Participants:
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP190128B
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00:01 Welcome back to the Ultimate Prescription.
00:02 I'm Nick Evenson here with Dr. James Marcum. 00:04 And today, we are talking about weak hearts. 00:06 And, Dr. Marcum, before the break, 00:08 we were just talking about some of the reasons 00:09 why people might have a weak heart, 00:12 how it's diagnosed, 00:13 and what some of the problems can be. 00:15 Where do we go next? 00:16 Yeah, well, again, 00:18 I wanna focus this all back on understanding the reason why. 00:22 That's the key. 00:24 And also, when a patient comes in, 00:27 that they think they might have a weak heart, 00:29 it's very important to dig out all the history, 00:32 you know, to get them to tell you things 00:34 that that you might not think is significant. 00:37 For instance, I had a gentleman 00:40 that came I guess a couple of months ago, 00:42 he had a weak heart. 00:43 He was real short of breath. 00:45 Fluid was in his lungs. 00:46 Well, we got the fluid out with some diuretics, 00:48 but we did some testing and the heart was weak. 00:51 Of course, we're gonna talk a little bit 00:52 about some of the medicals, but I wanted to understand why? 00:56 Didn't seem to have blockages in arteries, 00:58 valves, rhythm good, 00:59 hormonal things good but in exploring his history, 01:03 I found out that he was a heavy drinker. 01:06 Drank a lot of alcohol. 01:08 I mean, a lot, a lot. 01:10 Yeah. 01:11 And that is one cause of a weak heart. 01:13 In some people alcohol 01:15 literally poisons the heart muscle. 01:18 We call it an alcoholic cardio heart weakness, 01:22 alcohol cardiomyopathy. 01:24 So his cause for the weak heart was alcohol. 01:27 So I could put him on all the medicines to help the heart 01:30 in the world, 01:32 but unless I got it the cause the alcohol, 01:34 I wouldn't probably be successful long-term. 01:37 Yeah. Okay. 01:38 Another couple of years ago, 01:40 I can remember a lady that it was her thyroid. 01:42 So we checked her thyroid, replaced her thyroid, 01:45 and her heart function started to get better. 01:48 Some hearts are just weak 01:49 because they have to work too hard. 01:52 You know, and that's frequently 01:53 the cause of high blood pressure. 01:54 Remember, high blood pressure, 01:56 the heart has to pump 01:57 year in year against all that pressure. 01:59 Right. 02:00 If you were a big weight lifter, Nick, 02:01 originally the muscles would get bigger, 02:03 but if you have to lift weights all the time 02:04 you get tired and weak. 02:07 Well, if the heart has to pump against 02:08 high blood pressure all the time 02:10 that can happen too. 02:11 We call that a hypertensive weak heart, 02:15 hypertensive cardiomyopathy. 02:17 Myopathy just means weak muscle. 02:20 Okay. Okay. 02:21 So understanding the reason why is the key. 02:24 So we get back to the question, 02:26 well, how is a weak heart treated, okay? 02:29 So first understanding the reason why, 02:32 and until we can find out that reason, 02:35 we also have medications that can help. 02:37 Okay. 02:38 So when a heart is weak, 02:41 the body responds by making stress chemicals to help it 02:44 pick up the slack. 02:46 Okay. 02:47 But in the process of the stress chemistry, 02:50 the stress chemistry also makes the myocytes 02:53 which are the cells of the heart weakened as well. 02:56 So stress hurts the heart long-term. 02:59 Right. Hurts the heart. 03:00 That's why the broken heart syndrome, 03:02 you know, stress cardiomyopathy. 03:04 So high levels of stress damage the heart. 03:07 So when the heart's weak, 03:08 we don't want more stress chemistry. 03:10 Now when we talk about stress, 03:12 a lot of people 03:14 probably think of maybe only one kind of stress. 03:16 But stress can come in a lot of different forms. 03:18 Is that right? That's correct. 03:19 Good deduction. 03:20 And now you're thinking about the reason why you have stress, 03:23 right? 03:24 It could be lack of sleep. Right. 03:26 It could be mental stress. 03:28 It could be pain stress. 03:29 It could be not drinking enough water stress. 03:32 It could be nutritional stress. 03:34 It could be come from a myriad of sources, 03:37 where the body is not smart enough to figure out 03:39 when we're under stress, 03:41 what's causing it, it makes the same. 03:43 The lower part of the brain 03:45 makes all these stress chemicals 03:46 to try to compensate. 03:48 It says, "I'm in a disaster situation. 03:50 I've got to help the heart out. 03:51 Mr. Heart needs help." 03:53 So brain doesn't understand 03:54 that maybe it shouldn't do all this, 03:56 the lower part, but it does it. 03:57 So it makes adrenaline and cortisol, 03:59 and cytokines, and leukotrienes all those things 04:01 which can make the heart weaker. 04:02 Right. Yeah. 04:04 So everything based on heart failure 04:05 is to turn off the stress chemistry. 04:08 So we have medicines like beta blockers, different ones, 04:12 they block adrenaline's effect on the heart. 04:15 We have different medicines like 04:16 angiotensin converting enzyme which blocks angiotensin. 04:20 We block different other things. 04:22 We have medicine that blocks, all sorts of stress chemistry, 04:25 we have one called Aldactone, angiotensin receptor blockers. 04:29 So we try to block things that cause stress on the heart. 04:33 We also try to make the heart's life easier 04:37 by making sure the blood pressure is good, 04:39 making sure the heart has enough oxygen, 04:42 getting fluid out of the lungs, 04:44 all those things we can do to make heart rest easier. 04:48 Now also, one thing that helps the heart 04:50 quite a bit is doing something. 04:53 Another thing is getting enough rest. 04:55 And each individual treating the symptoms is important. 04:59 So even if we can't understand the reason why, 05:02 if we can slow down the stress chemistry, 05:05 we can also improve the strength of the heart. 05:08 Sometimes if you have 05:10 a stress-induced cardiomyopathy, 05:12 which is just due to too much stress, 05:14 or an infection, 05:15 just the combination of these medications. 05:17 And rest will improve the strength of your heart. 05:21 You know, is this making sense to you? 05:22 Yeah, yeah. 05:24 Less stress and understand the reason why. 05:27 It's definitely, definitely makes sense. 05:29 Yeah. 05:31 Let's move on to the broken heart syndrome. 05:32 You mentioned this earlier, 05:34 what is the cause of this and what is the result? 05:36 Well, I think 05:37 this is very important to mention 05:39 because I've seen three cases 05:41 of this at the Chattanooga Heart Institute 05:43 in the last month, the broken heart syndrome. 05:45 So it's fairly common. 05:47 Yes, more common than I would like it. 05:48 One happened after 05:52 this lady's son ran away 05:55 in the woods 10 or 11 years old 05:57 and they found him dead, okay? 06:00 So the stress from all that, she presented with chest pain, 06:05 couldn't breathe, heart failure. 06:07 And originally when she came in, 06:08 look like she was having a heart attack. 06:10 Yeah. Okay. 06:12 Well, we did all the testing, no evidence of a heart attack, 06:15 and yet her heart was very, very weak. 06:17 And so eliminating one thing after another, 06:19 we found out that she had the broken heart syndrome 06:23 or the apical ballooning syndrome. 06:26 Very, very rare. 06:29 We thought until we understand 06:31 that this world is under 06:32 a lot more stress than we think. 06:34 Yeah. 06:35 And it's interesting that some people have 06:37 a line genetically that they can cope with, 06:39 but when they get above that line, boom! 06:42 Stress... 06:43 And not only the heart, these stresses, 06:46 some people had experiences, they can't sleep at night. 06:49 Some people can't digest their food. 06:51 Some people makes their blood pressure go high. 06:53 Some people, they have heart palpitations. 06:56 Some people, their brain doesn't think right, 06:58 you know, and they down shift. 07:00 So lots of different manifestations of stress. 07:03 Unfortunately, some people 07:05 reach for bad things to deal with stress. 07:08 You know, some people drink alcohol, 07:10 some people reach for drugs. 07:12 Some people beat up their animals, I don't know. 07:14 But everyone has to deal with their body stress 07:17 in different ways. 07:19 The body wants to make a chemical called endorphin 07:21 that helps balance that. 07:23 But it's a stressful situation just talking about a little... 07:26 Yeah, you know, it makes sense 07:28 that the body doesn't react well 07:29 when you have a crazy high amount of stress 07:31 because God didn't design us to live that way. 07:33 He designed us live in peace. 07:34 And unfortunately, 07:36 the sinful world we live in causes a lot of stress. 07:39 Yeah. It's tragic. 07:41 What about medications? Yeah. 07:43 Medications that are used for weak heart? 07:44 Well, We talked about them, 07:45 the ones that block the stress chemistry, 07:47 ones like the beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, 07:51 angiotensin receptor blockers, if the fluid in the lungs, 07:55 diuretics, and there's a bunch of different ones of them, 07:58 which we sometimes don't use this as much we use a medicine, 08:01 sometimes Digoxin that can help the strength of the heart 08:04 or basically I approach it, 08:06 anything that causes stress in the body 08:08 can help the strength the heart. 08:10 Getting enough rest, not overdoing it, 08:12 not underdoing it, not overdoing it, 08:15 get enough oxygen in the body, 08:17 making sure there's not a lot of pain, that stressful, 08:20 making sure there's no infections in the body, 08:23 optimizing nutrition, 08:24 so the heart has everything it needs to work correctly. 08:28 So all these variables come into play, when we try to... 08:31 So medications are just one of the many ways 08:34 we help weak hearts, 08:35 but the key is understanding the reason why? 08:40 Yeah. 08:41 On that note, I'm thinking to share 08:43 your biblical prescription today with us. 08:44 Yeah. 08:45 And that's Psalms 103:3. 08:48 You know, 103:3 and David is just a hero of mine because, 08:52 you know, he went through so much stress in his life, 08:56 and yet he kept his eyes focused on the big picture. 09:01 And in Psalm 103:3, it says, 09:03 and it talks in the first part of the chapter, 09:05 "Bless the Lord." 09:07 It talks about, 09:08 they were talking about the Lord here. 09:10 And it says, "Who forgives all your iniquities," okay? 09:13 "Who heals all your diseases..." 09:17 So the Lord heals all your diseases. 09:20 Notice that, He forgives, and He heals in the same time. 09:23 So sometimes it makes you wonder, 09:26 you know, for, you know, when people aren't forgiven, 09:28 the stress of that can cause health problems. 09:32 You know, the stress of all the stuff we've done 09:35 and all the stuff with us. 09:37 So God can take that burden that stress off of us, 09:40 but He's gonna heal all our diseases. 09:42 Now does it tell us when He's gonna heal them? 09:45 No. No. 09:47 Sometimes if God wants to, He can use modern medicine. 09:50 He can heal you in this blink of an eye right here. 09:53 Sometimes He can empower you to maybe 09:56 exercise more to eat better, 09:57 to rest better, to think better. 09:59 But sometimes God chooses not to heal in that manner. 10:03 I think about Paul in the New Testament, 10:06 you know, he wanted to be healed, 10:08 but God uses His illness sometimes to bring us closer 10:11 and keep us close to Him, but He will heal us 10:13 when we walk with Him in His time, 10:16 and it might not be our time. 10:18 So the reason why we have disease in the first place 10:22 is because of our fallen nature, right? 10:25 Right. Yeah. 10:26 We departed from God's perfect plan. 10:29 And that's put genetic stress on us 10:31 that's been passed down 10:33 from generation to generation to generation. 10:36 Many years ago, if you had a bad genetics, 10:40 people that would not reproduce, 10:42 and that gene pool would die off. 10:43 That's right. 10:45 But now we have these, 10:46 you know, now we're able to do some things medically 10:47 and bad genes are being propagated 10:50 and we have things that we can do to help with that. 10:52 So I think that weak hearts understanding 10:54 the root reason why are very important 10:58 in treating weak hearts. 11:00 So whenever you have someone that says 11:02 there's something wrong in life, 11:04 first of all, not only ask God to help you 11:06 give you wisdom, realize that He will heal you, 11:08 but ask yourself, why is this happening? 11:10 Yeah. 11:11 And that extends to beyond just medical conditions, right? 11:13 Yeah. Yeah. 11:14 Every aspect of life. Yeah. 11:16 Well, thank you for sharing on weak hearts with us, 11:18 Dr. Marcum. 11:19 If people have questions about 11:21 where they can get more information, 11:22 where would you send them? 11:24 Well, lots of places that they go to our website, 11:26 HeartWiseMinistries.org, we answer individual questions. 11:32 We have a prayer page there where we pray for people, 11:34 we pray for each other. 11:36 And we love each other, 11:37 encourage each other a long health. 11:40 We have the new worship app that we talked about, 11:43 where people can have 10 minutes 11:45 of scientifically proven worship 11:48 that can help them improve their health 11:49 and get them on the right path. 11:52 For ultimate healing also gives us hope, 11:55 turns down the stress, 11:57 plugs us into biblical prescriptions 11:59 that help us live longer and do better. 12:01 There's just a host of things that we can also send you, 12:05 you know, and people might need specific advice 12:08 about which doctor they should see 12:09 or what little things we help in all of those things. 12:11 Yeah. Excellent. 12:13 It sounds like we got some great resources there. 12:15 And thank you viewers for tuning in today 12:16 to the Ultimate Prescription. 12:18 I'm Nick Evenson. 12:19 And if you have a moment, 12:21 I really encourage you to go 12:22 find our Biblical Prescriptions app. 12:24 It's a free download on your mobile device. 12:26 And that will really 12:27 do something there to help you get connected with God's Word 12:30 everyday through all the noise and chatter 12:33 that we have going on in our lives. 12:34 So thank you for joining us today. 12:36 And Dr. Marcum is going to end the program with prayer. 12:44 As we end our program today, I want to pause for a second 12:47 and help us each one of us to remember 12:49 the importance of prayer. 12:52 What can we do more important for our health in our lives 12:54 and for each other than pray for each other 12:56 and pray for God, 12:58 asking Him to be the center of everything for. 13:00 So let's bow our heads in prayer. 13:04 Dear Heavenly Father, 13:06 we invite You to the Holy Spirit 13:08 to create in us a new heart. 13:11 Lord, our hearts might be weak now 13:13 but we don't want them to be weak forever. 13:15 We want to invite You into a heart 13:16 to be our Lord and Savior, 13:18 to sit on our throne of our heart, 13:20 Father, and bring us into Your presence. 13:22 This is our prayer. 13:23 Amen. 13:26 I want to thank you for joining us today 13:28 on Ultimate Prescription. 13:30 I'm Dr. James Marcum. 13:32 And I want to wish you the best of health. |
Revised 2020-02-15