, you cannot do that with the respiratory tract because it’s always in use, 24/7. We’re breathing on average about 25,000 times a day. So the challenge of healing the inflamed respiratory mucosa is that it’s always in use. There are so many components; it’s not, here take this pill and your respiratory tract will be healed. Not so.

You really have to address all of the contributors to the inflammation. That involves not smoking, right at the top of the list. I mean, this program is quite effective, but it’s very difficult to do with a person who has continued to smoke.

Enhancing indoor air quality, treating viral and bacterial infection, treating candida overgrowth or fungal sinusitis, or fungal asthma, practicing nasal hygiene on a daily basis, reducing inflammation and allergies, strengthening your immune system, opening your airway, breathing consciously, and healing the issues in your tissues. I’ve referred to the emotions that play such a huge role in contributing to the inflammation of the respiratory tract. So these are all of the components. When all of them are practiced on a regular basis, people make amazing recoveries. In fact, most of my patients are able to cure their sinusitis and asthma.

Enhancing indoor air quality is not so difficult these days because we have really good air cleaners, HEPA air cleaners, or negative ion generators.

If you need a good furnace filter, the Filtrete, by 3M; it’s available in almost all hardware stores. Air duct cleaning services are available in most cities now.

Carpet cleaning. Indoor plants – there are a number of them that serve as air cleaners while adding oxygen to the air: spider plants, dracaena, pathos, chrysanthemums, all of them are effective.

100% pure allicin, the active ingredient in garlic. In England where Allimed is made, they’ve done studies that have documented how effective it is in killing MRSA. MRSA is the flesh-eating staph that’s resistant to almost all antibiotics. And it [allicin] kills cold viruses, and it’s antifungal besides. So all of the infections that contribute to chronic sinusitis and bronchitis respond to Allimed.

For candida overgrowth, fungal sinusitis, and fungal asthma, I also use – in addition to Allimed – Candisol, caprylic acid, grapefruit seed extract, and oregano; are all effective antifungals. The diet is a candida-control, anti- inflammatory and hypoallergenic diet, which is described in detail in both of my books, Asthma Survival and Sinus Survival. Probiotics are also used in treating the fungal problem.

Practicing nasal hygiene, I still do it even though I was able to cure my sinusitis in 1987. I still practice nasal hygiene on a daily basis. This includes the Sinus Survival Herbal Spray, plus peppermint oil, which I do two or three times a day. For people who are actively treating their chronic sinusitis, I have them spraying every 2 to 3 hours.

Steam inhalers are terrific. Essential oils, eucalyptus and peppermint and tea tree oil, go directly to where you want it to work. They get down into your lungs and you get direct contact with the mucous membrane. That’s a treatment that should be done anywhere from two to four times a day while you’re in the midst of treating your respiratory condition. The steaming should be followed immediately with nasal irrigation.

There’s something you pulse, which is a pulsatile irrigator. It uses the same technology as the Waterpik device that is used on your teeth. But the SinuPulse is the only irrigating device that removes the biofilm. It’s a thick mucus coating on the mucus membrane, and it allows the essential oils and the verbal nasal spray to get direct contact with your mucous membrane.

So I do recommend the SinuPulse and drinking a lot of water, at least a half an ounce per pound of body weight. If you weigh 160, you should be drinking at least 80 ounces of filtered water, not tap water.

There are a number of anti-inflammatory supplements, but it’s the anti- inflammatory diet that is most important. B6, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), grape seed extract, fish oil, omega-3, turmeric and CBD/cannabidiol, are all effective anti-inflammatory supplements.

And for asthma, I usually add mullein and Pneumo Complex made by MPR, allergy supplements, grape seed extract, quercetin, bromelain, nettles and vitamin C.

People overlook this all the time; if you can sleep 7 to 9 hours a night, it strengthens your immune system like nothing else will. Exercise is also recommended for strengthening the immune system: 150 to 300 minutes a week of mild to moderate aerobic exercise. And there are the supplements: vitamin D3 and C, probiotics, and the probiotic Del-Immune V are all excellent for strengthening immunity.

Opening your airway and breathing consciously. There are natural broncodilators, magnesium, lobelia, ephedra, or ma huang, and the product, Resprin, which I’ve been recommending lately, is very effective.

As you wean off your pharmaceutical inhalers, you use the natural broncodilators and practice breathing consciously. You can use any one of several methods: abdominal breathing, the yogic, Ujjayi, or pranayama, and most recently the Wim Hof technique. All of these methods emphasize a slow exhale. The emphasis is on the exhale.

Then last, but certainly not least, I’ve found possibly the most effective way to heal the respiratory tract is by healing the issues in your tissues. And that refers to the emotions, the primary emotions, that have resulted from childhood trauma or the perceived loss of love as a child, which is a form of trauma.

Most of us with respiratory issues have experienced the perceived loss of love: from a highly critical parent, or a smothering mother, whatever it is. The result is a perceived loss of love. Acceptance of yourself, your emotions and behavior, practicing mindfulness, and feeling your feelings. Identify goals, find affirmations to correspond to your goals, and meditation and/or prayer. All of these are effective methods for healing your life. Because that’s what you’re doing. This is a life-changing program. I just really want to emphasize that. It’s not just about fixing bad sinuses or lungs.

Rebekah Kelley: Thanks so much, Dr. Ivker. Those are valuable insights. Dr. Rav Ivker can be found at www.FullyAliveMedicine.com.

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