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. Once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day and we appreciate you coming on. Bill is asking, "I have read that you should cycle herbs off and on like ashwagandha that's in your cortisol control, so you don't develop a tolerance to them. Not sure if I believe this but would like your opinion." Well, Bill, look, I don't buy that. Look, there's a lot of people that talk about that. They talk about probiotic. Don't take them every day. You're going to develop a tolerance, and you going to take too much, no. Look, ashwagandha, I've loved for a long time. I mean, when you look at cortisol control, I got a lot of things in there. Okay? Tony Jr. and I, we formulate and I just never seen, well, you know what? I developed a tolerance to that, therefore I got to take a break.
Look, in my personal opinion, and I'm very opinionated, I haven't seen that. Okay? Not only for cortisol control, but like curcumin, for example. I take it every day. Pine bark extract. I take it seven days a week and I'm not kidding you for 30 something years. I never developed a tolerance to it. I just take it every day. I feel better. I've seen what it's done for me and then I've seen what is done for tens of thousands of other people. Remember, I'm not a researcher in the sense of doing research in a lab. I had a clinic. I was a clinician. That's where my experience comes from. So look, I read those things too and Bill, it's not been my experience. When you're taking something, find it effective. Stay on it.
Okay, Al is asking. Okay? He was at his functional doctor's office, "to review my test on vitamin D levels. I was taking one to two drops a day. That's 2000 units or one to 2000. However, I stopped taking the drops in 2025 when I found out my levels were 375, then tested again. It was 591. Went to Florida, came back. Can you advise this level?" Look, first of all, guys, first of all, vitamin D and toxicity is way overblown. I've taught you that. Way overblown. As I've said, nobody ever, not even once has died from too much vitamin D. Never happened. There's no cases of it ever written anywhere. Now, I'll give you the research. Six months, six months, every day, seven days a week, taking 50,000. Al, you were taking one or 2,000 IUs. Any functional doctor, anyone that has had any history of vitamin D would tell you that's a low dose of vitamin D.
Now, let me get back to what I was saying. Six months, every day, they've done it. Research. 50,000 IUs. They didn't even get toxic. On 50,000. Now, I'm not telling you to take 50,000 IUs, although I would if you want to do a hammer. You know what should happen in every person that enters the hospital? Everyone. The doctor should give you 50,000 IUs of vitamin D a day while you're there. 50,000. You know why? It'll boost up your immune system. So look, there's reasons sometimes that your levels in the blood get high. Okay? Let me give you a few that I've seen over the years. Hyperparathyroid. Okay? You got para on the sides of your thyroid gland. They're called parathyroid glands. They're just the size of a pee, but they help to regulate your calcium in your blood. Okay? You don't want too much calcium in your blood. I teach you that all the time. Calcium is good if it's in your bones and in your teeth. It's not good when it's in your blood, especially at high level. Hypercalcinemia, not good.
So look, that could be a reason that your parathyroids are off. I've seen a lot of people with autoimmune and their vitamin D levels could be high because of that. I've seen it in certain cancers where their vitamin D levels might be high in a lymphoma, for example. I've seen it in sarcoidosis, which is an autoimmune. I've seen it in tuberculosis, but, and this is a big but. The vast majority of people, their vitamin D levels are low. If yours are high, there's something usually going on. And it doesn't mean it's dangerous. It just means here's symptoms where you got too much vitamin D. Okay? Possibly symptoms. What could happen? Okay. If you're toxic with vitamin D, you're going to be vomiting, severe nausea, confused, and like delirious. They just never see it.
Look, vitamin D levels in the blood, I love looking at dehydroxy. I've had patients, seriously, that have been in the 500 levels, 600 levels. Did I tell them to pack their bags and get ready to die? No. I said, no, we'll back off supplementation for a bit, but I'm not worried about toxicity. I really am not. They've made that a huge, huge issue. And doctors bought it because what happened, and this is because of bad math. This is how they got to 400. When I was in school in the 70s, you know what the number of vitamin D was? 400. No, actually it was 200 IUs. 200 IUs a mouse can't survive on that, but they miscalculated. It was a math error. Now, I'm no good in math, but they made a big booboo in math. And then they said, "Oh, we better, yeah, that's not enough. We better go to 400 IUs. 400 IUs. Again, a mouse doesn't survive on that. And then, "Oh, we better be careful, but we were wrong about the math. We better go to a thousand IUs."
And in Canada, that's what they want. They don't want you to take a supplement that has more than a thousand IUs in it. "You're going to die." It's just the opposite. So look, you either have some kind of issue, autoimmune or whatever. If you feel good, I wouldn't even worry about it for five seconds. Look, I would rather you get your vitamin D from the sun. I would rather, but good luck with that if you're living anywhere other than Florida and Arizona and California. But you know what's funny? And the people in the southern states, they're scared skinny of the sun. That's been my experience lathering up with sunscreen. You want to talk about carcinogenic? Sunscreen. And listen, when the FDA pulls a sunscreen, it's bad. For them to tell Johnson & Johnson and other companies, you better pull that sunscreen. It's really bad. I mean, seriously bad. They never react to those things or overreact to them. Anyway, okay. I hope I answered your question. That was Al.
Claude. "I have a shaved head." Okay. "What would you recommend to use as a sunblock?" A hat. You're going in the sun? A hat. You're going in the ocean. Strap a hat on. You're going to be in the water? Look, don't burn. Okay? Cover up. But don't use sunscreen, please. You want to use a natural one? There's some natural ones with zinc. You could rub into your head and it won't hurt you. Remember, when you rub something into your skin, it's going in. I mean, that's why they have so many medications today and patches and whatever. It's going through your skin. That's why you put heat and those sunblockers and sunscreens. My word, that's a bad experiment. Adding heat to a chemical. Look, coconut oil. It's a good oil. But the best is to cover up. Your solar panels, by the way, are not your head. They're your arms and your legs. Expose them to the sun for at least 20 minutes or more. Okay, that was Claude. Thank you.
Jo. She's 54 years old and in good health. Still perimenopause. Okay. Let me see. Okay. You're doing everything that I like, Jo. She's using Anna's wild yam cream for progesterone. Look, guys, wild yam is not a bioidentical. A bioidentical is made from that, but it's an extract of that. And it really is a 100% mimics your progesterone. Now, wild yam itself and the cream, it's all right. I'm not against it, but it's not a bioidentical. I did bioidenticals for years, guys, hormones. Okay? I used progesterone on tens of thousands of women when I was in practice. And the menopausal formula that we have dims out the extra estrogen, the xenoestrogens, and it elevates your natural progesterone in your body. But I love progesterone. And with you, Jo, look, you're in good shape. You're in good health. I'm not too worried about it. Okay? I really wouldn't be too worried, but if you weren't feeling good, I love the way you're eating. You're keeping your insulin levels good. You're doing everything. I would tell you to make sure you're dimming out the extra estrogen. Make sure you're doing that. Dim either with flax seeds or with the menopausal formula, Jo, okay? Thank you. Good question. Appreciate it.
Cindy. Again, okay. So Cindy got high range of vitamin D levels. So I answered the question already, Cindy. You can cut back a bit on your vitamin D supplementation. That's what I would do. And as soon as the sun comes out, get in the sun. You'll never overdose on the sun as far as vitamin D is concerned. You can overdose on the sun and get burnt. I don't want that. Try and avoid that. But what do they call those things on the trucks? You can see it on the back of a transport or whatever. We can't go past 60 miles an hour or a hundred kilometers an hour. What do they call that? Your body has that inside your body. You get out in the sun. I don't care if you're there for 10 hours. The amount of vitamin D will be topped up and then that's it. You can't overdose on vitamin D from the sun. It's an impossibility. Somebody said that. What was it called? I don't know.
Somebody give me, what was that thing stinking called? A governor. That's what it was called. A governor. Your body has a governor. You can't overdose on vitamin D from the sun. You have a governor. See, Denise said it's called a governor. Sylvia, a governor. Beverly, a governor. You want to know why I love my audience? They're smart. You guys. Here's what I do a couple of times a day. I pull out my senior card. Okay? I pull out my senior card and I use it all the time when I forget. Okay? I go here. No wonder I forgot. I'm a senior. But my hamsters on the treadmill up in the brain, they were just running. What is that called again? What is that called? And go back into the, oh, governor, okay.
Janice, "can you discuss red light therapy?" Red light therapy is a low wavelength infrared light. And it seems to be like a new kid on the block now for hair loss, skin. I'm not against it. I'm not against it. How effective it is? Well, listen, I don't know. I use laser in my office. I knew the laser was quite effective. Infrared, low, wavelength. I don't know how good it is. I'm not against it though. Not against it. That's all I'm going to say about it because I don't have a lot of information on it. And that was Janice. Thanks, Janice, for the question.
Kathy. TSH was up and wondering why. Well, could be a lot of things. And Kathy, if you followed me for any length of time here, you know that I'm more interested when it comes to the thyroid because there's so many strings attached to it. It's not that I don't look at a TSH. Okay? I do. If you have TSH, I look at it. But I never look at TSH or T3 or T4 without symptoms. When I was in my clinic, I had, I'm not kidding you. Thousands and thousands of ladies come in and their TSH was normal, and yet they had every symptom of a thyroid malfunction. Hair loss, sometimes depression and anxiety, dry skin, eyebrows thinning out, cold hands, cold feet. Their metabolism was into a coma. They looked at food sideways and they gained weight. I saw that and yet the doctor said, "Dr. Martin, my doctor said my thyroid was normal." Well, your doctor, God love them. They got it wrong. And I'll tell you why they got it wrong, because they got hijacked by the TSA test.
See, what happens with doctors, and it's their training. It never used to be, but it is now. They rely on blood work. Now, I love blood work. You guys know that. I talk about blood work all the time. Do I love blood work? You bet your boots, I love blood work. But I love information from my patients. And when it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck when it comes to your thyroid. Okay? So you're giving me numbers. They seem to be off. Okay? And you're worried about it, Kathy. Me? No. Unless you have symptoms. How are you feeling? What are your symptoms? I need that, Kathy, to give you a good answer because you give me numbers. I sort of have a range of numbers that I like to look at at TSH. I write about this in my book, Sun Steak and Steel, and it's a sweet spot for me. And the reason is because of all my experience with looking at blood work and then seeing patients. Okay? But always exceptions.
And like I said, symptoms when it comes to thyroid trump your blood work. I don't get hooked on it. I want to know how you feel. It's really important. Your symptoms are very important because you might be perfectly normal and your blood work's not showing me that as far as thyroid is concerned. And one of the reasons I got to just tell you why that can happen, because your thyroid, as we say here on the Doctor Is In podcast, your thyroid, it's got a lot of strings attached to it. There's so many things. The thyroid is finicky because it's attached, ladies, to your ovaries. It's very much attached to your estrogen and progesterone levels. It's very much attached to your adrenals, your cortisol. It's very much attached to your liver because T4 gets converted to T3 mostly in the liver. And if you have fatty liver, that can affect your thyroid. This is why I always start with diet. Always start with diet. Fix your diet.
You got thyroid problems? Yes. We can help. Big time. But you need to start with your diet. Your liver is gummed up and you're not converting. Your thyroid only uses T3 and you're not converting to T4 to T3. Your body's not absorbed. It's so hypersensitive your thyroid because it's got a lot of strings attached. It starts up, guys, in the brain, the hypothalamus. So there's a lot of things attached to the thyroid gland. So Kathy, if you don't mind, give me your symptoms. Send them to info@martinclinic.com. Remind me that I answered your question, Kathy. Blood work, but now I want your symptoms. Okay? And then I'll be able to give you a better answer because that is really key. Okay? Thank you.
Thomas, "my wife and I get heavy cream from a local farm." Okay. "I believe it is somewhat pasteurized." Well, look, yeah, look at, this is my opinion, guys. Okay? Pasteurization has been overblown. You're never going to change their minds about pasteurization because they're so worried that you're going to drink milk from a cow and get sick. It's 99% the other way. This is why I've always said when I was in my clinic and on my radio show and on my podcast The Doctor Is In, I've always said this. You got a cow in the backyard? Drink milk. Otherwise, don't drink it. Now, you want to put a little cream in your coffee and it's cream and it's pasteurized. Of course, it's pasteurized. Unless your farmer gave you right out of the cow. Okay? It's the way it is in North America, guys. And do not hold your breath. There's people trying to push that we can get literal cow milk, non-pasteurized. Don't hold your breath. When it comes to the public health units, all they see are bugs.
Why do you think we got shut down during COVID? Well, you left it to people who are bug crazy. It's a virus. Close everything. Right? I was talking about your immune system. And why did I do that? Because your body's immune system, that's why you have it. You're surrounded if you only could see the amount of bacteria you're surrounded by. And I don't care how many times you wash your hands. I'm not saying don't wash your hands. I'm just telling you, you have no idea. You are surrounded by bacteria and viruses. The point isn't the bacteria and viruses. The point is your immune system. That's medicine. That's public health. You think you're going to change their minds on that? They don't even talk about your immune system. We got bad bugs around. Yeah. And there always has been bad bugs and there always will be.
As a matter of fact, they will get worse because of all the antibiotics we're using. But guys, don't lose sleep over that. Make sure your immune system is good. Why do you think I talk about vitamin D all the time? Why do you think you know what'll turn off your T-cells is a lack of vitamin D and feeding them sugar. Anyhoo. Why did I go on that diatribe? Oh, because Thomas wanted to know if you could drink cream from a local farmer. Yeah. Okay? Put it in your coffee. But here's what I want you to drink, Thomas. I want you to drink coffee and water. Cream. Yeah. Save it for Dr. Martin's perfect smoothie. It's perfect. Okay? You can drink that too. It's a meal replacement. It's good for your kids. They'll think they went to McDonald's and had a shake.
Okay. I think I answered everything. Collette, I answered your question about bacon is carcinogenic, right? Yeah, I did on Friday. I went on a 20-minute diatribe on that. Bacon is carcinogenic. Oh. But they'd have you eat a granola bar. They'd have you have cereal. Okay? That's better than bacon. No, it's not. We're done. Okay, this week, as far as I know, okay? As far as I know, we are going to do morning sessions all week. Okay? That's the plan. It's always subject to change. Okay? I try and be consistent, guys. I really do. Okay? I've been doing this for a long time. I really try and go live at the most popular time. Okay? I really do. Okay. We love you guys. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. We appreciate it.
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!