Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners in today's episode.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
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Dr. Martin: Well, good morning everyone. Once again, welcome to another live this morning. We appreciate you guys coming on when you can. Took a little break on Friday. Did you miss me? Well, I missed you guys. Okay. This is from Celine and she's asking about her mom, been experiencing dizziness, lightheadedness for a long time. Fainting episodes over the last year and a half. Look, generally, Celine, unless you do a full workup, I'm just going to give you some ideas that I saw when people were lightheaded. Usually they were deficient. B12 was not optimized. Usually their ferritin was in the low end. It might have been normal, but in the low end, they weren't absorbing iron the way they should have and those are big, big factors. Usually another thing is, and this happens so much in seniors, they're not eating enough protein. And without enough protein, their body, their whole system, it's really undernourished.
And seniors, oftentimes they don't consume enough steak. They don't eat enough eggs. They don't get enough of that protein and fat that their body needs. When you talk about, for example, vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, but they're often very low in that. And that can create an imbalance. Now, you might have something also in the middle ear. If your mother has got any deafness, that can be a factor there too. But even then, I would really look at all those deficiencies. I really like Navitol because it's blood flow into the middle ear and even crosses the blood brain barrier into the brain. But all of the above there, Celine, so.
Grace is talking about her TSH going from 3 to 11 in one year. The doctor wants to put her on Synthroid and she doesn't know why it went up. Well, look, I mean, first of all, Grace, this is really important. And I think you might know this, but I'm going to go over it because the thyroid, first of all, is a puppet. It's got a lot of strings attached. Now, usually when numbers like the TSH. Remember, TSH is not coming from your thyroid. It's coming from your hypothalamus and down to your pituitary. And that tells the thyroid to stimulate. So what's happening when your numbers go way up? It's the brain, okay? The hypothalamus trying to communicate with the thyroid, and the thyroid is not listening. It's not producing enough T4 to be converted to T3. Now, there could be a lot of reasons for that.
And I sort of became a thyroid specialist in my office because of the tens of thousands, especially women, falling through the cracks because they didn't feel good. Their blood work might have been normal or it might have been abnormal and they're on Synthroid or Levitroxine and they're still not feeling good. Well, it's complicated, but it can be fixed. So first of all, Grace, I would ask you, what are your symptoms? What are you feeling? Are you exhausted? What is your hair like? What are your eyebrows like? What is your skin like? What is your metabolism like? I used to get patients, they come in, they say, "Doc, my metabolism isn't slow. It's in a coma." Okay? So I'm a big guy one, especially the thyroid because it is a puppet and there's a lot of things attached to it, including ovaries in women, estrogen dominance, adrenals. The cortisol has a big effect on the thyroid. Insulin has a big effect on the thyroid.
And let me give you another thing because I just talked about it before with imbalance. One of the things that I found with women, okay?Again, I'm not saying that men can't get thyroid problems, but it's extremely rare. That ought to be a clue, guys. Why do men have much less problems with their thyroid than women do? Well, women are complicated. Okay? They're complicated much more than a man. There's a lot of moving parts in a woman. Estrogen is a big factor when it's not balanced with progesterone. It's a huge factor. But here, let me say this. When I had any woman with a thyroid problem, believe it or not, I started with food because I'm telling you what happens. And again, I'm going to make a generalized statement. It's not always true. So don't come back at me for that. Okay? Generally, here's what I found. Women today especially, they don't eat near enough protein. They just don't. Now, maybe my audience does because they understand the importance of it.
But this happened in the last 50 years, maybe even the last 40 years. Women started buying the lie of fat, that fat makes you fat. So they started eating fat free, and the majority of their plate, again, generally, was made up of the plant kingdom rather than the animal kingdom. The vast majority, and your thyroid depends on more than anything else, the amount of protein and fat that you consume. And if you happen to be the canary in the coal mine and your system is fragile, to start off with your thyroid, for example, it depends big time on nutrition. Sugar destroys the thyroid. Fruits and vegetables, they're good, but they don't support the thyroid, not the way protein and animal fat does. Remember, the conversion, mostly the conversion of T4 to T3. Remember, we're talking TSH. Well, that's up here. That's up in the brain. Whereas the conversion of T4 to T3 occurs in the liver.
And if you're eating a lot of carbs and crappy carbohydrates, especially, and sugar, the liver's getting gummed up and now you're not converting the way you should, T4 to T3. I always started every patient that I ever saw with any kind. In the numbers, look, I had a sweet spot for TSH, but at the end of the day, if you came into my office, you were filling out a questionnaire on your symptoms of thyroid. Whenever I taught physicians or health practitioners, I always taught them this. Symptoms trump blood work. Okay? Because blood work, unfortunately, for a physician, the training today is this. Blood work, everything. And they got hijacked. My dad used to tell me, "Listen to your patient. They have inside information. Be observant." If they're not feeling good and their lab work is within normal limits, well, their symptoms trump that lab work. Look, lab work I like, guys. I do. You know that.
In my book, Sun Steak and Steel, what did I tell you to do? Well, there's eight blood tests that I want you to get. Absolutely I do. I believe in it. Absolutely I do. But, and this is a big but. Symptoms trump blood work. And my dad used to say, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck when it comes to the thyroid. And I found once I flipped a patient, and again, ladies, I'm picking on you this morning. Once I flipped their diet, once I said, look, you're flipping and you're going to thank me later. You won't thank me now because you're thinking I'm crazier than a hoot owl. But I'm telling you, protein is king. Animal protein is king. It's the king of the castle. And I'm going to show you for your thyroid that those carbs are the dirty rascal. And you need to trust me, and I'm going to show you how much better you feel. We're going to change fuel. Your thyroid don't like the fuel you're eating. It's not enough for it.
I went to the gas station yesterday. Okay? What do I know? 87 is the cheapest. Well, there's 85 too. Okay? But for your body, you want high octane. And guys, I've been teaching this and teaching this and teaching this, not only to my patients, but on my radio show and the podcast. You guys know this consistent, consistent. But I thought I'd mention it today. Well, Grace, grace to you. But listen, that is a real key. Okay? It's not the only thing, but it's a real key. Now, as far as meds, I need to know all your symptoms, Grace, because I could give you a little bit better because you're asking the question, why? Why does that happen? Well, do you have autoimmune? Do you have Hashimoto's? It's possible, but I need to know all your symptoms because the thyroid numbers, again, it's not that I don't look at them. I absolutely do.
But I need to know what's happening because your symptoms are really important when it comes to any kind of diagnosis of the thyroid. But I'm telling you that the vast majority of women, they are deficient in animal fat and protein. They just don't get the amino acids that that thyroid needs, including selenium, which is a mineral that comes out of the animal kingdom. And you can get selenium in Brazilian nuts. Well, what are you going to do? Eat a hundred of them to get the amount you'll get in steak or in egg or in dairy? And the whole world went stupid. They went saturated stupid. And the thyroid has paid a price for that.They went saturated stupid because the thyroid needs animal protein to work properly. It does not work properly on a vegetarian, low fat, no animal fat, no vitamin D, very low B12, low selenium diet. It just don't. Okay. That was Grace. Thank you, Grace.
Theresa. Theresa's worried I'm going to get a migraine. I love you guys because you listen. Okay? And she's worried I'm going to get a migraine because she's going to talk to me about coffee. Okay? I've never heard of it. What's coffee? Well, it's the real vitamin C. And here's what she's asked. Theresa says, "I hope I don't give you a headache. But is it true that drinking caffeine on an empty stomach before food can spike your cortisol levels?" Yes and no. Okay. Cortisol, by the way, is always going to be high. If your body is following its natural circadian rhythm, cortisol is needed in the morning, okay? You need it to wake you up. Cortisol's not a bad guy until it becomes a bad guy when it doesn't get turned off. Okay? Coffee is good for your adrenals. "On an empty stomach, doc?" On an empty stomach. It don't matter.
You know what it is, guys? I hate to be negative. And actually, Theresa, by you telling me, I hope I don't give you a headache. I didn't get a headache, although one was coming on. There's so many people. You have to understand, Theresa, I've been around 50 years and more in this alternative medicine business that I'm in. Okay? I've been around a long time. And you should have heard in the 1970s how they went after coffee. It's acidic. It's bad. It's a diuretic. They still say it today. Okay? They still say it today. And then you got gurus. Well, don't drink coffee in the morning, even though millions and millions and millions and millions of people do. Don't drink coffee in the morning because it's going to elevate your cortisol. Yeah. Cortisol is elevated without coffee because cortisol's supposed to be elevated in the morning. That's why I used to tell my diabetic, "Would you stop taking your blood sugar first thing in the morning?" It's not an accurate reading. It's going to be high in the morning, or at least it should be. I don't want to know it. Don't tell me it.
Now, in midday or later on in the afternoon, you take your blood sugar. Okay. Now I need to know that. Okay? Because that's much more accurate. Coffee, guys, it don't make your cortisol go up higher than what you need. It's good for you. It's a supplement. God gave you a gift to drink. He gave you water and coffee. I have to give it up to say tea, but tea is not coffee. Tea isn't coffee. It's all right. It's got a lot of oxalates, but it ain't coffee. So I know for the rest of my days, I'm going to hear it. There'll always be negative on coffee. There's just people. They live to be negative on coffee. Some of my colleagues have the same degree as me. Degrees. They don't like coffee, but they're wrong in all due respect. They're wrong. So I didn't get a migraine. I almost did. Theresa? But no.
And by the way, you talked about how about belly fat and cortisol? Well, I'm going to tell you what coffee really does, and I've been preaching this for 40 years. Coffee is like metformin. You know what metformin is? It's a diabetic drug. Okay? Coffee, especially when you drink it with a meal, it helps to regulate your blood sugar. That is unbelievable, guys. And when you regulate blood sugar, of course, you're helping lose fat. Visceral fat. Belly fat. Coffee's good for that. So it's the opposite of what one of the gurus that you were listening to. And by the way, Teresa, just for generalization here, I'm happy you listened to other people. God gave you a brain. Use it. Right? Use it. And I listen to other people. Okay? But when they're not making sense, when the evidence is overwhelming on the benefits of coffee, it's overwhelming, guys. It's crazy how many hundreds and hundreds of studies there are on the benefits of coffee. It's the real vitamin C. You guys know that. I talk about that all the time.
And I'm not changing my mind because I've seen the results of it. Enjoy. Don't wait in the morning. Why would you wait? Like I said, for me, I'm a habit guy. Form good habits, guys. So here's Dr. Martin. I get up in the morning, I'm thinking coffee. What? I'm thinking about it. But I have 16 ounces or a half a liter of water before I drink a coffee. I just won't allow myself, and that's a habit I've been into for many, many moons. And I'm telling you, I know it's right. I know what the body needs, and that's what I do. I cannot allow myself to drink a coffee, even though that's what I want before I have my water. And I turned hundreds of thousands of people around in habits. And one of them is you get up in the morning, you drink water, and then you have your coffee and enjoy it. It's a supplement. You need it. There you go. That was Theresa. So Teresa, I avoided a migraine.
Okay, Suzanne wants to know more about polymyalgia rheumatica. Well, that is autoimmune. Poly. Okay? Poly means many, many places. I've seen polymyalgia rheumatica many, many a times in my office, comes out of nowhere. Usually I found usually some kind of trauma, stress. The immune system sort of gets messed up and out of nowhere you get polymyalgia rheumatica. And some have said it's maybe viral, maybe. I think it's just the body sort of turns on itself. It is autoimmune and you have inflammation everywhere. I had patients come in with polymyalgia rheumatica and they couldn't even button up their shirt They couldn't lift their arms. It was so severe. Oftentimes it'll burn itself out. I had a protocol that I would use in my office that started with probiotic because I always believed in polymyalgia rheumatica, that there was a leaky gut involved. Always saw that, believe that, I fixed that. An anti-inflammatory diet, eggs, meat, and cheese. Very anti-inflammatory, guys. Okay? I love curcumin with Navitol, with coffee, very anti-inflammatory, and all of those above. I saw a lot of that. What's the real cause? That's leaky gut for sure. I always found, like I said, there was some kind of a real stressful event or whatever. It's almost like shingles where you get the herpes virus gets activated. Well, always, usually it's a very stressful event and then your body is susceptible and boom, it comes out of nowhere.
Okay. Joanne, I got to get to this because I never really listened. She's asking me to listen to a podcast, Dr. Sean Stevenson. I never heard of him, but I'm going to look it up and I am going to listen to the podcast you're talking about. She had a guest talking about vitamin D and says vitamin D, their sleep was not good. They had burning hands and feet. You have to take B5 with vitamin D. Well, I'll listen so I get the story exactly like she said it. I've got no problem listening to it, but let me tell you something ahead of time just because this is without knowing exactly what she said. Like B5, look, I'm not big on taking B5. I don't think you need to. Not if you're eating steak. You got B5. You eating eggs, meat, and cheese? You're getting all the B vitamins. Now, the one that I really like out of all the B vitamins and the vast majority of people are not optimized in B12. Now that's the one that I would say before B5.
And sleep, absolutely. B12 is more important than B5, but I'm not against B vitamins. I'm not. But I want you to eat them before supplementing with them. Okay? I wasn't very specific in the office other than B12 because I wanted people to eat. They weren't eating enough of the eggs, meat, and cheese. And because of that, they were deficient in B vitamins. Like B vitamins are found in the plant kingdom, not B12, really. Well, there's enough for a mouse in the plant kingdom. B vitamins, there's enough for a mouse on the plant kingdom. You're going to be missing out. You need the animal kingdom. Where have you heard that before? Okay. Almost done, I think. But Joanne, I will listen.
Joanne's asking. Well, I don't know if it's the same, Joanne. Okay? Sarcoidosis. Yes. Autoimmune, lungs. It doesn't have to be in the lungs, but often is in the lung sarcoidosis. And I believe sarcoidosis is an autoimmune leaky gut 100%. Usually a fungal overgrowth that gets into the lungs, but elsewhere it can get into the legs, it can get in. Sarcoidosis can be in a lot of different places, including the stomach. But again, I always looked at the origin and I always saw in the patients that I saw an overgrowth of yeast or fungus, leaky gut. And they happen to be the canary in the coal mine. I really believe that a lot of it is the overuse of antibiotics. And you got environmental factors and you got different things. Okay? What vitamins can be taken? Joanne's asking for sarcoidosis. Well, you start with probiotics, fix the leaky gut and don't feed the bears. Get off the sugars completely. You need vitamin D usually. Lungs, really important. Vitamin D. Quercetin, very, very good. Antihistamine, very, very good for the lungs. I like combining that with the pine bark extract Navitol. Okay?
Claude, "how much flaxseed a male and female to block estrogen?" And remember what flax seed does. It blocks xenoestrogens. You need estrogen. Man, no. Well, you need a little bit. Women, you need estrogen. Okay? I'm not talking about that. You need a balance between estrogen and progesterone, but it's the xenoestrogens that elevate and mimic estrogen. That's what you want to block. Tablespoon a day of flaxseeds. I love that because of lignans. They actually are very therapeutic. And guys, I wouldn't tell you that unless I saw it in my office. I used to measure estrogen. Okay. I think I'm done. I think, Nance, I thought I answered this about leaky gut. Does it completely go away? I've seen it go away, absolutely. But I still tell you to stay on probiotic. You got to renew, regenerate, and replenish those probiotics. I believe that on a daily basis. Now I remember answering that.
Okay. I think I got everything. Okay. So here's the plan for the week. Okay? Just saying to you guys, because you tune in almost every day or every day. Tomorrow, afternoon, Thursday afternoon. That's what I'm planning. Okay? And the others will be Wednesday, Friday morning session. Okay? That's the plan. Okay. We love you guys. 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!