Hear From Dr. Brown
Dr. Karl Brown, co-founder and chief medical officer of Revitalize Wellness Solutions, answers the questions patients ask most: what stem cells are, what to expect after treatment, how informed consent works, how to research your options, and how long results take.
What Are Stem Cells
Dr. Karl Brown explains what human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (medicinal signaling cells) are, how they work when injected locally or given by IV, why the immune system doesn’t reject them, how donor tissue is screened and handled, and what they can and cannot do.
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Hello everyone. I’m Dr. Karl Brown with Revitalize Wellness Solutions. I’m one of the founders and the chief medical officer of the company. Today I want to talk to you about human umbilical cord stem cells.
There are many, many types of stem cells. We can get stem cells from bone marrow, adipose tissue and peripheral blood, and from amniotic fluid and the placenta. Our whole body is full of stem cells; each tissue has stem cells in it, and we call those tissue-specific stem cells. But today I want to talk specifically about umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells, because that’s what our company uses for the majority of our treatments. We do have other treatments with other products, and we’ll discuss those another time.
Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells are human cellular and tissue products regulated by the FDA. We follow all FDA regulations and guidelines and all federal and state guidelines; our company is very big on being compliant with every guideline and regulation that governing bodies give us.
We call them MSCs. The scientist who essentially brought mesenchymal stem cells to the forefront for us is Dr. Arnold Caplan at Case Western Reserve University. He asked us to stop calling them mesenchymal stem cells and instead call them medicinal signaling cells, and he recommended that change in his landmark 2017 paper because of how these cells work once they’re in our bodies.
There are lots of types of stem cells, with different properties, characteristics and abilities depending on what phase of their life cycle they’re in and what tissues they’re in. When we use human umbilical cord MSCs, we inject them as close as possible to the area we want them to work in. If we’re treating knee arthritis, we inject the knee. If we’re treating greater trochanteric bursitis, a rotator cuff tear or tendonitis of the elbow, we inject that specific area so the cells are already where they need to be.
We use MSCs for many conditions, including osteoarthritis, tendinitis, muscle tears and other soft tissue injuries, and we also treat systemic diseases and illnesses. When I say we treat them, we’re really trying to ameliorate their effects, because mesenchymal stem cells are not a cure for any disease. They do not resolve any medical condition. They help with the signs and symptoms, the part of your condition you experience. They are not a curative treatment for the underlying condition and not a silver bullet. You will need to continue your medical care with your primary care and specialist physicians in addition to being treated with umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.
When we give MSCs by IV, this is perhaps the most misunderstood part, and some providers and clinics out there seem to be somewhat misleading. So let me give you the actual scientific information. If you want more, we’ve provided the studies on our website so you can verify everything I’m telling you straight from the scientists who discovered these facts.
When we put human umbilical cord MSCs into your veins, they travel to the right side of the heart, follow normal circulation and go to the lungs. MSCs are roughly 15 to 19 microns in diameter, which is large compared to a red blood cell, and they carry cell-surface markers that respond to inflamed, diseased and even normal tissue. So essentially every cell we give by IV gets held up in the lungs first. If someone offers a slow IV drip of stem cells over four hours, that is just hogwash. They all get held up in the lungs, remain bioactive there, and move out of the lungs over the next 24 hours or so. In fact, if you give a double bolus of IV stem cells, more of them reach the peripheral circulation than if you drip them in over three or four hours. So the best approach is a double bolus, and that’s what we give in the treatment you’ll receive from us.
Over the next 24 to 48 hours, the cells migrate through your body. Stem cells home in on inflammation and injury. Whatever tissue is injured or going through a disease process sends chemokine and cytokine signals that call the cells to that area, where they begin working with your body to address some of the manifestations of the underlying condition. Again, they won’t solve the underlying condition, but they can help with the signs and symptoms you’re experiencing.
When they reach the area, they recruit your tissue-specific stem cells to get your body to heal itself, and they stimulate other cells in the area to provide support and structure. Wharton’s Jelly, the umbilical cord product you will most likely receive from us, stimulates your own tissue-specific stem cells to begin a restoration or repair process in the injured or inflamed tissue.
The next way they work is by shifting immune cells toward a pro-healing response instead of a pro-inflammatory one. We don’t want harmful inflammation; we need to calm it down and create a healing response. MSCs stimulate macrophages to become regulatory macrophages, which create a pro-healing state in the injured tissue. Whether that happens through phagocytosis or direct stimulation isn’t clear yet, but it does happen. MSCs can also change the T cell profile, shifting the balance of T1 and T2 cells toward a pro-healing profile, stimulating regulatory T cells, and decreasing follicular helper T cells. The result is a healing response instead of a pro-inflammatory response that degrades tissue.
Umbilical cord MSCs also release cytokines that create a healing environment, such as interleukin-10 and interleukin-4, and they help block interleukin-1 and other harmful signals like RANTES and tumor necrosis factor alpha. By homing in where those signals are concentrated and releasing healing cytokines, they help decrease harmful inflammation and begin the reconstructive process in inflamed or injured tissue.
You might ask why these foreign cells aren’t attacked by your immune system, which is called a graft-versus-host response. Theoretically they don’t trigger one. They may have some small degree of immunogenicity, but it’s very low, and the cells don’t live forever in your body. They’re active for roughly three to seven, maybe ten days. When we inject them locally, such as in a knee, they may remain viable for a couple of weeks, but usually not longer. They die off fairly quickly once they’ve stimulated your own stem cells and healing mechanisms.
Why doesn’t your body attack them? Think about it: these cells live in the umbilical cord, which is neither the mother nor the baby, and they have to coexist with both without being rejected. These medicinal signaling cells don’t express major histocompatibility complex class II proteins and have very low expression of class I proteins. In other words, they are immune-privileged: they don’t carry the cell-surface markers that would trigger your immune system to attack them as foreign. Human umbilical cord MSCs have even been used in animals such as mice, rats and chimpanzees without being attacked. So you shouldn’t have to worry about a graft-versus-host response from the stem cells you receive from us, if you decide on that product. Which product is best for your specific needs is a discussion you’ll have with me or one of our providers.
These cells stimulate regulatory macrophages and regulatory T cells and help balance your immune system. They can stimulate chondrocytes, adipocytes and osteoblasts to help address dysregulation in osteoarthritis. And they can shift the balance between inflammation and a pro-healing immune response, so that if you have an underlying issue such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis or Crohn’s disease, any autoimmune disorder of that nature can be treated with human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.
A lot of studies have been done in animals and in labs. Very large clinical trials are still lacking, but hundreds of clinical trials are underway; you can see them on ClinicalTrials.gov and read about them on PubMed.gov. The National Institutes of Health houses the National Library of Medicine, which runs PubMed. If you search for human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and diabetes, for example, you’ll read about how umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells are being used to help lower A1C, improve insulin production and reduce overall insulin use. You’ll find similar research on coronary artery disease and heart failure, all published in peer-reviewed journals by very good scientists and researchers. There are hundreds of thousands of articles on stem cells and all types of health conditions, so please do your research. If you need help, our health educators can assist you, and I have a large database of studies I’ve read that I’d be happy to share.
The Wharton’s Jelly products we use also contain many growth factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor and fibroblast growth factor. Those growth factors support tissue healing, the growth of new blood vessels, and nerve revascularization and regrowth. The products also contain supporting proteins and molecules, including several types of collagen and a large volume of hyaluronic acid, which helps cushion and support the tissue where we inject.
Another component is exosomes. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles, packets of chemical signals that cells use to communicate with each other. Cells don’t speak English, German, Spanish or Chinese; they speak extracellular vesicle. Many of those exosomes help inflamed or injured cells heal, and we have products very high in exosomes derived from the stem cells we use, which can be given in a specific area or through an IV to help your body ameliorate the condition you’re struggling with.
I also want you to know a few other major points about the stem cells we use. First, they only come from scheduled, uncomplicated, live C-section births. The mother has to be completely healthy, the baby has to be completely healthy, the mother cannot go into labor, and there can be no complications from the delivery. Once all of those criteria are met, the cord can be obtained, and testing must confirm that neither the mother nor the cord has any communicable disease. Those are federal regulations. We purchase from several lab partners, all registered with the FDA and having gone through its inspection and registration process, and we receive a certification for each vial confirming it has passed all federal guidelines and is safe to use for you, our patient.
We also maintain absolute sterility. The stem cells are kept frozen on dry ice, at around minus 90 degrees, and transported on dry ice. They are never allowed to thaw from the moment they leave the facility until I give them to you; I or one of our providers will thaw them in front of you, set up a semi-sterile field, and deliver the sterile product in a sterile way, right in the comfort of your home. If you prefer, we also have a clinic in McKinney, Texas, where we’d be happy to meet you, discuss your potential therapy and provide it there if you’re a candidate.
Every patient first has a thorough review with a health educator before making any significant decisions. Then a physician, myself or another provider, reviews the case to make sure it appears appropriate. A final decision on whether you’re an appropriate candidate is made only when a provider sits down with you and reviews all the details of your care, and if you are, we proceed with the therapy at that same visit. If you’re not a candidate, that can be disappointing, but we will only treat you if we really believe you will benefit from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell and/or exosome treatment.
We invite you to ask any questions and make sure you have all the documentation you need to feel supported in your health decision. We’ll discuss all the risks, benefits and alternatives. We have a very extensive informed consent form covering the risks, benefits, anticipated outcomes, indications and alternatives, along with details like insurance and driving, and you’ll have ample time to review it with a provider and have every question answered.
So I hope you now better understand what stem cells are and how they work. The cells we give you are not going to replicate in your body. If you get bone marrow-derived stem cells, or have adipose tissue or peripheral blood harvested, those cells probably will replicate, but we’re not using those. We use human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells, also known as medicinal signaling cells, per Arnold Caplan. Those cells stimulate your body’s own healing mechanisms and work with your immune system and the cells in inflamed or injured tissue to create a healing response.
If you have other questions about how Revitalize Wellness Solutions works as a company, or how I and our other providers will help you with your therapy after a full evaluation, I’d be happy to answer them, as would our health educators. I invite you to start that process of learning what we can do for you, and I look forward to meeting you all. Have a beautiful day.
Post Injection Instructions
Dr. Karl Brown walks patients through what to do after treatment: caring for the injection site, rest and activity, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, anti-inflammatory medications and supplements, and when to expect the first noticeable changes.
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Hello everyone. I’m Dr. Karl Brown, one of the founders and the chief medical officer of Revitalize Wellness Solutions. Thank you for being with me today. I want to talk to those of you who have been or will be treated with us. Let’s review your post-treatment instructions and expectations. There are a few points we need to discuss.
Number one is injection site care. You need to keep the site clean and dry, and that means no submerging the area for at least five days. Submerging means going under the surface of water and staying under that surface. Showering is fine, but if you’re going to be in a hot tub, bathtub, swimming pool, lake, river, pond, or whatever body of water you’re picking, just don’t do it for five days. You’ll also want to keep it covered, and that doesn’t mean just a Band-Aid; a Band-Aid isn’t going to stop a dog lick. So please keep it covered and don’t let an animal access the area. It’s okay to shower; that’s not going to cause any problem with the site. You only need to keep the bandage on for 12 to 24 hours, but you do need to make sure the site stays clean and dry for at least five days.
Next, you might feel tired for a couple of days after your treatment. That’s because your treatment turns on your body’s healing mechanisms, and those healing mechanisms use energy your body isn’t used to using, so it can make you feel tired. About one in four of our patients will feel that. If you don’t feel it, it’s not that your healing mechanisms aren’t working; you’re just less sensitive to those changes. If it happens to you, don’t worry about it, just rest. But you should contact us, and me specifically, if your symptoms go on for more than five days.
For at least three days, take it easy and avoid any significant physical stress. You can do your normal daily routine as long as it doesn’t put too much stress on your body. And for the next two weeks, avoid anything that could cause a significant injury. What I like to say is, if it’s new or exciting, you probably shouldn’t do it, because you could hurt yourself. The reason is that while your body is still mobilizing and directing those healing mechanisms, you don’t want them going to a new injury that’s not what we’re trying to treat.
The next thing is substances you take into your body. If you drink alcohol, just don’t drink a lot. A drink or two is okay, but don’t drink the whole bottle of liquor or five bottles of wine; moderation and you’ll be okay. If you smoke or use tobacco or nicotine products, just don’t. They cause problems for stem cells: the higher your level of free nicotine, the lower your level of stem cell activity. So avoid nicotine altogether if you can. If you’re a current user, we don’t want you to go into withdrawal. If you stop beforehand and get through withdrawal before treatment, that’s fine, but don’t stop right when you get the stem cells; just use as little as possible.
Next is high-dose caffeine. You can drink your coffee, your tea, your Red Bulls, your Monsters, whatever you like, but make sure you’re getting less than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day. Doses above 400 milligrams cause significant vasoconstriction and can impair the migration of the healing mechanisms we’re trying to stimulate. So avoid high-dose caffeine for at least 10 to 14 days.
Next is nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, or NSAIDs. There are many of them; common names include Motrin, Advil, Aleve, Naprosyn, naproxen, Mobic, meloxicam, Celebrex and Voltaren. Some are over the counter and some are prescribed. Try to avoid them as much as possible. If you need some breakthrough doses because you’re sore or hurting from significant arthritis, joint pain or other significant pain, you can take them, but we want you to limit NSAIDs as much as possible for the first two weeks. Then you can ease back onto your normal doses as directed by your primary care provider or specialist, because these medications are hard on your system, including predisposing you to GI bleeds and kidney damage.
Next is anti-inflammatory supplements. We’d like you to avoid taking turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, ginger and similar supplements; some people also take things like chia seeds, and there are a lot of them. The big one I don’t want you taking in high doses is turmeric. You can use these in your food, like cinnamon on toast, oatmeal or coffee, ginger on your sushi or in your tea; that’s okay. We’re talking about high-dose supplements. Don’t take those for at least 14 days after your treatment, and ideally stop a couple of days before to get them out of your system. If you can avoid them for two months after treatment, please do.
Lastly, everyone wants to know the time frame for feeling improvement from their treatment, and that’s a very important discussion. I can tell you that on average, and I’m just speaking about averages here because we’ll have another video breaking down why each patient’s timeframe is individual, usually between three and six months you’ll begin to notice the very first changes. For instance, you’ll be able to do more with less pain: walk farther, stand longer, climb stairs, just those things that normally give you problems. If we’re treating an inflammatory bowel condition like Crohn’s disease, for example, you might notice less diarrhea at that point. So we expect that somewhere between three and six months, those first changes will be noticeable. Again, I’ll go into detail on the factors that determine that timeline in another video.
Thank you for watching. If you have any questions, please contact your health educator, our nurse, or me directly. Have a great day.
Informed Consent
Dr. Karl Brown walks through the RWS informed consent form paragraph by paragraph, including the FDA framework for human cellular and tissue products, donor screening, risks and alternatives, insurance coverage and refund terms, so patients know what they are signing before treatment.
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Hello everyone, it’s Dr. Karl Brown with Revitalize Wellness Solutions. I’m the co-founder and chief medical officer, and I have the privilege of being with you today to discuss the informed consent form. We get a lot of questions about this, and it’s important that as patients we have a thorough understanding of what we’re signing and getting into when we elect to proceed with a treatment or procedure.
If you’re watching this, you’re most likely considering treatment with human cellular and tissue products, including Wharton’s Jelly products, whether those are cellular or acellular products. First off, this document contains the elements of a standard medical and surgical consent form, updated to address the specifics of treatment with human cellular and tissue products. You’re not supposed to have the form yet. I’ll bring it with me to your house, or one of our providers will bring it, so you can review it and have any questions or concerns answered in person. At that time you can initial and sign the form when, and if, you’re ready to proceed with treatment. Now let’s review the form paragraph by paragraph so you understand exactly what’s in it.
Paragraph one is the purpose. It’s a general overview of the informed consent form, and it supplements the discussion you have with your medical provider before any treatment or procedure.
Paragraph two is your personal confirmation that you’ve been advised on the homologous use of minimally manipulated human umbilical cord cellular and tissue products, and that this is an off-label use, meaning it differs from a standard approved use. An example would be using Neurontin, or gabapentin, for nerve pain when it was originally approved for seizure prevention.
Paragraph three covers the FDA. Treatments using human cellular and tissue products such as Wharton’s Jelly are considered experimental. The FDA does not approve human tissue products the way it approves drugs, but it still regulates them closely under 21 CFR Part 1271, Section 361. That’s the FDA’s framework requiring minimal manipulation and homologous use for these to be considered 361 products, instead of 351 products, which are regulated like drugs and require FDA approval.
Paragraph four is the protocol section. It explains that we use sterile products from immune-privileged sites, that rejection is very rare, that these products are often used in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine procedures, and that they must be obtained from reputable FDA-registered labs after full compliance testing. At Revitalize Wellness Solutions, we make sure we do that.
Paragraph five discusses donor screening. Physicians at the lab review the mother and her medical record and must agree that the umbilical cord can be used to make products. Once they have the umbilical cord, all required testing has to follow the applicable rules and regulations, including the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requirements, FDA guidelines, and any other state and federal regulations that apply, including lab testing for communicable diseases.
Paragraph six lists the indications for the procedure: what the treatment is and how it will be given. Paragraph seven covers the anticipated outcomes and benefits: what we expect to get from the treatment we’re considering.
Paragraph eight is about adverse reactions. While no significant clinical reactions have been reported, in theory they could occur, and we always strongly advise patients to let their providers know immediately about any significant symptoms so we can track them and help you get the care you need.
Paragraph nine covers risks: the risks that can occur with any medical or surgical procedure, as well as the specific risks of using an off-label product that is not approved by the FDA for the diagnosis or treatment of any specific condition. We have many of them listed, and you should review all of them and discuss them with your provider. Any time you put a needle through the skin, there are risks as well as benefits.
Paragraph ten begins, "While great measures…" It explains that even though clinicians and labs take great precautions to ensure the safety of the product and therapy, including compliance with all regulations, there are limitations in technology and knowledge that prevent making definitive claims. You need to understand that there may be risks we simply don’t know about yet.
Paragraph eleven is about alternatives. As a patient, you always have alternatives, and the first one I like to remind my patients of is that you don’t have to do this procedure. You can simply say, "I don’t want to do it." Nobody is making you do any of this; you’re choosing based on your individual preferences and needs. The alternatives range from doing nothing at all to surgery that can’t be reversed, such as a total knee replacement, where pieces of bone are removed and replaced with implants. Those alternatives should always be considered before proceeding with any therapy, and please take the chance to discuss them.
Paragraph thirteen begins, "I understand and accept the procedure," and explains that the products used come only from live, healthy births. We never use product from an unhealthy mother or baby or from a delivery with complications. It must be a live, healthy, scheduled C-section birth; otherwise the umbilical cord is not used.
Paragraph fourteen begins, "I understand that the injection…" and explains that it’s not possible to outline every risk, because there are countless hypotheticals with any treatment. The general ones are outlined for your review, and you can discuss them with your physician or provider. Paragraph fifteen begins, "I understand and accept that there are potential complications," and specifies complications that can occur with injections and surgical procedures.
Paragraph sixteen begins, "I am aware that no guarantees…" and explains that with medical procedures and treatments, there are no guarantees. No one can be 100 percent sure how an individual will respond to a therapy. We can share what we generally expect, the anticipated outcomes and benefits, and we’re happy to do that with you, but any procedure can have an unfortunate outcome, or a simple complication alongside a good outcome.
Paragraph seventeen begins, "I have informed the doctor of my allergies and medical conditions." Be sure to review your health record, including allergies, medications and underlying health problems, with your provider before any therapy. Paragraph eighteen confirms that you understand what to expect after treatment, including not driving or operating dangerous machinery if you’ve received anything that could impair your ability to do so. Most of you won’t receive anything like that, so it won’t apply to very many of you.
Paragraph nineteen has four points for you to initial. First, that you don’t have an active infection, and if you do, you need to tell your provider. Second, that you are not pregnant or breastfeeding, and you need to inform your provider if you are. Third, that if you are HIV positive or immunocompromised in any way, you inform your provider. And fourth, that if you take any blood thinners or anti-platelet medications, such as Plavix or aspirin, you notify your provider.
Paragraph twenty begins, "I understand that injection…" It explains that most insurance companies consider therapy with human cellular and tissue products, particularly Wharton’s Jelly from an umbilical cord, to be experimental and will not cover treatment. If your insurance has covered it before, that’s great, but typically it isn’t covered and likely won’t be.
Paragraph twenty-two begins, "My consent and authorization." It restates the main points of the document and highlights that payments are non-refundable after treatment; before treatment, they are completely refundable. Paragraph twenty-three is the certification, the final verification that you understand the information in the informed consent form and have the capacity to do so.
With that, we’ve reviewed the informed consent form. If you have any additional questions, please contact your provider or discuss them with your provider when they’re with you for treatment. We won’t proceed with any treatment or therapy until this document has been reviewed and signed by our patients, and we’re glad to answer all of your questions and concerns. Thank you all, and I’m looking forward to seeing you. Have a great day.
How To Use AI
Dr. Karl Brown explains how patients can use AI tools like ChatGPT to research stem cell therapy more effectively, by asking specific questions and limiting answers to sources such as PubMed and current federal and state regulations.
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Hello everyone, it’s Dr. Karl Brown, co-founder and chief medical officer of Revitalize Wellness Solutions. I wanted to discuss with you today some important topics, including the use of AI in helping make patient treatment decisions.
First of all, at Revitalize Wellness Solutions, we love AI. It’s a very helpful tool for patients and for clinicians in general, and we encourage our patients to use all of the resources out there to help them make informed healthcare decisions.
In answering patient questions, we’ve noticed a consistency across many patients and many geographic locations: we’re getting AI-based questions. People use ChatGPT, which gives them very similar responses, and then we’re asked those same questions. Again, we think it’s wonderful. You should Google everything. You should use search engines and research as much as you possibly can on all your healthcare decisions to make the best decision for you.
With AI, the answer is largely based on the constraints that we give it. If we ask a very open-ended question, like "What are the risks and benefits of Wharton’s Jelly treatments or stem cell treatments?", AI is going to give us a very general answer based on essentially all the information available to it on the internet. However, when we more clearly define the question with some very specific guidance, it will give us a more refined answer that is more specific to us as individuals.
For example, when we include limiting references to the data sets we want AI to consider, that gives us a more evidence-based response. If we ask AI to use published, peer-reviewed, evidence-based articles from reputable sources, our answer is going to be significantly different than if we just ask a general question and AI accesses everything that’s on the internet.
So when we ask a question, we could phrase it like this: "Please tell me about the risks and benefits of Wharton’s Jelly-derived human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell therapy, and limit the source data to the articles available through PubMed.gov."
For those of you who aren’t aware, PubMed is essentially the massive database of published articles, in many languages, available from the National Institutes of Health through the National Library of Medicine. It’s available to all of us, and it’s free. If you ask your AI engine to reference all that peer-reviewed, published journal data, your response will be very different from AI willy-nilly assessing the stuff that anyone can put on the internet.
You can even give AI more instructions. You could use a statement like this: "Please tell me about the risks and benefits of Wharton’s Jelly-derived human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell therapy, and limit the source data to the current federal and state laws, guidelines and regulations, as well as peer-reviewed publications." Now you’re getting an answer based on what the state and federal regulations are, what government agencies have specified for those of us providing services and creating products in this space, and the research data available from reputable sources, published by essentially objective organizations like the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine. They don’t tell you which articles are good or bad; they just put them all there for you to review, and you can ask AI to help you sort through them and make sense of them. I think that’s an amazing thing.
Again, AI relies on the constraints you give it. If you don’t give it any constraints, it’s going to give you an answer that’s very nonspecific and general to anything people can put on the internet. It’s still not going to be bad, but it’s not going to be what you’re looking for. Give it some constraints like the ones I mentioned: ask it to look at PubMed.gov, and ask it to look at the federal and state guidelines, laws and regulations and peer-reviewed published journal data. When you do that, you’re going to get an answer that is reputable and gives you the accurate, specific information you’re looking for to help you make your individual treatment decision.
With that, I just want to thank you. I’m looking forward to meeting you all, and I’ll gladly answer any other questions you have. Thank you from Revitalize Wellness Solutions. Have a beautiful day.
Factors And Timeline For Results
Dr. Karl Brown explains the six factors that determine how long it takes to see results after regenerative treatment, from product quality and provider skill to the severity of the condition and a patient’s overall health, and why most patients notice first changes in three to six months.
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Hello everyone. I’m Dr. Karl Brown, one of the founders and the chief medical officer of Revitalize Wellness Solutions. Thank you for being with us today for this discussion. Today we’re going to review the criteria that interplay to determine how long it takes for you to see benefit from the treatments you’ve received. This interplay is very individual; everybody is going to be different. However, there are about six things that determine that timeline, and on average, improvement comes somewhere between three and six months.
The first thing is the quality of the product. Did you get an excellent regenerative product from the company you went with? At RWS, everything we use comes from a lab that the FDA has inspected and registered, and the products are registered with the FDA as well. When we’re there with you, we’ll review the manufacturers of your products, show you the websites of the companies that made them, and make sure you know exactly what you’re getting. We’ll leave you with the empty vials, so any time someone asks, "What stem cells did you get?" or "What Wharton’s Jelly product did you get?", you can pull them out and say, "I got this from RWS." There’s no black box here. You’ll know exactly what you got and where it came from. If anyone wants to give you something less than that, you should question it.
Number two is the skill of your provider. Let’s say you’re getting a shoulder injection for a rotator cuff tear or tendonitis. You’ve got to get that needle in the right place, and most of the time that requires guiding the injection with ultrasound imaging. Some people don’t do that, and I question whether they get the needle in the right place. With ultrasound, you can see what you’re doing, and you know you delivered the product to the right place. Our providers, including myself, have those skills. We’ll let you watch the screen if you’d like, explain the anatomy on the ultrasound, and you can watch the product be delivered exactly as we said it would be. When we do an IV infusion, our nurse practitioners have been doing intravenous access for so many years that they can find your vein without hesitation, and I use ultrasound to map out your veins and watch my needle go into the vein before we start the infusion.
The next factor is the severity of the condition. If you have a very severe condition versus a mild to moderate one, it’s obviously going to take longer to get results.
The next is the extent of the condition. One joint with some arthritis is very different from arthritis in every joint. And a condition that affects many organs versus just one organ is going to take longer to heal. So it’s not only severity, but also the extent of the condition.
The fifth item is inflammation versus degeneration. Stem cells can change the inflammatory state of the immune response. When the immune system is, to use the layman’s term, out of balance, stem cells can shift that response from a very inflammatory, destructive one to a healthy healing response. Those interplays between different immune cells are complicated, and we can discuss them another time. For the purposes of this video, anything with a significant inflammatory component tends to respond more quickly, because we can decrease inflammation fairly quickly. With a degenerative process, the tissues are damaged and have to be repaired, and repairing tissue takes a lot longer than calming inflammation.
Lastly, and I would say most importantly, is your own overall health. If you’re not getting good sleep or good nutrition, have high stress, or have a lot of illness, those four things will make it difficult for you to get good results. You need good rest, reduced stress, a healthy diet and good nutrition, and your other illnesses controlled as well as possible. If you have uncontrolled diabetes or severe heart failure, make sure your chronic medical conditions are well cared for by your primary care provider and your specialists.
Those are the six things that come into play, and for everybody it’s an individual combination of those factors. So telling you it will be one month, two months or three months is impossible. But somewhere between three and six months, you should begin to see the initial benefits of your treatment with RWS. I hope this explains it well. If you have more questions, please discuss them with your health educator, one of our nurses, me, or one of our providers. Thank you, everyone, and I hope you have a blessed day.
These videos are for educational purposes only and are not a substitute for medical advice. Individual results vary. Talk with a qualified provider about whether regenerative therapy is appropriate for you. Transcripts have been lightly edited for readability.
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