Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners in today's episode.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In Podcast, brought to you by MartinClinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Well, good morning everyone. How are you and I hope you're having a great start to your day. Boxing day. Okay, guys. Let's get to the questions. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Okay, Jen, "can I get your opinion on fulvic and humic?" Fulvic, not folic, okay. It's not folic acid. It's F-U-L-V-I-C and humic, M-U, M? H-U-M-I-C. Humica supplement. Look, it's soil. It's decomposed plant material. I haven't seen any research on that supplement. So Jen, I'm not negative per se. Let me say this, okay? Because what is your goal? Because you're saying I understand it's great for the gut and brain health as well as balancing hormones. Well, I haven't seen that research, first of all, to confirm that what you just said. And second of all, in my practice, I had some patients take it. I got something better from the soil. Guaranteed better. And that's probiotic. Soil-based probiotics, the actual bacteria and the bacterial strains that have been picked.
And I'll give you an example about our probiotic. It takes eight weeks to make every little strain in there. And they're so hardy, a blow torch can't kill them. So they get to its intended destination, especially the microbiome in your gut. And they regenerate that. What do I always say? Regeneration, replenish, renew with the probiotics. And that's what I would say is the best. So I'm going to compare anything you give me claiming to be good for your gut and all that. Yeah. I'm never against people trying something. I'm not. Okay? I'm not one of those that knows it all. I just got my experience. I mean, you name it, guys, I've heard of it. Okay? There was always something every week, every week, every week that was put on my desk. Dr. Martin, what do you think? Called in question. What about this? What about that product? And there always was something on the top of the food chain when it came to a supplement. And oh, everybody, this is the greatest thing from pimples on your nose and warts on your toes. Could fix everything. I don't know.
And I got asked that all the time. And I've been asked before on fulvic and humic, the soil. I've been asked before. I'm not saying it's no good. I'm just saying, I don't know. I got to compare it to something. And when I compare it to what I know about probiotic. Now, listen, I have been talking about probiotics. Well, you guys, anybody that's followed me for years and years and years before my podcasting days and on the radio show for 20 years and then people, like I've written books for a long time and people have followed me. I got followers that are on even here this morning that have been following me for a long time. I have certain things that I know, that I know, that I know work. I'm not saying I never look at new stuff. I do. But I want to see the research and I want to see testimonies. I want that before I give it an endorsement. Okay? You talk about probiotics, it's got Dr. Martin's endorsement. Big time. Okay? I appreciate that question.
Karen says that she got confirming mast cell activation syndrome. Okay? You know what mast cells are, guys? Mast cells are allergy cell. They're white cells. Did I tell you the cat story? I know I have but some of you might not have heard my cat story. True story. Lady comes into my office. I saw her blood work. I saw white mast cells. Okay? Mast cells release histamine. Okay? Makes you sneeze. Makes you have much more mucus. Makes you cough. It can do a lot of things, mast cells, because the body's trying to expel something. Okay? And I saw all these mast cells. So I said to the lady, true story. I said, "You got allergies." That was the first thing I said to her. She said, "Yeah, doc, that's why I'm here." I said, "Well, do you know what you're allergic to? " She said, "Yeah, my cat." I said, "Well, get rid of it. " She said, "I can't." I said, "Well, how do you expect me to help you if you won't get rid of the cat?"
Okay, and that's what I tell diabetics. You have an allergy to sugar. Get rid of it. I can't. Well, I can't help you then. Okay? So mast cell. She had mast cell activation, that can be very, very serious because you can go into an anaphylactic shock when you have so much of an irritation. Now, here's me, okay? So I'm going to give you an answer, Karen, okay? Usually when I see it, a mast cell activation syndrome, okay? There's something bothering you big time. Usually when I saw it when it was really going something, obviously allergy to something, but it usually was activated by an infection, either virus or bacteria. Could have been environmental like mold. Okay? I saw that. But if it got you into an emergency room, very, very serious. And what they do to treat it is put you on an antihistamine, big time, and maybe even steroids, like a prednisone or whatever. They got to suppress that immune system of yours. Okay? So that's a very acute problem when you got an acute mast cell activation syndrome.
Usually though, I would say to you, Karen, because you had a virus or a bacteria and your body just went berzerk, it happens. Autoimmune really. Your body turns on itself. You're saying, so my question is, can I stop all the supplements? Well, maybe for a few days, but the supplements have got nothing to do with your mass cell activation. It's not your supplements. You got a virus or a bacteria or you've got possibly stress, but stress yeah, I've seen it, I guess. But environmental, like were you in mold or I don't know. You got to answer that to yourself, Karen. Like stopping the supplement. I wouldn't stop the probiotics. They're helping you. I wouldn't stop quercetin because quercetin is a tremendous natural antihistamine. So is Navitol. It's a natural antihistamine. Okay? So vitamin D, that ain't going to hurt you. Good question. Thank you, Karen. We're praying for you. Hope that you get well very, very soon, Karen. But you got a bug, I think. You got a virus or whatever.
Okay, this is Jen. Jen is asking about a visceral hypersensitivity in the upper GI. Did this come out of nowhere? Because I would ask you some more questions about that. Okay? And Jen is saying, "I am told that my gut issues stem from a dysregulated nervous system. I tend to agree." Well, Jen, I don't know. I need more information to give you a better answer. Could stress, cortisol over a period of time affect the upper GI and give you a hypersensitivity? Yep. Stress can do a lot of things. That could be a factor. When you say a nervous system dysregulated, when you say nervous system, I'm thinking what, the cranial nerve, the 10th cranial nerve, the vagus nerve from the brain to your gut. Okay? Part of your sympathetic nervous system? Yeah, possibly. For sure. Okay, for sure. And you might be into a perfect storm of high levels of cortisol and a vagus nerve disruption, impingement. I've seen that before. So what would you do about it? Get your cortisol down. 100%. Get that stress hormone down. And I have you on probiotics big time. Could they affect that? But I think you have stressors. Something's bothering you. Give me more detail, Jen. Send it to info@martinclinic.com and I will give you a better answer with more detail. How long has it been going on? What are your symptoms? Tell me about it because that is a broad visceral hypersensitivity in the upper GI. You could have a bacterial infection there and your body is reacting to it. There's a lot of things could be.
Richard, okay. Now, Richard asked this question, I believe, last week, and that was on live blood cell analysis. So I see it up here again. I answered it last week. What do I think of it? It depends on the practitioner. It's a tool in the toolbox. So if you want to get a live blood analysis done, I'm not against it. I used to teach it to practitioners on how to do it properly, but I always emphasize it's just a tool in the toolbox. I always believe doctors should do a live blood. Every doctor, take a drop of blood under a dark field microscope and look at it. It takes you a minute and have a look. Look at the shape of the cell. And you can see a lot of stuff. The only problem is when you get practitioners and that's everything. Oh, you got this problem and you got that problem and you got the rouleux. I heard that a million times from other patients that said, well, my doctor or my practitioner said I got the rouleux. So what? What's that mean?
That's all the red blood cells clumped together. What does that mean? Well, it only means something if you went in on a fast and you hadn't eaten for at least six hours. I wouldn't do a live blood in my office unless the patient had fasted. Mandatory because you can't see anything. If there's food in the serum, your red blood cells will be all clumped together. So what does that mean? It means nothing. And so I call it poorly trained practitioners. And then they see stuff in there and like you got this and that and every other thing. I didn't buy that guys. I never taught like that because you know me and I talk about it in my book, Sun Steak and Steel. What do I talk about? Get the real blood test done. If you want to do live blood, okay, but you have to have the other one. I want to see your triglycerides. I want to see your HDL.
In my office, I wanted to see PP12. I wanted the numbers, even though I didn't put all my life into those numbers because they can be deceiving. But vitamin D, nah, you give me that number. That'll tell you more about your health than a live blood cell will. I can tell you that. Okay? You give me your vitamin D numbers and that'll tell you more about your health than live blood cell will tell you. I wanted ferritin. I wanted uric acid. I wanted A1C very big on A1C. I wanted that for metabolic syndrome and your triglycerides. I look at lipids. I look at cholesterol numbers. I do, but I look at them much differently because I don't care if you've got high cholesterol. As a matter of fact, I do. I want you to have high cholesterol, but I specifically look at triglycerides and fat balls in your blood, what those numbers are and what your HDL is. It's very important that ratio there.
So when you ask me about live blood, yeah. You want to get it done? Okay. But take it with a grain of salt. And I mean that. Take it with a grain of salt because you want to get a real good look at a patient and I used it as a tool. Okay? I used it as a tool. I could show people a mast cell. Well, you got allergies. Look at your mast cell. They go, " How did you know that?" "Well, I'm looking at your mast cells." I could show people oftentimes, I said, "Boy, your immune system's working really well." "How do you know that, doc? ""Well, look at your white blood cell chasing the bacteria around in your blood." What a show. Okay? So that's what I would do, guys. And then he gives me his numbers. Okay? So his A1C is fantastic. It's at 5.1. That's fantastic A1C, Richard. Okay?
Now, I got your numbers of your triglycerides. Hold on a minute. I think you might've made a mistake. Okay? I want you to go look at this again because it seems to me you got the wrong line here because you're saying your triglycerides are very high. 4.72. That's very high triglycerides. You know with your A1C? No, it's possible. I have trouble buying that. I think you got your numbers wrong there. Your HDL is 3.38, but your triglycerides, according to you, are 4.72. Look at it again, Richard, and send it to me info@martinclinic.com because I think you got that wrong, but maybe you're weird. But with an A1C, usually a 5.1, that's superstar status. And to have that high of triglycerides, I got trouble with that. But maybe you're right. Like I said, maybe Richard and I, I don't mean this, but you're weird.
I used to tell my patients that. You're weird. Why? Because you have numbers that nobody else has. You're weird. And then I was told, Dr. Martin, don't call anybody weird. That might be offensive. I remember a lady told me that once in the office, "That's offensive." I said, "Okay, you're unique." Okay. In my head, I'm going, "You're weird." But in my mouth, I said, "You're unique. I don't want to offend you." I remember telling patients in my office, okay? "Don't donate your body to science because you'll confuse them. "You had to have a sense of humor with me. Okay? Sometimes people had no sense of humor. "Dr. Martin, you're not funny." "Oh, I used to have fun in the office." "Okay. That was Richard." Hi, Richard.
Okay, and Celine. How are you, Celine? "My dad has recently been diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma." Okay, that's a terrible disease for sure. It's a cancer. It's the protective lining in your lung. And one of the biggest things, and we used to see it in Northern Ontario, was we saw this cancer because of asbestos. I mean, probably billions of dollars of claims had been paid for people that got that type of cancer, and they were exposed to asbestos. Who's got a Celine? That's your dad. Okay. Well, look, it's a terrible disease. It's usually not good. By the time you get this, I mean, if it was me, I'd be doing everything like I would do with any cancer, especially with mesothelioma and with the lungs, I'd have them on quercetin, curcumin, high levels of vitamin D, no sugar, don't feed the beast. Probiotics, why? Because I usually saw whenever I seen anything in lungs, there usually was a fungus related. Some people say that all cancers are fungal based. I don't necessarily disagree with that. I was big on getting your vitamin D levels optimized so that your body would fight, but it's a terrible cancer and usually very advanced by the time they diagnose it. Okay? That was Celine and Celine, we're praying for your daddy, okay? High DHA too.
Chantal, okay. For celiac, gluten, they're being tested. Yes, I thought I did this last week. Let me go over it again. Okay? Because I talked about it this week again, Chantal, because let me just see. I called it gluten-schmooten. Okay? This came this week, okay? So I talked about it either Monday or Tuesday. I don't remember what day it was, but the microbiome is the biggest frontier of medicine. You remember that? You'll be able to re-listen to this because I talk about something I've been talking about a long time, the microbiome, but medicine is still, don't talk about it. But they're showing that when you take an antibiotic, especially in the first two years of life, this is the research on it, okay? Antibiotics in the first year of life, it's like carpet bombing. I've used that expression before. It carpet bombs your microbiome. It causes a condition called leaky gut, and leaky gut can give you leaky brain. It can give you leaky skin. It can give you leaky lungs. It can give you leaky sinuses. It can give you leaky joints. It can give you leaky almost everything.
So it carpet bombs, and according to the biggest study done on the microbiome with the Mayo Clinic, this is what they said in kids under the age of two that have taken an antibiotic, and the more they've taken it, the worse it is. But here's what they said, okay? Just to give you. You usually get an overgrowth. They say bacteria, I say fungus. Okay? Then 20% increase in obesity, 21% increase in learning disability. So what they did, they took all the antibiotic patients under the age of two, they looked at all their history, and then compared to those who didn't take it, here's the results. 20% increase in obesity. What's obesity got to do with your microbiome? Well, the microbiome, it's invisible, but it's huge. It messes you up when you carpet bomb your microbiome. And guys, I've been talking about that for 40 years or more. Okay? 21% increase in learning disability, 32% increase in ADD and ADHD, 90% increase in asthma.
And then you add Tylenol and asthma in children, unbelievable. 300% increase in celiac. Okay? 300% increase in celiac. So Chantal, think about that. That's why I said gluten schmooten because I used to say, yeah, but it's leaky gut. It's the microbiome. It got carpet bombed. I used to say this, but now the Mayo Clinic is saying it. 300% increase. Like celiac, I learned celiac when I was in school in the '70s. It was rare. Crohn's. Rare. Not anymore. The gut problems, the autoimmune problem, gluten schmooten, 300% increase in Crohn's. I always said, antibiotics, the greatest discovery of the 20th century has become the curse of the 21st. I said it before the end of the 20th century. I said it. It's a double-edged sword. Antibiotics can save your life. Hallelujah that we have them. I told you about 1928, Dr. Fleming who discovered them. He said be careful. Don't overuse it.
In 1928, he said bacteria will develop a resistance and you will get super bugs. In 1928, he said it. He discovered antibiotic. Greatest discovery in medicine, my opinion. Really is. Okay? So am I against them? No. But I'll tell you, if a baby needs to take an antibiotic, especially the baby, they're are little canaries in the coal mine, you need to replenish that bacteria. You need to renew it and regenerate. I'm telling you. And if you're an adult and you got carpet bombed, carpet bombing, it only takes five days. You'll wipe out all your microbiome. You'll wipe out the bad guys, but you'll wipe out the good guys. And that disrupts the microbiome. Now, there's other things that disrupt the microbiome, but I said it leaky gut, and that's why I said the link in my opinion to autism. Okay? I was consistent about it. Okay, that was Chantal.
Okay, Carmel, how are you? "Which stress would cause anxieties?" Oh, a hundred percent. For sure. Okay? You can get full-blown panic attacks. It's cortisol. Okay? Just understand what cortisol is. Okay? Just a little refresher. Cortisol is this. That's cortisol. Cortisol is your stress hormone, and that's all right. When it secretes, somebody's scaring you, somebody's bothering you, and you want to punch or run. Okay. And cortisol in the right dosage comes out of your adrenal glands, ad renal on top of kidneys. You got two little glands. They secrete cortisol and that's normal. Wakes you up in the morning, gets your blood sugar going, gets your blood pressure going. You come out of your sleep. Cortisol, that's part of your circadian rhythm. It's normal. No problem on your side. No problem. Until it never stops dripping. Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip of cortisol.
What does that do? It's not meant to be. Now you don't sleep. If you don't sleep, your cortisol is high. Your cortisol's high, you don't sleep. You don't get into recuperative sleep. And think of what it does. Cortisol's that diversion. It takes your blood supply. Instead of going everywhere, it sort of focuses it in on your stomach. You get butterfly. You're wired, but tired. I saw chronic fatigue syndrome. Big time, wired, but tired. And they never got into that recuperative sleep, but the cortisol was high. It's a diversion and it pours gasoline on the fire of inflammation inside the body. And yeah, you can escalate into full-blown panic attacks. I've seen it. I was going to say a million times, but okay, maybe not quite that, but a lot. Okay? So what do you ask? Let me see the question because I got going. Dizziness. Her son has it. Okay? You better believe it. It can happen to young people. Big time. Okay. Dizziness, funny head, cotton brain. We used to call it cotton brain. Pain, unexplained. Big time. Plays with your hormone. Plays with the brain. Plays with circulation. Plays with all of the above. Okay? Get on the cortisol formula. 100% you need that. Probably very low. Going to try them with B12. Yeah, for sure. Vitamin D for sure. Yep. Shortness of breath. Yep. I got a lot of stuff.
Okay, one more. Okay, Carol, here we go. Last question of the day. We're going to get it done. "Baby, six weeks old, seems to have digestive discomfort later in the day." Well, you've got a little bit of baby tummy. I've seen a lot of that over the years. Mommy, are you breastfeeding? Because that's important. After C-section, the microbiome might not be there. You take probiotic. That'll help babies if you're breastfeeding. And if you're not in the bottle, I put a little bit of powder, a probiotic in the bottle. It's good for the baby. Okay? Put some probiotic around your nipple if the baby is breastfeeding and probably got colicky of some form. But I used to find, yeah, mommy might've been on antibiotics for the baby and there's a C-section and the baby doesn't go through the birth canal and they might not have put the mucus on the face and they need that, but that doesn't mean you can't help. You can certainly help. I found that to be very helpful. Okay? Doing what I just told you to do. You do it, mommy. Okay. That was Carol. Thanks for the question.
Okay, guys, we're done. Got them all done. Okay. Now, anybody that I called weird, I meant unique. Okay? But next week, okay, what have we got next week? We'll be on Monday, Lord willing. New Year's is Thursday. So just like this week, we'll take New Year's Day off, hopefully beyond the rest of the week and Q&A Friday the 2nd. Okay? That's the plan. Guys, we love you, dearly, thanks for coming on with us, sending your questions. Talk to you soon.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!