Welcome back to the program, I'm Charles Mills 00:00:01.36\00:00:02.70 here with board certified cardiologist, Dr. James Marcum, 00:00:02.73\00:00:05.10 and we're talking about heart disease here. 00:00:05.13\00:00:07.10 And this is a very, very important topic... 00:00:07.14\00:00:09.07 So important that God has given us a prescription 00:00:09.10\00:00:13.21 for it right in the Bible; a number of them, 00:00:13.24\00:00:15.91 but one of them we want to talk about today. 00:00:15.94\00:00:17.78 And we'll put that up on the screen for you. 00:00:17.81\00:00:19.41 Here is the Bible text, this is John 13:34, 00:00:19.45\00:00:22.78 and here's what it says: 00:00:22.82\00:00:24.55 ... that's John 13:34 00:00:31.89\00:00:33.23 Dr. Marcum, amazing a prescription for heart disease 00:00:33.26\00:00:36.26 right there in my favorite book of the Bible, "John." 00:00:36.30\00:00:38.90 Yeah, and people that love each other and put other interests 00:00:38.93\00:00:43.10 above their own, become less selfish. 00:00:43.14\00:00:45.34 Of course when you do that... 00:00:45.37\00:00:46.94 You know if you think of the brain, 00:00:46.98\00:00:48.94 the selfish part of the brain makes all the stress chemicals 00:00:48.98\00:00:51.75 because I want to stay alive. 00:00:51.78\00:00:53.11 So when you're under stress... Me, me, I, I, yes, okay. 00:00:53.15\00:00:55.98 Yeah, but when you move up to the higher part of the brains, 00:00:56.02\00:00:58.22 we love each other, the part of the brain called the 00:00:58.25\00:01:01.96 anterior cingulate cortex, that develops as we worship, 00:01:01.99\00:01:05.63 as we love each other it can get bigger, 00:01:05.66\00:01:07.50 turns down our stress chemistry. 00:01:07.53\00:01:09.53 Can make a chemical called, "endorphins" that makes us 00:01:09.56\00:01:12.73 feel good... you know, you're in love Charles. Absolutely! 00:01:12.77\00:01:17.01 And you know what it feels like... 00:01:17.04\00:01:18.91 You're going to come back after a long trip, 00:01:18.94\00:01:20.38 you see your loved one and you realize your love one, 00:01:20.41\00:01:22.54 there's that good feeling that you have... 00:01:22.58\00:01:24.75 Well there's a chemical reason for that and that reaches 00:01:24.78\00:01:28.95 throughout the entire body. 00:01:28.98\00:01:30.49 So when someone has love in their life, true love, 00:01:30.52\00:01:33.72 that affects the entire chemistry of the body 00:01:33.76\00:01:36.56 for the good in ways we can't even understand. 00:01:36.59\00:01:40.13 But likewise, the opposite of love, selfishness, 00:01:40.16\00:01:43.83 that affects the entire chemistry of the body 00:01:43.87\00:01:46.17 for ways that we can't understand for the bad. 00:01:46.20\00:01:50.74 That was a great text, Charles, that love is a treatment for 00:01:50.77\00:01:54.94 lowering your risk of having a heart attack, 00:01:54.98\00:01:57.01 and lots of other things as well. 00:01:57.05\00:01:58.41 So if someone came to you with heart disease, 00:01:58.45\00:02:00.85 you may give them a prescription for love; 00:02:00.88\00:02:02.65 go home and love your family; 00:02:02.68\00:02:04.05 go home and love your neighbors; go home and love your... 00:02:04.09\00:02:05.85 Yeah, I would try and move them in that direction 00:02:05.92\00:02:08.09 slow but sure and I say, you know, 00:02:08.12\00:02:11.19 "What are you doing for fun?" 00:02:11.23\00:02:12.66 "Are you happy, what do you do to make yourself happy?" 00:02:12.69\00:02:15.86 And if they start saying that they serve other people, 00:02:15.90\00:02:18.23 that they help other people out, 00:02:18.27\00:02:19.60 I know they already have it. 00:02:19.63\00:02:20.97 But if someone says, "Well, I don't know what I do," 00:02:21.00\00:02:23.37 I say, "Well, what do you enjoy doing?" 00:02:23.41\00:02:25.51 "Where do you spend your time?" 00:02:25.54\00:02:26.88 I can usually tell when I ask someone "where they 00:02:26.91\00:02:29.38 spend their time," whether they have love in their life. 00:02:29.41\00:02:32.35 But you know what, in our world, there's a lot of "artificial 00:02:32.38\00:02:36.15 love and it's not that true love that only we can get from 00:02:36.18\00:02:39.95 understanding what God has, and that's a word 00:02:39.99\00:02:42.72 that people, I think, will learn about that word "love," 00:02:42.76\00:02:46.63 that guiding principle of the universe forever. 00:02:46.66\00:02:50.10 But love is so important for the treatment of our bodies. 00:02:50.13\00:02:54.44 All right, very good... Okay, so more questions 00:02:54.47\00:02:57.34 here from heartwiseministries.org 00:02:57.37\00:02:59.34 We invite you to send your questions there. 00:02:59.37\00:03:01.14 We like to address them right here on the program. 00:03:01.18\00:03:03.11 heartwiseministries.org 00:03:03.14\00:03:05.05 "What are the medications called, 00:03:05.08\00:03:10.02 "statins," and are they beneficial?" 00:03:10.05\00:03:12.45 I've even heard people say, "Because we have so much 00:03:12.49\00:03:15.32 heart disease, let's put statins in the water supply." 00:03:15.36\00:03:19.19 I've been hearing that for years. My! 00:03:19.23\00:03:21.40 But statins are a medicine which blocks an enzyme called, 00:03:21.43\00:03:25.03 "HMG-CoA reductase." 00:03:25.07\00:03:26.90 It's an inhibitor of that enzyme and that enzyme 00:03:26.94\00:03:29.67 is used to make cholesterol and it specifically lowers the 00:03:29.70\00:03:32.87 bad cholesterol which is called the "LDL" which stands for 00:03:32.91\00:03:36.28 "low density lipoprotein," "lipo" meaning fat, 00:03:36.31\00:03:40.72 protein-fat together. 00:03:40.78\00:03:42.95 So we showed studies that people 00:03:42.98\00:03:45.19 that have that below a certain level tend to do better. 00:03:45.22\00:03:48.52 But as we've talked about previously, 00:03:48.56\00:03:50.06 cardiovascular disease isn't just one chemical pathway. 00:03:50.09\00:03:52.99 So some people that are in high risk groups, 00:03:53.03\00:03:56.50 I do think they'd benefit from being on a statin 00:03:56.53\00:03:59.53 as long as they're not having a side effect, 00:03:59.57\00:04:02.20 and one of the side effects is muscle aches... 00:04:02.24\00:04:04.81 We call that "myositis." 00:04:04.84\00:04:06.88 Another side effect is a side effect in the liver, 00:04:06.91\00:04:09.54 and another side effect that people don't think about 00:04:09.58\00:04:12.51 that I include is - Does this disrupt your belief system? 00:04:12.55\00:04:17.09 Yes, some people they take a statin and it disrupts their 00:04:17.12\00:04:20.39 belief... they don't believe they should take medicines. 00:04:20.42\00:04:23.66 And it causes so much stress because they have to 00:04:23.69\00:04:26.56 take the medicine, that stress is probably more dangerous 00:04:26.59\00:04:29.63 to them that actually taking the medicine. 00:04:29.66\00:04:32.00 So if someone is going to be all worried and scared to death 00:04:32.03\00:04:34.30 that the statin might cause a side effect that might 00:04:34.34\00:04:36.94 take away the benefit that statin might have, 00:04:36.97\00:04:39.41 and I do run into that occasionally. 00:04:39.44\00:04:41.04 But if someone that I think is high risk, 00:04:41.08\00:04:43.41 I tell them the studies that statins can reverse it, 00:04:43.45\00:04:46.05 and I think it would benefit in you, it helps inflammation, 00:04:46.08\00:04:48.92 makes them more stable... until maybe we can do some 00:04:48.95\00:04:51.79 other things that might lower your risk adequately. 00:04:51.82\00:04:54.46 But if you have a side effect, or you think 00:04:54.49\00:04:56.52 you're going to be scared to death of it, 00:04:56.56\00:04:58.16 then it might not be worth taking. 00:04:58.19\00:05:00.56 But I use statins every day safely. 00:05:00.60\00:05:03.67 A lot of people... You prescribe statins every day. 00:05:03.70\00:05:05.83 Yes and I use them on different patients, 00:05:05.87\00:05:08.27 but those are patients that are high risk that have blockages, 00:05:08.30\00:05:11.31 and those patients - you really need to take statins, 00:05:11.34\00:05:13.94 whether it needs to be in the blood supply, you know, 00:05:13.98\00:05:17.11 ... The water supply? Yeah.. the blood supply... 00:05:17.15\00:05:19.51 Well, it ends up in the blood, but whether that needs to be 00:05:19.55\00:05:22.62 done, it sort of doesn't make sense to me because 00:05:22.65\00:05:25.49 we're given a statin that's going to lower a little bit of 00:05:25.52\00:05:28.29 risk so people can do whatever they want. 00:05:28.32\00:05:30.16 But there are alternatives also. Yes 00:05:30.19\00:05:32.09 That's the thing, why have all those risks 00:05:32.13\00:05:34.60 when there are alternatives. 00:05:34.63\00:05:35.96 And the problem is, Charles, is people think that I can 00:05:36.00\00:05:38.87 do whatever I want and the medicine will take care of it, 00:05:38.90\00:05:41.70 and that's the wrong attitude. 00:05:41.74\00:05:44.21 And lots of people can lower their cholesterol level 00:05:44.24\00:05:47.21 by not eating animals; you know, eating fresh fruits, 00:05:47.24\00:05:50.88 vegetables, nuts and grains; by exercising. 00:05:50.91\00:05:53.58 There are certain things that can help naturally to 00:05:53.62\00:05:56.12 lower cholesterol as well. 00:05:56.15\00:05:57.85 So there are many other ways to do it; statin is one of them, 00:05:57.89\00:06:00.69 and that's when I think they are beneficial. 00:06:00.72\00:06:02.76 Now what if I have a person that is smoking, 00:06:02.79\00:06:05.03 and he won't change his diet; he's stressed out and he says, 00:06:05.06\00:06:08.60 "I'm not interested in changing any of that." 00:06:08.63\00:06:10.63 Well then that's a person, I'd say, "Well listen, 00:06:10.67\00:06:13.44 You're a healer, you've got to give him what he has to get. 00:06:13.47\00:06:15.20 "Are you not interested in doing that?" 00:06:15.24\00:06:17.07 "Well maybe the statin will help lower your risk a little bit, 00:06:17.11\00:06:20.28 but doing these other things will lower it this much." 00:06:20.31\00:06:22.88 So you gotta love people and not judge them 00:06:22.91\00:06:25.88 and work with them as they are, give them the information, 00:06:25.91\00:06:29.42 and then sort of let them choose once they have full information. 00:06:29.45\00:06:33.19 Because don't studies show that a lot of people 00:06:33.22\00:06:34.86 that have heart attacks have perfectly good numbers? Yes 00:06:34.89\00:06:37.83 Because they've been artificially 00:06:37.86\00:06:39.29 lowered by the use of statins. Yes 00:06:39.33\00:06:41.03 Yes, it's more than numbers, this is a very complex disease. 00:06:41.06\00:06:44.37 Wow, okay... So did that answer that 00:06:44.40\00:06:46.63 question properly? Yes you did. 00:06:46.67\00:06:48.00 Charles, you know, before we go on, you know what this is. 00:06:48.04\00:06:50.87 That is a stethoscope... And I want you to put that 00:06:50.91\00:06:52.97 in your ears here, Charles. 00:06:53.01\00:06:54.34 All right. No, it goes the other way. Okay. 00:06:54.38\00:06:57.01 I have weird ears. Okay. 00:06:57.05\00:06:59.75 This hurts. "Hello Charles." 00:06:59.78\00:07:01.72 Oh, like on the radio... Can you hear me? I can... Okay 00:07:01.75\00:07:03.75 Well I'm going to move here to the center, 00:07:03.79\00:07:05.75 and let you listen to my heart here. Okay 00:07:05.79\00:07:07.62 You can stop me if you can hear it. Okay 00:07:07.66\00:07:09.39 I wore my scrubs here. 00:07:09.42\00:07:11.63 He's alive! Yeah 00:07:13.83\00:07:15.53 Did you hear that? I did. Okay 00:07:15.56\00:07:17.37 This is a stethoscope and this is 00:07:17.40\00:07:19.60 what I use to hear inside the heart. 00:07:19.63\00:07:22.47 But I think it's very valuable for all of our... 00:07:23.67\00:07:27.61 Charles... you're getting... I was just checking. 00:07:27.64\00:07:30.15 Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah 00:07:30.18\00:07:33.75 I shouldn't bring these toys for you. I know, I love them. 00:07:33.78\00:07:36.95 I think it's very useful to listen to people's hearts. 00:07:36.99\00:07:41.99 But that's why, you know, there are people out there 00:07:42.02\00:07:44.33 that we want to listen to your heart today, 00:07:44.36\00:07:46.39 and what is your heart telling you about cardiovascular 00:07:46.43\00:07:49.63 disease and your relationship with God and all these things. 00:07:49.66\00:07:52.20 You have to listen to who you are and sometimes 00:07:52.23\00:07:55.30 I'm afraid that we get so busy with life, 00:07:55.34\00:07:58.97 that we don't take a chance to slow down to listen. 00:07:59.01\00:08:02.51 You know, to listen to see what 00:08:02.54\00:08:03.95 God is telling us about our health. 00:08:03.98\00:08:06.61 And God is telling us, like your text, 00:08:06.65\00:08:09.08 God is telling us a lot of things about our health 00:08:09.12\00:08:11.49 from the biblical teachings as well as from modern medicine, 00:08:11.52\00:08:15.16 but we have to be careful with all that we bring in. 00:08:15.19\00:08:17.76 But God will help us as we listen to Him 00:08:17.79\00:08:20.20 sort of guide us along these pathways and help us 00:08:20.23\00:08:23.06 live a life where we don't have to be scared 00:08:23.10\00:08:24.87 and worried about disease all the time, 00:08:24.90\00:08:26.97 and we can be proactive, we can be our best physicians 00:08:27.00\00:08:30.14 as God teaches us how to take care of ourselves, 00:08:30.17\00:08:32.51 and when to use medicine. 00:08:32.54\00:08:34.21 This is a stethoscope - this is a way for us to listen 00:08:34.24\00:08:38.01 to our lives, the Bible is a way for us to read in here and say, 00:08:38.05\00:08:41.18 "How am I doing here? How do I match up to this? 00:08:41.22\00:08:44.72 How do I follow this? Am I doing what this says?" 00:08:44.75\00:08:49.59 If you're not doing what this says, 00:08:49.62\00:08:51.06 it's just as telltale as the stethoscope that shows 00:08:51.09\00:08:53.83 that something is wrong with your heart. 00:08:53.86\00:08:55.20 Yeah, and when we read this, we want to know that we're alive. 00:08:55.23\00:08:58.10 Oh my, yes. You know, we have life, 00:08:58.13\00:08:59.97 and people that have love have life. 00:09:00.00\00:09:03.10 People that don't have love and don't have God, 00:09:03.14\00:09:05.67 I really don't know - is that really life? I don't know. 00:09:05.71\00:09:08.81 They're alive, I don't think they have a life. 00:09:08.84\00:09:10.68 I think that something is very...It's very interesting. 00:09:10.71\00:09:12.38 Let's go to some more questions. All right 00:09:12.41\00:09:13.75 "Does everyone with coronary disease need an aspirin?" 00:09:13.78\00:09:20.29 Now this has been around a long time. 00:09:20.32\00:09:21.66 They take the aspirin... what is it supposed to 00:09:21.69\00:09:23.26 do to you and is it a good idea? 00:09:23.29\00:09:24.63 Well aspirins, especially if you're having a heart attack, 00:09:24.66\00:09:28.06 you chew one up - it blocks the formation of platelets 00:09:28.10\00:09:31.77 which cause that clot. 00:09:31.80\00:09:33.13 So if you're having a heart attack, it's very useful. 00:09:33.17\00:09:35.77 Most people that had a heart attack, 00:09:35.80\00:09:38.97 that means they are at a high risk 00:09:39.01\00:09:40.58 of having arterial problems. 00:09:40.61\00:09:42.51 If they've had a heart attack, they're at risk. 00:09:42.54\00:09:44.48 Yes, they're at high risk. 00:09:44.51\00:09:46.11 So almost everyone that has coronary disease, 00:09:46.15\00:09:48.98 the risk of taking an aspirin is worth it. 00:09:49.02\00:09:52.02 Now there are some side effects to aspirin, 00:09:52.05\00:09:54.26 and the most common ones is bleeding. 00:09:54.29\00:09:56.56 And if they are a high bleeding risk, 00:09:56.59\00:09:58.29 the risk might not be worth it. 00:09:58.33\00:10:00.13 But I tell people that if you've had a heart attack, 00:10:00.16\00:10:02.90 if you have unstable coronary disease, 00:10:02.93\00:10:05.03 I think the risk of an aspirin is worth it in help 00:10:05.07\00:10:08.27 keeping the blood thin so you don't have clots. 00:10:08.30\00:10:11.57 Now, are there other ways to keep the blood thin too? Yeah 00:10:11.61\00:10:14.88 Yes there are, one of the best ways is make sure 00:10:14.91\00:10:17.65 you're hydrated. 00:10:17.68\00:10:19.15 Keeping stress out of the life helps keep the blood thinner. 00:10:19.18\00:10:23.59 But aspirin is sort of a time-proven element 00:10:23.62\00:10:26.99 and really the risks of it are pretty small 00:10:27.02\00:10:29.96 as long as you keep an eye on your bowel movements, 00:10:29.99\00:10:32.03 make sure they are not coming out black, 00:10:32.06\00:10:33.83 making sure you're not having stomach problems. 00:10:33.86\00:10:35.86 Almost every one of my patients that have coronary disease 00:10:35.90\00:10:38.80 I recommend them have an aspirin, 00:10:38.83\00:10:41.00 unless they have side effects or a strong belief system 00:10:41.04\00:10:44.37 which goes to the contrary. 00:10:44.41\00:10:45.87 You wouldn't want to have someone on 00:10:45.91\00:10:47.24 aspirin and a blood thinner apparently. 00:10:47.28\00:10:49.01 I do, and some people that are so high risk, 00:10:49.04\00:10:51.01 I have them on 3 blood thinners at a time. That's scary! 00:10:51.05\00:10:53.82 Because they are that high of 00:10:53.85\00:10:55.18 risk of having a heart attack, stroke or blood clot. Oh my 00:10:55.22\00:10:58.12 And you always have to weigh, 00:10:58.15\00:10:59.49 well which is the riskiest thing... 00:10:59.52\00:11:00.89 having a heart attack or having a side effect of an aspirin. 00:11:00.92\00:11:04.49 So a lot of my patients are on aspirin. 00:11:04.53\00:11:06.73 Okay, I think we have time for one more question here. 00:11:06.76\00:11:08.90 "I came home from the hospital with 4 prescriptions, 00:11:08.93\00:11:11.50 do I really need these?" 00:11:11.53\00:11:12.87 Four prescriptions, new ones it says. 00:11:12.90\00:11:14.77 Yeah, medicines can help stabilize the heart, 00:11:14.80\00:11:19.57 and a lot of times, the heart needs to rest so it can heal. 00:11:19.61\00:11:22.68 A lot of the medicines we have decrease the workload 00:11:22.71\00:11:25.51 of the heart, either slowing it down, lowering the 00:11:25.55\00:11:27.75 blood pressure, helping the heart get more. 00:11:27.78\00:11:30.59 Some people do need medications. 00:11:30.62\00:11:32.55 But in people that I have, that can let the heart rest, 00:11:32.59\00:11:36.46 let it heal, do these other things to change 00:11:36.49\00:11:38.49 their chemistry, sometimes I can get them off 00:11:38.53\00:11:41.93 the medication in time. 00:11:41.96\00:11:43.37 But it really takes a person that wants to do some 00:11:43.40\00:11:46.07 other things to change the chemistry of entire body, 00:11:46.10\00:11:48.77 so I can get them off of these specific medication. 00:11:48.80\00:11:52.17 We need to make a decision of whether we want to 00:11:52.21\00:11:53.84 go God's way or the artificial way. 00:11:53.88\00:11:57.05 And you know, coronary disease 00:11:57.08\00:11:58.58 is a disease that can be reversed 00:11:58.61\00:12:00.95 if we can get back to some of the principles we talked about. 00:12:00.98\00:12:03.39 It can actually be backed up, you can back away from it. 00:12:03.42\00:12:05.42 Yes and at least we can make it more simple 00:12:05.45\00:12:07.16 because all the things we talked about 00:12:07.19\00:12:08.56 is not only a way to prevent, 00:12:08.59\00:12:09.92 but it's also a way to treat disease. 00:12:09.96\00:12:11.59 And reverse... I love that word 00:12:11.63\00:12:13.16 "reverse," you can back out of it. 00:12:13.19\00:12:14.66 When we come back, one of the best prescriptions 00:12:14.70\00:12:17.43 I know for any kind of ailment for the human person 00:12:17.47\00:12:20.20 is communication with the God of love, 00:12:20.24\00:12:22.64 the God who invented it, the source of all 00:12:22.67\00:12:24.31 information and we'll talk to Him on our return, 00:12:24.34\00:12:26.44 so stay right where you are. 00:12:26.47\00:12:28.01 You know, I use the stethoscope every day to listen to 00:12:35.08\00:12:38.25 people's hearts and, you know, I could see that Charles 00:12:38.29\00:12:40.89 really loved listening to his heart, 00:12:40.92\00:12:42.66 But we have a Friend that wants to listen to our hearts. 00:12:42.69\00:12:48.13 We're going to talk to Him right now, let's bow our heads... 00:12:48.16\00:12:50.83 Heavenly Father... There are many of us out there that 00:12:50.87\00:12:54.50 have needs and wants and hurts and are in the need of healing 00:12:54.54\00:12:58.97 both physically and spiritually. 00:12:59.01\00:13:01.44 We want to thank you for listening to our prayers 00:13:01.48\00:13:05.31 and giving us a plan... Amen 00:13:05.35\00:13:09.22 I want to thank you for being with us, 00:13:09.25\00:13:12.12 and if you have questions that we didn't address, 00:13:12.15\00:13:14.26 these subjects are very complex, go to our website that's 00:13:14.29\00:13:18.03 heartwiseministries.org 00:13:18.06\00:13:20.36 There is a lot of other health information you can get there. 00:13:20.40\00:13:23.60 And, share this information with your friends. 00:13:23.63\00:13:26.37 Let them know that you want to be part of their life, 00:13:26.40\00:13:28.80 and you want to serve them by teaching them about their hearts 00:13:28.84\00:13:31.81 and more importantly, realize that there's Someone 00:13:31.84\00:13:34.04 who will listen to their hearts. 00:13:34.08\00:13:35.41