Participants: James Marcum & Charles Mills
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP00014B
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00:01 Welcome back to the program.
00:02 We're talking about the leading causes 00:04 of deaths around the world. 00:05 And today we are starting out with heart disease. 00:09 And Dr. James Marcum is here to talk to us about 00:11 what we can do and what we can't do to help 00:14 keep us from having that particular problem in our lives. 00:17 Dr. Marcum, we went to your website, 00:19 Heartwiseministries.org to check out some questions 00:22 that people have asked on this topic. Right. 00:24 And I can tell by these questions, 00:26 that this is a very serious topic in the minds of people. 00:29 Here's the very first one. 00:31 The writer said, "I had a stent placed 00:33 in my right coronary artery 2 years ago. I eat well. 00:37 I have normal cholesterol and blood pressure. 00:39 Why did I have a heart attack? 00:41 "Here's someone that's going through life 00:42 doing everything they think is right. What's going on? 00:45 Well, you know, we talked a little bit 00:47 about the stress. Yes. 00:49 It could have been a genetic stress. 00:51 It could have been related to diabetes, 00:53 hypertension, high cholesterol. 00:56 It could be related to lack of exercise. 00:58 You know, all these things 01:00 but it's usually just not one thing. 01:01 It's everything that adds up. 01:02 You know, a little bit of genetics, 01:04 little bit of high cholesterol, 01:05 may be they have a little sleep apnea, 01:07 all these stressors in the life. 01:09 Maybe they don't eat quite well gradually build up the plaque. 01:12 So what I try to tell people is, 01:14 you know, the modern medicine is great 01:16 'cause that stent really help keep the artery open. 01:19 But now it's time to keep it healthy 01:21 and never have this problem again. 01:22 So I go back and look at all the different factors 01:25 that could have caused it. 01:26 And on this gentleman, 01:28 I'd ask him about his family history, 01:29 the different stressors, anything that he might do 01:32 that strays from the way God made him 01:35 could put these stressors on the heart. 01:37 So I might tell people like, 01:39 one of the things you need to do is 01:40 go outside and rest a day a week. Yes. 01:42 I might tell a person maybe you need to sleep better at night. 01:44 Maybe you need to turn off the TV, 01:46 eat less big meals at night. 01:48 Maybe that's putting stress on your body. 01:50 In some peopl we might need a medicine 01:51 to bring down cholesterol 01:53 until they can do it naturally, if possible. 01:55 We might need a blood thinning medicine 01:57 to help thin out the blood 01:58 until we can may be help them out other ways. 02:00 Unfortunately, right now, one of the big stressors 02:02 we have excuse the pun is extra weight. 02:06 60% of people in America carry extra weight. 02:09 And around the world, we're also seeing people 02:11 gaining weight as we get more industrialized. 02:13 We're eating all this fast food and not necessarily fresh food. 02:18 So anyway--let me tell the audience 02:20 a little about what a stent is. 02:22 There's a place for stent 02:23 and we have really two types of stents right now. 02:26 One is and this is like that pops the artery open. 02:29 One is called the drug eluting stent, 02:31 where we coat it with a special material 02:33 that helps the artery stay well 02:35 after the damage of the stent is done. 02:37 And another one is called a bare metal stent. 02:40 And I know, some people are curious 02:41 about how a stent's put in. 02:43 Well, what would happen is when a person came in 02:46 we need access to their arteries. 02:48 So that's a needle that we would put in a person 02:50 to get access in the artery. 02:52 And then after that, 02:54 we'd put a guide wire into the artery itself. 02:57 And we would pull this out 02:59 and then we would stick these substances, 03:02 I shouldn't say stick, 03:03 I should say place these substances. 03:05 This is flexible-- Right. 03:06 We would place these substances 03:07 up into the different arteries of the heart. 03:09 We would then insert dye into the arteries 03:12 to see where the blockage might be. 03:14 This goes in here like this? 03:15 Yes, that's gonna go through there and-- 03:16 And it snakes all the way up. 03:18 Snakes all the way up and we look-- 03:19 we have a monitor that we look. 03:21 We can see exactly where it goes. 03:22 We place it near the heart arteries 03:24 and it shapes or the dye goes-- Into the arteries right here. 03:26 Right. The dye would go into the arteries of the heart. 03:30 We would see the exact location of the blockage. 03:33 Then the next thing we would do is we put a small wire out there 03:37 and we would put over that wire 03:38 the stent that would go in there 03:40 and then we would use some atmospheric pressure 03:42 to open up the stent. 03:44 We call it deploy the stent 03:45 and then we would check to make sure 03:47 it's in the right place and that opens up-- 03:49 literally squishes the blockage, which is called a thrombosis. 03:52 It squishes that so your heart gets blood so it doesn't die. 03:56 So there's a-- you know, 03:58 we're getting a lot of criticism now 03:59 about putting in too many stents. 04:01 Now if you're not having symptoms, 04:05 you're probably not gonna benefit a lot from a stent 04:07 unless the blockage is in a high risk location. 04:10 But if you're having a heart attack, 04:12 you don't wanna lose that muscle. 04:15 When you're having a heart attack 04:16 or you're symptomatic, the stents are great. 04:18 I know there's people out there that say, 04:20 "Oh, I never want to have anything artificial." 04:23 Well, if they don't have anything artificial, 04:24 they could die. Yes. 04:26 Now Right now though actually 04:28 the technology is working 04:29 on a new type of stent that's biodegradable. 04:32 They call that absorbable stent 04:35 that hasn't hit the market yet. 04:37 But this could be a great thing. They say it goes in the artery. 04:40 It scaffolds, it open. 04:41 It helps keep that acute problem taken care off 04:44 and then over 2 to 3 years, 04:46 it actually--the scaffolding sort of disintegrates. 04:50 They better follow that up then with a proper diet. 04:52 Exactly. Remember the stent doesn't fix the problem. 04:55 Modern medicine, Charles, is great at treating symptoms. 04:58 But it doesn't fix the problems. 05:00 Okay? We have to get back to, you know, 05:02 getting back to God's plan, getting back to the way 05:04 we're created to create- fix the problems. 05:07 So--but there's a place for stents 05:08 if you're having a heart attack, 05:10 if you can't walk across the room. 05:11 I had this guy came in the other day. 05:13 He says, "I don't want to have a stent." 05:14 I said, "Well, you can't walk across the room." 05:17 And I told him-- I said, 05:18 "I think the benefit of getting on a walking program again 05:21 and losing your extra weight is probably worth the risk, 05:24 the small risk of putting a stent in." 05:26 So now he has a stent in. 05:27 He can walk up to half a mile a day. 05:29 So he's lowering his stresses on his body, 05:32 lowering his blood pressure, diabetes. 05:34 His sleep apnea is getting better. 05:35 So he's lowering his risk. 05:37 But he wouldn't have been able to do that 05:38 without modern medicine. 05:40 So this question here, you know, we talked about the stent. 05:45 It's finding out, you know, what caused it. 05:46 What stressors lead to it, 05:48 dealing with the stressors after we make sure 05:50 they don't have a symptom 05:52 of heart disease that's active first. 05:54 It sounds like you're saying that 05:55 one of the greatest benefits of modern medicine 05:59 is that it gives you a second chance. Right. 06:01 To do what you didn't do before. 06:03 Exactly. All right. 06:05 That's an important message to get out here 06:06 because we keep thinking, "I'll be fine. 06:10 I don't need modern medicine. 06:12 I can just do everything alternative." 06:13 But, you know, what? 06:15 There may come a time because of genetics, 06:16 because of the stress. 06:18 I've discovered in talking with professionals 06:20 such as yourself that doing part of what you need to do, 06:25 to make you healthy isn't enough. 06:28 You have to do all of what you have to do 06:29 and you have to do it all of the time, 06:31 then you might have a chance to reach that optimum health 06:34 that we want so much. 06:35 But to say, "Okay, I'm gonna change my diet. 06:37 I'm gonna eat right. 06:39 But you still have a stressful job. 06:40 You still are angry at your neighbor. 06:42 You still don't sleep well at night. 06:44 You have to do what-- I've discovered this 06:46 and correct me if I'm wrong. 06:47 You have to do it all, all the time. Right. 06:51 And that just seems to work the best. 06:52 You just can't do part, can't do it piecemeal. Right. 06:55 And that's why, you know, in the Heartwise Ministries, 06:58 the ministry that we're involved in, 06:59 you know, there's a place for modern medicine 07:01 that doesn't fix everything. 07:03 There's place for lifestyle, 07:04 but we really want to point people to that 07:06 relationship with the Heavenly Father. 07:08 That points--you know, helps them know how they should live. 07:11 How should they think. 07:12 How they should eat and more than that 07:14 gives them the power to make changes. 07:16 And even if you do have the worst genetics in the world, 07:19 you're still promised in that relationship 07:21 you can have healing. 07:23 So that's what really we wanna focus on is that relationship, 07:26 which gives you the power to do the things 07:27 and know the place for modern medicine, 07:29 gives you the power to eat right and exercise 07:32 but more than that keeps you in that healing relationship. 07:34 So no matter if you can't overcome your genetics, 07:37 you can be healed someday. 07:38 There's a lot of people out there that have diseases 07:41 that are genetics, that have been exposed to toxins, 07:44 that may be done things in their lives. 07:46 But they still have hope. 07:47 They still have that healing that only God can give them. 07:50 Well, here's another question 07:51 from the Heartwiseministries.org website. 07:53 "Is it possible to predict who will have a heart attack? 07:56 My aunt had a heart attack 2 years ago." 07:58 This person is probably saying, 08:00 "Man, I wish I had known that was coming." 08:01 Well, yeah, We look at peoples' genes 08:04 and there's some-- maybe some genetic things 08:06 that might give us information. 08:08 But we look at risk factors. 08:10 And I can tell people if they've had a family history, 08:13 if they smoke, if they have diabetes, 08:16 if they have high cholesterol, if they are overweight, 08:18 if they have sleep apnea, if they don't eat well. 08:20 I can say that person is a heart attack ready to happen. 08:24 So in evaluating that person, 08:26 there's no exact test when I can say, when and where, 08:29 I wish I could have that. 08:30 That's why we tell them if you're having a symptom. 08:32 That's when and where. 08:33 So I tell them, you know, first I say, 08:36 "Are you having symptoms when you walk and do things? 08:38 Do you have funny feelings in your body?" 08:40 So if they don't have active heart disease, 08:42 then I do everything I can to lower that stress, 08:45 to lower that risk factor and the way I work at is, 08:48 you know, lot of people can't change all at once, Charles. 08:51 So I encourage them. 08:52 I say first start with that 08:54 relationship with the Heavenly Father. 08:55 Learn what he teaches us. Okay? 08:58 Learn from Him. 08:59 Let Him give you the power to make changes one at a time. 09:02 Whether it be drinking water or exercising more 09:05 or giving up cigarettes, 09:06 He can give you the power to do things. 09:08 Now there's a lot of stuff that we can talk about. 09:11 And that's why, even I wrote this book not too long ago, 09:14 "The Ultimate Prescription" and this really talks about 09:17 heart disease and how we can 09:19 lower our risk of heart disease 09:20 and understanding it from a biblical perspective. 09:23 I think some of my colleagues out there 09:25 do a great place with modern medicine. 09:27 There're some that do great place with lifestyle. 09:29 But this Ultimate Prescription really is that relationship 09:32 that gives us the power to understand 09:34 about heart disease. 09:35 So I hope that answers this person's question. 09:37 There's no test that predicts when 09:39 but we can tell who is at higher probability. 09:42 And if you have a symptom, get treatment. 09:44 Don't sit at home and ignore funny feelings in your body. 09:47 One of the nice things that you pointed out in this book, 09:49 Dr. Marcum, is what to do if you think 09:52 you are having a heart attack. 09:53 And someone asks a question, 09:54 "What should I do if I'm alone and I don't feel right. 09:57 Something's going on. What do they do? 09:59 Yeah, that's a great practical question. 10:01 What are you doing if you're alone 10:03 and you think you have a heart attack? 10:04 Well, we want you to swallow some aspirin 10:07 if you have it. Dial 911. Okay? 10:10 They can find you now. They have GPS's. 10:12 They can find you where you're at. 10:13 They can come to your house and get you. 10:15 What's not usually safe is getting in the car 10:17 and driving by yourself. Okay. 10:18 'Cause what if this heart attack, 10:20 the artery is closed and you have 10:21 a dangerous heart rhythm 10:23 and your blood pressure goes low? 10:25 Then you could actually wreck the car 10:27 and hurt someone else. 10:28 So we advice people, you know, take some aspirin. 10:30 Dial 911. Call your friends. 10:33 Get help right away. Lay down, okay? 10:35 Take some deep breaths. 10:37 Put your feet up until help arrives for you. All right. 10:40 And luckily in the States 10:42 we have a great EMS system and around the world, 10:45 you know, people who are watching this 10:46 in Australia, in Europe around the world 10:49 they also have EMS systems that they can activate as well. 10:52 All we have time for this one last question. 10:54 It says here does everyone who has had a heart attack 10:57 do they get a stent? Is that just an automatic? 10:59 No, not everyone gets a stent. 11:01 Some heart attacks, the arteries are too small. 11:04 We just manage that with medicines. 11:05 And what we talked about lifestyle changes. 11:08 Sometimes the arteries are so blocked everywhere 11:10 that we have to bring extra blood to the heart. 11:12 That's called a bypass surgery. 11:14 The bypass surgery does not take the blockages away 11:17 but it brings extra blood to the heart 11:19 so you can do more. 11:21 So there's many different treatments to the heart. 11:22 We'll never have time to talk about 11:24 everything in a short program, 11:25 but I want to encourage everyone to learn about your heart, 11:28 ask a lot of questions. 11:30 The book that we wrote is an excellent resource 11:32 and we don't want anyone to have a heart attack, 11:34 which is one of the major causes of death around the world now. 11:39 That's the book, "The Ultimate Prescription." 11:40 and I invite you to get a copy of this, 11:43 I guess on the Heartwise Ministries website, 11:46 they can learn more about it. 11:47 The Ultimate Prescription, like the name 11:48 of the television program you're watching right now. 11:50 We'll take a short break and when we come back 11:52 Dr. Marcum would like to talk to you heart to heart. 11:55 He's a cardiologist, but he's also a Christian 11:58 and he wants to show you how God can play 12:00 an important part in keeping your heart healthy 12:04 and your mind healthy and your body healthy, 12:06 all when we turn, so stay right where you are. 12:17 I hope you've learned something about your heart today. 12:20 Few things I want to stress before we close. 12:22 If you're having a symptom of heart disease, 12:25 if you're having a symptom in your chest 12:26 especially when you're doing something, 12:28 anything really above the waist 12:30 you might want to check on it. 12:31 Remember a symptom is a feeling that's not right in your body. 12:35 Please get it checked out. 12:37 This might indicate that you need modern medicine, 12:41 which might include stent, a bypass, or medication. 12:45 After that and dealing with heart attacks 12:47 we want everyone to look at their life 12:49 and see what is stressing their lives. 12:51 How might you not the living by the owner's manual? 12:55 What might be stress in your body? 12:57 Are you having mental stress? 12:59 Are you not sleeping well at night because of sleep apnea? 13:02 Might you have diabetes or high blood pressure, 13:04 high cholesterol, your diet is not right 13:06 or you carry extra weight? 13:07 Search for what that stress might be. 13:11 And what we want to focus on is find 13:14 that relationship with the heavenly father, 13:16 that relationship that can heal all hearts, 13:19 that can heal heart attacks, 13:21 that can give you the power to understand 13:24 how you can live better 13:25 that will give you the power through the Holy Spirit 13:28 to overcome bad habits and that might be stating out 13:31 on this relationship just drinking the water, 13:33 what might be giving up cigarettes, 13:35 but God has promised to give you the power to overcome. 13:38 So we want this to be the cornerstone 13:41 of the treatment for heart disease 13:43 that relationship with your Heavenly Father 13:45 that will let you know when to use modern medicine, 13:48 that will give you the power to change your lifestyle 13:50 like we've talked about today. 13:52 I want to have a prayer for those out there 13:54 that might need healing today. 13:56 Let's all bow our heads, Father in Heaven, 13:58 thank you for giving us the power 14:00 to have that relationship with you. 14:02 Please lead us and guide us into all truth 14:05 and heal those out there that need to come 14:06 into this relationship with You is our prayer, Amen. 14:10 Thank you for join us today. 14:12 Stay with us next week, 14:13 we're gonna also be talking about Heart Health. |
Revised 2014-12-17