Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Coming up on this episode of thehealthy, wealthy, and wise podcast.
You did mention something about,um, some affiliation with the
weight reduction or something.
Oh,
BCD medicine.
Yes, absolutely.
What are your thoughts on, um,you know, Ozempic and, and all of
the other weight reduction drugs?
(00:21):
Sure.
I think they're
welcome to the healthy, wealthy,and wise podcast with Dr.
William T.
Choctaw, MD, JD.
This podcast will provide you withtools and actionable information.
You can use to help live a morehealthy, wealthy, and wise life.
It's powered by the over 50 years ofmedical experience of this Yale university
(00:42):
medical school trained surgeon, who isalso a Western state law school trained
attorney with executive experience beinga former mayor of Walnut, California,
as well as the current chairman of thenonprofit servants arms and as president
of Chaka medical group, Yale incorporated.
(01:03):
This is the leadership masterclassedition already in progress.
I noticed you mentioned,
um, um, how, um, uh, God has influencedsome of the things that you've
done with, and that sort of thing.
Tell me about your, your spiritualwalk and, and how that is a part
of, um, uh, what, what you do.
(01:24):
Oh, uh, it's a very big part of my life.
You know, I don't think it would havebeen, Nearly as easy to try to get
through COVID and get through theprograms that we were going through
without having God in my life.
I think he was really, um, he, he wasblessed me with health during that time.
Uh, he blessed me with, uh,discernment and with wisdom to help,
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you know, lead, uh, our, our team.
Um, And so it's critical, youknow, I think again of finding
a way to ground yourself.
And that was 1 of the ways I was able todo that was to be able to remember that I
know I'm a child of God and I get to talkto him and make requests of him and ask
him to watch over our family, friends oruniversity or students, faculty, staff.
(02:12):
And, and yet know that, you know,his promises in the word are clear,
uh, that he will not leave me alone.
Uh, and he will be bymy side at all times.
And so that's very reassuringduring difficult times.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And I think, um, it is that spiritualstrength that a lot of times we may
take for granted or we may not tendto as much as we should, um, either
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because, well, you know, I'm too tired.
I don't want to go to church todayor whatever, whatever excuse we come
up with, but it is just as vital, ifnot more vital than the nutrition and
other things that we talked about.
Um, you know, how we, what, whatwe believe affects how we think,
how we think affects how we feel.
Uh, we feel affects how we act, right?
So it starts with that belief system.
(02:58):
Um, and if that belief system isnot working, change it, you know,
uh, but, but it starts there.
Um, and that's why I believe thatwe're the, the biggest arbitrators
of, of what ultimately happens to us.
And we're in control of that.
We can blame other people, but it'sreally the person in the mirror.
Right.
It really is the person in the mirrorin terms of how we handle it and how we
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get through it and that sort of thing.
And many times we won't understand,um, I know certainly I don't
understand a lot of things, but I,what I've learned is I don't have
to, I don't have to know everything.
I don't have to be able to figure itout, you know, or draw designs about how
I'm going to do this operation tomorrow.
Right.
A lot of times I don't have to do that,you know, uh, Uh, but, but, but that,
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that's sort of the way life is andthat's where the good Lord set it up.
And, and we're part of a biggerplan, you know, and our goal is
to, um, fulfill our role, you know,to walk our path and do our best.
Um, and I, I think that that's in mymind, that's where leadership comes in
because I think if one is blessed withopportunity and ability to lead, uh,
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that with that comes a certain duty.
Yeah.
To
actually lead, to, to actually helpothers and, you know, like, like
what you're doing with the studentsgetting involved with the, the COVID
issues and that sort of thing, allof which were put in your path.
You didn't ask for that.
Neither did you know it wasgoing to happen, but you were
able to rise to the occasion.
It would rise to the occasion and,and, and God bless leaders like
(04:31):
yourself and that sort of thing.
Uh, because those of us who were sortof over that hill, you know, we sort of
looked at you guys to sort of take it overand make it better, um, and everything.
So, um, what, what, what,what do you see next for you?
Uh, well, you know, uh, we continue toexpand our services at Purdue university.
(04:53):
So one of the things thatwe're doing is working on, uh,
telehealth and a text care program.
So it allows more 24 seven serviceto our, um, to our patients.
So that way, you know how it is whenpeople feel sick, it's sometimes, you
know, one o'clock in the morning, weactually have folks that are on and
able to take care of those calls.
And so we're developinga 24 seven service.
(05:14):
347 program through, um,the company that I work for.
And they, uh, we're reallyexpanding and I think we're
getting some really good results.
We're expanding also the amount of clinicsthat we have through the university.
So, we now have threeclinics that we offer.
Purdue has, or the universityhas multiple different campuses.
So, um, And we're starting to buildmore and more clinics in those areas.
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So I get to help oversee those as well.
So I think looking at, uh, also, uh,continuing to build my leadership skills,
you know, there's always more to learnto be able to try to continue to stay
on top of the latest and greatest,which is a difficult thing to do.
It's a moving target, but I think knowingthat, you know, You're, you have to know
that you're a lifelong learner when yougo into medicine and that's exactly,
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um, you know, where, where I'm at now isjust, uh, okay, where, where do I get my
next level of, uh, continuing education?
Um, and just continue to learn,you know, uh, you know, God, God's
in control and he's gonna, he'sgonna continue to guide me and,
and I'll, I'll follow as diligentlyas I can and as faithful as I can.
Excellent.
(06:19):
Excellent.
Well, listen, I want to thankyou for, um, uh, sharing your
very valuable time with us.
Any, any, any words of wisdom you wantto leave us with, um, uh, let me say
that you're, you're speaking to, um,over, you know, thousands of people
around the world, um, and, um, uh,in any thoughts you want to share.
(06:43):
Sure.
Uh, you know, I think it's, uh, wetalked about, you know, spirituality,
religion and our belief system.
I think that is key.
I think you're, you're a hundredpercent right that we need to know,
um, where our strength comes from.
And I think knowing that throughthick and thin through any difficult
situations, uh, we need to be ableto find our strength in, in, in God.
(07:05):
Um, and I think that is critical,uh, for our direction and, and that
sometimes when things are unknown.
Uh, when, when we don't know where we'reheaded or what's happening or, um, uh,
we know that that God's in control andthat we can have faith and trust in him.
And we don't need to be anxious,just like the good word says.
Um, and we need to just have faithand trust, uh, in, in, in what's
(07:30):
going to happen is God's will.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I agree.
I agree.
Jesse, you have any questionsfor Esteban before we let him go?
You're on mute.
Not really.
Although, uh, you did mentionsomething about, um, doing, uh,
having some affiliation with theUh, weight reduction or something.
(07:50):
Oh, BCD
medicine.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
What are your thoughts on, um,you know, Ozempic and, and all of
the other weight reduction drugs?
Sure.
I think they're, they're actually areally good tool to use right now.
I think it's another great, most ofthese medications came about from, um,
diabetes medication control, right?
Getting the sugars down,getting our A1C down.
(08:11):
And what we're findingis with more and more.
Research not only does it loweryour sugars and keep you healthy,
it helps to minimize heart attacks.
It seems to minimize, uh,damaged with the kidneys.
That's usually associated with diabetesseems to lower risk for heart attacks.
And now, just recently, dementia thatwe're seeing some suggestion that it
seems to lessen the risk for dementia.
(08:32):
So I think these arereally good medications.
Are they the, you know,the The silver bullet?
No.
Um, I think we, you know, we, we're goingto have more and more medicines that come
down that are going to be even better.
But I think this is a really goodtool to utilize in the right patient.
Not everyone should be on it.
Uh, that's why they have, um, youknow, certain guidelines for who should
get it and who should not get it.
(08:53):
But I think, at least in my experience,I've been able to use them with our
patients and seeing some amazing results.
And what I like to do isget people off medicines.
And this is one of those medicationsthat Maybe you're still in
that ozempic, but guess what?
You're off your blood pressure pills,you're off your cholesterol pills,
you're off all these other pills becauseyou've been able to control things.
You know, a lot of pathology, a lotof disease comes from many times,
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um, being overweight sometimes ornot, not being physically active,
uh, or not having good nutrition.
And so, So by working on those threethings, and it shouldn't be just the
medicine, it should be the medicine andthe physical activity and the eating well,
because that's what makes it all complete.
The medicine by itself, it does some,but it's not going to be able to do as
(09:37):
amazing as if you do all those thingsput together, because someday we'll
like to get you off of that medicine.
Right.
And so we need to have some goodhabits in place at that time.
Uh, but I think it's, you know, it's areally good medicine to use right now.
But like I said, it's not for everyone.
So there are some reasonsnot to give that medication.
And, and, you know, uh,physicians are well known or are
(09:58):
well aware of what those are.
And if you're the rightcandidate, they'll recommend it.
If you're not the right candidate,just trust that there are some
things, um, that, that, you know,it's not recommended to continue.
One of the, one of the reasons, oneof the things that I'm mentioning
is, um, uh, medullary thyroid cancer.
That's one of the things that if youhave any history of thyroid cancer,
you're not a good candidate forthat particular medication, uh, in
(10:19):
particular medullary thyroid cancer.
So those are the sort of thingsthat just need to be aware.
Um, but for most, I would sayeasily 98 percent of the patients
that I've, um, that have eitherrequested it or I offered it to them.
They're a great candidate for that.
And I've seen some really good results
on the MBA side of that.
These drugs are costly work behindtrying to get the reduce the cost.
(10:44):
Absolutely.
You know, that's, uh, you know,there's a, there's a whole process
behind getting a medication approved.
And so the pharmaceuticalcompanies, of course, put a, um,
and, and I know that, uh, Dr.
Choctaw knows the correct termfor it, but you have like a
patent or something that would.
You know, keep the priceat a certain level.
But from my standpoint, Idon't worry about that stuff.
I try to get it as coverablefor the patients best we can.
(11:06):
Thankfully, we do have some, youknow, pharmacy prescription cards
that can help lower the cost.
We do have a lot of employers thatare looking to try to bargain with
the pharmaceutical companies tohelp get the costs down as well.
And then, of course, one can always chooseto use the HSA cards to try to use some of
the costs or to offset some of that cost.
(11:27):
I think.
What we're going to see is because allthis research is coming in showing that
there's so much benefit to it, not justwith those who have diabetes, but those
who have, um, um, other issues like severeosteoarthritis, uh, like I mentioned,
uh, dementia or things like that.
I think more insurancesare going to cover it.
I think you're going to see probablyMedicare eventually, hopefully, uh, will
(11:49):
come on board and say, you know what, Ithink this is, this is going to lessen
the risk for someday having an open heartsurgery or lessen the risk for a stroke,
uh, or, or if I can prevent dementia,that would be a great way to do that.
Yes.
Um, so I think those sort of studies, oncewe start getting more and more of this,
uh, you know, research data back, I thinkwe'll start seeing that, that insurances
(12:10):
will start coming on board saying,wait, there might be some, some benefit
to this outside of what we thought.
Um, and they might, I think I'm,I'm hopeful that they'll approve it.
That's great information and I think alot of people will get hope from what
information that you've just shared.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
Uh, any, any other questions
Esteban?
Uh, No, just thank you for having me.
(12:32):
You know, I really appreciate thechance to, to see you guys and, and,
uh, talk to you guys about some ofthe current issues that are going
on and, and just having a chance totell you a little bit about myself.
I really appreciate that.
Well, you are absolutely, uh, welcome and,and you're always welcome to come back.
You can look at this as your forum.
Oh, and if there's an issuethat you, you, you just want
to talk about, you can do that.
(12:54):
Uh, but, uh, you've done a lot to expandour knowledge and our skillset and.
Information that we can sortof share with the public.
Um, and so with that, have a blessed day.
Thank you.
You
too.
And, and give a hug to the family for me.
Will
do.
, likewise.
Please stay out everyone.
Alright, take care
. Bye-Bye.
Thank you.
Bye-Bye.
Take care.
(13:15):
Thank you.
Thank you for listening to the Healthy,wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr.
William t Choctaw, md JD.
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