Participants: James Marcum & Charles Mills
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP00015A
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00:01 The following program presents principles designed
00:02 to promote good health and is not intended to take 00:05 the place of personalized professional care. 00:07 The opinions and the ideas 00:09 expressed are those of the speaker. 00:10 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions 00:13 about the information presented. 00:17 When you place your hand over your heart, 00:19 you can feel its rhythmic cadence at least 00:22 that's what you suppose to feel. Stay tuned. 00:27 I'm Dr. James Marcum. 00:29 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:32 You want solutions to your health care problems? 00:35 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:38 Well, you're about to be given the Ultimate Prescription. 00:42 Today we continue our series on what's killing us. 00:45 Life is filled with rhythm. 00:48 Seasons come and go and day follows night, 00:51 everything seems to be tied to an unseen second hand. 00:54 Even our hearts tap by the constant rhythm. 00:58 But what happens when the heart gets out of sync? 01:01 What happens when our hearts failed 01:02 to play along with the rest of creation? 01:05 Let's talk with Cardiologist, Dr. James Marcum 01:07 about heart rhythm and how to stay in sync. 01:10 Dr. Marcum, what do we need to know? 01:12 Well, you know, in our series 01:14 we're talking about all the things 01:15 that can take us prematurely, that can kill us. 01:19 We've talked about coronary disease 01:20 which is heart attacks. 01:22 Now it's time to talk about the other things 01:24 within the heart that can also take us to a premature grave. 01:28 One of the things we think about is the rhythm of a heart 01:31 like you've talked about. 01:32 And unfortunately lot of the rhythm disturbances 01:35 people are born with. 01:37 We have several of them that we occasionally 01:39 hear of been athletic that passes away suddenly, 01:42 you know, running a Boston Marathon 01:44 or someone previously healthy passes away. 01:46 Well, there is some of these rhythm problems 01:48 that are congenital that means we have been born with that. 01:51 Some of the names of them will be the Long Q.T. syndrome 01:55 you might have heard of that. 01:56 There is some congenital abnormalities 01:57 that predispose the heart to having a funny heart rhythm. 02:01 One of the most common one 02:03 is called a Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. 02:05 You're born with genes that make the heart thick. 02:08 When the heart's thick of course it can go very rapidly. 02:11 Another thing that people die from suddenly 02:13 is occasionally they get a virus in their heart, 02:16 which makes the heart weak, 02:17 which again predisposes it to an abnormal rhythm. 02:21 Some people later in life, 02:23 the battery of the heart gets old. 02:25 The battery of the heart-- Yes, the battery of the heart. 02:28 Well, you have a little structure 02:29 in the top of the heart called the Sinoatrial Node. 02:32 It's like a car battery to make it simple. 02:35 And some people it gets older and it gets calcified 02:38 and the heart goes slower and slower and slower, 02:41 and a symptom of this might be dizziness 02:43 or not having any energy. 02:45 And for that we would treat with a pacemaker. 02:48 In fact Alfred Hitchcock had one of the first pacemakers 02:52 back in the 60's and that pacemaker 02:54 was so big that it filled up or so whole abdomen. 02:57 But before that happened people use to pass away. 03:00 I had a pastor that I took care of a few years ago 03:03 when I was practicing on the east coast, 03:05 that had a condition called Lyme disease, 03:08 that's a tick-borne disease and that infection made 03:11 his heart go exceedingly slow. 03:13 And before we had modern medicine 03:14 he might have died from this condition, 03:17 but we placed the pacemaker in him in his 30s 03:20 and he still doing ministry today. 03:22 So this is a great place for modern medicine. 03:24 So the heart can go too slow which would need a pacemaker. 03:28 It can go too fast and the treatment 03:31 for that will be sometimes we put in a defibrillator 03:33 especially for these congenital abnormalities. 03:36 Sometimes we also give them medication that might help. 03:40 And sometimes we have the fancy procedure 03:42 will be go up inside the heart with catheters. 03:45 We find out where that electrical short circuits 03:47 coming from and we destroy that rhythm. 03:50 That's called an Ablation. We ablate the rhythm. 03:54 We destroy it so it doesn't bother you more. 03:57 There is some congenital ones that we have. 03:58 One is called Wolff-Parkinson White Syndrome 04:01 that can be deadly just because the electrical wires 04:04 usually are congenitally malformed. 04:06 This is a great place for modern medicine. 04:09 Now there is nothing people do to acquire this, 04:11 they're just born this way. 04:12 So what percentage are we talking about here, 04:14 people that have this condition 04:16 and they're just gonna have it? 04:17 Well, it varies from around the world, 04:19 you know, the congenital abnormalities varies. 04:21 It also varies on your genetics. 04:23 But when we hear of a young person 04:25 passing away suddenly, 04:27 when we hear of an athletic passing away suddenly, 04:30 we say well let's evaluate this. 04:32 Now in Italy for instance 04:33 they're screening people with EKGs. 04:36 But what we do specifically is we ask people, 04:38 do you have anything in your family 04:40 or anyone passed away suddenly in the family, 04:42 which might show that they had an rhythm abnormality? 04:45 Now unfortunately the number one killer 04:47 around the world of hearts is not congenital. 04:51 You weren't born with it you acquire it. 04:53 And unfortunately we acquire by our lifestyles 04:55 and we get blockages in the arteries. 04:57 When blockages in the arteries the heart 04:59 doesn't get enough oxygen, 05:00 when it doesn't get enough oxygen and nutrients 05:03 that throws you electrical system off 05:05 that also predisposes you to rhythm problems. 05:08 So people that have very weak heart. 05:10 They're not getting enough oxygen 05:11 that sometimes causes arrhythmia. 05:13 They have to go to the hospital. 05:15 Did you see in animals, haven't you, Charles? 05:16 Oh, yes. Okay. 05:18 Well, you know, the first thing that happens is 05:19 when they come to the scene, 05:21 you know, they hookup the electrodes to see 05:22 if there is a funny heart rhythm. 05:24 One of the heart rhythms called ventricular fibrillation, 05:27 ventricular tachycardia, and for those rhythms 05:29 they shock the heart. 05:31 Nowadays we have external defibrillators 05:34 where common people, in airports, in churches 05:37 where someone might have a heart attack 05:39 or funny heart rhythm we have these devices available 05:42 where people can just hook you up. It analysis it yourself. 05:45 It analysis you? Yes. 05:46 You press a button and if it's a dangerous rhythm 05:49 that shocked you. That's called the defibrillator. 05:51 It makes the decision. Right. 05:53 You hook it up and it makes the decision-- 05:54 It does all of those things. And how much it makes? 05:56 It does all of those things. Okay. 05:57 Another type of device we have is a device 06:00 that we call an Internal Defibrillator, 06:02 where we actually implant these things in long-term. 06:05 And I think I brought a defibrillator and a Pacemaker. 06:08 Yes, we do have one of each here 06:10 and that they look sort of alike. 06:12 You're gonna have to help me, which one is which now? 06:14 Yeah, well, this would be called an internal defibrillator. 06:18 And what we would do is we would place this within a body 06:22 and we would put it under the skin 06:24 and then we have a lead that would connect with that. 06:27 There is the lead right here. 06:28 Right, and it would be under the body and this lead is-- 06:30 Let's put it over there against your body, 06:32 above where it go in there? 06:33 About right here in the heart, 06:35 we put it right there and we put a lead here 06:37 and we would run this lead into the heart 06:39 and this lead would analyze the heart rhythm. 06:42 And if it wasn't unstable heart rhythm 06:44 it would shock the heart. Okay, all right. 06:46 This one also has a pacemaker built in it 06:49 so if it was going too slow it would pace the heart. 06:52 Now I also brought a pacemaker with us to see how small it is. 06:54 Here it is. Now this is alike, but it is smaller one. 06:57 Yeah, a pacemaker doesn't do as much, 06:59 so some of the internal circuitry is much less 07:01 and so as in computer that sees every beat of your heart. 07:04 This one can actually store the rhythm. 07:06 So we can see what every beat of your heart is doing. 07:08 It's got a monitor inside it. 07:10 Like a computer in your heart. 07:11 Yes. It's got a few. 07:12 This one has a little computer in it too. 07:14 And this--but all this does is, does a slow rhythm. 07:17 It doesn't do the fast heart rhythms. 07:19 So these are devices that if you're so disposed 07:21 to having these, person has a weak heart, 07:24 might have a fast heart, 07:25 and this is like having an ambulance with you, 07:27 Charles, 24x7. Wow. 07:29 And this helps keep the heart from going too slow. 07:32 So this makes the decision that you're heart's in trouble. Yes. 07:35 Decides what to do and sends a little shock down there. 07:38 Yes, it's like having an ambulance 07:40 with you 24x7. Ah, an ambulance. 07:42 So for an instance a young person 07:44 that has one of these congenital electrical abnormalities 07:47 they might get defibrillator. 07:48 For an older person that has blockage in their arteries 07:51 or weak heart they might get a defibrillator. 07:53 And for person whose heart goes too slow 07:55 from an infection or weak heart or if they might have 07:58 a just--this conduction system gets old 08:01 this would keep the heart from going too slow 08:03 and eventually stopping. 08:05 So we have some great tools for modern medicine 08:07 to keep the heart going and deal 08:09 with these funny heart rhythms. That is amazing. 08:12 Now of course this is the modern medicine 08:14 and of things and we thank God that this exist. 08:17 But is there anything that we can do, Dr. Marcum, 08:21 maybe after this has been put in or even before this is put in, 08:24 so that we won't have to deal 08:26 with these machines, is that possible? 08:28 Well, that's a great question, Charles, 08:29 because a lot of people do not like to take those medications. 08:33 A lot of people don't like to take treatment for the heart. 08:35 But most of these for the young people are congenital. 08:38 They're born with it. 08:40 They had bad genetics that's been passed down 08:41 from generation to generations. 08:43 Two hundred years ago that person would pass away, 08:47 but now we have life saving devices. 08:49 Now the other condition where people clogged their arteries up 08:53 or get weak hearts, yes that can be preventable. 08:56 We can do lifestyle changes. 08:58 We've talked about those before, 08:59 preventing the stress that might be put on our heart. 09:02 Maybe quitting smoking or getting diabetes, 09:05 or exercising, or eating a smart diet 09:07 keeping your cholesterol down, 09:08 all those might be able to alleviate the need for this 09:12 at some point in our lives. 09:13 You know, a lot of people ask me why would I do 09:16 all of these things that we talk about on this program. 09:19 Well, you have to do something because the body 09:23 with 6000 years from the hand of creator 09:25 and the body is going to get you one way 09:28 or another because it is a such a sinful body 09:30 that we have, but there are things 09:31 that we can do to medicate that to cause the problems 09:35 from not happening to make them not happen. 09:38 Dr. Marcum, if you could make a change in the lifestyle 09:43 of all the world, you could go into their house 09:46 and do one thing different, 09:48 what would you have them do-- Well-- 09:49 To help, to protect the heart? 09:51 You know, I've thought about that a lot. 09:52 If I had one thing to do to protect the heart 09:54 I would encourage them to come into a relationship 09:56 with your creator, because when they come into a relationship 10:00 with the creator this will lead them to truths, 10:02 the truths in the Bible. 10:04 This is what happened in my life, Charles. 10:05 You know, I was trained in modern medicine 10:08 but as I learned the truths in the Bible 10:09 I realized that the Bible was a medical textbook. 10:12 But not only was that a medical textbook 10:14 to show me when to use modern medicine, 10:16 it also gave me the power to understand 10:18 what things I was doing wrong, 10:20 makes some changes in my life, 10:22 understand where all these fits in. 10:24 And so that's the one thing I would encourage people 10:26 and, you know, lot of doctors say, 10:28 well, let's get this device or put you on this pill. 10:30 Or some people say, well, you become this diet 10:32 or eat this or exercise everyday. 10:33 Well, what I wanna encourage people to 10:35 and that is into treatment for heart disease 10:38 and every disease start the treatment 10:41 with the relationship with the great physician 10:44 who will not only reveal truth, 10:46 but He will also heal us. 10:48 Now I've seen miracles happen sometimes. 10:50 I've seen people that get treated up with prayer 10:54 and through this relationship God takes their problem away. 10:57 But also He helps lead to their appropriateness 11:00 of modern medicine, to give the power to change. 11:02 Now we've talked a little bit about the rhythms, 11:05 but there is other things with heart 11:06 that can damage us too. 11:07 Weak hearts from infection, bad heart valves, 11:11 all of these things lead up to heart disease. 11:13 But, you know, modern medicine can do surgery on the heart. 11:16 We can place the defibrillators in the heart. 11:18 But also we wanna do everything possible 11:20 we can to live according to the owner's manual 11:22 so we don't need modern medicine. 11:24 Well, I like that. 11:26 In other words when we bow-- 11:27 when we bow our knees and when we pray, 11:29 when we get in our car and we go to church, 11:32 when we do something nice for someone, 11:34 when we spend time in God's word, 11:36 we're actually helping our hearts when we do that. 11:39 Absolutely, Charles. 11:41 What I want our listeners and viewers to understand 11:44 is that the physical heart we have modern medicine for. 11:47 We can also help a lot. 11:49 A lot of people don't understand that 11:50 what we eat and what we think also is a treatment 11:53 as well a prevention for heart disease. 11:55 But in addition, God has ability to heal our physical hearts 11:59 to change our hearts 12:00 and even if we can't get it right with modern medicine 12:02 we can be promised healing at some point in our lives. 12:06 That is good news, that is good news. 12:08 Too many of us believe that if we mess up our lives 12:11 as we can just simply go to the doctor and he'll fix it. 12:13 Well, doctors are amazing people 12:15 and they can do amazing things 12:16 but there are some things they cannot fix 12:19 and one of the things they can't fix is your bad habits. 12:22 And I'm sure Dr. Marcum, you'd like to 12:25 but you can't do that. 12:26 So we'll take a short break 12:28 and when we come back we'll have questions 12:30 that have been sent in to heartwiseministries.org 12:32 on this topic. So stay right where you are. |
Revised 2014-12-17