A Moment with Dr. Stillman
Christopher (pseudonym) is a 63-year-old husband, mountain biker, and roofer.
Where He Started
He came to us in December 2025 with pemphigus, an autoimmune disease that kept causing skin lesions. He also had fatigue and flu-like symptoms that wouldn’t quit. He had been through three cycles of Rituxan infusions over four years. This is a powerful drug that destroys all of your B-cells, which are responsible for making antibodies, which your immune system uses to tag and then remove (and often destroy) things within your body. This includes everything from defective cells to pollen or pet dander to cancers.
He felt himself “slowing down,” with less energy over recent years.
Facing another round of Rituxan, he said, “I can’t do this.”
He worried whether he could keep up his treatment “physically and financially,” and whether the disease would come back.
He had tried medications, a low-carb diet, better sleep, less stress, and exercise. The low-carb diet made him feel “a lot better.”
But he wanted to do everything possible to avoid another bout of his skin disorder.
Here’s his first metals panel:
Boring, right? “Nothing to see here.”
It’s what’s hiding under the surface that makes HTMA testing so interesting and exciting.
What We Did Differently
Here’s what we found in his case in our initial lab testing:
Elevated homocysteine
Low omega-3’s
Low zinc
Signs of low protein intake, stress, and poor sleep based on growth hormone levels
Here’s our initial plan:
Personalized supplements to improve homocysteine, omega-3 levels, zinc, and his hair testing
Sauna, high-dose vitamin C, and MSM
Avoidance of foods on his allergy testing
And after he was done with high-dose vitamin C, the High-Dose Vitamin D Protocol
Where He Is Now
Here’s his second heavy metal test:
His aluminum and mercury have risen. These are meaningful increases, which we often see before a major elimination.
In his third metals panel, when we see a massive elimination of aluminum.
Here’s what’s changed since we started:
His pemphigus has stayed in remission for more than a year without rituximab.
Homocysteine dropped from 12.6 to 10.8. Our target is under 9.
Zinc rose from 70 to 85.
His body is pushing out aluminum, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium.
Nighttime bathroom trips dropped from five to one or two.
His wife noticed. “His color looks better, he looks healthier,” she said. “I don’t hear as often ‘I’m all worn out.’”
She credits “All of it,” including “the sauna almost every night.”
Keep that in mind, always. It’s rarely, if ever, one thing. It’s a combination of things together that make all the difference.
Things to Think About
Here are some things to think about:
Vitamin D has proven effective in cases that mainstream medicine manages with drugs like Rituxan. We’re not sure what the long-term effects of drugs like this are, since we haven’t had time to study them in large enough populations over long enough periods of time. Many of our patients are skeptical of their safety. Something about wiping our large segments of their immune response, many of which are responsible for detecting and destroying cancers, bothers them. I understand entirely. In these cases, we often use high-dose vitamin D instead of drugs, after a careful conversation with the patient about risks, benefits, and unknowns.
Healthy habits alone don’t move minerals. We see this all the time. The majority of our patients eat “clean” and “healthy,” get regular exercise, and sauna or take various supplement protocols. It’s not “more” of the usual that gets the job done. It’s carefully selected therapeutics and personalized supplements.
You can’t do it all, so you have to pick and choose what you’re going to do. We didn’t continue vitamin C, because we needed to make room for vitamin D. That’s why so many patients who have “tried everything” can actually do less with us and get better results.
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As always, discuss any changes with your own licensed clinician. Read our full disclaimers, disclosures, and our position on health freedom here.
Until next time, be well,
Dr. Stillman
P.S. If you’re tired, foggy, and inflamed, and you’re ready for root-cause medical care, book an evaluation with a member of our team.
During the evaluation, we’ll:
Review your history and current symptoms
What you’ve tried, what’s worked, and what hasn’t
Get you clarity on where to go next, whether that’s becoming a member of our practice or a referral to a trusted partner of ours
For a limited time, we’re also including a copy of my new book, The End of Autoimmunity, so you can learn more about our process.
Book your evaluation today. If you’re tired, foggy, and inflamed, we’d love to help you reclaim your health.
What’s the main driver of being able to push the metals out? Calming inflammation/supporting immune system with supplements and opening detox with the sauna enough that the body can change focus from attacking to purging? I have never ever read anything like this before this is a great article. My aluminum and mercury were the only two things elevated in my toxic metals on my last HTMA