Ultimate Prescription

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: UP

Program Code: UP000084A


00:01 The following program presents principles designed
00:02 to promote good health
00:04 and is not intended to take the place
00:05 of personalized professional care.
00:07 The opinions and ideas expressed
00:09 are those of the speaker.
00:10 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions
00:13 about the information presented.
00:16 Have you ever had a pounding headache
00:18 that just didn't go away?
00:20 Headaches can be caused by a number of different variables
00:22 ranging from something as simple as dehydration
00:25 to serious conditions such as intracranial bleeding
00:27 or even cancer.
00:28 If you were someone you love
00:30 frequently deals with headaches,
00:31 you are going to want to stay and watch today's program.
00:34 I'm Dr. James Marcum.
00:36 Are you interested in discovering the reason why?
00:40 You want solutions to your health care problem.
00:43 Are you tired of taking medications?
00:45 Well, you are about to be given the Ultimate Prescription.
00:51 There are many different ways that modern medicine offers
00:54 to combat headaches that many of us experience.
00:57 But the headaches continue to return time after time.
01:00 You need to make sure and get that checked out
01:01 and see what's causing them.
01:03 Today we turn to board certified cardiologist,
01:04 Dr. James Marcum to learn the important points
01:07 about recurring headaches.
01:09 Dr. Marcum, welcome.
01:10 We've been covering the series on pain.
01:12 And tell us why is pain
01:14 such an important thing to discuss.
01:16 Yeah, pain is very important because pain is a signal
01:19 that something's wrong with our health.
01:20 Right.
01:22 And if you have pain
01:23 and you don't know what it's from,
01:25 you need to get it checked out.
01:26 And I guess that's the bottom-line.
01:27 If you are having pain, get it evaluated.
01:30 See if you can find out the reason why.
01:33 Some pain can be very dangerous,
01:36 even life threatening.
01:38 Head pain is one of those.
01:40 So you have to have that evaluated,
01:41 you have to know what you are dealing with.
01:43 We talked about chest pains.
01:45 How dangerous that can be if that's not evaluated.
01:47 We talked about skin,
01:48 which is not as dangerous of a situation
01:50 but still a concerning situation.
01:52 Right.
01:53 Foot pain, usually not too devastating,
01:55 but it's important that people understand about pain
01:58 that something is not right.
02:01 Pain that's lasting more than six months
02:03 or doesn't have an explanation, we term that chronic pain.
02:08 Not that something is not causing it,
02:10 something it just can't be identified.
02:13 There are lots of people have pain
02:15 or the body is so complicated, the way our brain interacts
02:18 that we don't know what's causing the pain,
02:20 but if we can always find out the reason why,
02:22 we're in a much better a position to treat it.
02:26 But headache is one of those that can be life threatening.
02:29 And so, you need to have the headache pain, evaluated,
02:32 especially if you don't know what it's from.
02:35 Now, I don't know...
02:36 There's very few people that I know
02:38 that have never had a headache, you know.
02:39 Yeah, right.
02:41 And, you know, some of the more common causes of headaches
02:43 are simple things like not drinking enough water.
02:46 That's probably the number one cause of headache
02:48 in the world right now.
02:50 Another big cause of headache nowadays is lack of sleep.
02:54 Yeah. Yeah.
02:55 And if you think, when I think about a person
02:57 that comes in and evaluates a headache,
02:59 the first thing I want to know is,
03:01 do I think the headache's caused by chemical imbalances,
03:04 okay?
03:05 What do I mean by that?
03:07 The nerves and the blood vessels
03:09 being out of whack,
03:11 muscles in the neck.
03:12 If there are chemical imbalances,
03:14 we call that primary headaches, okay?
03:17 Now, if there are bigger problems,
03:20 we call that secondary
03:21 and that's usually structural problems in the brain.
03:24 Those can be life threatening.
03:27 For instance, some of the structural problems
03:29 that you might have in the brain
03:30 if you had an aneurysm, okay?
03:32 Or if you had a intracerebral bleed,
03:34 that could be life threatening if not treated right away.
03:38 I mean, we're gonna talk a little bit
03:39 about how you might know that
03:41 that's type of your headache.
03:42 So there's basically two big types of headaches
03:44 and a lot of it you can find out
03:45 without even testing at all.
03:47 You can just ask the patient lots of questions.
03:51 Some of the common causes of primary headaches are,
03:54 the most common is tension headaches, okay?
03:57 And tension headache is when the muscles
03:59 of the head get tight.
04:02 You know, if the muscles in your arm get tight,
04:04 it can cause pain, okay?
04:06 If it gets, you know, we got a charley horse.
04:07 Kind of a cramp in the leg.
04:09 Yeah, you have the charley horse,
04:10 you don't worry about that 'cause you know,
04:11 it's the muscles in the legs.
04:13 Right.
04:14 Occasionally we have cramping in the muscles of the chest
04:15 and people should get worried
04:17 'cause it could feel like a heart attack.
04:18 Well, the muscles of the head can also get tight too.
04:21 In this world, we are under so much stress.
04:24 We make the stress chemistries, adrenaline, the cytokines.
04:28 It can make muscles tight.
04:30 I mean, you can have what we call tension headaches.
04:33 Typically, tension headaches are usually headaches.
04:36 If you talk to the patients, they say,
04:37 oh, it's behind their eyes
04:39 or at the base of their neck, okay?
04:41 Those are characteristic places for tension headaches,
04:44 especially behind the eyes.
04:46 So that's a type of primary headache.
04:48 Another type of primary headache might occur like this.
04:51 You have a headache behind the eye,
04:54 usually one eye that awakens you
04:56 in the middle of night.
04:57 And that can be termed a cluster headache, okay?
05:01 And that can be very devastating.
05:03 Sometimes there's triggers for cluster headaches.
05:06 Some triggers might be alcohol, cigarettes,
05:08 they might trigger these headaches.
05:10 It disrupts the vessels
05:11 in the internal functioning of the brain enough,
05:14 so you have this severe pain.
05:16 Another type of headache
05:18 that almost everyone has heard of is migraine headaches.
05:21 Yeah, right.
05:22 And that's still a...
05:24 one of these headaches that are, you know,
05:26 they are not caused by structural problem,
05:28 they are more of the chemistry of the brain.
05:30 And a migraine headache, usually they might have it
05:32 or you might feel it coming before it does.
05:35 You might, you might have some numbness in your tongue,
05:37 in your fingers.
05:39 Sometimes it has triggers too.
05:42 Sometimes the light can trigger it.
05:44 Sometimes dehydration,
05:45 certain foods with nitrates can trigger it.
05:48 Lack of sleep can trigger these headaches
05:50 and they are very devastating too.
05:52 Some of the treatments of these types of headaches
05:55 are medicinal to relieve the pain.
05:57 If we can, we want, of course, get at the cause.
06:00 Getting at the cause is the key if possible,
06:03 'cause they devastate...
06:05 You remember, chronic pain
06:07 turns on chronic stress chemistry
06:08 which damages other parts of the body
06:10 including the higher parts of the brain
06:12 which does our thinking.
06:14 So that's one big type of headaches, okay?
06:17 When would a headache be life threatening, okay?
06:21 What are some things I should worry about?
06:23 Well, if the headache's chronic every single day,
06:26 never goes away, that might be serious.
06:28 You need to get to see someone about that.
06:30 The doctor that specializes in headaches
06:32 is called a neurologist.
06:34 They specialize in headaches.
06:36 If a headache comes after a cough,
06:38 that might be dangerous.
06:40 If it's a worse headache in your life,
06:43 that might be dangerous.
06:44 Headaches usually have to have relationships.
06:47 That can be a dangerous signal for dangerous headaches.
06:50 And all these headaches need to be evaluated right away.
06:52 And the way we sort of tell if it's a serious headache
06:55 is with a scan.
06:56 We look at the structure,
06:58 the structures of the brain that they look okay,
07:00 we can know it's not a serious headache.
07:02 And sometimes, a patient will come into the emergency room
07:05 and they have the worst headache of their life.
07:07 We'll do the scan and first we say,
07:08 "Oh, it's not dangerous."
07:10 It must be one of these other primary types of headaches,
07:13 the tensions, the clusters or the migraine.
07:15 We can symptomatically help that with medications,
07:18 get you over the hump
07:19 and then help you educate on the cause of the brain
07:22 to prevent it from happening long term.
07:25 But the structural problems, we can't do a whole lot about.
07:28 You know, a lot of us are born with, you know,
07:30 if you have an aneurysm, that's a weak spot,
07:33 the blood vessel if it bleeds in the brain.
07:36 Sometimes you can't do too much about that
07:37 other than control the blood pressure before.
07:40 But for primary headaches,
07:41 anything that improves brain health
07:44 will lower your risk of that.
07:46 What would improve brain health?
07:47 Drinking water, getting rest and eating the right foods.
07:52 Some of the chemicals, you know, you've heard of MSG,
07:55 some of those chemicals can adversely affect your brain.
07:59 Low blood sugar can give you a headache.
08:01 High blood sugar can give you headache.
08:03 So anything that interferes with the normal function
08:06 of the brain can cause the brain to malfunction
08:09 that could create the nerves in the brain saying,
08:11 "Hey, things aren't right.
08:12 I'm going to cause a headache.
08:14 I'm going to get Nick's attention."
08:15 And then Nick says, "I have a headache.
08:16 I don't feel so good."
08:18 And then he's going to figure it out.
08:19 You know, and if it's not serious,
08:21 you know, you've to make sure you,
08:22 you know, slept it off, drank some water.
08:24 If it's something more serious, you'll get help right away.
08:28 There's all sorts of structural type of headaches too
08:31 that we need to sort of talk a few minutes about.
08:33 Sinuses.
08:35 Sinuses that get infected or you have allergies,
08:38 those are frequently cause of headaches.
08:41 Those type of headaches are usually associated
08:43 when that hurts when you press over the sinuses.
08:45 You might have a green drainage,
08:47 something like that might be happening.
08:50 Of course, you can have headaches
08:51 if you have a concussion.
08:53 If you bang your head, you know.
08:54 You are playing football and have a lot of...
08:55 Mental trauma? Yes.
08:57 So if you are having headaches after you bang your head,
08:59 that could be a structural problem.
09:01 So that would need a more thorough evaluation.
09:05 You know, you heard of concussions.
09:06 And almost all the gentlemen
09:08 that have concussions have headaches.
09:10 Some of them have bleeds, some of them don't have bleeds
09:13 and it's just chronic damage to the brain
09:14 but that would be something we need to look into.
09:18 Sometimes if you have a headache
09:20 and a fever or a rash,
09:22 that could be a sign of infection,
09:24 especially if you had a stiff neck
09:27 and a rash and a fever,
09:29 that could be meningitis,
09:31 that could be due to an infection.
09:32 That's a potentially serious structural problem
09:36 in the brain.
09:37 There's lots of toxins
09:39 that can really hurt the brain really quick.
09:41 We think of some of the ones we mentioned,
09:43 MSG but carbon monoxide,
09:45 frequently that can hurt the brain
09:46 cause you to have these headaches.
09:49 Other types of headaches that are more structurally
09:51 are visual problems.
09:53 You know, if you have a bad vision,
09:55 if you can't see where your vision is changing.
09:57 Something's damaged your vision.
09:58 Sometimes the left and the right eye aren't right,
10:00 sometimes that put stress on the system,
10:03 that can create headache-type pains too.
10:05 If your eyes are straining a lot,
10:06 that can cause it.
10:08 Looking at the computer screen hour after hour,
10:11 watching television many hours.
10:13 You know, not giving your eyes some rest like they should.
10:16 That can cause chronic headaches as well.
10:20 Hangovers, you know,
10:21 a lot of people drink alcohol nowadays.
10:24 They drink too much, they develop hangovers.
10:27 That can cause problems.
10:28 A lot of people don't realize it
10:30 but certain medications can also cause headaches.
10:33 The overuse of pain medications.
10:36 You wouldn't think it can cause a headache
10:37 but the overuse of pain medications
10:39 can actually cause headaches.
10:41 So when a person comes in with a headache
10:43 and if you want to look at all the different possible causes,
10:46 from the eyes to the sinuses,
10:48 to structural problems to muscles,
10:50 to the ingestions they put in,
10:52 whether they are sleeping enough,
10:53 whether they've been having some trauma,
10:55 whether they are drinking enough water.
10:57 So it's really a very complex evaluation
11:00 but it needs to be done 'cause it could,
11:01 you know, occasionally,
11:03 a person has a bleed or a bad concussion
11:06 leading to a seizure,
11:07 those could all be life threatening.
11:09 So let's talk a little bit more about the chemical imbalance.
11:13 Are we talking about like maybe not drinking enough water
11:15 and so there's not the right chemicals in the brain,
11:18 or if you are drinking alcohol,
11:19 that's causing imbalance of chemicals in the brain?
11:21 Yes, it does that.
11:22 And remember, 80 to 85 percent of the brain is water, okay?
11:26 And usually when people drink alcohol, you know,
11:28 it affects the way the brain works, okay?
11:31 Not only does it water
11:32 but it affects actually the way the brain works,
11:34 the brain doesn't think as clear, okay?
11:36 But a lot of drugs do that, okay?
11:38 Cocaine, methamphetamines, LSD,
11:41 which is a big one that affect the way the brain works.
11:44 So any of those could potentially
11:46 lead to brain problems.
11:47 We want to stay away from all of those.
11:51 Some people, Nick, that have high blood pressure.
11:54 If the blood pressure's high all the time,
11:55 that can led to chronic headache,
11:57 so you always want to check their blood pressure.
12:00 You know, after some procedures that people get done, you know,
12:03 have you ever heard of a spinal tap?
12:05 You know, when they do those?
12:07 Some people after that can have headaches.
12:09 You know, they call it a spinal headache.
12:11 Some people, I've seen a couple of this through years
12:13 that they wear goggles when they either swim or bike,
12:17 the goggles are too tight.
12:18 It's from the pressure. Yes, the pressure.
12:20 That can also cause that.
12:21 Dental problems can sometimes cause pressure on the nerves
12:26 and that can also cause chronic headaches.
12:28 Some people if they change temperatures too quickly,
12:31 get out in the cold, that can cause headaches.
12:34 So I guess what I'm trying to say here is the key
12:37 to understanding headaches is to talk to the patient,
12:40 understanding why it's happening
12:41 and also make sure it's not a serious problem.
12:44 Now, a lot of headaches now more than anything else
12:48 are caused by the stress of this world.
12:51 This world is under more stress than ever before, Nick.
12:55 And just by lowering stress
12:57 that takes pressure off the muscle,
12:59 getting back to the way God designed us
13:01 also helped a lot, whether it be diet,
13:03 rest or doing the things in our original design.
13:06 That always going to help us
13:08 to lower the risk of having headaches.
13:10 Well, you know, you mentioned a lot more sources of headaches
13:13 than I realized that they were out there.
13:15 Yeah, there's a lot. All right.
13:17 Well, we're going to be back in just a moment
13:18 after the break.
13:20 And if you have a question,
13:21 visit our website at heartwiseministries.org
13:22 where you can ask your question
13:24 and we'll be back in just a moment
13:26 with Dr. James Marcum to talk about prevention and treatment
13:28 for headaches.


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Revised 2016-04-21