Participants: Agatha Thrash, Don Miller
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000181
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00:01 Hello, I'm Agatha Thrash, a staff physician
00:03 from Uchee Pines Institute 00:05 We have a topic for you today that I KNOW you will enjoy! 00:09 It's about various of the precious structures we have 00:13 in the head and neck, the eyes, the ears, and so forth... 00:16 So we invite you to join us on "Help Yourself to Health" 00:40 Welcome to "Help Yourself to Health" 00:43 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute 00:46 And now, here's your host, Dr. Thrash 00:51 I suppose there are a hundred structures in the body 00:55 that I have told my students... this is the most marvelous 00:59 structure in ALL the human body. 01:02 And sometimes, when I think about the human ear, 01:05 I think THIS is most marvelous structure in all the human body 01:11 But then I look at the eye, and I say, "No, this is the most 01:15 marvelous structure in all the human body. " 01:18 And then I look at just a hair, or a tooth... 01:21 "No, this is the most marvelous structure in ALL the human body" 01:25 Then I look at the human placenta... 01:29 "This is the most marvelous structure" 01:31 ...Or the hand, this is the most marvelous structure. 01:35 We are just filled with priceless structures. 01:40 The one that I'd like to start talking with you about 01:43 is that of the human ear... 01:45 And I have a plastic model for you. 01:49 This plastic model is not alive, it doesn't even feel like 01:54 tissue... you know, it's not compressible. 01:57 It's just a model, and yet, this model is very intricate 02:04 and you will see that there are some things about this model 02:07 that are quite interesting to see. 02:10 They, of course, will show you things 02:14 that look just like what we have that are real... 02:17 The ear... here is the external ear, and then here is the 02:22 external ear canal... this little canal right here 02:26 And what is this that we see down at the end of the canal? 02:30 Well there it is... it's the eardrum. 02:33 The eardrum is stretched completely across 02:37 the external ear canal, so that no water could get 02:41 down in THIS chamber. 02:43 This chamber is the middle ear. 02:45 This is the external ear. 02:47 This is the middle ear. 02:48 And back here is the internal ear. 02:51 Just past the eardrum, we come to an air-filled chamber 02:56 This chamber is called the middle ear. 02:59 It is this part that gets infected a lot. 03:02 And here is the Eustachian tube... just a little part of it 03:05 It, of course, goes down here like this, comes down 03:09 and if you're very observant when you go up in an airliner, 03:14 you will feel that a little bubble of air will exchange 03:19 way down here, at the place where this Eustachian tube 03:24 goes down into the palate, back in the pharynx, 03:29 back in the back part of the throat... 03:32 Then in here, in this chamber, there are the hammer, 03:36 anvil and stirrup and the little stirrup ends right there 03:40 on a membrane which puts us in touch with the internal ear. 03:46 The internal ear is now a fluid-filled chamber 03:50 ...This is air-filled, this is air-filled, 03:53 but back here, this is fluid-filled. 03:55 And the reason that it's fluid-filled is because 03:58 these structures are extremely delicate... 04:00 There are extremely delicate hairs that string across 04:05 this little rounded part which is called the cochlea, 04:08 little hairs that are so delicate, they can hardly 04:13 even be seen with an ordinary microscope 04:15 and they're like a harp... there are short ones, 04:19 and long ones, and they resonate, or they vibrate 04:23 As we hear various pitches, they will resonate either 04:30 a very high pitch, or a very low pitch depending on 04:33 whether the little thread... the little ALMOST invisible thread 04:38 which connects to the nervous system... 04:41 whether it is very short, or very long. 04:45 Now interestingly enough, these structures can be damaged 04:49 by the magnitude of the sounds. 04:54 If they are too loud, then when they resonate with these 05:00 tiny, delicate structures, then they're likely to damage those 05:05 and when they damage them, we may become deaf... 05:08 at least for that particular tone. 05:11 So people get deafness either for high-pitched tones, 05:15 or low-pitched tones, and most of us, as we get older, 05:19 we lose some of these pitches. 05:23 But then, in addition to what we hear, there are also 05:27 the very precious semicircular canals... 05:30 And here they are right here. 05:33 And if you'll notice carefully, they go in all directions 05:37 ...so there is no way that the head can turn... this way, or 05:41 that way, or in any direction that it won't set up movement 05:46 in some portion of the semicircular canal... 05:50 And there are also, tiny, little threads connected to 05:54 our nerves of balance in the brain that tell us 05:58 exactly where we are and exactly how we move... 06:02 whether we move this way, or this way, or that way... 06:05 There is no way we can move that we can't sense that 06:09 by these very delicate structures. 06:12 I am just AMAZED at the ENGINEERING of this very 06:18 common structure. 06:19 We're always talking about a middle ear infection 06:22 We don't realize the PRECIOUSNESS of the structures 06:26 that are involved in that because it's so common 06:28 because most everybody is getting a middle ear infection 06:32 at some time in their life, and we just don't even think 06:35 about how precious these things are. 06:37 Now out here, in the external canal, 06:40 sometimes things can get wedged out here. 06:44 The wax that we produce can get wedged out there, 06:47 or some kind of foreign body can get in there, 06:50 and can get wedged in there, and sometimes that 06:54 requires some very special help. 06:55 And Don Miller, is going to talk with you a little bit about 06:59 ears, and talk with you about... 07:01 Are you going to talk with us about irrigation of the ears? 07:03 I'm going to talk about irrigation of the ears. 07:05 Very good... that will help us to know just how we can get 07:08 things out of there! Yes, that's very important to know. 07:12 You know the old saw, as we grew up... 07:14 "We should never put anything smaller than our elbows 07:16 in our ears"... and I remember as a child, trying to figure out 07:19 how do you do this... trying to get that elbow in my ear. 07:22 And I really missed the point. 07:23 We shouldn't put, really, anything in our ears without 07:26 really knowledge of how it works. 07:28 You look back in the old days when men used to use 07:31 muzzleloader rifles and they would put stuff down the 07:35 barrel and they'd pack it down... 07:36 and the purpose was to pack it down there and we'd call it 07:39 packing the charge. 07:41 Many people, they'd take that Q- tip, 07:43 and they'd pack the charge. 07:44 They just go in there and they push and they push and push 07:47 and because of the fact that this external ear canal 07:51 produces a waxy substance, we can be pushing it 07:54 and pushing it until finally we have built up such a wall of wax 07:58 that our hearing capability is impaired... 08:02 and so that needs to be cleared out. 08:03 ...Or we might have gotten something in our ear. 08:05 I remember one time, I got a little sweat bee, and it... 08:09 I guess it was looking for a way out and it went all the way 08:11 back to that window... and was trying to get through that 08:13 little window called my eardrum and it was driving me crazy. 08:17 How do you get those things out? 08:19 Well, I've asked Dr. Thrash's granddaughter, Melissa Thrash, 08:21 to help me... with a little demonstration 08:24 of some very easy equipment that we have in our homes 08:27 We're going to use something as simple as a bulb syringe. 08:33 Now, some people may have a Waterpik at home and they make 08:36 a special adapter for the Waterpik 08:39 ...and it's a long, metal wand you can do it with that, but 08:42 for right now, we're going to use something as simple 08:44 as a bulb syringe... 08:46 Whenever I go anywhere in the world, 08:47 I'll take a bunch of these with me because I run into 08:49 people with problems in their ears. 08:52 And so, what we're going to do, is assume that Melissa 08:55 has somehow gotten something in her ear... 08:58 perhaps impacted wax, or an insect, or a foreign body 09:01 and we want to get that out. 09:02 Now I'm going to stress something very important 09:07 right now because you may see this happen... 09:09 Melissa is very sensitive to having her ears touched. 09:13 She's very ticklish. 09:15 Whenever you are helping somebody with a part of the 09:18 body that's very ticklish, sometimes if they can be a 09:22 part of the treatment, it will help. 09:24 If nothing more than laying their hand on the bulb itself 09:28 ...or their hand on your hand, will help them sometimes 09:31 with this particular sensation. 09:33 We're going to see if we can do it 09:34 without having to go that far. 09:36 So what we're going to do is position her here so 09:39 that you can see that it's really happening there 09:40 in your homes. 09:41 We're going to take a basin. 09:43 Now I like to use a kidney dish but most of us don't 09:46 have kidney dishes in our home, so we'll use 09:48 something that you might have. 09:49 This is nothing more than a little red pitcher. 09:52 And we're going to put it underneath her ear... 09:54 The purpose for that... we're going to lean forward 09:56 so we can see it pretty well 09:57 The reason for the pitcher is to catch the water, 10:00 but you see, also, we have over her shoulder, 10:03 a towel because we're going to be using water. 10:05 You take the bulb syringe, and you take some water 10:08 and it should be warm water, not hot water, 10:12 and certainly not cold water... 10:13 The cold water would make her dizzy... 10:15 but warm water, perhaps the temperature of her body 10:18 ...now you have to understand and I think all of you have had 10:21 this experience when you have those few times, put a Q-tip 10:24 back there... you just touch the eardrum and it can be 10:28 exquisite pain and so the idea certainly is not to put 10:32 this thing all the way in there 10:33 and it's not to aim it back there and give it a big blast 10:37 and blast the stuff out of there because that would just 10:39 cause her pain... 10:40 And we don't want to cause Melissa pain, 10:43 so what we want to do now is, 10:44 I'm going to come around behind her so that you in the audience 10:47 can see this a little bit better 10:49 and I'm going to do a couple of things... 10:51 #1... I'm going to take the top of her ear 10:53 and sort of pull it up and out which will straighten up the 10:57 external ear canal, then I will take the bulb syringe 11:00 which I've already filled with the warm water 11:02 and I will place it in her ear canal, 11:06 aimed either up or back, but not straight in 11:09 and I will give it a soft push, so that it's not 11:13 blasting the water out, but it's going in there 11:15 enough to dislodge anything wax, bugs, popcorn, 11:20 whatever might be in her ears right now... 11:22 and just give it a nice steady stream... 11:26 That wasn't so bad, was it, Melissa? 11:29 And you would do this a number of times until 11:32 basically the problem was over... 11:34 And it's quite painless, it's quite enjoyable, quite frankly 11:38 Now, if ever the situation becomes that it's just 11:41 too hard and too impacted, if it is something like wax, 11:44 what I would do is, I would put some oil, 11:47 perhaps some olive oil, warmed up, 11:50 back in her ear and stick some cotton in and let it 11:52 sit there for a while to loosen up the wax... 11:54 And if we did something like that, she might have a whole 11:56 lot better time of getting rid of the wax build up 12:00 in her ears, or the bugs, whatever else. 12:02 I want to mention just one other thing while I'm on this 12:06 subject, or we are on this subject of ears, 12:08 and that is something that I have suffered with 12:09 for quite a few years... a thing called "tinnitus" 12:13 Tinnitus is a Latin word, basically standing for "to ring" 12:18 as in a bell, and I've got it! 12:20 It doesn't sound like a bell... I don't know what it 12:22 sounds like but it's always there. 12:25 But I can TELL when there's MORE of the tinnitus 12:28 and when there's less of the tinnitus. 12:31 And what I need to do is start finding out... 12:32 and I DO know some of the things that causes 12:34 my tinnitus to be much increased. 12:37 And one of those things is stress. 12:39 Stress will even bring on a case of tinnitus 12:43 and it's not that you have it all the time. 12:45 Some people... as a matter of fact, almost everyone 12:48 some time in their life, Dr. Thrash, will have a case 12:51 of this particular problem. Yes 12:53 Many times it will go away... 12:54 Some of us, I'm afraid, are stuck with it. 12:56 I'm afraid mine is as the result of years and years 13:00 of abusing my ears with loud noises... 13:03 I'm afraid I was in the Marine Corps for many years 13:05 I fired a lot of different weapons, 13:07 and it really made a bad problem. 13:09 It can also be a food allergy. 13:10 It can be the wax in your ears. 13:13 It can be a middle ear infection... 13:14 which we can work on by putting some tea tree oil 13:16 on our finger and go back there and rubbing that 13:19 outlet of the Eustachian tube back in the 13:21 back of our throat. 13:22 A number of things will help to reduce it, or cause it. 13:26 Diuretics will cause it, oral contraceptives will cause it... 13:30 Aspirin is very famous for causing it... 13:32 ASPIRIN is a BIG cause, and, now that wasn't my problem 13:35 but I know that one... I remember vividly 13:37 when I first got it... I had a cold 13:40 And it was a head cold, and I remember Dr. Calvin Thrash said, 13:45 "Do the Valsalva maneuver" 13:47 But by the time I told him my problem, it was too late. 13:50 Basically, he said if I would have held my nose and 13:52 done a little bit of blowing, it might have short-circuited 13:55 the problem, but since that cold, 13:57 probably 15 years ago, I am never alone in a room. 14:02 There's always someone there... Always have a ringing in the ear 14:04 Someone is ringing that bell all the time. 14:06 Well ringing in the ears is a very common problem.. 14:11 And until recently, I had very little that I could tell people 14:15 to do, except make certain that they eat correctly, 14:18 and that they don't take aspirin and coffee is known 14:22 to cause it, and too much sugar is known to cause it. 14:25 But recently, I read an article in a medical journal saying that 14:30 Coenzyme Q10 generally marketed under the 14:34 trade name of CoQ10, which is a natural product can be 14:38 very helpful for ringing in the ears. 14:40 So I've told a few people that... 14:41 I don't think I've told that to Don Miller yet, but... 14:43 I'm glad you just did! I'll try it. 14:47 You could try that and see if it does work. 14:50 Some people say that it will reduce their ringing in the ears 14:53 by 90% or more. 14:54 So, it's very worthwhile. 14:56 You mentioned about loud noises and when you travel to places 15:00 where there are loud noises, always take some kind of 15:03 ear protector with you, such as this little plastic 15:07 earplug... it's just a very small thing and most people 15:10 have these around their houses somewhere 15:13 And, if you use one of these, all you have to do is just to 15:17 roll it in the fingers until it's very small, 15:21 then you introduce this into the ear, and you can see 15:25 that it doesn't take long before it assumes its 15:27 original shape and size, and so it does that 15:30 inside the ear canal and that gives you a good seal 15:34 inside the ear canal. 15:36 Sometimes people will take one this size and cut it 15:39 into two, and that's one for both ears. 15:42 They also come like this... 15:44 Then probably the deluxe variety of things to put on your ears 15:51 as ear protectors, are these very nice ear protectors 15:54 and, if I'm running some kind of loud equipment... 16:00 such as a blender in the kitchen 16:03 Any equipment that you run that if you speak in a normal 16:08 soft voice, and count... 1, 2, 3... if you can't 16:13 hear yourself saying that very distinctly, then the noise is 16:17 too loud for you ears... put on something like this. 16:19 This kind of thing rests on my refrigerator and anytime 16:24 anyone is using a blender, I always put this on them 16:27 so that I can be sure that I feel good about 16:30 protecting their ears. 16:32 Now if a siren goes past you, you should always 16:35 use these little flaps that the Lord made for us 16:38 and just push those over your ears this way. 16:41 Recently I was in a motel where they happen to have 16:46 a fire drill just at that time and I was speaking to 16:48 some ladies, and one of the ladies had a little baby 16:52 ...must have been about 2 or 3 weeks old, 16:55 and I was very pleased to see that when the bell went off, 17:00 she took her fingers and she covered the little infant's ears 17:05 ...recognizing that the little infant was much more tender 17:07 than she, and so she dealt with the infant, 17:13 and let her own ears deal with the bell-ringing. 17:17 THIS is a VERY LOUD instrument! 17:20 And, a lot of people don't realize that these can cause 17:24 bad hearing, and so anytime that you plug this in, 17:28 always plug your ears up, so that you can protect 17:31 yourself from the loss of hearing that comes from 17:36 using this on a regular basis. 17:38 Sometimes people use this on a daily basis 17:40 and, of course, using it that frequently can cause 17:44 a serious problem. 17:46 Now, the next WONDERFUL piece of equipment 17:49 that I want to show you is the human eye... 17:53 And I take the eye almost reverently. 17:57 It's just amazing how complex this structure is. 18:02 And here I have opened this model up... 18:04 and I'm showing you something that's just a model. 18:07 And yet, even this little model is very interesting. 18:12 Let me just show you some of the features of it. 18:15 Here on the front, is the lens, and this part 18:21 is the little lens that I took out very easily. 18:25 If it gets cloudy, then this little lens will need to be 18:30 taken out, and you can see that it has a 18:33 sort of a shape somewhat like a magnifying glass 18:41 and that's exactly what it is. 18:43 It is a lens and, if it gets opaque in any way, 18:47 then you're going to have to have it taken out. 18:49 That cataract can cause you to have blindness 18:53 Cataracts are one of the commonest causes... 18:55 the commonest cause of visual disability in this country. 18:59 Now, on the very front is the cornea and, then of course, 19:04 is the white part... this is the sclera, 19:07 but then, there is the iris, and this model has a nice 19:14 iris and you can see it here... it's the colored part 19:18 that you can see... right here, this part 19:21 And then, of course, the pupil, everybody is familiar with 19:23 the iris and the pupil, and then the sclera is this part. 19:29 So, just looking at the external parts that we ordinarily see, 19:34 doesn't give us much of a clue of what's on the inside. 19:37 Supporting the lens, is a little system of ligaments, 19:45 and tiny muscles... just unbelievably delicate 19:49 little muscles but they open and close in response 19:54 to light... You never had to tell the eye 19:56 "Now it's getting dim in here, you need to open up, 19:59 so that I'm able to see better. " 20:01 No, that never happens... it always does that 20:03 just automatically. 20:05 And then on the inside of the eye, we have the retina 20:08 and the retinal arteries. 20:11 The retina is this part right here, and then there is a 20:15 vitreous that is a body that fits there. 20:20 Now, you will not be able to see it too well... but I have 20:22 pasted right here on this, a little macula. 20:26 You see that little dot right there? 20:28 Now this is the optic nerve right there 20:32 with the blood vessels that come in... 20:34 the portions of the optic artery, 20:36 and then there is the little macula... 20:40 Notice that the portions of the ophthalmic artery 20:44 ...they spread out but they don't cover this part 20:48 where the macula is... there's very little direct blood flow 20:53 to it because it has to have a clear place there, over it, 20:58 it's the place where we do the most delicate portion 21:02 of our focus... the macula, 21:05 and when the macula goes bad, then that really is bad news 21:10 because the commonest cause of blindness in this country 21:13 is macular degeneration. 21:16 It has even now gone ahead of diabetic neuropathy, 21:21 or retinopathy as the cause of blindness in this country. 21:27 And, Don Miller is going to talk with you some about 21:30 macular degeneration and some issues 21:34 having to do with it... Don Miller 21:36 It's serious... it really is serious. 21:39 I know people with macular degeneration, 21:41 and basically what happens is, you get that blind spot 21:44 right in the center. 21:46 Your peripheral vision is okay because basically 21:49 your sight goes in and it focuses on the macula 21:52 and that's right there in the center... 21:54 your most important part 21:55 And the people that I know with this problem, 21:58 they could be driving, and some of them still drive, 22:00 they're driving down the street but if they go into a shadow, 22:02 they really can't see anything in the shadow. 22:05 They can see plenty of things on the periphery, 22:07 but nothing in that particular area. 22:09 Perhaps the best idea at that point would be 22:11 to look to the side, so that your eyes are pointing 22:14 in this direction and catch things in the critical time 22:17 in the peripheral vision. 22:19 And they call it, like Dr. Thrash has said... 22:21 it's the leading cause of blindness in our country today. 22:25 It's called, not just macular degeneration, 22:28 it's usually called "age-related macular degeneration" 22:32 You rarely see it before 55 years of age, but after that, 22:35 it starts showing up into the experiences of people. 22:39 You'll hear, for the most part, that there is no cure for it. 22:44 They don't know what causes it... 22:46 They don't know how to cure it. 22:47 But I do not believe that there is an ailment, a disease, 22:51 a thing that harasses man in this world that God does 22:55 not have a way to take care of. 22:58 Maybe not to completely cure, although I even believe 23:01 it's there, but we just haven't found that yet. 23:03 But I think what we're seeing, because we've seen a 23:06 great rise in macular degeneration, 23:08 what's causing the rise... and if we can find out what's 23:11 causing the rise, we might find out how to make 23:14 the rise go down. 23:16 There are certain nutrients that we take into our 23:19 bodies, each day that can stave off, or keep us from 23:25 making that macular degeneration appointment, 23:28 but if we don't do those things, 23:30 we've got a solid appointment with that. 23:32 There's been a study showing that the risk of macular 23:36 degeneration falls by 82%... if we eat a diet 23:42 high in vitamin E. 23:44 So where do we get vitamin E? 23:45 Now, you can go out to the store and buy it in little 23:47 gelcaps, but I would recommend you eat whole grains, 23:50 and nuts... that's where we find vitamin E. 23:53 What's society eating today? 23:56 It's eating highly refined carbohydrates, eating a lot of 23:59 white bread, refined wheats without the vitamin E. 24:02 When you refine it, the vitamin E goes for a hike. 24:04 And so get back to whole wheat foods and nuts 24:08 still in the shell... take it out of the shell 24:10 and you'll be getting plenty of vitamin E. 24:12 Another study shows that 83% reduction 24:16 in macular degeneration or the instance of receiving or 24:20 getting macular degeneration, if you take omega-3 24:24 fatty acids... So where do get omega-3 fatty acids? 24:27 We can get that from flaxseed... 24:29 I recommend for everybody, no matter what your 24:31 problem is, every morning you take about a tablespoonful 24:35 of flaxseed, grind it and eat it right then. 24:39 You can sprinkle it over your food... it's a very nice, 24:42 nutty flavor... Do NOT grind it up for the week 24:45 in advance because we find that flaxseed will go rancid 24:49 very bad, and then we find that this rancid fat, 24:53 will cause, and rancid foods... rancid fats of all types, 24:57 cause macular degeneration, so we want some more 25:00 antioxidants in our food. 25:02 Antioxidants such as your orange vegetables, 25:05 your yellow vegetables, and your deep, green, leafy vegetables. 25:08 There are other things it talks about... 25:11 You take things like bilberry, and blueberries, 25:14 an herb called "eyebright" 25:16 ...All of these things will help 25:17 As a matter of fact, if you have macular degeneration, 25:20 my thoughts are you do what would have kept you 25:22 from getting it in the first place... 25:24 And I recommend, if you have it right now, you eat 25:27 greens, especially things like spinach 5 times a week. 25:30 This will arrest the progress of macular degeneration 25:35 and perhaps even, by God's grace, start doing some 25:38 backwards work on that plague in our society today, Dr. Thrash 25:43 Yes, it is, indeed, a plague. 25:45 A surgeon friend of mine, just became almost totally blind 25:49 He can hardly see anything from macular degeneration, 25:53 and he's not elderly, he's maybe in his early 70s. 25:58 So it was a serious problem. 26:00 His wife, also, seems to be developing it now. 26:03 Another thing that people have as an affliction with the 26:07 eyes is that of conjunctivitis. 26:10 That's the membrane covering the eye... 26:13 And there's a very simple little eye cup which you can 26:16 find in many places, such as this little eye cup 26:20 that holds saline or some other kind of nice irrigating 26:27 fluid for the eye. 26:28 So you just fill this little cup with the saline, 26:32 then you just bend over it in this way, 26:34 put it right up against the eye, and, of course, if can't be 26:38 done with glasses on, and then when the cup makes a 26:42 seal with the cheek and the nose, and the eyebrow 26:48 above, then you just begin to bat the eyes 26:51 in the saline that you have here, and if it's 26:55 body temperature saline, then it will feel quite comfortable. 26:59 And by doing this, you can do it as often as every 15 minutes 27:03 if you have a very serious problem with the eye 27:06 You can also wash some kind of foreign body, or trash 27:11 from the eye using an eye cup like this, 27:14 but its usual use is in infections. 27:20 Now we have covered just a few things having to do with 27:23 the eyes and the ears... 27:26 I hope that some of the things we have told you 27:29 that you can do, will help you to be able to take 27:32 more responsibility for these very precious instruments 27:35 which the Lord has given us. 27:37 He has told us that these are not our own... 27:40 these belong to Him. 27:41 They've been bought with a price, 27:44 and the Bible instructs us that we can care for these 27:47 wonderful things and then we can give back to our 27:50 Heavenly Father, His own with the usury. 27:53 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17