December 9, 2025 • 43 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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, good morning, Southeast Texas Internet radio listeners. This
is your weekly host, Doctor Levine on the Doctor Levine
Medical Hour, appropriately named. Yeah, it's my show, but it's
your show too, because I'm here for you to help
you figure out how to stay alive longer and be healthier,
(00:22):
not just be alive, but healthier so that you're not
running back and forth to the hospital and the doctor's office.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And toting a sack of meds all the time. What
a drag.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
But unfortunately, we do have those that is that their experience,
not necessarily their fault. Sometimes you get dealt a bad
card and you're in that situation. Hopefully it's not you,
but I think there's some things you can do on
a regular basis to prevent reduce the chances of that. Right,
(00:57):
it's hard to sometimes prevent things from happening. We just
want to reduce your chances of that sort of thing
happening to you having a medical crisis. Really, that's what
a lot of hospitalizations are for acute medical crisises, and
we know them very well. But there's habits that you
engage in every day that sort of increase your risk
(01:20):
of having that happen. So We're here to try and
help you figure out how to reduce your risk. So
give us a call. We'd love to hear from you.
Eight nine six kov I won in one hundred and
three to three zero kov I. Hopefully you're enjoying your cold.
I wish it was colder. It's a little cold out there.
(01:41):
Got a cold couple of days ago, really windy cold.
I love that kind of weather. It's so wintery weather.
But nonetheless we're not in that heat, so I can.
I still get to wear my jacket and my little toboggin,
no gloves yet, but it's cold out there. Hopefully having
(02:03):
a wonderful Saturday morning. And we're still in the festive
holiday season.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Where we're sort of.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Going to parties and we are visiting with coworkers, Famili's friend.
Everyone is normally in a better mood, more forgiving and
more giving if you will, what sort of gift am
I going to give my friend or my family member,
or what do I want from my spouse? I have
(02:37):
my list together, right, get your list together. So hopefully
having a good day, but calling if you have any questions. Again,
we normally see our spike of respiratory viruses during this
time of year, right hacking, coffin, sore throat fever.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Ay.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
We did our taping of asked the doc yesterday and
one question was, how do I know if it's a
flu or covid infection? I mean really, without testing, you
can't tell because they're very similar, right, most of flu
which we influenza A, influenza B. Those are just two varieties.
(03:25):
But again, the flu virus, it's a huge category of viruses.
We just talk about flu A and flu B, but
it's a huge category of respiratory viruses that we don't
even really have the ability to test for. Like I said,
I and my wife was there with me when we
(03:48):
were taping. My understanding as it stands now is that
there is no home flu A and flu B testing availability.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
There is covid.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Remember back when testing was sort of coming up with
the covid pandemic and people were sort of confused just
because there was a lot of variability with the available
COVID tests and we were behind the aid ball with
(04:20):
the testing capability and ability. We were arguing about the
types of tests that were out there, which one was better,
which one to confirm you would go to one place
and be tested and it was negative, and then you
weren't convinced, right, you'd have to go somewhere else then
(04:40):
it'd be positive, and then maybe go back to another
place and it's negative again, all within a day or two,
with the same symptoms, right, so frustrating during that time.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Do I have it? Do I not have it? What
do I do? Do I have to quarantine?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't know, But we've had time now to perfect
these tests. Again I'm talking about for COVID. Again, I
don't think there is a home test for influenza A
and influenza B. If there is, let me know so
we can let everybody else know, because again, most of
us start with that tickling in the throat, that sore throat.
(05:21):
We know what's coming, right, we feel it. It starts
to for me when I get one, it's almost like
rust our ust rust is in my throat, like it's
just real irritated and it's not a very smooth feeling.
It's it's rusty, It's how I would characterize it.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And it hurts a little.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Bit, right when you swallow, and when you try to
drink something, it hurts a little bits irritating. And then
here come those aches and then that nose starts running
and then you start coughing.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I mean, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It's weird, right because it it sort of happens like
a wave, right, You're just kind of going along then
like do I feel it?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Is it? Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
There it is, It's there, and then several hours later
you start getting the achiness.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know, it's weird like that, and it would be good.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
To know, like, hey, is this a flu A or
flu B? Because guess what, Remember, there's medications for it,
just like there's medication for covid. The paxlovid paxlv id,
which in my experience I've used it a lot since
it's been available, works very well.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
There are for.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Some people some side effect issues, but for the most part,
it's a good drug and does what it's supposed to do.
And I like prescribing because I think it really helps people.
And it will be good to know in day one,
within twenty four hours if you do have covid, or
if you do have influenza A and B, because they
(07:02):
require different treatments, right, and those are really the only
two respiratory viruses that we have medications for. All the
others out there. So let's say you get those symptoms,
you go into doctor Levine's office, they check you. There's
no flu A, there's no flu B, there's no covid.
(07:24):
We'll even do a strap test, right, because that's a bacteria.
We're talking about viruses, covid and flu those are viruses.
They behave differently. You can have an infection with both present.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
That is possible.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But let's say all the testings negative. But you still
have symptoms, right, you still have a sore throat, you're
still running, nose, coughing, achy. So it's probably some other
virus that we can't detect, and doctors and healthcare providers
do various things or prescribed various things to help you
feel better, you know, just because the medical world is
(08:06):
a little bit undecided about what's the best what's the
best treatment for these respiratory viruses. If it's not covid,
it's not influenza and influenza. The medication is called tammy
flu been around for a long time, still packs its potency,
it's still effective, and really what it does that shuts
(08:28):
down the experience. It really shuts it down, meaning it's
not as severe and it goes away faster. That's how
the tammy flu works for the influenza amb virus. Same
thing with the paxlovat. In my experience prescribing it to
my patients, that is what they normally tell me when
(08:49):
they take the paxlovat is the infection wasn't as long
and it wasn't as severe. They certainly a lot of
times don't have to be hospitalized. And here's my here
is my vaccine plug.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
You know, I'm a fan of vaccines. Not everybody, I
get it, but yeah, the vaccines keep you out of
the hospital typically and keep the reaction to a minimum.
That's the idea of that. But how do I test
or how do I know when I get these symptoms
is if it's influenced air, if it's COVID. So yeah, everyone,
(09:31):
you can go out and get the COVID testing equipment
or testing kit if you will, at the local pharmacy
that those are available now. They're pretty good, they're pretty reliable.
So that's what I would do. And if that's negative,
you still have symptoms. Again my understanding, there is no
(09:51):
influence ab availability over the counter. Just go to a
minor care, go to your healthcare professional's office er, get
you swabbed up, see what's going on, and then get
you on some medication because it works really well. I mean,
who wants to experience all that hacking and coffin for
several days, can't sleep because your nose is all closed
(10:14):
up and you're coughing and it's so irritating. So it'd
be cool if we had more testing availability over the counter.
You could just get your test and yes, you cannot
write a prescription. I mean a lot of times it's
easier now with all of the healthcare availability out there,
(10:35):
you can get that done pretty easily and pretty quickly.
I mean even a lot of my patients. We don't
have availability during the day sometimes in terms of our
office visits where congested, we can't see more people. Again,
you can run down the street all these minor cares
and ers and many quick clinics outlets. Just going for
(11:00):
really quick visit gets you some prescription medicines and knock
that virus out. I mean, that's that's the way it's
done now. Certainly years ago and I was growing up,
I mean I don't ever remember going to the doctor,
not never any conversations about medicines or surgeries or doctor.
(11:20):
I just it just wasn't a part of my experience
or my family's experience. And certainly, I mean, you just
didn't have as much presence of this er and minor cares.
But now you do, and even getting on your computer
and having virtual visits with healthcare professionals.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
A lot of the.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Insurance companies are offering that now, depending on your insurance,
it's sort of a plug that they have that hey,
we have you can have access to a doctor twenty
fours a day. That's one of the selling points of
this insurance company. Get on your phone, get on your computer.
(12:04):
I mean, if you're a busy person, you're a young adult,
you're working all the time and you don't really have
time to break away from your office, and you can
just hop online or yea, hop online.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And talk to a healthcare professional.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Doesn't even have to be during business hours, it can
be after hours. I mean that might work for you them,
and they have those platforms out.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I think that's cool.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
And it's just for minor stuff, right, It's not for
that heavy medical stuff, just minor stuff. You know, something's
irritating and you just want to get a solution to it. Hey,
Gary from Baumat, how can we help you?
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I just want to let you know that Walgreens offers
a test that has two strips on it. The left
hand side has got a spot for a flue and
bab flu all right on the other side of COVID.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
All right, brother Gary, appreciate that I didn't know about that.
I hadn't heard. And it's it's good to let everybody know.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It's pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, okay, yes, see too. Well there you go in America.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Great, we have that you can just go to Walgreens
or CVS man get your flu A and flub strip test.
That's great, and I think that's a good idea so
that you have access to that. You don't have to wait,
and you can get your answers quick, easy, fast accessible,
(13:44):
and get you a prescription medication. Like I said, the
Tammy flu works really well as far as I'm concerned,
and then packs loaded for COVID. If your COVID test
is positive. I've never I don't think I've ever had
scenario where both COVID and flu are positive. I've never
(14:06):
had that patient. What would I do? I mean, I
don't I would probably have to look that one up.
But as far as I know, you can probably take
those medicines together, pack slovin and the tammy flu. I've
never had a patient with both positive tests. I'm sure
I'll come across one at some point. I'd have to
(14:30):
look up in my medical books or medical computer and
make sure that was okay. A lot of times the
pharmacist would also probably have to look that up, make
sure it was safe to distribute those two medicines, because,
as you know, the pharmacist professional in the pharmacy world,
they're sort of now included in the culpability of prescribing medications. Again,
(14:54):
when I became a physician, a physician would write a
prescription and it would just go through because the doctor
said so right, it was the law of the land
and nobody questioned it. It's not like that anymore, meaning
a doctor can write a prescription and it doesn't go
through for various reasons. Can be frustrating, but it's for
(15:18):
good reason. A lot of checks and balances now more
with medicines being prescribed to you. We want to be
sure that it's safe. I want to be sure that
the harm issue is going to be low as possible. Again,
we can never prevent every sort of reaction that happens
with these medications, but man, we really work hard to
(15:39):
keep it to a minimum. And the pharmacist and the
profession of being a pharmacist have now included them into
the checks and balances of distributing a prescribed medication. And
then to educate you. The third part of this equation is, yes,
(16:01):
now you have the medicine in your hand, you can
do your own personal investigation and read about it and
make sure you want to take it and risk the
exposure of your body to this prescribed medication. Even though
you went in and asked for it, we still want
to make sure that you do what you're supposed to
(16:22):
do and make sure you're involved with the decision making,
just because you know, if something does happen, you feel like, hey,
I had an opportunity to be informed. I decided that
I wanted to do that, so I'm going to do it.
You know, it's nothing wrong with that, And that was
totally different from when I became a physician.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
There was really no.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Process put in place when I became a doctor about that.
The doctor wrote it, they distributed it, and you took it.
You just you didn't even question it, right, But those
days are gone and I don't really have a problem
with it, to be honest with you. I like it
because it keeps everybody safe, keeps everybody happy. And that's
(17:10):
all most healthcare professionals are doing out there, is just
trying to get you some answers, trying to make you
feel better. But it ain't perfect. It ain't perfect. Phone
lines are open eight nine six kV I one one
hundred three three zero kov I will be back in
two minutes. All right, welcome back to the doctor Lavigne Medical.
(17:49):
Our phone lines are open eight nine six kV AT
one one hundred three three zero O kov I. Talking
about respiratory viruses.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
This is respiratory virus.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
This time a year, cold, windy, wet outside, getting that
hacking in coffin, sore throat and fever and chest congestion,
body aches. Right, we've been through all of that and
now there's testing out there. That was the question original questions,
How do we know if it's flu or if it's
(18:20):
covid BAM, there you go, just go to CVS, get
your test and then you'll know quickly and then get
you some medicines, prescription medicines at this point.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yes, those are not over the counter. You got to
get a prescription.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And can you take both Packslovit and Tammy flu together?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Good question.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I don't know. I'd have to look that one up.
I would assume yes. Can you have two viruses at
the same time, Absolutely, absolutely, just like you can have
two acute medical crisises at the time three, four or five.
We sit all the time and you have to juggle
(19:01):
treating five medical crises at one time. That's what doctors
do all day normally in the hospital. So yes, you
can have two infections at the same time, have a
blad infection and a respiratory infection at the same time.
I remember, one is a virus, one is a bacteria.
And sometimes I would say most practitioners with these respiratory
(19:23):
symptoms restored viruses. Yes, an antibiotic is close by, right,
Even though again the medical literature and I talk about
this every time a year, just remind folks, the medical
literature says that most of these hacking and coffin sore
throat experiences are going to be viral. That is what
(19:44):
the research says. It's a virus. Nine times out of ten,
it's not a bacteria, but all that the doctors, we
talk about it amongst ourselves as doctors and healthcare providers
are nps and our PA's out there who are a
lot of medical care out there, and nurse practitioners. These
(20:05):
antibotics are are good. And there's sort of a misconception
in the world in America right that if you have
these physical symptoms, I need an antibiotic. I'm going and
I'm getting me antibiotic. Man, I need this. I got
stuff to do the weekends coming up. You know, I
(20:26):
got a vacation. I'm going to my crews in a
couple of days. I don't want to be sick, and
I'm going to doctor Vin.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I'm getting my.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Antibotics so I can get better because I'm hacking in
coffing and I got a sore throat and I got bodies.
I need some antabotics right now. And I know which
one I want too, because every time I have this,
I get it. This is what I get and it
just knocks it out right. So I hear that all
the time coming in right and again. I'm just trying
(20:56):
to help people feel better. I'm not trying to give
them a medical lecture unless they want one, and try
to keep that to a minimums. Sometimes the information that
we provide can be overwhelming, and that's why we're handing
out more paperwork now. Right, most of the time you
interact with any healthcare provider, you're leaving with paperwork, with
(21:17):
some sort of basic information about what happened during the visit,
the medicines you were given, the labs that were done,
some diagnoses, whether or not it's right or wrong, right,
whether or not it's right or wrong. Again, a lot
of these healthcare providers don't know you. You're coming with
an acute issue, and there's only so much time in
(21:41):
the visit. There's only so much information that's going to
be shared during that visit, and they're going to do
their best to give you what they feel like is
the right diagnosis. Can it be the wrong diagnosis?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Absolutely, even doctor Levine, Yes, I mean you come into
the office, you have these symptoms. I said to this,
here's a prescription medicine. Go home, and then hey, you
don't get better, maybe get worse. Hey, well you got
to come back in. I got to reevaluate you, reassess you,
or go to a minor care go to an er,
(22:20):
I mean, get reassessed, get more labs, get more X rays,
let another doctor take a listen to your healthcare provider,
take listen to you and see what's happening. I think
I've been in this game for over twenty years. I'm
more comfortable with that concept or that idea that, yes,
a lot of times, with these acute problems, you're going
(22:42):
to have to get reassessed. You might have to come
into the office four or five times, my office, anybody's office,
and get reassessed and see what's happening in terms of
how it progresses, how you react to the medications. Maybe
don't react well, you have a negative reaction. Yes, you
(23:02):
might have to go back in, and we want you
to come back in and get reassessed and get more
labs because that's really the only way we can a
lot of times figure this thing out. But yes, a
lot of my patients come in, Hey, I'm sick, I
need this. I mean, I'm busy, I don't have time
to be sick. And again, most of the literature says
it's viral, but they've convinced themselves that that antibotic is
(23:26):
what they need. It works every time. You know, it's
not what outside the boundaries too much. Maybe yeah, there
is a bacteria hanging out sitting in there.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
We can even do a strep test. It's negative, but.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Still sort of this pressure to deliver those antibotics, and
most practitioners, yeah, we write for it, even though we
don't necessarily have proof that it's a bacteria. The medical
resource says, it's another thing. But again, we just want
you to feel better, and we want to certainly deliver
(24:01):
to you what you feel like you need to help you.
And unfortunately you need a prescription. It's not like that
in all countries. I don't know if you know this,
maybe you do, and a lot of other countries around
the world. You don't need a prescription to get antibiotic.
You can just go to your local pharmacy and go
get your pennacillin over the counter.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Couldn't that vehicle.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You can just go down to CBS and I want
to get some pennaccillin, or I want to get a
Z pack or a backtrum. All these commonly prescribed antibiotics
that we take on a regular basis follow these little
minor infections that we get. Urine attract infection skin infections
or throw whatever the case may be. In other countries,
(24:50):
you just go to the you just go get it,
you buy it over the counter. I mean, it's frightening
to me to know that it's like that in other countries, because.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
The issue of.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Bacterial resistance is real. It is very real, meaning these
little organisms that are with us and we can't get
rid of them. So I remember back in the day, Yeah,
they had these commercials for these hand gels and these
soaps that would kill ninety nine percent of the bacteria.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Stuff like that. You remember that.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Because you wanted to be clean. You don't want to
be dirty, nasty, funky. You don't you want you don't
want to be that person, right, I want to be clean.
So let me go get this soap. It's strong, it's
the strongest stuff on the market. I mean, wipes it out.
Nine to nine percent is gone. I'm gonna be I'm
gonna be really clean walking around here. I ever get infected.
(25:51):
You remember those commercials, man, you we can't get rid
of bacteria. They're here and they'll be here after us, right,
and then they're everywhere, millions, gazillions, trillions everywhere, and so
they get smart though they get exposed to bacteria, they
(26:15):
learn how to defend themselves. Yes, and the more exposure
you have, the more this possibility of resistance develops. And
again in the beef chicken industry, a lot of times
in other food industries, antibiotics are being given for the
(26:38):
growth and development of livestock and chickens, and that byproducts
of the antibotic gets into the meat. And this is
well chronicled. This is not me, this is well chronicled.
It's the information's out there and it gets to the
meat and then you eat it and then we get
exposed to the antibiotics. So antibiotic exposure is sort of
(27:01):
around just being a general person. Even if you talk
about the water, you know, you take antibotic, the byproduct
of the antibiotic gets into your urine. Your urinate gets
into the water system that floats around the water system.
Think about how many people get exposed to antibotics every day,
taking antibotics. It's just part of our country, it's just
(27:24):
part of living in this modern day that we're getting
exposed to these bacteria. I'm sorry, these antibiotics and the
bacteria that are here with us learn how to defend themselves,
they develop resistance, and we do see it coming off
the street patients with high resistance against commonly prescribed antibotics,
(27:48):
and it can be challenging finding an antibotic that works
for them. And I don't know that pumping out new
antibotics from the pharmaceutical companies is a high pro already
for the pharmaceutical company. It's not like cancer research, our
cardiovascular research, where they're pumping out stuff all the time.
(28:09):
You know, a new cholesterol medicine, a new blood then,
or a new chemo, you know, immunotherapy, just all this
exciting stuff being pumped out, matt you know, just crazy frequency, intense.
I don't know that the pharmaceutic companies are really doing
that for antabotics, So we have to sort of preserve
what we have so that when you do get sick,
(28:31):
you can very easily take a tablet and it'll knock
it out. But my point is based on my experience
what I've read in medical literature, the more antibiotic exposure
you get, the more likely it is that you're going
to have a resistant bug that develops on your body
(28:52):
that can then infect you.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And the tablets don't work.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Now you have to be in the hospital getting ivy antibiotics,
and we're starting to see it or and more again
for the reasons I just mentioned, there's just more general
exposure to antibiotics just living in a daily routine, the water,
the food. Maybe again, you get that sore throat, you
(29:16):
go get your test from HB and it's negative, but man,
I need that antibotic. You go in, you get your script.
Everybody's happy, right. It happens every day, a thousand times,
a million times every day, and all these different outlets,
and then that resistance starts coming and you get a
(29:39):
bladder infection. That's where I see it a lot, is
the bladder infections. And it's weird how the bacteria work
and the body works. That resistance issue. I see it
a lot for bladder infections more so than just about
anything else. That bladder for whatever reason, probably because the
bladder is a storage it's a storage unit, right, for urine.
(30:05):
That's really the function of the bladder to store urine.
Urine is a byproduct, a liquid byproduct of metabolic activity
of the human body.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Our body is a machine, and so there's sort of
an output of this machine, kind of like a car
has exhaust. Urine is sort of the exhaust of the
human body, and it's stored in the bladder until you
can eliminate it. So just think about all that just
sort of in the bladder, sitting around all the time,
(30:37):
and the bacteria is there as well. Yeah, just sort
of this toxic mixture and your bacteria of your genito
urinary system get exposed and boom, there you go. Resistance anyway.
Phone lines are open eight nine six k KLVI winning
one hundred and three to three zero oklv I'll be
(30:58):
back in two minutes. All right, welcome back to the
(31:20):
doctor Lavine Medical. Our phone lines are open eight nine
to six kof I one one hundred and three to
three zero Kofi. Sitting here chatting talking about respiratory viruses.
But again we did have our asidox segment.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Yes, Stan.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
One question was about motivehicle accidents and this patient had
a motivical accident, went in, got checked out, everything was good.
But then a few days later they started having tremendous
back pain. You know, what should they do about that?
You know, God forbid, you aren't a motivical accident. Nobody
(31:55):
wants that, right, Cars are safer. Now most people are
wearing a seat belts. When I grew up, man, nobody
ever wore seat belts, right, they had those lap seat
belts that you had put around your waist, but we
never wore seat belts. No, it just wasn't popular.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And then there was.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
A huge, huge sort of seat belt campaign to get
everyone to wear seat belts became law, and this huge
awareness of how seat belts can say lost, which they can.
I mean, you've all seen those videos of people getting
tossed around in the car or the truck when they
(32:37):
get hit or something hits them, or they swerve and
hit something. I mean, you get tossed around significantly. You
can injure yourself very rapidly the inside of the car. Right,
even just sort of these minor accidents, you can the
forces inside the car can sort of toss you around
very rapidly and injure a lot of different bodily areas
(33:01):
your neck, your arm, your femur, your pelvis. So things
can happen rapidly. So most people when they get in
a motivical accent, the EMS gets called and they get
like a little roadside work up, and a decision is
made to sort of go in and get further testing.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Some do, some don't.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
A lot of times if the driver is it's up
to the driver if they want to go in, and
some do, some don't. I think most do just because
they want to make sure everything is okay. Your workup
is negative, you go home. Then the pain comes a
few days later, and I see that a lot. To
be honest with you, not that anything was missed. It's
just that that's how the human body works. Just because
(33:45):
we all know about fractures. Right, I fractured my arm,
my leg. I was in a motivical accident. I can't walk,
I eat surgery, I'm wearing a cast. But what about
that soft tissue injury, right, the ligaments, the connected tissue,
the muscles, the tendons. Yeah, they get injured too in
(34:08):
the accident, and they can generate inflammation as well and
generate pain. That's a lot of times what happens. There's
no fracture, but that pain is there. I feel it.
I can't even hardly walk. My neck is stiff and
my back is stiff. It's just that soft tissue gets inflamed,
and a lot of times, yeah, it's extreme pain, but
(34:33):
there's no X raysor negative. They wanted to know what
to do. A lot of times patients will go back
in get reassessed, right, that's the word of the day, kids, reassessment.
You went into the doctor's office, the healthcare provider's office.
They told you this diagnoses. They gave you the sheet
(34:54):
of paper with the diagnos is on and you can
read about it.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Here's your prescription.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Follow up with your primary care for position. Oh he's busy,
he can't see you for three weeks.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
I'm no better, I'm worse. Go back in. You gotta go.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
But if you can go to the same place or
pick a different place, doesn't matter. I would probably go
to the same place, probably because they know you, right,
they sort of know your history, they kind of know
what they're thinking. They get another swing at it if
you will and get reassessed, get some more labs, get
another physical. Same thing with the motivical accident. You had
(35:33):
your x rays, everything's fine, but now you hurt more.
You're not sure why go back in or go to
your primary care doctor's office. Let them know you're hurting
and see what they want to do. A lot of
times they can do repeat x rays. Sometimes a lot
of times they'll do what they call just a plane
X ray in the e yards quick fast, and they're
just trying to get an idea of if anything is
(35:55):
out of place, anything's fractured, and they do all that,
everything's fine. But sometimes if you come back, they'll do
cat scans, MRIs, things like that. These are better tests
to look for fractures sort of hidden or that we're
not seen on the plane X ray and boom, you
have a femur fracture sitting there, a pelvis fractures sitting
(36:15):
in there that you were not aware of, but now
they see it. And so if the pain comes back
you weren't expecting it, yes, go have somebody to look
at it, maybe get repeat X rays, and certainly a
lot of times you'll need some medication to just help
because the pain can be quite severe. But it's that
soft tissue you see the athletes, the football players, they
(36:40):
do something to their knee, the ligaments and the tendons
get torn, ripped. I mean that soft tissue. Bone heels
faster and normally you can get back out in the
field faster with a bone injury versus a soft tissue injury,
a tendon, a ligament that just they just take longer
to heal to get their strength back, and they're endurance
(37:02):
so that you can start using it again and putting
pressure and force on it an athlete. We're just talking
about walk, you know, walking and sitting at a desk.
So a lot of times we can come back faster,
but more than likely. Yeah, you're going to need some
anti inflammatories to help, some motor and some advil, some leaves.
Hoalanol is good. They have just a whole slew of
(37:23):
topical things for joint problems. It's all over the counter.
A lot of times that you can get after motivcle accent,
God forbid, you don't get anyone. But wear your seatbelt,
no question. I wear my seatbelt every day because, yes,
there's a lot more traffic out there, a lot of
my truck I have a lot of truck drivers in
my practice, and man, it say, it's pretty bad out there.
(37:44):
Just all the movement and traffic gets really tight.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
A lot of times.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
A lot of road construction and maybe the road is
not a good road. It's got potholes and bumps and
a lot of different things can make people veer off
and lose control of their vehicle and you know, slam
it to someone else, not intentionally just driving. So there's
a lot more ability to get an accident out there,
(38:11):
So you need to protect yourself as much as possible,
and wearing those seatbelts is certainly, in my opinion, one
way to do that. Phone lines open eight down to
scale three three zero, Old kale V. I'll be back
in two minutes. All right, welcome back to the doc
(38:44):
Laving Medical. Our phone lines are open at the end
of the show. Remember, if you there's a topic that
you would like me to discuss, you can certainly call
my office and let my staff know and I'll sert
be more than happy to talk about that. Or you
can call up here to the station during the weekday
and they can get that message to me. Again, Remember,
the show is for you, just trying to get you
(39:06):
some information out there to help you make better decisions
about you and your family. To stay alist out of
the doctor's office, keep your medication lists to a minimum.
What's right, what's wrong right? What do I do about that?
So let us know, we'd be more than happy to
talk about that. I spent this hour talking about those
(39:28):
respiratory viruses and how you can now test yourself. Just
go down to local pharmacy, figure out what's wrong with you,
and see if you need to get on some medication. Remember, again,
just to reiterate, most of those respiratory issues are not bacterial.
They are viral, and they recommend just supportive care a
(39:49):
lot of times for these viral infections. All that stuff
is available to you over the counter, big big section
of the pharmacy, right, all these different things that you
can get to just help calm down that cough and
sore throat.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
And the achiness.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
But certainly, anytime you feel concerned about your symptoms, yeah,
go into your health care provider and let them take
a list and as you see if there's anything that
they recommend. But I think the idea of hey I
don't need an antabotic for this viral disease, you know,
we need to get.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Better at that.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
The area of or the issue of not needing an
antabotic is certainly very prevalent in the pediatric population. A
lot of the kids get these respiratory viruses, and the
pediatricians have done a much better job sort of downplaying
the presence of antibotics. A lot of times they don't
(40:47):
give the antabotic and mothers dads are okay with it.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
A lot of times.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
But again I work in the adult world, and yeah,
they got to get to work and they go on
a trip or it's the weekend, so a little bit
more demanding, not necessarily open to not treating with antibotics.
But again that is what the medical literature says, because
(41:14):
it's very common question that comes up all the time.
Most of this stuff is viral, they say, high percentage,
the ninety percentile where you cough, achy sore throat, runny nose,
it's viral, and antibotics don't work against viruses, right, But
if it gets your little home test and it's a
(41:36):
flu A or B or a covid, yeah, by all
means there's medication specific for those infections. Now doctors can
prescribe other medicines other than antibiotics for you, all sorts
of anti inflammatories, maybe something for your cough. Maybe I
like to use steroids like pregnant zone and methizone because
(42:01):
it does help with the inflammatory reaction of the virus.
So all the achiness and a lot of times running nose,
you feel tired. We steroids can sort of counteract that
and get you back on your feet. And if you
do have chronic lung disease such as chronic bronchitis and physima,
we tend to have a little threshold to start an
(42:24):
antibiotic in that population. Again, that's COPD inmphysima because a
lot of times it starts off as a viral infection,
but all that inflammation, all that gunk, that mucus that
all of us get and we get those viral syndromes
can go down deeper into those diseased lungs where they've
had all that exposure to tobacco and it's just sort
(42:47):
of made the inside lining of the airway just very mucasy,
and it's full of bacteria and fungus and virus particles,
and then it just it's a way it just sort
of kicks all that off. So a lot of times
we have a little threshold to get the antibiotic on
board to kind of handle all that inflammation and all
(43:08):
of the just organisms that are residing there with all
the inflammation, just so that we can keep the person
out of the hospital. They're more at risk for respiratory problems,
but the average person doesn't have that it's just a
viral infection. I would advise you to try and hold
off and not go get that antibiotic and treat over
(43:32):
the counter as long as possible so that we can
all do our part to reduce resistance.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Anyway, thanks for listening to me. Have a good day.
Don't drink a drive ticket
All right, good morning, Southeast Texas Internet radio listeners. This
is your weekly host, Doctor Levine on the Doctor Levine
Medical Hour, appropriately named. Yeah, it's my show, but it's
your show too, because I'm here for you to help
you figure out how to stay alive longer and be healthier,
(00:22):
not just be alive, but healthier so that you're not
running back and forth to the hospital and the doctor's office.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And toting a sack of meds all the time. What
a drag.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
But unfortunately, we do have those that is that their experience,
not necessarily their fault. Sometimes you get dealt a bad
card and you're in that situation. Hopefully it's not you,
but I think there's some things you can do on
a regular basis to prevent reduce the chances of that. Right,
(00:57):
it's hard to sometimes prevent things from happening. We just
want to reduce your chances of that sort of thing
happening to you having a medical crisis. Really, that's what
a lot of hospitalizations are for acute medical crisises, and
we know them very well. But there's habits that you
engage in every day that sort of increase your risk
(01:20):
of having that happen. So We're here to try and
help you figure out how to reduce your risk. So
give us a call. We'd love to hear from you.
Eight nine six kov I won in one hundred and
three to three zero kov I. Hopefully you're enjoying your cold.
I wish it was colder. It's a little cold out there.
(01:41):
Got a cold couple of days ago, really windy cold.
I love that kind of weather. It's so wintery weather.
But nonetheless we're not in that heat, so I can.
I still get to wear my jacket and my little toboggin,
no gloves yet, but it's cold out there. Hopefully having
(02:03):
a wonderful Saturday morning. And we're still in the festive
holiday season.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Where we're sort of.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Going to parties and we are visiting with coworkers, Famili's friend.
Everyone is normally in a better mood, more forgiving and
more giving if you will, what sort of gift am
I going to give my friend or my family member,
or what do I want from my spouse? I have
(02:37):
my list together, right, get your list together. So hopefully
having a good day, but calling if you have any questions. Again,
we normally see our spike of respiratory viruses during this
time of year, right hacking, coffin, sore throat fever.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Ay.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
We did our taping of asked the doc yesterday and
one question was, how do I know if it's a
flu or covid infection? I mean really, without testing, you
can't tell because they're very similar, right, most of flu
which we influenza A, influenza B. Those are just two varieties.
(03:25):
But again, the flu virus, it's a huge category of viruses.
We just talk about flu A and flu B, but
it's a huge category of respiratory viruses that we don't
even really have the ability to test for. Like I said,
I and my wife was there with me when we
(03:48):
were taping. My understanding as it stands now is that
there is no home flu A and flu B testing availability.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
There is covid.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Remember back when testing was sort of coming up with
the covid pandemic and people were sort of confused just
because there was a lot of variability with the available
COVID tests and we were behind the aid ball with
(04:20):
the testing capability and ability. We were arguing about the
types of tests that were out there, which one was better,
which one to confirm you would go to one place
and be tested and it was negative, and then you
weren't convinced, right, you'd have to go somewhere else then
(04:40):
it'd be positive, and then maybe go back to another
place and it's negative again, all within a day or two,
with the same symptoms, right, so frustrating during that time.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Do I have it? Do I not have it? What
do I do? Do I have to quarantine?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't know, But we've had time now to perfect
these tests. Again I'm talking about for COVID. Again, I
don't think there is a home test for influenza A
and influenza B. If there is, let me know so
we can let everybody else know, because again, most of
us start with that tickling in the throat, that sore throat.
(05:21):
We know what's coming, right, we feel it. It starts
to for me when I get one, it's almost like
rust our ust rust is in my throat, like it's
just real irritated and it's not a very smooth feeling.
It's it's rusty, It's how I would characterize it.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And it hurts a little.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Bit, right when you swallow, and when you try to
drink something, it hurts a little bits irritating. And then
here come those aches and then that nose starts running
and then you start coughing.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I mean, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It's weird, right because it it sort of happens like
a wave, right, You're just kind of going along then
like do I feel it?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Is it? Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
There it is, It's there, and then several hours later
you start getting the achiness.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You know, it's weird like that, and it would be good.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
To know, like, hey, is this a flu A or
flu B? Because guess what, Remember, there's medications for it,
just like there's medication for covid. The paxlovid paxlv id,
which in my experience I've used it a lot since
it's been available, works very well.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
There are for.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Some people some side effect issues, but for the most part,
it's a good drug and does what it's supposed to do.
And I like prescribing because I think it really helps people.
And it will be good to know in day one,
within twenty four hours if you do have covid, or
if you do have influenza A and B, because they
(07:02):
require different treatments, right, and those are really the only
two respiratory viruses that we have medications for. All the
others out there. So let's say you get those symptoms,
you go into doctor Levine's office, they check you. There's
no flu A, there's no flu B, there's no covid.
(07:24):
We'll even do a strap test, right, because that's a bacteria.
We're talking about viruses, covid and flu those are viruses.
They behave differently. You can have an infection with both present.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
That is possible.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
But let's say all the testings negative. But you still
have symptoms, right, you still have a sore throat, you're
still running, nose, coughing, achy. So it's probably some other
virus that we can't detect, and doctors and healthcare providers
do various things or prescribed various things to help you
feel better, you know, just because the medical world is
(08:06):
a little bit undecided about what's the best what's the
best treatment for these respiratory viruses. If it's not covid,
it's not influenza and influenza. The medication is called tammy
flu been around for a long time, still packs its potency,
it's still effective, and really what it does that shuts
(08:28):
down the experience. It really shuts it down, meaning it's
not as severe and it goes away faster. That's how
the tammy flu works for the influenza amb virus. Same
thing with the paxlovat. In my experience prescribing it to
my patients, that is what they normally tell me when
(08:49):
they take the paxlovat is the infection wasn't as long
and it wasn't as severe. They certainly a lot of
times don't have to be hospitalized. And here's my here
is my vaccine plug.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
You know, I'm a fan of vaccines. Not everybody, I
get it, but yeah, the vaccines keep you out of
the hospital typically and keep the reaction to a minimum.
That's the idea of that. But how do I test
or how do I know when I get these symptoms
is if it's influenced air, if it's COVID. So yeah, everyone,
(09:31):
you can go out and get the COVID testing equipment
or testing kit if you will, at the local pharmacy
that those are available now. They're pretty good, they're pretty reliable.
So that's what I would do. And if that's negative,
you still have symptoms. Again my understanding, there is no
(09:51):
influence ab availability over the counter. Just go to a
minor care, go to your healthcare professional's office er, get
you swabbed up, see what's going on, and then get
you on some medication because it works really well. I mean,
who wants to experience all that hacking and coffin for
several days, can't sleep because your nose is all closed
(10:14):
up and you're coughing and it's so irritating. So it'd
be cool if we had more testing availability over the counter.
You could just get your test and yes, you cannot
write a prescription. I mean a lot of times it's
easier now with all of the healthcare availability out there,
(10:35):
you can get that done pretty easily and pretty quickly.
I mean even a lot of my patients. We don't
have availability during the day sometimes in terms of our
office visits where congested, we can't see more people. Again,
you can run down the street all these minor cares
and ers and many quick clinics outlets. Just going for
(11:00):
really quick visit gets you some prescription medicines and knock
that virus out. I mean, that's that's the way it's
done now. Certainly years ago and I was growing up,
I mean I don't ever remember going to the doctor,
not never any conversations about medicines or surgeries or doctor.
(11:20):
I just it just wasn't a part of my experience
or my family's experience. And certainly, I mean, you just
didn't have as much presence of this er and minor cares.
But now you do, and even getting on your computer
and having virtual visits with healthcare professionals.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
A lot of the.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Insurance companies are offering that now, depending on your insurance,
it's sort of a plug that they have that hey,
we have you can have access to a doctor twenty
fours a day. That's one of the selling points of
this insurance company. Get on your phone, get on your computer.
(12:04):
I mean, if you're a busy person, you're a young adult,
you're working all the time and you don't really have
time to break away from your office, and you can
just hop online or yea, hop online.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And talk to a healthcare professional.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Doesn't even have to be during business hours, it can
be after hours. I mean that might work for you them,
and they have those platforms out.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I think that's cool.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
And it's just for minor stuff, right, It's not for
that heavy medical stuff, just minor stuff. You know, something's
irritating and you just want to get a solution to it. Hey,
Gary from Baumat, how can we help you?
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I just want to let you know that Walgreens offers
a test that has two strips on it. The left
hand side has got a spot for a flue and
bab flu all right on the other side of COVID.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
All right, brother Gary, appreciate that I didn't know about that.
I hadn't heard. And it's it's good to let everybody know.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It's pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, okay, yes, see too. Well there you go in America.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Great, we have that you can just go to Walgreens
or CVS man get your flu A and flub strip test.
That's great, and I think that's a good idea so
that you have access to that. You don't have to wait,
and you can get your answers quick, easy, fast accessible,
(13:44):
and get you a prescription medication. Like I said, the
Tammy flu works really well as far as I'm concerned,
and then packs loaded for COVID. If your COVID test
is positive. I've never I don't think I've ever had
scenario where both COVID and flu are positive. I've never
(14:06):
had that patient. What would I do? I mean, I
don't I would probably have to look that one up.
But as far as I know, you can probably take
those medicines together, pack slovin and the tammy flu. I've
never had a patient with both positive tests. I'm sure
I'll come across one at some point. I'd have to
(14:30):
look up in my medical books or medical computer and
make sure that was okay. A lot of times the
pharmacist would also probably have to look that up, make
sure it was safe to distribute those two medicines, because,
as you know, the pharmacist professional in the pharmacy world,
they're sort of now included in the culpability of prescribing medications. Again,
(14:54):
when I became a physician, a physician would write a
prescription and it would just go through because the doctor
said so right, it was the law of the land
and nobody questioned it. It's not like that anymore, meaning
a doctor can write a prescription and it doesn't go
through for various reasons. Can be frustrating, but it's for
(15:18):
good reason. A lot of checks and balances now more
with medicines being prescribed to you. We want to be
sure that it's safe. I want to be sure that
the harm issue is going to be low as possible. Again,
we can never prevent every sort of reaction that happens
with these medications, but man, we really work hard to
(15:39):
keep it to a minimum. And the pharmacist and the
profession of being a pharmacist have now included them into
the checks and balances of distributing a prescribed medication. And
then to educate you. The third part of this equation is, yes,
(16:01):
now you have the medicine in your hand, you can
do your own personal investigation and read about it and
make sure you want to take it and risk the
exposure of your body to this prescribed medication. Even though
you went in and asked for it, we still want
to make sure that you do what you're supposed to
(16:22):
do and make sure you're involved with the decision making,
just because you know, if something does happen, you feel like, hey,
I had an opportunity to be informed. I decided that
I wanted to do that, so I'm going to do it.
You know, it's nothing wrong with that, And that was
totally different from when I became a physician.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
There was really no.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Process put in place when I became a doctor about that.
The doctor wrote it, they distributed it, and you took it.
You just you didn't even question it, right, But those
days are gone and I don't really have a problem
with it, to be honest with you. I like it
because it keeps everybody safe, keeps everybody happy. And that's
(17:10):
all most healthcare professionals are doing out there, is just
trying to get you some answers, trying to make you
feel better. But it ain't perfect. It ain't perfect. Phone
lines are open eight nine six kV I one one
hundred three three zero kov I will be back in
two minutes. All right, welcome back to the doctor Lavigne Medical.
(17:49):
Our phone lines are open eight nine six kV AT
one one hundred three three zero O kov I. Talking
about respiratory viruses.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
This is respiratory virus.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
This time a year, cold, windy, wet outside, getting that
hacking in coffin, sore throat and fever and chest congestion,
body aches. Right, we've been through all of that and
now there's testing out there. That was the question original questions,
How do we know if it's flu or if it's
(18:20):
covid BAM, there you go, just go to CVS, get
your test and then you'll know quickly and then get
you some medicines, prescription medicines at this point.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yes, those are not over the counter. You got to
get a prescription.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And can you take both Packslovit and Tammy flu together?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Good question.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
I don't know. I'd have to look that one up.
I would assume yes. Can you have two viruses at
the same time, Absolutely, absolutely, just like you can have
two acute medical crisises at the time three, four or five.
We sit all the time and you have to juggle
(19:01):
treating five medical crises at one time. That's what doctors
do all day normally in the hospital. So yes, you
can have two infections at the same time, have a
blad infection and a respiratory infection at the same time.
I remember, one is a virus, one is a bacteria.
And sometimes I would say most practitioners with these respiratory
(19:23):
symptoms restored viruses. Yes, an antibiotic is close by, right,
Even though again the medical literature and I talk about
this every time a year, just remind folks, the medical
literature says that most of these hacking and coffin sore
throat experiences are going to be viral. That is what
(19:44):
the research says. It's a virus. Nine times out of ten,
it's not a bacteria, but all that the doctors, we
talk about it amongst ourselves as doctors and healthcare providers
are nps and our PA's out there who are a
lot of medical care out there, and nurse practitioners. These
(20:05):
antibotics are are good. And there's sort of a misconception
in the world in America right that if you have
these physical symptoms, I need an antibiotic. I'm going and
I'm getting me antibiotic. Man, I need this. I got
stuff to do the weekends coming up. You know, I
(20:26):
got a vacation. I'm going to my crews in a
couple of days. I don't want to be sick, and
I'm going to doctor Vin.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I'm getting my.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Antibotics so I can get better because I'm hacking in
coffing and I got a sore throat and I got bodies.
I need some antabotics right now. And I know which
one I want too, because every time I have this,
I get it. This is what I get and it
just knocks it out right. So I hear that all
the time coming in right and again. I'm just trying
(20:56):
to help people feel better. I'm not trying to give
them a medical lecture unless they want one, and try
to keep that to a minimums. Sometimes the information that
we provide can be overwhelming, and that's why we're handing
out more paperwork now. Right, most of the time you
interact with any healthcare provider, you're leaving with paperwork, with
(21:17):
some sort of basic information about what happened during the visit,
the medicines you were given, the labs that were done,
some diagnoses, whether or not it's right or wrong, right,
whether or not it's right or wrong. Again, a lot
of these healthcare providers don't know you. You're coming with
an acute issue, and there's only so much time in
(21:41):
the visit. There's only so much information that's going to
be shared during that visit, and they're going to do
their best to give you what they feel like is
the right diagnosis. Can it be the wrong diagnosis?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Absolutely, even doctor Levine, Yes, I mean you come into
the office, you have these symptoms. I said to this,
here's a prescription medicine. Go home, and then hey, you
don't get better, maybe get worse. Hey, well you got
to come back in. I got to reevaluate you, reassess you,
or go to a minor care go to an er,
(22:20):
I mean, get reassessed, get more labs, get more X rays,
let another doctor take a listen to your healthcare provider,
take listen to you and see what's happening. I think
I've been in this game for over twenty years. I'm
more comfortable with that concept or that idea that, yes,
a lot of times, with these acute problems, you're going
(22:42):
to have to get reassessed. You might have to come
into the office four or five times, my office, anybody's office,
and get reassessed and see what's happening in terms of
how it progresses, how you react to the medications. Maybe
don't react well, you have a negative reaction. Yes, you
(23:02):
might have to go back in, and we want you
to come back in and get reassessed and get more
labs because that's really the only way we can a
lot of times figure this thing out. But yes, a
lot of my patients come in, Hey, I'm sick, I
need this. I mean, I'm busy, I don't have time
to be sick. And again, most of the literature says
it's viral, but they've convinced themselves that that antibotic is
(23:26):
what they need. It works every time. You know, it's
not what outside the boundaries too much. Maybe yeah, there
is a bacteria hanging out sitting in there.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
We can even do a strep test. It's negative, but.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Still sort of this pressure to deliver those antibotics, and
most practitioners, yeah, we write for it, even though we
don't necessarily have proof that it's a bacteria. The medical
resource says, it's another thing. But again, we just want
you to feel better, and we want to certainly deliver
(24:01):
to you what you feel like you need to help you.
And unfortunately you need a prescription. It's not like that
in all countries. I don't know if you know this,
maybe you do, and a lot of other countries around
the world. You don't need a prescription to get antibiotic.
You can just go to your local pharmacy and go
get your pennacillin over the counter.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Couldn't that vehicle.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You can just go down to CBS and I want
to get some pennaccillin, or I want to get a
Z pack or a backtrum. All these commonly prescribed antibiotics
that we take on a regular basis follow these little
minor infections that we get. Urine attract infection skin infections
or throw whatever the case may be. In other countries,
(24:50):
you just go to the you just go get it,
you buy it over the counter. I mean, it's frightening
to me to know that it's like that in other countries, because.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
The issue of.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Bacterial resistance is real. It is very real, meaning these
little organisms that are with us and we can't get
rid of them. So I remember back in the day, Yeah,
they had these commercials for these hand gels and these
soaps that would kill ninety nine percent of the bacteria.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Stuff like that. You remember that.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Because you wanted to be clean. You don't want to
be dirty, nasty, funky. You don't you want you don't
want to be that person, right, I want to be clean.
So let me go get this soap. It's strong, it's
the strongest stuff on the market. I mean, wipes it out.
Nine to nine percent is gone. I'm gonna be I'm
gonna be really clean walking around here. I ever get infected.
(25:51):
You remember those commercials, man, you we can't get rid
of bacteria. They're here and they'll be here after us, right,
and then they're everywhere, millions, gazillions, trillions everywhere, and so
they get smart though they get exposed to bacteria, they
(26:15):
learn how to defend themselves. Yes, and the more exposure
you have, the more this possibility of resistance develops. And
again in the beef chicken industry, a lot of times
in other food industries, antibiotics are being given for the
(26:38):
growth and development of livestock and chickens, and that byproducts
of the antibotic gets into the meat. And this is
well chronicled. This is not me, this is well chronicled.
It's the information's out there and it gets to the
meat and then you eat it and then we get
exposed to the antibiotics. So antibiotic exposure is sort of
(27:01):
around just being a general person. Even if you talk
about the water, you know, you take antibotic, the byproduct
of the antibiotic gets into your urine. Your urinate gets
into the water system that floats around the water system.
Think about how many people get exposed to antibotics every day,
taking antibotics. It's just part of our country, it's just
(27:24):
part of living in this modern day that we're getting
exposed to these bacteria. I'm sorry, these antibiotics and the
bacteria that are here with us learn how to defend themselves,
they develop resistance, and we do see it coming off
the street patients with high resistance against commonly prescribed antibotics,
(27:48):
and it can be challenging finding an antibotic that works
for them. And I don't know that pumping out new
antibotics from the pharmaceutical companies is a high pro already
for the pharmaceutical company. It's not like cancer research, our
cardiovascular research, where they're pumping out stuff all the time.
(28:09):
You know, a new cholesterol medicine, a new blood then,
or a new chemo, you know, immunotherapy, just all this
exciting stuff being pumped out, matt you know, just crazy frequency, intense.
I don't know that the pharmaceutic companies are really doing
that for antabotics, So we have to sort of preserve
what we have so that when you do get sick,
(28:31):
you can very easily take a tablet and it'll knock
it out. But my point is based on my experience
what I've read in medical literature, the more antibiotic exposure
you get, the more likely it is that you're going
to have a resistant bug that develops on your body
(28:52):
that can then infect you.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And the tablets don't work.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Now you have to be in the hospital getting ivy antibiotics,
and we're starting to see it or and more again
for the reasons I just mentioned, there's just more general
exposure to antibiotics just living in a daily routine, the water,
the food. Maybe again, you get that sore throat, you
(29:16):
go get your test from HB and it's negative, but man,
I need that antibotic. You go in, you get your script.
Everybody's happy, right. It happens every day, a thousand times,
a million times every day, and all these different outlets,
and then that resistance starts coming and you get a
(29:39):
bladder infection. That's where I see it a lot, is
the bladder infections. And it's weird how the bacteria work
and the body works. That resistance issue. I see it
a lot for bladder infections more so than just about
anything else. That bladder for whatever reason, probably because the
bladder is a storage it's a storage unit, right, for urine.
(30:05):
That's really the function of the bladder to store urine.
Urine is a byproduct, a liquid byproduct of metabolic activity
of the human body.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Our body is a machine, and so there's sort of
an output of this machine, kind of like a car
has exhaust. Urine is sort of the exhaust of the
human body, and it's stored in the bladder until you
can eliminate it. So just think about all that just
sort of in the bladder, sitting around all the time,
(30:37):
and the bacteria is there as well. Yeah, just sort
of this toxic mixture and your bacteria of your genito
urinary system get exposed and boom, there you go. Resistance anyway.
Phone lines are open eight nine six k KLVI winning
one hundred and three to three zero oklv I'll be
(30:58):
back in two minutes. All right, welcome back to the
(31:20):
doctor Lavine Medical. Our phone lines are open eight nine
to six kof I one one hundred and three to
three zero Kofi. Sitting here chatting talking about respiratory viruses.
But again we did have our asidox segment.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Yes, Stan.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
One question was about motivehicle accidents and this patient had
a motivical accident, went in, got checked out, everything was good.
But then a few days later they started having tremendous
back pain. You know, what should they do about that?
You know, God forbid, you aren't a motivical accident. Nobody
(31:55):
wants that, right, Cars are safer. Now most people are
wearing a seat belts. When I grew up, man, nobody
ever wore seat belts, right, they had those lap seat
belts that you had put around your waist, but we
never wore seat belts. No, it just wasn't popular.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And then there was.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
A huge, huge sort of seat belt campaign to get
everyone to wear seat belts became law, and this huge
awareness of how seat belts can say lost, which they can.
I mean, you've all seen those videos of people getting
tossed around in the car or the truck when they
(32:37):
get hit or something hits them, or they swerve and
hit something. I mean, you get tossed around significantly. You
can injure yourself very rapidly the inside of the car. Right,
even just sort of these minor accidents, you can the
forces inside the car can sort of toss you around
very rapidly and injure a lot of different bodily areas
(33:01):
your neck, your arm, your femur, your pelvis. So things
can happen rapidly. So most people when they get in
a motivical accent, the EMS gets called and they get
like a little roadside work up, and a decision is
made to sort of go in and get further testing.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Some do, some don't.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
A lot of times if the driver is it's up
to the driver if they want to go in, and
some do, some don't. I think most do just because
they want to make sure everything is okay. Your workup
is negative, you go home. Then the pain comes a
few days later, and I see that a lot. To
be honest with you, not that anything was missed. It's
just that that's how the human body works. Just because
(33:45):
we all know about fractures. Right, I fractured my arm,
my leg. I was in a motivical accident. I can't walk,
I eat surgery, I'm wearing a cast. But what about
that soft tissue injury, right, the ligaments, the connected tissue,
the muscles, the tendons. Yeah, they get injured too in
(34:08):
the accident, and they can generate inflammation as well and
generate pain. That's a lot of times what happens. There's
no fracture, but that pain is there. I feel it.
I can't even hardly walk. My neck is stiff and
my back is stiff. It's just that soft tissue gets inflamed,
and a lot of times, yeah, it's extreme pain, but
(34:33):
there's no X raysor negative. They wanted to know what
to do. A lot of times patients will go back
in get reassessed, right, that's the word of the day, kids, reassessment.
You went into the doctor's office, the healthcare provider's office.
They told you this diagnoses. They gave you the sheet
(34:54):
of paper with the diagnos is on and you can
read about it.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Here's your prescription.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Follow up with your primary care for position. Oh he's busy,
he can't see you for three weeks.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
I'm no better, I'm worse. Go back in. You gotta go.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
But if you can go to the same place or
pick a different place, doesn't matter. I would probably go
to the same place, probably because they know you, right,
they sort of know your history, they kind of know
what they're thinking. They get another swing at it if
you will and get reassessed, get some more labs, get
another physical. Same thing with the motivical accident. You had
(35:33):
your x rays, everything's fine, but now you hurt more.
You're not sure why go back in or go to
your primary care doctor's office. Let them know you're hurting
and see what they want to do. A lot of
times they can do repeat x rays. Sometimes a lot
of times they'll do what they call just a plane
X ray in the e yards quick fast, and they're
just trying to get an idea of if anything is
(35:55):
out of place, anything's fractured, and they do all that,
everything's fine. But sometimes if you come back, they'll do
cat scans, MRIs, things like that. These are better tests
to look for fractures sort of hidden or that we're
not seen on the plane X ray and boom, you
have a femur fracture sitting there, a pelvis fractures sitting
(36:15):
in there that you were not aware of, but now
they see it. And so if the pain comes back
you weren't expecting it, yes, go have somebody to look
at it, maybe get repeat X rays, and certainly a
lot of times you'll need some medication to just help
because the pain can be quite severe. But it's that
soft tissue you see the athletes, the football players, they
(36:40):
do something to their knee, the ligaments and the tendons
get torn, ripped. I mean that soft tissue. Bone heels
faster and normally you can get back out in the
field faster with a bone injury versus a soft tissue injury,
a tendon, a ligament that just they just take longer
to heal to get their strength back, and they're endurance
(37:02):
so that you can start using it again and putting
pressure and force on it an athlete. We're just talking
about walk, you know, walking and sitting at a desk.
So a lot of times we can come back faster,
but more than likely. Yeah, you're going to need some
anti inflammatories to help, some motor and some advil, some leaves.
Hoalanol is good. They have just a whole slew of
(37:23):
topical things for joint problems. It's all over the counter.
A lot of times that you can get after motivcle accent,
God forbid, you don't get anyone. But wear your seatbelt,
no question. I wear my seatbelt every day because, yes,
there's a lot more traffic out there, a lot of
my truck I have a lot of truck drivers in
my practice, and man, it say, it's pretty bad out there.
(37:44):
Just all the movement and traffic gets really tight.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
A lot of times.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
A lot of road construction and maybe the road is
not a good road. It's got potholes and bumps and
a lot of different things can make people veer off
and lose control of their vehicle and you know, slam
it to someone else, not intentionally just driving. So there's
a lot more ability to get an accident out there,
(38:11):
So you need to protect yourself as much as possible,
and wearing those seatbelts is certainly, in my opinion, one
way to do that. Phone lines open eight down to
scale three three zero, Old kale V. I'll be back
in two minutes. All right, welcome back to the doc
(38:44):
Laving Medical. Our phone lines are open at the end
of the show. Remember, if you there's a topic that
you would like me to discuss, you can certainly call
my office and let my staff know and I'll sert
be more than happy to talk about that. Or you
can call up here to the station during the weekday
and they can get that message to me. Again, Remember,
the show is for you, just trying to get you
(39:06):
some information out there to help you make better decisions
about you and your family. To stay alist out of
the doctor's office, keep your medication lists to a minimum.
What's right, what's wrong right? What do I do about that?
So let us know, we'd be more than happy to
talk about that. I spent this hour talking about those
(39:28):
respiratory viruses and how you can now test yourself. Just
go down to local pharmacy, figure out what's wrong with you,
and see if you need to get on some medication. Remember, again,
just to reiterate, most of those respiratory issues are not bacterial.
They are viral, and they recommend just supportive care a
(39:49):
lot of times for these viral infections. All that stuff
is available to you over the counter, big big section
of the pharmacy, right, all these different things that you
can get to just help calm down that cough and
sore throat.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
And the achiness.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
But certainly, anytime you feel concerned about your symptoms, yeah,
go into your health care provider and let them take
a list and as you see if there's anything that
they recommend. But I think the idea of hey I
don't need an antabotic for this viral disease, you know,
we need to get.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Better at that.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
The area of or the issue of not needing an
antabotic is certainly very prevalent in the pediatric population. A
lot of the kids get these respiratory viruses, and the
pediatricians have done a much better job sort of downplaying
the presence of antibotics. A lot of times they don't
(40:47):
give the antabotic and mothers dads are okay with it.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
A lot of times.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
But again I work in the adult world, and yeah,
they got to get to work and they go on
a trip or it's the weekend, so a little bit
more demanding, not necessarily open to not treating with antibotics.
But again that is what the medical literature says, because
(41:14):
it's very common question that comes up all the time.
Most of this stuff is viral, they say, high percentage,
the ninety percentile where you cough, achy sore throat, runny nose,
it's viral, and antibotics don't work against viruses, right, But
if it gets your little home test and it's a
(41:36):
flu A or B or a covid, yeah, by all
means there's medication specific for those infections. Now doctors can
prescribe other medicines other than antibiotics for you, all sorts
of anti inflammatories, maybe something for your cough. Maybe I
like to use steroids like pregnant zone and methizone because
(42:01):
it does help with the inflammatory reaction of the virus.
So all the achiness and a lot of times running nose,
you feel tired. We steroids can sort of counteract that
and get you back on your feet. And if you
do have chronic lung disease such as chronic bronchitis and physima,
we tend to have a little threshold to start an
(42:24):
antibiotic in that population. Again, that's COPD inmphysima because a
lot of times it starts off as a viral infection,
but all that inflammation, all that gunk, that mucus that
all of us get and we get those viral syndromes
can go down deeper into those diseased lungs where they've
had all that exposure to tobacco and it's just sort
(42:47):
of made the inside lining of the airway just very mucasy,
and it's full of bacteria and fungus and virus particles,
and then it just it's a way it just sort
of kicks all that off. So a lot of times
we have a little threshold to get the antibiotic on
board to kind of handle all that inflammation and all
(43:08):
of the just organisms that are residing there with all
the inflammation, just so that we can keep the person
out of the hospital. They're more at risk for respiratory problems,
but the average person doesn't have that it's just a
viral infection. I would advise you to try and hold
off and not go get that antibiotic and treat over
(43:32):
the counter as long as possible so that we can
all do our part to reduce resistance.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
Anyway, thanks for listening to me. Have a good day.
Don't drink a drive ticket
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.