Ultimate Prescription

Treating Causes a better Idea

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum

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Series Code: UP

Program Code: UP000075B


00:03 Thanks for watching...
00:04 Here at "The Ultimate Prescription,"
00:06 we've been talking about symptoms and causes,
00:09 and we also talked a little bit about our first aid kit...
00:11 And if you would like to chime in with your questions
00:14 or suggest something for our first aid kit, go to:
00:16 heartwiseministries.org
00:18 and you can contact us there with an email,
00:20 and let us know your thoughts, your questions
00:22 or what you might want to add to a first aid kit
00:25 as we will let other people know.
00:26 And someone was just recommending...
00:28 That was the director of the program...
00:29 The director of the program was recommending a magnifying glass,
00:32 and that's a great item to have.
00:33 What might you use that for, Dr. Marcum?
00:34 You know, you can look at a bee sting or something
00:37 you can't see well, when people get older
00:39 sometimes we can't see as well or get a feel for it exactly.
00:43 We've had some insect removal kits that might help with that,
00:48 and remove some prongs or if some poison, that might help.
00:51 Another thing that I thought about is a flashlight,
00:56 so you can see things, especially
00:58 if an accident happens and you need a light.
00:59 I have my flashlight on my cell phone,
01:02 and I turn it on with that, but they make very small lights
01:06 now, Nick, they can be good.
01:08 One of the things that I think is pretty cool is
01:11 in my telephone, I have this lady in the telephone,
01:15 and I can ask her questions, I really can,
01:18 and I can even ask her first aid questions and sometimes
01:20 she knows too.
01:21 And my phone can tell me stuff too! Not bad!
01:24 That's pretty impressive.
01:25 Technology definitely can be a help,
01:27 and sometimes maybe it can be a hindrance too.
01:29 No, but it's neat, Nick, you should try it.
01:31 You just ask this girl the question,
01:32 she will tell you what you need to know,
01:34 and if she doesn't know, she will be very polite...
01:36 She'll go, "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."
01:39 But anyway, it's very neat, but you know what,
01:41 we're digressing.
01:42 I think we're about to talk about some questions
01:44 that she might not be able to answer,
01:46 but I think you might have some ideas. I hope so
01:48 Okay, let's get some questions.
01:49 Our first question here is about someone who has a
01:51 constant headache; they don't have any answers
01:54 so far and they're desperate for help.
01:55 They ask, "It's been going on for 14 years,
01:57 I currently take Tylenol, can you please pray for me?"
02:00 Yes, we will definitely pray for this person
02:03 for chronic headaches for 14 years.
02:06 If I think about a headache, that's a symptom.
02:11 And a headache can be caused by many different things.
02:17 And, you know, I'd have to talk to this person in great detail,
02:20 but the chance is, if a headache has been going on for
02:23 14 years, it's probably not life-threatening. Right
02:27 The headaches that are life-threatening are ones that
02:30 are just sudden onset, the worst ever,
02:32 can't see - lots of other things going on.
02:35 But a headache for 14 years, things that can cause that...
02:38 chronic stress - you know, muscles being tight,
02:42 I've seen that a few times.
02:43 We've talked about the bowel flora,
02:46 how bowel flora can cause inflammation and do that.
02:49 It would be very interesting to know
02:51 if there are triggers for headaches.
02:52 There are different types of headaches;
02:54 vascular headaches that's due to blood vessels.
02:58 Migraines is a vascular type of headache.
03:00 Different triggers might trigger that.
03:02 But a constant headache for 14 years...
03:05 Tylenol #3 is probably treating the symptom,
03:09 but not treating the cause of the symptom.
03:12 So I would be very interested, not only in praying for this
03:15 person, but I want to invite this person to see a doctor.
03:18 The doctors that specialize in headaches
03:20 are "neurologists," and see if they can give you
03:24 a diagnosis.
03:25 If there's no diagnosis and they do think it might be
03:28 a stress headache or "I don't know headache,"
03:30 then that's the one that really, you know,
03:33 look at all the different aspects in your life
03:35 from hydration... if you're dehydrated
03:38 that can do it, to eating certain foods...
03:40 it can have chemicals in it that can trigger headaches;
03:43 inflammation can trigger headaches;
03:45 stress can trigger headaches.
03:47 So this is a wide-ranging process,
03:49 but headache is a symptom and on this lady, we're treating
03:54 the symptom and not the cause.
03:56 It's going to take a little more investigating
03:58 for a constant headache, but those are some sort of
04:00 thoughts on this situation that might help her,
04:03 but, for sure, we will pray for you,
04:05 and no matter what symptoms that you have,
04:08 God is going to listen to our prayers,
04:10 and help get us to the people we know or heal us right away.
04:14 So our Heavenly Father wants to
04:17 be a part of treating our symptoms.
04:19 In fact, in the Bible, Christ met people their physical needs
04:23 first - that's where He met their needs
04:26 and then He introduced them to the Father,
04:27 and then the Father brought him into a deeper relationship.
04:31 So that's where it all starts, meeting someone's needs.
04:34 That's right.
04:36 We've got another question, someone asks:
04:37 "I have a cough only at night and usually when I lie down,
04:40 my energy level has been decreasing and my heart
04:43 is going faster with little exertion.
04:46 My doctor gave me a cough syrup, but it's not really helping."
04:49 What are your suggestions?
04:50 Well, a cough can be many different things.
04:53 It could be related to sinuses;
04:55 that's a very common cause of cough.
04:57 Of course, people with cancer in the lungs have a cough.
05:01 People with acid reflux have a cough.
05:04 But this type of cough, what makes me think this might
05:07 be related to heart failure...
05:10 Is this person, when he lies down, it gets worse? Right
05:14 That's very characteristic of fluid in the lungs
05:16 from heart failure.
05:18 Also, this person gives me another symptom,
05:20 "the heart goes fast."
05:21 When a heart goes fast,
05:23 they can't breathe, they can't lay down flat...
05:26 That gives me a good sign that this person might be
05:28 in heart failure.
05:30 So I would ask this person to see your doctor...
05:33 Have him evaluate you for heart failure.
05:36 If you are in heart failure, again... they want to find out
05:39 why you're in heart failure.
05:40 They want to give you some medicines for your symptoms,
05:43 usually diuretics to take fluid out of your body,
05:46 maybe even a little oxygen, and the next step would be
05:49 finding out why you're in heart failure,
05:52 and that's another whole discussion from arteries,
05:55 to weak heart, to valves.
05:57 All sorts of things can cause heart failure,
05:59 but these symptoms sound like the cause might be
06:02 a weak heart. Right
06:04 That could be really serious. Yes it is...
06:06 So that's a great question, I'm glad you asked it.
06:09 I would get some help right away on this one.
06:11 If you're having symptoms that you can't explain,
06:13 please visit your medical professional,
06:14 and try and find some answers, get to the root of the problem.
06:17 And remember, we're just giving suggestions,
06:19 we are just going to give suggestions,
06:21 we can't enter into a relationship...
06:23 We just try to point you in the right direction,
06:25 but always see your doctor, get their input. That's right
06:28 We've got another viewer who writes:
06:30 "My body aches and does not feel right,
06:32 I have spells of nausea, weakness, loss of weight,
06:35 headaches and extreme fatigue."
06:38 "So far, I've had blood work, a CT scan, ultrasounds,
06:42 and still no answers."
06:43 Dr. Marcum, what do you think they need to do next?
06:46 So, they are sick at their stomach, they're weak
06:49 all over; they're losing weight, they have headaches,
06:53 they're tired all the time,
06:54 they've had a lot of testing done,
06:57 and that's the routine testing.. we do the blood work,
06:59 the ultrasounds and they still don't know the answers.
07:03 Any thoughts? Well, in tough cases
07:06 where they can't find anything, and the symptoms don't
07:09 really follow a pattern, one thing I like to sort of
07:12 point people to is have your doctors evaluate you for
07:15 toxins and poisons. Okay
07:17 There are certain things in our environment that sometimes
07:21 get in it that we don't want.
07:23 We see things like radon, heavy metal toxins that
07:28 we don't want to have.
07:29 I've even had people that had some arsenic-mercury-type
07:33 poisoning that gets in their body, different types of things,
07:36 lead, different types of poisonings,
07:38 toxins can cause these types of symptoms.
07:40 that might be a place to look at
07:42 if nothing else is making sense
07:44 especially if this person doesn't have any other...
07:48 Sometimes extreme stress and mental problems can trigger
07:52 the body to create symptoms, to try to cope with things,
07:55 but this doesn't sound like this.
07:57 This person really is sick and there's really no pattern;
08:00 nothing is picking up on it, so I would be very concerned
08:03 about a toxin, a poison in the environment;
08:07 a side effect of a medication, something of that nature
08:10 that could affect lots of different organ symptoms
08:13 and not be explained very easily.
08:16 And the way you do it is go to a doctor,
08:18 they do a toxicology scan where they scan you
08:21 for almost everything, that's additional blood work
08:24 that can be done fairly simply.
08:26 That might give you some more insight into making a diagnosis
08:30 because treating symptoms like this,
08:32 you really wouldn't know where to start. Right
08:34 Because it involves the whole body,
08:36 but those are some thoughts that I would have on that one, Nick.
08:38 How about this, another viewer writes:
08:41 "I've had a heart valve replacement 6 years ago
08:43 for a bicuspid aortic valve, I had a fever the last few days,
08:48 and my doctor put me on an antibiotic.
08:50 I quit the antibiotic after 5 days because I felt better,
08:54 and the fever came back last evening.
08:56 Should I resume the antibiotic."
08:58 Well, of course, I can't give specific information,
09:02 but I can give some suggestions.
09:03 First of all, see your doctor, but a fever is typically
09:09 a sign of infection, certain cancers can cause
09:12 fevers as well; of course if you are hyperthermic
09:15 for any reason - that can cause the temperature to go up.
09:18 So this person doesn't sound like it's hyperthermic,
09:21 doesn't give me anything that would make me think
09:23 that they were having a cancer, not losing weight,
09:26 you know - it hasn't been going on for a long time,
09:28 but would make me think that they have an infection.
09:31 The problem with an infection in a heart valve,
09:34 if an infection gets into the bloodstream,
09:37 the bugs love to attach to something.
09:39 They love to attach to heart valves.
09:41 So I would be very worried that this heart valve
09:45 might be infected.
09:46 So you would want to know right away whether
09:49 you have an infection in the bloodstream...
09:50 So I would ask my doctor to take some blood cultures first
09:54 to see if the blood was infected and if it was,
09:58 you know of course, that would also help us identify
10:00 the bug so we could specifically tailor the antibiotic.
10:03 Antibiotics - we can actually tell which antibiotics
10:06 can kill the bug the best.
10:08 Can you imagine a person taking antibiotics
10:11 for an infection and the antibiotic is resistant...
10:14 that means it won't kill the infection.
10:17 We see that in certain staph species now.
10:19 We've heard Methicillin- resistant Staph...
10:22 so methicillin or penicillin won't kill that staph bug
10:25 because we've got resistance.
10:27 So those are some of the steps I do, but I would be concerned
10:30 on this situation that you might have an infection in the blood.
10:34 I would not resume my antibiotics.
10:36 I would see my doctor right away and he can
10:38 decide, based on some blood work, if you have
10:41 an infection in the bloodstream that could be
10:42 compromising your valve.
10:44 If a heart valve gets infected,
10:46 that could be a very serious problem.
10:48 We know that once it's in the blood,
10:50 the bacteria can go everywhere.
10:52 And if they see something abnormal,
10:54 you know - the bacteria are going around,
10:56 and they feel pretty good... they get to the heart,
10:58 and they say, "Wow, there's a valve, there's a valve
11:00 that's abnormal - I'm going to jump on that,
11:02 that's a good place for me to live and get nutrients."
11:04 And then their friends come along and say, "Wow, hey look at
11:07 Buddy there, he's getting some food - I'm going to join him!"
11:09 And before you know it, there's a bunch of bacteria
11:12 forms an infection and it can actually destroy,
11:15 eat the tissue of the valve.
11:17 So that's not a good thing... Well, it sounds like some good
11:19 advice there, a good place for them to go.
11:21 Another viewer writes: "I have chest pain when I
11:23 take a deep breath and it's sharp like a knife.
11:26 Should I be concerned about my heart?"
11:28 Yeah, my answer is - I'm always concerned about
11:31 everyone's heart... as a cardiologist you should be,
11:33 but first you need to see your doctor who can examine you
11:37 in great detail, but when people have heart pain...
11:39 a pain that won't go away is either
11:41 a heart attack or something else.
11:43 If you have a pain that won't go away,
11:45 that needs help right away.
11:47 Another type of heart pain is a symptom
11:50 almost any symptom above the waist when you're doing things.
11:54 Those would be characteristics of heart pains.
11:56 If I touch it and it hurts, that would be
11:59 characteristic of a muscle pain - musculoskeletal. Right
12:02 If, this person sounds like when they take a deep breath
12:06 it hurts - that could be muscles.
12:09 It could be lungs, it could be a condition called,
12:11 "pleuritis" when the pleura of the lungs come in contact
12:15 with that - that could be something like that.
12:17 It could be a lung problem.
12:19 The question is... "Should I be concerned about my heart?"
12:23 Yes, I would be concerned about it.
12:25 I would see your doctor who will go through some tests,
12:27 might do an EKG on you, might do some lung testing
12:31 on you which might have need to evaluate,
12:32 but this is not usually what I hear when I hear
12:35 when I hear a heart problem, but I would still see your
12:38 doctor and make sure.
12:39 But if it hurts when you take a deep breath,
12:41 that would make me think muscles, lungs,
12:43 things of that nature... pleuritis which is
12:45 inflammation of the pleura which can happen in infections.
12:49 They might have damaged their lungs - that could cause it.
12:52 They might have had a bruise on the lung or something like that
12:54 that also could cause it as well.
12:56 It might be a muscle that's connected to a rib
12:58 so every time you breathe, that muscle moves.
13:01 But unfortunately, when it's above the waist,
13:03 you wouldn't worry a lot about it
13:05 if it was in the back of the leg because you'd say
13:07 "I pulled a muscle," but whenever it's up in this area,
13:09 it's hard to know whether it's your heart.
13:11 I always think pain up in the chest needs to be evaluated
13:14 by a professional in person that knows what's going on,
13:17 a few questions, maybe an x-ray, an EKG will help clear up
13:21 this symptom to see what needs to be done to get at the cause.
13:24 Excellent advice!
13:26 We've got time just for one more question here and it says:
13:28 "My abdomen has been bloating, no real pain,
13:30 but it's just worse after eating.
13:32 I also have low grade fevers, should I worry about
13:35 my gallbladder?"
13:36 I think that person is right on base.
13:38 That could be a symptom of gallbladder becoming infected.
13:41 It might be other things... the fever makes me think that
13:44 there might be an infection.
13:46 Bloating is not a normal symptom.
13:49 So these are symptoms that suggest there's a problem
13:52 in the GI tract, probably below the stomach
13:55 and below the rectum... and in that area we have
14:00 stomach, we have intestines, we have gallbladder,
14:03 we have pancreas, we have other organs.
14:05 They can evaluate that by examining it.
14:08 If you touch it and it hurts, that's really bad.
14:11 If you're not going to the bathroom,
14:12 that suggests that the tube is clogged up - that's bad too.
14:16 They can do some simple tests.
14:17 Sometimes they can do some scans on the bowels
14:20 to make the diagnosis, but this is a symptom
14:23 that needs to be evaluated right away.
14:25 It's not a normal feeling... bloating, not feeling well.
14:29 This is a person that not only will be prayed for,
14:31 but they need to see a doctor,
14:34 get it looked at - the sooner the better.
14:36 That's some great advice.
14:37 If you are experiencing symptoms,
14:39 go to your doctor and ask them,
14:41 "Please find the root of the problem."
14:44 And we thank you, Dr. Marcum,
14:46 for all your advice that you shared with us.
14:47 We're going to be back in just a moment
14:49 as Dr. Marcum would like to pray with you.
14:57 I hope you're not experiencing symptoms today,
15:00 but if you are, it's very important to find out the cause.
15:04 Remember, symptoms are anything
15:06 in your body that doesn't feel right,
15:08 especially if they don't go away - get some help.
15:10 I'd like to invite you to pray at this time with me...
15:13 Father God, There are many people out there
15:16 that are having symptoms of all sorts of medical problems
15:20 as well as spiritual problems, Father.
15:22 We want to pray that You be the Ultimate Physician,
15:24 the Ultimate Prescription for their lives.
15:27 And thank You so much for being a God that loves us
15:30 and wants to heal us and this is our humble prayer... Amen
15:35 If those out there want to have more questions
15:38 that we didn't address, I want to invite you to
15:40 our website that is: heartwiseministries.org
15:43 If you might need special prayer,
15:45 we'd also like to pray with you.
15:47 Until next time, I'm Dr. James Marcum
15:50 wishing you the best of health.


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Revised 2016-09-08