Participants: Agatha Thrash (Host), , , Rhonda Clark
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000244
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00:01 Hello! The skin,and the hair, and the
00:04 nails are right out there in front of us, so that we 00:07 can see them all the time. 00:08 When something goes wrong 00:11 we are very concerned because 00:13 it's right there in view. 00:14 We have a lot of things that we can tell you about the skin 00:18 that can help you take care of your skin, and hair, and nails, 00:23 so that you can get the very best service 00:25 from these very fine structures. 00:28 We'll be talking about some of these things in our program 00:31 today, so we hope you will join us. 00:55 Welcome to Help Yourself To Health 00:56 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute 01:00 and now here is your host Dr. Thrash. 01:03 I sometimes wish I had made a specialty of dermatology. 01:09 It is such a nice thing to practice. 01:13 So many people take a look at their skin 01:16 and they think, 01:17 oh my skin doesn't look nice. 01:20 Or my skin is sick in some way, or I've got a serious problem 01:25 with my skin and it might be such a problem as would cause 01:30 me to lose my life, and all of those things are appropriate 01:35 problems that we can have with the skin. 01:38 I have asked my friend, Ronda Clark, who is my colleague 01:44 at Uchee Pines to join me for today's program, and I would 01:49 like find out some of the things that you are going 01:52 to tell us about today. 01:53 Ok. 01:54 I brought a couple of things to talk about, 01:56 and one that is kind of important to me. 01:58 With the growing number of people who have had 02:00 gastric bypass surgery, or who have lost a great deal of weight 02:04 You will find more interest in knowing what to do about excess 02:07 skin that remains when a person 02:09 has lost quite a bit of weight. 02:11 I have been working on a weight loss program myself, and this 02:13 is a personal concern for me, so I appreciated the research. 02:16 At first it was a little discouraging because it seems 02:19 that there is really much that can be done, once the skin has 02:22 so greatly expanded. 02:24 But I did find a few tips, and one particularly interesting 02:27 concept that I wanted to share. 02:29 It's vitally important, during weight loss process, and in the 02:33 process of maintaining that weight the next few years to 02:36 maintain a diet very high in fruits and vegetables. 02:39 These contain very essential 02:41 nutrients for our skins best health. 02:43 I also learned that, 02:46 don't even consider having any type of 02:48 of skin reduction surgery for one to two 02:51 years after your weight loss, 02:52 for during that time the skin will 02:53 continue to tighten and reshape 02:54 so you may want to hold off a little bit, 02:59 you may find that 03:00 your skin may come back nicely. 03:01 So if a person gets the surgery too soon, 03:05 they may find themselves stretching again 03:09 after the surgery is completed because with the natural 03:13 tightening that the skin can do somewhat, 03:16 it might then start stretching again. 03:19 They put themselves through a risky procedure, 03:23 and possible complications, when a little bit of time, 03:26 may have really been all that was necessary. 03:28 Of course it is important to strengthen the muscles that 03:31 are under the skin, to support the body, that the muscles can 03:34 be very toned, that they themselves are not loose. 03:37 The one most interesting fact or theory that I came across 03:41 was that of, perhaps, the person who has excess skin, that is 03:46 very loose, has not lost quite enough weight. 03:50 We tend to loose our weight from the inside part of our body 03:54 moving outwards. 03:55 If we continue to have skin that we feel hangs or sags a bit, 03:59 it may be that the skin is still containing in that subcutaneous 04:04 layer of skin, the fatty layer of skin a little to high 04:08 percentage of fat, and so the researcher was saying why don't 04:12 you try to lower the body weight maybe a few more pounds and 04:15 see if that won't help give you a much nicer appearance. 04:18 Now let me ask you something. 04:21 One time many years ago, a woman asked me if I would remove her 04:29 abdominal apron, after she had lost about 120 Ibs, and I said 04:36 no indeed, and she said, well why not, my response was 04:41 that it is a bit risky, it's not just inject the skin with 04:45 a local anesthetic and remove the excess and 04:52 sew the edges back together. 04:55 Did you research anything about that? 04:58 I didn't, other than to know 05:00 this indeed isn't just a simple procedure. 05:03 Skin reductions are now being done on all parts of the body, 05:06 the back of the arms, the legs, 05:08 buttocks, even the chest and abdomen. 05:10 But these are general anesthesia serious surgeries, where blood 05:14 loss, infection, and other complications can occur, and so 05:18 many people may think that well, you know maybe it is not as bad 05:21 as I thought, especially a year or two after the weight loss. 05:24 My sister even told me, don't worry about loose skin, 05:28 when you tell people that you have lost weight, 05:30 it gives you authenticity. 05:33 So I appreciated her comment on that. 05:35 Oh yes, well, that's certainly a very good thing. 05:37 At Uchee Pines we only do minor surgery, and I certainly do not 05:42 consider these tummy tucks, and other tucks to be minor, they 05:47 should be done with general anesthesia, and as you say. 05:52 You should not have these procedures done, until two or 05:57 three years after the weight loss is finished. 06:00 Another very good reason for that is that people who loose 06:06 weight unfortunately, sometimes gain a bit back, and so if they 06:10 have already had these procedures of removing excess 06:14 skin, then, if they gain weight again. 06:17 Then, as it was, with not allowing the skin to 06:22 reduce itself, they may also find that they need 06:25 that extra skin to expand into. 06:28 Do you have anything else that you can talk with us about. 06:32 I do. You know one of my functions at Uchee Pines is to 06:34 counsel people who call on the telephone with medical questions 06:37 and I had a telephone call from 06:39 a young woman was just desperate. 06:41 She had been beginning to grow a mustache, a beard, heavy 06:45 sideburns, some of the hair on her arms was beginning to 06:49 coursen, and darken, and she asked if there was anything to 06:52 explain this change, was there anything she could do naturally. 06:55 This condition is know as Hirsutism, and it is caused by 06:59 by an excess level of male hormones or 07:02 androgens in a female body. 07:04 This can be caused from a couple of things. 07:06 It can be caused from a problem with the ovarian function. 07:09 It can be caused with a problem with the adrenal glands, it can 07:13 also caused by obesity, where the adipose tissue itself 07:16 contains a lot of estrogen storage, 07:18 and can unbalance hormone levels. 07:21 The things that we learned for treatment on Hirsutism are some 07:26 very simple lifestyle things. 07:28 I do want to let people know that we are genetically 07:31 predetermined that the number of hairs that we have per square 07:35 section of skin, and we have two types of hair. 07:39 A very thin fine baby hair known as vellus hair, and then 07:42 the courser, darker hair is known as termial hairs. 07:46 Terminal hairs are responsive to hormones, vellus hairs 07:49 usually are not, but in this presence of increased male 07:52 hormones, women's vellus hairs can actually convert to terminal 07:56 When they have, when a terminal hair now is in the place of 08:00 what used to be a vellus hair, these will not go back to being 08:04 a vellus hair, and you are kind of stuck with those dark, course 08:08 hairs that have occurred. 08:09 They can be removed permanently, either through electrolysis, 08:11 or there are some really interesting new laser treatments 08:14 that are specially beneficial in individuals who are 08:17 light complected, with dark hair. 08:19 The greater the contrast in pigment between the skin 08:22 and the hair, the more successful a laser treatment 08:26 will be for permanent removal. 08:28 So focusing on treating this naturally folks 08:30 is a lot on preventing further vellus hair 08:33 from being converted to terminal hairs, 08:34 and helping a woman get her hormones back in balance. 08:38 It's very important for the woman to loose weight, and to 08:41 avoid anything in her diet or environment that will add more 08:44 estrogens or external hormones to her system. 08:47 A plant based diet is the perfect prescription. 08:50 Any animal product because it comes from a mammal that also 08:54 makes hormones will add more hormones into the system, 08:57 so animal products should be strictly avoided. 08:59 Weight should be lost, and this can also be accomplished nicely 09:03 with plant based diets, high in fiber. 09:06 Plenty of exercise. 09:07 Plenty of exercise is very important in this, and getting 09:11 lots of fiber, drinking plenty of water. 09:13 these are all part of that treatment for this. 09:16 Some other treatment that I wanted to recommend, 09:19 is to add freshly ground flax seed. 09:21 This has the benefit of bringing some healthy fats into 09:25 diet, which are beneficial for 09:27 helping to contain a balanced hormones. 09:29 Make that sure you don't overeat. 09:32 You must just take in a modest amount of calories, in order to 09:36 not only maintain your weight loss, but to prevent fluctuation 09:40 to hormone levels, even insulin 09:41 is a hormone that we need to be careful with. 09:43 It was interesting to me to find that insulin resistance can 09:47 be a predisposing factor to women developing Hirsutim. 09:50 Changing the vellus hair into terminal hair. 09:54 Women who suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome will know what 09:57 I'm talking about, not only do they have insulin resistance as 10:01 a part of this syndrome, but Hirsutism is one of the signs 10:05 and symptoms of this disorder as well. 10:07 Fasting and taking a two meal plan can help in lowering the 10:11 calorie intake, and aiding in the weight loss. 10:14 In addition, there are some herbs that may be beneficial. 10:17 I have a list here and I want to read them to you: 10:19 One is Saw Palmetto, now many people think of this as the 10:26 the healthy prostate hormone for men. 10:29 The very same breakdown product of testosterone that can 10:32 contribute to prostate cancer, and prostate enlargement will 10:36 cause Hirsutism in ladies, so taking saw palmetto may help 10:41 keep that testorone breakdown product from telling the little 10:45 hair follicle from turning vellus hair into terminal hair. 10:48 It can prevent a worsening of Hirsutism. 10:51 Stinging nettles is another herb that may be beneficial in 10:54 Hirsutism, and that can be taken as a tea or capsule as 10:58 followed on the package instructions. 10:59 Vitex chasteberry is a wonderful herb for a woman to take to 11:04 help balance the female hormones, 11:06 its highly recommended for women 11:08 who have polycystic ovaries syndrome to take, 11:10 as the package instructions prescribe. 11:14 Then, make sure you are getting plenty of whole grains which 11:17 are rich in zinc, and chromium and the vitamin E's, the B 11:21 vitamins that are also essential nutrients for a person who is 11:24 trying to fight insulin resistance, loose weight and 11:27 balance their hormone levels, so here are a few tips anyway, 11:30 Very Good! 11:31 for this condition, that can be 11:33 very distressing for many women. 11:34 Yes. 11:35 Now in drugstores you can sometimes find these little kits 11:40 that have an electric needle powered by a little battery 11:46 and especially if the hairs are dark, and the skin is pale, one 11:51 can easily thread the little needle into the hair follicle. 11:57 The little device automatically gives a little spark and it can 12:02 kill the hair follicle, and some person can perform this 12:08 little surgical procedure on another, very safely, very 12:14 helpfully, just doing maybe a half dozen to a dozen hairs 12:17 at a time, until they have reduced the population 12:21 sufficiently, that she feels quite comfortable with the 12:26 number of dark hairs that she has left. 12:28 Or maybe even get rid of all of them. 12:30 I imagine you want to numb it with a little ice cube. 12:33 No. 12:34 It's a little painful, yes it is, but not so painful that 12:40 the person wants any numbing. 12:42 Oh good, ok. 12:43 Usually, if you don't do to many at one time you can 12:47 tolerate it quite well. 12:49 Thank you so much. 12:51 Thank you for having me. 12:52 I appreciate your research on this. 12:54 Sure. 12:55 Very nice. 12:56 Now another thing that people often have as a problem is 13:00 The loss of hair. 13:01 Not only is excess hair a problem, 13:04 but the loss of hair certainly is to. 13:06 One way that one can tell whether the loss of hair is 13:11 serious, or is not serious is by simply looking at the number 13:18 of hairs that one can simply pull out. 13:21 So if you pulled twenty hairs, just in random areas across 13:26 the scalp, and then take a little hand lens, look at the 13:30 end of the hair shaft, look at the bulb, 13:35 and see if there is a bulb. 13:38 If there is no bulb, then the person is loosing growing hairs, 13:46 The bulb part is left inside, but if a person has a shaft 13:52 If a shaft has a bulb on it, that's a resting hair and the 13:58 whole bulb came out with it. 14:00 there is still a germinal portion left in the follicle 14:04 but, the little bulb came out with it and that's a resting 14:09 hair, so if no more than about two or three are growth hairs, 14:13 that's a very good sign, that's just a resting hair, and when 14:18 the hairs quit resting, they will start growing again. 14:22 But if they are coming out from growing hair follicles that's 14:27 more serious, indicates that it may be more permanent. 14:29 So a woman who is losing a lot of hair may feel very 14:34 discouraged to learn that she is losing growing hairs, 14:39 and, she may never replace those. 14:41 Of course that's the way men do when they are going bald, 14:45 they loose growing hairs and once they are out they don't 14:50 come back usually. 14:51 Now I have some pictures that I would like to show you of 14:56 certain problems on the skin, that I think can help you to 15:01 understand other skin conditions, so we will now 15:05 take a look at some of my pictures that can graphically 15:09 show to you certain things that I cannot explain so well just 15:14 by telling you about them. 15:15 So here is one that we can easily see, and much more easily 15:21 feel, it's an aphthous ulcer or a mouth ulcer, and these occur 15:27 on the inside of the mouth, 15:30 these are extremely painful, 15:31 and they can be treated nicely with a little golden seal powder 15:35 sprinkled inside the lip and right onto the little ulcer. 15:41 Or golden seal tea can be prepared, and the tea swished 15:46 around in the mouth and then swallowed, and that can give 15:51 one quite a great deal of relief. 15:53 Now the next picture that you see is also an aphthous ulcer 15:57 on the tongue. 15:59 This one is going to be much more difficult in treating, 16:04 because you will notice that there is a whitish growth also, 16:09 on this tongue. 16:10 On the sides of the tongue, this is a very serious problem 16:16 in this man who has Aids, and the aphthous ulcer, and the 16:22 growth of the fungus or the yeast on his tongue indicates 16:28 that his immune system is not functioning very well, and of 16:33 course we already knew that with the diagnosis of Aids. 16:37 The treatment however is about the same, for the aphthous ulcer 16:42 as I mentioned before the golden seal is very good, drinking 16:46 lots of water is also very good for a mouth ulcer or an aphthous 16:51 ulcer, and a number of other things. 16:55 Do not drink very hot teas, or coffee, 16:58 or any kind of hot fluid 17:00 that could make a mouth ulcer worse. 17:02 But what could we do for the thrush, or the fungus growing 17:07 on his tongue. 17:08 Well a nice thing to do is a 17:11 saturated solution of baking soda. 17:13 Simply take the baking soda, put as much in a glass of water 17:20 as you can get to dissolve. 17:21 Then take a cotton tipped applicator stick and just apply 17:30 the saturated solution of baking soda on the tongue 17:31 multiple times during the day, 17:32 perhaps ten or twenty times during the day. 17:36 A person who has as much pain and difficulty in the mouth as 17:41 this poor gentleman has, will probably be at home nursing 17:46 himself, and so he has plenty of time to swab the mouth with 17:51 the baking soda, every half an hour, to an hour is certainly 17:55 fine to do with the baking soda. 17:59 Ok. Our next picture will show another problem, 18:03 again this problem is one that may be serious. 18:06 This is a temporal arteritis you can see that the temporal 18:11 artery is thickened, and if you felt of it, it would be both 18:15 tender to the patient and you would feel it as a rope like 18:20 structure rolling under your finger. 18:23 The major thing to do in temporal arteritis is to try to 18:27 assist the immune system to be better functioning, that's when 18:31 such herbal remedies, as licorice root tea, astragalus 18:37 is very good, Echinacea is very good, a plant based diet is 18:41 excellent to boost the functioning of the immune system 18:46 and to try to help this person 18:49 who has an auto-immune disorders. 18:52 It's not Aids, it's not the auto-immune disease which can 18:58 be systemic, this one is a disease 19:02 of a poor immune system functioning, 19:06 but of all together different nature than the Aids 19:10 which is caused by retrovirus. 19:12 No one knows the cause of this kind of collagen disease, or 19:17 auto-immune disorder called temporal arteritis. 19:20 Now, along with the things that you can do, with a plant 19:26 based diet, and the herbs is other lifestyle changes which 19:32 anyone is capable of doing by studying the various lifestyle 19:37 measures that are available. 19:39 Now the next picture will show another serious problem that you 19:45 will find in some people. 19:47 This particular one is lupus, 19:50 and you will see the butterfly rash. 19:52 This is on the cheeks, maybe a little bit right on the 19:56 forehead, and the middle, and a little bit on the chin to make 20:00 a configuration of a butterfly. 20:01 This is also an auto-immune disorder, similar to the 20:05 temporal arteritis, and can be treated in the same way. 20:09 These people are especially sensitive to the sun, and we 20:14 don't want to have them exposed to direct sunlight. 20:17 they can usually tolerate a little broken sun, as in the 20:22 shade of a rather thickly leafed out tree. 20:27 They can also walk in the sun with an umbrella, or a large 20:32 hat and long sleeves that cover all of the skin. 20:37 Now the next picture that you see is one that you will find 20:42 very interesting. 20:44 This picture is called the petechia, and people with low 20:48 platelets can have pethechia. 20:50 These are little bloody spots under the skin, 20:53 again, these can be treated with lifestyle changes. 20:58 The lifestyles changes that we expect will be the same ones 21:04 that we mentioned for the other auto-immune disorders. 21:07 This is as well an auto-immune disorder which can be treated 21:12 by lifestyle changes, and the herbs which I mentioned. 21:16 A plant based diet is the most favorable diet for these 21:20 individuals, avoiding all animal products 21:23 and making the life as nearly perfect as can be. 21:29 In these cases there is a premium on the lifestyle. 21:34 Now, the next picture that we have is another case that 21:40 you will also find interesting. 21:44 This one is a dry eye syndrome. 21:47 This one is another collagen disease, 21:53 but actually this person does not have the dry eye. 21:55 You will notice this little testing strip, the end of it is 22:00 put in the into the conjunctival space 22:03 and the tears travel down the little test device 22:10 and you can see a little wet spot if 22:12 you look very carefully you can see down under the eye lid 22:16 all the way down under the eye lid, 22:18 and actually down on the cheek, 22:20 you can see the wet spot on the test strip, 22:23 so this person, does not have the Sjogren's Syndrome, 22:27 or the dry eye syndrome, which can only at best 22:31 give a three millimeter zone of moisture. 22:37 Where as this one perhaps has two and one quarter centimeters 22:42 of moisture from the tears, so the eye is red and the person 22:46 may have a dry eye, but it could be from something as simple as 22:51 not drinking enough water, very few people drink enough water. 22:55 Next slide, when we see our next slide, I think you will 23:00 also see another very interesting case, and this is 23:04 a case of, you can see that the conjunctivae is swollen. 23:10 The conjunctivae is the portion of the covering of the 23:16 eye, that covers the entire eye, including the cornea. 23:22 The conjunctivae is resistant to disease, and can usually 23:29 ward off most germs that come through the eye, but in this 23:36 case there has been an infection and the person does 23:41 have the swelling of the conjunctivae. 23:45 In cases of injury of the conjunctivae, we may need 23:50 to irrigate any kind of foreign material, like dirt or trash 23:57 that may get into the eye during the injury, and then if there is 24:02 a flap of the conjunctivae by simply directing a stream of 24:09 saline, made by one teaspoon of salt to one level pint of 24:15 water, and making it at body temperature, if possible 24:21 irrigating or directing a stream of the saline against 24:27 the flap, and directing it back into its proper place. 24:33 Then close the eyelid and bandage it shut, using a thick 24:40 gauze over the eye to keep the eye from displacing the flap 24:46 of conjunctivae, and the next day it will be all stuck down 24:53 and the bandage can usually be removed. 24:56 The person may still have a sore eye, 24:59 so they may prefer to have a small bandage kept on. 25:04 An inflamed eye will usually give you a quite great deal of 25:11 photophobia, or pain on a light shining in the eye, and so you 25:19 want to always be careful to protect the eye of a person 25:23 who has an injured eye. 25:25 Now I have here something that may be helpful to you if you 25:30 have a sick person in your home. 25:32 This device is simply something to go on a faucet, 25:38 such as on a sink, and then the person, 25:43 if you have a sick person who is 25:44 chronically ill, cannot get in a bathtub, 25:47 with this device, you can 25:51 with their simply bending over a sink 25:55 or lying in a chair bent backwards, 25:59 with the head extended over the sink 26:03 you can use this spray to keep the hair clean. 26:07 You would be amazed how it helps with the healing of a 26:11 chronically ill person, just by washing the hair. 26:16 It stimulates the entire body, it of course cleanses an 26:21 important part of the body, and it advances healing. 26:26 Now I don't think it would be appropriate for me to stop the 26:31 discussion of the skin, and other parts of the body that we 26:37 can easily see, without telling you about the 26:40 development of the teeth in children. 26:45 The age in months minus six will give you the number of teeth 26:52 that a child should have, that is nice for young mothers to 26:57 know, and then if you would like to know the average height 27:04 the age multiplied by two plus thirty two can give you the 27:10 average height in inches. 27:12 Now if you would like to know the average weight, the age 27:18 times five plus seventeen will give you the average weight 27:22 after the age of three years, so let me give you those again. 27:26 The age in months minus six, gives you the number of teeth. 27:31 The age times two, plus thirty two gives you the average height 27:38 and the age times five, plus seventeen will give you the 27:44 average weight, after the age of three years. 27:47 So I hope that mothers will enjoy that. 27:50 May the Lord Bless you with these very simple things to 27:53 take care of your skin, and hair and nails. |
Revised 2014-12-17