Remember, you have to be your own health advocate and ask the questions you may be hesitant to bring up.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1518ht2b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Neil Spector, MD
- Organization Duke University School of Medicine
- Book Title Gone in a Heartbeat: A Physician's Search for True Healing
-
Guest Bio
Neil Spector is the co-director of the developmental therapeutics program at the Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center. He is a Komen Scholar (one of 50 global leaders in breast cancer research) and a Sandra P. Coates Associate Professor in Breast Cancer Research.
He has been published in over 60 publications and journals, including the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Oncogene, Cancer Research, and The Journal of Clinical Oncology.
He has won multiple awards, including the Wayne Rundles Award (excellence in cancer research, Duke University Medical Center), the Wendell Rosse Excellence in Teaching Award (awarded to the best faculty mentor as voted by the Duke medical oncology fellows), and the Claudia Adams Barr Award in Cancer Research (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School).
He resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife, daughter, and two dogs, where he enjoys running, playing tennis, traveling, and is an avid reader of books related to the mind-body connection. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
If you have one of these medications, is there anything you can do?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1518ht2a.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
- Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1518ht1e.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: April 27, 2015
Host: Mike Smith, MD
RadioMD. It's time to ask Dr. Mike. Do you have a question about your health? Dr. Mike can answer your questions. Just email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call now: 877-711-5211. The lines are open.
DR MIKE: So, this first one, this first question for this segment of Ask Dr. Mike—again, send me your questions. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . All that was written here was this: I'm going to read it.
"Cancer Weekly wrote an article on artificial light and cancer risk."
Hey, that's all. That's all my listener wanted to write. That's fine. So, I'll go with it. So, I went to Cancer Weekly and I found the article. Technology's so awesome, right? This is from, again, Cancer Weekly, March 26, 2015:
Is Too Much Artificial Light at Night Making Us Sick?
That was the headline. This is the beginning paragraph:
Modern life, with its preponderance of inadequate exposure to natural light during the day and overexposure to artificial light at night is not conducive to the body's natural sleep/wake cycle.
So, right there. If research is showing that not enough natural light during the day and too much artificial light at night is disrupting healthy restorative sleep/wake cycles, you better believe that's making us sick. When you're ready to catch some Z's—it's time to go to bed—cortisol drops, melatonin goes up. As a matter of fact, cortisol and melatonin are opposite ends of the spectrum and they counter each other. So, when cortisol drops, melatonin naturally comes up, you go to sleep and you go through these sleep cycles. Very important. There's these different phases of sleep. It's the deep, the REM cycle, where another hormone is release called "growth hormone" and that's where we do a lot of cell repair and regeneration. As a matter of fact, when you're a child and you're actually growing, getting taller, gaining muscle and fat, growth hormone really is helping you grow. But, when you're an adult, it's not really about growth. It's more about repair and regeneration.
So, as adults, I like to call it the "repair and regeneration" hormone. Not growth hormone anymore. Because it's a little misleading. But, the point I want to make is, the healthy sleep/wake cycle is so important to how your body manages cortisol, melatonin and growth hormone and if you're doing anything, whatever it is, if you're doing anything—drinking a bunch of caffeine before you go to bed--Anything that disrupts those normal sleep phases, the normal sleep/wake cycle—if you do anything that disrupts that, that's going to cause some major problems in your body. You're not going to be able to repair and regenerate healthy tissues. That's not good.
So, right there, just based on this first paragraph right there from Cancer Weekly. I love it. But now, in this case, they're linking it more specifically to cancer. So, you know, one of their doctors from the University of Connecticut Health and Cancer Research Center, Dr. Richard Stephens says, "Light is affecting our physiology. We're learning that better lighting can reduce these physiological effects. By that, we mean dimmer and longer wavelengths in the evening and avoiding the bright blue of e-readers, tablets and smartphones."
Thank you, Dr. Stephens. Come on. I've been saying this for a while now. If you're a listener to Healthy Talk, you already know I am a big supporter of turning off all electronics, at least ones that you're holding within a foot or so of your face, 2 hours before you go to bed. The type of light that's coming off electronics is known as blue light and blue light is high energy light. It hits your retina. It stimulates. It causes eye issues, by the way.
But, beyond that, it's just a very stimulating type of light. If you're having insomnia problems or, even if you feel like you're going to sleep okay, but you're not waking up refreshed, you've got to get rid of the electronics. Thank you, Dr. Stephens. I like it when people agree with me.
He goes on to say:
Those devices emit enough blue light when used in the evening to suppress the sleep inducing hormone, melatonin.
Ah! There you go.
And disrupt the body's Circadian rhythm, the biological mechanism that enables restful sleep. I'm telling you, it doesn't matter what you do, whether it's an actual stimulant, light stimulant, like the blue light from an e-reader or a smart phone or whatever. If you do anything to disrupt the balance between cortisol, melatonin and growth hormone, you're not going to regenerate healthy tissue. That's pretty much why we sleep. It's the time when your body is able to repair things, okay? It knocks you out. It does the repairs that it needs to do. If you can't do that, you're going to have some damage to cells and tissues and within that damage is really the hallmark of, often, cancer development. That's kind of the connection they make here.
So, what do you do? Well, you put the smart phone down. I mean, honestly, I'm not a parent, but if I were, I think one of my rules in the house would be 2 hours before bed, the smart phones are off, the tablets are off, get off the computer. Now, if you're going to watch TV, that's probably okay because you don't sit right in front of the TV. If you do, back up! I mean, there are some simple things to do. Give your body the chance to begin to relax, calm down.
Oh! By the way, it's not just the blue light from the computer or the tablet or whatever you're looking at, sometimes it's the information itself that you're reading is stimulating. I remember a study not that long ago that showed that reading e-mails right before you went to bed caused some disruption in that cortisol, melatonin, growth hormone cascade stuff. Yes. Emails. Then, add that to the blue light you're looking at. Yes, we can't sleep in this country and if we can't sleep, we're not repairing cells and tissues. If we don't repair cells and tissues, that could increase the risk for abnormal cell growth, the dreaded scary "C" word. Cancer.
Interesting. Do I have time for another one? I think so. Real quick here.
This is from Deborah Benson:
"I've been on a very low carb, no sugar diet to try to lose 15 pounds. This hasn't worked as I feel my metabolism is at a standstill. I'm only 5 feet tall and weigh 125 pounds. I'm 64 years old and I've never weighted this much before. There are some other things there, but just for time sake, the basic issue that I'm pulling out of Deborah's question is, she needs help with metabolism. Remember, your weight on any given moment is determined by very simple equation. Weight = calories in – calories out.
Some of us have a calorie in issue—we eat too much. We have cravings and appetite control issues and there are supplements that work with that. But, some of us, we actually are dieting. I believe you, Deborah. So, the issue isn't really the calorie in part, it's the calorie out part. We're not burning enough. So, obviously, the exercise—she does say she does try to walk every day. Maybe try to pick that up a little bit. But, she may need a little boost there. A little metabolic boost. Burn some more calories at rest. So, I would start with, Deborah, seven keto-DHEA. It has some great research behind it. It's a true thermogenic nutrient. It causes your fat cells to burn the fat within them. Seven keto-DHEA. About 100mg a day will boost your metabolism. Start there. Things that you can add to that as you go along would be hot pepper extracts, capsaicin or cayenne also have shown to boost the thermogenic process which is really related to metabolism.
So, try to get some more exercise. Start with the seven keto-DHEA and, if need be, add some, let's say capsaicin extract. That would be my suggestion for boosting metabolism. Thanks for your question, Deborah.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 4
- Audio File healthy_talk/1518ht1d.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: April 27, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
You're listening to Radio MD. It's time to ask Doctor Mike on Healthy talk. Call or e-mail to ask your questions now. E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 877 711 5211. The lines are open.
DR. MIKE: So, this is not a listener question, this is my question.
It is really okay to eat a food past its "sell by" date?
There are a couple of reasons that I'm bringing this up. So, there's a report on Foxnews.com. Let's see... The headline, "Government Says It's Okay to Eat Some Food 12 or 18 Months After It's "Sell By" Date". Plus, I get a lot of questions, not related to food, but to supplements. You know, "Is it okay to take my fish oil? Or, my curcumin?" or you know, whatever? "Past that date usually stamped on the bottom of the bottle." In terms of supplements, it pretty simple. It's not that it isn't safe, it just may not be as potent.
That's the thing with supplements, you know, that they sell by date insures the dose, the potency of that active ingredient and as you get further and further, beyond that sell by date, we just can't guarantee dose anymore. You know, everything breaks down and in this life. Everything breaks down, so the dose is not going to be what's stated on the label a month, two months, three months, four months down the line after they sell by date. So, with supplements is not as safety issue, you just don't get the best bang for your buck. What about food, though?
I found this really interesting, so, it says here "According to the US DA the average American tosses out 36 pounds of food a month". That's over 20% of available food that goes and eaten in this country. That's a lot. 36 Pounds. And it's becoming more and more of an issue, we all have to just admit this and deal with the reality of the fact that there are billions of people on this planet. What was it? Like by 2059, a billion people or something like this, some crazy number. Listen, food and water. They're going to start becoming like gold. And so, I think that I like this. I like that we're addressing this topic now and I like that government is getting on board here because we definitely do waste a lot of food. So, let's talk about what is sell by date actually is. You know again, in terms of supplements, it's really about potency and terms of food it's really more about freshness. And just because you go past the sell by date, it doesn't mean like some crazy, sinister reaction happens and now the food becomes poisonous or something.
Obviously, come on, it's just common sense, right? There are some foods? No. I mean, things had have a lot of fat, dairy and that kind of stuff, obviously, come on. That stuff, once that's done, you probably need to throw it out and get something new, but most other foods, packaged foods although, we want to be eating even less of that, but we don't in this country, unfortunately. Packaged food, frozen food, and stuff like that, it's really more about freshness issue than it is dangerous issue. And so, often the sell by date it's a way the manufacturer of that food can say "If you eat this, on this day or before, hey! I'll guarantee you that freshness! It's going to be awesome. The color's going to be right. It's going to taste good. After that, eh. Can't guarantee all that stuff." So, it's not a dangerous thing to eat the food. Using common sense. It's not dangerous thing to eat a food past the sell by date.
But, there's an app now. Did you know that? There's an app now that can help you to, I guess, decide whether or not you should throw the food out or not. It's an app called Food Keeper.
It's lunched earlier this month and it's part of joint effort between the USDA and the US Environmental Protection Agency to reduce food waste. The project US Food waste challenge focuses on education, recycling, connecting potential food donors to those in need as well as encouraging suppliers to properly label perishable food products like meat, poultry and egg products to cut down on unnecessary waste.
Apparently, the app has storage advice for foods, for more than 400 food and beverage products, baby food, included and all that, and you can also get cooking tips. Ultimately, what it's helping you to decide is when the certain type of food, when do you want to throw it out or when you can keep it and use it in different types of recipes.
So, it's giving you ideas of how to use maybe some food that's lost its freshness but you can use it in these types of recipes to bring back the flavoring and all that kind of stuff. This just came to me. I watched this on... If you're one of my listeners, you know that I can't cook. I've said that many times. I can eat, enjoy food. I'm half Greek, my mom's side is completely Greek. Everything is done around food. We'd spent hours at the dinner table, so I enjoy that.
So, I watched a Food Channel or any type of food show, I'm mesmerized by this. And so, I remember watching this. I think it was on the Food Channel--there was the show where the chefs compete in certain amount of time who can produce the best food from some starting ingredient, whatever it was, and one of them, one of the show's themes was leftovers. It was awesome! How to basically take something that you've might be prone to throw out but how to bring back the flavoring using spices and cooking techniques and I think that's a lot what this Foodkeeper app does.
It's going to help us to maybe utilize some of that food that we may have been throwing out to quickly. So, the sell by date is a freshness thing. It doesn't mean just because the food is passed that, minus the thing that have fat, like dairy fats and stuff like that. So, that's the exception but other types of food, packaged foods, the sell by date is just a freshness thing and you can actually use it, according to the government for 12 to 18 months after the sell by date. Okay?
And there's different---On this app, again, it's Foodkeeper app, they'll teach you how to use some of that food and bring back the freshness. So, I just thought I would kind of explain. I like this. I think this is awesome. We waste a lot of food in this country and it's going to become a bigger and bigger issue. And we know that we're throwing away the food, so how about figure out using the Foodkeeper app and bring back the freshness and take it to a homeless shelters or something? Maybe that's a great way... Or eat it yourself? Whatever. We don't need to be throwing out the food so quickly and far as the supplements go, you can still take the supplements past the sell by date but we just can't confirm that the dose will be the same. You're going to lose some of that potency.
Okay. Let's go on to another question. I got a couple minutes left. This came from a listener:
"Are there any new treatments for vertigo?"
So, what is vertigo? Vertigo is when you get kind a like dizzy spell, not passing out, that's different. That's called syncope. Vertigo is a kind of inner-ear thing and you just get off balance. You can have waves of like getting off balance and stuff, a little dizzy, hard to see something because it's moving, and that kind of stuff. And that's all vertigo. And, there are different degrees of it. Some people have vertigo really, really bad, and then there are other people that just kind deal with it off and on. It's normal to get a little attack of vertigo on occasion but usually when people ask me this kind of question, this is somebody who's dealing with this a lot.
So, I think the first thing you're going to do when you do have vertigo, is you're going to make sure it's not something more serious. Right? You have to rule out things like orthostatic hypotension which is where you stand up and you're not able to maintain the fluid and you get kind of dizzy.
You've got to make sure you're not actually passing out because of the heart issue or something like that. So, your doctor has to rule those things out. And if there's ringing in the ear, that's Meniere's disease, that's a form of vertigo. What's really good for that is aldosterone and glutathione. So, if you have Meniere's Disease consider taking aldosterone, which is a hormone, and glutathione. Now, if you just have old-fashioned regular vertigo, it's definitely causing some issues, making hard to function: B6, ginkgo, CoQ 10 and ginger. Those four together had been shown to reduce the symptoms of vertigo. B6, gingko, CoQ 10 and ginger.
This is Healthy talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Instead of counting calories, this app encourages children to make lifelong healthy eating and exercise habits.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 2
- Audio File healthy_talk/1518ht1b.mp3
- Featured Speaker Joanna Strober, CEO & Co-Founder of Kurbo Health
- Guest Website Kurbo
-
Guest Bio
A married mother of three, Joanna Strober founded Kurbo in 2013 after encountering firsthand the issues associated with her son's struggle to lose weight. It was Joanna's frustration in finding safe, effective, convenient and affordable solutions to her family's situation that led her to create Kurbo, which is based on the program from Stanford's renowned pediatric obesity center.
Prior to starting Kurbo, Joanna was the coauthor of a best-selling book, Getting to 50/50, which is about balancing motherhood and career. This led to many speaking engagements and media appearances to talk about changing roles and strategies for balancing family and career. Earlier in her career, Joanna served as a managing director at an investment management firm where she ran a private equity fund. She also served as a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, where she made consumer internet investments and acted as a strategic advisor to such successful companies as BabyCenter, Blue Nile, eToys and Gloss.com, among others. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
What are some of the benefits from tracking the food you eat?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File healthy_talk/1518ht1c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Joanna Strober, CEO & Co-Founder of Kurbo Health
- Guest Website Kurbo
-
Guest Bio
A married mother of three, Joanna Strober founded Kurbo in 2013 after encountering firsthand the issues associated with her son's struggle to lose weight. It was Joanna's frustration in finding safe, effective, convenient and affordable solutions to her family's situation that led her to create Kurbo, which is based on the program from Stanford's renowned pediatric obesity center.
Prior to starting Kurbo, Joanna was the coauthor of a best-selling book, Getting to 50/50, which is about balancing motherhood and career. This led to many speaking engagements and media appearances to talk about changing roles and strategies for balancing family and career. Earlier in her career, Joanna served as a managing director at an investment management firm where she ran a private equity fund. She also served as a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, where she made consumer internet investments and acted as a strategic advisor to such successful companies as BabyCenter, Blue Nile, eToys and Gloss.com, among others. -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: April 27, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Healthy Talk with Doctor Michael Smith MD and now, here's the country doctor with a city education, Doctor Mike.
DR MIKE: Is there a benefit tracking our weight loss effort? I'm pretty sure, my guest Joanna Strober, the CEO and co-founder of Kurbo Health and the creator of the Kurbo app would say definitely so. I think she's even had some success with it in own personal life and I'm sure based on some feedback she's getting with this app. You can check out and learn more about at Kurbo.com
Joanna, welcome to Healthy Talk.
JOANNA: Thank you. It's nice to be here.
DR MIKE: Before we get into some of the benefits and some of the success that you've had with this app, I have a couple of questions. The first one , I want to back up for sec. You mentioned the traffic light diet. Was that what it was?
JOANNA: Yes.
DR MIKE: You've said it was developed in 1970's. Because this is what the app is based on, right? So, can you explain that maybe in just a little more detail? What that really is?
JOANNA: Yes. So, the idea is to look at food and divide it into categories. And we have fruits and vegetables which are green; we have meat and cheese and whole wheat bread which are yellow, and then you have the reds. And the reds are, essentially, foods with added sugar, white bread and carbs and deep fried foods such as french fries. And our goal, and the goal of the traffic light diet, is to get people to pay more attention to what's in their food, which category their food falls into and to get them to reduce their red light foods and then increase their green light foods. And if you do that, you become healthier and you end up losing weight.
DR MIKE: Right. I think it's an important point to make again, Joanna, that your focus isn't on counting calories with teenagers, because we know there can be some issues. Instead, it's really about eating healthy which by, doing this, hopefully, it will take, you know, this habits, right? That they've learned...
JOANNA: That's right. It's all about forming new habits. But part of it is education. The reality is that people don't know how much sugar there is in, for example, juice. Right? So, they're teaching them that juice is a red. And the juice has a same number of calories as Coke. Once they understand that, then they can figure out "Oh, that's easy one for me to eliminate."
DR MIKE: Right. Let me ask you this. Let's talk about...Okay. So, when it comes to tracking this kind of information, technology is awesome, right? It's allowing you, for the first time ever, we're really able to look at our lifestyle and what's going on. Do you think, even just for adults, do you think that thinks like Go Fit and the Kurbo app, do you really believe that this is gonna bring us to a new era of health, by using these types of apps and technologies?
JOANNA: So, it just a tool. I'm not gonna... The app on its own is a tool, right? But, you can do a lot, not just with the tracking part, but with the reminders and the suggestions. Once you see that what it is that you're doing it's much easier to make changes. And so, once you know what you're eating and you know how often you're exercising, you can look at that and go "Okay, well, what changes can I make?" and if you don't track it, it's hard to change it. And so, that's why the tracking can be so powerful and, historically, people have tracked on a piece of paper which is just difficult to do and it is just far easier to track using your cell phone.
DR MIKE: What about doctors? At the first segment, we talked about your experience with the pediatrician and "your kid is fine". You felt your kid was over-weight. I mean, do you find doctors open to this type of app? Are they buying into it? Are they suggesting it to other patients?
JOANNA: You know, we actually have pediatricians all over the country who are recommending it to the kids who come meet with them. The pediatricians love having a solution, right? Now your child goes in and the child has a high BMI, the pediatrician doesn't have to tell you to go home and try to figure it out. They can say "Oh, wow, why don't you try Kurbo? It might be a program that could work for you?" So, we're getting great feedback from pediatricians.
DR MIKE: What about your own child? If you don't mind, can we use... Is it a boy?
JOANNA: Yes.
DR MIKE: Can we use him as an example? So, what kind of success did you see when he started tracking this stuff? What kind of success did you see, did he become like more empowered, more knowledgeable. I mean tell us that experience there.
JOANNA: So, we at home didn't have Coke and we didn't go to McDonald's, so I thought that we are pretty healthy. What we saw when you start tracking, was that he was doing a lot of smoothies which are, you know... When you break down the fiber and you drink a lot of fruit, it becomes a lot of juice which is a lot of sugar. We found that we he came home after school, because you see, on the app what time you come home and what time you're eating, so we could see that after school he was having a lot of carbs; he was having snacks that were full of carbs, which were also something that was causing problems. And when you see, what we were able to see was what he was eating, we were able to make deals on what changes we could make and I could see, simply what I needed to change.
And I needed to change and he needed to change, right? We needed to come up with different after school snacks; we had to come up with different breakfasts; we came up with different things but based on how many red foods he was eating. And it was pretty great. I mean, as he reduced his red lights, and he changed from white bread to wheat bread and made other changes like that, he ended up, his BMI went form 96 percentile to the 82 percentile. And he lost about 8 pounds.
DR MIKE: Wow, awesome. Congratulations!
JOANNA: And we have a lot kids on our program who are doing that. Over 85% of the kids they're losing weight and it's a healthy weight loss and it's not a crash diet. Right? They lose between a half of pound and a pound a week and the great thing is that we've doing this for just a about a year and we're seeing that they're maintain that weight loss.
DR MIKE: So, Joanna, as a physician, here's kind my take on all this. I fall into that category where, of course, I tell patients and customers I work with at Life Extension that eat less, exercise. I mean, that's still good information .
JOANNA: Yes.
DR MIKE: Watch the sugar, all that kind of stuff. All of that is good. The education is good, but what this app is really doing and this seems to be the ultimate benefit with this kind of tracking information, it reinforces all of that.
JOANNA: That's right.
DR MIKE: But it brings it into reality. It's not some surreal thing. You actually start to see, right? All the sugar you're eating in all this different products.
JOANNA: The kids see all those facts. They reduce their reds; they lose weight. It's a very direct correlation. And when you see that on the app, when you see your little chart and you see your weight go down as your red lights go down, it's very empowering. It's also very empowering, I was going to say, it's not your mom telling you what to eat.
DR MIKE: Do you see...Which is probably very important for a teenager, right?
JOANNA: Yes.
DR MIKE: Do you see this having application outside of just weight? What about diabetes, for instance?
JOANNA: Yes, we're absolutely working with a number of pre-diabetic kids. And, we work with a number of kids who have ADHD, who need some help learning better habits as well. It really is a behavior modification program that can help for a lot of different things, we're just starting with weight.
DR MIKE: Now, if my listeners go at Kurbo.com, right?
JOANNA: They can go to Kurbo.com, that's correct, or they can also go to the app store and just download the app directly and test it before they decide whether they want to try coaching and it goes on the Android and iPhone.
DR MIKE: And at the website Kurbo.com, is there more information about it; some of the success stories? Can they read about some of the real experiences that people had?
JOANNA: Yes, we have some amazing kids who are on that site. The kids love sending in their before and after pictures and showing us how proud they are on themselves. It's adorable, they really feel good about themselves after it's worked and they like showing it off.
DR MIKE: That's great. How much does it cost, the app?
JOANNA: The app is free and then the coaching is $180 for 3 months.
DR MIKE: Not so bad. So the app is free, coaching... But you don't have to... I mean, that coaching part is optional, but you obviously feel like the coach, maybe the kid is more prone to follow the coach than the parent. Right?
JOANNA: That's exactly. For a child who just wants to learn to eat healthier, the app works free. If you really want loss weight and you have a weight problem...
DR MIKE: We're going to have to leave it there. We're going to have to leave it there and the website is Kur4bo.com and the Kurbo app. Thanks for coming on.
This is Healthy talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike.
Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
A review of omegas nine, seven, six, and three.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 1
- Audio File healthy_talk/1518ht1a.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: April 27, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Healthy talk with Doctor Michael Smith MD and now, here's the country doctor with a city education, Dr. Mike.
DR MIKE: So, I was in Brooklyn, New York, recently and I was visiting some of the wholesalers that work with the Life Extension foundation and I have the privilege to traveling through the country and doing lectures and training sessions, you know, talking about the latest science and up and coming products. It's really a lot of fun and in this time of the year Brooklyn, it's New York. Everybody start to get out. The weather is getting...Well, they say it's getting warmer. For me, coming from south Florida it was cold, but for them it warmer. Things was starting to bloom and anyway so I was in one of the stores, and I was talking to store owner, really nice guy, and we just happened to be in the aisle where has all of his oil base products. So, like the Omega 3, flax seed, coconut oil, all that. And I noticed one of the products on the shelf. It's a popular product and it contains the 3 major Omega fats: Omega 9, Omega 6 and Omega 3.
And I asked him "How popular is that product?"
and he said it's one of his bestsellers which I found interesting, because, personally, and I'm going to explain why, but I don't think you need all that.
And I asked him, "Why do you sell that? I mean, what do you talk about with costumers when it comes to this product? What is it that you say?" And he said something interesting. He said that he positions this product as kind of like the most comprehensive, you know Omega product out there, because you get all three--9, 6 and Omega 3. You know, all in one.
And, you know, at that point I let it go, but I just thought that it would be a nice topic for us to discuss here on Healthy Talk about what exactly do you need when it comes to polyunsaturated fats? We know, these types of fats are incredibly important –the Omega fats. They are involved in a very complex, you know, metabolic processes that manage everything from inflammation, immune response, cell-repair, cell-regeneration. I mean, it's incredibly important.
But the question becomes, what do you really need when it comes to supplementation? Do you really need that what he called comprehensive product, the 9, 6 and 3? And it's my opinion that you don't. Let me explain why.
The first of all, the Omega 9 fat is sometimes known as the "parent Omega fat". It's considered "the parent" because it converts into, inside your body, naturally, into the Omega 6 and Omega 3. Omega 9, in and of itself, it does have some very important rolls in the body, but you don't really need to eat it or supplement it because your body can make it. As a matter of fact, it's not essential. Remember, that word "essential" means that my body can't, so it's essential that i get it from my diet. Well, Omega 9 is not essential. Your body can produce Omega 9 from saturated fats. And it does that pretty well. And then, from there the Omega 9 by itself, although it has some important roles in the body, it doesn't last very long because it quickly is converted into the, in my opinion, more important Omega 6 and Omega 3. And so, when it comes to supplementing with it, here's the problem. So, based on what I just said, you might think, "Well, okay, that might sound a really important, maybe I do need a supplement." Well, what we've learned is that when it comes to a supplementing with Omega 9, just because you're increasing the amount in your body doesn't necessarily mean that you make those conversions better. As a matter of fact, what we have found when you supplement with a lot of Omega 9, some of it will turn into the Omega 6 and 3, which is good, but a lot of it doesn't and it ends up, actually, turning, in some cases, into saturated fat. So, it may not be a great tradeoff for you and it's just probably not necessary.
Now, let's move on to Omega 6. That was the next Omega to in this product. The label actually says 9, 6, 3. So, the Omega 6, what are these? Well, Omega 6 is very important in the inflammatory process. As a matter of fact, the Omega 6 fat acids which are essential, you don't get them; you don't make them in your body.
You get them from your diet, the main one is linoleic acid, and it converts into all this types of immune proteins called cytokines and leukotrienes and these are important compounds that allow immune cells to coordinate an inflammatory and immune response, obviously very important.
But, they are linked to that inflammatory cascade, so if you are taking in a lot of Omega 6, which by the way, are found in lot of animal products, lots of the animal meat that we eat, especially, if you're eating, for instance, beef, that's grain-feed, which is what most beef is today, unfortunately. That's a lot of Omega 6, and you really are driving that pro-inflammatory cascade, which is important to a point, right? To a point.
Based on the way we eat in this country, the standard American diet, we're getting plenty of Omega 6, we really don't need to be supplementing with it, we don't need to be adding it to the supplements. I think we're overdoing it.
Which than brings us to Omega 3, which is also an essential fatty acid. The primary Omega 3 is called alpha linoleic acid. From this medium-sized alpha linoleic acid you will produce the important longer chain of Omega 3's, EPA AND DHA. This is the one you need to supplement because this is the one, the Omega 3's, that we're not getting enough from our diet. Mainly found in [inaudible 6:33] but ultimately in cold water fish, for instance. We don't, you know, the standard American diet is heavier to the land animals, not the ocean animals.
So, I, personally, again, there's nothing wrong with that what he called "a very comprehensive Omega product 9, 6 and 3", I just think it's not necessary, I think what we need to focus is on Omega 3 and there is one little aside to this and I do want to share with you.
There should be a balance between the essential fatty acids, the 6 and 3. Anytime that you are required to go out into the nature, through a food or supplementation and bring in something, what we call "essential nutrients", you always have to be conscientious of how you're doing that, and the amount that you're bringing in, because you want to keep the body in balance and we know that if you eat the standard American diet, which is about 80% meat/20% plant based, which, that should be completely reversed by the way, you're bringing tons of Omega 6 and very little Omega 3.
The average American eats about a ratio 6:3 of about 20:1. That's too much. A 6:3 ratio of 20:1 is very pro inflammatory and we already know, if you've listened to my show, chronic inflammation? It's the common denominator of all age-related disorders. So, if you're eating the standard American diet, you're bringing a way too many Omega 6, you probably have a high 6:3 ratio and you're just promoting inflammation which is important to an extent, but we're just bringing in to many of this pre-curses to this inflammatory cascade, which is really why I think in this country specifically, I think we really just need to focus on the Omega 3.
I don't think you need the 9, I don't think you need the 6. What we really need to bring more through diet, definitely, and also through supplementation are the Omega 3. Probably for most people at least a gram a day of Omega 3 through supplementation, maybe two? Depending on how much vegetables you eat and fish you eat, maybe even up to four grams a day? So, yeah, and that's going to improve that ratio, it's gonna bring that ratio of 6:3 down which we want, and ideal ratio of Omega 6 and Omega 3 is at least 4:1 or less, probably in a perfect balance it should be 1:1.
When I saw that product, I know it's a popular product, but i just don't think it's all that necessary to get the 9's and 6's. So my take home message is to supplement with Omega fats the polyunsaturated, very important, but focus on the Omega 3's, EPA and DHA. At least a gram a day.
This is Healthy talk on Radio MD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 5
- Audio File healthy_talk/1516ht4e.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: April 16, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
It's time for you to be a part of the show. Email or call with questions for Dr. Mike now. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call: 877-711-5211. What are you waiting for? The doctor is in.
DR MIKE: So, you know you can email me right now and if the question--if I catch it--I can read it online. As a matter of fact, my producer Sheldon Baker sent an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and it just came through. He's referencing the tart cherries. I've mentioned several times before about tart cherry extract being so good for inflammation and pain--muscle pain, neuropathic pain. I've had successful experiences with using tart cherry extract for diabetic pain. I mean, I'm not saying it gets rid of it completely but it manages it. It's better. Anyway, so Sheldon is asking me,
"Is it common or easy to find tart cherries in Whole Foods?"
You know, I just always use the extract. I don't know. There are so many different types of cherries, so I don't know. I think the specific variety of tart cherry is not as common as some of the other varieties that you might find in the store but if you have a different answer and you want to help me, let me know. Teach me something about tart cherries and how common they are in places like Whole Foods. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Okay. I read a report. This is the next question:
"I read a report that Alzheimer's might be an immune problem. Can you shed some light on this theory?"
Oh love it. You know, so, again, I'm pretty--for a General Practitioner, general doctor--I'm pretty up to date on Alzheimer's because I work for a foundation where we've really focused a lot on mild cognitive impairment dementias like Alzheimer's and I've done several lectures throughout the country on the latest theories of Alzheimer's.
As a matter of fact, last year I was at NOVA University here in South Florida speaking to their pharmacy school about some of the latest theories. So, yes, I am familiar a lot with what's going on in Alzheimer's research and this one is really interesting. So, to answer the question "Could Alzheimer be an immune problem?" Well, let me answer that by saying, first of all, "no". Because, again, Alzheimer's, like all age-related type disorders, whether it's in the brain, heart, whatever, they're multifactorial.
And there are probably many things going on--oxidative stress, inflammation--which could all be stimulated by toxins and just age itself. There are lots of things going on but there is some research. So, to say Alzheimer's is caused by this one thing or Alzheimer's is this, no, I would never say that it's too complicated. But, there is some really interesting research that's starting to reveal a little bit of an immune and infectious disease component to Alzheimer's.
So, let me explain. On one hand, we know that the basic characteristics of Alzheimer's pathology is these abnormal protein deposits that happen outside of the brain cells kind of called the intracellular space. So, you have your brain, right? And it's made up of a bunch of brain cells and these brain cells connect to each other, those are kind of like the information highways and, as a matter of fact, how brain cells connect to each other is extremely important, maybe even more so important than the brain cell itself.
How it touches other brain cells and forms pathways and what happens in Alzheimer's disease, for probably a variety of reasons, there is this abnormal protein that is formed that is then pushed outside of the brain cell and it starts to clump in this intracellular space in that area where the brain cell is trying to connect to other brain cells. So, it disrupts the highways, these abnormal protein deposits. The classic one is amyloid. There's also thal protein but these clumps of protein kind of disrupt the information highway one brain cell connecting to another.
Now, it turns out that we all might develop these abnormal protein deposits at times. Even in a young healthy person, they might actually have an abnormal protein deposit once in awhile. But the body is able to recognize it as something that's wrong. The body then activates these brain macrophages, which are a type of an immune cell that can grab onto those clumps and literally eat it up. That's what macrophages do.
Macrophages will engulf bacteria, viruses, whatever, anything that's not you or that's abnormal or getting in the way the immune system has a type of cell called a "macrophage" that can go in there and just gobble it up. We have specific macrophages that live in the brain that are there, we believe now, to clean up the intracellular space because that intracellular space is so important to how one brain cell communicates with another. So, the theory is that since in Alzheimer's patients there's this accumulation of these abnormal protein deposits that maybe those brain macrophages aren't working as well. Maybe there is a component of Alzheimer's disease that is an immunodeficiency.
Now, again, Alzheimer's is multifactorial. Having an immunodeficiency does not explain why those protein deposits are forming in the first place but we are recognizing that it may happen in healthy young people but they have activated macrophages to eat it up. Alzheimer's patients don't. So, yes, on one level I'm going to answer the question "Is Alzheimer's an immune problem?", no. It's multifactorial. "Is there an immunodeficiency with macrophages that might allow progression of disease?" Yes. See, how I did that?
So, that's interesting and that's why I think we're really--here at Life Extension--we're interested in curcumin so much. Curcumin--that's from the turmeric spice. It's the key compound. It's the anti-inflammatory compound. It's an antioxidant. It's just awesome for you. It crosses the blood/brain barrier and it's able to clump onto or attach to the abnormal amyloid proteins and thal proteins and the intracellular space and once that happens that seems to be something those inactive macrophages can recognize and now activate so there's some evidence that curcumin can reactivate brain macrophages in Alzheimer's patients and start to eat up some of those abnormal protein deposits. Very, very interesting research. There's another component--another side to this, too. It's just an association. It's kind of interesting.
Although there was one research paper that said it was actually a cause/effect which is really interesting. Alzheimer's patients have a high level of spirochetes in their brain. It's a bacteria. It's the same bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Spirochetes. They check nasal passages, sinal passages, cerebral spinal fluid and it's across the board in all these different studies. Alzheimer's patients have significant levels of spirochetes in their brain and sinuses. You really should have none. Healthy controls have none. But, Alzheimer's patients have significant levels of these spirochetes.
So, again, it's multifactorial. You've got these macrophages that aren't working really well. You have oxidative stress. You have inflammation and then all of that kind of depresses the brain's immune system in a sense and it allows something like a spirochete to kind of latch on and get into the brain and cause problems and raise inflammation more. See how it all kind of comes together? So, interesting, interesting research with an immunodeficiency. Those macrophages, curcumin reactivating those macrophages, and then, of course, spirochete infections. Maybe early on, Alzheimer's patients should be treated for spirochete infection. That's where a lot of this research is going.
So, great question that went a lot longer than I thought I was going to answer but it's stuff that I'm really up to date on and enjoy researching. So, yes. Check that out. Macrophages, curcumin, and spirochetes in Alzheimer's patients.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
Listen in as Dr. Mike provides the answers to a wealth of health and wellness questions.
Additional Info
- Segment Number 4
- Audio File healthy_talk/1516ht4d.mp3
- Organization Life Extension
- Guest Website Healthy Talk MD
-
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: April 16, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
RadioMD. It's time to ask Dr. Mike. Do you have a question about your health? Dr. Mike can answer your questions. Just email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call now: 877-711-5211. The lines are open.
DR MIKE: Alright this question came from Rita and its about a specific natural anti-inflammatory curcumin from the turmeric spice. There's actually two questions, so I'm going to first do the first question which is more about the curcumin and maybe why it's not working. As of now, I'm not reading the whole thing. She wrote a whole bunch of stuff. I'm just going to focus on the middle part of this and then the main question.
"As I read nowadays that depression may be linked also to inflammation and so that's the reason I started ordering the curcumin. Would it be possible if you could provide some correlation that this link between inflammation and depression is true? And if it's true, though, why hasn't the curcumin benefited me so far in regards to inflammation and depression?"
So, let me just try to summarize the question. So here you have somebody, who it sounds like, Rita, is dealing with some depression and she says inflammation around her body, so maybe some joint issues, maybe some chronic pain issues. Something like that, I'm assuming. She reads about natural anti-inflammatories like curcumin and especially is interested in that inflammation/depression link. She starts to take the curcumin and the first thing she wants to know is, is that association correct about inflammation and depression but why isn't the curcumin helping? So, let's address both of those questions.
The first thing, yes, Rita, inflammation is associated with depression and we have to be careful how we say that. You know there are two things in medicine. There's cause/effect or there are associations and what we know is that chronic inflammation is associated with many age-related disorders. It's what I call the common denominator of age-related diseases and that includes mood disorders. Lots of research is showing that mood disorders, neuro-degeneration disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, seizure disorders and all that, are linked to higher levels of inflammatory markers in the brain.
And that's well established. Again, am I saying that inflammation in the brain causes depression? No, no, no. All we're saying is that if you look at a group of people with mood disorders like depression versus control group people who don't have depression, you'll notice that there is more inflammation in the brains of depressed patients than the control group. So then, the next question might become well, okay, "So, if I lower inflammation, should that not help my depression? Well, yes and no.
I mean, you have to understand that many of the age- related disorders that we deal with here at Life Extension like depression are multifactorial. There are lots of different causes, so to say that you take something to lower inflammation and it doesn't help a mood disorder and then to give up on that anti-inflammatory, well, that may not be the smartest thing to do. Again, recognizing that something like depression is not well understood regardless of what the pharmaceutical companies might tell you.
It's not well understood and it's multifactorial. What I do know is that if you are on a treatment that's working for you when it comes to depression and you do things like eat, better exercise and take natural anti-inflammatories the result--the outcome--will be better, recognizing the multifactorial aspect of something like depression. So, inflammation is associated with mood disorders such as depression controlling chronic inflammation may play a role in improved outcomes in somebody who is being treated conventionally.
But you can't just take curcumin and think it's going to help depression. Now the other question, though, apparently, with Rita is that the curcumin doesn't seem to be helping. I assume that means both with the depression and with what she refers to as inflammation around the body. I'm assuming the chronic pain, the joints, whatever it may be, is not really working. So what's going on there? Well, there are lots of questions there that I would have to ask you, Rita.
What dose of curcumin are you taking? What kind of curcumin? I mean there's the standard--I'll call it the older formulations of curcumin--really aren't that great. To get enough curcumin into your system you have to do 2000, 3000, 4000 mg a day. For the past, let's say three or four years, we've had available a much more absorbable form of curcumin called BCM-95, so make sure you're taking the right dose in the right form. If you're taking the BCM-95, that's the one that absorbs like up to seven times more than the older versions. You could start maybe at 400 mg a day but you might have to work that up to 800 mg a day.
So, I guess the point I want to make with you, Rita, is don't give up on the curcumin. There's solid evidence that curcumin inhibits inflammation by inhibiting very powerful inflammatory markers in the body like NF Kappa Beta, cox and lox. These are all enzymes and proteins that drive inflammation in the body. Curcumin in several laboratory and clinical studies has been shown to bring down those markers, bringing down inflammation. So, don't give up on the curcumin. I think you have to start looking about how you're taking it. What's the dose? What's the formula that you're using? All of those factors will play a role.
Now, she had another question and I think this relates to the inflammation around the body thing. Oh, yes. Please another question. Very important.
"Is it okay if, even feeling a little pain, I continue to exercise?"
And I think this is an awesome question. Yes, having a little pain is completely normal in exercise and according to some specialists, as a matter of fact, there's a lot of researchers--a good friend of mine, Dr. Holly Lucille, who's a naturopathic doctor--she's been on my show. She has her own show on RadioMD. She talks about delayed onset medical soreness.
And, it's not necessarily a bad thing. You know, when you exercise, Rita, and you're straining the muscle a little bit and you break down the muscle fiber. That hurts a little bit the next day but that's actually a good sign that the muscle is going to repair itself and come back stronger. So, a little bit of pain--as long as you're not limited in range of motion type stuff like you can't move. Well, now that's too much pain. But a little bit of pain is a good sign. Yes, you can exercise. Just make sure you're stretching properly, hydrating properly.
I remember Dr. Lucille would tell you get on that curcumin combined with ginseng. That is really good for those types of minor pains. I personally like tart cherry extract. That helps. You can even do some protein supplements just to keep that recovery a little bit shorter, that recovery time. So, yes, you can work out with a little bit of pain and it might even be good. Just be careful. I have to do my disclaimer. If you can't move the arm or the leg in the normal range of motion, then I wouldn't, but a little bit of pain is okay. Great questions, Rita!
I think I have time for maybe one more here. I'm going to save that one.
"You recently talked about why men lose weight faster than women." Oh, yes, I did. That was a whole segment. "But in your assessment, you didn't mention sleep. Don't women sleep less than men and can't that affect weight? Love the show."
Yes. Okay. I didn't mention sleep. I don't know. So, the premise here in this question is that women sleep less. I have heard that in younger life when there's menstruation going on, women do sleep less, but then, as men get older and the women get older, women sleep better and the men start having disruptive sleep because of big prostates. I don't know. So, there might be something but bottom line is, yes, sleep can affect weight. If you don't sleep, it's a stressor on the body. Cortisol levels are higher in the morning. When the cortisol level is too high, you mobilize sugar more and if you don't burn the sugar, you store it as fat. There you go. So, yes, you've got to get sleep. So, thank you for that. Yes, sleep is critical, believe it or not, to a weight loss program.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Internal Notes NO GUEST
- Host Mike Smith, MD
If a loved one is no longer able to take care of himself, is it time to enlist some outside help?
Additional Info
- Segment Number 3
- Audio File healthy_talk/1516ht4c.mp3
- Featured Speaker Stephanie Erickson, Clinical Social Worker
- Organization Erickson Resource Group
-
Guest Bio
Stephanie Erickson is a clinical social worker with over 20 years of experience as a geriatric social worker. Her primary area of practice focuses on Dementia and decision-making capacity.
She works with seniors living autonomously, in care facilities, in acute care at the hospital, and who are living with family. Stephanie also provides training and consultation to families, the Alzheimer's Society, community groups, financial and legal institutions and at professional conferences. She hosts her own weekly podcast called Caregivers' Circle on WebTalkRadio.net. -
Transcription
RadioMD Presents: Healthy Talk | Original Air Date: April 16, 2015
Host: Michael Smith, MD
Living longer and staying healthier. It's Healthy Talk with Dr. Michael Smith, MD. Here's your host, Dr. Mike:
DR MIKE: Alright I'm speaking with Stephanie Erickson. She's a clinical social worker. She's been doing that for over 20 years and she focuses on dementia and decision making capacity. She has her own weekly podcast called Caregivers Circle on WebTalk.net and she has a website EricksonResource.com--all one word.
Stephanie, welcome to Healthy Talk.
STEPHANIE: Thank you so much for having me.
DR MIKE: So, we're going to talk now about seniors and when they're at risk and when should we maybe, as kids, start recognizing that in our parents. So, what are some of the signs that you know an older person, a senior, is at risk at home?
STEPHANIE: I think one of the first things is weight loss. You know, eating is a community and a social event and a lot of times, as people age, they tend to not eat as well. There could also be medication side effects that are interfering or even causing them to have losses that are interfering with the person getting the proper nutrition. So, I think if you notice weight loss it's something big. Also, reduced mobility within the home like going up and down stairs, getting in and out of bed, falls within the home, changes in sleep patterns. That's in terms of the person's physical health. There's also things you can look at just in terms of the environment. So, if you notice...
DR MIKE: Stephanie before we go to that, let's go to the eating part because I have a question for that. So when you talk about weight loss, now there's a lot of reasons for that in a senior, so is it more about maybe losing the desire to eat, loss of appetite? Is that what you're looking at or is it just the weight loss itself?
STEPHANIE: Well, I look at the weight loss because the weight loss is a symptom and a symptom is representative of something else that is going on. Is it because of isolation in the home? Is it because of cognitive losses? Is it just general weight loss over time which seniors experience anyway? Or, is it an underlying, perhaps medical problem, some sort of disease or illness that's impacting somebody's weight? And, obviously, the thinner we are, we're at most risk for dizziness, balance problems, falls, etc.
DR MIKE: Yes. You know, what's funny, Stephanie? Now that I think about it, that was a stupid question because, I mean, if somebody is losing weight, I mean, as a medical doctor, if a senior came into my practice losing weight, I'm going to figure out the cause of it and try and correct it. So, sorry for that and I sort of think, "Well, that I was a dumb question." Let's just go on.
(laughing)
So you looked at some of the physical risks and you were starting to go into some of the cognitive emotional risks, right? So, what are some of those?
STEPHANIE: Well, before I got to the cognitive, I was just going to talk about the home environment in and of itself. So, if you notice that the home is becoming more cluttered, disorganized, mail is piling up, that might be an indication of a person struggling understanding bills that are laying around or having a hard time just physically organizing the information; the cleanliness of the home; the smell of the home, all of these are indications that there might be something else going on. And cognitive, do you want me to go into cognitive now?
DR MIKE: Sure. Yes, please do.
STEPHANIE: Okay, then there are signs of cognitive losses. So, these are things like someone saying, "My microwave is not working," but really it is; or, you're finding burned pots and pans indicating that someone is forgetting the turn the stove off. You're finding expired food in the home, your loved one is becoming ill and vomiting or diarrhea. It might be because they're eating food that is spoiled and they're not recognizing that it's spoiled, or medication errors over or under medicating--these are signs of cognitive losses that can appear within the home.
DR MIKE: Now if you recognize those things, Stephanie, does that automatically mean that that senior needs to be in a home? You know, an assisted living environment something like that? Or, are there steps you can do initially maybe to keep them in their own home?
STEPHANIE: Yes, there are a lot of things you can do to keep somebody in their home and I would encourage people to never jump to relocation because it's a big thing for everybody--the family and the senior him or herself. So, first you have to get the senior to acknowledge that there is a concern; that the family members are wanting some sort of assistance and you can start slowly introducing assistance in the home provided by family members, friends or even paid home care professionals.
DR MIKE: Yes. Do you often find that if steps like that are taken pretty quickly and were proactive about it, that often maybe somebody can still live on their own for two or three more years or something? Do you see that kind of result?
STEPHANIE: Yes. I see it a lot, especially when it comes to nutrition because even if someone is having cognitive losses, once you can improve the nutrition, sometimes it perks people up a bit and if you can get them on the right medication it can help to delay the progression of the symptoms and when they're safe at home, someone can really stay there for a long period of time. Plus, when you have someone in the home, you're providing social stimulation and there's lots of activities you can do and the person begins to have more of a purpose. They feel more connected and that is going to help keep the person at home for a longer period of time as well. Just that impacts the family now and their stress level because now they're having to organize and supervise care in the home. So, is that right for the family versus relocation? That's something that needs to be evaluated.
DR MIKE: So, let's use you, Stephanie, as an example because you told me before in another interview that you are kind of hard headed (laughing) and your kids might have, let's just say, sometime down in the future you start showing some of these signs and stuff...
STEPHANIE: Never!!
DR MIKE: (laughing) See, you're already fighting me! It's just a story. I'm not saying it's going to happen but what are some of the things that you can tell your kids right now about how to address these things with you, if it were to happen? Are there ways to approach seniors with concerns like this?
STEPHANIE: I think so. I think one of the things that is really important is for the children, the adult children, to not act like they have the answer and that it's their life that they are trying to make decisions.
DR MIKE: Good point.
STEPHANIE: To acknowledge that their loved one that it's their life. They're the ones who make the choices. No one is trying to bully anyone or force anyone into a decision. "What I'm doing, mom, is I love you and I'm noticing that it's really hard for you to get your meals together everyday and the last thing I want is for you is to end up at the hospital or to end up in a retirement residence because you don't want it. So, mom what can we do together to come up with a plan that's going to keep you here for as long as possible because I don't want changes just like you don't want changes."
DR MIKE: Yes. So, okay, is there anything though...Okay, so let's say you start recognizing some of this stuff in a mom, dad, grandparents, whatever, are there things that are just absolute red flags that, "Okay, relocation just has to be done right now?" I mean, is there anything that you might walk into a home as a social worker, is there anything that you might come into an environment where you're going to say, "Okay, this person--this senior--needs to get out and get some help?"
STEPHANIE: Yes, , I think wandering is very is a high risk area, so if the person has the personality where they're leaving the home without supervision and they have cognitive losses, that is very scary because the consequences of that can be very severe. So, that's one thing for wandering. But if they're in a home environment, if the person understands, so cognitively they're okay and they understand the risks and the consequences to the choices they're making, even if they're scary and high-risk choices, they really actually have the right to make those scary decisions and that's when the family, then, needs to work on their ability to kind of just let it go. But, wandering is very risky.
DR MIKE: Yes, that's a big one.
STEPHANIE: And over and under medicating is very risky as well.
DR MIKE: So, I watched a show and, gosh, I don't remember what show it was, you know, on cable or whatever, and it was about two seniors--two senior women--and they had been best friends all their lives and they lived separately and they were alone now, but they were still friends, same neighborhood, and they started showing some of these signs that there were some cognitive issues and the families brought both of the seniors together and they were now roommates in one apartment. And, it dramatically changed how they were taking care of themselves they were helping each other. Have you heard of that kind of story is that an option for people?
STEPHANIE: That's a great option. How creative for the family. How respectful for the family to do that sort of an intervention versus forcing a relocation.
DR MIKE: It is cool, yes.
STEPHANIE: I haven't heard of friends coming together. That's really cool.
DR MIKE: Yes. It was really cool. Listen, we've got to end it there.
Her name is Stephanie Erickson her website is EricksonResource.com. Go check it out.
This is Healthy Talk on RadioMD. I'm Dr. Mike. Stay well. - Length (mins) 10
- Waiver Received No
- Host Mike Smith, MD
