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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000056A
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00:15 You're having a fine day, all is well,
00:18 life is good, the future looks bright! 00:21 Then suddenly, an elephant sits on your chest. 00:25 Why didn't you see that coming? Stay tuned... 00:28 I'm Dr. James Marcum, are you interested in 00:31 discovering the reason why? 00:33 Do you want solutions to your health care problem? 00:36 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:39 Well, you're about to be given the "Ultimate Prescription." 00:43 Coronary artery disease, "CAD." 00:47 For many people, CAD also spells "death." 00:50 But does it have to? 00:53 Let's talk with a board certified cardiologist 00:55 about heart disease and hope, two concepts that, 00:58 for many, seem impossible to blend. 01:00 Dr. Marcum, someone recently posted a question on 01:03 heartwiseministries.org website asking you 01:05 "How you make a diagnosis when 01:08 it comes to coronary disease." Let's talk about that. 01:10 What's the first thing you start looking for 01:13 as you hunt for the elephant? 01:14 Yeah, you know, the elephant is always... 01:16 and I like that you said, "elephant," Charles. 01:19 In fact, we have a little devise here I'd like to hand to you 01:22 and see - what do you think this is, Charles? 01:25 Well at first, I thought it was a pen, but I... 01:27 Oh, it opens up, okay. Yeah, and if you look in one end... 01:31 Whoa, hello there Dr. Marcum's eyeball! 01:34 ...it's a telescope and if you look in the other end, 01:38 it's a microscope. Well, it certainly is! 01:41 Yeah, and when it comes to coronary disease, 01:44 we want to see that big elephant in the room, 01:47 we want to use the telescope because if we look at the 01:50 microscope, sometimes we won't 01:52 know what part of the elephant we're seeing. 01:54 Well that makes sense. Yeah, does that work? 01:56 I know where you're going with this, I just figured it out. Yes 01:59 Because modern science, something tells me 02:01 they're looking at the little, tiny picture here... Yes 02:04 Yes, they're not looking at the big picture. Right 02:06 You know, we have lots of great technology, 02:08 and lots of things we can do if you're having a heart attack, 02:11 but we don't have as much, you know, we're not focusing 02:14 on the prevention of the disease and we've talked about 02:16 heart attacks before that almost everything that we do 02:19 to prevent heart attacks also treats heart attacks 02:22 if you've had one. Yes 02:23 And that's very important, so we talked about the diagnosis, 02:26 and what I do, the first thing, and I have a lot of people 02:28 that come to me, that they feel well and they say, 02:31 "Listen, I want to do everything I can to lower the risk 02:34 of heart attacks and coronary artery disease 02:37 which is more important because 02:39 that's before you have the heart attack. Right! 02:41 So I assume that when someone comes in, 02:43 that the elephant is in the room 02:45 since it's so common in our society. 02:47 You know, we've talked about the things that lead up to it. 02:50 So I ask them about their genetics. 02:51 I ask them about the food they're eating. 02:54 I ask them about the stress their eating. 02:56 I ask them if they have risk factors like smoking, 03:00 high cholesterol, high blood pressure which are all 03:03 markers of stress and other disease that we've talked about. 03:06 We're leading that elephant around with a leash 03:08 when we're doing these things, it's there with us. Okay 03:11 And I tell them, I say, "If you don't have these things, 03:14 that means things are at least stable, 03:16 but that doesn't mean you don't have the disease. 03:19 And we want to reverse the disease and if you have little 03:21 plaques, we want to change that and stabilize that 03:25 by these simple things, and I really get back 03:27 to the biblical prescriptions. 03:29 We want to eat lots of whole food plant-based diet, 03:32 very important, get fats out of the diet. 03:35 We want to tell people to exercise, be moving. 03:38 And you know, one interesting thing is that you don't have to 03:41 necessarily have an exercise program, 03:42 but if you can get out of your seat every hour, 03:45 and at least walk around, there's some benefit. Sure! 03:47 Because we were never made to sit all day long, 03:50 that puts stress on the body, the blood doesn't flow 03:52 as good - all sorts of stressors happen when we sit all day. 03:55 We were designed to move around. 03:58 So if a person doesn't have symptoms, I focus them 04:00 on those type of things, and then we talk about stress. 04:03 You know, a lot of people have stress that 04:05 they don't even know about. 04:07 The stress that comes from not drinking enough water. 04:09 The stress that comes from chronic pain. 04:12 The stress that comes from having guilt. 04:14 From having all these things in our life, 04:16 or worry about things, you know. 04:18 All of these things cause the stress chemistry to go up 04:22 that increases your risk of having heart problems. 04:24 Make the connections there, make sure we understand that. 04:25 Stress, guilt, fear - what is it doing physically to you, 04:31 and notice that I'm doing this with my hand 04:32 because I've listened to you before. 04:34 Well, we weren't made to have these things in our lives, 04:38 and as we do this, it turns on the stress chemistry. 04:41 And we don't understand fully the stress chemistry, 04:44 but chemicals like adrenalin, Norepinephrine, cortisol, 04:48 the cytokines, all these negative things that are 04:51 great if a train is bearing down on us 04:53 and we have to move quick, but stress chemical long-term 04:57 day-in, day-out, year-in, year-out, if we can't control 05:00 that stress chemistry, if we don't balance it out 05:03 by something we do, then guess what? 05:05 It can cause problems as well. 05:07 It's constricting. It can constrict, it can cause 05:09 inflammation in the blood vessels. 05:11 It can lead us to other habits, 05:13 and we're just understanding little bits about 05:15 how our society and the way we live damages. 05:18 Did you know that I can make the argument that too much 05:21 media raises the risk of you having coronary disease. 05:24 I can believe that... I watch the news every once 05:26 in a while - I can't take very much of that. 05:28 Yeah, we were never designed to see 10,000 people killed. 05:31 We were never designed to live other people's lives. 05:34 We were designed to be creative and not to be entertained, 05:37 and as we do these things, 05:39 there are chemical changes in our body. 05:40 Why do we want to watch these reality programs 05:43 where people are just mad at each other and angry, 05:47 and vengeful, and crying, and doing... 05:51 Why do we want to watch that kind of stuff 05:53 because we have an emotional attachment to what's going on, 05:56 and we have some of the same problems, 05:58 inside of us, that they have when they have 06:00 the actual problem going on, we're just observers. 06:02 Well, the marketing is pretty slick, Charles. 06:05 They say this is the coolest thing to market, 06:07 and before long it becomes a habit. 06:09 Why can't we see a show where people just love each other, 06:11 and are kind to each other, and are nice to each other. 06:13 Why can't we just do that? 06:14 Oh wait a minute, that's supposed to be our lives. 06:16 We're supposed to be that movie. 06:18 We're supposed to be that reality program. 06:19 And I really think a lot of our system, in coronary disease, 06:23 is not doing necessarily what is right, 06:26 but doing what's the easiest, 06:28 and things that can make some money. 06:30 You know, and those types of elements are out there 06:32 and if you're being honest about things, 06:35 you have to admit in coronary disease, we're not fixing the 06:39 problem, we're just treating the symptoms. 06:41 So, the first thing I do when I talk to someone that comes in is 06:44 I look at all these other stressors. 06:46 Then the next thing I want to do is, I want to know 06:47 if they're having active symptoms of disease. 06:50 And I can just ask them the questions... 06:52 "When you walk up a hill, are you having a funny feeling 06:55 above your waist that normally shouldn't be there, 06:57 and does it go away when you stop?" 06:59 Because, remember, heart messes up when it is doing things, 07:04 and if it does pretty good, I could say, 07:05 "Well maybe you don't have active symptoms, 07:07 so we just can work on these other factors." 07:10 If they're having active symptoms or I can't tell, 07:13 then it's time for more testing. and a lot of people 07:15 will come in and say, "Yeah, I have some pain, 07:17 sometimes it's walking, sometimes it's not. 07:19 I have a funny feeling here, a funny..." 07:20 I said, "Well, I can't really tell, let's do some testing." 07:24 And there are different types of tests that we can do. 07:26 We can do an EKG and that gives me some information. 07:28 We can walk you on a treadmill, and we can look at the EKG. 07:32 We can look at some imaging. 07:33 In some cases, I can do an angiogram. 07:37 We actually put a dye inside the arteries to see if there is 07:40 bad blockages. 07:41 Nowadays, we can look at CAT scans 07:43 to tell if people have certain disease in their body. 07:45 So we have lots of ways to see if we have active disease. 07:49 And if we do have active disease, 07:52 we have lots of modern medicine techniques to help the symptoms. 07:56 And, you know, we have stents, we have bypasses, 07:59 we have lots of medicines, but our goal as a society 08:02 should not be putting out the fire; 08:04 our goal should be not letting 08:06 the fire start in the first place. 08:08 That should be our goal and that's I want to 08:10 emphasize right now. 08:11 So if we're stable in our hearts, 08:13 we want to keep it that way. 08:15 So that's some of the ways we diagnose, 08:17 and that's sort of my approach when they come into the office. 08:19 And I love it when a patient is coming in just because 08:22 they want to learn more about the heart; 08:24 when they want to learn more about these hidden stressors, 08:27 and I think that we can make some logical conclusions 08:31 of all these things and there's evidence now there 08:33 that all these many factors contribute to coronary disease. 08:36 It's just not one thing. 08:37 Everyone... "Well it's only diabetes." 08:39 Well no, diabetes damages the blood vessels 08:41 through the chemicals, the insulin, the glucose, 08:43 but it's not the sole cause. 08:45 High blood pressure - yes, that damages the artery, 08:47 but the key thing is... well, what causes diabetes? 08:50 What causes hypertension? What causes high cholesterol? 08:54 You know and it all comes back down to - genetics, 08:57 the things we put in the body, the stress we have, 09:00 and how it works with out genetics. 09:02 It comes back to the same themes, Charles, 09:04 and I think that's very, very interesting. 09:06 That is very important and I like what you're saying here 09:08 because you're telling us that in spite of the fact that 09:12 we have genetics, in spite of the fact that we've done 09:14 something bad to our body and in spite of the fact 09:16 that we've had a bad diet, it's not too late. 09:19 If we're alive and breathing, it's not too late, 09:21 and we can make some changes and we could bring about 09:24 healing into our lives, but we have to be careful 09:26 how we do that and realize that some of areas 09:29 that modern medicine is telling us, doesn't bring us to healing. 09:31 It gets us through the day. 09:33 Yeah, and you know what's so important about 09:35 talking about it since this is one of the leading causes 09:37 of death in the world, you know, we can help save someone's life. 09:40 We can help improve someone's life, 09:42 but the principles that treat vascular disease, 09:44 coronary disease treats other diseases as well. Yeah 09:47 These same principles help deal 09:48 with mental illnesses, treats diabetes. 09:51 These same principles that we've 09:52 talked about preventing heart disease helps prevent cancer; 09:55 helps prevent inflammation in the body, 09:57 and we can see the symmetry and how God had it all planned. 10:00 You know and it's just so remarkable these things that 10:03 affect the entire chemistry can help the entire body, 10:06 and it's just not about silver bullets. 10:08 Now, here's a question for Heartwise Ministries... 10:11 Men and women are different and I'm so glad they are. 10:14 "Men and women are different and why are men and women 10:17 heart diseases so different?" 10:18 Are they different and how? 10:19 I mean, this person must know that they are. 10:21 Yeah, women and men have different symptoms 10:24 of heart disease and it's because 10:25 we are designed differently. 10:27 The women's brains are differently than the 10:29 men's brain and the anatomy is different. 10:31 Even though we have the same parts, 10:33 it's the composition in the parts. 10:34 You know, they have more certain chemicals than we do, 10:37 and we have more testosterone, they have more estrogens. 10:40 Our brains are worked differently. 10:42 You know, they have one side of the brain that's more 10:44 developed than the other side, and as an effect of this, 10:46 the anatomy is also different, and the way they feel 10:50 things are different. 10:51 A woman's symptoms tend to be what we call "atypical." 10:55 It's because of the anatomy, the chemicals, 10:59 and they might come in more short of breath 11:00 rather than having chest pain. 11:02 They might have different symptoms. 11:03 Their arteries tend to be smaller. 11:05 So their arteries we can't... the traditional treatments 11:09 sometimes it doesn't work on a woman as much as a man. 11:12 So women have to be very attuned to their bodies, 11:15 and unfortunately, most of the studies that have been done 11:18 have been done on men and not women. 11:21 Are short people's arteries shorter than tall people? 11:23 Not necessarily Charles. Okay, just wondering about that. 11:26 Elephants have bigger arteries though. 11:28 We talked about the elephant in the room. 11:31 If you are an elephant ignore us. 11:32 But Charles, getting back to the women... 11:34 You know, so women not only have not been included 11:37 in the studies where we get all of our data, 11:39 but a lot of women are being treated by men, 11:42 and men don't listen very well for symptoms. 11:45 You know... "Ahh, she's complaining of everything 11:47 in the world, I don't know." 11:48 But they have to be very attuned. Yes 11:50 Women have heart disease at high rates because 11:52 they have some of the same problems men do. 11:54 We want to intervene early, so if you're a woman 11:57 out there and you're having some type of symptom 11:59 that you can't explain, especially if it's 12:01 above the waist, especially if it gets worse 12:03 when you do something, get to see somebody 12:06 that can have that evaluated because that might be 12:08 a symptom of coronary disease that is active. 12:11 And that's very important, but there's a big difference 12:14 and there's a big bias, I think, in the literature 12:17 because we haven't done all the study on women. 12:19 Men are treating women and not women. 12:21 I think women cardiologists are much more attuned to a woman 12:24 than a man because we think, we feel... 12:27 Have you heard about that book "Women Are From Venus, 12:30 and Men Are From Mars?" Yes 12:31 There are big differences in us and there are 12:33 differences in our health. 12:34 There is a difference in our chemical compositions, 12:37 and these have to be adjusted for, 12:39 not only in our studies, but how we evaluate. 12:41 In a woman, I'm very serious about taking them 12:45 seriously about their complaints, 12:47 listening to them the best I can. 12:49 I think women are better listeners 12:50 than men, Chares, but you're a pretty good listener. 12:52 Well thank you very much! 12:54 I guess what I'm trying to say is... 12:56 If you're talking to a woman in your office, 12:58 what do you say different? 12:59 I mean, how do you approach that different? 13:01 Well, you know, it's multi... I will listen and I will 13:04 listen to them, I will lead them. 13:06 I'll say, "Listen, you know, do you have anything funny 13:08 that happens when you do things? 13:09 And if the answer is "yes," even though it doesn't 13:11 quite sound like... And it may be different 13:12 from what happens to a man. Okay 13:14 I'll investigate it a little bit more. 13:16 I won't let something go without investigating it. 13:19 If she thinks it's important, I think it's important, 13:21 and then, of course, do all these other things 13:23 to lower the risk that we've already talked about. 13:25 What about someone, and here's a question from 13:27 heartwiseministries.org 13:28 "How do you make the diagnosis of heart attack? 13:31 I had a pain that felt like a heart attack last year." 13:36 They were walking along and all of a sudden, "Ooo," 13:37 there must have been some kind of pain there. 13:39 The elephant tapped them on the shoulder, 13:41 I guess... Is that a heart attack for sure? 13:44 That's going to be a long 13:45 question Charles, and I think I'm going to have 13:47 to tackle that one after our break. 13:48 Okay, let's do that when we come back. 13:50 Well first of all, go to the 13:51 Ultimate Prescription, the Bible and then we'll tackle 13:54 these questions on our return, so stay tuned. |
Revised 2016-01-14