Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000070A
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00:16 What organ can make up to 15% of our body weight,
00:20 and is our largest organ? 00:22 Dr. Marcum, explains after the break. 00:24 I'm Dr. James Marcum, are you interested in discovering 00:28 the reason why? 00:30 Do you want solutions to your health care problem? 00:32 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:35 Well, you're about to be given "The Ultimate Prescription" 00:41 We hear a lot about sun products that promise to make us 00:44 look younger and better, but the skin serves a much 00:47 bigger purpose. 00:49 Dr. Marcum, why is the skin so important? 00:51 Well Nick, it does lots of great things. 00:54 The skin not only does it make us look a certain way, 00:57 but it helps protect us from foreign objects... Right 01:01 It serves as a temperature regulator. 01:04 It helps keep us at a certain temperature. 01:07 Helps to insulate us. Right insulate us. 01:08 So it does a lot more than just make us look good, 01:13 and there's a lot more to it than sunscreen. 01:15 And, a lot of people look at their skin and they're 01:20 concerned about it, but a lot of people don't realize 01:22 that the skin does things that are much more important. 01:26 And also, the skin can be a sign... 01:28 You know, by looking at the skin you can tell maybe if you 01:30 have serious diseases. Really? 01:33 You know, certain diseases are manifested as a rash. 01:36 One of the ones that we see a lot is called "lupus." 01:38 That has a rash that's on the face. 01:40 There are other rashes that go with certain medical conditions, 01:44 so the skin might be a clue to that. 01:46 The skin also serves as a general look at people's health. 01:50 Have you ever looked at someone and say, "Man, you look pale, 01:52 you don't look so good." Right, right 01:54 Maybe it could be a sign that someone has a infection. 01:56 Maybe the blood supply in the body is not so good, 01:59 so the skin shows up that. 02:01 So it can be a very important clue to a physician 02:04 that maybe things aren't going so well. Right 02:08 You know, the most common skin condition that people 02:11 probably see now is cancer. 02:13 So it's very important and there are different 02:15 types of skin cancers and we noticed discoloration on 02:19 the skin... of course, the one that's the most scary 02:22 is one called "melanoma." Right 02:24 And if that's missed, a person can get very, very sick quickly. 02:28 We know that people that don't take care of their 02:30 skin when they're younger, they burn a lot. 02:32 That damages the pigment of the skin, 02:35 and it can damage it over time and that can create problems 02:38 as we get older in life. 02:40 So the skin has many different things that goes on with it. 02:44 There are parts of the skin that sweat, 02:47 so that's a very important thing to sweat. 02:48 There are parts of the skin that don't sweat 02:50 including the lips... the lips don't sweat very much, 02:53 and the nail beds... the nail beds don't sweat. 02:55 But the other part sweats where we get rid of wastes. 02:59 So waste can not only come into the body, damages, 03:01 but we also get rid of waste and toxins through our skin. 03:05 So we think of - "Well how do we get rid of waste?" 03:07 Well, through the kidneys we get rid of wastes, 03:10 but also through our skin. 03:11 Have you ever heard the term, "sweat it out?" Yeah sure have! 03:14 Well actually, sweating is a good thing to do 03:17 as long as you replace it because you can sweat out 03:19 some of the toxins in the body. 03:22 So the skin does a lot of good things for us, Nick, 03:25 and we're going to answer some questions that people had 03:27 regarding the skin, but first, we've been building 03:30 our first aid kit. That's right 03:33 And we've added a lot of good things to it, 03:34 and we want everyone at home to have a good 03:37 first aid kit or at least to have some important things 03:40 that they can add to it. 03:41 You know, this might sound goofy, 03:44 but I give gifts as first aid stockings. Oh yeah, sure! 03:51 So people can put in their first aid kit if they ever need it. 03:54 Now we're hoping no one ever needs a first aid kit, 03:58 but we have some items here that you might 04:00 want to put in your first aid kit. 04:02 Can you show everyone what that one is? Yes 04:04 So here we have an icepack and this is something that's used 04:07 on the skin and when is the 04:09 appropriate time to use it, Dr. Marcum? 04:10 Well, what an icepack does is - it's great when 04:14 there's an acute injury. Okay 04:17 When there's an acute injury, the body usually swells. 04:21 And that swelling process, that inflammatory process 04:25 to an area can sometimes cause pain and, of course, 04:31 sometimes if it's down on a joint like an ankle, 04:35 it can lead to immobility, so those things are good. 04:39 So if you have a cold pack, that might help with the pain... 04:42 what it does is it actually constricts blood vessels 04:45 so you don't get quite as much inflammation in the area, 04:48 and it can keep the temperature down a little bit. 04:50 So that's one thing the cold pack is good, 04:52 and if you've hurt yourself in an injury. Yeah 04:55 I've seen cold packs occasionally used for people 04:58 that have extreme fevers... have you ever seen 05:01 a person with a fever? Well, what do they want to do? 05:03 They want to cool themselves down. Yeah 05:06 And some people take Tylenol for fevers. 05:08 Some people put rags on their head, have you seen that? 05:11 Some people have cold packs of certain duration. 05:14 Well why is that important? 05:16 Well, a little bit of a fever is good because it helps 05:18 kill the offending agent whether it be a bacteria or a fungus. 05:22 But high temperatures over long periods of time raises 05:26 the chance of you having a seizure. 05:28 The brain malfunctions, so we don't want super, super 05:31 high fevers for long periods of time. Right 05:34 So in the hospitals, I don't know if you've ever seen this, 05:37 sometimes we try to bring someone's temperature down... 05:40 In the heart-world, if a person has had a cardiac arrest, 05:46 one of the things we do is we induce hypothermia 05:49 or low temperature. Okay 05:51 We bring down the temperature because when the temperature 05:53 again is up for a prolonged periods of time, 05:56 that damages the body even further. Sure yeah 05:59 That's one of the things we do to help 06:01 possibly limit damage to the brain. 06:03 So these are all little things that we can do 06:05 to help protect the body and this is something that's not a 06:09 bad idea because if you're out in the woods, 06:11 how do you get cold quick? Right 06:13 Of course you can put some water on it and blow on it... 06:16 that will help or you can use a cold pack 06:18 and really get it down really quicker. 06:20 And this is a chemical activated pack so you don't 06:22 have to pull it out of the freezer, 06:23 you just take it with you wherever and activate it 06:25 when you need it. Yep 06:26 So it works really quick and I would recommend 06:29 it mainly for things like sprained ankles, 06:31 things of that nature. Okay 06:33 Now we've got another item here - what is this? 06:35 Well I wanted to bring since we're talking about 06:37 the skin today... 06:39 There are many different skin products out there, 06:41 and this is what I call a steroid cream, 06:44 and there are different types of steroid creams. 06:46 This is one that's a little more potent than the others, 06:49 and they usually have a steroid in it - it's either 1% or 0.5% 06:54 of a different steroid. 06:56 One of the most common steroids is called "hydrocortisone." 07:00 Now topical steroids - okay, you want to use these again 07:04 for short periods of time to get you over the hump 07:06 of the offending agent. Right 07:08 It's very useful for things that are really irritating 07:11 to the skin that causes inflammation, okay, 07:14 for a short period of time. 07:16 It might be good for a rash or something that's really 07:19 irritating - a bug bite or something that causes 07:22 lots of inflammation this might help. 07:24 But I just wanted to bring this out, 07:26 but there are all sorts of other creams that you can add 07:28 to help your skin. 07:30 There are creams with menthol in it... 07:32 that's another natural healer. 07:34 There are different things that will help in 07:36 bug bites and there is Benadryl type creams, 07:39 that are sort of an antihistamine. 07:41 And if you go, when you make your first aid kit, 07:43 if you go to the skin care products and read them all, 07:47 and go on the internet and read about all the different 07:50 skin care, it's probably good to have one or two 07:52 products for your skin that you can help with inflammation 07:56 in an emergency that give you help with itching 07:59 in an emergency that can help sort of settle down 08:01 all the discomfort that you get when you might have a 08:04 skin irritation, a bug bite, when you're out 08:07 and have an irritant on you. 08:09 I know poison ivy is a real irritant for people... 08:12 One that people used for years, 08:15 some people take it with steroids on it. 08:17 Some people use these anti-itch medicines 08:20 with Caladryl lotions that they use. Right, yeah 08:23 There's also a special medicine out there that they can use 08:28 for poison ivy - if you put it on right away, 08:30 it helps pull the poisons out, that's also very valuable. 08:34 These are all very valuable things that we can 08:36 put in our first aid because that's one of the most 08:38 common problems that people 08:40 get as they get into problems with their skin. Right, right 08:43 I know when I was a kid, I had poison ivy 08:45 that got on my face and it just swelled up 08:48 really, really big and it was a real problem. 08:50 Well I'm very allergic to poison ivy. 08:52 In fact, if I just... you know, but I had a friend that 08:56 breathed poison ivy and I didn't know this, 08:58 but you can get poison ivy in your lungs, 09:01 and it causes inflammation in your lungs. 09:03 They were burning poison ivy leaves 09:05 and he actually smelled it. 09:06 So a lot of people... you know if I have a bad case 09:09 of poison ivy I have to take systemic pills steroids 09:12 to get me over that hump... 09:14 But the best thing for me is to avoid it. Right 09:17 Stay away from the thing that causes that irritating reaction. 09:21 And a lot of people are allergic to different types of plants. 09:23 I have other people that are not even bothered by that at all, 09:27 so that's something important. 09:29 So these are good things to have in our first aid kit 09:31 to help protect our skin, Nick. 09:32 Well that's some good advice. 09:34 We've got a number of questions that have 09:35 come into our website at: heartwiseministries.org 09:38 And after the break, we're going to get 09:40 right to answering those questions - so stay with us. |
Revised 2016-06-29