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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000083A
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00:01 The following program presents
00:02 principles designed 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. 00:17 We don't often think of pain in the skin 00:19 until we get a sunburn 00:21 or maybe we come in contact 00:22 with an irritant like poison ivy. 00:24 But there are number of other things 00:25 we should watch out for 00:27 as Dr. Marcum explains in just a moment. 00:30 I'm Dr. James Marcum. 00:32 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:35 You want solutions to your healthcare problems. 00:38 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:41 Well, you're about to be given the Ultimate Prescription. 00:47 Did you know that the skin 00:49 is the largest organ of the human body, 00:51 often totaling up to 20 square feet? 00:54 And our skin plays a vital role in protecting us from microbes, 00:58 regulating body temperature 00:59 and permeating sensations 01:00 of touch, heat and cold. 01:03 When you feel pain from your skin, 01:04 it's important to know what's causing the pain 01:07 which is why that's our topic on today's program. 01:09 Dr. Marcum, welcome to the program 01:11 and what do we need to know about pain on the skin? 01:14 Well, you know, first I want to back up a little bit 01:16 when we talk about pain in general. 01:19 We talked about different organs 01:21 in different parts of the body that pain affects. 01:23 Right. 01:24 And it all turns on the same bad chemical pathway. 01:27 Chronic pain is not good. 01:30 Acute pain really tells us that something is wrong. 01:34 So, if you have pain on your skin 01:36 that tells you something is wrong. 01:38 Right. 01:40 Now, we talked a little bit 01:41 as we gone about dangerous type pains 01:44 that you've to get evaluated right away, you know, 01:46 chest pains. 01:48 We're gonna find out there're certain abdominal pains, 01:50 headache pains, those are emergency pains, 01:52 you can't wait around. 01:53 Right. 01:54 'Cause it could be something life threatening. 01:56 And we talked about things 01:57 that aren't quite as life threatening, you know, 02:00 foot pains and skin pain is usually one 02:02 that's not as life threatening as some of the others, 02:05 but it's still a concern 02:07 'cause it can turn into chronic pain. 02:09 And chronic pain is a bad situation. 02:12 So if you think about your skin, you know, 02:15 it goes everywhere, does a lot of different things, 02:17 it protects us, so we want to keep our skin 02:20 in pretty good shape. 02:22 Now, if you think about, 02:23 well, when was the last time my skin hurt 02:25 and what caused it. 02:27 Well, I think if everyone thinks 02:28 about what causes pain, 02:30 they'll know, they'll realize it. 02:32 Well, the things that caused pain most 02:34 were something trauma. 02:36 You know, a bruise, a cut. 02:40 You know, those type of thing caused skin problems. 02:44 And that's what we see they're most common. 02:45 But there're certainly other things that can cause it. 02:47 So any chemical or physical damage 02:50 on the skin can actually cause it. 02:53 One of the most severe causes of pain in the skin is burns. 02:57 You know, if you get a lot of-- 02:59 'Cause of the function of the skin, 03:01 so people that have lots of burns like in a house fire. 03:06 Their skin is burned all over. 03:07 Their skin no longer function. 03:09 So the skin is so important 03:10 for thermoregulatory, infections, 03:13 it's a barrier for all these infections 03:15 that come in our body, 03:16 so we figure that large of amounts of our skin burn, 03:18 that's a very serious infection. 03:21 Also sometimes we get exposed to chemicals. 03:25 And that's very interesting 03:26 because if we think about our world, 03:28 we have more chemicals around than ever before. 03:31 And I'm always wondering, you know, 03:32 all the chemicals we put on our bodies, 03:34 the faces, the lotions, the different things we put. 03:38 Are these good long term 03:39 or could they be damaging our skin? 03:41 Right. Yes. 03:43 Well, how do you know that? 03:44 How do you know if something's damaging your skin? 03:46 Well, if you have pain, if you have rash, 03:49 if you have some type of skin reaction. 03:52 So skin usually is response to some type of stimuli 03:55 and there is many different causes of skin pain. 03:58 I think we've identified the leading causes 04:00 and that's trauma I've heard it. 04:02 Guess what? 04:04 Number two might be cause of damage your skin. 04:06 And I sort of alluded to it already. 04:09 We're talking about kind of irritants like 04:10 poison ivy or bug bites, so that kind of thing. 04:11 That is right up there with it too. 04:13 Okay. 04:14 You know, bug bites, things biting your skin, 04:17 mosquitoes, ticks, you know, 04:20 all sorts of things can get on the skin, 04:22 by insects of different types. 04:25 But I was thinking about sunburn. 04:27 Okay, right, yeah. 04:28 You know, we talk about, 04:30 when we talked about burns a little bit, 04:31 how dangerous that is like a big burns 04:33 and we had different types of burns. 04:35 You have first degree burns, second degree burns, 04:38 third degree burns. 04:40 The larger the burn number, the more the skin is damaged. 04:44 You know, and it talks about the thickness. 04:46 Well, you know, sunburns are usually life threatening 04:50 like a house fire burn, okay. 04:53 And unfortunately we need the sun for vitamin D 04:56 which is a prohormone in our body. 04:58 But sometimes we can get too much sun. 05:02 And if we get too much sun, guess what? 05:04 We get sunburns. 05:05 And the real problem with chronic sunburn, Nick, 05:08 is if you're exposed to the sun a lot, a lot, a lot 05:10 and burn the lot, later in life 05:13 that gonna be predisposed you to skin cancer. 05:17 Skin cancers, so you don't want to burn over and over. 05:20 So if your skin is not conditioned, 05:22 and you're gonna burn a lot, 05:23 you might benefit from having sunscreen. 05:27 So what's the optimal amount of sun we should get everyday? 05:30 Well, it's really, that's a great question, Nick. 05:32 And it's really according to your complexion, okay. 05:35 If you're a fair skin person, 05:37 you're not gonna need as much sun. 05:39 If you're a darker skin person, then the pigment is darker, 05:42 so it's not much sun getting through, 05:43 so you're allowed to take more sun. 05:45 And some of it's your genetics where you live. 05:48 People that live at high latitudes, you know, 05:51 near Alaska, their skin is much different 05:53 than someone that lives near the equator. 05:56 So it varies from person, but a general rule is 05:58 you don't want your skin to burn. 06:00 And for vitamin D, you want to get out in the sun 06:02 at least 30 minutes three or four times a day 06:04 as long as your sun does, as long as your skin, 06:07 as long as your skin doesn't burn. 06:09 So the key is keeping the skin from burn 06:11 'cause that's when it has damage. 06:12 But if you think about over the history of the earth, 06:15 you know, people for years and years 06:17 were out in the sun all the time. 06:18 Their skins gradually got conditioned to it. 06:21 Now, what's very damaging to the skin is-- 06:25 Your generation probably does it more than mine, 06:27 they get into these tanning booths. 06:29 Oh, sure. 06:30 Yeah, and they get this ultraviolet rays. 06:32 And it just bombards the skin with ultraviolet rays 06:35 which causes mutations, and sooner or later 06:38 these mutations later in life can lead to skin cancer. 06:42 And of course, the most serious skin cancer 06:44 that we're all worried about is one called melanoma. 06:48 Melanoma is a very aggressive skin cancer. 06:51 You know, we have some call squamous cell, 06:54 basal cell carcinoma, these all can hurt the skin, 06:57 but melanoma is probably the most serious. 07:00 So in causing skin pain, you know, 07:03 sunburns definitely cause skin pains, 07:06 I think everyone knows 07:07 if they've been out in the sun too long 07:09 if they had that type of pain. 07:11 And usually for that type of pain, 07:12 they just put some local, 07:14 local something to make the skin feel better. 07:17 Make sure it's moisturized, 07:18 so it doesn't lose its moisture. 07:20 Make sure you drink enough water 07:22 and try not to do it over and over again. 07:25 Yeah. Yeah. 07:26 I know, during the summers we love to go out in the water. 07:29 And too many times I've to say, I stay out there and realize 07:32 oh, yeah, I'm getting sunburn, and it's too late. 07:34 Yeah. 07:35 And it does a toll on a skin and you get to watch it 07:38 and then later in life it's very important, 07:39 that's one of the screenings that we do 07:41 is we screen for skin cancers 07:43 'cause if you picked that up early on, 07:44 it could be a life saving 07:46 especially for malignant melanoma. 07:49 So if you see something on your skin that's changing color, 07:52 that's raising that has a irregular border, 07:55 that's oozing some type of moisture out of it 07:58 that doesn't look right, 08:00 that's the time to see a professional in skin pain 08:04 and that professional is called a dermatologist. 08:07 Derm-skin-atologist. 08:09 So there are experts that, you know, 08:11 deciding whether something is cancer, 08:12 knowing how to treat 08:14 skin disorder and skin pain. 08:15 So hopefully no one will get to a dermatologist, 08:18 so we talked about, a little bit 08:20 about trauma to the skin. 08:21 We talked about sunburn. 08:23 We talked about insects bites. 08:26 How about infections? 08:28 You know, infections are frequent 08:29 causes of damaged skin. 08:32 One of the infections we occasionally see 08:33 is in the heart area is shingles. 08:36 You know 'cause that's a rash that causes but measles, 08:40 chickenpox, all of those things can cause different reactions 08:45 to the skin that actually damages the skin. 08:48 And we don't want the skin to be damaged 08:50 'cause it is an important organ. 08:52 And it's very important in fighting infections. 08:55 Okay. 08:56 Now I had one thing to choose for good skin care 08:59 out of everything else that I would choose for. 09:02 One treatment I would recommend for the skin 09:05 for everyone out there 09:06 and that would be the treatment of water. 09:10 Yeah. Water. 09:11 It sounds so easy but did you know that 09:14 it's been estimated that about 09:16 70 percent of people are dehydrated. 09:19 Wow. It's a big number. 09:20 Right and when you're hydrating guess what? 09:22 The skin becomes vulnerable, 09:25 not only it loses its elasticity, 09:28 it gets older quicker, 09:29 it loses some of its thermoregulatory ability, 09:32 so it's not as good as getting rid of heat 09:35 which causes a lot of problems, if they're aging process, 09:38 so just getting enough water is very important for skin care. 09:43 It's hard to believe. And that's an easy one. 09:45 You know, we can just drink every hour, 09:47 every couple of hours and that will take care of that 09:49 and save a lot of issues with the skin. 09:51 Now, so other things that 09:53 people don't think about with skin, 09:54 it damages things like blisters. 09:56 You know, you have blisters on your skin 09:58 and that can be something from 09:59 not having the right footwear or clothing. 10:04 We want to protect our skin from trauma, okay. 10:07 And what type of person has skin trauma? 10:10 Well, let's say someone's working outside a lot, 10:13 maybe working in agriculture, you know, 10:16 their skin is constantly, you know, 10:18 with insecticides and different types of things 10:21 that are on plants, 10:22 those people might want to be careful to protect their skin, 10:25 because remember, if the skin is compromised, 10:27 guess what? 10:29 Chemicals can enter the body a lot easier. 10:30 Sure. 10:32 So the skin is protected barrier 10:33 that help protect us, helps regulate, 10:35 temperature of the skin does a lot of many, 10:37 many wonderful things. 10:39 So those are just a few of the common causes of skin pain. 10:42 Now, remember a long time back 10:43 when we started the series on pain, 10:46 we talked about different types of pain. 10:47 We talked about the nerves sensing the pain, okay. 10:52 You know, and we talked nociceptive type pains 10:55 where the nerve is fine, 10:56 but also the nerve can be damaged. 10:59 And if a nerve is damaged, 11:01 you could also have chronic skin pain 11:03 and that could drawn, it might be from diabetes 11:06 which is a blood vessel disease. 11:08 It might be from cutting it or hurting it. 11:10 Infections can do it 11:11 but one of the toxins that hurt our nerves is alcohol. 11:15 A lot of people don't realize that alcohol and smoking 11:19 long term hurt nerves 11:21 and can eventually end up with nerve type pains 11:24 including skin pains. 11:25 So as general, the overall health of your body 11:28 is gonna help your skin out as well. 11:31 Well, it sounds like 11:32 skin is more important than I realized. 11:34 Yes, and a lot of people don't just, you know, 11:36 they don't take their skin serious 11:37 but if you have a skin pain, you know, you want-- 11:39 Again the same principles. 11:41 Find out why you're having the pain. 11:43 What can you do short term and is there any long term 11:46 sequel from this damage your skin 11:48 that you need to be concerned about. 11:50 Alrighty, well, we got a bunch of questions 11:52 that people have written into our website, 11:53 that's heartwiseministries.org. 11:56 And if you have a question about your skin 11:58 or other sources of the body that are causing pain. 12:01 Please visit our website 12:02 and you can ask the doctor your questions. 12:04 You can also write in your payer requests. 12:06 You can read Dr. Marcum's blogs 12:07 or you can listen to previous television 12:09 and radio programs right there on the website, 12:11 so we encourage you to visit heartwiseministries.org. 12:14 And we'll be back in just a moment 12:15 as Dr. Marcum answers more questions 12:17 on pain in relation to the skin. |
Revised 2016-04-21