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. And once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a wonderful, wonderful start to your day. Okay. Kathy is asking this question. "Would love to know how high blood pressure medications work." Good question. Well, there's different types. Okay Kathy, different types of blood pressure medications and they reduce blood volume some and those are diuretics. So they have different ways of combating blood pressure. Sometimes they'll put you on a couple of them. You have what they call beta blockers. They reduce nerve impulses to the heart, slows the blood pressure down. You've got calcium channel blockers that relax the blood vessels and affect the nerves to ACE inhibitors, relax blood vessels.
And the problem, okay, look, I don't want you or anyone else to have high blood pressure. I'm going to sort of give you in a moment here, an alternative thinking. Okay? Alternative thinking to high blood pressure. Of course, it's not the first time I talk about it, but somebody asks the questions Kathy is asking a question. How do they work? Well, let's talk about side effects. I seen these tens of thousands of times, side effects from high blood pressure medication. And I never tell a patient to come off of them ever. That's got to be done when a patient has a lot of information and they deal with their doctor. Now, dizziness, lightheadedness, BP medications, often you get a dry cough. I used to see that in my office a lot. Headaches, fatigue, draggy, swollen ankles. That's when they usually, if you get swollen ankles, then they usually put you on a diuretic. And I don't know how many hundreds of men over the years I saw they had sexual dysfunction like ED from blood pressure medications. So they don't come without side effects.
Now, let me get to something because we've done this before, but we're going to do it this morning because somebody asked. Okay? I'm not going to get into necessarily a deep dive, but I'm going to get into a little bit of a dive on high blood pressure because people ask and it's important. Here's what high blood pressure isn't. It's not a salt problem. Doctors often will reduce salt, but salt's not the problem. Okay. Because your brain has got water and salt in it, your blood's got water and salt in it. Your muscle's got water and salt in them. Everything's got water around it in salt. And the only time that salt could be a factor in high blood pressure is if you're dehydrated and you're not drinking enough water, there's not enough blood volume. And that happens to a lot of people. They're dehydrated.
Now, 99% of all problems with high blood pressure, it's an insulin problem. And the reason I say that is I try and prove it by a diabetic, for example. Because high blood pressure and diabetes, they're along the same road as a diabetic. It's an insulin problem. And what happens insulin. What it does, when you have insulin resistance, insulin affects the kidneys big time. Again, ask a diabetic. And I'm talking prediabetes here because diabetes is always the last thing to happen. It's never the first. It's the last thing to happen in a cascade of problems, which starts with your cells at the cellular level, telling insulin to get lost. Get out of here. I hate you. You're always around me. Get, I can't handle it. But insulin doesn't care if the cells say, "I don't want you around," because it's going to come knocking anyways as long as you're eating high carb, high sugars, because insulin has a job to do. It cannot allow sugar to stay in your bloodstream. Sugar is extremely toxic. Again, you don't believe me? Ask a diabetic.
So the kidneys retain salt. When you have insulin resistance, it retains salt and that increases vascular, your blood vessels, they get stiff. It increases the stiffness of it. And then with arterial stiffness, you get elevated blood pressure. That's one way. That's one way. Insulin, your body retains sodium, salt. Your arteries get stiffer. BP goes up. Two, glycation. We talk about this all the time. When you have sugar, you glycate your blood vessels. You want to know what glycation is. Look at your A1C because sugar attaches itself to hemoglobin. It's called glycated hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is at the center of your red blood cells. They carry oxygen. And sugar glycates it and ages it. It destroys it. And that can elevate your blood pressure. So sugar through the process of glycation, nevermind what it does to the red blood cell. It's what it's doing at the endothelial. That's the Teflon layer of your blood vessels.
And the other thing that insulin does. So you've got insulin sugar and I'm back to insulin again and they're connected. Insulin resistance creates inflammation. Inflammation. And inflammation elevates. Remember, chronic inflammation elevates BP, blood pressure. And guys, this is just for your information. Over the years, and I'm not kidding you, tens of thousands of people have reversed their high blood pressure, not with medication, but with food. And even if you're on BP medications, you should change your diet anyways. So blood pressure medications don't fix the root of the problem. They really are a bandaid. Now, I'm not saying not to use them. Okay? So just remember, this is for educational purposes only. I am not your personal doctor, but I just got to tell you it's amazing. And sugar, by the way, creates inflammation on its own, like especially high fructose corn syrup. This is why we see so much high blood pressure today. Okay, so I just had to say it. That's how blood pressure medications work. That's how they operate. Thanks, Kathy, for the questions.
Rita, "in our Facebook group, a member said that algae cal, a plant-based calcium magnesium, helped with osteoporosis." Well, maybe, but I'm not big on it. I'm not big on ever taking calcium as a supplement. Okay? I'm sorry. I've been saying that you guys know this because if you follow me for any length of time, some of you have followed me even from my radio days or even before that. So we're talking a lot of years now. Okay. What have I said about calcium as a supplement? I don't like it. Okay I don't like it. Why? Because it doesn't get to its intended destination. Even if it's cal mag. Calcium's not getting there without vitamin K2. What do I tell you about calcium? Eat it yourself. Every time you have an egg, you're eating calcium. Beautiful with K2 attached. Every time you have meat, you have calcium attached with vitamin K2. Okay. Every time you have dairy like butter and cheese, you have calcium attached with vitamin K2. Now that calcium is getting to its intended destination, Rita. I know somebody puts up there, I got good results with cal. What does she call it? Algae cal, a plant-based calcium magnesium. Well, look, without K2, it's not getting there. And I put vitamin D with K2 ahead of anything when it comes to a supplement for osteoporosis. Okay. It's a big problem in our society today. And what do I tell you about osteoporosis too? Get strong, get stronger. Are you 80? Get stronger. Get stronger than you are. That'll help. Okay. That was Rita. Thank you, Rita.
Lynn, constantly losing their voice. Why? Well, look. Believe it or not, folks, I've lost my voice maybe once I don't remember not losing my ... The built-in microphone that I have in my throat. That's what my son says. Dad, you've got a built-in microphone. You don't need a mic. Okay. Look, when you lose your voice, I'm sure Lynn, you're going to get this checked. Okay? You got to check for nodules. You want to check to make sure your vocal cords, you got no nodules on it. You probably get inflammation on the vocal cords. Like I said, polyps or nodules. A lot of times it can happen with GERD, right? Acid coming up the esophagus into the throat area that can cause issues with your voice. Even thyroid problems I've seen inflammation around the thyroid can affect the voice. Okay. That was Lynn.
Peter, hyperinflated lungs, shortness of breath. And this condition seemed to show up during COVID or after COVID. Okay. Maybe long COVID looking for advice. Well, look, Peter, I mean, the way I would look at it with lungs, I'm big on vitamin D, big, big, big, because vitamin D is very important for lungs. Secondly, and usually with people with lung conditions, I found them to be extremely deficient of vitamin D. They're in the low levels of vitamin D. They don't get enough vitamin D. That's the key. Secondly, I love quercetin and I love combining quercetin with a Q, quercetin and Navitol, which is a pine bark extract because of blood flow. Anything you think of blood flow elevating nitric oxide even for blood pressure. I don't know how many tens of thousands of patients I gave Navitol for blood pressure naturally because we were just talking about it. Really helps because it elevates the nitric oxide. Plus it boosts your blood, opens up those blood vessels. That is really important. But to the lungs, it's the same thing. A lot of things in the lung, it's blood supply big time. Adding quercetin or combining it with Navitol, I've done that with allergies. I find it the best allergy formula around, in my opinion, natural quercetin with pine bark extract. I love the combination of those two. I just found over the years them to be very effective.
Jackie, "what is my opinion on using a vibration plate?" Look, I got no issue with that. Okay. I've had lots of patients that have had this. They swear by that. I looked at the research. I'm not saying it's no good, for sure. I mean, if you like it, go for it. Okay? I understand what it does with the lymphatics. I like a rebounder better, but I got no issue with a vibration plate if it thinks it help. What is she saying here? "Is it worth it and is it any danger? Read it can detach retinas." I've never read that. Maybe I'll look it up again, that it would detach your retina. The vibrating, I don't know if it ... You'd have to have trouble with circulation in your eyes for that to have any effect on the retina. But I admit I'm not an expert in it, but a lot of people that I know use them and they like it, including former patients. Good for them.
Joan is asking a question about she was diagnosed with cancer. Very healthy lifestyle. When they checked her vitamin D and B12, they were very low, both of them. So the question I asked, she asked her doctor, "Why so much cancer these days?" Did you get an answer? Okay. It doesn't look like Joan she gave you an answer. Okay. Well, let's talk about cancer for a minute. Okay? And again, guys, this is my experience. Cancer, breast, ovarian, colorectal, whatever cancer, prostate, common, common cancer. Why? Why do we see so much today? Low vitamin D levels, people are scared, skinny of the sun. They made the sun the boogeyman. Absolutely a factor in my opinion. And I don't care, guys, if you're getting treatment, if you've got cancer, whatever, and you're not taking vitamin D as a supplement, you're making a big boo-boo. Vitamin D and preferably from the sun, but good luck with that in most times, but still. Why wouldn't you supplement with vitamin D? It's so good for you. Your immune system don't work without vitamin D.
They're doing immunotherapy now. That's a big thing on the oncologist's toolbox is using immunotherapy. You know what your body's immunotherapy is? Vitamin D. And on a negative basis, cut out the sugar because sugar feeds cancer. Not steak. Sugar does. Okay? And a lot of people that hate me talking about that, they hate it because in their minds, red meat is bad. It's cancer and it's not. It doesn't feed cancer. "Well, Dr. Martin, what about the glutamine? Doesn't that come from meat?" Nope. It don't. It don't. In the fermentation process of cancer, nah, the glutamine doesn't come from food. Sugar. PET scans don't work without it and sugar feeds it. We've known that since 1928 Otto Warburg, okay? Low vitamin D. Too much estrogen. Estrogen is a growth hormone. It drives cancer. Prostate in men and any kind of womenly cancer, breast, ovarian, uterine, you name those cancers, they're driven by estrogen. And the bad combo insulin. Insulin is food. Estrogen, horrormones. Okay? And then you add to the mix cortisol. The stress hormone pours gasoline on the fire of cancer. Very much involved.
So that's me and people are, like I said, are very low in vitamin D usually and there's a certain level you've got to get your vitamin D levels up to be able to fight cancer. Cancer is complex, guys, but you better do the basics. And doctors don't even see any connection between cancer and food. They don't. They're not trained in food. They don't know food. And if a protein slapped a doctor across the face, they wouldn't know what they got hit with. They just don't learn it. So when you don't learn it, like an oncologist, do you think they know for one minute they send you home and here's their big memo. Don't take any supplements. I don't want you on any probiotics. I don't want you on that. They only think vitamin D is good for the bones. They don't see the connection between vitamin D and your immune system. My word. But don't expect it from them, guys. Like oncologists, God love them, but they're like the horse with blinders on. It's there and it's got to be between those blinders and they can't see anything else.
I always used to tell my patient if they got cancer, whatever, can you ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels? And most doctors said, why? What's that got to do with cancer? True story, guys. Tens of thousands of times when I heard it. So look, you live in that kind of world, guys. To some extent, you got to be your own doctor. It's your body. Okay. Get all the information you can. This is why we have an educational based program. It's education. When I was in practice, I educated my patients as individuals. When I was on the radio, I educated people. Okay I admit, here's what I admit. There's the broad road. I tell this to people all the time. There's a broad road and many people are on it. All the medical, they're almost all on the broad road and they think one way and they're very popular and cancer is chemo, radiation, surgery, and now they're adding immunotherapy. Okay? And they're in that box and it's hard. Food, vitamin D, sugar. But I'm on the narrow road and there's very few of us on it. There's very few doctors that are on that road.
And doctors, here's what they know about food. Well, red meat's bad. If they could say anything and sometimes they do, get away from red meat. That's all they know. They can't tell you why. And I tell you the opposite. I'm in the narrow road and I look at things differently and all due respect and I mean this. Do I agree? No, I don't. Here's one of the reasons. Here's the biggest reason. How are we doing with cancer? It's worse than ever. You would think let's have a commission and let's look at it. And you know what? How about we put the brakes on for a minute and have a look at our results like heart disease, for example. Why can't that be questioned? Cancer is worse than ever and more and more young people are getting cancer than ever before. So we should look into it, don't you think? Can't we question that? Can't we question the treatment? Why can't we question that? But you see, I get vilified. He's a quack. He's a nut case. Well, I admit to being part of that, but I'm a wide guy. And when I see results, I see the stats. I go, "Why are we like that?" If it was successful and we had, like Richard Nixon said in the 1970s, I remember exactly because I heard him say it on TV, "We're going to win the war on cancer." How's that worked out for us? And they spent gazillions of dollars in the same thing. When anybody comes up with maybe let's look at alternative, you're a kook. I've been called that a lot of times. Okay, that was a long thing for Joan.
Let me see if we can ... Simon is saying, "Does reheating my coffee in a microwave destroy its nutrients?" Well, look, don't put it up there for very long. Look, it's not the enzyme so much because that's where it really gets destroyed, but don't overheat it. I mean, if you put it in there for five seconds and heat it up, does it destroy the chlorogenic acid? I don't think so. But look, probably best not to do that, but I just tell you how good coffee is for you. Study after study after study after study, there's new ones out. Almost every week I get a new study on coffee. Somebody asked me, "How do I get all my studies?" I have a service that sends me all these studies online.
Okay, Dave, on PPIs, "is there any way to get off them?" You bet your boots, there's a way to get off them and you better get off them. Man, oh man, the research on PPIs is incredibly damning. Ain't nothing good. There's supposed to be a bandaid. And even then, you name it from osteoporosis. Look again, Dave. Okay. You know the physiology and how your body works. Your stomach has got to be the most acidic place. You take the acid out of your stomach. It should burn a hole on your dining room table. It's so acidic and you want that. And proton pump inhibitors, they destroy your B12, they destroy vitamin D. You're not absorbing properly. So you get relief, but in the long run, it's horrendous. So I've talked about this a thousand times. The first thing you do is change your diet. Get off sugars because your body wasn't made to consume sugar like that and the amount that we have. You get off them, you do the reset for 30 days. A lot of people have found tremendous results with their stomach and you should be taking digestive enzymes every meal. Don't leave home without them. You should be on probiotics. Absolutely. Okay. Because you want to get rid of change your diet though. That's the key. That's the key. That's the key. Okay, that was Dave.
Theresa. CRP, homocysteine, and her A1C is 6.1. "Is there such a thing as a pancreas burnout?" Well, if you get a pancreas burnout, you're a diabetic. Okay? So there is such a thing for sure, but you can regenerate that. And Theresa, if you've been low carb and your A1C is still 6.1, you got more work to do. Don't compare yourself to anybody else. Don't compare yourself. Look at your numbers. Your A1C is 6.1. Well, you and carbs don't get along and okay, you might've been eating really good. Continue. Continue. CRP, well, you got inflammation. Have you got arthritis? Have you got any other issues going on? I mean, I need to know that because CRP has to do with inflammation. And I always tell people this, Theresa, don't get discouraged. If you're on the right track, sometimes it takes time. Some longer than others. Do the right thing, first of all. If you're lowering your carbs and lowering your sugar, you're doing the right thing and don't let anybody tell you differently. If your A1C is not coming down the way you like it to come down, eh, well, Rome wasn't built in a day. You've got underlying issues I can guarantee it.
What I used to do in my office is I used to pump up people like yourself, I'd pump up their tires because they wanted faster results. And I said, well, yeah, sometimes it's really fast and sometimes it takes time. You're under construction, but you're eating the right way. That I guarantee you. Don't stop that. Your body wasn't meant for all the carbohydrates, especially the sugars and those other processed foods. Don't eat them, don't touch them, you don't need them. And if your A1C is still at 6.1 and you're aiming for 5.4, you're not there yet. I've seen people take a couple of years before that happens.
Okay, I think I'm done. Okay, guys. That was fun. I got so many studies, guys, you have no idea. I just haven't been able to catch up on because we're having too much Q&A. Okay, guys, we love you dearly. Sincerely, dearly and every other way, the greatest audience in the universe belongs to us. The Doctor Is In. Talk to you soon.
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