Episode 74

Turn Off the Genes that Cause Depression, Addiction

My guest, J Ann Dunn, suffered with depression for almost 50 years and with Fibromyalgia for decades. As a Doctor of Chiropractic trained in functional medicine as well, she tried everything she knew to heal herself. Nothing worked.

She had a successful practice in New Mexico for 30+ years and was bothered by those few patients who didn’t respond to tools she used on all her patients--nutrition, structural work, emotional work.

“As natural healthcare practitioners, we kind of park that stuff on the side and say, it must be genetic. You know, that was kind of the black box on the side that we couldn't really get to.”

Her father had died young of lung cancer which didn’t surprise J because he had been a smoker and drinker with a few other poor lifestyle habits. Her step-dad on the other hand, who shared his buddy’s bad habits, lived another 30 years.

All of those things had J curious about this genetics thing.

Many years of research and studying later, she is depression free, free of fibromyalgia, and has helped thousands of people heal from emotional and physical problems using gene mapping and biochemistry. 

J started her company, My Happy Genes, to bring her discovery to patients everywhere. 

What she discovered began with the word methylation. Thorne.com defines methylation this way, Methylation is a simple biochemical process – it is the transfer of four atoms - one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms (CH3) from one substance to another. 

When optimal methylation occurs, it has a significant positive impact on many biochemical reactions in the body that regulate the activity of the cardiovascular, neurological, reproductive, and detoxification systems.”

J decided to figure out how to use methylation in her work.

Genetic variants cause problems with hidden sources. As was the case with J, the inability for her body to absorb vitamin D—no matter how much she took. Wondering how she could boost vitamin D through other pathways she discovered that D is involved in how well your immune system works to fight off infections, like the virus that causes CFS or Epstein Barr. What really wowed her was finding that how we convert certain amino acids into neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, our happy hormones. 

In other words, her inability to absorb D had a big hand in her depression and her CFS. Once she found Chris Masterjohn.he's a PhD biochemist, who told her that the co-factors for vitamin D are vitamin K2 and A, and then your body can absorb D,” she had to give it a try. Lucky for us, it worked.

I started taking that combination and bam, my depression, my lifelong depression gone and I'm not kidding, I was like, I think I'm happy, I've heard about this. I've heard about it, but I don't think I'd ever really felt it. You don't know until you actually have brain chemicals that are happy hormones.” J

I know some of you reading would love to experience that!

MyHappyGenes has two reports, one comes free with the test, it’s the Mood and Personality Report, How likely you are to experience brain chemistry imbalances. You can add a second report that gives diet and lifestyle recommendations, how to fine-tune your genes for optimal mental and emotional health. 

The first report is available to everyone and can be read easily by a lay person. Each marker or gene profile is shown as a graph from 0 to 100. Where you are on the graph indicates how likely you are, or not, to suffer from a chemical imbalance.

The second report requires a practitioner to walk the person through the results, some of which might cause concern. But also so that you can be guided through the protocols—usually supplements*—to put any negative gene to bed and enhance those that improve quality of life and longevity.

*They do not sell the supplements they recommend. No conflict of interest in their recommendations this way.

J told some great stories of people recovering from addiction using the protocols, people losing weight who otherwise could not. She even changed her diet from high protein and low carb, which she thought sounded smart, to the reverse based on her genetics. She feels better even though she wouldn’t have said anything was wrong. 

Privacy—MyHappyGenes does not save your information, nor do they know you by name. The test kit comes with a bar code with a number and that’s who you are. They do not sell their data. 

There is so much juicy information in this episode, read the transcript of have a listen. 

Learn more about, and purchase the tests at her website.

If you’d like to get a test with both reports but don’t have a practitioner here is a list of ones certified by J’s company.

For practitioners who want to use Wholistic Methylation, her proprietary system, there is a certification training.

Wholistic Methylation™ combines the study of genetics, epigenetics, biochemistry and nutrition to help you assess and address the real causes of disease.”

is the I’ve long been cautious about recommending genetic testing to people 

Not a practitioner but want to understand methylation? There’s a free webinar to do just that.

 Find MyHappyGenes on Facebook

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About the Podcast

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Rebellious Wellness Over 50
Helping women over 50 age better

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About your host

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Gregory Anne Cox

Why this chubby, bologna and mayonnaise sandwich eating child of the 50's ever ended up with a passion for all things health, fitness, and longevity is a mystery. I wanted to be a doctor as a child but my gifts were not in lab sciences but words and making science easy to understand. (I'm a science and research geek)
My soul insists on freedom and that drives the work I do with women. Freedom from disease, limitation, self-doubt--whatever form it takes--informs what I create and how I coach.