Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC
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Get Healthy - and Get Back to Your Life! Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC is a clinician & researcher Serving patients in the U.S. via Zoom.
05/16/2026
Gut-associated lymphoid tissue - GALT - is the largest immune organ in your body.
When the gut is inflamed, permeable, or chronically infected, that immune system activates. Systemically. Which is why patients with unresolved gut issues often also deal with joint pain, skin conditions, brain fog, and autoimmune flares.
This isn't a coincidence.
Treating the gut addresses the immune system by extension. We see this in patients who come in primarily for joint pain or fatigue - and improve dramatically once their underlying gut issues are resolved.
If you have chronic, systemic symptoms that don't respond to treatment - the gut is always worth investigating. Often, it's the center of it all.
Your thyroid naturally creates oxidative stress when making thyroid hormone.
That’s why selenium matters.
The thyroid contains more selenium per gram than almost any tissue in the body because selenium helps power protective antioxidant enzymes like glutathione peroxidase.
Without enough support, that inflammatory stress may become harder to buffer against.
Research has shown that just two Brazil nuts daily can significantly raise selenium levels.
Eating just TWO Brazil nuts daily increased blood selenium levels by 64%.
Even more interesting? Brazil nuts performed slightly better than selenium supplements for improving selenium status and glutathione peroxidase activity.
That said, both food and supplements can be effective depending on the person and context.
If you struggle with thyroid symptoms, nutrient status is one important piece of the bigger picture.
05/14/2026
I've had patients come in after years of restriction. No gluten. No dairy. No FODMAPs. No social life.
And they still felt terrible.
If the root issue is SIBO, a parasitic infection, dysbiosis, or low stomach acid - no amount of elimination is going to resolve it. You'll feel slightly better, slightly worse, depending on what you ate that week. But the underlying problem stays.
Healing the gut requires identifying what's broken. Then fixing it - systematically, not aggressively.
The goal isn't to eat as few foods as possible. The goal is to get to a point where you can eat without fear of your gut revolting. That's what resolution looks like.
05/12/2026
I've seen patients clear SIBO multiple times — and then relapse.
That's not bad luck. That's an incomplete protocol.
SIBO needs a hospitable environment to develop: slowed motility, low stomach acid, structural abnormalities, immune suppression.
If you treat the overgrowth without addressing what allowed it to take hold, you're cleaning a wound without stopping the bleeding.
The most common drivers we identify in the clinic:
→ Motility dysfunction (the migrating motor complex isn't clearing bacteria between meals)
→ Hypothyroidism (slows the entire GI tract)
→ Post-infectious changes following food poisoning
→ Adhesions from prior surgery or endometriosis
→ Chronic stress dysregulating gut immunity
Treating SIBO is step two. Step one is understanding why it happened. We don't skip step one.
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