Welcome back to the
program, I'm Charles Mills
00:00:01.06\00:00:02.54
Dr. James Marcum is here,
we're talking about FEET today,
00:00:02.57\00:00:06.16
those things that a lot
of people tend to ignore,
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but we ignore them at our peril.
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Feet have a way of letting
us know that they're not happy,
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and that they
want some attention,
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and we're learning what
we need to do about our feet,
00:00:15.91\00:00:18.31
and what shoes to wear.
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Now let's talk
about some questions from
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heartwiseministries. org
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So I guess it's Happy Foot Day
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on Ultimate Prescription.
It is Happy Food Day!
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We want you to have HAPPY FEET!
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And, would it offend
you if I took my shoes off?
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You may do that
because you have this...
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What's that disease called?
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I have "plantar
fasciitis" Plantar fasciitis...
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And, you know, it's
interesting that a cardiologist
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would be talking about this,
but this is an important topic,
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and I want us to
cover some feet problems
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that everyone has
because I want people to keep
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walking and exercising and that
can help the rest of their body
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and if their feet are
messed up, it's hard to do that.
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You just take your shoes
off and listener at home,
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if you are having
problems with your feet,
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you can take your
shoes off, I don't mind.
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Happy Feet
Education Day, today, Charles.
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I'm ready, I'm ready! Okay
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Don't put your foot in
your mouth on this one.
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You get it? It was a
pun. I already did already...
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"What is the best way
to eliminate - Oh Dear...
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fungus in the toenails?"
Oh, that's got to be painful!
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I get that question a lot.
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Fungus happens in toenails,
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and there are a couple of
ways you can eliminate it.
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The standard party line
is to go to a podiatrist,
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or your doctor and get
an antifungal medication
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called "Lamisil"
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That probably works the
best because you put it on there
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and after a period of time,
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it eventually
gets rid of the fungus.
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The problem is, you
gotta make sure your liver
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is pretty healthy
when you use that medicine.
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Now there are other
things that I've heard of
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through the years that
I've tried a couple of them
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with different patients.
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One was Vicks Vaporub -
you know, rub Vicks Vaporub
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and cover the nail - that
didn't really work for me.
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Other people
suggest trimming the nail
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until the fungus is
gone and put some antifungal.
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...That might work a little bit.
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And then, one thing you can do
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if you really
don't like the fungus,
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is you can eliminate
the nail all together. Oh!
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Well some people do that if
the nail is really diseased.
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The doctor would do that,
you don't do that at home.
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The person that specializes in
feet, is called a "podiatrist"
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So, go to a podiatrist,
get some professional help,
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but, you know, they use
a medicine called "Lamisil"
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There are some
other folk remedies,
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but I'm not sure how
successful they're going to be.
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That's for
fungus in the toenails.
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Wait, let me think, is
there anything else in the
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toenails that we
need to talk about?
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Ingrown toenails!
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You know, we need to keep
the toenails clipped healthy.
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Okay, how do you
clip them healthy?
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Yeah, I just clip them straight
across, you might want to ask
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the podiatrist, so
they don't get too long,
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and they poke on things.
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If your foot is
bleeding from your toenail,
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that's never a good
sign. Not good, not good
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Ingrown toenails - the
podiatrist usually clips that
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a certain way and
takes care of that too.
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That can be very
painful and if untreated,
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that can cause bad infections.
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So we talked about toenails.
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All right, here we go...
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"How are bunions
usually treated?"
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What is a bunion and
how do you treat that?
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Yeah, bunions are painful areas
on feet that hurt a whole lot.
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There are a couple of ways that
I've seen the podiatrist do this
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One of the ways is they
have pads that they put on
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that sore area, the bunion, and
hopefully that will get better.
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Sometimes if
it's in severe cases,
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they can actually
do a bunionectomy.
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Would you like
to have that done?
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I don't like the sound of that.
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That's where they
cut the bunion out...
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And you've also heard of
things like heel spurs. Yes
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You know, those are different
things that happen on the foot
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that shouldn't be
there that cause pain.
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Heel spurs, bunions -
all these are extra tissue
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that presses on things,
especially when you walk,
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and it causes pain.
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So if you want to see
how your foot is doing,
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go out and do some walking
and see if you have pain.
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If you're not
having pain when you walk,
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chances are YOU have happy feet!
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I'm assuming you walk
with shoes on - Yeah I do
00:04:05.67\00:04:10.29
I might walk without shoes
too sometimes. All right - okay
00:04:10.32\00:04:13.25
"My big toe -
according to this writer,
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is swollen, could this be gout?"
00:04:15.19\00:04:16.97
Now you mentioned
gout earlier. Yeah
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Gout is a deposition of a
chemical called "uric acid"
00:04:18.79\00:04:23.68
in the joint of a
food... in a joint of the FOOT!
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I'm having a hard
time with my words, Charles
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That's okay but food
is important for feet.
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Yes it is, but anyway, the
toe gets this uric acid in it,
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and it gets very painful.
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And the treatment for that,
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there are a couple of medicines
we use to calm it down.
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One is called "colchicine" to
keep formation of these crystals
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Sometimes we use another
chemical called "allopurinol"
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We encourage people
to eat healthy diets.
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You know, we want to stay
away from lots of red meats,
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and things like
that, processed foods,
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things that can cause
this uric acid to come on.
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It tends to run in families,
but gout is very painful.
00:05:00.79\00:05:05.02
So that person's
big toe could be gout.
00:05:05.05\00:05:09.96
Okay, so that needs to go
to a podiatrist and find out...
00:05:09.99\00:05:13.55
Or a regular
doctor can treat that too,
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and sometimes it sort
of runs its own course.
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You know, it sort of
gets better on its own.
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Some people I've seen
try to put charcoal poultices
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on it and help that a little bit
and sometimes that helps too,
00:05:23.76\00:05:26.67
to put charcoal
poultices to help move out the
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the crystals and the poison;
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sometimes that can
work on some people as well.
00:05:30.12\00:05:31.99
All right, very good - now
here's another question from
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heartwiseministries. org
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We always invite our viewers
to send in their questions
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to that website because
there you can find out what
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you need to know and we'll
find out what you need to know
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and be able to provide an answer
hopefully, on this program.
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Okay, a question...
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"I have infection in my
foot and doesn't seem to heal,
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is there anything... Now
you get this question a lot...
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"Is there
anything NATURAL I can do?"
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A lot of people are scared
of drugs and.. they should be,
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and they don't
want to go the drug way,
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what can you do for
INFECTION NATURALLY?
00:06:03.06\00:06:06.50
Well, there are
different types of infections.
00:06:06.53\00:06:08.68
For bacterial infections,
they usually need antibiotics,
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but in feet, sometimes
things don't heal well.
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There's a condition
called a "diabetic neuropathy"
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where diabetics
can't feel their feet.
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You could actually
have a cut on your foot,
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and it becomes infected and you
wouldn't even know it, Charles,
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from an infection.
00:06:25.51\00:06:26.70
So you want to make sure, things
like diabetes, you don't have.
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You also want to make
sure you have good circulation.
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Some people can have blockages
in the blood vessels...
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So if you can't get
blood out there to your foot,
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you can't heal either.
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And some things that can help
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with that is hot
and cold treatments;
00:06:42.60\00:06:44.68
some people go into
these special chambers called
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"hyperbaric chambers"
that help heal wounds;
00:06:48.30\00:06:51.59
sometimes people can, of
course, take the antibiotics.
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Sometimes the pill forms can't
get to where it needs to go,
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and they have to take
some IV forms that can more
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effectively get to
the place of interest.
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If an infection, if it's
bacterial and is untreated,
00:07:03.07\00:07:06.24
it could get into the bone,
00:07:06.27\00:07:07.74
it could even get
into the blood vessel.
00:07:07.77\00:07:09.66
Just last week in the hospital,
I saw someone that had this
00:07:09.69\00:07:12.04
type of foot
infection, they ignored it,
00:07:12.07\00:07:14.26
it went all the way
from the toe into the bone,
00:07:14.29\00:07:17.04
and they, unfortunately,
they couldn't control
00:07:17.07\00:07:19.54
the infection and they
were going to have to have
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that part of the foot amputated,
00:07:21.13\00:07:23.78
with the infection cut out.
00:07:23.81\00:07:25.11
That's the extreme case.
00:07:25.14\00:07:26.78
So in infections, we want
people to get on it real quick,
00:07:26.81\00:07:29.43
make sure they
don't have diabetes,
00:07:29.46\00:07:31.91
make sure they see their doctor,
00:07:31.94\00:07:33.21
see if they might
need an antibiotic;
00:07:33.24\00:07:34.75
other ways to increase
the circulation to the leg
00:07:34.78\00:07:37.54
that might help it
heal. Okay, very good
00:07:37.57\00:07:39.94
Another question from
heartwiseministries. org
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"My feet are
always swollen AT NIGHT"
00:07:42.45\00:07:45.82
Why would they swell at
night and not in the day?
00:07:45.85\00:07:48.70
Well that is probably one
of the most common questions
00:07:48.73\00:07:51.60
regarding the feet that I hear.
00:07:51.63\00:07:53.34
When feet get
swollen, sometimes -
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you know, why does fluid build
up on both sides of the legs?
00:07:55.90\00:07:58.79
...And that's
sort of the dilemma.
00:07:58.82\00:08:00.64
One of the reasons is
just having bad veins.
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The veins wear out and
can't get the fluid out.
00:08:03.78\00:08:06.85
So if you're sitting
in the same position,
00:08:06.88\00:08:08.68
don't move around a lot,
00:08:08.71\00:08:09.99
if you have bad
veins like varicose veins,
00:08:10.02\00:08:12.65
if you've had surgery on
your legs like a bypass surgery,
00:08:12.68\00:08:16.11
or you stand up all day,
00:08:16.14\00:08:18.00
or you used to
have a job all day,
00:08:18.03\00:08:19.97
then the fluid
actually pools in your legs.
00:08:20.00\00:08:22.90
And you notice that in
the morning it's not so bad,
00:08:22.93\00:08:25.39
but at the end of the
day, they're pretty swollen.
00:08:25.42\00:08:27.78
Then you put them up
and the fluid can come out,
00:08:27.81\00:08:30.01
and they're better the next day.
00:08:30.04\00:08:31.62
Now other things that
can cause swollen legs
00:08:31.65\00:08:34.56
are things like
blood clots in the legs
00:08:34.59\00:08:36.92
for people that don't
move around very much,
00:08:36.95\00:08:39.68
thyroid disease can
cause swelling legs,
00:08:39.71\00:08:42.53
heart failure - if
the fluid backs up,
00:08:42.56\00:08:44.74
that can cause
swollen legs as well.
00:08:44.77\00:08:47.20
So it's real important
if you have swollen legs
00:08:47.23\00:08:49.33
to get to your
doctor, have them evaluate,
00:08:49.36\00:08:52.06
see if they think it's bad
veins or something more serious.
00:08:52.09\00:08:54.92
Also, things that
help elevate your legs;
00:08:54.95\00:08:57.52
some people wear compression
stockings to help push
00:08:57.55\00:09:00.81
the fluid out and for
sure, a low sodium diet.
00:09:00.84\00:09:04.66
The more salt you get,
the more fluid you retain.
00:09:04.69\00:09:07.96
So I see swollen
legs almost every day.
00:09:07.99\00:09:10.50
Now some people, if
they're real swollen,
00:09:10.53\00:09:12.29
they use a diuretic
- a fluid pills that
00:09:12.32\00:09:14.77
takes fluid OUT of the legs.
00:09:14.80\00:09:16.27
I'm not a big fan of
that because the pill is not
00:09:16.30\00:09:19.92
smart enough just to
take it out of the legs.
00:09:19.95\00:09:21.86
It takes it out of everywhere
and you might feel bad.
00:09:21.89\00:09:24.95
So I would rather people
learn how to cope with it,
00:09:24.98\00:09:27.06
and have a little bit of
swelling and maybe elevate
00:09:27.09\00:09:28.96
the legs, move
around every hour,
00:09:28.99\00:09:31.09
maybe wear some stockings,
cut back on their sodium,
00:09:31.12\00:09:33.76
rather than to
take a fluid pill.
00:09:33.79\00:09:35.69
What is the
difference, Dr. Marcum,
00:09:35.72\00:09:37.67
between someone who has
this problem and someone that
00:09:37.70\00:09:40.56
doesn't have this
problem? Is this heredity?
00:09:40.59\00:09:42.68
Is there a genetic element here?
00:09:42.71\00:09:44.58
Yeah, it could
be or it could be...
00:09:44.61\00:09:46.46
I have some people
that stand up every day,
00:09:46.49\00:09:48.46
and they stand up
years and years and years,
00:09:48.49\00:09:51.04
and just gravity makes
their veins worse. Gotcha...
00:09:51.07\00:09:53.82
We know some people
have varicose veins,
00:09:53.85\00:09:55.81
you know that's
where the veins get weak,
00:09:55.84\00:09:58.20
that can run in
families as well.
00:09:58.23\00:10:00.11
The valves -
sometimes a valve with break,
00:10:00.14\00:10:02.46
and you'll have like a little
blood vein clot in your legs.
00:10:02.49\00:10:07.47
That can happen, so
there are lots of different
00:10:07.50\00:10:09.80
things that can cause the
veins to worsen over time.
00:10:09.83\00:10:13.37
It's a very common
problem; usually it's not
00:10:13.40\00:10:16.67
life-threatening,
it's just bothersome,
00:10:16.70\00:10:18.73
you know, when you're
pulling around your legs.
00:10:18.76\00:10:20.37
Another condition that's very
similar to that is 'lymphedema"
00:10:20.40\00:10:23.28
where the lymph
can't get out of your leg,
00:10:23.31\00:10:25.26
that tends to be more genetic.
00:10:25.29\00:10:27.74
Well we all want
happy feet, of course,
00:10:27.77\00:10:29.87
so we don't want to go through
life with pain and suffering,
00:10:29.90\00:10:32.53
but you've outlined some
natural things we can do -
00:10:32.56\00:10:35.06
the hot and cold, the elevation,
00:10:35.09\00:10:37.06
and I guess it might come down
to the fact that if we are in an
00:10:37.09\00:10:42.31
environment, if we were
in a job that requires us to
00:10:42.34\00:10:45.55
standup all the time or
to use or overuse our feet,
00:10:45.58\00:10:48.41
and our feet are beginning to
tell us, that's not a good thing
00:10:48.44\00:10:51.56
maybe we just
should switch jobs...
00:10:51.59\00:10:53.18
Yes, or rest or put your legs
up or have special footwear...
00:10:53.21\00:10:57.42
Does it get better, I mean
if you start doing these things
00:10:57.45\00:10:59.93
can you continue doing
bad things to your feet,
00:10:59.96\00:11:02.63
and your feet become stronger?
00:11:02.66\00:11:03.81
No, most of the time,
walking will help the veins,
00:11:03.84\00:11:06.76
but most of the
time, in time, the veins do
00:11:06.79\00:11:09.30
as part of the aging
process, veins wear out.
00:11:09.33\00:11:11.82
So we want to keep them
from wearing out as quick,
00:11:11.85\00:11:14.13
and when people start to
swell, this could be a sign
00:11:14.16\00:11:16.64
that your veins are
starting to have damage.
00:11:16.67\00:11:18.16
All right, well we've learned
a lot of good things here about
00:11:18.19\00:11:21.01
our feet today and I hope
that you have learned as well.
00:11:21.04\00:11:23.64
Again, I want to
remind you of our website,
00:11:23.67\00:11:26.16
heartwiseministries. org
00:11:26.19\00:11:28.11
You can send your
questions in to there,
00:11:28.14\00:11:30.24
and we will talk about them
on the program just as we did
00:11:30.27\00:11:33.26
here talking about
feet. And Charles, I know a
00:11:33.29\00:11:34.57
podiatrist that can answer
specific questions as well.
00:11:34.61\00:11:37.12
That will be available
to make those questions?
00:11:37.15\00:11:38.64
Yep, I know that... Okay, they
will address those questions.
00:11:38.67\00:11:40.39
All right, when we come back,
Dr. Marcum has some more words
00:11:40.42\00:11:43.62
of wisdom and comfort for
us, so stay right where you are!
00:11:43.65\00:11:46.24
I hope everyone realizes
the importance of their feet.
00:11:58.82\00:12:02.61
Do some feet exercises
every day, take care of them,
00:12:02.64\00:12:05.91
do the stretching
and if you have pain,
00:12:05.94\00:12:07.93
figure out where
the pain is coming from.
00:12:07.96\00:12:10.09
You might have plantar
fasciitis like me or gout,
00:12:10.12\00:12:13.88
or venous insufficiency or
other problems in your feet,
00:12:13.91\00:12:17.23
get it checked out because
if you don't have happy feet,
00:12:17.26\00:12:19.65
you can't walk anywhere.
00:12:19.68\00:12:21.38
There are some out
there that need prayer today;
00:12:21.41\00:12:24.66
they sent their prayer
requests into our website
00:12:24.69\00:12:26.96
where we
actually pray for people.
00:12:26.99\00:12:28.84
God can do things; He
can not only heal feet,
00:12:28.87\00:12:32.06
but He can heal our entire body.
00:12:32.09\00:12:35.05
If you're out there
and need special prayer,
00:12:35.08\00:12:36.96
we're going to pray
for you right now...
00:12:36.99\00:12:38.69
Dear Heavenly Father...
There is someone out there
00:12:38.72\00:12:42.81
that needs You in a special way.
00:12:42.84\00:12:44.51
It might be physical healing,
it might be mental healing,
00:12:44.54\00:12:48.54
but we know that You
are the Ultimate Physician
00:12:48.57\00:12:51.01
that we can come to for
healing at all times, Father.
00:12:51.04\00:12:54.14
Thank You for
being here with us today.
00:12:54.17\00:12:56.35
Help us to take good care
of our feet and please lead us
00:12:56.38\00:12:59.49
in this part of our lives
is our humble prayer... Amen
00:12:59.52\00:13:03.50
Again, I want to thank you for
00:13:03.53\00:13:06.86
joining us on
Heartwise Ministries,
00:13:06.89\00:13:08.68
and I know I'm not a podiatrist,
00:13:08.71\00:13:10.33
but if you go to our website
at heartwiseministries. org
00:13:10.36\00:13:14.33
if you might have a
specific foot question,
00:13:14.36\00:13:17.05
I will try to answer them.
00:13:17.08\00:13:18.76
You know we covered lots
of parts about the foot today,
00:13:18.79\00:13:21.50
but I want you to take
some time and make sure you have
00:13:21.53\00:13:24.41
comfortable feet.
00:13:24.44\00:13:25.80
Look into getting
orthotics if your foot hurts,
00:13:25.83\00:13:28.64
and make sure you
stretch that foot out every day
00:13:28.67\00:13:32.00
and look at it
every day to make sure
00:13:32.03\00:13:33.72
it's not getting an infection.
00:13:33.76\00:13:35.04
We want to thank you for joining
us on the Ultimate Prescription
00:13:35.07\00:13:38.98
and our prayers are
going to be with you every day
00:13:39.01\00:13:41.97
wishing you the absolute
best of health as we turn
00:13:42.00\00:13:46.23
to the Ultimate
Physician for the answers.
00:13:46.27\00:13:48.28