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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000055A
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00:15 When the water pipes in your home get clogged,
00:18 you lose your main source of liquid, very inconvenient. 00:22 When the blood pipes in your body clog, you die. Stay tuned. 00:28 I'm Dr. James Marcum, are you interested 00:32 in discovering the reason why? 00:34 Do you want solutions to your healthcare problem? 00:37 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:39 Well, you're about to be given the "Ultimate Prescription." 00:44 Today we continue our series examining some of the 00:47 questions that have recently been submitted to 00:49 heartwiseministries.org 00:51 Heart disease is our #1 killer and we're always happy 00:55 to address issues both on the website and in this program. 00:58 Dr. Marcum, let's dive right in, here's the question... 01:02 "I had recent testing and all of my arteries are 01:05 significantly blocked, I want to go the natural way. 01:09 Some say bypass while others say chelation therapy, 01:12 and yet others insist that diet and exercise is the way to go. 01:15 I want to have another opinion, what say you?" 01:19 Wow! Well, I get this question a lot and I think we should 01:23 back up and answer this question so many people 01:26 that have the same problem might understand. 01:28 First of all, coronary disease is a blockage in the arteries, 01:34 and they are blockages that are made up of fats and cholesterol, 01:37 and plaque and all sorts of interesting things, 01:40 but this blockage can occur in any blood 01:43 vessel in the entire body. 01:45 So I assume that everyone out there, Charles, has some 01:48 element of vascular disease. 01:51 If it's in the coronaries, we call it 01:52 "coronary artery disease." 01:54 If it's in the brain, we call it "cerebral vascular disease." 01:58 So we can have blockages that affect the blood supply 02:02 into every organ in our body. 02:04 Why is this so important? 02:05 Well, when a blood supply doesn't get to an organ, 02:09 that organ fails to function correctly and dies. 02:11 Because blood contains the necessary 02:14 ingredients for life in an organ. 02:15 Yeah, blood brings oxygen, oxygen is essential for life, 02:18 it also brings nutrients; 02:20 so no blood, organ malfunction, it dies. 02:23 Well, you know, our most important organs, 02:25 the brain and the heart, we need them every second; 02:28 now if your foot doesn't get enough blood, 02:31 you know they can do an amputation. 02:34 If one of the kidneys doesn't get enough blood, 02:36 they can take out one kidney. 02:37 And lots of arteries and vessels go everywhere 02:41 and they have multiple supplies of blood vessels, 02:43 so you have a backup, but the heart arteries, 02:46 when one of them get clogged up, it's a big deal. 02:49 So I assume everyone has some blockages in them 02:52 because that's a good assumption, 02:54 so everyone gets sort of the natural plan... 02:56 You know - of what can I do naturally which is to get 02:59 back to a whole food, plant-based diet. 03:02 That takes care of the food part. 03:04 Get into an exercise program, drink lots of water, 03:08 and then work on all the stressors in our life, 03:11 especially our brain stressors. 03:13 In coronary disease, the stress that we have from 03:15 our brain might be just as dangerous as the 03:18 food stress we eat...worry, guilt, anxiety, stress, fears, 03:23 phobias - those are just like eating lots of fat foods too. 03:28 Let's clarify this - how is it that when you are 03:31 stressed in the brain... this is not a stressor as in 03:34 the environment or some other kind of stressor, 03:36 but your thoughts are stressing you, 03:39 how does that affect the coronary arteries? 03:42 Well, with that chemistry that comes from stress, 03:45 we make chemicals like adrenalin. 03:47 It speeds up our heart, constricts our blood vessels. 03:50 It puts our body under stress, 03:51 it makes our blood more likely to clot. 03:53 It changes the diameter of a coronary artery. Yes 03:56 And it can also make our blood more likely to clot 03:58 because if you're under stress, your body wants to stay alive. 04:01 And if you're bleeding, you want to clot. Yes 04:04 Cortisol - another, mobilizing that, cortisol goes up. 04:09 It causes inflammation to go up. 04:12 Lots of other chemicals we don't understand 04:14 under the stress reaction occurs. 04:16 So stress changes the chemistry in the entire body, 04:18 but more than that, people try to deal with stress, 04:21 and sometimes they pick up bad habits to deal with the stress 04:25 ... smoking, drinking, not exercising, eating the wrong 04:29 types of foods because it helps them cope. 04:33 So the brain is important in preventing coronary disease, 04:37 the food we eat is important, our lifestyle habits 04:40 are important and, of course, we can't really change 04:42 our genetics, but all of these things modify our genetics. 04:46 I had a gentleman that came to me not too long ago 04:48 that was 55 years old and he did everything 04:50 right, he thought, and he said, "Well, why did I get sick?" 04:55 "Why did I have a heart attack?" 04:56 I said, "Well, how old was your dad?" 04:57 He said, "42." So I go, "Healthy living 05:00 got you 13 years." 05:01 I saw someone in the office recently that said, 05:04 "I'm healthy." And yet they had 05:05 blockages throughout their body. 05:06 And I said, "Well, did your parents have anything?" "No." 05:10 The food you eat - they were on a very healthy diet. 05:13 I said, "Well, what about your stress?" 05:15 They had been under terrible stress their entire lives. 05:17 So, we've talked in previous programs about how the body 05:22 is more complicated, so there are many factors 05:24 that initiate coronary disease. 05:26 So in a person that is not having symptoms, 05:28 I want them to get to that natural plan. 05:30 Now, if you're having a symptom, if you can't walk because 05:34 you have a symptom... you're short of breath, 05:35 pain in the chest, arms, back, short of breath, fatigued, 05:39 especially when you're doing things, 05:40 that's when modern medicine might be able to help you. 05:43 Does modern medicine fix the problem? 05:45 No, it does not - you still have the disease, 05:48 but we treat the symptom so you might be able to do more, 05:51 so you might be able to exercise more, 05:53 and, of course, if you're having a heart attack, 05:55 and the blood is not getting there, 05:57 yes, you want something right away because that can 05:59 save your life... that's the best place for modern medicine 06:02 is if someone is having an acute problem. 06:04 But then when they come back after they have had the stent, 06:06 or after the bypass, I said, "You know what, that just 06:09 treated the symptom and now you feel better 06:11 and you could walk more, but now let's talk about 06:14 the cause and we get back to those naturals." 06:16 Now sometimes, the person says, "Well, should I have a bypass, 06:20 a stent or the natural route?" 06:22 A lot of that depends on where the blockages are, 06:25 and how much symptoms they're having. 06:27 If they have blockages in little, tiny vessels, 06:30 well, we're not very successful with stents or bypasses. 06:33 If they're a big, important vessel and they're having 06:35 symptoms... Yes, and that person might need a stent 06:38 or a bypass and then let us work on the cause of disease. 06:42 Does that make sense? It does! 06:43 And that brings up a question that a lot of people ask... 06:46 We've heard of blockages, a 50% blockage, 80%, 90%, 06:50 is there a magic number where you, Dr. Marcum, a cardiologist, 06:54 says, "Okay, you've crossed the line, it's now time for 06:57 us to get in there and do something." 06:58 Yeah, and let's show our listeners and viewers, 07:02 our arteries, okay, and that first one up there 07:05 that is a very healthy artery. Yes 07:08 You know, we don't see blockages at all, that artery is very good 07:11 It can get bigger, it can get smaller, it does very good. 07:15 The next artery is not so healthy... 07:18 Well I see some buildup right in there, yeah. 07:20 They might be able to see that, but there is some buildup 07:22 of this plaque, this fat that gets in the arteries. 07:25 We call that a fatty streak. 07:26 Let's show the next one... All right, here we go. 07:28 The next one here has even more blockage in there. Yeah 07:32 And that's less than 50% blockage, so the patient 07:35 might not have a symptom. 07:36 You know, they might not feel this at all, 07:38 but half of all heart attacks come when this gets unstable 07:42 and it ruptures. 07:43 So the problem, at this point, is not the buildup, 07:46 the problem is what's happening under the buildup? 07:49 The stability, it gets inflamed, we call it a plaque rupture. 07:55 But when it ruptures, the body says, "I've been damaged." 07:58 And what does a body do when it's damaged? 08:00 It recruits cells to fix the damage... Rush right there. 08:02 Yeah and it clots off the artery. Ahh gotcha. 08:05 The part of the heart doesn't get enough blood, 08:07 and that part becomes unstable. 08:09 Half of the people don't even know they have heart disease 08:12 until they have an event like a heart attack; 08:14 pain that won't go away, pressure - they can't breathe, 08:17 and if anyone is having any of that, 08:19 they need to get help right away! 08:21 Well, this is pretty dangerous at this point. 08:22 Yeah, but you might be walking around... 08:24 But this is like 20% block... 08:26 And you would not even know if you had that. WOW, wow, wow. 08:29 And yet, half of all heart attacks come when that 08:31 becomes unstable, and there are many things 08:33 that cause that to be unstable. 08:34 There are processes called, "inflammation, oxidation," 08:38 and there are foods that we eat that promote that; 08:40 there's stress we do that promotes that. 08:42 So all these can trigger these bad events. 08:45 And let me show you the last artery... Oh dear 08:47 This artery is terribly clogged up, has lots of fat, 08:51 lots of cholesterol in that, and that's typically of a person 08:55 that would walk across the room or do something, 08:57 and when the heart does something and it doesn't 09:00 get enough blood, it has a symptom, 09:01 it malfunctions. There's pain apparently. Yes 09:03 So this person might have pain, might have shortness of breath 09:06 when they're doing things, might have pain in the arm, 09:08 the jaw, and that's a warning system that this is 09:10 an unstable situation. Okay 09:12 This is the person that probably 09:14 benefits the most from modern medicine. 09:16 You know, having a bypass that goes south of that blockage 09:19 to bring that artery in that heart extra blood. 09:21 Having a stent that opens it up that would squish it. Yeah 09:24 But again, the problem is still there, 09:26 we've just helped the symptom out giving the person 09:29 more time so they can get at the cause of the disease. 09:32 But you're just making it clearer that any time 09:34 you have buildup - whether it's 20, 30, 40%, 09:37 you are at risk! Yes, and that can occur 09:39 anywhere in the entire body, Charles. Yes 09:42 Anywhere in the body, and another thing that 09:44 we want to do is we want to have the arteries with 09:45 the ability that even if they have blockages, to get bigger. 09:48 You know, to get bigger when you do things. 09:51 We know that certain substances that we eat... 09:53 fats for instance, animal fats. 09:55 When we take animal fats, it paralyzes the arteries 09:58 so they can't get bigger, and there's a substance 10:01 in our body called "nitric oxide." 10:03 And now we know that people that eat a whole food 10:05 plant-based diet, the arteries can get bigger 10:08 because they made more nitric oxide. 10:10 So even if you have clogging there, the artery, 10:12 while you're trying to heal, 10:14 can get bigger to let more blood through. Yes 10:16 And there's certain things, if we can fat especially 10:18 animal fat out of our diet, the plaques tend to be 10:21 more stable because animal fats tend to cause a process called 10:25 "oxidation and inflammation" in the arteries. 10:28 So one of the things that I always tell people is 10:30 we want to move them towards your whole food 10:33 plant-based diet, we want to work on 10:35 the stress, we want to work on all the other things that we can 10:39 to lower their risk of them needing to have a stent 10:42 or a bypass. 10:43 So that's sort of the overall view of how to approach 10:46 a person with blockages in their arteries. 10:49 But I assume, Charles, that everyone that I meet 10:51 has at least some blockages somewhere. 10:54 If you have stress, if you eat the wrong diet, 10:56 if you have bad genetics, we have to assume that you 10:58 have this, what I call, "hidden disease," 11:01 and we don't want it to become a silent killer. 11:03 And these things, you know, there's Dr. Esselstyn, 11:06 I don't know if you've heard of him... Sure 11:08 He has had a group of patients that he really puts them on 11:10 no fats - they eat a whole food plant-based diet, 11:13 and he can almost make them heart attack free. 11:16 The disease becomes stable, the arteries get bigger; 11:20 they can actually, if you eat well enough, 11:22 you can regress this disease. 11:23 The body can pull out the plaque - 11:25 Pull out the plaque... Yeah, there's something called 11:27 "high-density lipoprotein" that can go up and make 11:29 the plaque smaller, and in his studies, 11:32 1 in 3 patients showed evidence that they can reverse disease. 11:35 Every year, I put people on a special diet, 11:38 add some stress reduction techniques, 11:40 and they do more on the treadmill, they can exercise 11:43 more before they hurt. 11:44 They can actually have a chance of not only stabilizing 11:47 the plaque, but making their arteries more healthy. 11:49 Boy, you've just answered the two questions here that 11:51 I wanted to bring up next. 11:53 This is from "Heartwise Ministries." 11:54 "What exactly is a heart attack?" 11:56 Well a heart attack is when an artery gets clogged, 11:58 and blood can't get to the heart. 11:59 Well, no, no - not always, okay. 12:01 There are different types of heart attacks. Oh! 12:04 We talked about the type that is the most common 12:06 because of the food we eat, but you can also have a 12:09 heart attack if the artery spasms 12:10 because it doesn't get enough blood either. 12:12 So you could have this artery here, Charles... 12:15 An open artery and completely clean.. And it spasms down. 12:17 And that.. okay, you talked about the broken 12:19 heart syndrome - that's what would happen, a spasm. 12:22 Yes, it would spasm down, and just so the 12:25 blood doesn't go there, that the artery doesn't have 12:27 plaque, so that's another type of heart attack. 12:30 Cold weather, people that do lots of caffeine 12:33 can sometimes trigger this. 12:35 Drugs - cocaine is very common. 12:37 These are the only arteries we have going to our heart, 12:40 why are we doing things that are hurting the only arteries 12:42 we have providing blood and nutrients 12:44 to our heart. Why are we doing that? 12:45 Well, some people don't know of the danger. 12:47 Well, they know now. 12:49 They don't know of the danger. We're telling them! 12:50 So that's another type of heart attack, 12:52 another one is sometimes a clot can flow down 12:54 those arteries that comes from somewhere else. 12:57 Now that's a very rare type and we don't see the spasms 13:00 that much by far - the most common is 13:02 what we've talked about, the clots. 13:04 The clots that happen someplace else comes wandering 13:05 through the system and then ends up 13:07 right here and closes it off. 13:08 Even if a small artery gets clogged off, 13:10 the heart becomes unstable and when it becomes unstable, 13:13 you have these funny heart rhythms. 13:15 And it's those heart rhythms that really... 13:17 You know, when the heart rhythms go crazy, 13:20 you don't get blood enough to your head, 13:22 and then things go downhill from there pretty quickly. 13:25 So that's the cause of a heart attack and that some 13:30 of the different types of heart attacks. 13:31 Can we assume that if we have a buildup at point A, 13:34 probably point B, C and D, and F have buildups as well? 13:37 Yeah, if you have one plaque, there's a chance you have 13:39 other plaques throughout your body and our goal is to 13:42 keep them as stable as possible or to not have them. 13:46 I had a guest on our Heartwise Ministries 13:50 Radio Program and it was an ophthalmologist, 13:53 and he says he could start seeing heart disease 13:55 in the eyes because the arteries are so small there 13:57 buildup shows up right away. 13:59 Yeah, this is vascular disease, so if you have it in one spot, 14:01 you probably have it in other spots, 14:03 and you gotta be very careful. All right, very good. 14:05 We'll take a short break and when we 14:07 come back we're going to go to the Bible, 14:09 that wonderful Prescription Book that has 14:12 good news for us and we're going to look at some 14:13 of the things that God says for us that we can do 14:16 to bring healing into our lives and it's available to everyone 14:19 free of charge right in this Book. Stay tuned... |
Revised 2015-12-14