Episode 140 | His Cancer Markers Kept RISING After Surgery (Until He Did This)

Dr. Katie Deming: [00:00:00] After prostate cancer surgery, his PSA kept rising and doctors told him that more treatment was next until his numbers shifted.

Welcome to Born to Heal, the podcast helping people with cancer go beyond Western medicine to heal naturally through the ancient power of prolonged water fasting, so you can ditch the toxic protocols, take control of your health, and let your body do what it's designed to do: heal. I'm your host, Dr.

Katie Deming. Let's dive in.

~Welcome to Born To Heal the podcast, helping people with cancer go beyond the western medicine to heal naturally through the ancient power of prolonged water fasting so you can ditch the toxic protocols.~

~Take control of your health and let your body do what it's designed to do, heal. I'm your host, Dr. Katie Deming. ~

Today I am joined by my client Merlin, who came to this work after prostate cancer surgery when his PSA continued to rise and he was told radiation and hormone therapy were next. In this episode, you'll discover what it really means when your tumor markers rise after surgery and why more treatment isn't always the only next step.

What it actually is like to go through a 21 day water fast, even if you've never fasted before. [00:01:00] And most importantly, you'll hear what happened to Merlin's, PSA, and even his urinary function after the fast, and why those results changed what his doctors recommended.

Next,~ ~~Next, this is the outro. To summarize, here are the key points we covered today.~

~When your body seems to be heading in the wrong direction, it doesn't always mean you need to act immediately. It may be a moment to pause and reassess your options. We also reviewed why creating a true metabolic reset can shift how the body responds in ways that aren't possible when it's in a constantly fed, inflamed, or stressed state.~

~And finally, we learned that sometimes the biggest change in your healing comes from not doing more treatments, but from creating the conditions that allow your body to respond differently. If you found today's episode helpful and you're ready to experience what real healing feels like from the inside out, join me for our next three day Water Fast Link is in the show notes below.~

~Thank you for listening. And remember, just like me, you are born to heal.~

Welcome, Merlin to the show. Thank you for joining us.

Merlin Hagan: ~Thank you.~

It's a

pleasure.

Dr. Katie Deming: Merlin, you just completed a 21 day water fast and you were doing that to heal,~ um,~ prostate cancer. And I wonder if you can share a little bit just about what led you to choosing to do a water fast and, and what it was that you were dealing with medically.

Merlin Hagan: ~sure. So I,~

~Uh, uh,~ several years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. ~Um, ~the urologist is a close friend of mine and,~ uh,~ did the biopsy and the MRI and basically the conclusion of that was I had the least amount of prostate cancer you could have. And,~ uh,~ you know, we'll probably even never treat this.

And then two and a half years later, we repeat. All those tests and,~ um,~ the MRI shows no change, but [00:02:00] he did a different biopsy this time and unfortunately it showed I had intermediate grade prostate cancer and I was like, what? And so, ~um, ~the first biopsy that we did, frankly just missed what was really happening.

And so, ~um. He,~ my surgeon said, Hey, we've gotta do something about this. And so, ~uh, ~in August of last year of 25, I had a prostatectomy. I chose that instead of the radiation, just 'cause I felt like I had a friend who had radiation. I didn't really like the side effects of that. And plus my surgeon convinced me that,~ um,~ by doing that I would know better about what really was going on in there.

And so after the surgery, ~um. ~~You know, he,~ when they biopsy the tissue, it turns out I had, uh, some, what was called in ductal cancer spots in there and which are resistant to radiation. And so had we done the radiation, I probably would've never known that and would've perhaps had metastatic cancer a few years.

So I'm grateful that I did what I did, however, ~um. You know,~ that led to some [00:03:00] issues, which I'll cover in just a second. But my, my primary reason was,~ um,~ you know, I just really was,~ um,~ you know, what led me to fasting is I, after the surgery,~ um,~ we rechecked my PSA in December,~ uh,~ and it was, had not gone to zero, which it should be, and it had clicked up.

To 0.25 in December. ~Um, ~we checked it again in January and it clicked up to 0.30. So that was alarming. ~Um, ~and I went to see my urologist who sent me to a radiation oncologist, and pretty much the conclusion of that was I have some sort of microscopic cancer still remaining perhaps in the prostate bed.

~Um. Uh, ~not, they're not for sure, but that's what they would guess. And so the recommendation was radiation. And then subsequent to that, they did other tissue samples that determined,~ uh,~ I had the type of cancer that might be likely to metastasize within the next 10 years. And so they also [00:04:00] recommended hormone therapy.

~Um. ~Where they take your testosterone down to zero. And so I had a friend who had both of those therapies this last year, and I saw the side effects that those,~ um,~ caused in him. uh, that just concerned me a lot. And so we began looking for just some alternative ways of, of looking or treating cancer without doing the traditional things if possible.

And I'm, I was willing to do the traditional treatments if that was absolutely. The last resort, but I really wanted to see if there was some other possibility. And so, ~um, ~honestly, we looked around on the internet,~ um,~ and found some people that had success treating prostate cancer with fasting and diet.

And so that intrigued us. And then I, we had a friend who, who did a local podcast here that Katie, you were on. ~ uh,~ my sister was friends with this lady and. My sister forwarded this to me and we listened to your podcast that night,~ uh,~ on Lisa's show. And so that,~ um,~ you [00:05:00] know, I, I didn't know anyone around here who provided ~medical~ supervision of fasting, and my understanding was if you fast for longer periods of time, it's probably a good idea to have somebody.

~Uh, ~that knows what they're doing to supervise it. So that's when we contacted you. And so I, I think my interest was to see if I could avoid some of the traditional treatments,~ um,~ and manage it through diet and fasting. That was, that was at least my goal to do it. I'd never fasted. My idea of fasting probably prior to this was,~ uh,~ I'll just drink Diet Cokes every day and I won't eat.

That was kind of my fasting.

Dr. Katie Deming: Yeah. So, okay. So, and just to summarize for the listeners, so you had prostate cancer, you had a prostatectomy in late summer fall of 2025. Your PSA had not gone to zero, which they had expected, and so they were saying. Really that suggests there's additional disease left behind that radiation would be the next [00:06:00] step. maybe also the anti,~ um,~ like uh, or Lupron, basically hormonal therapy in addition to the radiation. And your goal was to see, okay, what can I do naturally to see if I could avoid having these additional treatments, having already had the surgery? Is that, do I have that correct?

Merlin Hagan: That That's correct. Yes.

Dr. Katie Deming: perfect. And you had no fasting experience, which I remember from the first time we met and you were like, you know, really not even 24 hours.

So, ~um, ~let me ask you this. When you, you decided to do a fast, you did 21 days. What was that experience like for you? Having never fasted before?

Merlin Hagan: ~Um. ~Well, I mean, I was a little apprehensive about it, you know, ~how do you,~ how do you go 21 days without eating? That's 90 meals. Uh, and so, you know, I was certainly apprehensive about it. ~Uh, ~however I was committed to it because,~ um,~ you know, I wanted to give it,~ um,~ I didn't wanna shortcut anything. I wanted to give myself an opportunity to see if.

This [00:07:00] really could impact, you know, my situation. And so, ~uh, ~I was apprehensive about it. However, I think having you,~ um,~ where I could be accountable to someone and,~ um,~ you know, who understands what's going on,~ uh, I,~ I think that was very important because, you know, if you fast and you start feeling things that you're unfamiliar with, you're not sure.

You know, is that okay or not? And so I think having ~medical~ supervision of the fast was important to me to give me sort of comfort that I'm, I'm okay. I'm not gonna die. ~um, ~you know, 'cause when you think about not eating, that's a pretty, that's a pretty radical thing. ~Um, ~so I, I would say I was apprehensive, but committed to, you know, doing it.

Dr. Katie Deming: ~Yeah. And you know,~ the first few days are hard, right? So the first few days are, are what people imagine that it's gonna be like for the full 21 days, I'm gonna be hungry, I'm gonna be. Hangry. I'm gonna be irritable, I'm gonna be, you know, lightheaded, all of that. And can you tell us what, what was that like?

It was, there was a [00:08:00] period in there where it was hard physically and you were hungry, but then that went away. Is that, is that true statement?

Merlin Hagan: ~That I think that's true. I would say I, uh,~ yes. The first three days to me are, are the most difficult. Physically, you feel you're, you physically want food. ~Uh, ~the other 18 days, it's really more of a mental thing for me. And so I, I did get hungry a little bit most days, but it wasn't anything. That, you know, ~would,~ I would consider to be attempting to me or anything else.

The worst thing is watching television and all the commercials that are about food, you know, 'cause there's literally, you don't notice it, but there's a food commercial, every other commercial on television until you fast. And then things like Kentucky Fried Chicken really look great all of a sudden. ~um, ~so yeah, it was hard, but really more of a mental thing.

After that, it's more. I think it's more the social aspect of eating you miss than it is the physical part,~ uh,~ is what I would say the challenges are, but I was certainly committed to it no matter what.

Dr. Katie Deming: ~Yeah. Well, and ~you know, I think that one thing [00:09:00] in there for people, especially people who've never fasted, think, oh my goodness, how could I go from, you know, never fasting into a 21 day fast? That probably sounds crazy, but. The truth that, that I see is that it's possible actually for people. It's helpful if you've done like maybe a three day fast that you can transition a little bit smoother into ketosis.

But certainly I have other people who are like you who, and it's funny because, you know, we joke about the diet pepper or, or that it's Dr. Pepper or you know, the,~ um,~ sodas. 'cause you, you liked sodas and you know that that was something that. The way that you were eating coming into this fast, you were starting to make changes 'cause you knew, okay, I need to change my diet for, you know, to help me get well.

But I think sometimes people think, oh, well I could only do a prolonged fast like this if I had already been eating really well and had been, you know, doing things in a different way. But you really. You know, went from eating,~ um,~ [00:10:00] things that definitely are outside of what you, you're eating now for cancer, for healing.

But you were able to make that transition and yes, the first three days were hard, but it was really that, it's like the first few days are hard and then people kind of settle in like that. So would you say anything to someone who's listening to this who's maybe never fasted before and says like, that sounds crazy, that I could, if I, that I need to do more fasting before I would jump into something like this.

Merlin Hagan: ~Um, ~well, certainly I think they can do it. I think what was helpful to me is the week before the fast you had us go on a diet where we cut out sugar, processed foods and carbs. ~Um. ~And you know, when I first looked at that I thought, what am I going to eat for this week? Where's the chips and dip and cokes and other things that I'm eating?

~Uh, ~but you know, when I did that, I think the week, that week prior to the fast, that was very helpful to get your body ready,~ um,~ you know, to kind of get off the sugar and the processed foods and. As I've mentioned to you, you know, I [00:11:00] lost weight that week. Surprisingly easily eating three meals a day, I could not believe how much weight I lost just the week before the fast eating healthy.

And so I think that helped me probably when I got into the fast I, you know, I already had a week of no sugar and no processed foods. Just even the discipline of, of having to eat that way prepares you a little bit for the fast. So I think that was super helpful,~ um,~ for me.

Dr. Katie Deming: Yeah. Well, and that is one of the things for the listeners, is that it is really helpful if you're gonna do any kind of fasting to cut your carbohydrates. Eliminate processed foods, reduce,~ um,~ your,~ uh,~ like eliminate any sugars. That is like the very first step. It'll make it easy when you transfer in. And then let me ask you this, Merlin, were there any parts of the fast that surprised you or was it really like what you expected it to be when you thought about, you know, not eating for 21 days?

Merlin Hagan: I haven't, [00:12:00] the only thing that surprised me is,~ um,~ that you can do it. I don't really, I didn't know what to expect and so I can't say that I'm surprised by anything, but I, other than the fact that you really can do it. And I mean, I could have probably gone another week if I had,~ uh,~ planned on that, but, I~ mean, I think it's.~

~You know,~ I've always known fasting is a good thing for you. ~Uh, ~but it's just always been something that just sounded so difficult and hard. ~Um, ~and, you know, food's such a reward and so it's just doing that without, I didn't have as, I guess, a great reason to do it as much as I do now. And so now that I have a reason to do it, it, it's probably easier.

But, ~um. ~You know, I, I, I can't say I was surprised by anything other than the fact that I think you, it, it is easier to do it. And I think the group that I fasted with there, I, I think everybody would say that. It seemed like everybody did a really, everybody did great doing it.

Dr. Katie Deming: you know, one of the things that you and I have talked about,~ um,~ before is that one of your goals around the [00:13:00] diagnosis was to start to shift your lifestyle and to change your eating habits. And ~you, ~you know, you've been able to maintain a healthy weight. Just eating whatever, because you had that metabolism and, and that was kind of just easy for you to, you know, it's not like you struggled with weight or anything, but with this diagnosis you're like, okay, now I want to eat better.

I want to be treating my body as if, you know, this is something that I can heal through nutrition. Let me ask you. What you think about having done the fast first and then now you're, you know, we did the shift one week before, which we always do reduce carbohydrates and eliminate processs of foods and all of that before the fast.

But the way we have you eat after the fast, we're having you do a low inflammatory diet and basically low glycemic. So really no. Starches or sugars. ~Um, ~low fructose and really like a low inflammatory diet, but then making sure you're getting the right,~ um,~ microbes in [00:14:00] your diet. So the right fermented foods and culture dairy that,~ um,~ is bringing in microbes that are gonna support the repopulation of your gut microbiome. Let me ask you, what has it been like to come outta the fast and shift to that diet versus if you had tried to just make the dietary changes upfront? Do you think that doing it after the fast was easier or harder, or how would you describe that piece of it?

Merlin Hagan: I think it's,~ uh,~ much easier after the fast,~ um,~ just because you've hit the reset button on your, on your mind about how to eat. ~And, uh, you know, I've.~ Like you said, I've never been overweight. However, you know, I certainly weighed more than I probably needed to weigh, but I've always been able to weigh, at least a halfway healthy,~ uh,~ weight by being active.

And so my, in the past I would eat not great things. I didn't have a terrible diet, but,~ uh,~ I like sugars and, ~you know, ~soft drinks and things like that. And so I would exercise to [00:15:00] maintain a weight. But now,~ um, you know, ~now that I'm eating differently,~ uh,~ it, it, you know, it's a lot different,~ um,~ maintaining weight and easier to lose weight when you fast and then eat properly.

So, I, I think it's far easier to fast and then out coming out of a fast, you know. Because now you're, everything sounds awesome. And so to me it was easier,~ um,~ when I looked at your food list, you know, that it, it still was more limiting than I, you know, certainly I would've had before, but when you haven't eaten anything in 21 days, you're like, I'm, I'm game for whatever.

I think it was really good for me to do the fast and then, eat the way I've eaten now for a couple of months has been great. And I, I, I think too, the amount of food I can eat and not really have to fight my weight is, is pretty amazing.

Dr. Katie Deming: Yeah. When you're eating the right foods that weight, you're not gonna gain weight in an unhealthy way. You could eat [00:16:00] actually a lot more than probably you could have eaten the foods that you were eating before.

Merlin Hagan: That's right.

Dr. Katie Deming: And how, how do you feel after the fast? You're now eight weeks out basically. ~Um, ~you finished on, I think February 1st was your first day or last day of the fast.

~Um, ~so we're almost exactly at two months from there. How do you feel after doing this?

Merlin Hagan: I feel great. ~Um, ~I'm 22 pounds lighter than what I was the week before. The fast. Uh, which is, I think I mentioned to you, I haven't weighed in 30, 35 years, so I'm at my 30-year-old weight, which is great. ~Um, ~you know, I know, I've noticed just even walking, I walked 18 holes of golf yesterday on its hilly course I play and, you know, just, it's easier when you're lighter and so I, I feel better.

It took me a few weeks after the fast to get. I was tired for a few weeks after the fast, probably three to four weeks. I was fatigued, more than [00:17:00] normal. You know, I'm sleepier during the day than I'm used to being. ~Um, ~but now that I'm eight weeks out, I mean, I feel great. ~Um, ~I certainly feel better than I did before the fast, and, and this wasn't one of the reasons I fasted, but frankly, the weight loss has just been phenomenal for me.

I mean, to. I've wanted to weigh this for years, but I've never been able to lose down to this weight dieting the way I would diet. I just couldn't get down this far and so now I'm at a weight I'm happy with and it seems a lot easier to maintain. So I think that's part of why I feel better.

Dr. Katie Deming: ~Yeah. ~ Beautiful. ~And um, ~so let's talk about some of the physical changes that you've noticed since the fast. So you were on blood pressure medications coming into the fast, and what happened with your blood pressure after the fast?

Merlin Hagan: Well, I still check it every morning and it's, it's low. ~Um, ~I went to my primary care physician a few weeks ago and ~um, ~he recommended cutting my medication in [00:18:00] half. ~Uh, ~and we may end up eliminating it all together. I mean, I'm still low when I check my vitals every morning. I'm 1 0 5 over 72 a a lot of times.

So I'm, I'm, I'm not fainting or anything like that, but I, I do think, you know, it might be possible for me to get off of blood pressure medicine,~ uh,~ down the road. ~Uh, ~and certainly I'm taking less of it than I was before. So that's been a great improvement

for me

Dr. Katie Deming: and, and that one I want to call attention to for people is there is a lot of literature and data showing that one of them. Most reproducible things that can be done with a prolonged fast is reducing the need for blood pressure medication. And most people actually can do without it after a prolonged fast like that.

Um, so I would be curious to see if you're able to come off that completely at some point that that would not surprise me based on what the data,~ um,~ shows. So I love that. [00:19:00] That's beautiful. And then what else have you noticed physically?

Merlin Hagan: ~Uh, ~well, you know, one of the consequences of having a prostatectomy was I became incontinent after surgery, which was. You know, I'm one of the lucky 8% I guess, that fell into that. And even though my surgeon was very optimistic about all of that after the surgery, you know, I pretty much have been completely incontinent, ~ uh,~ until the fast.

And so, ~uh, ~about the last three or four days of the fast, ~um. Uh, ~that began to improve a little bit for me. I've still, I'm still,~ uh,~ somewhat incontinent. However, it had not changed at all from, you know, August until,~ uh,~ almost the end of January. And so it, that's a very discouraging thing for somebody who's active.

It was very difficult to do that and limiting for my life. And so, towards the end of my fast, I looked at my wife one night and I said, I think,~ uh,~ I think I might. [00:20:00] Be having a change. And so, ~um, ~we got very excited about that. And so I, you know, that's been a great,~ um,~ a great thing that the fa I think, I don't know how to attribute that to anything other than the fast.

And so I'm, I'm very grateful for that,~ uh,~ that, that, even that improvement alone has been very helpful to me. You know, helped me to get out. I mean, I played golf Saturday. Things I couldn't have done back a few months ago. So that's, I'm super grateful for that. ~Um, ~you know, the fast, I think really made an impact on that.

Dr. Katie Deming: Yeah. Well, and, and this is one thing that since you fasted now, I've had a couple other men with. Prostate issues and then one with bladder cancer. Most recently, and this is one thing that I'm seeing consistently and when I look at the data too, there's data to support this, but that,~ um,~ you know, the bladder spasming, bladder incontinence, like, you know. Slow urinary stream, getting up at night, urinating, all of those, [00:21:00] seen those symptoms appear to improve with prolonged fasting. And really we're talking about like 14 plus days,~ um,~ is where I'm seeing that. But your case actually is. Similar to what I'm seeing with these other gentlemen is that the bladder, the function of the bladder starts to just heal itself and improve, you know, and so going from, you know, leaking and, and really requiring a catheter like you had before to actually being able to go out and play 18 round, you know, 18 holes of golf is pretty.

Incredible in terms of a life changing, you know, complication to deal with and the recovery and, and really, you know, that your body just did that itself is, is just miraculous in my mind, but also something that I'm seeing now.

Merlin Hagan: ~Mm-hmm. Yep. ~I'm very, very pleased about it. ~Um, ~very grateful for that.

Dr. Katie Deming: Beautiful. And then so tell us what has happened with your PSA. And also I want you to tell your [00:22:00] initial PSA because this tells a story of, like, I always tell people to wait and so you, you know, share with what your numbers were before the fast and then right after the fast. And then as we followed them.

Merlin Hagan: Well, as I mentioned, that was my primary goal, was to see if I could avoid the traditional treatments, and so. After my surgery in September, they checked my PSA and it was 0.22, which of course they're looking for zero, but that was,~ uh,~ justified as well. We're, that's probably not an accurate number because we're too close to surgery.

So we'll check it again in three months, which would be December, and that's really the key reading. And so in December I had it checked and it ended up being 0.25 in my, ~um. ~Urologist,~ uh,~ at that point obviously became alarmed and said, well, we've probably got some cancer somewhere that is. You know, metastatic, I mean, not metastatic, but ~uh, ~that's outside the prostate [00:23:00] somewhere there.

And so he said, let's, let's give it a month and check it again in January. And I did, and it had gone up again to 0.30 in January. ~ um,~ post fast, I had set up an appointment with my urologist to check my PSA 'cause I told him I wanted to fast and see if I could impact my PSA. ~Um. ~And he agreed to that.

So we, the day after, I think the Monday after I, I quit fasting. I went to have my PSA rechecked and it, it had clicked up again to 0.33. But Katie, you told me,~ um,~ well, you might wanna recheck that because the fast may not have really impacted that yet. So, ~uh, ~when I met with the radiation oncologist,~ the,~ the following week, I asked him if I could wait another.

Three or four weeks to have this checked and see if my fast has really impacted this. And thankfully he agreed to that. And so, ~um, ~I had it checked in three weeks ~and at, at uh, ~or four weeks, I guess later, [00:24:00] and four weeks after that it had dropped four one hundreds down to 0.29. And the great thing about that was I had been, I had set up to go see, ~um.~

The hormone doctor for that appointment as well. And I got the results of that PSA check the day before I went to see that doctor. And so when I showed up for the appointment, I hadn't talked to anybody, any of the doctors about my PSA results until I walked into that appointment. And when I got into that meeting,~ um, uh, ~the doctor basically said that I no longer was.

I no longer qualified for hormone therapy because,~ uh,~ my PSA is now dropping. And so he said, you, it has to be doubling every nine months and yours isn't doing that anymore, so you're actually not even eligible for hormone therapy. And of course, I've never been so happy to not be eligible for something in my life.

And that was a, just a huge answer to prayer that I didn't have to go. Do the hormone therapy. And then I talked to my radiation [00:25:00] oncologist,~ uh,~ the next day and, you know, he had seen the results and,~ um,~ he said, well, it's going down. Let's just, let's don't do anything right now. Let's wait. And so both doctors agreed to wait three months,~ uh,~ which would be, will be May now, and I'll get it rechecked in May.

So I'm, you know, very grateful that, ~um. ~My PSA went backwards and ho I'm, I'm praying and hoping that in May it'll be even more backwards and certainly not up. That's my, my hope is that I can manage it through diet and, you know, through the fast and then through,~ uh,~ managing it with diet. So I think that's a pretty incredible result.

Dr. Katie Deming: I love it. Yes, it is incredible and also incredible that. Your body. Your body just did that. You know, you didn't have to do anything to make that happen. I mean, obviously you had to go 21 days without food, but to think your body is capable of doing that on its own. And the other thing too that I think is [00:26:00] important, especially with prostate cancers, that when.

Someone has a prostatectomy and then you're looking at adding radiation or radiation and hormones on top of it, it has a compounding effect on the complications. Right. So one of the things that you and I talked about initially when that first PSA came back and I said, if you know. Even if you do end up needing the radiation and the hormones to give yourself time to recover from the incontinence or any erectile dysfunction, those kinds of side effects, the more time that you can have to recover after the surgery, before they give the radiation.

The better. And so this is like, you know, not only is it possible that you may not even need these treatments at all, but we've also given you now a window of more recovery of your urinary function before you would need radiation. So even if you, you know, someone could be [00:27:00] listening to this and be like, well, you don't know what's gonna show in three months.

And That's right. We don't know. But what we know right now is that it's going down and. You know, and I know, you know, urologists and radiation oncologists are not gonna say, don't do treatment if they, they think that you need the treatment. So clearly something has changed in your body, but even if the, you know, the worst case scenario that you needed radiation.

It's a beautiful thing to have been given this time so that you have more recovery because then the potential compounding effect of radiation on top of the surgery for your leakage of urine is gonna be decreased by having had this time in between. So, ~um, I, I,~ when I saw your PSA, I was just like doing the happy dance for sure.

And so excited for you because you know this was a big deal, that you did this and you really. You know, I think it's important for people to understand that this was not something on your radar to go 21 days without food to do this, but by you finding your way, you know, [00:28:00] to me, and then doing this, it saved you from having these really toxic therapies.

Merlin Hagan: ~Well, and I, you know, I, I,~ it's an understatement to say that I wasn't considering fasting as a. Remedy for any of this.~ I,~ I never even knew that was even a possibility. ~Um, so, you know, I, I think,~ but when I heard your podcast,~ uh,~ about this, it just really registered with me. And so, you know, I think it was something I was just willing to go for and,~ uh, um, ~and the fact this isn't the reason that, you know, I contacted you, but the fact that you are a former radiation oncologist, I mean that, that.

Actually for me was an awesome bonus and I was able to talk to you about my condition and something you were very familiar with and you gave me some, you know, good information about that prior to any of my appointments, so I really appreciate that.

Dr. Katie Deming: It's beautiful. Well.

Merlin Hagan: Yeah, so it was good.

Dr. Katie Deming: Congratulations, Merlin on, on what you've achieved and excited to see,~ um,~ what comes next and what those numbers look like when you [00:29:00] have 'em rechecked in May. But thank you so much coming on and sharing your story. I, I, I know that it's beneficial

for other people,~ um,~ to hear it.

Merlin Hagan: You bet.

Dr. Katie Deming: ~Okay.~

~Next, this is the outro.~ To summarize, here are the key points we covered today.

When your body seems to be heading in the wrong direction, it doesn't always mean you need to act immediately. It may be a moment to pause and reassess your options. We also reviewed why creating a true metabolic reset can shift how the body responds in ways that aren't possible when it's in a constantly fed, inflamed, or stressed state.

And finally, we learned that sometimes the biggest change in your healing comes from not doing more treatments, but from creating the conditions that allow your body to respond differently. If you found today's episode helpful and you're ready to experience what real healing feels like from the inside out, join me for our next three day Water Fast Link is in the [00:30:00] show notes below.

Thank you for listening. And remember, just like me, you are born to heal.