Transcripts
Well, Cassandra, welcome to the Acrescent Podcast.
Cassandra Gray (:thank you so much, Leigh Ann. So happy to be here with you. Just such a a true pleasure.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:This it's so fun because we of course have talked so many times off air and in person and in casual settings and over dinners. So it's almost a little goofy to be in a more formal setting, but I'm sure we'll make it as goofy and fun as we do all of our conversations.
Cassandra Gray (:Yes, somehow I will survive.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:I know, I know. It's such torture. I we had talked about wanting to have you on. I've already announced to my clients and my audience that I'll be moving my office inside of Helixona come September. And a huge part of introducing my clients to this change is helping them understand why Helixona is so amazing, so amazing, such that I want my office to be in that setting with that team and be a part of what you're doing over there. And so I think what better way than to
have you on to go really in depth to what's going on over there. But what I'll rewind us back to is a little bit of an introduction to you and the origin story of what brought you to co-founding Helixona.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah, it's it's a fun story. You know, it's been quite a ride. It was really I I got sick is really the answer. And I tried everything and I traveled to different doctors and I, you know, tried all sorts of modalities and went out of the country trying to get better and really was so frustrated just by the entire process and how there wasn't
A one clinic that I could have it all taken care of that wasn't milli made for millionaires, basically, you know, where it wasn't this huge out-of-pocket expense. And so I met some doctors at one of the clinics that I was going to and you know and became friends with them and just kind of said, Hey guys, what if what if we could
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:have all the things that really make a difference in healing. Not the things that are so so I tried it, it didn't work, but the things that really make a huge impact under one roof. And what if we build insurance for everything we could possibly get covered so that we could treat patients more than just the rich people? That of course we love our rich people, but I want at least the middle class, let's give them a chance to be able to
get this kind of treatment and get better from this chronic illness. Because the other path is, you know, here's some drugs. We're gonna treat your symptoms. And, you know, what about the root cause? And, you know, the traditional medical system says we can only treat your symptoms. And and that was so devastating to me that I, you know, I would sit in there and and dream up the clinic that I wanted.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah, as a patient. I think it's also worth saying for the audience who doesn't know you, of course, all of your Helixona team, you know, they'll they'll all know that you have a long history of healthcare management and building healthcare facilities and systems that really are impactful. What I think is so unique about this is Helixona is your baby, you know, you and Dr. Bakeman and Dr. Dranikov's baby. So you got to really do things.
The exact way that you would want to. But I think it's important for the audience to know that you have a long history in healthcare management or any other terms that you might use to describe that.
Cassandra Gray (:I I do. I do twenty-five years of healthcare management in different capacities. And you know, it's I've I've built clinics for other people and I've I've worked with software companies within the healthcare space. I've done tons of turnaround turnarounds at medical clinics, at medical spas. I've I've done all the jobs within the business side of healthcare.
And and it really that was such a great training ground to be able to know what I could do to impact the operations and be able to bill insurance and be able to build the systems that can make it where we can try and make it as affordable as possible for our patients. And so, you know, I'm so grateful for that business background where I was able to do that. I've also done multiple startups and so I know how to start from scratch and build something.
and have it be successful. So that, you know, I had just this unique background that usually doesn't come together with background in technology, background in in in business and operations, a background in finance, and all of these things coming together to be able to build this clinic. And then being getting sick was that missing piece that made it where I could have the patient perspective in every facet of everything we do.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. What a perfect segue. And you're you've already started answering this question, but let's dive into it a little more specifically. What as a patient experiencing what I think you might describe as complex chronic illness, what were those gaps in the healthcare system that you were like, gosh, if I could go build my own thing, here's what we need to fix, here's what we need to do differently.
Cassandra Gray (:Sure. So when I first realized I had to take it into my own hands was I went to a research use institution, not gonna name names, and went to the chief of infectious disease, got an appointment, pulled strings and everything to get into the chief of infectious disease, thinking I'm gonna get some answers. I ca because I have Lyme disease, mold poisoning, mast cell activation, and you know, at that point it was just Lyme. That's all I knew about.
And so I went to this doctor, we sat down and he listened. And he I brought him a stack of medical records this thick. And I sit down with him and he asked me questions and everything. He he took an hour long, an hour with me, which is rare in the traditional medicine. But after that hour, he's like, Cassandra, I have no idea how to help you. Maybe you can see a rheumatologist. That was his answer.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm.
Cassandra Gray (:And so at that point I was like, if the chief of infectious disease doesn't know how to help me, well, I'm on my own. I'm just completely on my own. And so then that's why I was like, I gotta start researching because nobody's gonna help me but me. And that's when I started going down more of the alternative integrative path and researching and studying, trying to find a way to get better.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm. And I think part of that you're speaking to as well, having things, having as many things as possible in-house. We both understand how when you're in such a intense place of health, driving all over, I think every audience member can probably connect with this, how many appointments they're driving to all over the city, the state, the country.
Cassandra Gray (:Cassandra Gray (07:04.211)
Yes.
my gosh. Yes. Yes. It I I mean, and it's so exhausting, but you're trying to put together this regimen to feel good enough to do some of of life's things, right? To be able to work at least some, to be able to, you know, you know, do things with your friends and family. Not as much as usual, but at least some. And and you do these things to kind of, you know, get the symptoms down a bit and
I just remember I felt like I had a 12-hour workday of driving from this place for an IV and then this place for a sauna and then this place for a red light and seabag, this place for you know for you know see an actual doctor or a specialist and I'm driving around town, none of these things are coordinated, none of these things are coming together, and no
doctor has my full medical record because everything is disparate. Everything is across the border. I'm just driving from place to place trying to do the different things that I found to get better. And it's just so frustrating.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:One hundred percent. And you're so at max capacity. You're you're so maxed out that the more that you can have in house is so so empowerable. And we're gonna talk more about some of the fun technologies and practitioners you have.
Cassandra Gray (:Yes. yeah. We we do have some fun stuff. But one of the other things we're gonna we that that we built this for is so that we can stack the therapies because there's only so much time. And especially if you have to work while you're battling this illness, your time is so short of the of the energy you have, but also of of the time you have to be able to pull away from work to do these. So we have things that you can do while you're doing I IV.
you could do some of these other therapies at the same time so that we can we stack the therapies, you you get in and out so much faster, and you're not driving between places to get them as well.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm. Absolutely. The other thing I want to lean into a little deeper just for a second is the insurance piece because of how important it is and how unique it is that there's so many integrative facilities that are cash only. And we get it. We understand why that's happening. But you guys have really, I think, fought tooth and nail to be able to take insurance and cover as many things as possible.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:IVs being one of those things which for anyone in the world of oncology, chronic illness, complex chronic illness, IVs are almost always a part of the care and they're incredibly expensive.
Cassandra Gray (:It they're incredibly expensive, but the the amount of stabilization that the patient gets by getting the regular IVs that then allows the body to get ready to accept the other treatments, it's such an important part of what we do. And so if our patients had to pay for these IVs, there's no way they could afford them.
And so, you know, so we really do. We we fight hard. And, you know, the other functional and integrative doctors, I don't blame them for not taking this. This is this is a huge battle, huge, huge battle. And so we have two of the three founders. We spend a huge amount of our time fighting with the insurance companies, going to battle for our patients to get these things covered, and they do not make it easy.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm.
Cassandra Gray (:And we, you know, it's like I have to write strongly worded letters about to like there was we won't name the insurance company, but you know, I had to go all the way to the C-suite of the insurance company and threaten the regulators if they didn't fix fix things. And so I was able to solve problems through strongly worded letters and through and through citing, you know, one of the things we ask of our patients is that we have them give the legal plan document.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:From their PPO insurance to us so that we we actually use AI to read the legal document and find out what is truly covered under their plan, not what we call and say what's covered. We get the legal document. Once we have that, then we're able to fight back with the insurance company for them for the patient.
Exactly from the language that was promised to them, as opposed to them hiding things and not giving full truths, which sometimes may happen. And and and so it's part of what we do is when we get that document, that plan document, it gives us so much power to get the patient everything they've paid for in that insurance plan.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah, it's amazing. And I think that was something I wanted to highlight even more because it's so special. And knowing you and conversations we've had behind the scenes, what an immense labor of love it is that you guys do to make sure that that happens. So it's amazing. Okay, can you introduce us to your two other co-founders? Now the audience, whether they know it or not, will already be slightly familiar with one of your co-founders, Dr. Bakeman, because he was already on the podcast to talk about functional neurology.
But reintroduce us to him for any who haven't heard that and then introduce us briefly to Dr. Duranikov as well.
Cassandra Gray (:Yes.
Cassandra Gray (:Sure. So Dr. Tom Bakeman, he's he's my business partner and just a true dear friend. So Dr. Bakeman, he is a chiropractor by training, but he has studied so much in functional neurology and has developed a unique process that really helps us to understand what's the underlying, what's going on in the on a neurological level with the patient, where we can see the illness before the labs show it.
We can see what's going on in the body in ways that labs just could never show. And and it's really just a powerful it's a combo of several different machines that we use to put this together, but it really just helps to show what's going on with the patient. And so Dr. Bakeman, he's brilliant in functional neurology. He also has a background with the insurance companies and has worked in insurance. So that's where he's been able to help so much in in fighting.
Fighting for the patient to be able to get things covered. And so that background is really great. But then just on top of it, sometimes I joke around that he's our mascot because he's such a sweet guy. And he's just he he just loves everyone and sees the best in everyone. And he's such a great energy to have around.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Absolutely.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah, it he really is. And then Dr. Dranikov, there's so much I can say about Dr. Dranikov. So he's an MD, but and and he wa he was trained in family family medicine. And then he went and got trained in Chinese medicine. And so he did a a year of training in Chinese medicine. And then he went and
I always mess this up. I this may not be exactly the right thing, but basically he went and got trained on putting functional medicine and Chinese medicine together to be able to it just supercharges it because it's the blend of the two. And so he is an intuitive doctor who you have to experience it. Just, you know, he just he he feels so much about the patient just when they walk in the door.
And he listens so much and he's just an absolute treasure. And, you know, and the with the work we've done together, like our mission is to heal our patients. That is truly our mission. And so we keep track of the patients who have graduated and who have come in that were complex chronic, regular medicine was saying, nothing more we can do for you. Here's some pills. And we've graduated them and they're back to just a full and vital life. And we just celebrated our one year anniversary.
And so, you know, to be able to, you know, have, you know, several patients who have already graduated in that short amount of time, it just, it's incredible. And it speaks to the talents of our doctors and, you know, in in what we've put together.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. It's so fun. And you know, I know Dr. Dranikov is so incredibly busy and booked up, but one day hopefully we'll be able to get him on the podcast as well. So I'm go ahead. yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:Well, I actually I do have some good news to announce is we just hired a full time nurse practitioner that is educated in Lyme, mold, MCAS, and will be able to hit the ground running. So that will help with some of the follow-ups to ease up more of Dr. Dranikoff's time so we can accept more patients. So this is a brand new development and we're so excited.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:it's amazing. I can't wait to get to meet that person once I get to come inside the office. So Mira.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah, her name's Mira. And so yeah, we're we're we're really excited about her coming on board. It'll be less than two weeks.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:my gosh, amazing. So I want I want to help the audience be able to understand what makes Helixona different from other integrative medical facilities out there, right? There's there's many, and thank God there's many because we clearly need them. And really helping people understand more and more what makes you guys so different from the values you have to the protocols and frameworks that you're working with.
to the technologies that you're using. And so I actually think, unless I'm wrong and there's a better place for us to start, talking through your kind of like foundational lens of eliminate, nourish and repair maybe will help give us like the framework that we can then talk about more specific things after.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah.
Sure. Love to. So part of being able to care for patients who are very sick is the ability to simplify very complex things so they can understand it. And so that's where Eliminate Nourish Repair came back. It's really our philosophy of healing, where it's just helping the patient understand that the eliminate component, it's we take out the things that don't belong from the body.
It may be toxins and pathogens and just the things that don't belong in the body. You gotta get them out so that the body can function properly. So that's eliminate. Nourish is we gotta put the things in that are lacking in the body. The things, the different nutrients, the you know, th there's so many different things that could be lacking. Maybe you have malabsor absorption. There's all sorts of different things. So the nourish, that's
Putting in what is missing, right? So you take out what doesn't belong, you put in what is missing, and then repair. It's exactly what the word says, is that then we're going to let the body repair and we're gonna do things to the body that help facilitate the body repairing itself. We believe the body is intelligent and knows what to do, and we're just getting things out of the way and giving it the tools it needs to get better.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm. I said this in the previous podcast I recorded with Kelly announcing the move, but you guys really specialize in complex chronic illness. And for anyone who maybe hasn't heard that term, even though in some ways it feels self-explanatory, can you tell us what how is complex chronic illness different from maybe chronic illness? And are these the only like give us some examples maybe and
Cassandra Gray (:Sure.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Are these the only patients you're seeing or are there other types of patients you might see as well?
Cassandra Gray (:Sure. So we've started with complex chronic illness. And but we do have plans as as we refine, this is just the first year. So we're refining the process and the systems for complex chronic. But then we will have three paths. So complex chronic, chronic, and
lifetime longevity and wellness. And so the difference between chronic and complex chronic. So complex chronic is when you have a mixture of things that are coming together, a mixture of diagnosis that it it's it's almost like think of like a ball of yarn that's all tangled up and you can't tell which is causing what and you know, is was this from my MCAS or was this from mold or was this from Lyme? What is it? And you're trying to untangle this web
of symptoms and diagnoses to be able to then get to clarity. And so when we say complex chronic, it's just when everything's just kind of muddled together. So a lot of the things that fall under that is Lyme disease. That's that's a huge one that triggers the mast cell activation, mold poisoning, Ellers Downlow syndrome, you know, and that's a cont connective tissue disorder.
And you know, and then we have people with chronic migraines, chronic fatigue, that have long long haul COVID, that have, you know, just a lot of these things and and and people with malignancies that is actually a complex chronic illness because there's so many underlying things that could be causing that mal malignancy to form. And we are not cancer specialists, but we do supportive care for cancer. So you still have to go to your oncologist.
Just want to make sure that's clear. but but that that's what the complex chronic. But then if we have chronic, chronic might be diabetes or heart disease or something like that, that it needs some management. And when you take it from a functional medicine approach, usually you can get some resolution. But it's not all these symptoms intertwined together that you can't tell what's causing what.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:And that's where complex chronic is. So, like Dr. Dranikov, we receive lots of referrals from doctors that say, Hey, this one, I I don't know how to help them. Can you please help this patient? And so we really take the patients that have been given up on that they just go, I don't like that doctor told me, I have no idea how to help you. And so that's what we're here for, is is when the doctors have given up on you, come to Helixona and we'll help.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm. Yeah, I love that. The other thing I want to talk about is you guys are very specific about order of operations, especially with complex chronic illness. It's this is going on and this is going on, and we're gonna approach it in a very specific way. This first, then this. Even though these are two great maybe modalities, we can't use them together, or we can't use them after each other because they're contraindicative, or dah, dah.
Cassandra Gray (:Mm-hmm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:This is one of the things I love about you guys is the level of attention to detail that is really making this so hyper-specific, hyper-individualized. I think unfortunately, what I tend to see a lot of, even in integrative medicine, is doctors with the absolute best intentions, and they do the tests and they see there's lime and they see there's mold and they try and go after all of it all at once, and patients get incredibly sick.
And sometimes derailed by that. I have a number of clients who experience that so much so that they're almost scared from doing future treatments and protocols because it it took them out so intensely.
Cassandra Gray (:Right.
Yeah, and it can. If you do in the wrong order in the wrong sequence, it can really hurt a patient. So, you know, we think about the detox pathways, right? And so if you start something that's requiring detox, right, and your pathways haven't been cleared yet and your liver's not functioning correctly, and you know, and all of that, and then you're gonna start, hey, I'm gonna take this detox.
Your body is just gonna freak out because it's not ready. It doesn't have the the pathways haven't been cleared for all this trash to be taken out. And so it's like you gotta do it in the right order. You gotta clear the pathway, then take out the trash, right? And so what happens if the pathway is not clear, the trash is gonna pile up. What happens when trash piles up? Then it's gonna ooze into the rest of your body and repoison you.
But more at a higher level, because before it was just kind of buried in your tissues. But if you activated things to pull it out and the pathways weren't clear, you're gonna get sicker. And so so we try and just think of everything from just more of a first principles approach and just what is the function? And you can just break it down when you're taking out the clap trash. You gotta clear the path. When you're, you know, when you've when you've, you know, done something strong like Eboo.
you know, that is already doing a little bit of a kill, you don't go do lymph start afterwards to release more toxins when your body's working really hard on the kill that's been started by the eboo, you know, from the ozone. And so it's always it's these nuanced things and and you just have to do it. And, you know, the partners, we're guinea pigs on stuff. You know, when we have a new modality, we try on us first to see what is that level, you know, I have
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:You know, Tom, he Dr. Bakeman, he says he's the in-house cockroach, and then I'm the sensitive one in the in the clinic. So we try it on both of us, you know, when there's a new modality. We've done all the research and everything, but we need to know how do we make this safe for patients. And so we between the two of us, we we we test the extremes.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Nothing can nothing can take Bateman down.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:He's a cockroach. Nothing can take him down.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah, he he is the strong one for sure.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Gosh. So let's then I I love that framework. Let's then get into some of let's start with testing. And we might not be able to cover every single thing you offer because you have amazing diagnostics that you're doing from many different technologies. But maybe give us a little bit of an overview and then maybe we can talk more specifically about some of the diagnostic testing you have that makes Helixona very unique that people maybe can't find in a lot of other places.
Cassandra Gray (:Sure, so the diagnostic testing we have. So you guys can many of you have seen Mbody, you know, where that does this full body scan and it can tell you so much about just the overall health of your structures, right? So the MBody, it it's tells you how you know tells you your weight, but it t it tells you body percentage, fat, visceral fat, it sh it shows phase angle, which shows kind of the health of your cells and things like that. So there's in-body.
Then we have the ANS. And what that does is it's gonna check your autonomic nervous system. And really, you know, we're gonna put these leads almost like you're doing an EKG and then blood pressure cuffs, and we're gonna tilt you and we're gonna do different things. It's not uncomfortable, it's super comfy, but you know, it's gonna test your body's response to these different stressors, you know, like different breathing and and you know, and being tilted.
And it will help us understand where your nervous system is at. Another test we have is the right eye, and it's going to test the brain, how the brain's performing. And so it's like a little video game, and you're going to see a little alien and astronaut and a moon, and you have to, you know, climb it click when you see the different things. You have to track a ball from here to here. And it's really checking the it.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:This one, you know, it's like the tracking of your eyes. And many times when you're sick, you can't track as well. And your saccades don't go as quick. You're not able to, your, your, your time, your reaction time is slower if you're having all this brain fog and and you know, and if you're you're having these cognitive issues. And so it's a way to really just kind of tell where you are. Another reason we do it is it helps us with the insurance companies.
because it's another fact showing how sick you are so that we can get things covered. If we if we didn't have this testing and we just had labs, some people's labs come back normal. But with this testing, we can show, look, they're really sick and be able to get your stuff covered. So so that's why we do that kind of testing. It really, it it really helps us to baseline. Then we can see your improvement over time and we like to test it every six months.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Cassandra Gray (27:52.874)
and be able to see, wow, you know, what a big improvement. And but it also helps us to get you covered.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Hmm. Yeah, amazing. Any other any other tests? And again, we don't have to cover them all. Okay.
Cassandra Gray (:yes, one more. We we we have one more test in house and it's called mead. And some of you have had this is this is more of a energetics test that it really it just kind of shows where the problems are are in your body on an energetic level and helps to point the direction of where we may need to do some repair. It's it it's you know, some people they say, this is hippie dippy.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm. It can you know
Cassandra Gray (:it may seem that way, but it really gives some great guidance if especially we're in a when we're in a diagnostic phase and trying to find it like untangle that web of yarn of all the symptoms, it really helps to point us in a direction to know, okay, we gotta look deeper here. And the the meat it's a very helpful test as well.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Leigh Ann Lindsey (28:53.292)
Mm-hmm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. And also just so the audience knows, blood work is a part of it. I d probably much more comprehensive blood work. but that of course is a part of it. And
Cassandra Gray (:Yes.
Cassandra Gray (:You get a lot of tubes. So if you ever come in for blood work, you know, just you know, we we wanna if it's a fasting blood work, which usually they are, just bring a snack with you. We're gonna take some and plan to chill out just for a little bit afterwards. You know, we and and if you're here for an IV, if you already get an IV prescription, we'll just hook you up to the IV, but bring a little snack after, because it it can be a lot. When I my my first labs they we took about 40 tubes.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:my gosh, Cassandra. my gosh.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah. It's not always that much. I just had a lot of stuff going on. So not everyone has to do that. But it there it is it's a lot. It's a lot on the labs. But most of the labs we get covered by insurance. We try to get them through the tr the, you know, the labs like Quest and things like that to be able to get as much covered as possible. But we do have some specialty labs that the insurance companies don't cover that you know, sometimes can really help.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:tell the whole story of what's going on in your body. So you know sometimes we have to do those.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Right, right. When you're when you're doing some of that deeper testing to look at pathogenic load, you know, environmental toxicity, things like that, those might be some things that end up being out of pocket. But those are also tests that you're doing, whether it's blood work, you know, a urine test, et cetera. Yeah. So now let's get into some of the fun modalities that you guys have. And
Cassandra Gray (:Yes.
Cassandra Gray (:Exactly. Yes.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Again, I think some of them people will be familiar with. Some of them I think are really unique and special are are ones I haven't even heard of. And I've been in this industry for a while now myself. So hit us with some of the like the mainstay ones that if someone's listening, there's a very maybe likely chance that they will be using some of these modalities. And then maybe some of the really unique special ones that people might not have heard of.
Cassandra Gray (:Whew.
Cassandra Gray (:Sure.
Cassandra Gray (:Sure. So you know, one thing is we're building out the suite next door. So we are we're building this out custom suite every inch I have planned for my patients. I have planned to try and make this an amazing healing space for you. And so and so in that space, we're gonna have a couple of new things that we don't have in our current space. But right now, in our current space, we have the Erconia Laser. Now, before, had you
Use the Erconia laser before? Okay. This laser's incredible. It's a cold laser that has green, violet, and red light, and we can choose which one and different frequencies attached to the different protocols. And so there's protocols that can help repair bone. There's protocols that can help repair soft tissue. There's the brain gut protocol that can really help.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:No. Mm.
Cassandra Gray (:But you can only do that after we've gotten rid of some of the buggies. If there's any pathogens, we gotta handle those before you can do the brain gut because this it'll cause a big Herzheimer reaction because it actually does a kill if it, you know, if we keep on certain certain colors of light. And so so that's another one where we're very careful on the order in the sequence of we gotta make sure we've
Gotten rid of the buggies before we put all three lights on a gut brain protocol. But the gut brain protocol, after you've done that, it does an amazing repair on really just getting your motility going, repairing some of the soft tissue that may have some issues in the gut, and and being able to do some repair.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:I love it.
Cassandra Gray (:So that's that's the Erconia laser. So we have also we have Rife in the clinic. And so I don't know how many people are familiar with Rife, but Rife is a frequency specific a you put basically the frequencies. We have this this ring, and a lot of times I'll put it either on the belly or on the head. And and this is if you know.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Device.
Cassandra Gray (:Basically, if we know what the problem is, like you know, I've done this with COVID, basically, with the Rife machine. Is when when when I I start to get the the COVID, run the SARS-CoV-19 frequencies, pop some ivermectin, it's gone in 12 hours. Rife machine is really good for that and it helps with inflammation and stuff. We also have a biocharger.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm. Wow.
Cassandra Gray (:Which I know you you have that at over at Ascent as well. And love the girls over there. They're so amazing. And so we have a biocharger which has rife components in it, but also has has light and PEMF and all sorts of things. It's it's so many things in one and really love that. And we're gonna have a special room that actually has lead lined.
drywall so that because we have some sensitive patients in the clinic so the drywall keeps the frequency in to only the patients who are doing the biocharger so it'll be really just just a cool experience because it's just whoever's in the room get the it gets the biocharger work and and that one does amazing. I I mean there's there's so many recipes on there it's incredible.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Hm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:But I think your patients, you know, your your audience has probably heard a lot about biocharger. But one of the things we will be having that isn't around so much is a nanobath. And the nanobath will be have oxygen, hydrogen, or ozone, depending on what the doctor recommends. And basically, so what we're using is some clinics have hyperbaric chambers. I didn't want a hyperbaric chamber because
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:It's dangerous. It could be a bomb. If if it's operated wrong, it could just take everyone out and it's happened at some places. I don't want that responsibility. I I just don't want that. And patients really get nervous about getting in a hyperbaric and it and it just it causes anxiety when we don't want anxiety. So we chose the nanobaths because you're just taking a warm bath. And what they do is the nanobath.
The bubbles are so, so small that they penetrate through the skin, into the organs, and into the body to give you that extra oxygenation, the extra hydrogen, or the ozone. Ozone only if you're ready for a kill, but you know, to be able to do that. And because our patients are so sensitive, we'll test them first with a foot bath. So they could have a nano-foot bath to see.
you know, make sure their body that it's not too much to put them it fully submerged in the nanobath. But the nanobath basically you're getting super oxygenated. It's it's incredible. I I I've done a nanobath before. I can't wait. I'm so excited to do this. This one, but I I I've done it before when I came out the water was black. It pulled out so much stuff from me. It was incredible. And
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Wow, it was so detoxing. Wow.
Cassandra Gray (:I just wanted my patients to be able to do that. And then I slept for 18 hours. And that was before that was before I got diagnosed with Lyme. I just knew I didn't feel I was feeling terrible. And a friend he goes, I I I invented this thing. Here, here, try it out. So it was really incredible. So it has amazing healing powers and e it's something you need to do over time. But that's I I'm so excited to shake my man up fast.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:No. I've done a I've done an oxygen bath too. And it is funny you say that because it knocked me out. To the point we've already made. You guys are being very, very careful with your patients to make sure they're not gonna be sleeping for 18 hours after they do a nanobath.
Cassandra Gray (:Right. Right. Well, I unless you know, i I mean I could I I'd like a little eighteen hour and half but No, but but we will start with foot baths just to see how their body handles that superoxygenation. So I again it's just how we're careful. another thing we're gonna have is a is halo therapy. In halo therapy, we're gonna have a beautiful salt room. And and so what the halo therapy does is we have a lot of patients that have
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:challenges in their lungs. And so when you breathe in the the the salt treatment, it's it'll be a guided meditation in this beautiful room that has has beautiful salt bricks on the wall and you know in in a comfy lounger and in and you'll go through a guided meditation while you're breathing in the salt air for a 40 minute treatment. And it's good for your skin, it's good for your overall immune system and also for your lungs.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. Now ta let's talk about this for a second because I know how specific you guys are about what treatments we bring in, what is worth our time. I've heard of salt therapy before, you know, salt caves and salt rooms that people will go play in and just lounge in. So this kind of surprised me because I was like, wow, if Helixona has a salt room, they must think this is very, a very, very important treatment to have worth dedicating space to, get dedicating time to for patients. So
You find it that it's that impactful.
Cassandra Gray (:It's, you know, because there are so few treatments that are truly helpful for the lungs, and because we have so many patients with mold poisoning that have so much damage to their lungs, that we wanted to have a treatment that was that was gentle and healing at the same time.
And and so this combines not only is it helping their lungs by going through a guided meditation, they can do their IV while they're in the the salt room doing their guided meditation. The guided meditation is going to help their nervous system because their nervous systems are shot. Everybody's so stressed out because they're in constant pain, but maybe their brain's not working right and they're so frustrated because they can't remember what they used to remember.
overwhelmed with doctor's appointment, they're overwhelmed with being broke because everything costs so much to try and get better. Like there's so many things that are overwhelming their system while they're just trying to get better. So when we mix a guided meditation with assault therapy, which is one of the few things that can really help in just a natural way, help to heal the lungs, and you know, it and you know they get to stack it with IV
while they're, you know, and just relax, breathe in, breathe out, do this meditation. It's just this this package that it it's almost like the patients get to go to a spa treatment that's actually healing while while they're doing their treatments. Like that we want them to have this relaxing amazing experience that's going to help them to calm their nervous system.
Which will help them to get better sooner. So that's why it's so important.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm. I love that. I know I'm gonna be sneaking in there on my brakes.
Cassandra Gray (:you know. We will have some meetings in the salt room. that's where we'll get to dream up our programs. We'll we'll we'll meditate, breathe in the salt room, and we'll come up with beautiful programs for the patients.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Exactly.
And then we'll just do like a stream of conscious like verbiage, see what comes out magically. I love that. I love that. There there are so many more amazing things. You guys have Eboo, of course, all of the IVs. okay, go ahead.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah. Yeah, it it'll be great. Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:yeah. Yes. Yeah yes, we do have EBU. I I I know a lot of people know, but it's such an important part of the healing. Get it, you know, I mean it's really taking the trash out. That's what it's doing. It's it it's taking the trash out so the body can start to repair itself, can start to heal. Ibu is critical in in the healing, but the patient has to be ready for it. There's we we have patients waiting
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:Wait, they're like, am I ready yet? Am I ready? Not yet. Not yet. Just we we we we want to do it at the right time, at the right pace for them. Yeah. And we will have a red light bed as well. so so that's gonna be there. And yeah, and
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Skin scanner, biomodulator.
Cassandra Gray (:my gosh. Yeah, all of the energetics, yes. Yes. So it it's so hard to remember all of them at once. And it it but the patients, you don't have to worry. The doctor is who says, This is what you need and here's your plan of care. And it's not like you're you just need to go, but I want this, I want this, will this help me? That Dr. Dranikov really maps out the the the plan that the patient needs.
And then and and then the team explains what the technology does. Yeah. It it it is. It's so good. We're we're we're so excited. So did I miss anything? I feel I feel like I probably did.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's amazing. It's amazing.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Well, yeah, yeah, there's too much. There's too much to cover. But I think this is a good segue. And I want to talk a little bit about and then if you have any client or patient testimonials that you feel like you're allowed or able to share, that would be really fun to talk about. And then I do want to close with just how do people reach out? How can they become a patient? I really want to make sure that process is also understood, but
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:I think it's worth spending a little time on why the emotional side of healing and why you guys wanted to make sure that that side is being addressed.
Cassandra Gray (:Absolutely. So like I was talking about, their nervous systems are shocked. And what we found as we talk to our patients, as we really get to know them, and the studies have shown that so many patients with complex chronic illness have gone through usually some sort of extreme trauma in their life. I mean, my life, you know, I I have quite the story. I was teenage mom, homeless at
18, you with a two-year-old, you know, handle went through domestic violence, all sorts of just not good things, you know, had to fight for my food as a kid. Like it was hard. It was really, really hard. So your nervous system, when you're doing that, and then and then I took two kids with me to UCI, lived on campus with me while I worked full-time, went to school and raised them. So my nervous system got shot. So then
By the time life started slowing down and my kids were becoming adults, I get one bite from a tick, everything crumbles. Everything crumbles. Everything I was able to push through, I was able to make it, I was able to do superhuman things. My baby said, No more, little girl, you're done, and knocked me down. And so that's my story. Everybody has a story. Everybody has
Especially the patients who are super complex, when you really get to know them, they've been through it. There's some really hard things that they've been through. And many of them don't have resolution to them. They're still, their body still feels like it's there still. And Leigh Ann, as I know, you have such an amazing way of through evox in the work that you do on helping to let the body know it's safe.
It's over. You know, you're no longer in danger. And that, then, if the body can know it's no longer in danger from all of these other boogeyman, then as we're getting rid of these critters and all sorts of toxins and bad things inside your body, as those are getting resolved, and if your body knows it's safe, it can finally heal. But if we get rid of all the all the toxins, all the bad stuff that's inside of you.
Cassandra Gray (:And your body still thinks it's in danger, it's going to continue to signal on that loop. And it's going to continue and continue. And that's why I really believe that, Leigh Ann, that you are such a key component to our mission of healing the patients, because if they don't get out of that loop, they're not gonna be able to fully heal. So that's why we need Leigh Ann so, so much. And we're so happy she's coming to be with us, to work with us. So happy.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Well, that wasn't meant to be self-promotional, but I remember when we were talking just in talks about could this be an aligned fit for both of us? And you said something to me that struck me so deeply. You said, Leigh Ann, we want to be the best facility in the world to treat complex chronic illness. And we understand that in order to do that, we have to be addressing the emotional side. And that is
a huge part of what got me on board is I want to be a part of a team that understands the impact of that. And it's not just kind of an adjunct. It's not just kind of a, hey, by the way, like you might have had some stressful things. Maybe go talk to someone about it. The value that you guys understand emotional healing holds is so, so, so, so powerful. So that I just I I come back to that all the time of how powerful it was that you said that.
Cassandra Gray (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah, well, and and we do want to be the best in the world. And we want to attract the very best humans that have such a huge heart for healing patients. And that's what struck me about you is your heart for people and for for this work and for really, really wanting to help people who are hurting to be able to take them and help them.
cross to the other side where they're back to being their full and vibrant lives. And the thing that strikes me about ever all the work we're doing is when we impact a patient, we can change generations. You know, we have mamas that have come in that can barely take care of their babes, that can that can't be present for them because they're so sick and they're so tired and they're just barely getting by. And when we then get them where they're functioning.
where they're able to be present for their children, think of how that's gonna change that child's life. And then and and and how far that goes. It it like it impacts generations. You know, I'm a grandmother. I think about these things. I see little babes. I'm like, we gotta fix your mama, you know, and and you know and and we have young teenage girls coming in here. You know, we have one amazing girl. gosh, she worked
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:so hard. Her and her mom worked so hard. And she had been in a wheelchair for years and then wasn't able to go to school. And then, you know, this last year she was able to start going to school after a lot of the work that Dr. Dranikov did. And there were other specialists too helping this girl. you know, doctors working and collaborating together. and but but she a couple of weeks ago walked into the clinic.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:my gosh, wow.
Cassandra Gray (:And now she's heading off to college and it just makes me cry. I mean, she put she worked so hard to get better. And you know, and it does take that is like we're we're gonna do everything we can. But any patient who comes in has to show up, has to do the hard work of getting better because it's not easy. It's not easy and it is hard work, but we'll we'll fight with the patients to get them better. And yeah, it just
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:It it just warms my heart so much that we're able to do this.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. Any other client store or patient stories that you're able to share?
Cassandra Gray (:Sure. So a a fun one on the Erconia laser is there was a young boy about four years old. He had fallen and I think he broke his arm and hit his head. And then after that his eye went won't and then they took him to all the specialists. And took him around to all the specialists. Yeah, his I I just it w it couldn't it couldn't stay straight. It went r right, went to the side.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:For the audience, his eye went kind of off to the side.
Cassandra Gray (:And with to all the specialists and they're like, nothing we can do. And and then and then he he came in and his I believe it it was his grandmother and his mom and and they were patients of ours and they're like, Can we try something? And they brought him in and were like, I think the laser might be able to help, Dr. D was like, I think the laser could help him. So they did the laser on him and after the fourth time, like
It was corrected. It was done. And this was all the specialists said, Nope, nothing we can do. Nothing we can do to fix it. And then the Erconia laser. Now he's doing this. And I was talking to his grandmother, and she was saying, he's he's running, doing, doing his sports. He's, you know, fully coordinated. Nothing's upset anymore. Like he's good to go. And that just, that warmed my heart so much. Just so, so much.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah, my gosh. After all my concussions, you're you're selling me on the laser, Cassandra.
Cassandra Gray (:I think someone's going on a laser. Yes. what yeah. Yeah, I think you're going on the laser. And we we had we even had one patient who who flew to us from Australia and you know flew to us actually pretty early on and stayed, I wanna say three to four months. And then she was like, I'm good.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:my gosh.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:You I'm all better. I'm going home. You guys did it. Like, I'm out. Bye. Thanks. And like, I'm that's amazing. It's, you know, some of us can't resolve that quickly, but some, especially if it's earlier on in the disease state, we can untangle it so much quicker than, you know, me. I've been dealing with this for twelve years, plus, you know, push my body into the ground in my, you know, trying to get through life. So
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm.
Cassandra Gray (:Takes me a little longer, but everyone has their own timeline.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah, absolutely. To that end, for anyone who's listening who's really excited about Helix sauna, what is the first step? What does the process of potentially becoming a patient look like?
Cassandra Gray (:So we do, at least where we are right now, while we're just doing complex chronic, we we do screen our patients for fit. And so you will apply online. you go to Helixona.com, h-e-l-i-x-o-n-a dot com, Helixona.com, and then it says become a patient. You hit the button and and there's a short two-minute questionnaire.
And then you'll get a phone call from Marie. Marie is our new patient coordinator, and she was a patient, and she couldn't work andor anything before, and she came in a wheelchair. Now she's working full-time for us, and she's the new patient coordinator and doing an amazing job. And she's able to really connect with the patients because she's been there, done that. And so,
So that's Marie. And and so you'll talk with her, and so we'll we'll need to get some information. We'll need to get your plan document from your insurance. But first, we need to make sure fit. We need to make sure that you're okay doing IVs, that you live close enough to the clinic to safely come on a regular basis. If you're if you live too far out and you don't have a driver or something, then it's really hard. And we just we don't, if you're coming to us.
you're in a weaker state and we don't want to put you in danger by driving really far for treatments, you know, three, four, five times a week. So we we ask that you live close. So that that that's another thing, another screening thing. And PPO insurance or Medicare, that we accept those and and so we'll get some it we'll we'll get your planned documents from your insurance company and
Marie would walk you through how to do that. And and as long as that criteria works and you're willing to commit to this program, is we have so many patients that want to come in, that want to get better. And and so we have to choose the patients who say, Yes, please, I want to do the work. I want to get better, I'm willing to do the work and I'm ready. And it's not a judgment if you're not ready, because you know, sometimes you have life things you're like.
Cassandra Gray (:There's no way I can take off work to be able to do treatments or things like that. So that so we we do have to have that talk and then and then maybe it it might be six months down the road that you're maybe able to able to make other arrangements to be able to come in. So we just have to make sure that you're ready. You're ready for this heavy lift of getting better and we'll we'll be with you right by your side.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. So they fill that out. If they get accepted, the team will then reach out, schedule their first appointment, and it's kind of off to the races from there.
Cassandra Gray (:Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And and we are booked out. Hopefully now that we have the new nurse practitioner, the schedule should hopefully calm down a little so we won't be so far booked out. So excited. And we can, you know, it and then we can accept more patients. And that's what we want to do. We just want to help more people. And yeah, and now that we'll have the new space ready, we'll have space for it as well.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Hmm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:I know. I can't wait until you guys are able to start putting up pictures and videos of the new space. I think it's gonna be amazing.
Cassandra Gray (:It's so exciting. I I I went in there today, the kitchen cabinets are being put in and the yeah, just a lot of the p cabinetry and paint. We're it's getting close.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. It's so exciting. Anything that we didn't cover that you feel is really important? Or commonly asked questions you guys get that we didn't cover?
Cassandra Gray (:Mm.
Cassandra Gray (:think we covered a lot and
Cassandra Gray (:No, I I I think we've I can't think of anything. I just I I'd love to just talk just a little bit about, you know, we we haven't fully planned out what we're gonna do together, but Leigh Ann and I are gonna create some programs that are different, that are group programs for the patients, and that I'm so excited about. I'm really excited about creating something new with her that can that can allow patients
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah.
Cassandra Gray (:who maybe don't have as much means to afford the individual sessions week after week, but still benefit from from the amazing work that she does. So that I'm just so excited about.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:I know, me too. And something we had talked about is programs are something I've wanted to do for years now, but have just felt so kind of maxed out in some ways. And also like I need I need a partner in that. I need a teammate in that. So I'm so excited. So
Cassandra Gray (:Big left.
Cassandra Gray (:You're not busy at all. I think you need that that that guided meditation. I think
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:yeah, the Solroom. I'm gonna be a regular there. So but I am I'm so excited and this is another reason why I'm so happy to be moving in with you guys and partnering because I think us together is gonna be this really symbiotic energy and inspiration and brainstorming that is gonna be able to create some really, really beautiful things for the patients.
Cassandra Gray (:Ha ha ha.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah, absolutely. And actually I just thought of of of something that's in kind of our concept and everything is is that we also one other thing we wanna do is we wanna work with the doctors in the community. We wanna work with other the other functional and integrative doctors, we wanna be able to collaborate is we, you know, from our way you know, we've had a wait list and hopefully we're opening up more, but
There's so many talented, functional, and integrative doctors i in Orange County and around us. And we know that it's a really heavy lift to be able to bill for insurance for IVs. So, you know, one thing that our our medical director and I were really open to kind of sharing the patient. If you wanna
w if if if there's a functional doctor that wants to run their plan of care and send them over to us to be able to do the IVs, we have to do some office visits covered by insurance with them, but if they already have a relationship with another doctor and we can just collaborate on the care, we'd love to help to be able to help reduce the burden on the patient for the the cost of the IVs while them still not losing the relationship with the doctor that they've already been working with.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Mm-hmm.
Cassandra Gray (:So and like we don't sell supplements or anything like that. You know, we just want to respect what the other doctors are doing. And, you know, if that's something that they do, get stay there. Don't do your supplements there. We'll just you know, if we can give a lift to the patient and let them still keep that relationship, that's just another part of the model is collaboration with the community so that we can help as many people as possible.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah. I think that's important for the audience to hear too, because we we just talked about the application process and really needing to be able to commit. And so for the audience to also understand, there is a different way that you guys are open to working with patients if it's providing some of this adjunct care while they're working with another practitioner. And I those are all things I'm sure they can talk about with Marie, the new patient coordinator, as they're getting
Cassandra Gray (:Of course. Of course. I just don't want you know, we we never want a patient if they really love their their doctor to feel like to be able to get some of this stuff covered by insurance. It's too hard for the single practitioner to bill insurance with the how hard they make it. It's it's it's too hard. And so we we just want to help out wherever we can.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:Yeah, I love it. Well, Cassandra, thank you so much. I think this was a beautiful deep dive introduction to you, to Helixona. I can't wait for my clients to get to hear it, for the audience to get to hear it. And and of course, so much more to come in in the coming weeks, once we're all in the the new facility, once I've moved my office over there. I think we're gonna have so much fun with posts and education. I know and
Cassandra Gray (:Well we'll have to do a video. Show off the office.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:social media and just all the things. I think there's gonna be so much fun, education and information that's gonna keep coming.
Cassandra Gray (:Yeah, it'll be amazing and we're we're so blessed that you wanna join us.
Leigh Ann Lindsey (:It's such a gift. I can't wait.
