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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000057B
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00:01 Welcome back to the program, I'm Charles Mills
00:02 here with board certified cardiologist, Dr. James Marcum, 00:05 and we're talking about heart disease here. 00:07 And this is a very, very important topic... 00:09 So important that God has given us a prescription 00:13 for it right in the Bible; a number of them, 00:15 but one of them we want to talk about today. 00:17 And we'll put that up on the screen for you. 00:19 Here is the Bible text, this is John 13:34, 00:22 and here's what it says: 00:31 ... that's John 13:34 00:33 Dr. Marcum, amazing a prescription for heart disease 00:36 right there in my favorite book of the Bible, "John." 00:38 Yeah, and people that love each other and put other interests 00:43 above their own, become less selfish. 00:45 Of course when you do that... 00:46 You know if you think of the brain, 00:48 the selfish part of the brain makes all the stress chemicals 00:51 because I want to stay alive. 00:53 So when you're under stress... Me, me, I, I, yes, okay. 00:56 Yeah, but when you move up to the higher part of the brains, 00:58 we love each other, the part of the brain called the 01:01 anterior cingulate cortex, that develops as we worship, 01:05 as we love each other it can get bigger, 01:07 turns down our stress chemistry. 01:09 Can make a chemical called, "endorphins" that makes us 01:12 feel good... you know, you're in love Charles. Absolutely! 01:17 And you know what it feels like... 01:18 You're going to come back after a long trip, 01:20 you see your loved one and you realize your love one, 01:22 there's that good feeling that you have... 01:24 Well there's a chemical reason for that and that reaches 01:28 throughout the entire body. 01:30 So when someone has love in their life, true love, 01:33 that affects the entire chemistry of the body 01:36 for the good in ways we can't even understand. 01:40 But likewise, the opposite of love, selfishness, 01:43 that affects the entire chemistry of the body 01:46 for ways that we can't understand for the bad. 01:50 That was a great text, Charles, that love is a treatment for 01:54 lowering your risk of having a heart attack, 01:57 and lots of other things as well. 01:58 So if someone came to you with heart disease, 02:00 you may give them a prescription for love; 02:02 go home and love your family; 02:04 go home and love your neighbors; go home and love your... 02:05 Yeah, I would try and move them in that direction 02:08 slow but sure and I say, you know, 02:11 "What are you doing for fun?" 02:12 "Are you happy, what do you do to make yourself happy?" 02:15 And if they start saying that they serve other people, 02:18 that they help other people out, 02:19 I know they already have it. 02:21 But if someone says, "Well, I don't know what I do," 02:23 I say, "Well, what do you enjoy doing?" 02:25 "Where do you spend your time?" 02:26 I can usually tell when I ask someone "where they 02:29 spend their time," whether they have love in their life. 02:32 But you know what, in our world, there's a lot of "artificial 02:36 love and it's not that true love that only we can get from 02:39 understanding what God has, and that's a word 02:42 that people, I think, will learn about that word "love," 02:46 that guiding principle of the universe forever. 02:50 But love is so important for the treatment of our bodies. 02:54 All right, very good... Okay, so more questions 02:57 here from heartwiseministries.org 02:59 We invite you to send your questions there. 03:01 We like to address them right here on the program. 03:03 heartwiseministries.org 03:05 "What are the medications called, 03:10 "statins," and are they beneficial?" 03:12 I've even heard people say, "Because we have so much 03:15 heart disease, let's put statins in the water supply." 03:19 I've been hearing that for years. My! 03:21 But statins are a medicine which blocks an enzyme called, 03:25 "HMG-CoA reductase." 03:26 It's an inhibitor of that enzyme and that enzyme 03:29 is used to make cholesterol and it specifically lowers the 03:32 bad cholesterol which is called the "LDL" which stands for 03:36 "low density lipoprotein," "lipo" meaning fat, 03:40 protein-fat together. 03:42 So we showed studies that people 03:45 that have that below a certain level tend to do better. 03:48 But as we've talked about previously, 03:50 cardiovascular disease isn't just one chemical pathway. 03:53 So some people that are in high risk groups, 03:56 I do think they'd benefit from being on a statin 03:59 as long as they're not having a side effect, 04:02 and one of the side effects is muscle aches... 04:04 We call that "myositis." 04:06 Another side effect is a side effect in the liver, 04:09 and another side effect that people don't think about 04:12 that I include is - Does this disrupt your belief system? 04:17 Yes, some people they take a statin and it disrupts their 04:20 belief... they don't believe they should take medicines. 04:23 And it causes so much stress because they have to 04:26 take the medicine, that stress is probably more dangerous 04:29 to them that actually taking the medicine. 04:32 So if someone is going to be all worried and scared to death 04:34 that the statin might cause a side effect that might 04:36 take away the benefit that statin might have, 04:39 and I do run into that occasionally. 04:41 But if someone that I think is high risk, 04:43 I tell them the studies that statins can reverse it, 04:46 and I think it would benefit in you, it helps inflammation, 04:48 makes them more stable... until maybe we can do some 04:51 other things that might lower your risk adequately. 04:54 But if you have a side effect, or you think 04:56 you're going to be scared to death of it, 04:58 then it might not be worth taking. 05:00 But I use statins every day safely. 05:03 A lot of people... You prescribe statins every day. 05:05 Yes and I use them on different patients, 05:08 but those are patients that are high risk that have blockages, 05:11 and those patients - you really need to take statins, 05:13 whether it needs to be in the blood supply, you know, 05:17 ... The water supply? Yeah.. the blood supply... 05:19 Well, it ends up in the blood, but whether that needs to be 05:22 done, it sort of doesn't make sense to me because 05:25 we're given a statin that's going to lower a little bit of 05:28 risk so people can do whatever they want. 05:30 But there are alternatives also. Yes 05:32 That's the thing, why have all those risks 05:34 when there are alternatives. 05:36 And the problem is, Charles, is people think that I can 05:38 do whatever I want and the medicine will take care of it, 05:41 and that's the wrong attitude. 05:44 And lots of people can lower their cholesterol level 05:47 by not eating animals; you know, eating fresh fruits, 05:50 vegetables, nuts and grains; by exercising. 05:53 There are certain things that can help naturally to 05:56 lower cholesterol as well. 05:57 So there are many other ways to do it; statin is one of them, 06:00 and that's when I think they are beneficial. 06:02 Now what if I have a person that is smoking, 06:05 and he won't change his diet; he's stressed out and he says, 06:08 "I'm not interested in changing any of that." 06:10 Well then that's a person, I'd say, "Well listen, 06:13 You're a healer, you've got to give him what he has to get. 06:15 "Are you not interested in doing that?" 06:17 "Well maybe the statin will help lower your risk a little bit, 06:20 but doing these other things will lower it this much." 06:22 So you gotta love people and not judge them 06:25 and work with them as they are, give them the information, 06:29 and then sort of let them choose once they have full information. 06:33 Because don't studies show that a lot of people 06:34 that have heart attacks have perfectly good numbers? Yes 06:37 Because they've been artificially 06:39 lowered by the use of statins. Yes 06:41 Yes, it's more than numbers, this is a very complex disease. 06:44 Wow, okay... So did that answer that 06:46 question properly? Yes you did. 06:48 Charles, you know, before we go on, you know what this is. 06:50 That is a stethoscope... And I want you to put that 06:53 in your ears here, Charles. 06:54 All right. No, it goes the other way. Okay. 06:57 I have weird ears. Okay. 06:59 This hurts. "Hello Charles." 07:01 Oh, like on the radio... Can you hear me? I can... Okay 07:03 Well I'm going to move here to the center, 07:05 and let you listen to my heart here. Okay 07:07 You can stop me if you can hear it. Okay 07:09 I wore my scrubs here. 07:13 He's alive! Yeah 07:15 Did you hear that? I did. Okay 07:17 This is a stethoscope and this is 07:19 what I use to hear inside the heart. 07:23 But I think it's very valuable for all of our... 07:27 Charles... you're getting... I was just checking. 07:30 Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah 07:33 I shouldn't bring these toys for you. I know, I love them. 07:36 I think it's very useful to listen to people's hearts. 07:42 But that's why, you know, there are people out there 07:44 that we want to listen to your heart today, 07:46 and what is your heart telling you about cardiovascular 07:49 disease and your relationship with God and all these things. 07:52 You have to listen to who you are and sometimes 07:55 I'm afraid that we get so busy with life, 07:59 that we don't take a chance to slow down to listen. 08:02 You know, to listen to see what 08:03 God is telling us about our health. 08:06 And God is telling us, like your text, 08:09 God is telling us a lot of things about our health 08:11 from the biblical teachings as well as from modern medicine, 08:15 but we have to be careful with all that we bring in. 08:17 But God will help us as we listen to Him 08:20 sort of guide us along these pathways and help us 08:23 live a life where we don't have to be scared 08:24 and worried about disease all the time, 08:27 and we can be proactive, we can be our best physicians 08:30 as God teaches us how to take care of ourselves, 08:32 and when to use medicine. 08:34 This is a stethoscope - this is a way for us to listen 08:38 to our lives, the Bible is a way for us to read in here and say, 08:41 "How am I doing here? How do I match up to this? 08:44 How do I follow this? Am I doing what this says?" 08:49 If you're not doing what this says, 08:51 it's just as telltale as the stethoscope that shows 08:53 that something is wrong with your heart. 08:55 Yeah, and when we read this, we want to know that we're alive. 08:58 Oh my, yes. You know, we have life, 09:00 and people that have love have life. 09:03 People that don't have love and don't have God, 09:05 I really don't know - is that really life? I don't know. 09:08 They're alive, I don't think they have a life. 09:10 I think that something is very...It's very interesting. 09:12 Let's go to some more questions. All right 09:13 "Does everyone with coronary disease need an aspirin?" 09:20 Now this has been around a long time. 09:21 They take the aspirin... what is it supposed to 09:23 do to you and is it a good idea? 09:24 Well aspirins, especially if you're having a heart attack, 09:28 you chew one up - it blocks the formation of platelets 09:31 which cause that clot. 09:33 So if you're having a heart attack, it's very useful. 09:35 Most people that had a heart attack, 09:39 that means they are at a high risk 09:40 of having arterial problems. 09:42 If they've had a heart attack, they're at risk. 09:44 Yes, they're at high risk. 09:46 So almost everyone that has coronary disease, 09:49 the risk of taking an aspirin is worth it. 09:52 Now there are some side effects to aspirin, 09:54 and the most common ones is bleeding. 09:56 And if they are a high bleeding risk, 09:58 the risk might not be worth it. 10:00 But I tell people that if you've had a heart attack, 10:02 if you have unstable coronary disease, 10:05 I think the risk of an aspirin is worth it in help 10:08 keeping the blood thin so you don't have clots. 10:11 Now, are there other ways to keep the blood thin too? Yeah 10:14 Yes there are, one of the best ways is make sure 10:17 you're hydrated. 10:19 Keeping stress out of the life helps keep the blood thinner. 10:23 But aspirin is sort of a time-proven element 10:27 and really the risks of it are pretty small 10:29 as long as you keep an eye on your bowel movements, 10:32 make sure they are not coming out black, 10:33 making sure you're not having stomach problems. 10:35 Almost every one of my patients that have coronary disease 10:38 I recommend them have an aspirin, 10:41 unless they have side effects or a strong belief system 10:44 which goes to the contrary. 10:45 You wouldn't want to have someone on 10:47 aspirin and a blood thinner apparently. 10:49 I do, and some people that are so high risk, 10:51 I have them on 3 blood thinners at a time. That's scary! 10:53 Because they are that high of 10:55 risk of having a heart attack, stroke or blood clot. Oh my 10:58 And you always have to weigh, 10:59 well which is the riskiest thing... 11:00 having a heart attack or having a side effect of an aspirin. 11:04 So a lot of my patients are on aspirin. 11:06 Okay, I think we have time for one more question here. 11:08 "I came home from the hospital with 4 prescriptions, 11:11 do I really need these?" 11:12 Four prescriptions, new ones it says. 11:14 Yeah, medicines can help stabilize the heart, 11:19 and a lot of times, the heart needs to rest so it can heal. 11:22 A lot of the medicines we have decrease the workload 11:25 of the heart, either slowing it down, lowering the 11:27 blood pressure, helping the heart get more. 11:30 Some people do need medications. 11:32 But in people that I have, that can let the heart rest, 11:36 let it heal, do these other things to change 11:38 their chemistry, sometimes I can get them off 11:41 the medication in time. 11:43 But it really takes a person that wants to do some 11:46 other things to change the chemistry of entire body, 11:48 so I can get them off of these specific medication. 11:52 We need to make a decision of whether we want to 11:53 go God's way or the artificial way. 11:57 And you know, coronary disease 11:58 is a disease that can be reversed 12:00 if we can get back to some of the principles we talked about. 12:03 It can actually be backed up, you can back away from it. 12:05 Yes and at least we can make it more simple 12:07 because all the things we talked about 12:08 is not only a way to prevent, 12:09 but it's also a way to treat disease. 12:11 And reverse... I love that word 12:13 "reverse," you can back out of it. 12:14 When we come back, one of the best prescriptions 12:17 I know for any kind of ailment for the human person 12:20 is communication with the God of love, 12:22 the God who invented it, the source of all 12:24 information and we'll talk to Him on our return, 12:26 so stay right where you are. 12:35 You know, I use the stethoscope every day to listen to 12:38 people's hearts and, you know, I could see that Charles 12:40 really loved listening to his heart, 12:42 But we have a Friend that wants to listen to our hearts. 12:48 We're going to talk to Him right now, let's bow our heads... 12:50 Heavenly Father... There are many of us out there that 12:54 have needs and wants and hurts and are in the need of healing 12:59 both physically and spiritually. 13:01 We want to thank you for listening to our prayers 13:05 and giving us a plan... Amen 13:09 I want to thank you for being with us, 13:12 and if you have questions that we didn't address, 13:14 these subjects are very complex, go to our website that's 13:18 heartwiseministries.org 13:20 There is a lot of other health information you can get there. 13:23 And, share this information with your friends. 13:26 Let them know that you want to be part of their life, 13:28 and you want to serve them by teaching them about their hearts 13:31 and more importantly, realize that there's Someone 13:34 who will listen to their hearts. |
Revised 2016-01-14