Ethan’s life took a turn for the worst when he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called PANDAS as a kid. Life dramatically changed for Ethan and no one had any answers. His parents tried everything to help. With good intentions, they turned to their doctors, who prescribed Ethan a long list of pharmaceutical drugs. But the side effects outweighed any benefits. After an agonizing 10-year journey, Ethan knew he had to take responsibility for his own health. Eager to find a natural solution, Ethan discovered the benefits of CBD oil. For the first time in his life, he saw immediate relief. CBD helped reduce the frequency and severity of his tics, and enabled him to relax, refocus, and leap back into his life the way nature intended. Now, armed with a background in science and technology, his company is transforming the health and lives of others with simple, effective wellness solutions you can trust. Having battled with the limitations of life due to his own health problems, Ethan knows that a holistic lifestyle can help quiet the noise – whether it’s physical or neurological symptoms we face. That is why his company is creating an honest, clean, and authentic approach in the supplement industry. As a registered disability-owned business, Ethan’s company is proud to provide authentic, natural solutions to those who need it most.
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Transcript
AnnaLaura Brown: Hello, this is Anna Laura Brown, host of the Autoimmune Rehab podcast, where we talk about how to actually thrive and heal your autoimmune condition rather than just covering it up with pills or changing your diet and hoping you’ll feel better one day. We feature solo episodes on helpful topics and interviews with guests who have actually walked in your shoes with autoimmune disorders who have years of experience in helping people to thrive and not just survive with autoimmune challenges. I started this podcast because I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s in 2018 and wanted to inspire hope and transform health for people with autoimmune challenges. So, keep listening and let’s get you the help and hope you really need. This is the autoimmune rehab podcast. today I am super happy to welcome Ethan to the podcast and ironically after over two years, it’s pretty hard to do, but Ethan’s actually gonna be talking with us about two different topics that we have not really ever covered.
AnnaLaura Brown: First, we’re going to be talking about the autoimmune condition pandas. And he’ll explain to start off a little bit more about himself and what that is and…
AnnaLaura Brown: that kind of thing. And then we’re also going to be talking about CBD, which ironically is something we haven’t really covered either. So, welcome to Autoimmune Rehab. Ethan, why don’t you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself? Who are you?
Ethan: Thank you.
Ethan: Yeah. I am a father of four little girls. and there’s a lot of things I love about life and that’s why I’m here today is to talk about what I’ve been through and some of the changes that I’ve made in my life and how I live an awesome life that I’m proud of today in spite of the challenges I’ve faced. So, when I was 13 years old, I went from relatively healthy, normal, so to speak, to having severe autoimmune issues such as motor ticks, loss of bodily function, OCD, compulsions,…
Ethan: severe anxiety, all of which wrecked my health out of nowhere. And my doctors had no answers. common story for people with autoimmune disease, right? Our first course of action was prescription meds. And your intro is just resonated me with me so well because that was exactly the story I followed going hopeless for many years. am I frozen here?
AnnaLaura Brown: You are a little bit.
AnnaLaura Brown: Yeah. It’s okay.
Ethan: This hasn’t happened all day. Sorry about that.
AnnaLaura Brown: Let’s just keep going. We’ll figure it out, I guess.
Ethan: Yeah. So Pandas is an acronym for pediatric autoimmune neurological disorders associated with strep. And basically what that means is it’s a strep throat infection that causes your immune system to go haywire. And that’s exactly what happened to me. My antibbody count was off the charts during our initial blood work. it caused inflammation in my basil ganglia, which is the motor cortex of your body. And so I started exhibiting all these symptoms that I talked about. which changed me almost overnight from a relatively healthy young man to disabled in many ways.
AnnaLaura Brown: Yeah, that’s interesting because I know that one of the things that a lot of people talk about is the fact that a lot of autoimmune disorders come from, or one of the root causes for a lot of them can actually be some kind of a virus.
AnnaLaura Brown: So, yeah, that’s interesting that pandas is traced specifically to, the strep throat virus. That’s interesting. Yeah, that would happen. So you get this diagnosis and then what happened? Wow.
Ethan: …
Ethan: I actually wasn’t diagnosed until about 10 years after my symptoms started. I was misdiagnosed with Tourett syndrome, actually on the first visit to a specialist. And so essentially what that was was a label that enabled the physicians to then drug treatments. So I didn’t really have any answers. We didn’t know what was causing it. We didn’t have a pathway to healing. And so that was a big struggle.
Ethan: And pandas is difficult to diagnose because we never thought that a strep throat infection could in any way be linked to these neurological issues that I was facing.
AnnaLaura Brown: Yeah, that’s true.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s interesting, too. Kind of almost makes you wonder if some of the people that have been diagnosed with Tourette’s actually have pandas instead, Interesting.
Ethan: Yeah,…
Ethan: I think about that all the time and I think it is very true. they say experts are estimating now that one in 200 kids has pandas as part of a tick disorder. So it’s something that’s not uncommon anymore. However, it is commonly misdiagnosed and mistreated. Yeah,…
AnnaLaura Brown: So, initially when they told you you had supposedly the Tourettes, but you now you had the pandas, did you just take the drugs then and then over time start to realize, hey, maybe this isn’t really the right solution?
00:05:00
Ethan: exactly. I mean, up until that point, I hadn’t had any health issues that required drugs. I had never taken prescription meds before, except maybe an antibiotic or something to battle the strep throat infections I was dealing with. But yeah, I trusted the doctor, But we said, ” this is a specialist. He’s seen this before.” We were in and out of his office in 5 minutes. it was like a closed case. he knew it was Tourette’s and that’s what it was. So yeah, we went forward with taking the drugs. It was a blood pressure medication that had off label benefits of reducing ticks in some studies. So that’s what they treated me with and u nothing happened at all. I didn’t notice any change, any benefits, nothing like that after taking it.
Ethan: But from that point on until I was about seven 17 years old I had been on over 40 different prescription meds just trying to find something that worked.
AnnaLaura Brown: …
AnnaLaura Brown: you kept going back to the doctor or maybe other doctors or whatever just trying to figure out what’s going on here,
Ethan: Yeah. My parents were champions. I mean we stopped at nothing. My mom was tearing through the literature just scouring the internet to find answers and information about this. and I saw after doctor to try to get some solution. So my parents were absolutely my advocates during my formative years and they still are. However, it was just very difficult this was almost 20 years ago to find anyone that knew about pandas or how to treat it. And fortunately, we’ve done a lot of awareness and advocacy since then, and it’s becoming more in the forefront u of wellness and…
Ethan: neuro health, but still to this day, many physicians don’t know what they’re dealing with. And so, it’s very hard to get a diagnosis.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s crazy.
AnnaLaura Brown: So, what actually kind of triggered that? Okay, I’ve been on all these drugs. I supposedly have this Tourette’s to say, maybe I don’t actually have Tourette’s and…
AnnaLaura Brown: maybe it’s something else.
Ethan: To be honest,…
Ethan: I gave up on the search at a certain point. I had physician fatigue, which is a term I used to say I was sick of going to the doctor’s offices, being drugged around for years without getting any answers. So, I decided to just, abandon that use model. I said, this doesn’t seem like medicine. I’m not getting anywhere with these drugs. I was getting in trouble in math class for falling asleep at my desk. my teacher, I remember, called my parents and said, “Hey, I think your son’s on drugs.” And I looked at my dad, I said, “Look, I am on drugs. these pills they’re giving make me feel like a zombie.” And so, I just decided enough is enough. And for several years, I just gritted it out cold turkey. Just dealt with the symptoms and…
Ethan: kind of gave up hope for a while, which was a very isolating, disparaging place to be in. …
AnnaLaura Brown: And…
AnnaLaura Brown: I’m sure given that it was like you were a teenager and then, going into those you young adult years, when kids can be pretty brutal, about, that kid makes weird noises, and stuff like that. So, yeah.
Ethan: I was blessed. I didn’t experience any real bullying like that. And I know some people will depending on who they surround themselves with, but I was very blessed to not have to deal with that. part of that is that I’m just a very confident person and I wasn’t going to allow people to make fun of me for that. However, I did get the daily ask for me was, “Hey, are you okay?” Uh because they saw me twitching and convulsing and picking up my pencil and putting it down over and over and over again and making these auditory ticks and noises. And out of genuine concern, people would say, “Hey, are you all right, buddy? are you having a seizure? Do you need to go outside and take a break?”
Ethan: And it would just drive me insane. I mean, that burning anger inside me towards these people who were just out of genuine concern asking me if I was all right. I couldn’t stand it. And the biggest turning point for me was when I decided to not be embarrassed and not be ashamed of what I was dealing with. And instead of hiding this inside and pretending like everything was okay when it wasn’t, I was just going to start saying, yeah, I’m okay. I’m dealing with these ticks, you don’t need to worry about it. And to my surprise, I never received any judgment whatsoever. When I told people what was actually going on, it’s like they turned around in their seat and they never mentioned it again. And it was like the light bulb went off in my head I don’t need to hide this anymore.
Ethan: I don’t need to pretend like everything’s okay. I can admit that I have a problem and be okay with that. And now, not only are my classmates and my peers understanding more of what I’m dealing with, I’m less of a distraction, the anxiety and…
Ethan: the weight of bearing that on my shoulders has been lifted because I can just live in acceptance of what I’m dealing with. And it put me in a position to network and communicate with other people who are dealing with similar issues.
00:10:00
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s awesome.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s great. So, what was that ultimate switch then that actually led you actually find out, hey, this is pandas and not Tourette’s after all?
Ethan: So, we finally found a physician…
Ethan: who knew what pandas was. And I think it was based on our own independent research that we started to put the pieces together and say, ” there’s this thing called pandas. your symptoms match like everything we’re reading online.” and so once we knew once we had an indication of kind of what we were dealing with the search became much easier because we started looking for panda specialists instead of Tourette’s or seizure specialists right in terms of diagnosing it’s like finding out what’s wrong with your car right you kind of have to know where that noise is coming from in order to figure out what part to fix. so it started with that.
Ethan: We had to drive out of state to visit this particular practitioner, but she was amazing in terms of looking at my blood work, my history, all my health documentation and the symptoms I was dealing with and putting together the pieces of the puzzle and saying, “Yes, this is like a classic case of” Pandas is a clinical diagnosis. It’s not something you can take a blood test for and say, ” yeah, you’ve got pandas.” Right? looking at your health history, strep infections, examining your antibbody titers through blood work, looking at your symptoms.
Ethan: And so it can be very difficult to diagnose.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s cool.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s great. So, then you got this diagnosis and how did that change what you did as far as did you change anything with diet? Did you go seek other interventions? what did you do once you had that diagnosis?
Ethan: That was really the key because pandas is an illness. I mentioned inflammation in the basil ganglia. that’s the motor cortex of your body. So whereas the Tourett syndrome diagnosis didn’t really tell us much. We were just trying to cover up the symptoms with prescription meds. There was no targeting the root cause or getting to the bottom of it at all. It was simply, you’re going to be dealing with this for the rest of your life. You’re going to be on these meds for the rest of your life. And it was almost like a hopeless diagnosis. It didn’t do anything to help. So when we finally got the pandas diagnosis, it was like, ” wow. This makes sense. you have recurring strep throat infections that are driving this inflammation. We can get to the root cause. We can start mitigating that inflammation and changing your lifestyle and…
AnnaLaura Brown: …
Ethan: diet and all that stuff to reduce inflammation in the body and then your symptoms will be repaired and your symptoms will be healed as we target the root of the issue.” So it was a much more common sense approach at that point.
AnnaLaura Brown: what are some of the things then that you started doing?
Ethan: So I like to think of it as body, mind, and spirit, with a diagnosis like this, if you break your arm, for example, you go to the doctor, you get a splint, a few weeks later, you’re healed, you’re good to go. But when you’re dealing with autoimmune disease, it’s a lot more complex. And so getting that diagnosis, of course, is the first step. then from there you can start to really just reassess your life in general and think what are some things I can do to target that root cause of the illness. Now being that pandas is in inflammatory driven I started thinking of all different ways I can reduce inflammation in my body. So of course diet change is huge right sugar intake. I seldom drink alcohol. I try to eat very healthy foods. if you look at my Instagram I’m very much a homesteader.
Ethan: So, I’m growing a lot of my own food. I’m eating farm-totable where I can. I’m trying to embody an anti-inflammatory diet. my lifestyle went from very sedentary to very active. I’m working outside every day, getting sunshine. my wife and I have an exercise routine. We lift and get in the gym four days a week. So, getting that energy and anxiety out in a healthy way in the gym. my functional medicine doctor has told me that the muscle mass I’ve gained through weightlifting over the years which is about 50 lbs a lean muscle actually acts as a sink for those inflammatory compounds. So the e eosinaphils and the white blood cells that are causing the inflammation in my brain are diluted by the fact that There’s more muscle tissue to absorb those inflammatory compounds and store them where they’re meant to be stored instead of moving to my brain.
Ethan: So those two things are really important. And then finally the spirit doing things that make me feel whole. I mentioned letting go of those issues and that hopelessness getting to a point…
Ethan: where I had hope for the future where I said I am seeing improvement in my symptoms so there is hope for me instead of just succumbing to the illness and saying I’m never going to get better. that mindset, that mentality is so important as well.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s awesome.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s great. So, I know you probably work with and talk to a lot of parents that have kids that either have pandas or suspected pandas. If somebody’s listening to this and whether it’s like a parent that has a child or maybe it’s even, an older, teenager or…
AnnaLaura Brown: adult that suspects, hey, I might have been either I’ve just gotten diagnosed or maybe I’ve been misdiagnosed. What would be some of the first things or words of wisdom that you would give to that person?
Ethan: Absolutely. …
Ethan: with pandas, everybody’s protocol will be slightly different based on what they’re dealing with. So, I’m not going to make any specific health claims. that should be reserved for your physician. But, I advocate for what I call the three S’s. So stop start and smile. So the stop is getting rid of all the negative things in your life. all the things that are causing you harm in your life, all the things that are driving inflammation. So stop eating junk food. stop being lethargic and sedentary. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. the start to change your lifestyle. Start doing the things that we all know we should be doing to have a healthy life.
Ethan: exercising, eating right, having quiet time in the morning, prayer, meditation, start doing things that make you feel One of the things for me, playing drums is a huge outlet for me. Whenever I get behind the drum set, I’m using all four of my limbs in conjunction. I’m vibing with the music. I’m contributing to something greater if I’m playing with other people. And my ticks are gone. I have no ticks whatsoever because I’m just fully engaged in what I’m doing. I feel like I have a purpose. So, starting to do more of those things that make you feel whole and valued are really important. And then finally, the smile is that mindset that I mentioned earlier, finding ways to be joyful in your life despite what you’re dealing with because pandas is a devastating disease. I mean, the patient. It devastates their parents and their family. your relationships can suffer because of it. And whenever you deal with disability, you’re in a place of hopelessness at one point or another.
Ethan: So learning how to be joyful in those moments despite where you’re dealing with is so important and I can tell you from experience. There are always going to be people who have it worse than you. So just having that perspective, it’s so important. So those are the three things that I always recommend people do. And it’s not very specific, I know, but I think if we all step back and analyze our life from an outside perspective,…
Ethan: we can identify and be real with ourselves and say, these are some things that I’m doing that are not so great. and I should probably change them.
AnnaLaura Brown: Absolutely. That’s great.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s great. We probably could almost even stop here there, but we’re not going to stop there quite yet because we got a few more things to talk about. So, Ethan also has started help improving the people’s lives through he’s the founder of a company called it’s Green Valley Nutrition,…
AnnaLaura Brown: Did I get that And one of the main things that they do is with CBD. So talk to us a little bit about how did that whole thing come about with you deciding to start a CBD company?
Ethan: That’s right.
Ethan: So, CBD was not something I was aware of until after college really. And to be quite honest with you, the only thing that I found that helped me feel better in terms of supplementation was that notorious green leafy substance that may get your podcast flag…
AnnaLaura Brown: Okay. Yeah, exactly.
Ethan: if I say it, but we all know what we’re talking about, so I was a smoker for for many years because quite honestly was the only thing I found that worked for me. And I think it was through my use of pharmaceutical drugs that kind of normalized that use of substances in my mind to where I felt justified in using this, the doctors said, “Try this pill. If it helps you feel better, we’ll stick with it.” So when I found out that smoking helped me feel better, I said, ” I’m going to stick with it. It’s what works for me.” And so again I kind of succumbed to my illness and said, this is what’s working.
Ethan: But the side effects of that caught up with me, too. I started having breathing issues. I started my paranoia kicked in. My anxiety would spike at certain times when I was using it. And I even had a couple of run-ins with the law as a young adult. And so that clearly was not working for me either. so it was actually after college I moved to Colorado to work on an organic farm dive into agriculture and it was there that I was introduced into CBD. they were actually growing hemp out there for CBD oil manufacturing and production. I said, what is this? I know, I’m very experienced with this plant, but I don’t know anything about CBD. And in a sense, CBD is nature’s most powerful anti-inflammatory.
AnnaLaura Brown:
Ethan: And so, I remember the first time I took it, it immediately reduced the inflammation I was feeling and my symptoms largely went away. But I didn’t have any of the negative side effects, the lethargy or any of the other stuff that came with the use of the raw plant. So, it was like a miracle in my opinion that I could get that relief I was seeking in a more natural, clean, and safe form without causing undue hazard to my health. So, I’m a huge proponent of CBD. It’s not the only thing I use. I take many anti-inflammatory supplements. corsetin, vitamin D, curcumin are all powerful flavonoids that can help reduce inflammation.
Ethan: But CBD was pivotal in my healing journey because it gave me the relief I needed to step back and take a deep breath and refocus and have a break from my symptoms so that I could get myself out of that rut and start to think,…
Ethan: what are some things I can change in my larger lifestyle that will really make a big impact.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s awesome.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s cool. So, obviously, there’s lots of different kinds of CBD companies out there,…
AnnaLaura Brown: things like that. So, when somebody’s looking at and they’re saying, “Okay, I’ve never tried CBD, but I kind of want to try it.” What would you say is one of the big key things that somebody should look at before they jump into any kind of CBD?
Ethan: Yeah, I would say in the supplement world in general,…
Ethan: it’s largely unregulated. So, not just CBD, but any supplements you try, you have to thoroughly vet the manufacturer. I mean, ask for the third party lab testing. make sure that the dosing is accurate and you’re actually getting what you’re paying making sure the source is pure and that the supplement you’re buying is authentic because there’s many companies out there that will cut corners and offer you maybe you’re getting magnesium, but the type of magnesium they’re encapsulating and giving you is not actually being absorbed by your body, for example. the same is true with CBD. it’s the wild wild west in the supplement industry. So, you have to be sure you can identify a source that you can trust.
Ethan: And quite frankly, that’s why I got involved with this space. When I moved back to Virginia from Colorado, you couldn’t CBD anywhere. And so, I either had to order it online or start making it myself. So, I chose the ladder. And I started making products out of the spare bedroom of my house. And, fast forward eight years later, we operate a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. We’re working with local organic farmers. we’re shipping products to all 50 states and even internationally. And it’s just a really exciting and awesome community that we’re building to help people feel better. And so the other thing I’ll mention is that there’s still a stigma attached to this clearly, People hear CBD and a lot of the times if they’re not familiar with it, they immediately think cannabis. And the two are CBD is completely non- intoxicating. all of my products are formulated with zero THC at all.
Ethan: There’s zero risk of negative side effects or…
Ethan: intoxication. In fact, it’s totally safe for kids. And quite frankly, I wish I had access to this when I was 13 years old because it would have made my journey a whole lot easier.
AnnaLaura Brown: Yeah,…
AnnaLaura Brown: absolutely. Yeah, and you’re right though. There is still kind of some of that stigma, people thinking, it’s going to get you high or make you fail a drug test and all this other stuff. And it’s like, no, that’s not…
AnnaLaura Brown: what it is. And that’s why people take CBD as opposed to the other forms of, the plant. Yeah.
Ethan: Yeah, exactly.
Ethan: There’s actually over 36 active ingredients in hemp or cannabis that we’re aware of. THC and CBD are just the two most wellknown. So if THC is the intoxicating version that people seek out at the dispensaries, CBD is the medicinal non- intoxicating form that helps relieve inflammation and people use it for all kinds of things. It’s been clinically shown to reduce anxiety. sleep. It helps with chronic pain management. And currently we’re actually in the latter stages of moving to forwards with a clinical trial with the University of Virginia for oral CBD for chronic pain management.
AnnaLaura Brown: Awesome.
Ethan: So more and more doctors are waking up to this. More and more doctors are recommending my product, which is amazing. and we’re continuing to push for research to learn more about this and how it functions in the body.
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s great. So, we will include the link to your website and…
AnnaLaura Brown: I know you gave me a code that people can go check out if they want to try out your CBD. So, we’ll definitely have a link to that. Any other places? You mentioned your Instagram, so we’ll make sure we link your Instagram for people to go check out. You have a main personal website or anything else for people to go learn more about you and connect with
Ethan: We’re working on that. So, I’m actually for the last year or so, I’ve been writing a book and I really want to just give a full picture of my story and my background and everything that I went through because I gave you a bird’s eye view of what I’ve been doing today, but I’m really writing on a deeper level that everything that I’ve been through and everything that I’ve done that have led me to this point in my life. And it’s a great story. if you’re dealing with pandas, I have parents all the time tell me, where you’re at today, your family, your business, it gives me hope for my child. And so, if that’s the message I can bring to people, that’s my purpose here on Earth. So, I’m coming out with this book here in the summer. And if you’d like to learn more about it, you can I think I’ve shared that link with you as well.
AnnaLaura Brown: Cool.
Ethan: You can go and just put your email in and I’ll shoot you an email when the book’s coming out. and so if you want to stay in touch with me, that’s a great way to do so.
AnnaLaura Brown: Yeah, we’ll make sure I get that information. We’ll link that below, Thanks so much for coming on Autoimmune Rehab. Nathan, anything else you wanted to share with us?
Ethan: We covered a lot. I think this was great and I just really appreciate what you’re doing. getting on these podcasts has been a great way to just network with other cool people and get the message of hope out there to those who are struggling with this. So, yeah, it’s Ethan Pandas on Instagram. I personally get all the direct messages,…
AnnaLaura Brown: That’s great.
Ethan: so if you want to reach out to me, feel free to do so. I’m here to help where I can.
AnnaLaura Brown: And if you are listening to this and you feel like there’s other people that could benefit from it, please don’t hesitate to share it. Please feel free to rate this podcast, leave us a review, and subscribe and follow for more episodes of Autoimmune Rehab. Thanks. Take care, and we will catch you soon on another episode.
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