What happens when a healthcare professional who has dedicated her life to helping others suddenly becomes the patient?

Dr. Efrat LaMandre, known as Dr. E, joins Dr. Kien Vuu (Dr. V) on the Thrive State Podcast for an honest conversation about being blindsided by stage four lung cancer, navigating the healthcare system, and learning to advocate for yourself.

After months of dismissing her own back pain, Dr. E received a diagnosis that changed her life. She shares how the experience reshaped her work as a nurse practitioner, her relationship with her family, and her understanding of what patients need most.

In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why healthcare professionals can minimize their own symptoms
• What medical gaslighting can feel like from the patient's perspective
• How to become the CEO of your own health and coordinate your care team
• Why well-meaning encouragement can sometimes feel like pressure
• How to make space for fear, uncertainty, and honest conversations
• How Dr. E approaches conventional and functional care as a patient
• Why connection, family, and presence matter when life changes unexpectedly

Listen to Dr. E's Medical Disruptor podcast on your favorite podcast platform.

🔔 Subscribe to the Thrive State Podcast for more conversations on health, longevity, and human performance. Share your biggest takeaway in the comments.

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Want to work with me? Send me an email 💌 info@kienvuumd.com

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Have you ever caught yourself reacting in a way you promised yourself you wouldn't anymore?

Maybe you get defensive with your partner, shut down when someone criticizes you, or find yourself falling into the same patterns of people-pleasing, overthinking, or self-doubt.

And the most frustrating part? You know better. You've done the inner work. So why does it keep happening?

In this episode of the Thrive State Podcast, Dr. Kien Vuu (Dr. V) explores the science of neuroplasticity, the nervous system, and why old emotional patterns can be so difficult to break.

Drawing from his own experiences with relationships, self-worth, and personal growth, Dr. V shares a simple metaphor about how our brains form habitual responses, and how we can begin creating new pathways.

You'll also discover a practical five-step framework to help you become more aware of your triggers, regulate your emotions, and consciously choose how you want to respond.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why knowing better doesn't always lead to doing better

• How childhood beliefs and experiences shape our emotional reactions

• What neuroplasticity teaches us about changing old patterns

• Why getting triggered doesn't mean you haven't healed

• How your nervous system influences your thoughts, emotions, and behavior

• The five steps to change: Feel, Regulate, Listen, Choose, Repeat

• How unconscious emotional patterns can drain your energy

• Why healing is about awareness, not perfection

A reminder from this episode:

Growth isn't necessarily about never getting triggered again. Sometimes, it's about recognizing an old pattern sooner, responding with more intention, and returning to yourself a little faster each time.

Your Thrive State Challenge:

For the next seven days, identify one emotional pattern that no longer serves you.

Instead of judging yourself when it shows up, practice noticing, regulating, listening, choosing, and repeating.

You might be surprised by how much can change when you stop automatically reacting and start consciously responding.

FREE THRIVE STATE RESOURCES

Get a free PDF copy of Dr. V's bestselling book, Thrive State, along with practical tools to support your health, energy, and personal growth:

https://thrivestatestarter.com

Join the Thrive State community:
https://mythrivestate.com/join

If this episode resonated with you, subscribe to the Thrive State Podcast and share it with someone who could use a little encouragement on their own journey.

Remember, my friends: You are your best medicine.

— Dr. Kien Vuu (Dr. V)

What if the thing aging you fastest isn't your diet or your genes, but the story running in the back of your mind?

In this episode, Dr Kien Vuu and David Meltzer discuss the hidden link between mindset, the nervous system, and chronic disease. Dr V shares how, 13 years ago, he was a surgeon who was overweight, diabetic, hypertensive and on several medications, and headed toward his own operating table.

Together they explore how the ego's search for safety, love and connection keeps the body stuck in "danger mode," and why choosing faith over fear may be one of the most powerful tools for longevity and performance.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Dr. V's own diagnosis of diabetes and high blood pressure changed the way he practices medicine

• Why medical training focuses on matching drugs to symptoms, and what it misses

• How the ego forms when childhood needs for safety, love and connection go unmet

• The epigenetic messages chronic stress sends to your DNA, including more inflammation and less immunity

• Why "dis-ease" is mental, emotional and spiritual as well as physical

• How to spot the subconscious stories that trigger your nervous system, and how to question them

• Faith vs. fear: why both are invisible forces, and why the one you feed shapes your energy and health span

• The moment holding his newborn daughter dissolved Dr. V's belief that he wasn't enough

• How breathwork, stillness and connection help calm an inherited nervous system

• The message behind Dr. V's new book, I'm Possible

Follow Doctor V https://instagram.com/doctorvmd

Get the #1 bestselling book Thrive State https://thrivestatebook.com

Download the FREE Longevity & Human Potential Starter Guide https://thrivestatestarter.com

Join the Thrive State Membership https://mythrivestate.com/join

You're eating healthy, but is your body actually absorbing any of it?

Most people focus on WHAT they eat. Almost nobody thinks about whether those nutrients actually make it to their cells.

In this episode of the Thrive State Podcast, Dr. V sits down with Doug Grant, founder of Optimal Health Systems and former nutritionist for the Phoenix Suns, at SoFi Stadium to break down the real science of nutrient absorption, digestion, and why your mindset might be the missing piece in your health journey.

From working with NBA athletes to training conventional doctors in nutrition-based health, Doug shares practical, immediately actionable strategies to get more out of every meal -- starting with something your grandmother already told you to do.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why eating healthy food isn't enough and what actually determines whether nutrients reach your cells

• The #1 free habit that improves digestion immediately (no supplements required)

• How stress and "fight or flight" mode silently sabotage your physical health

• Why conventional doctors are leaving traditional medicine to study nutrition

• How to create a daily "non-negotiable floor" across mindset, nutrition, exercise, and supplementation

• A simple pre-meal ritual that activates your parasympathetic nervous system for better digestion

• What "focused, intense thought" has to do with longevity and optimal health

Download free longevity resources: thrivestatestarter.com

Learn more about Doug Grant's work: theformulator.com

Explore Optimal Health Systems for custom vitamin packs: optimalhealthsystems.com

Follow Doctor V https://instagram.com/doctorvmd

Get the #1 bestselling book Thrive State https://thrivestatebook.com

Download the FREE Longevity & Human Potential Starter Guide https://thrivestatestarter.com

Join the Thrive State Membership https://mythrivestate.com/join

What if the secret to peak performance isn't pushing harder — it's recovering before you even start?

In this episode of the Thrive State Podcast, recorded outside SoFi Stadium where high-performing athletes train, we break down the concept of pre-recovery — the practice of intentionally grounding your nervous system and setting your energetic state before a demand, rather than waiting until you're exhausted.

Using the science of stress, recovery, and growth (from single-cell organisms to elite athletes), this episode gives you a practical framework you can apply in just 5 minutes before any high-stakes moment.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The science behind why stress + recovery = growth and resilience (and why constant stress without recovery breaks you down)

• What "pre-recovery" is and why elite athletes and high-performing entrepreneurs use it before every challenge

• The 5-55 method: a simple pre-recovery protocol you can use before any meeting, conversation, or performance

• The 4-7-8 breathing technique that resets your nervous system in under 5 minutes

• How to set an energetic intention that shapes the outcome of everything you do

Try pre-recovery this week. Find one moment before a task, meeting, or conversation and take 5 minutes to breathe, walk, or set your intention. Then share your experience in the comments below! Did you show up differently?

Subscribe to the Thrive State Podcast for weekly insights on performance, longevity, and human potential.

Leave a 5-star review if this episode gave you value. It helps us reach more people looking to become their best selves.

Follow Doctor V https://instagram.com/doctorvmd

Get the #1 bestselling book Thrive State https://thrivestatebook.com

Download the FREE Longevity & Human Potential Starter Guide https://thrivestatestarter.com

Join the Thrive State Membership https://mythrivestate.com/join

In this episode of the Thrive State Podcast, Dr. V sits down with Jill Schulman, former United States Marine Corps officer, positive psychology researcher trained at the University of Pennsylvania under Martin Seligman, and globally recognized keynote speaker on the science of bravery.

Jill shares her remarkable journey from a small town in Minnesota to the Marine Corps, how she discovered bravery as her life's work, and the evidence-based framework she now teaches leaders and organizations around the world.

This conversation dives deep into the psychology of fear, why avoidance destroys potential, how action actually creates confidence (not the other way around), and why the next generation needs more discomfort, not less.

In this episode, we cover:

• The Five to Thrive rapid-fire game show segment

• Jill's origin story: from small-town Minnesota to the United States Marine Corps

• How studying positive psychology at Penn led to her focus on bravery

• The Marine Corps lesson: act when you have 70% of the information, not 100%

• Why bravery is a trainable skill just like building strength in the gym

• Discerning between fears you should listen to and fears you should move toward

• The hidden cost of experiential avoidance (and its link to anxiety and depression)

• The Navy SEAL confidence course story and why action precedes confidence

• Discipline vs. motivation and why you should never "press snooze"

• Marcus Buckingham's "red threads" and how to follow what lights you up

• How fear shows up in business: difficult conversations and safe goal-setting

• Why young people need to feel fear more, not less (the biosphere palm tree analogy)

• What leaders must do: set high expectations and support people to rise

Jill is offering a free audiobook to listeners. Just send her a message on LinkedIn or Instagram and her team will send you the link. You can also learn more about her keynote speaking and work at jillschulman.com. If this episode lit a fire in you, share it with someone who's been waiting for permission to be brave, and don't forget to subscribe to the Thrive State Podcast for more conversations that help you thrive.

Follow Doctor V https://instagram.com/doctorvmd

Get the #1 bestselling book Thrive State https://thrivestatebook.com

Download the FREE Longevity & Human Potential Starter Guide https://thrivestatestarter.com

Join the Thrive State Membership https://mythrivestate.com/join

Learn more about Jhourney retreats: www.jhourney.io

What if the future of medicine means doctors stop asking "what's wrong with you" and start asking "what is your body trying to tell you?"

In this episode, Dr. V sits down with Dr. Gregoryory Burzynski, an integrative and functional medicine physician (Houston Concierge Medicine, Restore Longevity) who trained in internal medicine before pioneering a more personalized, prevention-first approach to health.

Together they unpack why modern medicine reacts too late, what true "thriving" really looks like, and what the next decade of longevity science might bring.

In this episode, we cover:

• Dr. Burzynski's path from internal medicine to integrative and functional care

• Where conventional medicine falls short — and how to bridge the gap

• The personal health crisis that changed how Dr. Burzynski practices medicine

• What "true health" really means beyond just the absence of disease

• Early warning signs your body gives before things go wrong

• The link between stress, mitochondrial efficiency, and telomere length

• Epigenetics today vs. the epigenetic drugs of tomorrow

• Personalized medicine and why age changes everything

• Longevity escape velocity and the future of aging

• How Dr. Burzynski would redesign healthcare from the ground up

• The one thing he hopes every healthy person remembers

Follow Doctor V https://instagram.com/doctorvmd

Get the #1 bestselling book Thrive State https://thrivestatebook.com

Download the FREE Longevity & Human Potential Starter Guide https://thrivestatestarter.com

Join the Thrive State Membership https://mythrivestate.com/join

Ever wonder why you still feel exhausted even after a "full night's sleep"? The answer might be sitting in your medicine cabinet or in a disorder you've never been tested for.

In this episode, Dr. V sits down with Dr. Meredith Broderick, a triple board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine physician (one of only four in the world boarded in neurology, sleep medicine, AND behavioral sleep medicine) and founder of Sound Sleep Guru in Seattle. Together they break down why modern life has broken our sleep, why common sleep meds may be doing more harm than good, and what actually works to restore deep, restorative rest.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why sleep apnea is the most undiagnosed sleep disorder in the world

• How sleeping pills like Ambien and Zolpidem block your brain's glymphatic "cleaning" system

• The link between anticholinergic sleep meds and dementia risk

• Why alcohol, benzodiazepines, and cannabis wreck your sleep architecture

• How artificial light and modern life decoupled us from our circadian rhythm

• New GLP-1/GIP medications now FDA-approved for sleep apnea

• How Ozlo Sleepbuds use audio and biometrics to improve sleep

• Rapid-fire scores on melatonin, naps, morning sunlight, exercise timing, and temperature

• How to build a simple, effective wind-down routine

• Where to actually go for help with a sleep problem

Explore Sound Sleep Guru: https://soundsleepguru.com/

Follow Doctor V https://instagram.com/doctorvmd

Get the #1 bestselling book Thrive State https://thrivestatebook.com

Download the FREE Longevity & Human Potential Starter Guide https://thrivestatestarter.com

Join the Thrive State Membership https://mythrivestate.com/join