Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000072B
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00:02 Welcome back! On today's program,
00:05 we're talking about medications... 00:06 And Dr. Marcum, we've got a lot of questions 00:08 that have come in from our website - so we're going to 00:10 jump right into those. Okay - let's jump into it! 00:12 Our first viewer asks: How do I come off the 00:14 sleeping pill "Ambien?" 00:16 Yeah, well the sleeping pill "Ambien," 00:18 helps people sleep well at night. 00:20 The benefit of it is it knocks you out. 00:22 The risk is that it might hurt your cognition 00:24 and your ability to drive a car. 00:26 Well, if we want to get off of it, let's figure out ways 00:29 we can help a person sleep better. 00:31 What's the cause of them not sleeping well? 00:33 Is it sleep apnea? 00:34 Is it a medicine making their blood sugar go low? 00:37 Is it a stimulant like caffeine or alcohol, 00:40 eating late at night? 00:41 Is it television? Is it light? 00:43 Those are the things if we can find out the cause 00:46 of them not sleeping well, 00:47 maybe we can get the ability to taper that 00:50 medicine to off so maybe they won't have to take that pill 00:53 the rest of their life. Great question! 00:56 But again, it just lets us know that it is possible 00:59 if someone will work with you to come off 01:00 some of these medications. How about a statin? 01:02 Remind us what is a statin and is it possible to come off of. 01:04 A statin is a medication to lower cholesterol. Okay 01:07 So, if you can lower your cholesterol 01:09 with a natural means and your 01:10 risk-benefit profile is acceptable, 01:12 that's another one you might be going off. 01:14 So let's say that, Nick, you don't have any medical 01:17 problems and you come to me with an LDL cholesterol of 200, 01:21 that's too high and I'm going to say, Nick... 01:23 "You have an option, you can either start eating 01:25 right and exercise or you could take a statin." 01:28 A statin will lower your risk, so at that point, 01:32 it's probably beneficial to you, but if you can lower your risk 01:35 other ways, maybe you won't have to be married to that. 01:37 Now some people that have genetic problems, 01:40 need to be on medicines like that. 01:41 Okay, well that was an easy one. 01:43 How about Coumadin, I hear a lot of people 01:45 talk about not wanting to take Coumadin. 01:47 Why do people shy away from it? 01:48 Coumadin is a blood thinner, and Coumadin has a risk of 01:53 bleeding and the generic Coumadin called "warfarin," 01:56 it is rat poison - they used to use it to kill rats. 01:58 That's not good. Right 02:01 But Coumadin does prevent clots. 02:02 So if a person has a blood clot in their heart 02:05 which could pump up to their brain and cause a stroke, 02:08 or a blood clot in their legs which could pump 02:10 to their lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism, 02:13 then the risk of Coumadin might be worth it. 02:17 Now I don't like to give people that medication, 02:19 but if it's very risky, we do, but we monitor it 02:22 very carefully - we monitor for bleeding. 02:25 We let them know about the risk and benefits; 02:28 we let them know if other medications interact 02:30 with it and we monitor their blood very closely 02:33 to make sure it doesn't get too thick or too thin. 02:35 Now sometimes, it might be possible 02:38 to come off the Coumadin, but it's a rare person 02:41 that can come off that because usually when they are 02:43 putting them on it, means they have gotten 02:45 a blood clot. 02:46 So to get off that medicine, you've got to eliminate 02:48 the chance of a blood clot coming back again, 02:51 sometimes that's very hard to do. All right 02:53 We've got another question... 02:55 This viewer asks: "What is the safest antibiotic 02:58 and is it true that many allergies to penicillin 03:01 are not true allergies?" 03:02 First of all, many allergies of 03:04 penicillin are not true allergies. 03:06 You know, people just say they are... 03:07 We can certainly have a person go to an allergist 03:10 and test for that... The first question is: 03:14 "Antibiotics," are they safe antibiotics? 03:17 Well, there are safe antibiotics but the best thing about 03:21 antibiotics is try not to use them. 03:23 Many antibiotics are given for virus infections... 03:26 they don't even need to be given and people become 03:29 resistant to antibiotics, especially people that 03:32 eat animals! 03:33 Seventy to 80% of all the antibiotics used are 03:36 passed on to us in some form from animals that we eat. 03:40 So we get sort of antibiotic resistance when we have 03:43 some low grade antibiotics in us all the time - that's not good! 03:47 So we've heard about antibiotic resistance in our society. 03:50 We've heard about methicillin resistant staph... 03:53 things of that nature, so we want to limit 03:55 our exposures to antibiotics and take them 03:58 when we really need it, but if we really don't 04:00 need an antibiotic - if it's a virus, 04:02 we won't want to take antibiotics from animals; 04:06 we don't want to take those type of things, 04:07 then antibiotics can be used effectively, 04:10 but nowadays, we're not using them too effectively. 04:12 If we use them ineffectively, we can damage our 04:15 bacterial flora and it damages 04:18 the trillium bacteria's that messes us up. 04:20 When those bacteria damages, they turn on chemicals 04:23 that puts stress on our body 04:24 causes all sorts of problems with that. Right 04:26 Some people even have to take probiotics, 04:28 things of that nature, if they're on lots of antibiotics. 04:32 Now, why might some people think they have 04:34 an allergic reaction to penicillin, 04:36 but it's maybe not really allergies? 04:37 Well, they might get a little rash when they take it, 04:39 and that's not a real anaphylactic reaction. 04:41 Just a minor... Yeah, a minor reaction. 04:43 Some people get it to a generic preparation. 04:46 It might not be the allergy to penicillin, 04:48 but it might be the packaging or the delivery system. 04:51 Remember, when a medicine is invented, not only is it 04:54 the active ingredient, but the delivery system, 04:57 how is it packaged... 04:59 how is it delivered in the system? 05:00 it takes chemicals - they might be allergic to those chemicals. 05:04 Generic medicines have different delivery systems 05:07 than pure medications sometimes. 05:09 Now it seems, most medications have side effects, 05:12 but are there any that don't have side effects? 05:13 I have no medicine that doesn't have a 05:15 side effect to some degree. 05:16 Now, some are safer than others like - you know, 05:18 we talked about Tylenol, that has a few side effects 05:21 on the liver, but it's very safe. 05:23 Advil, Motrin - some of them have side effects, 05:26 but they're not terrible. 05:27 The ones I see have side effects, Nick, 05:29 are the ones that people use chronically. 05:32 Prolonged exposures to medications raise the risk 05:35 of side effects. Right 05:37 Getting you over the hump usually doesn't have 05:39 as many side effects unless you have 05:40 one of these terrible immune 05:42 reactions to it. Good information! 05:45 Our next viewer has a question about blood pressure. 05:48 They've been on 3 different medications, 05:50 and they want to know which medication 05:52 may have the least side effects. 05:54 And, you know, the approach to blood pressure is, of course, 05:57 find our what's causing your blood pressure; 05:59 try to have some natural remedies to lower 06:01 blood pressure - like exercising, 06:03 a plant-based diet, lots of water, 06:06 no processed foods, things of that nature. 06:08 Some people still need to be on some medications 06:11 at least to get them over the hump. Sure 06:12 One of the medicines that I use that's very safe is 06:15 one called, "Norvasc." 06:17 That does not slow the heart rate down. 06:19 It makes the arteries a little bit bigger. 06:21 Now I can also accomplish that by people eating lots of greens, 06:25 and cutting back fat as well, but some people 06:28 cannot do that and if they can't do those things, 06:30 then the risk of high blood pressure is greater 06:33 than the risk of the medicine. 06:35 They might benefit to that, but at the same time, 06:37 I would watch that very closely. 06:39 Another medicine I use quite a bit for blood pressure is 06:42 called, "the beta blockers." 06:44 A person that has blood pressure 06:45 because they are stressed out a lot - you know, 06:48 that blocks adrenalin's effect on the blood vessels, 06:51 that might help a lot. 06:53 In someone that's anxious, we might use that. 06:55 Of course, I'd want them to do some other things, 06:58 maybe taking deep breaths, relaxing - you know 07:01 those things that will lower the blood pressure as well, 07:03 but if they can't do those things, 07:05 then sometimes the medicine is worth the side effects... 07:07 But those are two that are fairly safe. 07:09 But every medicine does have side effects. 07:12 The blood pressure medicines, of course, 07:14 can make it go too low. 07:15 So if you're dehydrated or if your kidneys quit working 07:19 or if your liver doesn't work, and you still take 07:21 the medicines, your blood pressure could go too low, 07:24 and you could pass out, you could hurt yourself, 07:26 so there are side effects to each of these medicines, 07:28 and I think what patients need to know is, first of all... 07:30 hopefully, they can try to change their chemistry 07:33 so they don't need a medicine. Sure 07:35 Then if they do need the medicine and their physician 07:37 thinks the risk is worth the benefit, 07:39 know about the risk. 07:40 Know when to take it, know what to look for, 07:42 know what the complications. 07:44 And I think when people learn about their medications, 07:47 they can take them much safer. 07:49 That's good advice! Okay 07:51 We have another viewer who asks: 07:52 "I take medication for my stomach, 07:54 is there a chance I can come off of this?" 07:56 And again, it's according to why they take the medications 08:00 for the stomach, okay? 08:02 I assume it's for acid. Okay 08:05 The body makes extra acid, it causes reflux... 08:09 that's a bothersome. 08:10 And a lot of people take these antacids, 08:12 and there are a bunch of different ones on the market... 08:14 Nexium, Prilosec, different ones, some you can even buy 08:17 over-the-counter. Right 08:19 We weren't really made to take these for the rest of our lives. 08:24 And some of those can change the calcium content of the body, 08:29 and so we try to get people off of those. 08:32 Well, if you can get at the cause. 08:33 You know, if it's because we're eating big at night 08:36 well, quit eating big at night. Sure 08:38 If it's because there's an infection in the stomach 08:39 called, "H. pylori," well have that treated. 08:42 If it's because they're eating high protein diets... 08:45 you know, with lots of fat which makes the body 08:48 more acidic, maybe if they can get off that medicine. 08:51 If they're under a lot of stress and worry and concern, 08:55 and that's contributing to their body making a lot of acid, 08:58 maybe that's something they can do. 09:01 So is there a chance they can get off this? Yes 09:04 And sometimes people only have to take the medicines 09:06 for a short period of time until they can get at the cause. 09:09 I have a lot of people, Nick, that will just quit drinking 09:12 caffeine and the acid production 09:14 will come down, they won't need it. 09:15 I have some people that will lose 20 pounds, 09:17 and that will help. Yeah 09:19 I have some people that won't eat big at night, 09:21 and then their acid production will get better. 09:23 I have some people that will quit eating meat, 09:25 and then that will get better! 09:27 So is it possible? Yes... 09:28 But what I've seen is... a lot of people aren't even 09:31 given the options... 09:35 I explained the risks and the benefits, 09:36 and why this is, I think, a good choice for them, 09:40 but some people say, "Nope, I don't want to do it, 09:42 I would rather take the medicine and do what I want." 09:44 Well that is their right and I'm still going to love them 09:46 the best I can and still encourage them 09:49 and try to move them on other steps. 09:51 I'll say, "Well, if you won't get off the medicine, 09:53 maybe you'll drink more water and dilute the acid, 09:56 or maybe you will drink one less coke that day, 09:59 and not have so much phosphoric acid 10:01 which is adding even MORE acid to your body. 10:03 So these are the little things 10:05 that we do that can work with people. 10:06 And I know a common question people ask is: 10:08 "What if I forget to take my medication, 10:09 what should I do?" "Should I double up?" 10:11 Nope! I wouldn't... It's according to what 10:13 the medicine is. Okay 10:14 For instance, if you forget to take your medicine, 10:17 and it's a very important medicine, 10:19 then you want to talk to your doctor and ask them 10:21 what they want you to do. 10:23 If it's a medicine that's not important, 10:25 then maybe you can just miss a dose, 10:26 and then resume the next one. 10:28 For instance, if it's a blood pressure medicine, 10:30 I tell my patients to... "Well, you missed one dose, 10:33 let's just resume with the next." 10:35 If it's a blood thinner medicine, 10:37 and the blood is going to get too thick, 10:38 I'll have them come into the office and check it, 10:40 and see if it's too thick or too thin. Right 10:42 If it's an antibiotic and they are at the end of the infection, 10:45 I might say, "Well, the infection is pretty much over, 10:47 that's okay, but if it's in the beginning of the infection, 10:51 I might say, "Well, you missed a dose - you double up." 10:53 So it really depends on the individual situation... 10:56 to know what they should do if they miss a medication. 10:58 Do you find that happens commonly with your patients? 11:00 Yes, 70% of patients do not take 11:03 the medication as you tell them to. 11:05 Seventy percent - that's a big number. 11:07 Yeah, they either forget the medicine... 11:09 they usually forget it, they don't take it on time, 11:11 they mix and match it with things that interact 11:13 with the medicine... so a large number of people 11:15 don't take the medications as you prescribe it. 11:17 That's why I try to give alternatives for medicines 11:21 and a lot of people make mistakes with their medicines. 11:24 Just like you do... "Oh, I take one and it made me 11:26 feel a little bit better... I'm going to take three." Sure 11:27 I had a lady who was taking a beta blocker 11:30 that slowed her heart down. 11:31 She was taking it for blood pressure. 11:33 She wasn't taking it because she had a heart problem. 11:35 And bless her heart, Nick, she felt bad... 11:37 She said, "Oh, there must be something wrong with my heart." 11:39 So she took another one and it slowed down her heart 11:42 5 or 6 beats a minute, and then she felt even worse. 11:44 So she took another one and she kept taking them until 11:47 her heart started going down into the 30s. 11:49 That was not good, but that happens quite a bit. 11:52 People don't take the medicines quite like they should, 11:54 and these medicines do have risks. 11:57 That's why we have to be very, very careful. 11:59 And when there is 4 billion prescriptions out there, 12:02 and all the over-the-counters you can get now, 12:05 you get a lot of this, you know, the amphetamines 12:08 you can get over-the-counter; 12:09 you can get stuff that would make methamphetamines 12:11 over-the-counter. 12:12 You know, Tylenol, if you take too much Tylenol, 12:15 that can damage your liver. 12:16 If you took too much of anything, it can cause bleeding. 12:18 Lots of things can cause bleeding. 12:20 The energy pills - that can speed up your metabolism, 12:23 and make your heart go out of rhythm. 12:25 So every medicine does have some risk, 12:27 and they must be used responsibly. 12:29 So I'm glad people are listening to this so maybe we can 12:31 at least we can't give every scenario, but we can say, 12:34 "Be careful - everything we put in our body 12:36 has a chemical change whether that be a food, 12:39 a medicine, an herb, a supplement, a thought, 12:41 everything we do has some 12:43 chemical reaction inside our body. 12:45 Last question of the day here is: 12:47 "What is the difference between a 12:49 medication and an herbal remedy and which is better?" 12:52 Well that's an interesting question. 12:54 I get that a lot because a lot of people think that if 12:56 something is "natural," it's better. 12:59 They always think that, and I struggle with that 13:03 because natural is good and it has a place, 13:05 and I really think natural is good when it comes to food. 13:08 Eating food that has antioxidants, 13:10 it has those chemicals in it, but some people, the herbs, 13:13 a lot of people don't know what the herbs do in the body, 13:16 and they don't know the dosage, how much to use, 13:19 they don't know the timing, they don't know the 13:20 delivery system - what is interacting. 13:22 So I look at an herb just like any other medication. 13:26 Some herbs have been shown to be very dangerous, 13:29 and "foxgloves" is one that is very dangerous. 13:32 There's an herb that we make digoxin from, 13:36 that's another herb that can be very dangerous 13:38 because it can make the heart go too slow. 13:40 I had a person that was taking that one time, 13:42 and they dropped their heart rate into 20 13:44 because they were taking that herb - it made it go too slow. 13:47 Some of the ones that interact with each other can 13:49 be a problem as well. 13:51 So, is there a difference between medication and herbs? 13:54 There is a difference and one of the differences is 13:56 medications have been studied; we know how much they used, 13:59 and they are regulated. Right Herbs are not. 14:02 Now I'm not saying that herbs don't have a place, 14:04 but if you're going to use an herb, 14:06 make sure you go to someone that knows what it does, 14:08 how it should be given, where they're getting the 14:11 herb from - whether it's a good supplier because 14:13 remember they are not regulated, 14:14 and if it's going to interact with anything else 14:17 you're eating or bringing into your body. 14:19 Those are some very good things before you get on some 14:21 herbal supplements, but some of them are 14:23 very useful - I'm not saying they're not. 14:25 Colace is one that's very popular. 14:27 I use hawthorn, I use a few others, 14:29 but you want to know what it does in the body. 14:31 I would encourage people to try not to have to take 14:34 any of that if they can and find other natural remedies 14:38 ... you know, eating the right foods, staying away from that 14:41 because remember, those things are for disease states, 14:44 and for people that are not having 14:45 the nutrients that they need. 14:47 Well it sounds like a thing that we really need to be 14:50 careful while taking and only follow our 14:52 doctor's orders. Well be careful! 14:54 All right... we're going to be back in just a moment 14:56 as Dr. Marcum closes with prayer. 15:05 I hope you have learned something on today's program, 15:07 something that will help you do better in your health, 15:10 and I want to pray for you because I think prayer 15:12 is a very valuable treatment for all diseases, 15:16 so let's pray together... 15:17 Father God, There might be someone 15:20 out there that needs help making a change one step at a time. 15:24 Please continue to help them and grow with them, 15:27 and please add Your healing force to their lives, Father. 15:31 And please help us to try get back to Your original plan 15:35 is our humble prayer... Amen 15:38 You know, getting back to God's plan - that perfect plan, 15:42 is so important because it changes literally 15:44 the chemistry of the entire body. 15:46 Even though we might not understand all the chemistry 15:49 behind God, God knew what He was doing. 15:52 So I want to thank you for watching 15:53 "The Ultimate Prescription" and we're praying 15:56 for your good health. 15:57 Until next time, I'm Dr. James Marcum. |
Revised 2016-08-01