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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP180105A
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00:14 Have you ever sat down to take your medications and wondered
00:17 "How did I get here?" 00:19 Do you wish you could reduce your need for 00:20 prescription medications? 00:22 Discovering the reason of why we're sick 00:24 is the focus on today's program. 00:26 And we'll be sharing ideas that you can use 00:28 to help improve your health today 00:30 no matter where you're starting from. 00:52 Hello and thank you for joining us here on the 00:54 "Ultimate Prescription," a program dedicated 00:56 to helping us better understand God's design for our lives, 00:59 and experience better health by following His plan. 01:02 I'm your host Nick Evenson, 01:04 and I'm joined by Dr. James Marcum, 01:05 and today we're going to be discussing why we're sick. 01:08 Dr. Marcum, welcome to the program. 01:10 Well Nick, it's great to be here, 01:12 and, you know, this is such an important question - is 01:16 understanding the reason why. 01:18 So we're going to talk about that today and help people 01:21 begin a framework to understand "Well why am I sick?" 01:26 Because if you can understand the reason why, 01:28 then that helps in the treatment and it helps you 01:31 accept different conditions. 01:32 It makes everything better if you have the knowledge 01:35 and education to understand why these things 01:37 are happening to me. That's right. 01:38 But before we get into that discussion, 01:40 you've been on the television at 3ABN here 01:43 for a number of years, but you actually are not 01:45 a television personality; you're not a T.V. doctor, right? 01:48 No, I'm not Nick, I'm a practicing cardiologist, 01:51 and I see patients every day in the office in Chattanooga, 01:54 at the "Chattanooga Heart Institute," 01:56 and, you know, in the practice of medicine now - I don't know 02:00 if you've noticed but when you go to the doctor... 02:02 I used to write things out a lot, we don't write anymore. 02:05 You know, we do a lot on the computer, a lot of dictations, 02:08 but the time with patients have gotten smaller and smaller 02:12 through the years as the needs have gone up. 02:15 And so what I try to develop is, I want to get more information 02:20 that not only my patients, but other people that might 02:22 want knowledge about things, so through the years, that's how 02:26 "Heartwise Ministries" has developed as a way to 02:28 educate people and as I've learned, I've turned to the 02:32 Bible and find that there's biblical prescriptions that we 02:35 can apply to a patient's life. 02:37 And also, when they come in the presence 02:39 of their healing Savior, then that brings healing. 02:42 That's the greatest prescription, 02:44 the greatest miracle of all, even if we have chronic disease. 02:48 So that's sort of my background and I'm just glad that we can 02:51 share it together and a lot of these things develop over time, 02:55 and we're going to talk a lot about the reason why today. 02:58 So you're not a T.V. doctor and you have a real passion 03:01 for helping people understand cause and also God's 03:04 design for our lives. 03:05 What inspires you to do all this on the side rather than just 03:08 go play golf? 03:09 Well you know, probably because I can't keep the ball 03:12 on the course anyway, so I don't know, Nick, 03:16 in my worship every day, I ask for God's will, 03:20 and I say, "God, show me Your will today, one day at a time." 03:24 And this ministry has developed and it gives me great joy 03:29 to not only serve other people, but it makes me a better 03:31 person, a better doctor as I serve God's will and also, 03:35 I come closer to Him as I follow Him more closely. 03:38 And, it's such a privilege to be able to work with 03:41 our heavenly Father with other health professionals, 03:44 and give them the ability to share their knowledge 03:46 with other people and it's just very fulfilling and it's 03:49 sort of one of the things, I think God is leading me 03:52 and Heartwise Ministries to do. Yeah. 03:54 Well, I want to go ahead and put the website out: 03:56 heartwiseministries.org 03:57 If you appreciate what you hear today, 03:59 if you have comments or questions, 04:00 go to the website, you can leave us a note there. 04:02 Dr. Marcum and his team answer health questions from people, 04:05 and kind of give some directions and general direction 04:08 for questions and that's something 04:09 that people really appreciate. 04:11 You can also go on there and request prayer for your 04:14 particular situation and our prayer team will 04:16 lift you up in prayer each week. 04:18 And, there are a few other resources 04:20 there, Dr. Marcum, that I haven't mentioned. 04:22 Yeah, we want to keep the relationship going. 04:24 We just don't' want you to watch a program and it 04:26 to be all over! 04:27 If you heard something that you want to learn more 04:30 or you might have a question, well we're accessible. 04:32 One of the things that we have started monthly is a 04:35 biblical prescription for life that people can get in their 04:38 home; it doesn't cost anything; there's no side-effects 04:42 and they can sign up to get a newsletter. 04:44 We don't share it with anybody and then they can come 04:46 to our website and get a biblical prescription 04:48 that they can apply to their life each month. That's right. 04:51 It's a great source of information and truth and so 04:55 let's go ahead and jump right into the discussion and we have, 04:59 actually a viewer's question that they submitted here... 05:01 This person writes in and asks: "I'm 42 years old and in good 05:04 health, do I need to have an annual physical? 05:08 You know, if I'm feeling good, is that an important thing? 05:10 Yeah, well again, why and if you think, "Why do I need a 05:15 physical," and if you think about life, you think about 05:17 life, you know, "Why do I get older? 05:19 Why do I drive a car? Why do I brush my teeth? 05:23 Why do I eat every day? Why do I worship every day? 05:27 You know, Why do I do the things I do?" 05:30 I think these are very good questions! 05:32 Now when we ask the question, "Why?" it stimulates 05:37 the part of our brain called the, "hippocampus," 05:39 and all of those memories and things become activated. 05:43 So as we're sitting here talking about the reason "why," 05:46 your brain is probably turning on all sorts of things. 05:49 You know, if I say, "Well Nick, why do you ride your bike?" 05:52 You like to ride your bike. Yeah, sure. 05:53 All those memories are starting to be turned on, 05:55 and activated in your mind. 05:57 And if I ask the audience out there, "Well, why are we 06:00 watching this program?" 06:01 There's always a reason why things happen. 06:04 Sometimes we understand the reason why; 06:08 sometimes we don't understand the reason why, 06:10 but we have a God that understands what He's trying 06:14 to accomplish in our lives and He wants to be a part 06:16 of what we're doing every day. 06:18 And in answering this question, "Well why do I need a physical?" 06:22 Well, one of the reasons that we can have a physical is 06:26 we might detect problems at an earlier age. Okay? 06:31 For instance, let's say in the Evenson family, everyone 06:35 loses their hearing at age 60. Okay? 06:39 It sounds like a bad time to me, but I'll take it. Yeah. 06:42 Say that's the case. Yeah, I'm just... I don't know 06:44 if there is and I yell in your ear all day long... 06:46 I go "NICK, NICK, WAKE UP, WAKE UP NICK," 06:48 and I just yell and am on top of you every day. 06:50 Well that's going to put stress on your hearing and you might 06:55 have problems with hearing at age 40, okay? instead of age 60. 06:59 So any type of stress on our faulty genes... 07:04 we all have bad genes. 07:05 Now, depending on our ancestors, how bad are they? 07:09 Well let's say you have bad hearing genes and you put 07:11 stress on that gene, well what happens is the genetics age. 07:15 Some terms that we might use, we'd say, "The telomeres 07:18 are shortening;" a terms called "Oxidation," you know, 07:21 but basically it malfunctions. 07:23 When it malfunctions, you have a symptom and when you 07:26 have a symptom, guess what? 07:28 Modern medicine is a great way to treat the symptom, 07:30 but not necessarily the cause. 07:32 Are you following me? Right. Okay. 07:34 So I might say, "Nick, you've lost your hearing at age 40, 07:37 you need a hearing aid. Um hm. 07:39 Okay, well that might happen with your eyes, 07:41 and you need glasses. Um hm. 07:43 You might have that happening in your heart, 07:45 and you might need a pacemaker at a younger age 07:47 because that part is just wearing out and all of the 07:50 stressors through life - all the stress we put on our body, 07:53 whether it be from mental stress or not sleeping well stress 07:57 or relationship stress or the bad food we eat stress, 08:00 or nowadays, we even have media stress, you know. 08:04 Have you ever seen those people that are using their cell 08:06 phones every 5 minutes? 08:08 That could actually cause genetic aging. 08:11 So there are lots of things that cause us to age 08:13 and have our genes get older and put stress on our system. 08:16 So let's get back to this question... 08:18 "Well why do I need a physical?" 08:20 Well your doctor might be able to identify some of those 08:24 stressors in your life and identify a problem early 08:27 and you might say, "Well my blood pressure 08:29 is high," and you found out. 08:30 Well what are some things I can do 08:31 to really stay on top of that? 08:33 I might be developing diabetes or I might have an early 08:37 stage of cancer. 08:38 So the doctor will talk to you about your genetic history 08:42 and say, "Well, what are things that run in the Evenson's 08:44 family and he might say, "You can't hear me 08:46 too well, can you?" Right. 08:48 And he says, "Well you might need to have 08:49 your hearing evaluated." 08:51 You might need to have your eyes or everyone in 08:53 the Evenson family had mole cancer 08:55 in the family - a melanoma. 08:57 He might look at your skin; he might do 08:59 some basic blood work. 09:00 So one of the reasons, at certain ages to get a general 09:03 physical is just to have someone objectively look your body over 09:07 to see if you might have ageing, to see if you might 09:10 have a problem or identify problems at early stages 09:13 where you can make some lifestyle changes or do things 09:16 to help you feel better. 09:17 And that might be diabetes, it might be high cholesterol, 09:20 high blood pressure; you might be gaining a few extra pounds! 09:23 You know, he might check you out and you say, 09:25 "Hey man, I've gained 20," and he could say, 09:27 "Well extra fat through the years is a stressor, 09:30 and that's going to age you." 09:32 Or it might be that you ride your bike too aggressively. 09:34 You say, "man." Now this doesn't happen too much 09:37 that people over-exercise. But it's possible! 09:39 Yes, it is possible or he might say, "Well, you know, 09:42 you're not sleeping enough, maybe you need 09:44 to get a little more rest." 09:46 But that's one of the reasons to get a physical, 09:48 is to just have someone else... for instance; 09:50 you go to the bank with your money to get advice 09:53 on your money; you go to get your teeth looked at, 09:56 you know, just to get advice on your teeth. 09:58 But this is just a consultant looking at your overall health 10:01 to give you some advice to maybe pickup 10:03 problems earlier. 10:05 Now luckily, at our younger ages, we don't need to go 10:08 into it as much as we get older because as we get 10:11 older, the parts get older. Um hm. 10:13 But let's say everyone in the Evenson family had cancer, 10:16 colon cancer in their 30s, genetically determined. 10:19 And you might meet with your doctor and he says, 10:21 "Listen, we need to make sure you don't and to catch this 10:23 early on and I want to give you some things you can do 10:26 whether it be eat more fiber or stay away from carcinogens 10:29 at a younger age, so if we ever do have it, we can find out 10:33 and treat it earlier. Yeah. 10:34 Or it might be that you have some bad habits, 10:36 and your blood pressure has gone up. 10:37 So all these things are why we need to do a physical. 10:40 So let me recap a little bit here of what we're saying. 10:42 Through generation after generation, we have different 10:46 genes that are turned on or turned off and cause different 10:50 illnesses and chronic diseases within our family line, 10:53 and those things may be apparent or not apparent 10:56 in us yet at a younger age, so it's good to go and get 10:58 early detection through a physical. Right, that's correct. 11:01 And so what are some of the most common 11:04 chronic diseases that can be very much beneficial 11:10 if you find them early? 11:11 Well, we have lots of chronic lifestyle diseases and one of 11:14 them of think about is diabetes, type 2 diabetes. 11:17 It's estimated in the United States and worldwide 11:20 that more and more people are getting it and in the 11:22 states, 1 in 3 will have this by mid-century. Wow. 11:25 And it costs about $22,000 to take care of a type 2 diabetic, 11:31 and it's like having acid in your body, it damages you. 11:33 And if it does it long enough, you have problems. 11:36 High blood pressure - the number one cause 11:39 of serious problems down the road - high blood pressure. 11:41 That's a disease that's chronic. 11:43 Not sleeping well at night, gaining extra weight, 11:46 sleep apnea - all of these things are considered 11:50 chronic diseases because they're like brewing in you 11:53 and if you don't get attention to this, the stress 11:56 eventually causes a symptom, you go to the doctor, 11:59 and he deals with the symptom, but I want to also 12:01 understand the reason WHY, so we can get at the cause. 12:05 For instance, it might be you have diabetes because you have 12:08 too much fat or you don't exercise. 12:09 Or it might be that you have high blood pressure 12:10 because you eat too much processed foods. 12:12 So understanding and asking the reason WHY 12:15 is super, super important for ALL of us to stay healthy 12:18 and maximize our bodies that God has given us to use for Him. 12:23 So as a nation here in North America, let's say... 12:26 What is the general trend that you've seen... 12:28 just here in a quick minute, tell us... 12:30 what's the general trend of health? 12:32 Are we improving as a nation or 12:34 do you think, maybe we're on a decline? 12:35 Well I want everyone just to look at the evidence, okay? 12:40 Are people getting better? 12:42 Are we seeing more dementia? More hypertension, more 12:46 prescription medications, more people going to the hospital? 12:49 More of the gross domestic product use on the spinning 12:52 of healthcare, you know? 12:53 And the answer is, unfortunately; no, we're not 12:56 getting better. 12:58 In fact, it's estimated that this current generation's 13:01 lifespan will be less than the one before it. 13:04 So we're getting chronic diseases; 13:06 we're putting more stress on our body which is ageing 13:09 our already bad genes, developing symptoms and then 13:12 we're, you know, falling into that rut. 13:15 And 80 or 90% of our disease that we see in the office now 13:19 are from preventable, reversible chronic conditions 13:22 that we could help just by moving 13:24 one step at a time towards health. 13:25 It seems like, you know, despite our technology and 13:28 research studies and things out there, 13:29 we're still missing something. 13:31 Yes, and we're going to talk a little bit more about that 13:33 once we understand the reason why and we're also going to 13:36 have some solutions too. That's right! 13:38 After the break here, in just a moment, 13:40 Dr. Marcus is going to share about faith 13:42 and the role that that plays in our health care - stay tuned! 13:45 There's much more to come on the "Ultimate Prescription." |
Revised 2019-05-15