Participants: James Marcum & Charles Mills
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP00026A
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00:01 The following program presents
00:02 principles designed to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place 00:06 of personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions and ideas expressed 00:10 are those of the speaker. 00:11 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions 00:14 about the information presented. 00:19 Every factory needs one, your car has one, 00:22 even your home is equipped with at least one. 00:25 Without it factories, cars and homes 00:28 and you wouldn't exist, stay tuned. 00:32 I'm Dr. James Marcum. 00:34 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:38 You want solutions to your healthcare problems. 00:41 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:43 Well, you're about to be given the "Ultimate Prescription." 00:48 Today we continue our discussion on the major causes of death. 00:52 Metabolism is the engine that drives life. 00:55 Within us, metabolism generates energy, 00:57 growth and our ability to fight disease 00:59 but metabolism has needs, 01:01 one of which is our topic today. 01:03 The ability to gather and eliminate waste material 01:06 is an important function of any energy producing 01:09 and energy using mechanism. 01:11 But eliminating waste materials 01:13 opens the door to disaster sometimes, 01:15 right, Dr. Marcum? 01:17 Wow, Charles, those were a lot of words. 01:20 Lot of words, yes. 01:21 Whoa...metabolism. Yes. 01:24 Kidneys, causes of death. 01:27 Let's review where we've been 01:28 and talk about where we wanna go. 01:31 We've talked in this series about the importance 01:33 of getting back to God's plan. 01:35 We've also talked about how all of these 01:38 prolonged exposure to toxins whether that be fat, 01:43 whether that be stresses that damage the heart, 01:47 whether that might be, you know, 01:49 things that cause cancer, 01:50 like we talked about the estrogens 01:52 and the high protein-based diets that we've been on. 01:56 You know, also the kidneys same type of principles 01:59 and the kidneys is one of the leading 02:01 causes of death around the world. 02:03 Kidneys fail, and when kidneys fail 02:06 bad things start to happen. Very bad. 02:08 Now, I think the body is so wonderfully made. 02:11 You know, we've our controls center, 02:13 the brain and all the organs depend on that. 02:15 We have a stomach that can digest stuff 02:18 and get stuff ready for energy. 02:20 Then it gets in our bloodstream, 02:21 the blood takes it everywhere 02:23 and we got this strong structure but the kidney is an organ 02:26 that a lot of people don't understand very well. 02:29 Because you know you can't really feel it. 02:31 They sort of sit in the back, they're like kidney beans. 02:34 But luckily we have two of them. Yes. 02:36 I heard a story the other day 02:37 about a gentlemen wanting to sell his kidney. 02:40 You know, 'cause someone else's kidney has failed. Yeah. 02:42 And they would actually sell these kidneys on the market. 02:45 Now, he got in trouble for it but in some parts, 02:47 you know that because you have two, 02:48 you can take one out and put the other one in. Yeah. 02:50 If you think of the organs that we have two of. 02:52 You know, we have two lungs, so you can live with one lung, 02:54 we have two kidneys, so you can live with one kidney. 02:56 We only have one liver but it regenerates very well. 02:59 We have two legs. 03:01 Wish we had two brains but we don't. 03:03 We have two eyes 03:04 but God designed us in these ways for a reason. 03:07 And the kidneys follow the same theme 03:10 as some of these other organ systems. 03:12 Prolonged exposure to damaging things hurt the system. 03:15 And these damaging things go 03:16 against the way we were designed to be. 03:20 Let's, you know, 03:21 how would you even know you have a kidney problem? 03:23 You know, that's a great question. 03:25 You know, there is-- when evaluating a kidney, 03:28 there's three things I want to know right away. 03:30 Is one, things that can make the kidney look bad 03:33 is if it's not getting enough blood or it's dehydrated. Okay? 03:36 We call that pre-renal because the problem happens 03:39 before it gets to the kidney, right? Yeah. 03:41 Sometimes, the problem happens downstream from the kidneys, 03:45 in the ureters which carry the urine 03:48 to the bladder and out. 03:49 Sometimes, we call that post-obstructive. 03:52 We have problems post-renal, beyond the kidneys. 03:55 And the most common cause of that is like a stone. Yes. 03:57 You know, if you have a stone, 03:58 it blocks things up and there's back pressure in the kidney, 04:01 the kidneys don't look happy. 04:02 So there's pre-renal, post-renal and then 04:04 there is the kidney diseases themselves. 04:06 And things that can damage the kidney is diabetes, 04:09 probably, the number one cause of damage to the kidneys. 04:12 The kidneys' blood-vessels can be damaged. 04:14 The kidney itself can also have problems with it. 04:16 We have conditions like polycystic kidney disease, 04:19 where we get-- it's sort of a genetic disease 04:22 where you get a cyst in the kidney, 04:23 so the kidneys can't work well. 04:25 Sometimes, cancer can get in the kidneys. 04:28 Sometimes, infection can damage the kidneys. 04:31 One of the big things we see 04:32 damaging the kidneys nowadays is medicines. 04:35 Did you know that certain medicines, 04:37 non steroidals like aspirins, 04:39 certain antibiotics can damage the kidney as well? 04:42 I can see why they would. Yeah. 04:44 The kind of--the kidneys are trying to flush waste out. Yes. 04:49 And you put all these toxins in 04:51 from the medicines and everything. 04:52 Yeah, and sometimes the kidney can be overwhelmed. 04:55 Oh, yeah. You can overdo it. 04:56 And sometimes what happens 04:57 is you have three things going on at once. 04:59 And we're seeing that a couple of times is, 05:01 the kidney has been damaged from diabetes and maybe medications, 05:05 there might be a stone in the way 05:06 so the urine can't get up, 05:08 and then the person gets dehydrated 05:09 so that you don't get enough fluid and blood to kidney. Yes. 05:11 When that happens, the kidneys' function can deteriorate quickly 05:15 and a little problem can be a big problem. 05:17 And when the kidney doesn't get waste out, 05:19 if any medicine is floating around in you, 05:21 it stays in you a long time. Yes. 05:24 And unfortunately, when that happens, 05:26 you know, you can have some severe consequences. 05:28 Also in the kidney-- 05:29 it regulates metabolism and all the electrolytes. 05:32 I mean, if your potassium goes high that can be deadly too. 05:36 The kidney removes fluid from the body 05:38 and sometimes a person that has a weak heart 05:41 has bad kidney function not 'cause their kidney is bad, 05:43 because it doesn't get enough blood 05:44 to the kidney to it to do its job. 05:46 So you can back up fluid. 05:48 Things are so interrelated in our body. 05:49 Yes, they are. 05:50 And sometimes when you have fluid backed up, 05:52 you know, if it's from the heart, 05:53 you can go into heart failure and the kidney might need 05:55 a little extra help getting the fluid out. 05:56 We sometimes give a diuretic to that situation. 05:59 So the kidney is right involved in a lot of things 06:01 and it's very important. 06:03 The way we tell about the kidney, 06:04 once we decide, you know, 06:05 whether it's before the kidney or after the kidney 06:07 or in the kidney, is we look at the blood work. 06:09 And the blood work 06:11 gives us some numbers that help us know. 06:12 For instance, the potassium's real high, 06:14 then that could be the kidney, not getting rid of it. 06:16 There's a substance that we measure 06:17 in the blood called creatinine. 06:19 That's a measurement of a metabolite 06:21 that's broken down in the body. 06:22 If that level starts going up, 06:24 we say the kidney is not doing well. 06:26 Sometimes we can look at the urine-- 06:27 if we see protein in urine or an infection in the urine. 06:31 Well, then we can look into the microscope 06:33 to see if there's casts, 06:34 that might give us some information 06:36 about whether the kidney is being damaged. 06:38 That might let us know what's wrong with the kidney. 06:40 Sometimes, we can do ultrasound 06:42 which is pictures of the kidneys to see how big they are. 06:44 In certain conditions, they get smaller 06:47 and in some conditions, you know, 06:48 if they can't get urine out, they get bigger. 06:50 You know, you have terms 06:51 like hydronephrosis, things like that. 06:54 Sometimes we can do biopsy of the kidneys 06:56 to see what type of disease 06:57 or certain connective tissue disease. 06:59 One of the ones that I had to learn 07:00 in medical school is called Wegener's granulomatosis. 07:03 That's a big name of a connective tissue disease 07:05 that causes the kidney. 07:07 But by far when the kidney malfunctions, 07:10 it affects the entire body 07:11 but we do have treatment for kidney failure 07:14 and that treatment is termed dialysis at times. Yeah. 07:17 And unfortunately, many Americans are under dialysis, 07:20 but, you know, what the number one cause 07:22 of the kidney failure is, in America today? 07:25 And probably the entire world? 07:27 The number one cause? No, what is it? 07:28 Diabetes. Really? 07:30 Diabetes untreated, damages the kidney 07:33 and if you can think about things is 07:35 the most common type of diabetes is Type 2 diabetes. 07:38 Type 2 diabetes not treated, 07:40 damages the kidney, leads to dialysis. 07:42 So we want everyone to know, if you have Type 2 diabetes, 07:45 you might save your kidneys' life 07:47 by getting this Type 2 diabetes addressed. 07:49 And as the numbers for Type 2 diabetes goes up, 07:52 guess what's gonna happen to renal disease. 07:54 It's gonna go up, too. 07:56 So guess what's gonna happen to another leading cause of death. 07:59 The kidneys are gonna get blamed again-- 08:00 Climb the charts. It's gonna continue to climb the chart. 08:02 And we're gonna talk to people about, 08:04 you know, kidneys-- we can put them on dialysis. 08:06 So we can keep people alive 08:08 but we don't really necessarily fix the problem. 08:10 And being on dialysis-- 08:12 now dialysis is like an artificial kidney. 08:14 You know, you go three times a week, 08:16 they usually have shunts in your arms 08:19 where they hook you up to the machine 08:20 and they take all the blood out of your body. 08:22 They filter it through that machine, 08:24 it takes the toxins in the volume out 08:26 and then it runs right around and put it back in you. 08:28 That's one type, and we call that hemodialysis 08:31 because it works with the blood. 08:33 There's also one called peritoneal dialysis 08:35 where you put bags, 08:36 you're hooked up to bags and does the same things. 08:39 The advantage of that type of dialysis is you can be mobile. 08:42 Now, one of the things about kidneys is every one wants it, 08:44 you know, we talked about a transplant. 08:46 Every one wants a new kidney, 08:47 to give the kidney a second chance. 08:48 So if a person has a second chance of getting a kidney, 08:51 I want to make sure they don't do things that hurt that kidney. 08:54 You know, when you think about all the things 08:56 that hurt the kidneys, diabetes, 08:57 dehydration, a weak heart, 09:00 stones that block up the uterus, 09:02 all these different things that can damage the kidneys, 09:04 we want to keep those people away 09:06 from those things so they can be healthy. 09:08 So the kidney is a very important organ 09:10 but it usually does what it's supposed to do 09:12 as long as we don't introduce these other things. 09:14 That's the only probably 2 or 3 things 09:16 that can't be tied back to lifestyle. 09:18 Yeah, I was gonna say 09:19 as you were going through that list 09:21 that these are things within our control. Right. 09:23 We can decide, if we want to have this problem or not. 09:27 And that's got to be good news for most people, I think. 09:29 And if you look back about all this disease 09:31 that are killing people all around the country, 09:33 the leading causes, you know, 09:34 most of the diseases that we see 09:37 that are killing people, aren't killing people. 09:39 It's chronically diseased. They don't happen overnight. 09:43 And most of them are caused by our lifestyle. 09:45 They're not caused by genetics 09:47 or something we can't get rid of. 09:48 Now, there are few that we can't. 09:50 You know there are the few conditions 09:51 in the kidneys that are genetics. 09:52 There's a few things that, you know, 09:54 that come in our kidneys and get in our way. 09:55 But lot of the times, it is lifestyle and as, 09:58 if we can't change our lifestyle in the world we live in, 10:01 guess, what's gonna happen. 10:02 We're gonna see more kidney failure, 10:04 more dialysis, that doesn't fix the problem. 10:07 And, of course, with dialysis comes the problems of infections 10:10 comes the problem of drinking too much fluid 10:13 when you shouldn't be drinking too much fluid. 10:15 So there's a load of problems that come 10:16 if your kidneys do fail and you end up on dialysis. 10:19 And the medicines, Charles, 10:21 I can't over emphasize how important medicines are. 10:23 You know, all the medicines, 10:25 lot of the medicines work through the kidneys 10:27 and if you take too many medications, the kidney says, 10:30 "Listen, I'm only going to do so much work today. 10:33 I can't handle this work. 10:35 And you're not giving me enough fluids and I'm dehydrated. 10:38 I just can't handle it, I'm overwhelmed, 10:41 I'm not gonna do my job today." 10:42 And the kidney doesn't do a job 10:44 and the rest of the body finds out real quickly. 10:46 Now, acute renal failure-- 10:48 when the kidney goes down quick, 10:50 if you don't find out about it, you can die from that. Yes. 10:53 Because the potassium builds up, the potassium's high. 10:55 You know, fluid builds up in the body. 10:57 You can die from acute renal failure. 10:59 So if your kidney goes quick, fast-- 11:01 you need to find out pretty quick. 11:03 It's scary but, you know, 11:05 a lot of people don't think 11:06 about these kidney organs as being vital. 11:08 But they're vital to the body. 11:09 But usually if you treat the organ pretty good, 11:11 it does, it takes care of you. 11:13 Dr. Marcum, how do you approach a patient 11:16 that comes in to see you And you know that the problems 11:20 that this person is facing are self-inflicted? 11:23 How do you say that to them? 11:26 Oh, that's a good question, Charles. 11:27 And you know, 11:29 some people take the tough man approach. 11:31 "If you don't do this, you're gonna die." Yeah. 11:32 What I try to do is, I try to wrap truth in love 11:36 and I try to love people and not judge them. 11:39 You know, and I say, "Listen," 11:40 you know, "you're doing some things, 11:42 your diabetes is under good control, 11:43 we see that your kidney function's getting worse. 11:46 You know, we can give you 11:47 some medicines that treat your symptoms 11:49 but if we don't make some lifestyle changes, 11:51 this is what you can expect. 11:53 But I know some ways to get you feeling better. 11:56 I know the Great Physician that we can start talking to 11:58 and make an appointment with him 12:00 that can give you the power to make some changes. 12:02 That can help you learn 12:03 and give you the power to live healthy. 12:05 That can lead you to the doctors, 12:06 that can motivate you to do the things you need to do. 12:09 Are you interested in this?" 12:10 And that's about all you can do, Charles. Yeah. 12:13 And if they say, "no," 12:14 and some people say no. I can't-- 12:16 And you have to watch them go out of your office 12:18 knowing that you have the answer 12:20 and they have rejected it. 12:21 Right. But you know what? 12:23 That's happened to people throughout all times. 12:25 You know, people have had answers 12:26 and all you can do is pray for them 12:28 and you can love them. 12:29 You don't judge them 12:30 and you just try to reach them whatever way you can. 12:32 And when Christ's ministry was here, 12:34 you know, people were healed and, 12:36 you know, if I was healed by Christ, 12:38 you would think that person would follow them forever. 12:40 And I'm sure some of those people 12:42 that were healed still lose track. That's true. 12:43 You know, I don't know about that but I'm sure they did. 12:45 But that's what you can do. You can give them the best. 12:47 And that's what we want to do in this program. 12:49 Give them the best information, 12:51 let them know that we do think 12:52 there's more to modern medicine, there's more to lifestyle. 12:54 It's the Ultimate Physician, 12:56 that power that comes and that healing 12:57 that comes from God, this is very important. 13:00 Not only for you kidneys but your entire body. 13:02 But it is discouraging sometimes 13:04 when people don't take control of themselves. 13:06 But a lot of the times, I found out, 13:07 is no one's told them about it either. Yeah. 13:09 They go, "I can do this and be this way? 13:11 I can feel better?" 13:13 And some of the most rewarding things 13:15 that happened in my life with patients 13:17 had been the patients that learn these things, 13:19 that dedicate their lives 13:21 to walking with the Ultimate Physician, 13:23 get the power to make the changes and come back to, 13:25 "Look at me, I've done this. 13:27 I'm off this medicine. I know He's working in my life. 13:29 I'm excited. I know he's with me. 13:32 I know that I'm gonna be with him in heaven. 13:34 I'm excited about this. I have joy." 13:36 You know, and "You opened my eyes to this 13:37 when the whole world said I have to be this way. 13:39 My eyes have now been opened to what truth is." 13:43 That's one of the greatest rewards anyone can get. 13:46 Absolutely, and that's what we want for you. 13:48 We want you to have that kind of relationship 13:51 and enjoy that kind of healing. 13:53 We'll take a short break and when we come back, 13:55 questions from heartwiseministeries.org. 13:57 So stay put. |
Revised 2014-12-17