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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000061B
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00:01 Welcome back to the program,
00:03 I'm your host Charles Mills, this is Dr. James Marcum here, 00:05 and Dr. Marcum, all doctors have to have a prescription pad 00:09 and I happen to have one that Dr. Marcum uses a lot. 00:12 It's called "The Bible," and for some people, 00:14 how can that be a prescription pad, but it certainly is 00:17 because we have discovered, by looking through here 00:19 and finding texts that there our prescriptions for 00:21 all kinds of illnesses in here, all kinds of diseases, 00:24 both mental, physical and spiritual. 00:26 And here's one of my favorites, and I want to bring this up 00:29 on the screen here so everybody can see it. 00:30 So we will put it up on the screen, here's what it says... 00:32 This is James 1:5 00:44 That's interesting that it says "without finding fault," 00:47 because I hear you say something like that all the time 00:49 when you're talking about how we should reach people 00:51 with the message of health. 00:53 Yeah and Charles, that's a beautiful text. 00:55 I like the part - "who doesn't lack wisdom." Exactly! 00:58 I claim that and if we don't have wisdom, 01:01 we don't know what to do with our healthcare; 01:03 we have a tough decision to make, let's ask God... Amen! 01:07 He has promised to give us the answers if we ask Him 01:10 and we can't ask Him unless we have a relationship 01:12 with Him, so to get the real solution to these healthcare 01:15 problems is having God as our "Ultimate Physician" 01:19 and Him guiding us to the people He needs to find health 01:22 as well as giving us reassurance. 01:24 He's going to give it to us, He gives it to us freely. Yes 01:27 You know and that's such a promise, 01:29 but we have to accept that promise, 01:31 and that's what we want to do. 01:33 You know, we're talking about rhythms today, 01:34 but the principles that we talk about apply to many 01:37 things and it's a great way that when someone is 01:40 feeling well, to introduce a relationship with God 01:43 that they can grow and God is going to take you 01:45 where you need to go in that relationship. 01:47 I have some things I want to show you here 01:48 and talk about rhythm. Good 01:50 This is old technology here... I'm going to let you hold that. 01:53 This is old technology... Old technology and that's 01:56 what I call a "sensory hammer." 01:58 You know, we all have senses and that's how you feel your 02:01 heart rhythm is through your senses - you feel your senses, 02:04 and we can actually test our different senses 02:07 with this sensory hammer. Okay 02:08 So I'm going to take that hammer for you and I'm going to 02:11 test your senses, Charles. 02:13 One of the ways we can do it is hit different 02:15 parts of the body and see you move and twitch. Okay 02:18 Like reflexes? Yeah, like reflexes, I can do 02:20 that with this hammer. All right 02:21 More than that, there are different types of nerves 02:23 in the body, and just lay your hand like that, Charles. 02:26 This is a sterile needle and... This is a needle? 02:31 Yeah and what I do is... Why are you going to 02:34 punch me with a needle? Close your eyes Charles, okay. 02:36 Do you feel me touching your finger? No 02:39 Okay, that's good. 02:41 If you would have said, "yes," that would have been bad! 02:42 You feel that touch, you feel that? Yes, I feel that. 02:44 So that means you have a normal nerve. 02:46 Did you feel that right there? No 02:48 Okay, how many times have I touched you? 02:51 Three... Right, so this checks 02:54 different senses. All right, okay 02:56 Some people have neuropathies 02:58 and they don't feel well. They would not feel that. 03:00 The new technology is one called "EMG." 03:02 Just like the old technology in rhythm 03:05 is to feel the pulse and count. Right 03:06 The new technology is EKGs, monitors... 03:10 We even have monitors that we can put under the skin 03:12 so we lose that old... so that checks pain, 03:15 proprioception. 03:17 Another thing that this fancy device can do... 03:21 There's another thing that we can unscrew here... 03:23 On here is a little brush; this is very good for 03:33 testing the nerves - the cranial nerves. 03:35 Can you feel that? I feel that, yes, yeah. 03:38 Can you feel that? No 03:40 Now can you feel it? I can feel that. 03:42 Does it feel about the same on both sides? 03:44 Yes, I felt both. 03:45 This is very common things that we do to test people 03:48 that might have strokes, that might have abnormalities 03:52 in sensation and these are things that tell us 03:54 the neurological system has gone awry. 03:57 Well the neurological system is very important 04:00 in controlling rhythms of the heart. 04:03 The neurological system, of course, sends the signals 04:05 that makes the heart speed up and slow down... 04:07 We call that the sympathetic nervous system 04:10 that makes adrenalin and that, the ones that slow it down 04:13 is called the parasympathetic system and a lot of our 04:16 heart speed is determined by our brain. 04:18 For instance, when you're sick, God has made us so remarkable, 04:22 our body says, "I'm sick, I need more resources 04:25 throughout the body," so the brain controls that 04:28 through the sympathetic nervous system, 04:30 it makes the heart speed up so you get more 04:32 fighters and more nourishment to the place 04:34 it needs to go. 04:35 The heart and the brain has sympathy for us. Yes 04:37 Yes it does and also when you need to slow down and 04:39 rest, the brain can take care of that too... 04:42 But sometimes we don't listen to 04:44 our natural rhythms that you talk about. 04:46 Or we overpower our natural rhythm. Yes! 04:48 Sometimes we take rhythms into our own hand, 04:51 and we put our bodies under unneeded stress. 04:54 We stay up too late at night. 04:56 We don't get enough rest. 04:57 We don't keep a weekly rest. 04:58 We don't drink enough water. 05:00 We don't eat the right food. 05:01 We don't have the right thoughts. 05:03 All of these inputs - the body has to process them 05:06 and do something with them, and if it's a stress-simple 05:09 the body turns on the sympathetic nervous system, 05:11 the senses go and the body gets revved up. 05:14 If it gets revved up and getting in a fighting mode 05:16 and doesn't need to, long-term that's damaging 05:19 to the system. Yes, yes 05:21 So we want to turn down that stress. 05:22 We want to sort of slow down the rhythms of life sometimes. 05:25 And, the only way we can do that, 05:27 we can't do that on our own, we have to ask God 05:30 for the wisdom and He will give us the wisdom... 05:33 Give us generously... 05:34 ... generously and we gotta depend on God to do it 05:37 because we can't do it of ourselves, 05:39 it's too overwhelming all these influences, 05:41 and we have to have God's help. 05:42 Oh that's a wonderful text, James 1:5 05:44 if you want to check that out on your own, 05:45 James 1:5- it's a wonderful text, print it out, 05:48 put it up on your wall. 05:49 You'll enjoy knowing that God gives generously 05:51 without finding fault. 05:54 I love that - God does not judge us that way, 05:56 He wants to help us instead. 05:58 Okay, questions from heartwiseministries.org website 06:01 I invite you, listener, to do that, 06:03 and leave your questions there, that would be great! 06:06 This person said, "I pass out (Oh my), 06:09 about every 2 to 3 years, no one has figured out why. 06:12 Could this be due to an abnormal heart rhythm?" 06:15 Passing out - that's a red flag for you isn't it? 06:17 Yes it could be, you know, passing out could be from an 06:19 abnormal heart rhythm because the brain is not getting 06:22 enough blood - the blood pressure goes down. 06:25 The most common rhythms that cause this is slow heart rates 06:28 where the heart pauses and doesn't even beat. 06:31 The treatment for that would be a pacemaker, okay. 06:35 I'll let you hold that up there. 06:36 That's how small they are. And this is something that is 06:38 implanted in your body. 06:39 Right, in the body we have leads that go inside the heart 06:42 that's a pacemaker. 06:44 It's a pretty safe procedure to put in. 06:45 It's a lot safer than the alternative. Yes 06:48 Cheaper than dying. Right 06:50 And then other things that can make a person pass out 06:53 is rhythms from the bottom part of the heart. 06:54 That is usually lethal. 06:56 Other things that we look for is the brain malfunctioning, 06:59 either blockages in the arteries, strokes, 07:01 low blood sugar. 07:03 Sometimes the body is under 07:04 such extreme stress that there's nothing wrong, 07:07 but the body just turns itself off. 07:09 Sometimes there's a reaction called a "vagal reaction" 07:11 when a person sees a needle, and the body slows down 07:15 too much and drops the blood pressure, then they pass out. 07:18 So there's lots of things... That's a great question 07:20 so if a person is passing out, it could be due to the rhythm. 07:23 The way we would find out is put some type of 07:25 monitoring device in case they happen again that we could 07:29 detect what rhythm is going on. 07:30 Well someone asked about this pacemaker... 07:32 They say, "Is a pacemaker a risky procedure?" 07:34 I guess they are figuring out 07:36 putting it in, is it risky to put it in? 07:38 Now, there are some small, minor risks for that, 07:40 but everything that we do in medicine 07:42 is about the risk versus the benefits. 07:45 The benefits is keeping you alive. Yes 07:47 The risks are an infection, you might hurt the lungs, 07:50 you might have some bleeding, but the risks are very low 07:54 compared to the benefits. 07:55 I've heard you mention, several times, Dr. Marcum, 07:58 talking about the heart... potassium and magnesium, 08:01 and here's a question about that. 08:03 "Could a low potassium or magnesium affect the 08:07 rhythm of a heart?" 08:09 Yeah, and that's something that's often overlooked 08:11 because that is something that we don't do. 08:14 We don't eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables nowadays, 08:17 and we can have low magnesiums, low potassiums, 08:20 and all of these, as well as calciums, are important 08:22 in generating the electrical current. 08:25 So just a low potassium can cause 08:26 atrial fibrillation, it can cause skips. 08:28 The same with magnesium. 08:30 If you get these electrolytes out of whack, 08:32 if you don't either bring those nutrients in, 08:34 you can have funny things happen to the body. 08:36 Remember, God has made us to bring in certain things 08:39 in our body and when we don't bring those things in, 08:42 there's malfunctioning. 08:43 And when I say, "Bring those things in," 08:45 it's just water, the appropriate nutrients, 08:48 the appropriate thoughts, the appropriate rest, 08:51 the appropriate movement, all of these things are 08:53 key to keeping our rhythms optimalized 08:56 over a course of a life. 08:57 So, yes, magnesium, potassium, 08:59 they can affect the rhythm. And we want to say, 09:01 bringing those things in on a regular basis. 09:02 Oh yeah! It's got to be, you've got to do something every day. 09:06 If you just do it once a week, 09:07 it's not really going to help you, Charles. 09:08 Okay, here's a question... "I am on a medicine 09:10 called "amiodarone," "amiodarone." 09:14 "I understand that this medicine has side effects, 09:17 might there be a safer medicine than amiodarone?" 09:21 Well amiodarone or Cordarone, that's a medicine 09:24 that we use for atrial fibrillation. 09:26 It's fairly effective, but there are lots of side effects. 09:29 Many medicines have lots of side effects. 09:31 Are there safer medicines? 09:32 Yes there are safer medicines. 09:35 They came out with a new one not too long ago 09:37 called "Multaq" that appears to be safer, 09:39 but amiodarone has been around for many years... 09:42 And what I like about that medicine 09:44 is we know that medicine. 09:45 We know what it does, we know how it acts, 09:47 we know what to watch out for. 09:49 If a person is getting in trouble, 09:50 we advise them what to do and we take them off the medicines. 09:53 So again, it's all about risks and benefits. 09:56 If going out of rhythm puts you at high risk, 09:58 or you can't take blood thinner, then it might be worth 10:01 the amiodarone to keep you in rhythm so you don't have 10:03 to take as many other medicines. 10:05 So everything that we do in medicine is 10:07 about risk and benefits, but more than that, 10:09 we want to ask the person about causes. 10:11 If we can figure out causes, 10:13 maybe we don't have to take 10:14 risks of medication. All right, very good. 10:16 Another question - I guess this is about medicine... 10:18 "My doctor is recommending a cardioversion... 10:21 "cardioversion," are there other options?" 10:23 "This is for atrial fibrillation." 10:24 Right, atrial fibrillation is when the heart goes 10:27 fast and we can actually shock a heart. 10:30 You know and we've seen that quite a bit. 10:32 We have things that shock a heart. 10:33 We have the old machines that do that. 10:35 We have defibrillators - they're in a person all the time. 10:38 And what a shock does is it stops the heart. 10:41 Okay, so it stops the heart. Resets it, reboots it. 10:44 Stops the heart and then the strongest rhythm will take over, 10:48 and hopefully, that will be a normal rhythm 10:49 and not the abnormal rhythm. 10:51 So if someone is passing out or having pain, 10:53 and I need to do something quickly with the rhythm, 10:55 I will cardiovert them and hopefully the heart 10:58 with start from a normal rhythm. 10:59 So that's a very frequently used way of generating 11:03 pretty serious situations. 11:04 When a person gets cardioversion, 11:06 it's pretty serious stuff, Charles. All right, all right. 11:08 Do you want me to show you how to do that? No 11:10 Okay, maybe later or never, never. 11:12 Maybe never, yes. There you go. 11:14 "What are some other common ailments which can affect 11:16 the rhythms of the heart?" You've mentioned several. 11:18 Yeah, I'm going to go through these very quickly. 11:21 We think of thyroid; we think of underlying 11:25 heart disease; heart attacks; valvular disease; 11:27 we think of lung disease; blood clots in the lungs; 11:31 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; 11:33 any other diseases of the lung, sleep apnea is very common; 11:37 electrolytes like magnesium, potassium, being dehydrated; 11:42 having infections; different substances 11:44 that stimulate our bodies; too much caffeine; 11:47 cocaine - those things; and there's really 11:49 an exhaustive list, but when people have funny 11:52 rhythms of the heart, ask yourself the reason why, 11:55 and what might be stressing the system because 11:57 almost anything out there can do it, Charles. All right 12:00 So I'm glad we talked about rhythms. 12:01 There's much more to learn, 12:03 but this is a good place to start. Fantastic! 12:04 We'll take a short break now and when we come back, 12:07 let's talk to the God who invented all rhythms everywhere 12:11 in prayer, so everybody stay right where you are. 12:24 Well, we've learned a lot about the rhythms of the heart, 12:27 but I want you also to think about the rhythms of life. 12:30 You know, the rhythms that keep our bodies going 12:33 that keep us in sync, especially the rhythms that 12:35 call us back to a Creator and I think Charles had a 12:37 wonderful text that we can all ask God for... 12:42 "If any of you lack wisdom, ask of God." 12:45 I certainly lack wisdom, I need His help constantly 12:49 as a physician, I need his help daily, 12:52 and I think all of us needed help. 12:54 So I hope we've learned a little bit about that. 12:56 If you have problems that we haven't addressed, 12:59 I want to encourage you to go to our website, that's... 13:02 heartwiseministries.org 13:05 That's a site where we answer people's questions 13:07 no matter what they are, we try to answer them. 13:10 We try to point to the balance in medicine. 13:13 We point to the balance in nutrition and we also 13:15 encourage that relationship with our Creator who 13:18 could heal all things. 13:20 So we're just glad you joined us and rhythms are very 13:23 important in the heart, but as we close today, 13:26 I want to have a prayer for all of those that might need a 13:29 special prayer for healing, that might need special, 13:32 encouragement and comfort no matter 13:34 what their health problem is, shall we bow our heads... 13:37 Dear Heavenly Father, As we come to You, 13:41 we've been talking about rhythms and You're the Creator 13:44 of rhythms and hopefully we can learn from You. 13:47 We want always to remember, as part of our health, 13:49 to ask You who giveth to us freely and You just love to 13:53 give us information no matter what it is. 13:55 Father, we want You to guide our lives and our chemistry. 13:58 For some out there, they are sick, 14:00 they are ailing and they are hurting. 14:02 We pray that You comfort them and we know You are 14:05 going to heal in Your time, Father. 14:07 And please be with everyone that is searching for You today 14:10 is our prayer... Amen 14:12 Well, we want to thank you for joining us, 14:14 and remember, that website is: heartwiseministries.org 14:17 And until next time, I'm Dr. James Marcum 14:20 wishing you the best of health. |
Revised 2016-02-15