Hi, I’m Dr. E—and if you’ve ever felt like health protocols don’t work for you, you’re not alone. The supplements, the saunas, the green juice… they all promise to “cleanse” your system. But what if I told you the real issue isn’t your “detox”—it’s your drainage?
In this episode of Medical Disruptors, I sat down with the brilliant Dr. Jess—a fellow disruptor, physician, and expert in root cause medicine—to get to the bottom of what’s really making people feel bloated, foggy, fatigued, and stuck. Spoiler alert: it’s not a lack of effort. It’s clogged, stagnant drainage pathways.
So what does that actually mean? And more importantly—what can you do about it?
Let’s unpack it together. Read on.
What Are Drainage Pathways (and Why You Should Care)
Most people think of “cleansing” as something external—something you do with products or programs. But your body already knows how to eliminate toxins. It’s built to do that. The real issue? Your exits are closed.
That’s what Dr. Jess calls drainage pathways—the systems your body uses to clear waste: your bowels, bile, liver, lymph, sweat, and even your breath. When those drainage pathways are moving, your body can handle a surprising amount of environmental and internal stress. But when they’re sluggish, everything backs up.
Imagine flushing a toilet with blocked plumbing. That’s what most people are doing when they start a “cleanse” without first supporting these natural elimination routes.
As a nurse practitioner, I’ve seen so many patients jump into supplement-heavy protocols only to feel worse. That’s not a sign that your body is cleansing. That’s a sign your drainage pathways are overwhelmed.
Your Liver Isn’t the Problem—It’s the Signal
Dr. Jess explained something every health provider should hear: the liver is not just a filter. It’s a metabolic factory—processing, transforming, and clearing everything from hormones and medications to pesticides and plastics.
But that factory needs raw materials. Your liver requires B vitamins, amino acids, trace minerals, and other nutrients to carry out its internal chemistry. If any one of those is missing, the chemical reactions stall. Worse, Phase 1 detoxification can become overactive without enough support from Phase 2—leading to toxic intermediates that are more dangerous than what you started with.
This is why drainage pathways are non-negotiable. Without movement—through bile, bowels, and sweat—your liver ends up recirculating the very compounds it’s trying to eliminate. That overload spills into real symptoms: chronic fatigue, skin issues, mood swings, hormone disruption.
As a nurse practitioner, I’ve come to see this not as a liver failure, but as a congestion issue. The factory is fine. The shipping department is shut down.
You Can’t Eliminate in Survival Mode
This part hit home for me.
Your body won’t release what it doesn’t feel safe to release.
If your nervous system is stuck in fight-or-flight, your drainage pathways go offline. Your digestion slows. You stop sweating. Your breath becomes shallow. And your bowels? Good luck.
Dr. Jess and I talked about how emotional trauma, chronic stress, and even toxic relationships can physically shut down these systems. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the liver is said to store unprocessed anger and frustration. And when that emotion is stuck, your biochemistry often is, too.
So if you’re feeling stagnant—backed up, inflamed, exhausted—it’s not just about taking the right supplement. It’s about helping your body feel safe enough to let go.
This is why addressing drainage pathways isn’t about doing more. It’s about removing what’s in the way.
Drainage First. Always.
So what’s the first step when someone feels stuck?
Start with the basics. Dr. Jess shared a framework I love—and it begins before any protocol or supplement bottle.
First, make sure you’re having regular bowel movements. One to three times a day is ideal. If you’re going every other day or relying on magnesium every night, your system is telling you something.
Second, hydrate. Really hydrate. And not just with plain water. Your body needs minerals—like magnesium, potassium, sodium, and zinc—for your liver enzymes and transporters to function properly.
Third, sweat. Your skin is one of the largest drainage pathways you have. If you haven’t broken a sweat in weeks—or can’t—that’s stagnation. Infrared saunas, red light therapy, walking, or simply moving your body can help restore that pathway.
Fourth, support bile flow. Gentle tools like bitters, fiber (especially psyllium), and castor oil packs can be incredibly effective—but only after your core systems are online.
As a nurse practitioner, I constantly remind my patients: no matter how advanced the treatment, nothing replaces the basics. If you’re not pooping, hydrating, or moving, your body isn’t releasing.
The Tests That Reveal the Blockages
One of the most actionable tools Dr. Jess uses in her practice is the Total Tox test from Vibrant Labs. It checks for mycotoxins (from mold), heavy metals, and industrial chemicals that often impair the very drainage pathways we need for recovery.
But a test is only as useful as the context around it. Sometimes the most obvious data doesn’t come from a lab—it comes from how a patient is feeling, functioning, or stagnating.
Still, if someone’s been doing the basics and still isn’t progressing, these kinds of tests can help identify deeper blocks—especially when symptoms don’t match routine labs.
Why “Cleanses” Make You Feel Worse
You know that moment when someone tells you to “push through the symptoms” because “that means it’s working”?
Let’s rethink that.
If your drainage pathways are clogged, pushing harder won’t help. It can actually make things worse—recirculating toxins that your body hasn’t yet had a chance to eliminate. That’s not “healing.” That’s just overload.
Dr. Jess sees this constantly: people layering in aggressive supplements while still living in moldy homes, enduring emotional trauma, or skipping meals. The truth is, your environment, relationships, and habits all shape how well your body can do what it already knows how to do.
This is where a nurse practitioner can make a real difference—not by writing a more complicated protocol, but by guiding patients back to what matters most: restoration, rhythm, and regulation.
You’re Not Stuck. You’re Backed Up.
The biggest shift I’ve seen in practice—and the one we hope this episode brings to light—is the mindset reframe.
Your symptoms aren’t a sign of failure. They’re feedback.
Your body isn’t broken. It’s brilliant.
It’s protecting you.
It’s holding on—because no one has told it yet that it’s safe to let go.
Drainage pathways are how your body clears the clutter. But you can’t clear anything when your exits are blocked and your nervous system is on high alert.
So before you reach for another product or protocol, ask yourself:
– Am I eliminating daily?
– Am I hydrated and nourished?
– Am I sweating?
– Am I calm?
If the answer is no, that’s your starting line.
🎧 Listen to my full conversation with Dr. Jess on the Medical Disruptors podcast.
You’ll hear why we both believe drainage is the missing link in so many stubborn health journeys—and how to finally get things moving again.
Your body already knows how to recover.
Our job is to stop getting in its way.