In this insightful episode of the TPE Blueprint Podcast, host Joe Fier welcomes Dr. Paul Savage from MDLifespan to dive deep into the world of personalized toxin testing and targeted detox protocols. Dr. Savage, drawing on 35 years of experience, breaks down why our modern environment leaves us all supersaturated with toxins, why old detox methods aren’t enough, and how personalized approaches can help restore vitality. Through relatable analogies and practical advice, listeners will learn how chronic toxin exposure is linked to rising modern diseases and what steps can be taken to reduce their impact. This episode is packed with expert explanations, actionable steps, and hope for healthier living.

Topics Discussed

• The Escalating Problem of Environmental Toxins
• Evolution of environmental toxins over the last 50 years
• The difference between detox challenges 20 years ago vs. today
• Toxin Testing: Why Personalization Matters
• The importance of understanding your individual toxic load and specific toxin types
• How toxins act like embers that keep re-igniting “health fires” in the body
• The difference between inflammation and oxidation
• Toxins’ negative effects on DNA, immune system, and chronic disease prevalence
• The Role of Genetics and Family History
• How your DNA affects detox pathways and susceptibility to toxins
• Details on the three-phase approach: detoxification, regeneration, and maintenance
• Practical Steps for Everyday Detox

Resources Mentioned

• MDLifespan Guidebooks: https://mdlifespan.com/guidebooks 
• MDLifespan Toxin Testing: https://mdlifespan.com/toxin-test 
• Use code “podcast200” for a discount.
• 3x4 Genetics: https://3x4genetics.com/ 
• Goop: https://goop.com/ 

Enjoyed the episode? Don’t miss out on practical health strategies and the latest longevity science!

Connect with Us

• MDLifespan Website: https://mdlifespan.com/
• Subscribe and Listen: https://mdlifespan.com/the-tpe-blueprint-podcasts/
• Guidebooks: https://mdlifespan.com/guidebooks/
• Follow on Instagram: https://instagram.com/mdlifespan

Subscribe to the TPE Blueprint Podcast on your favorite platform, share with a friend who cares about optimizing their health, and leave us a review to let us know what you found most helpful.

Disclaimer

MDLifespan PlasmaXchange protocols are designed to support general health and wellness. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information provided on this podcast is for educational purposes only and should not replace medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before beginning any new health program, especially if you have a medical condition or are taking prescribed medications.

What if your body's forest fire never actually goes out because

the embers a k, a, the oxidants in your body, keep reigniting it.

So today I have Dr. Paul Savage on here who's gonna break down

why personalized toxin testing.

Plus the targeted protocols that he does at MD Lifespan can finally start

to smother all of these sparks in our bodies and help you restore vitality.

Now during this episode, we're gonna shout out a whole bunch of things, so I wanna

make sure you're equipped with the two resources and the guides that we have.

So the first thing is the guidebooks.

We have about nine right now, and they're always being updated and

everything at md lifespan.com/guidebooks, so they're totally free.

You can get them right now, again, over at md lifespan.com/guidebooks.

And also we're gonna talk about toxin testing.

I had mine done, we've heard it talked about on this podcast before,

so you could get yours done and.

This is, this is how you understand your own data, and it's absolutely valuable.

You'll hear from Dr.

Savage.

Why in a moment you can go get yours for yourself over at md

lifespan.com/toxin test, and you can use the discount code podcast 200.

Again, that's md lifespan.com/toxin Test code podcast 200.

Let's get into it.

All right, Dr. Savage, we are back for another round.

It's been a little while and this one, I feel like you're pumped up on it.

We got a good one here.

And selfishly, I just started my TPE first session, so I, I can see where

this is gonna be very helpful for everybody listening and watching.

We're gonna talk about how.

Personalized toxic testing, uh, replays with these targeted protocols that you

work with all your patients and you're gonna break it down from your perspective.

So what are some thoughts on, on that just initially?

Joe, what we need to start with.

Is a little bit of historical information.

As I mentioned before, been in this field for 35 years and I've watched the toxins

grow decade after decade until now.

They are so numerous that it, it beco, it poses a new problem because 20 years ago.

Had ways of getting out binder, getting out mold.

Like with binders, we had ways of getting out heavy metals with chelators.

We had ways of getting out some of the volatile chemicals with sauna.

A lot of chemicals we could get outta people with some methods

that worked pretty universally.

Most people got better.

As people got more and more toxic, and I'm not talking a little bit toxic,

I'm talking about incredible amounts of toxins, where before we might've been

talking in the hundreds that a person might have, now we're talking in the

tens of thousands that people have.

So it's a to, it's a totally different thing.

What we used to work, well, used to work previously 20 years ago.

It doesn't work anymore.

I always give the analogy, it's like I had a shovel in a sandbox, and if you get

the shovel in the sandbox and get working, you can eventually empty the sandbox.

Now take the shovel to the beach

Yeah.

and you can't do the beach.

There's just too much.

It's just you can't ever get in front of it.

That's what's happened through the environment.

That's what's happened to us as humans.

There is not a single person in America that isn't saturated with toxins.

We know that because we tested healthy people at 50 years of age and we

measured a hundred toxins on each one of these people, and on average

they had 13.2 that were above what we consider the critical range.

Mm-hmm.

Now there's 200,000 toxins in the environment and we only tested a hundred.

So you have to take that 13 and extrapolate it to 200,000 and right

there on healthy people, you're at 26,400 toxins in the high critical range

on what we considered healthy people.

That's different than the dozens or hundreds we used to have 20 years ago.

It is.

A completely different universe.

It's a completely different biologic system now because

it is so super saturated.

We all are super saturated with toxins that nothing works

the way it's supposed to.

Remember.

Toxins don't do anything good.

They do everything bad.

That's why they're toxins, right?

That's why they're not good for us.

They burn membranes, they displace nutrients.

They break down enzymatic pathways.

They break your DNA, they recode your DNA, they change the micro genome.

They burn.

I mean, it's just, they, they just destroy, burn and rape

everything in their path.

Now we just don't have a couple dozen.

We have tens of thousands in healthy people and even

more of that in sick people.

And it's not surprising that cancer's on the rise.

Chronic fatigue is on the rise.

Autoimmune is on the rise.

Autism is on the rise.

Dementia is on the rise.

Cognitive issues are on the rise.

These are all related to the toxic load that we've accumulated now.

Over the last 50 years.

This is another important part.

Most of these toxins are bioaccumulative.

That means once they're in your system, you can't get them out.

Most toxins are not removable.

Most toxins are things like pfas, the forever chemicals.

We call them forever.

Chemicals 'cause they're in you forever.

Plastics are forever chemicals.

Most pesticides are forever chemicals, and a good portion of the mold,

mold toxins are, are forever.

They're just very difficult to remove.

So that's the part that wrapping, the, wrapping your head

around, it's, it's horrifying.

you, we were, we were talking about this right before recording.

I would love for you to give the scenario or the analogy of the forest fire and

how a toxin, a single ember, how that affects, that's our body right now.

Yeah.

so we were talking, we were talking about how a fire, a fire chief goes into the

building and when they on a building that's been burned and arson, and what

they're looking for is accelerants.

These are things that a, the arsonists put over on the ground and lit it on fire.

In other words for accelerants is oxidants, because you're literally taking

that substance and you're adding oxygen to it catches it on fire and it goes crazy.

These toxins in us are exactly the same as accelerants that we use in house fires.

We have them in US petroleum products, but we have other

products too that are sparks.

They're the oxidants.

So these flames, this fire that's going on in our body

all the time, this is the real.

Health issue.

Now we're all very common.

I've heard very clearly over the years, chronic inflammation

is the cause of all diseases.

There's a worst character in town, and that's oxidation.

Because oxidation is burning.

Inflammation is the heat your body produces the heel,

the area that was damaged.

So in every case of oxidation, you have inflammation, but not

every case of inflammation.

Do you have oxidation?

Let's

see.

of the toxins are what?

Cause the fire to start, and that's why the inflammation never goes out because

these toxins are not removable, have not historically been removable from the body.

30 years ago we had ways of getting most of them out and we could make significant

changes in many different people.

30 years in the future.

Now everybody is so super saturated with these toxins.

It, it becomes very difficult to get any, any significant portion of these

out using the methods we used to use.

and there's a new reality now, and that's why, that's why we even have this show,

why you're in business and why you're on this whole mission with MD lifespan.

So, yeah, and, and you also made a point like in a, in the case of a fire, a

forest fire, if there's still one spark or one ember out there, you're on fire.

That could burn the whole thing down.

That's, that's right.

So from that, we were talking about the forest starts on

fire with these little sparks.

These are the oxidants and they have fuel, the leaves and the

grass, that's your tissues.

And then the fire spreads uncontrollably, and you have all these firefighters

trying to pour water on it, trying to put the chemicals on it to douse the fires.

But if they don't get every single spark, then that spark can start up again.

That's what's going on in the toxins because you have to be able to

remove these significantly enough that the sparks that are left over

can't catch on fire to anything.

But that's a big order nowadays because everybody has so much, the

stuff that we used to use, it's that shovel in the sandbox analogy.

It's just, it's just not big enough

And, and so not only are there so many toxins in all of us,

there's different toxins.

Our bodies are all different as well.

So talk to me a little bit about how you approach it in terms of toxin testing

for one, but then how protocols custom targeted protocols happen after that.

Once we have the data.

so you're right.

Um, we are all the same, but we're all different at the same time.

And we all have the same DNA, but our codes are different.

So that makes us individuals, the basic majority of our DNA 99% of

it is the same, but that that's little percent that changes what

makes us all different individuals.

So just to be careful, I wanna be careful 'cause people say we

all our bodies all act different.

No, our bodies all act generally exactly the same.

99% of the machinery is the same.

It's that 1% that makes us all a little bit different.

these toxins when they get into this person's body.

A lot of it depends on your DNA.

If you have really good DNA and I mean.

Not a lot of familial diseases.

You have good detox detoxification pathways.

I mean, there's people out there that are really herculean in

their, in their health, and they don't really have to do anything.

Matter of fact, they can do a lot of bad things and they

never suffer the consequences because their DNA is so strong.

Now, that's not the normal.

That's not.

Regular humans.

And then there's this other group of people, their DNA is really crappy

and they have all sorts of health problems that run in their family, and

they don't have good detox pathways.

They don't have good energized pathways.

They don't capture.

It's just, it's just, they're just not optimum gene sets.

Again, luckily not most of us, most of us are in the middle of the curve where

most of our jeans are good, but we all have some areas that aren't so good.

The toxin load, if it's low, might affect people who have really bad

DNA pretty severely might only affect people who have pretty good DNA a

little bit, but probably won't bother the people who have really strong DNA.

So this is my toxin.

I always tell it's like it's not just about the numbers of the toxin, it's

what your DNA set is, that that matters.

And people are like, well, I do I have to do DNA testing?

No.

Look at your family history.

It's right there in your family history if, if you don't have family

history, you can do DNA tests.

It gives us more exact numbers, but a lot of information I can

get from people is just asking them, what's your family history?

And if you're, most of the patients we see in their forties, what's your

health been like for the last 40 years?

Because if you have good, strong genes, it's gonna be good, strong health.

If you have really bad genes, you're gonna have really bad health.

And if you have the genes in the middle, like most, it's pretty

good most of the days, right?

So we, we have these two.

Factors that they have to put into play.

And then there's another thing about the toxin test.

It's not just how many you have, but which ones you have.

'cause not every toxin is created equal.

There's all sorts of, there's heavy metals, there's mycotoxins,

there's pesticides and herbicides and phenols and volatile chemicals.

I mean, I can go down this huge list of all these different toxins

that are in our body, but there are certain toxins that are by far worse.

Than any of the other toxins, and those include the mold, toxins, the

plastics, the pesticides, and the pfas.

The reason those are probably much worse than the other one is number one.

Remember me talking about oxidants and things that start fires?

They're all oxidants, like that's the category.

All of these have that in common, is that the vast majority of

these are, they start fires.

The other thing is the vast majority of these are lipophilic.

That means they hide in the fat cells.

The body can put them into, because petroleum is oil and

oil matches well with fat.

That's why the body can put it into fat cells.

It won't bother the fat, fat cell.

And the body has sequestered it.

It's kind of blocked it away.

So it's not out in the out in the normal traffic of everything

causing all sorts of problem.

It's

called se sequestration.

Yeah, it's just sequestration, which is why obesity occurs because the fat

cells won't let go of the fat because they don't wanna let go of the toxins.

Uh, so our bodies are intelligent.

They're, it's trying to

our our body are trying to do what it needs to do to keep

these things out of the system.

So we have that kind of factor going in with all this.

But when they hide in the fat cells, that makes 'em even harder to get out.

'cause the body won't let 'em out and they're locked under locking keys.

So, but they still are in the circulation, you know, you can't lock 'em all away.

So the more you have.

The more that are locked away, but the more that you have the circulation,

it's just, there's only a certain percentage that you can lock away.

So if you only have five, you can lock away four of 'em.

Then you only have one out there, so you lock away 80%.

But if you have 50, you only lock away 40 of them, and you have 10

of 'em out there running away.

I mean, it's just, it's a numbers game.

And now let's go to 200,000.

And you, you say, and then you have, then you, then you have, what is that,

uh, 40,000 of them that aren't locked away, running around doing something.

It's just.

That's where we've gone in the last couple decades.

So that we're to the point where everybody is critically toxic.

That's right.

Yeah.

So toxin test, of course, you know the one that you know, MD lifespan,

there's a toxin test and talk.

We talk all about it.

You'll, you'll hear me shout it out in the intro and in the mid, so I don't,

Because we're not, we're not only doing a large number of toxins.

We're measuring for 109.

Various different types of toxins.

So it's a very broad spectrum and it's a lot of 'em.

But we also are measuring the ones that are the very, very bad ones and the

ones that are not necessarily so bad.

So we're getting kind of a picture.

The reason that's important is because back to the healthy people

that we looked at with 13.2, um, high critical toxins, five of them

were in the high critical range.

Eight of them were in the moderate range, but 50% of each category was.

High toxic and moderate toxic.

50 50 in both categories.

When we look at people who are really, have a lot of toxins, who are really

sick, and they may have 30 toxins with 12 of them being in the high critical

range and 18 of them being in the moderate range, but the ratio is like 70% high

critical toxins and 30% moderate toxins.

So not only do they have more, they have more the worse ones.

Right.

There's, there's more to look at the toxin tests than just how many you have

in the high range and the moderate range.

The other thing is how dangerous are the ones you have in the high

range, and what percentage of the out range of that high range is the high

criticals and, uh, toxins and what.

Range of that moderate range, what percentage of that

is a high critical toxin?

Because that all adds up to what we call the total tox burden.

How many you have plus how much of you have of that toxin, and how

critically toxic is that toxin.

There's a the factor that you add in and that score can be added up so that you

can find out, 'cause you can get people.

Looks like they have a relatively low number of toxins compared to everybody

else, but when you start looking at, they're all the high critical

toxins, their score skyrockets.

But you can have that same person who doesn't have a lab toxin.

They're all the lower range, and they have a very low score.

So it's not just the number, it's the the type of toxins that you have.

The type and then it sounds like it's, it's the family history, right?

It's all the D it's the DNA

What is that's gonna show your, that's gonna show you where those

toxins are gonna interplay on.

If you have a family history of cancer, cancer, family history of

dementia, dementia, family history of alcoholism, of diabetes, of autoimmune

diseases, that's what you're looking at.

If you've got a family history full of all that stuff, yeah, you got problems, hun.

for people thinking about like, where do I get my DNA done if I don't even

know my family history so well, like, is that like a 23 and me kind of thing,

Yeah, I mean there's a lot of good companies out there.

I think three by five is one of the better ones, and 23 and Me, that's

one of the better ones, but 23 and Me is not around anymore, but Three

by Five does a really good job.

And there's a number of good DNA companies out there that will give you a

good personal assessment of your genes.

And they should be looking at, you should be looking at the test.

The DNA test that group it into disease states and metabolic states

because you wanna know what, what do I have my genes put me at risk for

cancer, heart attack, cardio, you know, uh, uh, dementia, Parkinson's.

But then you wanna also know the other side of it too is what

metabolic problem do I have?

Do I have bad detox pathways?

Do I have, I mean, those are those metabolic things.

Complicate all those, um, genetic diseases that you may carry.

Got it.

So how does this, now, let's say, okay, we have toxins, we've, we've done the

test, you know, now you have the person's data, you have some family history.

How do you now create these targeted protocols and

so what you're looking at here is three basic phases of any, any type of therapy.

There's three basic phases.

There's the initial phase, there's the healing phase, and then

there's the maintenance phase.

The initial phase for us is detoxification, 'cause nothing

works until you get the toxins out.

Period.

So the first thing that we have to focus on is get in toxins

out in the MD lifespan protocol.

That's really focusing on the plasma exchange, the IV, and the

oral nutrients, and the avoidance therapy because the best way to get

them out is never to put them in.

That's why the avoidance therapy is so critical and we, we emphasize

that with patients repeatedly.

If you're going to spend this much money on getting 'em out, learn

how not to put them back in because you're just wasting your money if you

don't, because they will come back in.

And then the nutrients help resupply the body with what the, what the

toxins have displaced or destroyed so that the engine starts working again.

Once you get a number of the significant level of toxins down,

the inflammation comes down.

Toxins cause inflammation.

The oxidation comes down because toxins cause oxidation.

The immune system gets stronger 'cause toxins cause immunosuppression.

The immune system gets less confused 'cause toxins cause immuno confusion.

So once you get the toxins out, the body can start finding

itself back to its normal.

Healthy routines on repairing and regen, rejuvenating the body.

Phase two regenerative therapy.

There's a lot of the protocols that we have that just focus on getting

toxical because people aren't sick, they don't have a lot of inflammation,

they just wanna get the toxins out.

We agree with that.

So they don't need regenerative therapies 'cause they haven't

had anything that's been damaged.

But we have many patients that come in with damaged immune systems or they

come in with damaged neurons or they come in with damaged heart or they come

in with damaged cancer or they come in with Dan damaged brains and they've

all been damaged us varying degrees.

There are therapies in medicine and in including personalized medicine where we

have peptides and exosomes and stem cells and supplements and uh, other different.

Modalities that we can use to regenerate the tissues that have been injured.

Wow.

But that doesn't work until you get the toxins out and inflammation down and

oxidation down the immune system up.

So the MD lifespan approach is always in a segmented approach.

Let's get the toxins out, get the inflammation down, let's

start then repairing the tissues.

And then at the final part, it's teaching you how to maintain that now.

MD lifespan.

We are not long-term functional medicine doctors.

We do md, we do our TP protocols, we do detoxification.

We do it better than anybody else, and we spend all our time

and research on making it better.

Right.

When people leave us, what we've seen from them is not only do they have

an in credible amount of reduction in their toxins and their inflammation and

their oxidation, but they also have an improvement in their base function tissue.

So their brain, their memory scores are working better, the heart plaque

looks better, the immune system is working stronger, the autoimmune

diseases are less confused.

All these things straighten themselves out because you got

rid of the root cause, which

toxin.

then the body, then you're helping the body heal.

So the maintenance phase is a big deal of it is the avoidance therapy.

We're three years out now, Joe, on the initial group of patients, and

every single one of those patients from the first set of patients that

we did have lower levels of toxins today than they did when we ended

their protocol three years ago.

So people are like, when do I have to do this again?

As far as we know, never as long as you keep the toxins out.

So walk me through, so on, on the maintenance side, like of those

people for instance, are they on a very strict avoidance protocol

I, I, I, I hesitate with the word strict

okay.

Okay.

because I don't think the avoidance protocol is strict.

It's just common sense.

It's filtering your water.

Drinking filtered water whenever you can to the best of your ability.

Now I travel.

There's, on occasion I'm going to a restaurant.

It's not filtered.

There's occasion.

I'm at the airport, I'm gonna get a bottled water.

I'll get glass knowing that it probably came from plastic

before they put it in glass.

But I do my best and my best choices and that that's sufficient enough because

our studies show in, in this group of patients, their levels today are lower.

So whatever they're doing is working.

Yeah.

' cause it's going down year after year.

We, we unburden the system enough that it works and now it can continue to decrease

these toxins and inflammation, oxidation and people continue to improve over time.

So there's the filtering of the water, there's filtering of your air at

home 'cause you spend most of your time at your home or your office.

You should have your air filtered there.

You have to go into the kitchen and make sure you make your

kitchen safe from the chemicals.

The non-stick pans, the plastics, all the things that just, I went in three

years ago, four years ago now, just threw everything out out the window.

I was just like, I don't need any of that.

I bought stainless steel cookware.

I bought wood and stainless steel utensils.

All of our glasses, our glass,

Yep, that's right.

then we have the teaching people about their health and beauty

products, which is a big deal.

You know, we, there's plenty of websites out there, there's plenty applications

out there that you can take a picture of your health and beauty aid and it

will tell you what toxins are in there.

I mean, we, I use goop.com all the time for my health products because

they've already tested and verified.

The low toxicity of these things.

Then you have to look at this chemicals under the sink and in

the bathroom and realize that you don't need all of those things.

The other thing is a big one for me is I like a lot.

I have an ozone maker for my washing machine, so we don't

have to use the caustic chemicals and soap and softeners anymore.

We just use oxygenated water.

It's in our guidebooks.

Our guidebooks are free to the general public under our website,

under resources, guidebooks.

You can sign up for all of them.

I'll shout it out really quick just to quickly do md lifespan.com/guidebooks.

We'll take you there and they're more added all the time.

I think there's nine on there right now.

Yeah, we have a, and they're good, practical, effective, not costly

ways that you can keep these toxins away from you and your family.

Mm-hmm.

That's right.

I mean, that's, that's huge.

And I think we covered everything that I had in mind and you

know, it's very practical.

I think that's the big thing is the avoidance.

No one gets to, you know, skip out on that.

That's the part that no matter,

That is, that is one message I wanna shout on the top of my, top of the lungs

from the tallest building in the world.

Do avoidance therapy.

Everybody can do it.

It's not difficult.

It's easy to implement and I am not saying you have to do it a hundred percent

for all you people out there that have to do things through followers have

to do a hundred percent of the time.

You don't have to do this a hundred percent of the time.

You have to do it to the best of your ability, and

especially when you're at home.

And if you can, if you have to be out somewhere and they

have filtered water, great.

Do the filtered water.

Um, pick good restaurants where you're not getting a lot of crap in your food.

Um, go out, you know, go to good grocery stores and get fresh vegetables every day.

Don't let them sit around for days at a time.

I mean, this is all in the mold book that we talk about, all these different things.

There are absolutely ways that everybody today can protect themselves against

the tomorrow where they're toxic.

On that note, Dr. Savage, I wanna wrap this episode.

I think it's tight, it's practical, and uh, I learned some new things too.

So.

Get the guidebooks, everybody.

Yeah.

Well, there's multiple things I'll remind you is guidebooks are very helpful.

Md lifespan.com/guidebooks.

Also, get your toxin test and talk as well.

So that's md lifespan.com/toxin test.

And there is a coupon code as well.

It's podcast 200, so it'll knock a little bit off that fee there.

So go try that out.

Yeah, see you didn't even know about that.

Nice.

I didn't even know that.

That's, that's very cool.

Hey, I, we're all in the business of giving people good

information and giving people data.

I'm a mathematician.

I'm a biophysicist.

I tell people, dad is your friend.

You just, just have to be careful that you don't overread it, but you also have

to be careful that you don't ignore it.

thank you for sharing this again.

I know there's so many exciting things on the horizon that are happening now, and

the fact that I just did my own TPE and I got to finally experience it for myself.

That's exactly what you're saying.

I'm living it right now, so I hope others can do the same.

So we'll see you there.