Free Power Up Your Brain by David Perlmutter M. D., Alberto Villoldo Ph.d. Page A

cells of tissues to be more metabolically active. And, indeed, individual cells of the brain, skeletal muscle, heart, kidney, and liver may contain thousands of mitochondria, comprising in some cells up to 40 percent of the cellular material. According to Professor Enzo Nisoli of the University of Milan, a human adult possesses more than ten million billion mitochondria, making up a full 10 percent of the total body weight.
    So, while nuclear DNA’s main function is to provide the information your cells need to manufacture the various proteins that control the metabolism, repair, and structural integrity of your physical being, it is mitochondrial DNA that directs the production and utilization of your life energy. It determines the fate of every cell, tissue, and organ in your body and the energetic fate of your being as a whole.

     
    David:
An Energy Crisis
     
    “Where would you like to begin?” I asked “Susan” as I settled into my chair in the examining room.
    “Let me tell you. I have a whole list of problems,” she began as her mother, who had accompanied her from their home state several hundred miles away, looked on.
    “Perfect, because I am a ‘whole-listic’ doctor,” I replied, hoping to lighten her mood.
    Susan’s problems began about four years earlier, when she had just turned 40. She described her life before becoming ill as active and full. She had actually been quite an accomplished athlete while at the same time working full-time and raising two young children with her husband.
    Late in the summer she became suddenly quite ill with what she described as a “bad flu” that pretty much put her out of commission for the greater part of a week. The illness was accompanied by a fever that peaked out at 102 degrees. But it was unlike a normal flu, because after the fever and other symptoms like coughing and diarrhea had passed, she was still experiencing fatigue, even several weeks later.
    “I couldn’t take it anymore. I just couldn’t function,” she continued.
    Meeting the expectations of her previous active life became insurmountable, so, after a month of waiting it out, she visited her gynecologist, the only physician with whom she had a professional relationship. Blood tests indicated the need for a potent oral antibiotic, which she reluctantly but faithfully took. Two weeks later, Susan’s health had not improved.
    “Can you describe exactly how you were feeling at that point?” I asked.
    She proceeded to list her various complaints, ranging from “brain fog” to fatigue. “I could sleep for ten hours and still wake up tired,” she lamented. She went on to describe diffuse aching pain in her muscles and, to a lesser extent, pain in her joints as well.
    As is so often the case, Susan began a journey, visiting doctor after doctor who prescribed an extensive battery of medical tests, all of which provided no helpful revelations. She was told on more than one occasion that she should consider seeing a psychiatrist because no explanation was evident in the various physical tests.
    “All they did was give her antibiotics and steroids, over and over, and then tell her she was depressed,” her mother informed me. The look of frustration on the mother’s face rivaled that of her daughter.
    About 18 months before I saw Susan, she had visited a doctor in a nearby state who specialized in Lyme disease. Through extensive blood studies, the specialist confirmed that, indeed, Susan was suffering from chronic Lyme disease and prescribed an aggressive antibiotic program that would help her regain her health.
    “It was the first glimmer of hope for me,” Susan recounted.
    She was first placed on two powerful oral antibiotics that she took faithfully for the following six weeks. With no improvement in her condition, she was switched over to intravenous antibiotics after getting an access port installed in her chest to facilitate the administration. Antibiotics were infused intravenously