March 18, 2025 • 40 mins
- Listen Saturday mornings at 8 as Dr. Msonthi Levine discusses medical issues and takes your calls on News Talk 560 KLVI. Dr Levine is board certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. His office is located at 3080 Milam in Beaumont, Texas. He can be reached at 409-347-3621.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Welcome Internet radio listeners. Southeast Texas welcomes to
other edition of the Doctor Levine Medical Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm your weekly host, Doctor Levine.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm live in the suits of KLVI here in Bauma, Texas,
across the street from Parkdale Mall, taking your phone calls,
trying to answer questions and give you some information about your.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Health and to.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hopefully keep you live as long as possible and as
healthy as possible. Who wants to be sick all the
time when they're alive. It's a drag having to go
to the doctor and take a bunch of meds and
always in a hospital. Who wants to do that. So
we're here to answer some phone calls and answer some
questions and hopefully make things simpler for you and easier
(00:50):
for you to make decisions for you and your family.
Phone lines are open eight nine six klv I or
one hundred and three to three zero klv I. Love
to hear from you. In the meantime, we'll be chatting
about maybe some current events or maybe some issues that
have been coming up recently.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Such as measles outbreak.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
A lot of my patients have been coming in and
asking if they should take the measles vaccine. Primarily my
elderly patients have been coming in talking about that because
of some reporting of some measles outbreaks in certain parts
of the country and whether or not they should sort
of gear up and protect themselves and take a measles vaccine,
(01:40):
which for most of my patients would probably be a
booster vaccine. As measles vaccination has been implemented in this
country for many years and is sort of a standard
I'm not sure if it's federal or state law or
(02:00):
regulation that at a certain age, especially if you're going
to public school systems, they require to have your vaccines.
That's something you always have to present when joining a
public school or some of these other public institutions. You
have to have your vaccine record in order to be
(02:20):
admitted or to become a student. So it sort of
forces most individuals to get those vaccines. And we've talked
about vaccines a lot on this show for good reason,
just because it certainly has allowed the medical community to
control the rate of infections in our country. Remember when
(02:45):
our country was founded, I mean way way way back
in the old ages, it wasn't heart disease, it wasn't
cancer killing Americans. It was infections that was killing Americans.
The bugs, the microorganisms that we cannot see or smell,
or feel or taste, but they're there always and will
(03:10):
never go away, no matter how much dial soap that
you use, or how much clorox you use. That's I
hear my patients say that a lot new when they
someone gets sick in the house or they think there's
some acute infection in the house, they just wipe down
the whole house with clorox. Just get some bottle of clorox.
(03:31):
We're going to wipe down everything. And I love it
when I hear that. Thank God for or you know, God,
bless them for them for trying. But guess what, not
even clorox could get rid of all of the viruses
and bacteria that are in your house and just on
every surface in your house and in the air as well.
(03:55):
Just just can't do it. It's impossible, despite what they can,
merciless might tell you. So I have a lot of
patients asking me that if they should wipe down their
house if someone gets sick, and my answer is typically no,
But if it makes them feel better, they feel more protected,
(04:15):
why not. But man, it stinks. Guy Clorox thinks terribly.
If they could come out with a great scented Cloox,
maybe they do. I don't go to the grocery store
as much. My wife tends to get most of the groceries,
so I don't get a chance to go to most
grocery stores. I was in Walmart late late Sunday morning
(04:37):
they close about eleven PM, getting some coffee, and god, man,
the stores are just amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's just sort of.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
This forest of goods, and it's so impressive to me
because you know, I'm growing up again. These stores are
normally pretty small, and they're merchandise just was not as grand.
But now, I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Just aisles and aisles of food and.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Items stacked to the ceiling and just fully stacked in
the aisles and on the shelves, and just rows of
these air conditioned sort of areas where all the frozen
(05:31):
food is. I mean, it's just massive and impressive that
there's so much food out there. You know, it's no
one we're struggling with their weight. I mean, how can
you say not all that stuff, the candies and the
cakes and the pies and the beverages, and.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
It's tough out there.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I feel for my patients, and I'm always happy
when a patient finds a solution to getting their weight down.
Small percentage, but I'm always happy when they get their
weight down.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And figure that out. But back to the Clorox.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
They might have some like some pine scented Clorox or
something like that. I remember growing up with pine salt.
I don't know if you guys remember that. That's another
sort of home deodorant or sort of home deodorizing liquid
you would clean your bathroom with. And those are not Chlorox. No,
(06:29):
it's not Clorox. It's another one. It's a powder. I
can't remember the name of it. We used to use
all the time to clean the bathroom. All these products
out there, right that people will rub down their house
to prevent infections. But I don't really think it impacts that,
at least I've not seen the medical literature that says that, So, no,
you don't have to do that. But we certainly, certainly
(06:54):
certainly recommend vaccines. And so this measles outbreak just brings
up the whole conversation of vaccines and good or bad,
or whether or not you should do it. And again,
if you listen to the show. You know we like vaccines.
It's an option right to control infections, and not everyone
(07:15):
likes that option. That's why we love this country so much.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
We have the.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Ability to exercise our personal option when it might not
be what the majority believes. We can still have our
own ideas and exercise our own options and ideas. That
freedom to do that, although for the good of the
country or the good of the community. Sometimes we are
(07:41):
sort of forced by various ways into making certain decisions.
We saw this with COVID when it was ramped up.
Just a lot of times. If you were working in
a public facility, at a business where you had to
gather with your coworkers, you were sort of forced into
(08:02):
taking some of these vaccines if you wanted to work there,
right because it was out of the goodness of protecting
the community. And the country may have not agreed with it,
but hey, you gotta pay your bills, and so you
took it. And same thing with some of these vaccines,
such as measles. There are some I guess counties or
cities or municipalities where there's a choice of whether or
(08:27):
not you will allow your son or allow your data
to take these vaccines when they're in school. So there
are populations in our country who did not take the
measles vaccine. They didn't want to, their parents that didn't
believe in it. Again, it's a whole robust industry of
(08:48):
information and very smart informed people who have some doubts
about vaccines and how it's manufactured and what happened when
you take vaccines. So it does raise, you know, a
possibility of some adverse reaction issues, and I don't you
(09:09):
know that's I think that's fine to have that conversation.
Because I've been a physician for over twenty years, been
in the game for a long time. I've seen a lot, hurt,
a lot, read a lot, and yes, I mean there's
always a question of adverse reaction with any of these medications.
I think it's healthy for someone to investigate about whatever
(09:32):
you're putting in your body, do your own personal investigation
and have some personal thoughts about what this medicine is
going to do, what's the chances of bad things happening.
I really have no problem with that, and I think
you should if you have the time and you have
the energy. Not all of patients do. We still have
patients that you know, believe in the system, They believe
(09:55):
in their physician, and they don't really challenge the physician
or the system. But we also have those that do,
and I think that's healthy for everyone involved, is to
educate yourself and have more insight into what all this
stuff means, so you can have a better conversation with
you with your provider, and sort of keep pushing the
(10:20):
boundary and making sure in terms of checks and balances
that this stuff is right, because we're not always right
with recommendations with our medications. It's been a joy to
see how our therapeutics. For me, I'm a medical doctor,
not a surgeon, but our medical therapeutics, it's wonderful to
(10:40):
see how it's evolved over the past twenty years in
terms of what we recommend or don't now we don't recommend,
and how we've changed things. It's the cool aspect of
being a physician, just always changing and trying to get better, smarter,
and provide these medical things therapeutics that help our patients
(11:02):
Number one, feel better, feel natural, feel human, feel like
they feel like they need to feel, and not be
over medicated and feel over medicated and then not causing
the adverse reaction. I think that's been the big movement
in the medical world since I've joined the medical world,
since I graduated, as you know, say, patient safety and
(11:24):
trying to improve everyone's outcome, whether it be in the
office or in the hospital to a very high percentage,
so that no matter where you are or who you are,
who your practitioner is, there's a certain level of medical
therapeutics and knowledge that you're going to get exposed to
and that you're going to get the right diagnosis, the
(11:45):
right mads, minimal side effects. Everybody is going to be happy.
I mean, that's truly the way things are, and that's
there's always that constant desire to provide that sort of
level of care no matter where you are in this country. Obviously,
it takes a lot of work for that to happen.
(12:06):
There's a lot more people involved with medical care these days,
and so sometimes the systems have some deficiencies, but there
are some pockets where the system is working very well.
It's all six cylinders are pumping and working in concert
with each other, and you know, it's a wonderful thing
(12:27):
to see. But it's a goal that most systems try
to achieve, but these measles outbreaks, I wouldn't personally, they're
not really telling us to revaccinate everyone, at least that's
not my understanding. What I tell most of my patients
is anytime, anytime you feel like you need to get
(12:48):
a booster of any vaccine, by all means, go get it.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I think that a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Of people feel like they're going to get overdosed on
vaccines right. They don't want to take too much of it.
It took one a week ago or a year ago,
and I don't want to overdose on this stuff, which
I could again, I can certainly understand you're getting a
needle and something is getting injected into you, and now
it's in your system, and you don't want to be harmed.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
But certainly that's not something that happens on a regular basis.
With all these vaccines being given every day, I think
we would just see a huge, huge increase or problem
with that sort of issue. And I'm at the hospital
every day and I just don't see that happening. So
I'm not too concerned about being over medicated with vaccines.
(13:37):
So if you're anybody concerned that maybe your immune status
is not what needs to be. You want to sort
of boost your immune system, then by all means go
get a musle's booster. Okay, I mean just go get it,
and there's nothing preventing you from doing that. It's good
that there's better access. Most doctor's offices are trying to
(13:58):
have vaccines available.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
A lot of them don't have everything.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But the pharmacies have really stepped up and been that
source of vaccines where you can go get that and
it's convenient, and they normally have most of the major
popular vaccines available, so that if you want to get
a booster of anything, you can get that at any time.
We try to prioritize certain segments of the population, especially
(14:27):
our elderly patients are ones who have a lot of
medical problems. That's who we try to prioritize. And again
I want to keep mentioning this is that the focus
of most vaccines is to again prime your immune system
to be able to attack any invading or I should
(14:48):
say any the targeted organism so that your body does
not have a severe reaction to this infection, whether it
be a virus or bacteri being a virus, so that
you don't end up in the hospital, don't end up
with complications as far as I know, again I have
(15:09):
As far as I know, I've never diagnosed anyone with measles. Again,
because of the vaccine program, it's allowed us to control
that significantly, so we just don't see it that much.
But yeah, every now and then it's going to be
an outbreak because again there's been some inconsistency with some
patients getting their vaccines and so they're unprotected basically, and
(15:32):
this virus is a resident virus in the United States,
and it's always looking to infect someone who's vulnerable, and
so it gets one host and then the way viruses
work is they travel from one host to another one
again because of these respiratory droplets that get into the air,
(15:53):
you know, by coughing or sneezing or laughing or or
talking breathing, they sort of get spewed out into the environment.
So other people who are around can then become infected
because they breathe that infected air, that dirty air, if
you will, or it gets on surfaces in the same
environment and you touch that surface and then you go
(16:17):
to that T zone. Right. Remember we used to talk
about T zone a lot during the pandemic. That's your
eyes and your nose, which is can be an entry
of a portal entry for viruses. The main one is
sort of the oral FARINGX area. Right, you breathe in
or you touch your mouth with your hands, which your
hands are infected because you touch the surface. It's hard
(16:37):
to do, right, you're not thinking about it. It's just
sort of an automatic thing. But nonetheless, that's how viruses
hop from one host to the next. And when the
virus is replicating, it's a lot. That's when you get mutations,
and then mutations can then infect other hosts which can
not be protected because they've never seen this mutated virus before.
(17:00):
The immune system has never seen this. There's no antibodies
or antibodies are part of the immune system that they're
sort of floating around in your body at all times,
sort of ready to attacks, sort of like a radar
system are sort of like we have ships and planes
and submarines all over the world, right, just sort of
(17:21):
looking and just monitoring. Right, that's sort of like how
antibodies are in your blot stream. And if you have
no ships, you have no radar system, you have no
planes in the air, then you can very easily be
succumbed to an attack, and because you're not ready, the
attack can be pretty aggressive and sort of wipe you
(17:42):
out because you're not ready to go. Ammunition's not there.
So antibodies are sort of like an army, just sort
of waiting, sitting for the organism to attack, and then
when it does, it recognizes it and it gets right
on it immediately to sort of keep that action to
a minimum. But when you're unprotected, it can be very severe,
(18:03):
and that's when it mutates, and then it gets to
another person and so forth and so on, and then
you have outbreak, just like with COVID, same stuff, same mechanism,
And so that's why we need everybody on board with vaccines.
But that's hard to do in this country. That's why
we love it. You know, we're going to have those issues.
(18:26):
But do I think all my elder patients need to
go out and get it if you're concerned, Yes, they're
not telling us to do that, but if you're concerned,
by all means, get your booster.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Phone lines are open eight nine to six. Scalvy.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I won one hundred three three zero. Okay, I'll be
back in two minutes. All right, welcome back to doc Lavine.
(19:02):
And I got a phone lines of opening on six
K three three zero. Kelvy, we have Michael from Pasadena.
How can we help you?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Oh, good morning, Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
In in December, I had a colonospe and and an
e g D where they ran a tube down your
camera down your stomach and uh. They found that I
(19:34):
had a small higher headel hernia and they put me
on after after they they gave me some medication to
take called f A M O T I D I
N E and UH. I've had problems in the past
(19:56):
with swallowing, and really that was all the only symptoms
I've had for anything relating to his stomach. Uh. And
I didn't think that was related to my stomach. But anyway,
(20:17):
I'm still have I went and saw the doctor this
past Wednesday and he changed the medication to UH T
A N T O P R A Z O L
E and U. When I go to the pharmacist, I
always ask him what what what are some of the
(20:40):
problems that I could have with this? And he said
to made the long if you take this thing long term.
There there have been uh, studies that show that you
could end up with Alzheimer's, and I surely don't want
to take anything that will do that. Uh. So I'm
(21:03):
deciding trying to figure out how to or what to do.
I told the doctor I had still trouble fwallowing. I've
always had that. I had some around two thousand and nine.
I don't think it's contributed a problem with this acid reflux,
(21:27):
and so I'm not sure what to do. I'm trying
to figure out how to. I'm looking at everything I
can do naturally to prevent acid reflux, and what's your suggestions?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Uck, Well, yeah, thank you Michael for that question. It's
a very common question, Michael, and I've heard that concern
over the past several years. The acid reflux medicines such
as pantalk resolve that you mention in which brand name
is Protonics, which is I would say the most prescribed
(22:06):
acid reflux in this country, based on my experience with
my gas genurology colleagues, as well as pepsi are femotidine.
These are the big big GI medications in this country,
and you're correct some people are on these medications for years.
So I think experts doing their due diligence said hey,
(22:29):
is this causing any problems? And so it's been looked
at and researched, and there is some question about that
doesn't increase your risk of dementia. I've heard that conversation often,
and Michael, my understanding at this point is that they
can't really fine tune that and nail that down and
(22:51):
say absolutely, yes it does. And so I think it's
still a controversial topic, right and you have to this
wonderful thing about medicine is learning how to prioritize diseases,
because that's what you have to do. Because patients will
have multiple diseases. You know which one is first, second, third,
(23:13):
and the more immediate problem is your gash in intestinal problems.
And as of right now, these medications, pantarpasol, famoditine, these
are the medicines that we have available to treat you know,
acid reflux, esophagitis, gastritis, heartburn, barretts, esophagitis, and some people
(23:36):
need to stay on these meds. And I would say
that if you have symptoms and the medication fixes your symptoms,
and if you try to get off the medicines, the
symptoms come back then. Unfortunately, you probably need to keep
taking this medications. Now, I'm I'm sort of my own
expert as it pertains to dementia and the use of
(24:00):
of these GI medications.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I would have to say that I have not seen an.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Increase are a relationship personally in my own practice, I
have not seen that relationship. I see a lot of
early patients. I see a lot of patients with GI
issues that are on these mads. Have I seen a
relationship No, So for me, there's question, There's nothing wrong
(24:27):
with that, but the relationship is not strong. I would
say it's a weak relationship and that if you have
GI problems then you need to prioritize that and not
worry so much about the dementia question as it pertains
to these GII medicines.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
When do I know that you know? Like I said before,
I went to this doctor actually just to get a
colonosopy and I mentioned for problems with asked. He asked
me about other things and I told him and I
ended up getting this EGED which I really wasn't expecting
(25:10):
to get. And I did find a small high owner hornery,
so it was beneficial, But I didn't have any I
didn't think I had any symptoms of acid grief lux.
I don't. I burke maybe once in a while, But so,
what are the symptoms that that this will purtail? I mean,
(25:35):
he gave me something that's stronger to try and see
if that would stop trouble swallowing, and I think I'm
doing something wrong when I swallow. I don't know what
the problem is, But what are the symptoms? How do
I know that I'm taking the right medicine? Uh? I
(26:00):
think since I've started taking me I get a little
firm in the back of my throat. I don't know
if it's from acid reflux or it's clear. And I
don't know if I'm getting it from that or from
the medicine, or if it is. What are the symptoms
that I'm what should I be whe do I know
(26:20):
I'm doing the right thing?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I think most patients who have acid reflux, some common
symptoms would be a nausea pain in sort of the
upper part of the stomach, right below your chest bone,
sort of in the center of your chest. That's sort
of the acid reflux heartburn area just below your chest bone,
(26:44):
and that's sort of at the top of your stomach,
you start getting a sort of an uncomfortable pain, discomfort, nausea,
gnawing symptoms. Sometimes you get throat pain. Sometimes you have
a chronic cough. But I would say sort of pain
and sort of that right below your chestbuone and nausea
(27:05):
would be the most common symptoms of heartburn and a
little throat pain.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
I don't have any of that, okay, And I think
I was going to try and to see what I
could do without uh, this medication. The other thing is
they wanted to do a burying throat exam or they
(27:34):
X ray the throat, and while there's barrying fluid running
down the throat, I don't even think I need that
to check, I guess to see what else is going on.
I'm still considering it, but I know I've spoken a
(27:54):
lot about it. I'm taking up a lot of time.
I don't mean to, but so anyway, that's what I'm
going through right now. And I appreciate your help on
everything and your advice, and I'll shut up.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
No Michael calling time. We appreciate your questions. I mean,
these are good questions that you have. This is happening
every day to a lot of people. To be honest
with you and Michael, the wonderful thing about being a
patient in this country is that it's ultimately up to
you whatever happens. If you don't want testing, if you
(28:40):
don't want medications, you don't want to go to the doctor,
you don't have to do anything. I think the Gash
neurologist that you're seeing is just trying to be a
good doctor and provide you with the most comprehensive service
that they know of. Anytime you go to consultant, they
sort of have a routine that they go through a
(29:01):
lot of times, no matter what your complaint is, because
they're just trying to be thorough and not overlook anything,
and so they might put you through a battery of tests.
It's just their routine. It's what they were taught. Again,
healthcare delivering in this country right now is a service industry,
right and you pay a lot of money for insurance
(29:22):
and you go to a consultant, you have to take
off the whole day. Even when you go to doctor
Levine's office, you know you got to sit and wait.
And so I think a lot of times doctors like, hey,
I mean thank you for coming in. Let me do
my due diligence and let me look into everything so
that after I'm finished, I can give you a very
comprehensive view of your gash intestinal system and what to
(29:46):
do moving forward. I think most doctors don't want to
overlook anything.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
At least.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
That's what you learn as you become more experienced in
this game, is you got to just stay comprehensive. When
you cut corners or when you don't necessarily do the
complete workups, sometimes things might be missed or misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed,
and that's never fun. So I think he's just doing
what he thinks he needs.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
To do as a doctor.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But the way it's it's organized in our country is
anytime you're exhausted with the whole thing or you don't
want anything, you just let him know, like I don't
want that test, I don't want the medicine. I'm fine,
thank you, I had my scope. I'll see you in
six months or so, and they'll they'll stop. That's the
(30:35):
cool thing about it. I Mean they will literally stop
and like, Okay, we're good, so it's all you gotta do, Mike.
All right, We'll appreciate Michael's phone call and that's that's
the wonderful thing about healthcare in this country. At the
end of the day, it's up to you what happens.
Phone lines open eight nine six kV I one hundred
(30:57):
three three zero OKV. I'll be back in two minutes.
All right, welcome back to the doctor with the metagard.
Phone lines to open eight nine six kovy one one
(31:17):
hundred and three to three zero kovy. And yes, that
question comes up often. That was a very good question
about the relationship between dementia and these asset reflux medicines.
As you know, the protonics, pepsid, tangment, prolesec that's over
the counter, a mepersol. He said, Man, a lot of
(31:40):
people are on these medications, right, Just because gash test
upset is a big problem in our country, why is
that you should there to answer that question?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Right?
Speaker 1 (31:51):
All of the sort of irritating, somewhat toxic substances that
we consume every day that we know as processed food,
processed beverages, right, very very irritating to the gas test system.
This has been chronicled for many years by a lot
(32:12):
of experts, and so a lot of Americans are suffering
gi upset, you know, their tummies don't feel well, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, nausea,
And in my opinion, it comes down to what you're
eating and drinking. What are you putting in your system,
(32:34):
very irritating and noxious sort of substances that irritate the
gashroom test, they get inflamed the inside part of your stomach,
and that inflammation again generates these symptoms that nausea, pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation,
loss of appetite. And we use these ass reflux medications,
(32:59):
some of them over the counter. Can just go down
to CVS HGB target and you can get these meds
and start taking them. And so a lot of people
find themselves taking these medications for years. And yes, I
mean there's some impact with your health, but is it
a strong impact? Is it really generating a lot of
(33:21):
other collateral issues. Maybe a little bit, but the dementia
one has not been able to be strengthened anymore. And
again my own personal experience, I just don't see the
connection that often, not often enough that I'm telling patients
(33:42):
to never take these medications. I think with any medication,
the understanding is, you know, try to not have to
take it long term. That's going to be difficult for
most patients as it pertains to cardiovascular medications or things
like seizure medicines. I mean you need those men and
it's high pertension, high cholesterol, the blood sugar issue. These
(34:05):
are normally chronic issues, and you normally have to take
these medicines chronically because it's hard to work on your
lifestyle and be consistent because they're just all the distractions
and things that get in your way of being healthy.
It's hard, unfortunately, to be healthy in this country for
a lot of various reasons, and so we rely on
these pharmaceutical medical therapeutics to help us maintain sort of
(34:30):
a balance with a health. So these medicines are hard
to get off of, but the GI medicines sometimes, yeah,
you get on it for a few weeks. The idea
is to try and get off of it as soon
as possible. In general, right, that's normally the question I
have when I start any medicine for most patients is
can I get off? And if you take any chronic
(34:53):
medication and you go to a healthcare professional, that should
be part of your visit is what my medicines, What
are the indications for my medicines? And do I need
to keep taking them? That that should be part of
your visit. I mean most of the time it happens,
but not always, but I'm recommending to you that, yeah,
(35:14):
if you take any even if it's one medicine, you
should be having that conversation. Is there something new? Does
the dose need to be changed? I'm okay taking it is?
Do I need lab work? Is it going to harm me?
I mean, these are just sort of basic questions that
we all ask ourselves as clinical physicians when we see patients,
(35:35):
but certainly you can ask them as well. And the
GIV medicines are no different. A lot of times you
can get off the GI medication if you know, you
change your lifestyle, you change that diet. Weight gain is
a big, big influencer, as it pertains that the acid
reflux issued.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
The heavier that you are, the more.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Likely you are to develop acid reflux and get some
heartburn issues and require these medications. And if you try
to get off of them, then the symptoms come back
because you're still overweight. And again it's all tied in
lose weight. Normally you're eating better, you're eating better you're
not irritating a jazz system as much, and so you
can get off the medication. But again, I have not
(36:23):
seen the relationship in my experience such that everyone needs
to get off the medication. That That's not what I've seen.
But certainly it makes sense to eat better and get
your weight down right. It all factors in their phone lines.
If an eight nine six kalvy I one hundred and
three to three zero okov I gonna last break? All right,
(36:56):
doctor been welcome back to doctor via medica. Rick from
Boumot real quick, how can we.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
You can you get measles? More than once?
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I would assume yes, just because it is a virus, Rick,
And again, viruses mutate, and just like with COVID, just
like with flu and any other virus that is in
the community, they can change and because when they mutate,
their properties can be different, different enough that your body
(37:26):
has no immunity against it and you can be reinfected again.
Because of the vaccine program, the exposure to measles virus
is very low and so most people are not getting that.
But every now and then, yes, you will get that outbreak.
Because of the inconsistency with vaccine taking it in this country,
(37:46):
so that's possible.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Okay, Now, shicken pox a months, you only get one.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Time, right as far as I know, Yeah, there's a
two shot recommendation when you're young. But other than that,
just say beyond that, they don't normally recommend a booster
for those No, okay, thank you, all right, Rick, appreciate that.
(38:13):
And we're happy that people are getting vaccines. And I
think that there's a better understanding of the importance of
vaccines if you want to protect yourself and stay out
of the hospital. Again, things like antibotics, our understanding of
the microorganism world, taking aspirin, just we know more about
(38:34):
what's going on out there and how to keep our
patients a live longer, which is why the life expectancy
has gotten up to seventy five or so for the
average American. And things like vaccines allow that to happen again.
When the country was founded, I mean, microorganisms were killing
everyone because we just didn't know that world until it
was discovered and then so forth, and some penicillin, antibotics, vaccine,
(39:00):
I mean, these are big, big, big time discoveries. And
I want to remind you, you know, there's an industry
in this country alive and well. The vaccine industry, this
biotech using computers and machines to really engineer vaccines so
that they are precise, they're clean, and they can pretty
(39:24):
much on the dime, engineer a vaccine for whatever is
going on out there very rapidly, just like with COVID.
I mean we had a vaccine within a year or so,
which normally vaccine manufacturing and production would take years to develop.
It cut down certainly the whole pandemic. When we started
(39:48):
getting vaccines out there, people were immunized.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
It's big time.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
So if you're missing any vaccines, please go out and
get yours at your local pharmacy or your healthcare professional's
office as soon as you can. Because they do work again,
you can get infected. It's just that it keeps the
severity to a minimum so that you're not as sick.
I want to thank all the callers and listeners to DOCTORA. V. Menakauer.
(40:15):
Don't drink and drive, Drink some water and eat some vegetables.
We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Take care,
All right, Welcome Internet radio listeners. Southeast Texas welcomes to
other edition of the Doctor Levine Medical Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm your weekly host, Doctor Levine.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm live in the suits of KLVI here in Bauma, Texas,
across the street from Parkdale Mall, taking your phone calls,
trying to answer questions and give you some information about your.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Health and to.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hopefully keep you live as long as possible and as
healthy as possible. Who wants to be sick all the
time when they're alive. It's a drag having to go
to the doctor and take a bunch of meds and
always in a hospital. Who wants to do that. So
we're here to answer some phone calls and answer some
questions and hopefully make things simpler for you and easier
(00:50):
for you to make decisions for you and your family.
Phone lines are open eight nine six klv I or
one hundred and three to three zero klv I. Love
to hear from you. In the meantime, we'll be chatting
about maybe some current events or maybe some issues that
have been coming up recently.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Such as measles outbreak.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
A lot of my patients have been coming in and
asking if they should take the measles vaccine. Primarily my
elderly patients have been coming in talking about that because
of some reporting of some measles outbreaks in certain parts
of the country and whether or not they should sort
of gear up and protect themselves and take a measles vaccine,
(01:40):
which for most of my patients would probably be a
booster vaccine. As measles vaccination has been implemented in this
country for many years and is sort of a standard
I'm not sure if it's federal or state law or
(02:00):
regulation that at a certain age, especially if you're going
to public school systems, they require to have your vaccines.
That's something you always have to present when joining a
public school or some of these other public institutions. You
have to have your vaccine record in order to be
(02:20):
admitted or to become a student. So it sort of
forces most individuals to get those vaccines. And we've talked
about vaccines a lot on this show for good reason,
just because it certainly has allowed the medical community to
control the rate of infections in our country. Remember when
(02:45):
our country was founded, I mean way way way back
in the old ages, it wasn't heart disease, it wasn't
cancer killing Americans. It was infections that was killing Americans.
The bugs, the microorganisms that we cannot see or smell,
or feel or taste, but they're there always and will
(03:10):
never go away, no matter how much dial soap that
you use, or how much clorox you use. That's I
hear my patients say that a lot new when they
someone gets sick in the house or they think there's
some acute infection in the house, they just wipe down
the whole house with clorox. Just get some bottle of clorox.
(03:31):
We're going to wipe down everything. And I love it
when I hear that. Thank God for or you know, God,
bless them for them for trying. But guess what, not
even clorox could get rid of all of the viruses
and bacteria that are in your house and just on
every surface in your house and in the air as well.
(03:55):
Just just can't do it. It's impossible, despite what they can,
merciless might tell you. So I have a lot of
patients asking me that if they should wipe down their
house if someone gets sick, and my answer is typically no,
But if it makes them feel better, they feel more protected,
(04:15):
why not. But man, it stinks. Guy Clorox thinks terribly.
If they could come out with a great scented Cloox,
maybe they do. I don't go to the grocery store
as much. My wife tends to get most of the groceries,
so I don't get a chance to go to most
grocery stores. I was in Walmart late late Sunday morning
(04:37):
they close about eleven PM, getting some coffee, and god, man,
the stores are just amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's just sort of.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
This forest of goods, and it's so impressive to me
because you know, I'm growing up again. These stores are
normally pretty small, and they're merchandise just was not as grand.
But now, I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Just aisles and aisles of food and.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Items stacked to the ceiling and just fully stacked in
the aisles and on the shelves, and just rows of
these air conditioned sort of areas where all the frozen
(05:31):
food is. I mean, it's just massive and impressive that
there's so much food out there. You know, it's no
one we're struggling with their weight. I mean, how can
you say not all that stuff, the candies and the
cakes and the pies and the beverages, and.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
It's tough out there.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I feel for my patients, and I'm always happy
when a patient finds a solution to getting their weight down.
Small percentage, but I'm always happy when they get their
weight down.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And figure that out. But back to the Clorox.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
They might have some like some pine scented Clorox or
something like that. I remember growing up with pine salt.
I don't know if you guys remember that. That's another
sort of home deodorant or sort of home deodorizing liquid
you would clean your bathroom with. And those are not Chlorox. No,
(06:29):
it's not Clorox. It's another one. It's a powder. I
can't remember the name of it. We used to use
all the time to clean the bathroom. All these products
out there, right that people will rub down their house
to prevent infections. But I don't really think it impacts that,
at least I've not seen the medical literature that says that, So, no,
you don't have to do that. But we certainly, certainly
(06:54):
certainly recommend vaccines. And so this measles outbreak just brings
up the whole conversation of vaccines and good or bad,
or whether or not you should do it. And again,
if you listen to the show. You know we like vaccines.
It's an option right to control infections, and not everyone
(07:15):
likes that option. That's why we love this country so much.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
We have the.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Ability to exercise our personal option when it might not
be what the majority believes. We can still have our
own ideas and exercise our own options and ideas. That
freedom to do that, although for the good of the
country or the good of the community. Sometimes we are
(07:41):
sort of forced by various ways into making certain decisions.
We saw this with COVID when it was ramped up.
Just a lot of times. If you were working in
a public facility, at a business where you had to
gather with your coworkers, you were sort of forced into
(08:02):
taking some of these vaccines if you wanted to work there,
right because it was out of the goodness of protecting
the community. And the country may have not agreed with it,
but hey, you gotta pay your bills, and so you
took it. And same thing with some of these vaccines,
such as measles. There are some I guess counties or
cities or municipalities where there's a choice of whether or
(08:27):
not you will allow your son or allow your data
to take these vaccines when they're in school. So there
are populations in our country who did not take the
measles vaccine. They didn't want to, their parents that didn't
believe in it. Again, it's a whole robust industry of
(08:48):
information and very smart informed people who have some doubts
about vaccines and how it's manufactured and what happened when
you take vaccines. So it does raise, you know, a
possibility of some adverse reaction issues, and I don't you
(09:09):
know that's I think that's fine to have that conversation.
Because I've been a physician for over twenty years, been
in the game for a long time. I've seen a lot, hurt,
a lot, read a lot, and yes, I mean there's
always a question of adverse reaction with any of these medications.
I think it's healthy for someone to investigate about whatever
(09:32):
you're putting in your body, do your own personal investigation
and have some personal thoughts about what this medicine is
going to do, what's the chances of bad things happening.
I really have no problem with that, and I think
you should if you have the time and you have
the energy. Not all of patients do. We still have
patients that you know, believe in the system, They believe
(09:55):
in their physician, and they don't really challenge the physician
or the system. But we also have those that do,
and I think that's healthy for everyone involved, is to
educate yourself and have more insight into what all this
stuff means, so you can have a better conversation with
you with your provider, and sort of keep pushing the
(10:20):
boundary and making sure in terms of checks and balances
that this stuff is right, because we're not always right
with recommendations with our medications. It's been a joy to
see how our therapeutics. For me, I'm a medical doctor,
not a surgeon, but our medical therapeutics, it's wonderful to
(10:40):
see how it's evolved over the past twenty years in
terms of what we recommend or don't now we don't recommend,
and how we've changed things. It's the cool aspect of
being a physician, just always changing and trying to get better, smarter,
and provide these medical things therapeutics that help our patients
(11:02):
Number one, feel better, feel natural, feel human, feel like
they feel like they need to feel, and not be
over medicated and feel over medicated and then not causing
the adverse reaction. I think that's been the big movement
in the medical world since I've joined the medical world,
since I graduated, as you know, say, patient safety and
(11:24):
trying to improve everyone's outcome, whether it be in the
office or in the hospital to a very high percentage,
so that no matter where you are or who you are,
who your practitioner is, there's a certain level of medical
therapeutics and knowledge that you're going to get exposed to
and that you're going to get the right diagnosis, the
(11:45):
right mads, minimal side effects. Everybody is going to be happy.
I mean, that's truly the way things are, and that's
there's always that constant desire to provide that sort of
level of care no matter where you are in this country. Obviously,
it takes a lot of work for that to happen.
(12:06):
There's a lot more people involved with medical care these days,
and so sometimes the systems have some deficiencies, but there
are some pockets where the system is working very well.
It's all six cylinders are pumping and working in concert
with each other, and you know, it's a wonderful thing
(12:27):
to see. But it's a goal that most systems try
to achieve, but these measles outbreaks, I wouldn't personally, they're
not really telling us to revaccinate everyone, at least that's
not my understanding. What I tell most of my patients
is anytime, anytime you feel like you need to get
(12:48):
a booster of any vaccine, by all means, go get it.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I think that a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Of people feel like they're going to get overdosed on
vaccines right. They don't want to take too much of it.
It took one a week ago or a year ago,
and I don't want to overdose on this stuff, which
I could again, I can certainly understand you're getting a
needle and something is getting injected into you, and now
it's in your system, and you don't want to be harmed.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
But certainly that's not something that happens on a regular basis.
With all these vaccines being given every day, I think
we would just see a huge, huge increase or problem
with that sort of issue. And I'm at the hospital
every day and I just don't see that happening. So
I'm not too concerned about being over medicated with vaccines.
(13:37):
So if you're anybody concerned that maybe your immune status
is not what needs to be. You want to sort
of boost your immune system, then by all means go
get a musle's booster. Okay, I mean just go get it,
and there's nothing preventing you from doing that. It's good
that there's better access. Most doctor's offices are trying to
(13:58):
have vaccines available.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
A lot of them don't have everything.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
But the pharmacies have really stepped up and been that
source of vaccines where you can go get that and
it's convenient, and they normally have most of the major
popular vaccines available, so that if you want to get
a booster of anything, you can get that at any time.
We try to prioritize certain segments of the population, especially
(14:27):
our elderly patients are ones who have a lot of
medical problems. That's who we try to prioritize. And again
I want to keep mentioning this is that the focus
of most vaccines is to again prime your immune system
to be able to attack any invading or I should
(14:48):
say any the targeted organism so that your body does
not have a severe reaction to this infection, whether it
be a virus or bacteri being a virus, so that
you don't end up in the hospital, don't end up
with complications as far as I know, again I have
(15:09):
As far as I know, I've never diagnosed anyone with measles. Again,
because of the vaccine program, it's allowed us to control
that significantly, so we just don't see it that much.
But yeah, every now and then it's going to be
an outbreak because again there's been some inconsistency with some
patients getting their vaccines and so they're unprotected basically, and
(15:32):
this virus is a resident virus in the United States,
and it's always looking to infect someone who's vulnerable, and
so it gets one host and then the way viruses
work is they travel from one host to another one
again because of these respiratory droplets that get into the air,
(15:53):
you know, by coughing or sneezing or laughing or or
talking breathing, they sort of get spewed out into the environment.
So other people who are around can then become infected
because they breathe that infected air, that dirty air, if
you will, or it gets on surfaces in the same
environment and you touch that surface and then you go
(16:17):
to that T zone. Right. Remember we used to talk
about T zone a lot during the pandemic. That's your
eyes and your nose, which is can be an entry
of a portal entry for viruses. The main one is
sort of the oral FARINGX area. Right, you breathe in
or you touch your mouth with your hands, which your
hands are infected because you touch the surface. It's hard
(16:37):
to do, right, you're not thinking about it. It's just
sort of an automatic thing. But nonetheless, that's how viruses
hop from one host to the next. And when the
virus is replicating, it's a lot. That's when you get mutations,
and then mutations can then infect other hosts which can
not be protected because they've never seen this mutated virus before.
(17:00):
The immune system has never seen this. There's no antibodies
or antibodies are part of the immune system that they're
sort of floating around in your body at all times,
sort of ready to attacks, sort of like a radar
system are sort of like we have ships and planes
and submarines all over the world, right, just sort of
(17:21):
looking and just monitoring. Right, that's sort of like how
antibodies are in your blot stream. And if you have
no ships, you have no radar system, you have no
planes in the air, then you can very easily be
succumbed to an attack, and because you're not ready, the
attack can be pretty aggressive and sort of wipe you
(17:42):
out because you're not ready to go. Ammunition's not there.
So antibodies are sort of like an army, just sort
of waiting, sitting for the organism to attack, and then
when it does, it recognizes it and it gets right
on it immediately to sort of keep that action to
a minimum. But when you're unprotected, it can be very severe,
(18:03):
and that's when it mutates, and then it gets to
another person and so forth and so on, and then
you have outbreak, just like with COVID, same stuff, same mechanism,
And so that's why we need everybody on board with vaccines.
But that's hard to do in this country. That's why
we love it. You know, we're going to have those issues.
(18:26):
But do I think all my elder patients need to
go out and get it if you're concerned, Yes, they're
not telling us to do that, but if you're concerned,
by all means, get your booster.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Phone lines are open eight nine to six. Scalvy.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
I won one hundred three three zero. Okay, I'll be
back in two minutes. All right, welcome back to doc Lavine.
(19:02):
And I got a phone lines of opening on six
K three three zero. Kelvy, we have Michael from Pasadena.
How can we help you?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Oh, good morning, Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
In in December, I had a colonospe and and an
e g D where they ran a tube down your
camera down your stomach and uh. They found that I
(19:34):
had a small higher headel hernia and they put me
on after after they they gave me some medication to
take called f A M O T I D I
N E and UH. I've had problems in the past
(19:56):
with swallowing, and really that was all the only symptoms
I've had for anything relating to his stomach. Uh. And
I didn't think that was related to my stomach. But anyway,
(20:17):
I'm still have I went and saw the doctor this
past Wednesday and he changed the medication to UH T
A N T O P R A Z O L
E and U. When I go to the pharmacist, I
always ask him what what what are some of the
(20:40):
problems that I could have with this? And he said
to made the long if you take this thing long term.
There there have been uh, studies that show that you
could end up with Alzheimer's, and I surely don't want
to take anything that will do that. Uh. So I'm
(21:03):
deciding trying to figure out how to or what to do.
I told the doctor I had still trouble fwallowing. I've
always had that. I had some around two thousand and nine.
I don't think it's contributed a problem with this acid reflux,
(21:27):
and so I'm not sure what to do. I'm trying
to figure out how to. I'm looking at everything I
can do naturally to prevent acid reflux, and what's your suggestions?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Uck, Well, yeah, thank you Michael for that question. It's
a very common question, Michael, and I've heard that concern
over the past several years. The acid reflux medicines such
as pantalk resolve that you mention in which brand name
is Protonics, which is I would say the most prescribed
(22:06):
acid reflux in this country, based on my experience with
my gas genurology colleagues, as well as pepsi are femotidine.
These are the big big GI medications in this country,
and you're correct some people are on these medications for years.
So I think experts doing their due diligence said hey,
(22:29):
is this causing any problems? And so it's been looked
at and researched, and there is some question about that
doesn't increase your risk of dementia. I've heard that conversation often,
and Michael, my understanding at this point is that they
can't really fine tune that and nail that down and
(22:51):
say absolutely, yes it does. And so I think it's
still a controversial topic, right and you have to this
wonderful thing about medicine is learning how to prioritize diseases,
because that's what you have to do. Because patients will
have multiple diseases. You know which one is first, second, third,
(23:13):
and the more immediate problem is your gash in intestinal problems.
And as of right now, these medications, pantarpasol, famoditine, these
are the medicines that we have available to treat you know,
acid reflux, esophagitis, gastritis, heartburn, barretts, esophagitis, and some people
(23:36):
need to stay on these meds. And I would say
that if you have symptoms and the medication fixes your symptoms,
and if you try to get off the medicines, the
symptoms come back then. Unfortunately, you probably need to keep
taking this medications. Now, I'm I'm sort of my own
expert as it pertains to dementia and the use of
(24:00):
of these GI medications.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
I would have to say that I have not seen an.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Increase are a relationship personally in my own practice, I
have not seen that relationship. I see a lot of
early patients. I see a lot of patients with GI
issues that are on these mads. Have I seen a
relationship No, So for me, there's question, There's nothing wrong
(24:27):
with that, but the relationship is not strong. I would
say it's a weak relationship and that if you have
GI problems then you need to prioritize that and not
worry so much about the dementia question as it pertains
to these GII medicines.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
When do I know that you know? Like I said before,
I went to this doctor actually just to get a
colonosopy and I mentioned for problems with asked. He asked
me about other things and I told him and I
ended up getting this EGED which I really wasn't expecting
(25:10):
to get. And I did find a small high owner hornery,
so it was beneficial, But I didn't have any I
didn't think I had any symptoms of acid grief lux.
I don't. I burke maybe once in a while, But so,
what are the symptoms that that this will purtail? I mean,
(25:35):
he gave me something that's stronger to try and see
if that would stop trouble swallowing, and I think I'm
doing something wrong when I swallow. I don't know what
the problem is, But what are the symptoms? How do
I know that I'm taking the right medicine? Uh? I
(26:00):
think since I've started taking me I get a little
firm in the back of my throat. I don't know
if it's from acid reflux or it's clear. And I
don't know if I'm getting it from that or from
the medicine, or if it is. What are the symptoms
that I'm what should I be whe do I know
(26:20):
I'm doing the right thing?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I think most patients who have acid reflux, some common
symptoms would be a nausea pain in sort of the
upper part of the stomach, right below your chest bone,
sort of in the center of your chest. That's sort
of the acid reflux heartburn area just below your chest bone,
(26:44):
and that's sort of at the top of your stomach,
you start getting a sort of an uncomfortable pain, discomfort, nausea,
gnawing symptoms. Sometimes you get throat pain. Sometimes you have
a chronic cough. But I would say sort of pain
and sort of that right below your chestbuone and nausea
(27:05):
would be the most common symptoms of heartburn and a
little throat pain.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
I don't have any of that, okay, And I think
I was going to try and to see what I
could do without uh, this medication. The other thing is
they wanted to do a burying throat exam or they
(27:34):
X ray the throat, and while there's barrying fluid running
down the throat, I don't even think I need that
to check, I guess to see what else is going on.
I'm still considering it, but I know I've spoken a
(27:54):
lot about it. I'm taking up a lot of time.
I don't mean to, but so anyway, that's what I'm
going through right now. And I appreciate your help on
everything and your advice, and I'll shut up.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
No Michael calling time. We appreciate your questions. I mean,
these are good questions that you have. This is happening
every day to a lot of people. To be honest
with you and Michael, the wonderful thing about being a
patient in this country is that it's ultimately up to
you whatever happens. If you don't want testing, if you
(28:40):
don't want medications, you don't want to go to the doctor,
you don't have to do anything. I think the Gash
neurologist that you're seeing is just trying to be a
good doctor and provide you with the most comprehensive service
that they know of. Anytime you go to consultant, they
sort of have a routine that they go through a
(29:01):
lot of times, no matter what your complaint is, because
they're just trying to be thorough and not overlook anything,
and so they might put you through a battery of tests.
It's just their routine. It's what they were taught. Again,
healthcare delivering in this country right now is a service industry,
right and you pay a lot of money for insurance
(29:22):
and you go to a consultant, you have to take
off the whole day. Even when you go to doctor
Levine's office, you know you got to sit and wait.
And so I think a lot of times doctors like, hey,
I mean thank you for coming in. Let me do
my due diligence and let me look into everything so
that after I'm finished, I can give you a very
comprehensive view of your gash intestinal system and what to
(29:46):
do moving forward. I think most doctors don't want to
overlook anything.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
At least.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
That's what you learn as you become more experienced in
this game, is you got to just stay comprehensive. When
you cut corners or when you don't necessarily do the
complete workups, sometimes things might be missed or misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed,
and that's never fun. So I think he's just doing
what he thinks he needs.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
To do as a doctor.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But the way it's it's organized in our country is
anytime you're exhausted with the whole thing or you don't
want anything, you just let him know, like I don't
want that test, I don't want the medicine. I'm fine,
thank you, I had my scope. I'll see you in
six months or so, and they'll they'll stop. That's the
(30:35):
cool thing about it. I Mean they will literally stop
and like, Okay, we're good, so it's all you gotta do, Mike.
All right, We'll appreciate Michael's phone call and that's that's
the wonderful thing about healthcare in this country. At the
end of the day, it's up to you what happens.
Phone lines open eight nine six kV I one hundred
(30:57):
three three zero OKV. I'll be back in two minutes.
All right, welcome back to the doctor with the metagard.
Phone lines to open eight nine six kovy one one
(31:17):
hundred and three to three zero kovy. And yes, that
question comes up often. That was a very good question
about the relationship between dementia and these asset reflux medicines.
As you know, the protonics, pepsid, tangment, prolesec that's over
the counter, a mepersol. He said, Man, a lot of
(31:40):
people are on these medications, right, Just because gash test
upset is a big problem in our country, why is
that you should there to answer that question?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Right?
Speaker 1 (31:51):
All of the sort of irritating, somewhat toxic substances that
we consume every day that we know as processed food,
processed beverages, right, very very irritating to the gas test system.
This has been chronicled for many years by a lot
(32:12):
of experts, and so a lot of Americans are suffering
gi upset, you know, their tummies don't feel well, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, nausea,
And in my opinion, it comes down to what you're
eating and drinking. What are you putting in your system,
(32:34):
very irritating and noxious sort of substances that irritate the
gashroom test, they get inflamed the inside part of your stomach,
and that inflammation again generates these symptoms that nausea, pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation,
loss of appetite. And we use these ass reflux medications,
(32:59):
some of them over the counter. Can just go down
to CVS HGB target and you can get these meds
and start taking them. And so a lot of people
find themselves taking these medications for years. And yes, I
mean there's some impact with your health, but is it
a strong impact? Is it really generating a lot of
(33:21):
other collateral issues. Maybe a little bit, but the dementia
one has not been able to be strengthened anymore. And
again my own personal experience, I just don't see the
connection that often, not often enough that I'm telling patients
(33:42):
to never take these medications. I think with any medication,
the understanding is, you know, try to not have to
take it long term. That's going to be difficult for
most patients as it pertains to cardiovascular medications or things
like seizure medicines. I mean you need those men and
it's high pertension, high cholesterol, the blood sugar issue. These
(34:05):
are normally chronic issues, and you normally have to take
these medicines chronically because it's hard to work on your
lifestyle and be consistent because they're just all the distractions
and things that get in your way of being healthy.
It's hard, unfortunately, to be healthy in this country for
a lot of various reasons, and so we rely on
these pharmaceutical medical therapeutics to help us maintain sort of
(34:30):
a balance with a health. So these medicines are hard
to get off of, but the GI medicines sometimes, yeah,
you get on it for a few weeks. The idea
is to try and get off of it as soon
as possible. In general, right, that's normally the question I
have when I start any medicine for most patients is
can I get off? And if you take any chronic
(34:53):
medication and you go to a healthcare professional, that should
be part of your visit is what my medicines, What
are the indications for my medicines? And do I need
to keep taking them? That that should be part of
your visit. I mean most of the time it happens,
but not always, but I'm recommending to you that, yeah,
(35:14):
if you take any even if it's one medicine, you
should be having that conversation. Is there something new? Does
the dose need to be changed? I'm okay taking it is?
Do I need lab work? Is it going to harm me?
I mean, these are just sort of basic questions that
we all ask ourselves as clinical physicians when we see patients,
(35:35):
but certainly you can ask them as well. And the
GIV medicines are no different. A lot of times you
can get off the GI medication if you know, you
change your lifestyle, you change that diet. Weight gain is
a big, big influencer, as it pertains that the acid
reflux issued.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
The heavier that you are, the more.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Likely you are to develop acid reflux and get some
heartburn issues and require these medications. And if you try
to get off of them, then the symptoms come back
because you're still overweight. And again it's all tied in
lose weight. Normally you're eating better, you're eating better you're
not irritating a jazz system as much, and so you
can get off the medication. But again, I have not
(36:23):
seen the relationship in my experience such that everyone needs
to get off the medication. That That's not what I've seen.
But certainly it makes sense to eat better and get
your weight down right. It all factors in their phone lines.
If an eight nine six kalvy I one hundred and
three to three zero okov I gonna last break? All right,
(36:56):
doctor been welcome back to doctor via medica. Rick from
Boumot real quick, how can we.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
You can you get measles? More than once?
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I would assume yes, just because it is a virus, Rick,
And again, viruses mutate, and just like with COVID, just
like with flu and any other virus that is in
the community, they can change and because when they mutate,
their properties can be different, different enough that your body
(37:26):
has no immunity against it and you can be reinfected again.
Because of the vaccine program, the exposure to measles virus
is very low and so most people are not getting that.
But every now and then, yes, you will get that outbreak.
Because of the inconsistency with vaccine taking it in this country,
(37:46):
so that's possible.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Okay, Now, shicken pox a months, you only get one.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Time, right as far as I know, Yeah, there's a
two shot recommendation when you're young. But other than that,
just say beyond that, they don't normally recommend a booster
for those No, okay, thank you, all right, Rick, appreciate that.
(38:13):
And we're happy that people are getting vaccines. And I
think that there's a better understanding of the importance of
vaccines if you want to protect yourself and stay out
of the hospital. Again, things like antibotics, our understanding of
the microorganism world, taking aspirin, just we know more about
(38:34):
what's going on out there and how to keep our
patients a live longer, which is why the life expectancy
has gotten up to seventy five or so for the
average American. And things like vaccines allow that to happen again.
When the country was founded, I mean, microorganisms were killing
everyone because we just didn't know that world until it
was discovered and then so forth, and some penicillin, antibotics, vaccine,
(39:00):
I mean, these are big, big, big time discoveries. And
I want to remind you, you know, there's an industry
in this country alive and well. The vaccine industry, this
biotech using computers and machines to really engineer vaccines so
that they are precise, they're clean, and they can pretty
(39:24):
much on the dime, engineer a vaccine for whatever is
going on out there very rapidly, just like with COVID.
I mean we had a vaccine within a year or so,
which normally vaccine manufacturing and production would take years to develop.
It cut down certainly the whole pandemic. When we started
(39:48):
getting vaccines out there, people were immunized.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
It's big time.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
So if you're missing any vaccines, please go out and
get yours at your local pharmacy or your healthcare professional's
office as soon as you can. Because they do work again,
you can get infected. It's just that it keeps the
severity to a minimum so that you're not as sick.
I want to thank all the callers and listeners to DOCTORA. V. Menakauer.
(40:15):
Don't drink and drive, Drink some water and eat some vegetables.
We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Take care,
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