Genetic connections to macular degeneration with Dr. Jason Clopton

Dr. Jason Clopton, FCOVD, discusses with Denise how genetic testing indicates which supplements are effective in reversing or preventing macular degeneration and other eye conditions and why. Dr. Clopton is the director of the Center of Vision Development in Cookeville Tennessee. He has presented numerous lectures worldwide on various neuro-optometric topics and has served on the board of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and the Tennessee Brain Injury Asssociation. He is a certified GX Sciences genetics provider. 

You can contact Dr. Clopton through his website:  https://drclopton.com/

or by phone at: (931) 372-2020

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Transcript

Denise: Welcome to the Healing Our Sight podcast. I'm your host Denise Allen, and today I have with me Dr. Jason Clopton. I'm very excited about this interview today. I'm going to go ahead and just introduce a little bit about him. Dr. Clopton graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in 1999 and he's the Director of the center of Vision Development, PLLC and managing Partner of the Centers of Development, PLLC Referral Centers for Pediatrics and Neuro rehabilitation in Cookeville, Tennessee. Dr. Clopton has presented numerous lectures worldwide on the optometric subjects of neurological pathways for vision, neuro, optometry, visual function with brain injury, vestibular interactions with visual function, practice management in a therapy office, pediatrics, strabismus amblyopia, genetics, nutrition and vision and coding and billing for vision therapy and neural rehabilitation. Dr. Clopton attained fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (FCOVD) in 2006 and diplomatic of the American Board of Optometric in 2013. He's a former board member of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and the Tennessee Brain Injury Association. He's past chairman of the Vision Rehabilitation Committee for the American Optometric association and he wrote the AOA guidelines for coding and billing for vision therapy and neurorehabilitation. He has a patent for the system and method for real time monitoring and dynamic treatment of ocular motor conditions that was granted in September 2014. And he also became an SSI licensed scuba diving instructor in 2021 and is a certified GX Sciences genetics provider. So that is a lot of stuff you've been doing over the last 20 some years that you've been practicing.

Dr. Clopton:  Pretty impressive on paper.

Denise: I think it's awesome how active you've been. And I was curious about that patent. Was that for a device?

Dr. Clopton: Yes, it's a system and method. It's a patent that uses eye tracking pair of glasses and we have discovered in the last 15 years or so that it turns are in the brain kind of known that for a long time, right. They still want to cut muscles for it. But if we stimulate areas of the brain we think we can prevent or treat strabismus very effectively by using stimulating areas of the brain. And so, it's a like a look through LCD with vision tracking and it's an active-matrix LCD that I guess you'd call it dynamically patches and gradient patches. But it actually follows your eye when that when your eye moves instead of having just a whole system Patch, it only blocks the area of coordination between the two eyes on a dynamic basis. And so, the further your eye deviates away from aligned. So, if your one eye starts to turn in the. The blockage on that eye gets bigger and bigger and moves with the eye. So, it's kind of a. dynamic treatment of a dynamic system rather than a static treatment of a dynamic system, basically. And we've been through quite a bit of development on it, and it's still not to market, and we're looking for some investors to finish it.

Denise: Okay. I was gonna say that doesn't sound like anything that was used in the office that I went to.

Dr. Clopton: No. Well, I feel like it's light years ahead of all that kind of stuff. We'll see.

Denise: Okay, that's exciting. So, potentially. Yeah. Do you have something set up to get investors for that or what's going on with that?

Dr. Clopton: So, we had an engineering company that took a bunch of money and never finished a product, and we ran out of money. And so, we've talked with several groups, and it's come and gone over the years, but currently we're looking for people that would invest in that, and we have an amount and to finish the engineering. And. Yeah, so we're looking for that.

Denise: That's so exciting. Wow. Cutting edge all the way around. So today we wanted to talk about the genetic aspect of things. I was so interested in this because I heard you on Lynn Hellerstein's podcast last fall, and I had to listen to it more than once. And I called my mom and I said, you really need to look at this genetic aspect of your macular degeneration. And she didn't do anything about it. Right. So, I listened to it again, and I called her and I said, we really need to do this. And she said, okay, go ahead and do it for me. Right. So, I called your office and I said, okay, I want to do the genetic testing for my mom. And as we started talking, it hit me, I think at the same time that it hit you that I should do the testing as well, because I'm genetically, obviously related to my mother.

Dr. Clopton: Right. 

Denise: So, we both did the testing and we both got our results and had our discussion with you about it. She was supposed to invite me to the conversation with you, and she didn't,

Dr. Clopton: So, she may have forgotten.

Denise: So, I actually haven't compared our results yet, unfortunately. I meant to do that before we talked, but it's pretty obvious that I have the tendency towards macular as well.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah.

Denise: Based on our conversation, is that fairly common?

Dr. Clopton: Yeah, very common, actually. Okay. So, I think of diseases very differently than I did 20 years ago. I followed the medical model and, you know, macular degeneration was a disease that we had to treat as macular degeneration. Now I categorize it as a disease of autophagy, which is very much related to dementias, Alzheimer's, and a lot of doctors are now calling those type 3 diabetes because those pathways contribute to decreases in autophagy. And we're looking at, I don't call it macular degeneration anymore. I call it. I guess I would call it a disease that manifests as macular degeneration in your eye, but it's a whole-body problem always.

Denise: Right.

Dr. Clopton: And if we're treating one, we're treating all of them. And so, our goal in giving the supplements, we. We look at your genes and we say, do you have this gene that makes this enzyme in that pathway? And if we see that you are missing the ability to make that enzyme, which makes you less efficient at doing what you're supposed to do, we have supplements that can take the place of what you're supposed to be doing naturally. And it makes your body more efficient at doing what's supposed to do and decreases your risk or reverses or helps, however you want to call it, of the condition or disease that you have. And so, I've actually done a deep dive into macular degeneration. And I probably in the next six months, we are going to have a genetic panel specifically for macular degeneration, which is going to help with dementias, Alzheimer's, those kinds of diseases, lots of other diseases. But that is potentially a huge thing. If we can stop or hopefully reverse or prevent macular degeneration, which is one of the leading causes of blindness other than cataracts in the world. It is for people over the age of 70. If we can affect that disease and reduce it or eliminate it or reverse it or whatever we do, that is a huge, huge. It's never been done before, ever. And we have looked at macular degeneration and, and we know that people with higher carotenoids and zeoxanthin and. And those kinds of things, they tend to get macular degeneration less and it progresses less. That's why in the past We've recommended the AREDS and AREDS 2 supplements and your doctor will recommend those. They're well studied, but we haven't actually gotten down to the core causes of why do you get it in the first place? Right. And the carotenoids are very helpful, and they do a great job at slowing the process down, partly because they're really high antioxidants, and that triggers your autophagy pathway. Autophagy is the process of getting rid of cellular garbage. So, every cell in your body takes in stuff, materials, processes them, and then gets rid of the waste products or the. Or the garbage. And the process of getting rid of the garbage is called autophagy. And dementias, Alzheimer's, macular degeneration, are all autophagy deficiencies. Okay. And there's a bunch of other conditions that go along with that, but those are the biggies, and those are the ones that people are the most afraid of because, you know, we're all afraid of losing our vision. We're all afraid of dementias, Alzheimer's, those kinds of things. And so, we actually trace back the genetic pathways and how it works and then give you the supplements where we can. Sometimes there's pathways we can't do anything about. A lot of people with Alzheimer's know that the APOE genes are part of that. The MTOR pathway, the ATG pathways. There's a bunch of them. Those are all contributors to those three conditions. The macular degeneration, dementias, and Alzheimer's.

Denise: Okay.

Dr. Clopton: So, yeah, we’ve done a deep dive on those pathways and how they work.

Denise: Yeah. So, the panel that you did on me was for all of the eye conditions or was it just.

Dr. Clopton: No, it’s a general. It's 107 of the enzymes of the pathways, and it's general cellular inflammation, it is neurotransmitters, it is mitochondria, it is detoxification, it's autophagy, it's immune system turning on, turning off. It's all kinds of different stuff. And that's a really great general way to start. And we can get into, like. Okay, so we don't have. Have the specific test yet for genetics of macular degeneration. We're working on it, and it's coming out in months, hopefully. I just had a conversation yesterday with a group that is putting together, actually, we're putting together dry eye, macular degeneration, glaucoma, Alll kinds of stuff. Rosacea. Because there are things we can do about it, and if we know what you specifically are missing, then we can say you need to take this set of supplements, you know, this antioxidants, this polyphenols, these resveratrols. You need to take this; you need to take that. You need to take substantia nigra, you know, black pepper extract. You need to take what, whatever it is. And you know, you get a combination, hopefully you can get a combination of supplements that fit all those things that you're missing.

Denise: Right.

Dr. Clopton: So, I'm super excited about it because I think it's going to be a game changer in how we treat disease, all diseases.

Denise: Yeah. So, the panel that you did on me is showing that I need certain supplements. Does it look vastly different from a panel from some that you did with someone else as far as what you're going to recommend?

Dr. Clopton: Oh, yeah, yeah. So, everybody has some general patterns to them. I have some patients that have absolutely no problems. They have all the green. Green means you get both copies of a gene. So, you make all the enzymes for the ATG pathway. And I just say, hey, look, you're low risk for macular degeneration. Don't worry about it. That's something, check. You don't need to be concerned about that in your life. And then I had one yesterday that had incredibly high methylfolate deficiencies to the point of multiple miscarriages, chronic inflammation, autoimmune disease at 30 years old. And so, I think that that patient is going to be super happy in about three or four months.

Denise: Yeah. So, is that about how long it takes for the supplements to really start working?

Dr. Clopton: Well, it depends on your age. So, if you're 80, it's going to take about eight months. If you're 60, it's going to take about six months. If you're 40, it's going to take about four months. If you're 20, it's going to take about two months. If you're 10 years old, next couple of weeks, it's going to be great. So, because it's your body doing it itself, we're supplying the materials to be able to do it yourself. And that's the big difference.

Denise: Yeah. So, what do you say to someone who, who says, hey, I took all those supplements, and I didn't notice any difference?

Dr. Clopton: Well, number one, I'm pretty sure you didn't take all the supplements that your genetics required because if you didn't do the genetic test, you don't know. You may have taken a B12, let's say, and your body didn't even need B12, it needed methylfolate. Or you may have taken N acetylcysteine, and your body produces that just fine, but it doesn't produce glutathione. So that's number one. And number two, if you know a lot of the over-the-counter supplements are unregulated. So, you want to look for a supplement that is, I can't remember the name of the group. It's either amp or GMP certified, which is a third-party certification that however much you take, your body will actually absorb because there's like an area of magnesium, there's magnesium citrate, glycinate, bisglycinate, maliate. There are so many different kinds. Some are absorbed; some are poorly absorbed. And it really depends on your genetics. And so, some people need one kind, some people need a different kind. And you don't know that unless you know your genetics. And if you know your genetics, you know you got it right.

Denise: So, is there anything in this process that tells you if you're going to have cataracts or some of those other things that you haven't brought up yet that are still concerns for people?

Dr. Clopton: Yes. Okay, so cataracts are considered an aging process, but I'm going to tell you that they're an aging process related to methylation pathways. And we can probably put them off, if not reverse them completely, probably not reverse them, if not prevent them completely. But we just consider that a normal part of the aging process. And yes, it is. But if we can reduce our methylation problems, then we can put off things like cataracts. And yes, we, we actually have a cataract panel and a, there's a, when you do have cataract surgery, about 10 to 15% of the population cells, epithelial cells from the lens, actually grow back. And you have to have a second procedure, which is a laser procedure that pops a hole basically in where your epithelium grows back. And we know that that's controlled by genetics and we might be able to find a way to block that if you need that, or say, nope, you don't need that, no big deal, or preventively do more during cataract surgery to keep it from coming back. So that procedure, here's the big deal. That procedure for Medicare is about a $350 procedure per eye. And if we can tell who's going to have it or prevent it from happening, you're talking 20 million people and you're talking, let's just say 10% have that procedure done. So, you know, a million people a year at $350 a procedure per eye. So $700. You're. You're saving Medicare a lot of money. Yeah, they like that. If you can go to and say, we're saving you with microdegeneration, if you say, hey, we can do this genetic test and we're going to save you $4.2 billion a year.

Denise: The procedures that they do for macular are so expensive. My mom gets that shot.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah. Thousand dollars a pop sometimes.

Denise: Oh, no, it's way more than that.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah, well, some. Some of them. There are different ones. Yeah. If we could say, here's. Here's something we can give this patient that is $100 a month, $1200 a year versus $2000 per injection every three to four months or every two months or whatever it is. Yeah. Holy cow. That's. That's a huge savings.

Denise: Yeah. So, I have a brother who has already had two detached retinas and cataract surgery, and he. 54.

Dr. Clopton: Yep.

Denise: So.

Dr. Clopton: So, we think that retinal detachments are potentially part of the cyclo oxygenase pathways. I saw a guy 15, 20 years ago who was an eye doctor that probably had severe autism. And, well, I know he had autism, and he was a huge researcher. And he came in and he said, yeah, you know, this. Retinal detachments, that's just a cyclooxygenase pathway, and we can do this and this.  And I thought, where did that. I mean, you know, this is before a lot of the genetic stuff going on nowadays. And so, I went back and revisited that about 10 years ago and went, oh, okay. Yeah, he had it. He was on to something way back then. We just need to implement it.

Denise: Yeah. So again, it would be the supplements for that particular. . .

Dr. Clopton: Yeah, yeah, for that pathway. So. And there's, like I said, there's multiple pathways for everything we do. If it's an important pathway, God made lots of different ways to get it done.

Denise: So, was the cataract part in the panel that I did? Because we didn't talk about cataracts.

Dr. Clopton: No, it hasn't come out yet. That's one of the future ones that. Okay, so when we do this, we have to say, here's the pathways. Here's 10 different pathways for cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, whatever it is. And this one contributes this much, potentially. This one can be treated. This one cannot be treated. This one requires this much. You Know, it's actually a really big process to nail down all of the contributing factors.

Denise: Okay.

Dr. Clopton: So, yeah, it's coming. It's coming.

Denise: Can we also tell whether there's a tendency to have binocular vision issues from the genetic code? I'm just curious about that because I have a family history of binocular issues Okay.

Dr. Clopton: So, we now know that strabismus is a motion processing problem in the brain. Okay. What contributes to that, what leads to that? What, you know, is there multiple factors? Probably. Is it genetic? We know that it runs in families, so, yes, it's genetic, but the question is, what pathways? What areas of the brain? How does it happen, and can we do something about it? And so that's. . . . I'm sure we'll find that five years down the road, 10 years down the road, 15, 20, whatever. Whatever it is, that. That's a biggie also. And if we can prevent by, you know, doing certain activities or if we can prevent by certain supplements, we're. We will find it out eventually and do it. Yeah.

Denise: Okay. It's so exciting. Would you. Would you like to share some of your success stories with us?

Dr. Clopton: Sure. One of the better ones is I have a colleague who is a very allopathic-type doctor, and she's probably in her late 50s now, maybe early 60s. But two years ago, she came to one of my genetic lectures, and she said, I have lupus and I've been on medication, Plaquenil, which is potentially toxic to the eye. She said, I've been on Plaquenil for 25 years, and I've tried to come off of it three or four times, but, you know, I almost went on disability because I don't like the medication, but it's the only thing that keeps my pain from coming back. And she said, do you think this is potentially something that could help me? And I said, well, you know, I don't know. At that time, I said, I don't know. Let's give it a go and see what happens. And sure enough, her cellular inflammation was through the roof and some other things. And about four months into her treatment, she said, I came off my medicine. She'd switched rheumatologists because her old one retired. And she said, I came off of my Plaquenil therapy quite easily. No problems. My new rheumatologist doesn't know how it works or why it happened, but I am super happy. I'm off all of my medications. And she said, I I've had to actually go down on some of the supplements because, because I was having some very vivid dreams and she said I had more energy, clear headedness, and I'm off my medications that I wanted to be off for 25 years and I'm off them with no problems.

Denise: Wow.

Dr. Clopton: And at that point you go, okay, so what is Lupus? Yeah, you know, it's an autoimmune disease, but it starts with cell level inflammation. If you can't get rid of that inflammation, all of the cell, every entire cell, every cell in your entire body has a difficult time doing what it's supposed to. And basically, we just gave her the ability to get rid of the inflammation. And, you know, she had a few other things. But, you know, we do some stuff with the immune system that turns the immune system on and off more efficiently. A big one on that is, you know, does CBD oil work for you? CBD oil is all the rage, right?

Denise: Yeah.

Dr. Clopton: The problem is, is that only about 3 to 4% of the population responds to CBD oil by itself. Okay. For those people, it is the miracle that they say it is. You know, two, three, four out of a hundred, it's a miracle. There's another thing called palmitoyl ethanolamide. Pea, we call it PEA soothe, which is a cousin to CBD oil. But when you combine the two, it hits about 25% of the population. So, you know, does CBD oil work? Does it not work? Does it work in conjunction with PEA Soothe? With palm oil ethanolamide, I take palmitoyl ethanolamide by itself. I don't take the CBD oil because I didn't need to. Okay, does low dose naltrexone work for you? Do you respond to it or not? And usually, we reserve that one for difficult cases because, because of the stigma that goes with naltrexone, which is an opioid blocker, so it blocks overdoses of opioids. But that's at 50 and 100 milligrams, at 1 milligram every day or every other day. It works in a completely different way in the body. And so, it's been around for a long time. But now we know genetically, does that respond? Do you, do you respond to that or not? So, yeah, there's just so many, so many things. I've got patients that have lost their macular degeneration. Now they were in the early stages, but we have it on. You know, they do a scan of the back your eye with a laser to see if you have thickened cells back there.

Denise: Right.

Dr. Clopton: And we have patients who have lost their macular degeneration and we've got it documented. You got to get to about 20 before you can publish a case. A case series. Publish. But yeah, I mean, it’s potentially the biggest thing in medicine I've ever seen.

Denise: Yeah. How close are you to getting your 20?

Dr. Clopton: I've got probably 15 right now.

Denise: Okay.

Dr. Clopton: And I don't, because I don't do a lot of macular degeneration. I do pediatrics and brain injuries. I do get some family members that have macular degeneration. What I really want is, I want people that aren't my patients that do the genetics and see their results. That's a big deal because then it's a double blind really. Or say, I guess you call it a single blind study, but that would be fantastic. And I'm hoping that some things come along that allow us to do that.

Denise: So, people like my mom who get the panel and start taking the supplements, but they haven't really gone in and to see you as their doctor for the.

Dr. Clopton: I would rather that be. I would rather me not be their doctor because then it's somebody else saying, oh, okay, you have reversed or you have not progressed or now if they're taking the injections, then, you know, is it the injection or is it the supplements? Well, we actually need people that have early macular degeneration so that they're not taking injections yet.

Denise: Yeah. Okay. So, when they're to the point where they're taking injections, is it less likely that you're going to see a reversal?

Dr. Clopton: Yeah, yeah. Because the state of the condition is down the road. That's like I tell people, I've gotten, myself included, I had arthritis in my hands at 45 and I'm 55 now and I don't have arthritis in my hands. And I've got many patients that are saying that, but I have some patients that have really bad arthritis to the point where their hands, their fingers are bent and that kind of stuff. And are they getting relief? I think some, but not, not nearly as, you know, like mine's gone.

Denise: Yeah.

Dr. Clopton: So that's not going to happen to them.

Denise: So, what about the anti-inflammatory diet?

Dr. Clopton: That's part of it. You know, you, you do everything you can do to take care of your conditions. And so, a big one for me is cow milk. Cow milk is very inflammatory. Cow milk, it thickens up all the mucous membranes of Your body, it causes things like ear infections, tonsils, adenoids, it causes irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, it caused eczema, allergies. It causes so many problems. And when people actually come off a dairy, they go, wow, I had no idea that it could do that. And you know, it's part of the process.

Denise: Well, and I bring that up because you brought up the arthritis issue. One of my friends has had arthritis since she was a child.

Dr. Clopton: Right, right.

Denise: And she went on an anti-inflammatory diet and is

Dr. Clopton: way better. 

Denise: so much improved. Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Clopton: I have a medical doctor, he's in our town and he allows me to tell his story. He is, he's late 40s. He has multiple sclerosis to the point where he can't, he couldn't feel his feet. He walked with a walker. He was considering stopping practice because his ability to think clearly and that kind of stuff was affecting him. And I talked to him for a couple of years about this and I had lunch with him, and I said, look, this is how it works. And he said, oh, yeah, yeah, I get that. You know, because he understands the science. And I said, just do your test. Finally, his wife made him do it. And then after I reviewed it with him, I said, look, there's, there's four or five genes that contribute directly to multiple sclerosis. You got them all. You have defects in every one of those pathways. And here's what you need to do about it. Another four months goes by. He doesn't do the supplements. He started them last November. He sent me a text in December and he said, I can't believe that I'm telling you this, but I can feel my feet again and my thinking is clear and I'm, my memory is better. And he's walking, he is back to a cane, but he had a walker, you know, and this is, this is a, a guy who has practiced medicine for 20 years and does the standard stuff. He was doing the standard treatments and now he's like, oh, and now he is doing genetic testing for his patients because he's like, okay, wow, this really helped me. I might as well give this to my patients.

Denise: So, and so the improvement happened just in the space of a month or so for him.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah, yeah, his should have taken four months. And he, I haven't talked to him in a while, but I mean, he may be a whole lot better now, even I don't know. It's been a while since I've talked to him.

Denise: Yeah, we need that update.

Dr. Clopton: I'll see what I get. I'll give them a call tonight.

Denise: Okay. So. you mentioned a couple. Do you see the reversal of the symptoms in the macular with the supplements, then on all. . .

Dr. Clopton:  we have on some. Not everybody.

Denise: Okay.

Dr. Clopton: And there's. There's probably a lot more pathways that we have yet to discover. Okay. So, this is how it all started. Twenty years ago, I had a lady come into my office and she said, my son has severe autism because he has an MTHFR deficiency. Okay, what's that? And she was very, very, very intense on figuring out what caused her son's autism. And 20 years ago, we knew about the MTHFR, and 15 years ago we knew about the MTHF R. The second one. Then we found out about the MTHFD, the MTHFS, the FOLR1, the FOLR2, the CYP1B1. And there's. Every couple of years we'll find a new gene that is a new course in the pathway and a different way to get there. And it's. It's affected by different things. And so, our knowledge of how things work is expanding. I mean, I. I am reading a ton, and I can't keep up with literature. It is exploding. We know that inherited retinal diseases, we have 317 genes that contribute to that. And so, you know, with macular degeneration, we're talking about. Currently we're talking about 20 genes. I think we'll probably find another 20 in the next five or six years. So, we'll see. I'm pretty sure we'll find out a lot more, actually.

Denise: So, I, I actually talked last week about autism, and so it's top of my mind, too. When you get that autistic patient, what did you do genetically or with the supplements for that person?

Dr. Clopton: 20 years ago? We didn't do anything.

Denise: Well, this mom new. I'm just wondering what you do.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah, yeah. Now we do a standard panel, and then we do what's called a developmental panel, and. Or we just add the genes that are extra for the developmental panel. And we've had great success with, you know, reducing in. In headbanging, in attention, in calmness, in verbalization, in all kinds of areas. And I don't think that the genes are the cause. They are contributory for sure, because, you know, when you do the supplements and a lot of kids that have autism can't take pills. So, this company has actually made creams that you can rub on their back at night before they go to bed that have the same ingredients in them.

Denise: Wow.

Dr. Clopton: And so, yeah, there. There's a lot of that going on. In fact, the. The guy that started the company, he is a neuro-otologist. So, he is a brain surgeon. That is a specialty brain surgeon. So, he's a smart brain surgeon. And he had two boys that had autistic characteristics. And he said, there's got to be a way. And he had heard about the MTHFR gene, and so he started treating his boys. And now that was. That was a long time ago. Now both his boys are either in or through medical school. 

Denise: Wow.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah.

Denise: So, his boys were just on the spectrum. Not super autistic, maybe.

Dr. Clopton: I don't know how much.

Denise: Okay.

Dr. Clopton: I. I know that he tells that story that, hey, my boys are the reason I did this. And. And he's smartest human being I've ever met. Well, maybe Elon Musk. I met Elon Musk, but I think he's along those lines.

Denise: Wow. Okay. So, let's just say, um, I had panels done on my grandchildren. Um, it would point out what supplements would help their autistic tendencies.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah, supplements. Foods. And. And I shouldn't say foods, but supplements, let medicine be your food and food be your medicine. Hippocrates said that what, 4,000 years ago? So, there are supplements that are along the lines, you know, mullion leaf. There's a ton of supplements that come from those things, and they just give you the extract of it. And. Yeah, I think it's just a fantastic way to go.

Denise: Wow, that is amazing. It is a lot of food for thought right now.

Dr. Clopton: Right.

Denise: If people want to do these kinds of genetic tests, what's the best way?

Dr. Clopton: Easiest way is www.drclopton.com. C-L-O-P-T-O-N so drclop ton.com. there's a link there. You can call the office. It's 931-372-2020. And just say, hey, I need a genetic test. We mail them out. I've got patients in Alaska. I've got patients in Canada. I've got patients in. I got doctors that are patients in Canada. I got patients in Utah. I got patients in California. It doesn't matter where you are. You know, you can get it done anywhere because it's a cheek swab, so there's no blood involved. It's just you scrub your cheeks with a swab and put it in a. In a test tube and send it off to the lab. They do your genetics and they come back with a report that says, you need to take this. You don't need to take that. You do need to take this. You have a high risk for this. You have, you know, Are you gluten sensitive? Does your body grow microvilli in your gut? Do you have the prebiotics and probiotic pathways to do that, stuff like that?

Denise: Yeah, And I ended up on four supplements.

Dr. Clopton: That's actually pretty good. The lady yesterday, I think she was on eight.

Denise: Wow.

Dr. Clopton: But boy, she had. She had a lot of troubles. And when you're 30 years old, you're coming out of your 20s, and you have arthritis and Sjogren syndrome and autoimmune conditions and thyroid problems and, and then you get the genetics and go, well, yeah, that's why you have all that stuff that. It's pretty easy to see why you have that.

Denise: Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing all that today. Do you have any final words of wisdom you want to leave us with?

Dr. Clopton: Sure. Be curious all the time about medicine. I'm going to tell you that doctors know what they have been taught and what they have currently been taught is pharmaceutical products to treat, which they actually cover your symptoms. They don't actually treat. In most cases, some of them do. And ask them what they do know about supplements, what they do know about genetics, because. Yeah, yeah. Most of the doctors out there have no clue. They're not trained on this. I wasn't trained on it, that's for sure. When I came out of school, I knew about genetics, that we had wrinkly peas and smooth peas, and you get one set of genes from your mother and one set from your father, and good luck. And that's what we were taught. And now it's a whole other world of understanding. So be curious about it, dig in, check it out, do research and see what you get.

Denise: Yeah.

Dr. Clopton: Know more than your doctor.

Denise: Yeah, well, like your patient who came in and said, I know that this is the genetic thing that's going on with my son.

Dr. Clopton: Right, right, right. And it, and it probably wasn't the whole picture, but that's what she had learned. And that triggered the curiosity in me to say, oh, well, I better know about this, because my patient knows about this. And Dr. Google makes me stay up on things really well because I get patients all the time I learn from.  Yeah.

Denise: That's awesome. I think it's so important that we all just learn from each other. And that's. Yeah. And that's why I would like to get the information out there so people who are curious can find more answers than they otherwise would.

Dr. Clopton: Yeah. As we say in the south, got to go looking for answers.

Denise: Exactly. Great. Thank you so much.

Dr. Clopton: Thank you. I appreciate you doing this.

Denise: Thank you for listening to the Healing Our Sight podcast. I'd love to hear from you. If you like this episode, please share it. And please join our Facebook community at Healing our site to leave suggestions or comments. Have a great day.