Podcast Transcription: 586: Ted’s Stem Cell Treatment Experience: 4-Week Follow Up

Ted Ryce: We've all heard the power of stem cells being heralded as this new thing, the medicine of the future, regenerative medicine. However, on February 17th, 2024, I decided to actually experience them for myself. And in today's episode, I'm going to give you the one month update because it's been four weeks since my Stem cell injections. 

So today I'm going to talk about what improvements I've noticed, how I'm feeling about the whole thing, what my expectations are, as well as my advice for you, if you're considering something like stem cells, so let's dive in. And what is up my friend, welcome back to the legendary life podcast. I'm your host, Ted Rice, health expert and coach to executives, entrepreneurs, and other high performing professionals. 

We produce this show for two reasons. One, I want to bring you the best fat loss and long term health optimization information on the internet. And the second is if you are a high performer, if you are that executive or entrepreneur, and you're looking to fast track your success in your health, because you've kind of put it to the side, as you've been growing your business, as you've been tending to your family, and you want help to make it happen quickly. 

You'll know who to hire.  

So let's get into it on February 17th. I had injections. As I said, I had injections in multiple different places in my body at dream body clinic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Why did I go there? Because I had the CEO and founder on my show and. The stories of some of his clients, as well as just Josh's vibe. 

He's a very sincere guy. And I'll say this right out the bat, he also has gotten treatments at his clinic. And I even saw a testimonial that his brother gave him from doing treatments at the clinic. So I've, you know, I don't know Josh that well, but I consider him to be a sincere. An honest person who really wants to help. 

Now, of course he runs a business. It's a for profit business, but, uh, I got a good vibe from the guy and I got really fascinated by the stories of people who have had stem cell treatments. And had a good outcome.  

On the other hand, there are a lot of vocal critics about stem cells. There are doctors and researchers who say it's just placebo, that it's experimental, that it's potentially dangerous, that we don't have long term studies. 

And so today I'm going to help you understand Stem cells a bit better as well through my experience as well as sharing what my experience has been. And the first thing I want to say is I don't take this lightly. I understand, I'm probably more aware than most that the vast majority of people sharing information on the internet about health and fitness. 

They're either Liars because they're just marketing and trying to make money. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make money or making money, but how we do it is. Really important. And there's also people, which for me, this is scarier. There's people who they're not, they may be making money or, you know, benefiting in some way, but they're true believers in what they say. 

And for me, that's scarier. Because they're wrong, but they're, they really believe in what they're talking about. And man, I would hate to be a person trying to figure out like, who the hell is right? This guy sounds so confident. This woman, she, she has all these credentials and she's saying this thing, but it sounds crazy, but I don't know. 

Is it real? Is it not? And we all have hope, right? We all want to be in our best health. We all, we all want that. Wow. Is it hard to figure things out? So I want to tell you, I do this video with, you know, I feel a sense of responsibility, a tremendous responsibility to share with you accurate and let's say a balanced perspective information that is accurate. 

And then when I'm giving my perspective, I want it to be balanced. And so that's my goal for today's episode. So with that said, let's dive in.  

So it went to Puerto Vallarta again, February 17th. I had, and I want to make a correction here. I had stem cell injections in my neck, my both shoulders, both wrists, all my knuckles of both hands. 

But my low back, both hips, both knees, my right foot and my left ankle, a lot to remember. And I had intravenous stem cell therapy. It's not really a correction, but in addition, I had also, when they injected stem cells into my cervical spine, so my neck and my low back, two different places, they also added. 

PRP, which is the acronym for platelet rich plasma and platelet rich plasma is something I'm going to talk about a little bit later when it comes to making recommendations. So let's dive in.  

So I had all that, all that treatment and I want to. Summarize the progress for you. So in my first update, which was 15 days after treatment, I was still a bit sore from the injections, which is normal because these aren't what are called intramuscular injections. 

Like what they might like when I had a tetanus shot, they shoot it into your shoulder, or if you get the flu shot, something like that. These are intra articular injections. In other words, the needles are long enough to get into the joints because they need to be long enough to get into the joints. And my point in saying that is it's a bit, it's minimally invasive. 

It's not a surgery, but it is something that is. Let's say traumatic, right? And you will need to recover from speaking from experience there. So it was quite achy, quite achy for the first few days. And it's gotten better. And one thing that I will tell you right out the bat is that If you're in better health, you're going to recover faster, whether you have surgery, whether you have cortisone injections, which please don't get those, whether you have stem cell injections, whether you have PRP, doesn't matter. 

So the first thing I want to say is like, you can't expect any of these treatments to save you. If you're in poor health, you need to focus on the big blocks. If you've got a belly, get rid of it. If you're not exercising regularly, don't think that any of this is going to magically cure you and you don't have to change anything else. 

Because the more unhealthy you are, the more risk that comes with getting injections, and the slower you're going to recover, generally speaking. Again, I'm not a doctor, but from what I've read, that's what the literature says. So now let me talk about improvements 15 days out. I didn't really notice anything. 

It's like, yeah, well, I noticed a little bit, but it was difficult to distinguish because it had been 15 days. I got injections. So my joints were still a little bit achy. They were aching in a different way than usual because I was actually kind of feeling better in a way too. And what I mean is this. 

I've got a lot of joint issues, otherwise I wouldn't have had all these stem cell injections. And I took a break after the stem cell injections from doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is quite hard on your body. And I also took a break from lifting weights, which while lifting weights isn't necessarily hard on your body, if you already have joint injuries like I do, you have to be more careful. 

And if you have a joint injury or chronic. Joint pains, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You got to be more careful. Can't just go in there and throw weight around and walk out like nothing. You'll, you'll be aching afterward.  

So now a month later, it's very clear. I'm experiencing improvements. And as I said in the beginning, one of the biggest criticisms about stem cell treatments is that it's placebo. 

I think that's a really lazy. It, I understand why people say that. And when I say people, I don't mean like Joe Bob from accounting, right? I'm talking about like researchers and scientists saying, Hey, listen, this is placebo. And what they're doing is they're looking at the research and the research, although there's quite a lot of research on STEM cells, and there's quite a lot of research on STEM cells for joint issues. 

The level of evidence that we have currently, is it that strong compared to say something like platelet rich plasma? Again, I'm going to talk about PRP or platelet rich plasma a bit later. So I understand their criticism with that, but saying that it's placebo is quite lazy, I think. I don't think we have enough evidence to say it's placebo is probably the best way of saying it. 

I'm noticing a difference that goes way beyond placebo. That goes way beyond just what would happen if I took a month off of exercise. In fact, usually what happens is I feel worse. The less exercise that I do, the more my joints hurt. And so every day I feel this, like, if you've ever wondered, why do you stay so consistent? 

Ted was like, I'm in pain if I don't do this. So, um, I have that motivation where like, Oh, I have to do this so that my joints feel better. I have to do some exercise every day so my joints feel better. And I'm feeling like even with less exercise because I'm only doing these physical therapy exercises. 

I'm not doing cardio. Cardio usually helps a lot for joint aches and pains. I'm feeling good. And I want to say this again, as I mentioned, I have PRP in my cervical spine and my lumbar spine. So my neck and my low back, those are feeling better. My neck. I usually have to do these exercises to. make my neck feel good. 

And if I skip them, like lazy, I've been a little bit lazy recently. If I skip them, my neck starts aching. Now, again, I have all these techniques and tactics that I've learned over the years and I feel in one of the reasons, one of my goals with stem cell injections was to lessen the amount of time that I need to do all these freaking exercises just so I can not be in pain. 

And so that I can do things that I love. So I'm doing less of that in my next feeling better. Very unusual. My low back, it was really hurting. Um, it's been hurting for, let's say the past, past couple, past month, really. When, when I was doing jujitsu, jujitsu just places you in these. You know, you get really bent over, it requires a ton of flexibility and if you have a disc herniation that pushing your, your spine into what are called in ranges of flexibility, it can of course cause issues. 

So, my low back is feeling a lot better and it's been hurting up until maybe a week ago and so I'm really starting to notice. And so not only is there less pain. But there's also less of the sciatica, or the nerve symptoms that are down my left leg. Now, those two places had PRP as well, and as I'll talk about a bit later, PRP does have, compared to stem cells, has a ton of evidence showing that it works. 

Not for everyone, not for all conditions. If you've got no cartilage in your knees, it might not work for you. But as we'll talk about a little bit later, PRP is, is, uh, something that has a lot more evidence, a lot higher quality evidence showing that it works. But my hands are feeling better and I have arthritis in my hands. 

I've had some injuries. Don't need to go into the full drama, but just take my word that. Playing musical instruments, uh, combined with doing jujitsu. It's really common. If you Google jujitsu fingers, you'll see what I mean. It's very common to have finger injuries or wrist injuries in jujitsu. So, and I've been doing martial arts for a really long time in skateboarding. 

Don't do skateboarding anymore. But so, so I'm noticing a difference in my thumbs. My thumbs were bothering me when I was using my phone and it would be a bit fluctuating. It would be, you know, it hurt some days and feel better some days. And it wasn't quite clear what was influencing that beyond just, you know, being more active typically helps. 

But now I'm like, okay, there's, I feel a difference. I was carrying my groceries home today because I like to stay in areas where I can walk to go get groceries and walk back. It's part of how I get my steps in every day. And I'm like, wow, my shoulders, my, um, fingers. My, my thumbs, they're all feeling better. 

They're all feeling different. So that was pretty cool. My knees are also something that I'm noticing a lot of difference in and very interesting. I was told a dream body clinic when the doctor was looking at my MRIs, he said, Oh, your, your right knee is actually worse than your left. And if I would have gone to a physical therapist and they would have done some assessments, I might not have believed them. 

I'm like, how do you know that man? You know, because my left is the one that bothers me a lot more than my right. But to dr eric's point, the doctor at dream body clinic, my left knee is feeling a lot better and my right knee. I'm starting to, I thought my left knee was the bad one and my right knee was the good one. 

But now I'm starting to realize. Yeah, what he was saying, there's more issues with the ligaments in the right knee than the left. Now, the, the left has some arthritis, but the right has both arthritis and some ligament issues. And I'm, I'm starting to understand, like, I'm understanding that or experiencing is a better way. 

I'm understanding it through the experience. In fact, I had a little bit of a flare up in my right knee because I moved beyond the physical therapy exercises that they gave me a dream body clinic, and I've expanded on them, and I felt a little bit of a flare up in my right knee, not uncommon, but I experienced no flare up in my left knee. 

So it was very interesting. I'm noticing a difference and I would not say it's placebo. Not that I'm impervious to the placebo effect. I don't believe any of us are, but I didn't, I'll be honest with, I'll just say it like this. I wasn't expecting much from the stem cells. Obviously I didn't do it saying, ah, this isn't going to work, but I'm going to just going to do it. 

But after I got it and I was in, you know, it was so achy afterward from the injections. I was like, oh man, you know, this, this is going to work. I don't even know if this is going to work. I was feeling that's how I was feeling, but now I'm like, okay, this is working. And well, how well is it going to work is the question now. 

So, so that's, that's what I have in terms of improvements. It's pretty interesting. And I'm feeling, let's say I can't say I'm feeling five years younger. And it's hard to even say something like that. Cause I've been dealing with some of these issues for a lot longer than five years or even 10 years. But I'm noticing improvements in every joint that was treated, except for maybe my toes, my big toes, they're still a little sore, uh, and that's from just walking around. 

I have to really be careful with, I'm not getting 10, 000 steps. Because I don't want my toes to hurt. So, so they're, they're, they're still recovering a little bit.  

So let's see, let me think about any, uh, changes I've had in my daily routine. Other than I've, I've been really focused on just taking care of myself and I'm giving myself a period of grace to not rush back into. 

Jiu jitsu or to strength training. I'm just, I want to heal and then I'm being very careful. So that's how I've adjusted my routines. I'm being slow. I'm going to jujitsu for the first time tomorrow, but I'm not going to go hard. I'm only going to practice techniques. And we might do a tiny bit of sparring depending on how I feel, but I won't get into details, but it'll be light and I'm doing a private lesson. 

So I'll be able to control the pace. So yeah, that's it. As far as, uh, you know, that's concerned the improvements.  

I would say one thing again, I want to come back to that PRP because I can't tell you like, Hey, go get stem cell treatments. I can tell you that I trust Josh. I trust I had a good experience at. 

Uh, dream body clinic. I, it seems that, you know, the issues that can be, that can happen with the delivery method of STEM cells, you know, they did a good job. I didn't have any issues and I felt like the staff there was well trained. And let me tell you what I mean by this. One of the issues like with a stem cell IV is getting an embolism, but that happens as my doctor friend explained it, that happens when they, that happens because they did it wrong, right? 

So people have issues with these things with IVs when, uh, When it's done improperly. So you need to go to a place where you're like, okay, this staff is solid. This, you need to trust people with your health. And that's why I started off this episode by saying, I, I appreciate you trusting me enough to listen to this and to hear my words, because I know I'm going to influence you. 

One way or another, you know, and it's a big responsibility. I don't take it lightly. So I can't say, Hey, go get stem cell treatments, bro. They're amazing. I am noticing improvements, but I can't say, you know, I want to hold my, what do you call it? Judgments until later. My final judgment, you know, until later. 

Right. I want to give myself some more time to think about this, to read more about, you know, stem cells. I've been reading a lot about it. One thing I do want to say though, is if you are struggling, so two big takeaways, I already mentioned this one, take care of your health. Stem cells will be part of the future. 

It's just how they'll be part of the future. And there's exciting emerging treatments coming out, but you need to take care of yourself. It's worth saying it again. Okay. I'm going to drill it into your head. You got to take care of yourself and that's through the right exercise, losing excess body fat, dialing in your sleep and stress management. 

You can't skip that stuff. And the other takeaway is this. If you are suffering from some joint issues, PRP right away. I mean, obviously I'm not going to sway you to, for this episode to sell you or not sell you on STEM cells. I think it's one of those things if you're like me and you start Googling and you start reading about things, you're like, I'm just going to wait on this. 

I'm going to read a bit more. I mean, it took me months before I, Agreed to go do it. So I'm thinking you're the same way. However, what I would tell you, something that you could try right away, provided a doctor clears you and you don't have to leave the United States for this, but you do have to find a good clinic. 

is doing platelet rich plasma injections. If you're experiencing joint pains, if you've got arthritis, please don't get cortisone injections. Okay. Again, that's not medical advice. I'm not a doctor, but cortisone injections have complications there. It's not helping you heal, but platelet rich plasma will help you heal. 

However, it needs to be done properly. And some people Jeffrey Ping on YouTube is a great source of information on, on platelet rich plasma. Um, he talks about like how some of these kits that doctors buy at these clinics, they're not evidence based. In other words, there are studies, as I mentioned earlier, showing platelet rich plasma is important, but it needs to be at the right dose. 

It needs to be guided through by intra, uh, um, intra ultrasound. In other words, you don't get some doctor who's like, nah, I've done a bunch of injections. Let me just inject you here. Hopefully that doesn't happen. I don't know if any stories like that, but you just want to make sure things are being done appropriately to give you the best result. 

And Jeffrey Pang, someone who I'm going to reach out to and hopefully get them on the podcast to talk about PRP. And by the way, that's what they did at DreamBody Clinic. It was injections guided by ultrasound. So, things need to be done properly. But PRP is something you could look into right now and even go do, provided you were cleared medically to get it, and you know, you're low risk of infection, etc. 

That's something you should look into immediately. And, um, what else can I say? Those are the two big takeaways. And, you know, um, I've got, so my personal insights are like, look, it's working, it's too early to say too much stem cell therapy. There's a lot of research on it, but it's, it's a more powerful treatment than say PRP. 

But it's also, it's also, it's not clear long term, you know, how safe is it seems pretty safe, but it's not without risks and, you know, the mental and emotional response to the changes. I'm feeling pretty good, but I've had some, you know, when I was looking, looking at our reading about stem cells to do this video or to do this podcast episode, I was like, oh man, you know, You know, you read about some of the bad experiences that have happened to people going to unreputable clinics. 

You're like, Oh my gosh. So yeah, it's something that it's, it's not only just a consideration for physical health, but mental health too. And so all in all, I'm feeling good. And, uh, what am I expecting? I expect that the changes will keep happening and I'll update you on them. And I don't have any evaluations or treatments plan, but I will do this. 

Oh, and I want to say this as well with dream body clinic. I continue to reach out with them and they're very responsive. So it wasn't like I got the treatment there and they ditched me and they're like, Oh, we got your money and we gave you what you paid for. So good luck. They've been very responsive. 

Josh in particular. So I really appreciate that. Josh comes across in his actions, not just what he says, but his actions like he cares. And one of the things I want to do is I'm going to, I've decided to get my blood work done, you know, every month or two, just to see like, are there any other interesting changes? 

On my blood work as, you know, recovery progresses, and of course I'm going to, you know, I've been not going to go into it, but I saw a couple of things on my blood work that I didn't like that had nothing to do with the stem cells, by the way, but I'm very curious of to see like internally what's going on. 

So, uh, that's it for this episode. The big key points are number one, regardless of whatever technologies. Emerge, including stem cells or whatever you think you might want to do. You have to still take care of yourself. Number two, stem cells. I don't believe it's placebo. It's, I believe from my experience, it's, it's working. 

It's a noticeable reduction in pain and inflammation and an improvement in function. Three, PRP is something that, let's say, if I experience no further improvement from the stem cells, like if it stopped working, I would go get PRP right away. I won't do it because I don't, I don't want to cloud the results. 

And as I said, I got PRP in my neck and my back because that's what dream body clinic for your back and neck. That's what they do, but it's something that I would get immediately. I would reach out and contact a doctor immediately. I would find a reputable clinic, make sure that they're doing ultrasound guided injections and PRP at the right dosage, not the bullshit kits that get sold. 

And yeah, those are the three big takeaways that I would say. Uh, so just want to express my gratitude for you to you. Uh, for following my journey, really thank you for being here and supporting the podcast. It's what allows me to go and do these things and to report back. And uh, if you are just tuning in for the first time and you find this interesting, make sure you subscribe, follow, or share this episode with someone who's curious about stem cell treatments. 

And appreciates the approach that I'm not like, it's magical, man, just get it. It'll change your life. You know, appreciates that. I'm not trying to market, I'm trying to really provide. An honest assessment of the experience and my thoughts about it. So if that's something you are interested in, you know, other people are interested as well. 

The best thing you can do is to share the episode. That's what helps the podcast the most. That is it. Stay tuned for future updates and I will speak to you soon. 

Podcast Transcription: 586: Ted’s Stem Cell Treatment Experience: 4-Week Follow Up

Ted Ryce: We've all heard the power of stem cells being heralded as this new thing, the medicine of the future, regenerative medicine. However, on February 17th, 2024, I decided to actually experience them for myself. And in today's episode, I'm going to give you the one month update because it's been four weeks since my Stem cell injections. 

So today I'm going to talk about what improvements I've noticed, how I'm feeling about the whole thing, what my expectations are, as well as my advice for you, if you're considering something like stem cells, so let's dive in. And what is up my friend, welcome back to the legendary life podcast. I'm your host, Ted Rice, health expert and coach to executives, entrepreneurs, and other high performing professionals. 

We produce this show for two reasons. One, I want to bring you the best fat loss and long term health optimization information on the internet. And the second is if you are a high performer, if you are that executive or entrepreneur, and you're looking to fast track your success in your health, because you've kind of put it to the side, as you've been growing your business, as you've been tending to your family, and you want help to make it happen quickly. 

You'll know who to hire.  

So let's get into it on February 17th. I had injections. As I said, I had injections in multiple different places in my body at dream body clinic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Why did I go there? Because I had the CEO and founder on my show and. The stories of some of his clients, as well as just Josh's vibe. 

He's a very sincere guy. And I'll say this right out the bat, he also has gotten treatments at his clinic. And I even saw a testimonial that his brother gave him from doing treatments at the clinic. So I've, you know, I don't know Josh that well, but I consider him to be a sincere. An honest person who really wants to help. 

Now, of course he runs a business. It's a for profit business, but, uh, I got a good vibe from the guy and I got really fascinated by the stories of people who have had stem cell treatments. And had a good outcome.  

On the other hand, there are a lot of vocal critics about stem cells. There are doctors and researchers who say it's just placebo, that it's experimental, that it's potentially dangerous, that we don't have long term studies. 

And so today I'm going to help you understand Stem cells a bit better as well through my experience as well as sharing what my experience has been. And the first thing I want to say is I don't take this lightly. I understand, I'm probably more aware than most that the vast majority of people sharing information on the internet about health and fitness. 

They're either Liars because they're just marketing and trying to make money. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make money or making money, but how we do it is. Really important. And there's also people, which for me, this is scarier. There's people who they're not, they may be making money or, you know, benefiting in some way, but they're true believers in what they say. 

And for me, that's scarier. Because they're wrong, but they're, they really believe in what they're talking about. And man, I would hate to be a person trying to figure out like, who the hell is right? This guy sounds so confident. This woman, she, she has all these credentials and she's saying this thing, but it sounds crazy, but I don't know. 

Is it real? Is it not? And we all have hope, right? We all want to be in our best health. We all, we all want that. Wow. Is it hard to figure things out? So I want to tell you, I do this video with, you know, I feel a sense of responsibility, a tremendous responsibility to share with you accurate and let's say a balanced perspective information that is accurate. 

And then when I'm giving my perspective, I want it to be balanced. And so that's my goal for today's episode. So with that said, let's dive in.  

So it went to Puerto Vallarta again, February 17th. I had, and I want to make a correction here. I had stem cell injections in my neck, my both shoulders, both wrists, all my knuckles of both hands. 

But my low back, both hips, both knees, my right foot and my left ankle, a lot to remember. And I had intravenous stem cell therapy. It's not really a correction, but in addition, I had also, when they injected stem cells into my cervical spine, so my neck and my low back, two different places, they also added. 

PRP, which is the acronym for platelet rich plasma and platelet rich plasma is something I'm going to talk about a little bit later when it comes to making recommendations. So let's dive in.  

So I had all that, all that treatment and I want to. Summarize the progress for you. So in my first update, which was 15 days after treatment, I was still a bit sore from the injections, which is normal because these aren't what are called intramuscular injections. 

Like what they might like when I had a tetanus shot, they shoot it into your shoulder, or if you get the flu shot, something like that. These are intra articular injections. In other words, the needles are long enough to get into the joints because they need to be long enough to get into the joints. And my point in saying that is it's a bit, it's minimally invasive. 

It's not a surgery, but it is something that is. Let's say traumatic, right? And you will need to recover from speaking from experience there. So it was quite achy, quite achy for the first few days. And it's gotten better. And one thing that I will tell you right out the bat is that If you're in better health, you're going to recover faster, whether you have surgery, whether you have cortisone injections, which please don't get those, whether you have stem cell injections, whether you have PRP, doesn't matter. 

So the first thing I want to say is like, you can't expect any of these treatments to save you. If you're in poor health, you need to focus on the big blocks. If you've got a belly, get rid of it. If you're not exercising regularly, don't think that any of this is going to magically cure you and you don't have to change anything else. 

Because the more unhealthy you are, the more risk that comes with getting injections, and the slower you're going to recover, generally speaking. Again, I'm not a doctor, but from what I've read, that's what the literature says. So now let me talk about improvements 15 days out. I didn't really notice anything. 

It's like, yeah, well, I noticed a little bit, but it was difficult to distinguish because it had been 15 days. I got injections. So my joints were still a little bit achy. They were aching in a different way than usual because I was actually kind of feeling better in a way too. And what I mean is this. 

I've got a lot of joint issues, otherwise I wouldn't have had all these stem cell injections. And I took a break after the stem cell injections from doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is quite hard on your body. And I also took a break from lifting weights, which while lifting weights isn't necessarily hard on your body, if you already have joint injuries like I do, you have to be more careful. 

And if you have a joint injury or chronic. Joint pains, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You got to be more careful. Can't just go in there and throw weight around and walk out like nothing. You'll, you'll be aching afterward.  

So now a month later, it's very clear. I'm experiencing improvements. And as I said in the beginning, one of the biggest criticisms about stem cell treatments is that it's placebo. 

I think that's a really lazy. It, I understand why people say that. And when I say people, I don't mean like Joe Bob from accounting, right? I'm talking about like researchers and scientists saying, Hey, listen, this is placebo. And what they're doing is they're looking at the research and the research, although there's quite a lot of research on STEM cells, and there's quite a lot of research on STEM cells for joint issues. 

The level of evidence that we have currently, is it that strong compared to say something like platelet rich plasma? Again, I'm going to talk about PRP or platelet rich plasma a bit later. So I understand their criticism with that, but saying that it's placebo is quite lazy, I think. I don't think we have enough evidence to say it's placebo is probably the best way of saying it. 

I'm noticing a difference that goes way beyond placebo. That goes way beyond just what would happen if I took a month off of exercise. In fact, usually what happens is I feel worse. The less exercise that I do, the more my joints hurt. And so every day I feel this, like, if you've ever wondered, why do you stay so consistent? 

Ted was like, I'm in pain if I don't do this. So, um, I have that motivation where like, Oh, I have to do this so that my joints feel better. I have to do some exercise every day so my joints feel better. And I'm feeling like even with less exercise because I'm only doing these physical therapy exercises. 

I'm not doing cardio. Cardio usually helps a lot for joint aches and pains. I'm feeling good. And I want to say this again, as I mentioned, I have PRP in my cervical spine and my lumbar spine. So my neck and my low back, those are feeling better. My neck. I usually have to do these exercises to. make my neck feel good. 

And if I skip them, like lazy, I've been a little bit lazy recently. If I skip them, my neck starts aching. Now, again, I have all these techniques and tactics that I've learned over the years and I feel in one of the reasons, one of my goals with stem cell injections was to lessen the amount of time that I need to do all these freaking exercises just so I can not be in pain. 

And so that I can do things that I love. So I'm doing less of that in my next feeling better. Very unusual. My low back, it was really hurting. Um, it's been hurting for, let's say the past, past couple, past month, really. When, when I was doing jujitsu, jujitsu just places you in these. You know, you get really bent over, it requires a ton of flexibility and if you have a disc herniation that pushing your, your spine into what are called in ranges of flexibility, it can of course cause issues. 

So, my low back is feeling a lot better and it's been hurting up until maybe a week ago and so I'm really starting to notice. And so not only is there less pain. But there's also less of the sciatica, or the nerve symptoms that are down my left leg. Now, those two places had PRP as well, and as I'll talk about a bit later, PRP does have, compared to stem cells, has a ton of evidence showing that it works. 

Not for everyone, not for all conditions. If you've got no cartilage in your knees, it might not work for you. But as we'll talk about a little bit later, PRP is, is, uh, something that has a lot more evidence, a lot higher quality evidence showing that it works. But my hands are feeling better and I have arthritis in my hands. 

I've had some injuries. Don't need to go into the full drama, but just take my word that. Playing musical instruments, uh, combined with doing jujitsu. It's really common. If you Google jujitsu fingers, you'll see what I mean. It's very common to have finger injuries or wrist injuries in jujitsu. So, and I've been doing martial arts for a really long time in skateboarding. 

Don't do skateboarding anymore. But so, so I'm noticing a difference in my thumbs. My thumbs were bothering me when I was using my phone and it would be a bit fluctuating. It would be, you know, it hurt some days and feel better some days. And it wasn't quite clear what was influencing that beyond just, you know, being more active typically helps. 

But now I'm like, okay, there's, I feel a difference. I was carrying my groceries home today because I like to stay in areas where I can walk to go get groceries and walk back. It's part of how I get my steps in every day. And I'm like, wow, my shoulders, my, um, fingers. My, my thumbs, they're all feeling better. 

They're all feeling different. So that was pretty cool. My knees are also something that I'm noticing a lot of difference in and very interesting. I was told a dream body clinic when the doctor was looking at my MRIs, he said, Oh, your, your right knee is actually worse than your left. And if I would have gone to a physical therapist and they would have done some assessments, I might not have believed them. 

I'm like, how do you know that man? You know, because my left is the one that bothers me a lot more than my right. But to dr eric's point, the doctor at dream body clinic, my left knee is feeling a lot better and my right knee. I'm starting to, I thought my left knee was the bad one and my right knee was the good one. 

But now I'm starting to realize. Yeah, what he was saying, there's more issues with the ligaments in the right knee than the left. Now, the, the left has some arthritis, but the right has both arthritis and some ligament issues. And I'm, I'm starting to understand, like, I'm understanding that or experiencing is a better way. 

I'm understanding it through the experience. In fact, I had a little bit of a flare up in my right knee because I moved beyond the physical therapy exercises that they gave me a dream body clinic, and I've expanded on them, and I felt a little bit of a flare up in my right knee, not uncommon, but I experienced no flare up in my left knee. 

So it was very interesting. I'm noticing a difference and I would not say it's placebo. Not that I'm impervious to the placebo effect. I don't believe any of us are, but I didn't, I'll be honest with, I'll just say it like this. I wasn't expecting much from the stem cells. Obviously I didn't do it saying, ah, this isn't going to work, but I'm going to just going to do it. 

But after I got it and I was in, you know, it was so achy afterward from the injections. I was like, oh man, you know, this, this is going to work. I don't even know if this is going to work. I was feeling that's how I was feeling, but now I'm like, okay, this is working. And well, how well is it going to work is the question now. 

So, so that's, that's what I have in terms of improvements. It's pretty interesting. And I'm feeling, let's say I can't say I'm feeling five years younger. And it's hard to even say something like that. Cause I've been dealing with some of these issues for a lot longer than five years or even 10 years. But I'm noticing improvements in every joint that was treated, except for maybe my toes, my big toes, they're still a little sore, uh, and that's from just walking around. 

I have to really be careful with, I'm not getting 10, 000 steps. Because I don't want my toes to hurt. So, so they're, they're, they're still recovering a little bit.  

So let's see, let me think about any, uh, changes I've had in my daily routine. Other than I've, I've been really focused on just taking care of myself and I'm giving myself a period of grace to not rush back into. 

Jiu jitsu or to strength training. I'm just, I want to heal and then I'm being very careful. So that's how I've adjusted my routines. I'm being slow. I'm going to jujitsu for the first time tomorrow, but I'm not going to go hard. I'm only going to practice techniques. And we might do a tiny bit of sparring depending on how I feel, but I won't get into details, but it'll be light and I'm doing a private lesson. 

So I'll be able to control the pace. So yeah, that's it. As far as, uh, you know, that's concerned the improvements.  

I would say one thing again, I want to come back to that PRP because I can't tell you like, Hey, go get stem cell treatments. I can tell you that I trust Josh. I trust I had a good experience at. 

Uh, dream body clinic. I, it seems that, you know, the issues that can be, that can happen with the delivery method of STEM cells, you know, they did a good job. I didn't have any issues and I felt like the staff there was well trained. And let me tell you what I mean by this. One of the issues like with a stem cell IV is getting an embolism, but that happens as my doctor friend explained it, that happens when they, that happens because they did it wrong, right? 

So people have issues with these things with IVs when, uh, When it's done improperly. So you need to go to a place where you're like, okay, this staff is solid. This, you need to trust people with your health. And that's why I started off this episode by saying, I, I appreciate you trusting me enough to listen to this and to hear my words, because I know I'm going to influence you. 

One way or another, you know, and it's a big responsibility. I don't take it lightly. So I can't say, Hey, go get stem cell treatments, bro. They're amazing. I am noticing improvements, but I can't say, you know, I want to hold my, what do you call it? Judgments until later. My final judgment, you know, until later. 

Right. I want to give myself some more time to think about this, to read more about, you know, stem cells. I've been reading a lot about it. One thing I do want to say though, is if you are struggling, so two big takeaways, I already mentioned this one, take care of your health. Stem cells will be part of the future. 

It's just how they'll be part of the future. And there's exciting emerging treatments coming out, but you need to take care of yourself. It's worth saying it again. Okay. I'm going to drill it into your head. You got to take care of yourself and that's through the right exercise, losing excess body fat, dialing in your sleep and stress management. 

You can't skip that stuff. And the other takeaway is this. If you are suffering from some joint issues, PRP right away. I mean, obviously I'm not going to sway you to, for this episode to sell you or not sell you on STEM cells. I think it's one of those things if you're like me and you start Googling and you start reading about things, you're like, I'm just going to wait on this. 

I'm going to read a bit more. I mean, it took me months before I, Agreed to go do it. So I'm thinking you're the same way. However, what I would tell you, something that you could try right away, provided a doctor clears you and you don't have to leave the United States for this, but you do have to find a good clinic. 

is doing platelet rich plasma injections. If you're experiencing joint pains, if you've got arthritis, please don't get cortisone injections. Okay. Again, that's not medical advice. I'm not a doctor, but cortisone injections have complications there. It's not helping you heal, but platelet rich plasma will help you heal. 

However, it needs to be done properly. And some people Jeffrey Ping on YouTube is a great source of information on, on platelet rich plasma. Um, he talks about like how some of these kits that doctors buy at these clinics, they're not evidence based. In other words, there are studies, as I mentioned earlier, showing platelet rich plasma is important, but it needs to be at the right dose. 

It needs to be guided through by intra, uh, um, intra ultrasound. In other words, you don't get some doctor who's like, nah, I've done a bunch of injections. Let me just inject you here. Hopefully that doesn't happen. I don't know if any stories like that, but you just want to make sure things are being done appropriately to give you the best result. 

And Jeffrey Pang, someone who I'm going to reach out to and hopefully get them on the podcast to talk about PRP. And by the way, that's what they did at DreamBody Clinic. It was injections guided by ultrasound. So, things need to be done properly. But PRP is something you could look into right now and even go do, provided you were cleared medically to get it, and you know, you're low risk of infection, etc. 

That's something you should look into immediately. And, um, what else can I say? Those are the two big takeaways. And, you know, um, I've got, so my personal insights are like, look, it's working, it's too early to say too much stem cell therapy. There's a lot of research on it, but it's, it's a more powerful treatment than say PRP. 

But it's also, it's also, it's not clear long term, you know, how safe is it seems pretty safe, but it's not without risks and, you know, the mental and emotional response to the changes. I'm feeling pretty good, but I've had some, you know, when I was looking, looking at our reading about stem cells to do this video or to do this podcast episode, I was like, oh man, you know, You know, you read about some of the bad experiences that have happened to people going to unreputable clinics. 

You're like, Oh my gosh. So yeah, it's something that it's, it's not only just a consideration for physical health, but mental health too. And so all in all, I'm feeling good. And, uh, what am I expecting? I expect that the changes will keep happening and I'll update you on them. And I don't have any evaluations or treatments plan, but I will do this. 

Oh, and I want to say this as well with dream body clinic. I continue to reach out with them and they're very responsive. So it wasn't like I got the treatment there and they ditched me and they're like, Oh, we got your money and we gave you what you paid for. So good luck. They've been very responsive. 

Josh in particular. So I really appreciate that. Josh comes across in his actions, not just what he says, but his actions like he cares. And one of the things I want to do is I'm going to, I've decided to get my blood work done, you know, every month or two, just to see like, are there any other interesting changes? 

On my blood work as, you know, recovery progresses, and of course I'm going to, you know, I've been not going to go into it, but I saw a couple of things on my blood work that I didn't like that had nothing to do with the stem cells, by the way, but I'm very curious of to see like internally what's going on. 

So, uh, that's it for this episode. The big key points are number one, regardless of whatever technologies. Emerge, including stem cells or whatever you think you might want to do. You have to still take care of yourself. Number two, stem cells. I don't believe it's placebo. It's, I believe from my experience, it's, it's working. 

It's a noticeable reduction in pain and inflammation and an improvement in function. Three, PRP is something that, let's say, if I experience no further improvement from the stem cells, like if it stopped working, I would go get PRP right away. I won't do it because I don't, I don't want to cloud the results. 

And as I said, I got PRP in my neck and my back because that's what dream body clinic for your back and neck. That's what they do, but it's something that I would get immediately. I would reach out and contact a doctor immediately. I would find a reputable clinic, make sure that they're doing ultrasound guided injections and PRP at the right dosage, not the bullshit kits that get sold. 

And yeah, those are the three big takeaways that I would say. Uh, so just want to express my gratitude for you to you. Uh, for following my journey, really thank you for being here and supporting the podcast. It's what allows me to go and do these things and to report back. And uh, if you are just tuning in for the first time and you find this interesting, make sure you subscribe, follow, or share this episode with someone who's curious about stem cell treatments. 

And appreciates the approach that I'm not like, it's magical, man, just get it. It'll change your life. You know, appreciates that. I'm not trying to market, I'm trying to really provide. An honest assessment of the experience and my thoughts about it. So if that's something you are interested in, you know, other people are interested as well. 

The best thing you can do is to share the episode. That's what helps the podcast the most. That is it. Stay tuned for future updates and I will speak to you soon.