Podcast Recap: Culture Apothecary with Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, MD
Today we are recapping Culture Apothecary podcast episode with Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, MD titled, The Sneaky Things Contributing to Cancer Under 30.
My personal relationship with Dr. Connealy started in January 2024 when she accepted my husband Brady as a patient of hers at the Cancer Center for Healing in Irvine, CA. We packed up our family and moved to Irvine for six weeks and my perspective on cancer, prevention and healing have never been the same. In May 2023, a month after my husband received an emergency craniotomy for a brain tumor, we were told that the pathology of his tumor indicated that he would need radiation and chemotherapy. It was my hope that we could avoid both interventions, but his oncologist and surgeon recommended that his next steps in treatment include radiation and chemotherapy. At that time, I followed enough wellness accounts and had heard enough personal stories to know that chemo and radiation, although necessary in many cases, had their own downsides and were inherently harmful to the body. This is when I started to do my own research and see what else was out there to (in my mind) “support” his body through this treatment. My intuition was right on track. I stumbled upon the Center for New Medicine’s Perfectly Healthy podcast episode titled Our Integrative, 4 Pillar Approach to Cancer. It opened my world, and confirmed that in addition to conventional oncology treatment, there was a place, and a need, for immune boosting therapies to aid the body in healing and lessen the side effects of conventional cancer treatment.
Dr. Connealy provided the science, but my husband firsthand experienced the power of immune boosting therapies like red light, high dose vitamin c, grounding, sunlight, frequency, sauna, hydrogen water, supplements and repurposed drugs, lifestyle modifications, homeopath, detoxing and cleansing the body and specific organs, which all contribute to the health of the cells and ultimately, the whole person. And most importantly, we confirmed that there are non-toxic ways to support a body with cancer.
If you don’t know by now, I am a huge fan of Alex Clark, host of the Culture Apothecary podcast. I think she is an excellent interviewer and she brings great guests on her show that have alternative ideas and perspectives, and the credibly to back it up. I found the conversation to be informative and very interesting. Below are a few of my cancer related and prevention related takeaways from Dr. Connealy.
Cancer Takeaways
Cancer has exploded in the last 30 years. There has been an 80% increase in cancer in young people accordingly to Dr. Connealy. Recent studies say about 40% of the population will get cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates it to actually be 1 in 2 men and 1 and 3 women that will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Dr. Connealy says cancer rates are increasing, and in every age group, despite more money than ever being spent on research and treatment.
Cancer is not attributed to one thing - it’s a perfect storm of many factors. According to Dr. Connealy, if you have cancer, it’s a symptom of a whole-body problem. From one cancer cell to the development of a tumor takes around 8-10 years.
Cancer most often isn’t genetic. The incidence of cancer being genetic range between 5-10% as shown HERE. Dr. Connealy expressed that she rarely sees a patient with genetic cancer. There may be a genetic weakness, but most often it’s about epigenetics or how your genes express based on how you live everyday (ie- lifestyle factors).
Interestingly, in Dr. Connealy’s practice, around 70% of patients that have cancer have yeast (candida) overgrowth. And most are deficient in Vitamin D.
CCFH checks the voltage or overall energy of their patients cells by using a meridian assessment devise. Dr. Connealy says every cell emits .07 millivolts of energy. In order to heal, you have to have energy. Energy is how your body functions every day. Every disease is related to our cell voltage being low. Things that rob our cell voltage include but are not limited to stress, toxins, heavy metals, bacteria, virus, fungi. Most people have some level of all of those.
Her approach with her patients is to use as many “magic bullets” as she can in treatment. This might include chemotherapy if warranted, but usually includes other things like repurposed drugs, IVs, frequency, red-light, increasing cell voltage, and ridding the body of microorganisms contributing to cancer, among others.
She talked about the drastic increase in brain cancer patients in the last year. She said 30 years ago she would rarely see a brain cancer patient, especially one in their thirties and early forties. She believes brain cancer is the perform storm of stress, toxicity, bugs like virus, bacteria, fungi, heavy metals, and the big one, EMFs or electromagnetic frequencies. She discussed how the brain is very influenced by EMFs, and now with everyone having a phone, computer, tablet, wifi, smart homes, all of the electrical output in our environments is harming our bodies.
“People don’t realize we are a biospiritial, bioelectrical, bioemotional, biophysical and bioenergetic beings so energy is part of our physiology.” - Dr. Connealy
Prevention Takeaways
Dr. Connealy emphasizes that every decision you make every day is a healthcare decision. She believes health comes down to the terrain of the cell. Meaning how each cell is functioning and working for you and protecting you. Every second of every day your cells are affected by all the things you do (or don’t do).
Dr. Connealy says we have a system today that is offering a patient a drug, a surgery or both. We diagnosis paitents and then doctors get reimbursed based on diagnosis. She believes that every doctor’s goal should be to de-diagnose a patient. She states, “There are 8 billion people in the world. The United States is 5% of the world. We use 70% of the world’s drugs.” This fact should be concerning to all of us.
Several cancer screening tests were discussed. Dr. Connealy said that she prefers for her patients to first opt for the ColoGuard Test to screen for colon cancer and polyps as the test’s sensitivity and detection powers have proven to be extremely accurate, and it is a less invasive testing mechanism than a colonoscopy. Another test Alex Clark asked her about was the Prenuvo full body MRI. She acknowledged that it is a non-contrast, non-radiation test which is a great thing, but she was pretty neutral on its use. Dr. Connealy has had two patients that caught their cancer from the Prenuvo MRI, but she also discussed that often testing methods like Prenuvo can lead to over treatment of conditions that our body would naturally remedy.
A few actionable ideas for prevention discussed through the podcast: prioritize sleep, filter water, ground, get sunlight, eat whole, nutritious foods, move your body, reflect on stress and work to manage it, eliminate toxins through sauna or detox baths, use red-light to stimulate mitochondria in cells, increase minerals through a supplement like Quinton Isotonic, take supplements like Vitamin D and food-based multivitamin for nutritional deficiencies, tongue scrape and oil pull for oral hygiene, and on a larger scale, seek and be in community.
“We should always be declaring victory and love on every person that we meet. Because there is life and death in the power of the tongue. You become what you think about most of the time.” - Dr. Connealy
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Dr. Connealy also discussed community. She believes we should be teaching health from birth. We should create community groups of mothers helping women cultivate the best version of their families. She ended the podcast by giving her answer on what she believes could heal a sick culture. She said, we need communities to heal, we don’t heal by ourselves.
Other Resources
Find Dr. Connealy’s Book: The Cancer Revolution: A Groundbreaking Program to Prevent and Heal Cancer
If you are interested in the Cancer Center for Healing, find their website HERE.
If you are interested in cancer education from the practitioners and staff at Cancer Center for Healing you can access the Cancer Conversations page HERE.
You can check out the podcast on Apple or Spotify.