Transcript Of Today's Episode
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Dr. Martin: Well, good morning, everyone. We're going to talk this morning about some of the... There's so many studies that came out in the last two weeks, I just can't get over it. It's almost like every day, I'm getting two [00:00:30] or three. I mean, there's always studies coming out, but a lot of times, they don't always interest me. They're not interesting, or they're not something that I can apply to my patients. This is a study that came out this week on anxiety. And apparently post-COVID, during COVID, post-COVID. We're not even out of it completely yet. You know what? I want to do [00:01:00] a program on COVID, just everything COVID. Okay? What we've learned so far or not. Because I've been taking notes and maybe we'll do that. We'll see. Just to bring you up to date, everything.
There's been some interesting things in the last few weeks about COVID and maybe we'll do that. Okay? We'll talk about what you guys already know about your immune system, but we'll get away from the media [00:01:30] and we'll talk. Okay, here's the real truth about COVID. Okay? And what you need to watch for, blah-blah-blah. Okay. We can do that. But this morning, the study came out. Let me just read this statistic. 40 million Americans. Okay? This is a US study. 40 million Americans are now dealing with anxiety. 40 million. Now, it's really important. And [00:02:00] what I want to just do this morning and we'll probably hit a couple of studies because I don't know how much time will take on anxiety because I've done a lot of it before.
Anxiety is oftentimes, people suffer from anxiety. They don't even know they have anxiety. Okay. And this is what I want to talk about today, about the hidden signs of anxiety, that perhaps you have anxiety and you don't even know it. And [00:02:30] physiologically, what happens inside the body with anxiety? Well, it comes from the brain down. But the organs, there's two of them that you have two adrenal glands. Adrenal, on top of kidneys. Okay. You have two adrenal glands on top of your kidneys that secrete. They do a lot of things, adrenals. But [00:03:00] the primary thing that they secrete is a hormone called cortisol. And cortisol is a very, very important hormone because it is the longer lasting. Look, if I come up behind you and scare you, you're going to secrete adrenaline. You're going to want to punch me or run. The fight or flight. Cortisol is the longer lasting fight or flight.
It's the one that [00:03:30] doesn't get turned off immediately because adrenaline gets turned off. If you're not scared anymore, it turns off. You don't need adrenaline. And what that does, it elevates your blood pressure. It gets you ready to punch me or to run. And a lot of things happen with adrenaline, but they're very quick. The hairs on the back of your hand or you're into that fight or flight mode. [00:04:00] Cortisol, on the other hand, is longer lasting. You're worried, worry can lead to anxiety. The Bible said "Be anxious for nothing." Okay. Okay. Be anxious for nothing. Everything in prayer, supplication, Thanksgiving, make your request known unto God. And the Bible talks about it. And it's important because there are some hidden signs that you might be suffering from anxiety, [00:04:30] and you don't even know it.
And that's what I just want to bring you a few hidden signs because it was always fascinating to me when I was in practice. I had lots of patients come in, and they didn't know that their symptoms, what they were feeling, one of the main problems was anxiety. They didn't know it because nobody ever told them. Nobody ever told them that their cortisol levels were high or [00:05:00] through the roof. The adrenals are like Rodney Dangerfield. Okay. They don't get a lot of ink. They don't get a lot of respect. I don't know what happened in the medical profession. I mean this. I don't know what happened in the medical profession that they sort of forget that you have adrenal glands. Routinely, they're going to check your kidneys and they should.
You get blood tests done and generally [00:05:30] you're going to get a kidney function test. You get your urine done and you get kidney function test, but you don't get your cortisol tested. It's almost like they forget. And I think, and I might might've said this before, but I'll just give you a little bit of history. Do you know that President Kennedy, so John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated, he was not well. He had Cushing's [00:06:00] disease, which is a disease of the adrenal glands. Okay. Addison's disease is a disease of the adrenal glands. The problem is unless the doctor, just generally, and please, okay. Sometimes you get doctors and they sit. Then they take their time and they, "We've got to check this." But just generally. It doesn't happen. So what their training is, is when it comes to the [00:06:30] adrenals, they're looking for a disease like Cushing's or Addison's.
And those are relatively rare diseases. It's not like they don't happen, but they don't happen often. So they're not doing adrenal testing routinely. But in this day and age, in this day and age, not just COVID, but even before that, we live in a world that produces [00:07:00] lots of anxiety. And stress, stress can come from several different factors. It may be relationships. It doesn't always have to be your body will go into the fight or flight and stay in it. And it's not always obvious. It's not always obvious. But I found in my practice [00:07:30] over the years that my practice changed. I mean this. In the last 10, 15 years, and more in the last five years than ever before, I was seeing a huge increase in anxiety. And oftentimes, the patient didn't know it. It wasn't like they had butterflies, 24 and 7.
They didn't realize it. A lot of people didn't realize it, but this is what was [00:08:00] exhausting them. This is what was giving them digestive issues. Because you're not meant to be in a cortisol rush. It's not meant. Your body's not meant for that. You have adrenal glands, it's ready for the fight or flight. It's normal if you're scared or whatever. But if you let that proliferate, if you allow it, and [00:08:30] again, I've talked to you in the past about anxiety left unchecked can lead a depression. Okay. Anxiety left unchecked can lead to depression. And we see a lot of that today. I mean, again, if I look over the last, it's not that I never saw depression, of course I did in the '70s. Of course I did. But it's like an epidemic today. Anxiety's [00:09:00] an epidemic today.
And one of the things that I'll just go over quickly with COVID is that people, you know how we've seen that the cure is worse than the disease by shutting people in their homes. I mean, you could go protest, but you couldn't go to church where you needed to be in my opinion. I'm just telling you, I talked [00:09:30] to a lady the other day. Okay. One of our friends, and her husband died. And he died alone because of COVID. Can you imagine the anxiety of the people left behind when you couldn't even have a normal funeral? You couldn't even get in to the hospital with them or into the homes, their senior homes. That creates a lot of anxiety for people. And [00:10:00] like I said, the cure is something, they shut us down.
Okay. It happened. But we're going to see a lot more problems with even young people in kids. Okay. We're going to see a lot more problems, in my opinion. We're going to be treating a lot more anxiety and a lot more depression, in my opinion, because of this, the new normal. I think there'll be a lot more anxiety when you have to wear a mask [00:10:30] all the time or whatever. I don't know what the rules are going to be. Okay. I don't know what school is going to be like for kids. The world is changing and there's a good... My comment isn't on whether we should do it or not. I'm just telling you like, "What control do I have over that?" But a lot of people are going to suffer from the effects of anxiety, which could lead to depression.
So let me talk about [00:11:00] a couple of a couple of things. Okay. Just want to talk to you about a couple of things, hidden signs that maybe you have anxiety and you need to take care of that. One of them is nausea. I get a lot of people that go, "You know what, doc? I got that nausea. I got nausea. And I don't know what it is. Is it my stomach?" Well, yeah, it is in a way. The nausea is stomach related, but why anxiety [00:11:30] can lead to nausea? And a lot of people have that and they don't know why they have that. And they think it's H. Pylori or some kind of bacteria in their stomach. And it might be, it's possible. But generally, no. I found that again in my practice, I found that when I tested their cortisol, their cortisol was through the roof. And they might not have been aware of it.
And then you talk to them [00:12:00] and you go, "That's what it is." So one of the hidden signs is nausea. Here's another one. Cravings, especially for sugar or salt. You need a fix, you need a fix. Cravings. You see because what cortisol does, it plays with your blood sugars. Think of it. Okay. Your "Ooh," Inside. It'll play with your blood sugars. It'll bring them up. It'll bring them down. [00:12:30] It'll bring them up. It'll bring them down. And then you're craving. And one thing about the adrenals, one of the things you're craving is salt. You ladies and your potato chips. A lot of times that's cortisol that does that. Okay. So it's so much more common. It's unbelievable today. Hidden signs. And you got big time digestive issues and it's caused by anxiety, nausea, [00:13:00] cravings.
Here's a third one. Sleep. You might get to sleep. Here's where cortisol comes in, usually. Okay. It can be all of these things, but usually it's one of them. It's when you wake up in the middle of the night. You were tired. You were exhausted. You went to sleep. And then you're up. Whoo. You're wide awake. What is that? It's cortisol. It's waking you up way too early. And then the brain starts [00:13:30] working, and you can't turn it off, and you can't get back to sleep. That's a hidden sign of cortisol. I saw it in my office every day, every day, every day, every day. More particular to women than men. We're different aren't we? Different species. Come from a different planet, men. Ooh, we're so spoiled, it's unbelievable.
But women, [00:14:00] it can be a hidden sign. Can be a hidden sign. Waking up in the middle of the night. And now you've got inside. I mean, like I said, it can happen at the start of sleep where you can't even get the sleep. That's not as hidden. Because if you have trouble getting to sleep, you got cortisol problems. 100%. But the more hidden one is when you're waking up in the middle of the night. It's four o'clock or three o'clock, and boink. Your eyeballs are wide [00:14:30] awake, and now you start thinking, and your brain isn't ready to go back to sleep. That can be very disruptive. Think about that. And then it can combine, we talked about the lack of sleep and what that does.
Remember yesterday, I think I talked about the glial in autophagy. Remember that little lesson? We learned about when you go to sleep, your brain, the night shift [00:15:00] comes on. The cleaning crew. And they clean out the debris in your brain. It's amazing how your body works. We know so much more today. It's a different blood supply completely in the brain. And you don't have lymphatics in your brain. You have glymphatics in your brain. It has its own sewage system. I love it. I tell you I learned something every day. If you look at the medical books that I had [00:15:30] in the 1970s on the brain, we knew nothing about the brain in the 1970s. I mean, very little. We knew about neuro-transmitters, but we didn't know about glial cells. And we didn't know about the night shift coming on and the importance of sleep. Wait, now of course we knew sleep was important, but we didn't realize even what cortisol does.
I'm telling you. It's amazing to me. And I hope I never stop [00:16:00] learning. Isn't it amazing how your body is made? It's incredible. It's incredible. And I always love looking into a microscope because it was fascinating to me how your body it's unreal. The invisible world. They call this the invisible enemy. COVID was the invisible enemy, but you should see the invisible world, how your body operates. It's incredible. I never get tired [00:16:30] of how the human body is made. What a God, what a God. Okay. Now, here's another one. Another hidden sign is what? Brain fog. See what cortisol does, think about it. Okay. Cortisol is the fight or flight long period. I always call it cortisol, Tony... I loved it because he put it in good words. Because he said, " [00:17:00] Cortisol is like adding gasoline to a fire."
I liked that. He said that. Inflammation's not Houdini. It comes from somewhere, but what cortisol does? You already have some inflammation and it just pours it on because it's gasoline to the fire. And guys, is this because you're not getting the glial cells at night? They didn't finish their job of getting the debris [00:17:30] out of your brain? Is that what's happening. That one of the hidden symptoms of you have high levels of cortisol is brain fog? Maybe your short term memory or you're forgetful. And your brain's not operating the way it should. It's a diversion. Cortisol has got you into the fight or flight. So it's taking all your energy to do other things. [00:18:00] And your brain suffers. Oh, I heard it all the time. And the word I use is fog.
It's like a fog. It doesn't mean your brain's not operating. It's just not operating at its highest level. And you find yourself forgetful, and you can't focus the way you used to. That's called brain fog. And that's very common. So it's incredible. And [00:18:30] guys, men, let me warn you. Okay. This is not so much for women, but for men. The problem with cortisol over a period of time in a man, it creates a lot of inflammation in the man. And remember what I say about inflammation, inflammation's not Houdini. It's got to come from somewhere. But what happens, cortisol adds to the inflammation. And guess what, men? You know what it attacks primarily for you? [00:19:00] Ladies, it's their sleep. Ladies, it's nausea. Ladies, it's digestive issues. Ladies, it's brain fog, and sometimes in men, but it's rare in the men. Because the problem with cortisol over a period of time in a man is it attacks his blood vessels because of inflammation is going up.
And it doesn't usually happen in women. It's more hormonal with women. [00:19:30] In men, my experience is even when their cholesterol is they're normal, and their triglycerides are not that bad, and their HDL is not that bad and whatever, but they can have heart attack come out of nowhere. They're on a vacation. They get a heart attack. Comes out of nowhere. What was happening is cortisol. That fight or flight for a long period of time in a man can be very dangerous [00:20:00] for a man. And my experience is that it attacks their heart. So that very dangerous in a men, cortisol. That's the hidden because you have no idea how many times I heard post heart attack, where someone came in, a man came into my office and I said, "Well, what did the doctor say?" "Well, I didn't have any trouble with my triglycerides or I didn't have any trouble with [00:20:30] the normal things."
Like, "Did you have high blood pressure?" "Nope." "Well, how'd you get that heart attack?" And the doctor said, "Well, it just happened." But for men, my experiences, once I tested them, I said, "Well, no wonder. Your cortisol was high. You had that high stress hormone probably going on for a good period of time. What that did is it increased the inflammation in around your blood vessels, around the heart, and [00:21:00] boom, heart attack." It could be deadly. They often get the widow maker because of the middle chamber of the heart. And anyway, I just telling you my observations, okay. I don't know if anybody's ever done a study on that. I can't remember if I've ever seen a study that was done just on what cortisol does to the heart and men, but that was my experience in my office. Okay.
So I thought, " [00:21:30] What's the treatment? What's the treatment?" Well, medicine looks at anxiety. They want to put you on-anti anxiety medication. And for me, that's a Band-Aid at best. It's a Band-Aid because there's so many side effects. It's like a sleeping pill. I've talked about this [00:22:00] many, many, many times before. And I've said, "Look guys, sleeping pills don't make you sleep. They sedate you. It's different." You ever had an operation and been put under anesthetics? That's what it is. It's an anesthetic in a pill. Here, let me calm you down. Look, I'm not saying temporarily that you shouldn't do it. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is [00:22:30] I wouldn't do it for sleep because you're not sleeping. And they're very addictive.
They're very addictive. And that's the problem. And you could, "Oh yeah, well I can't live without them." "Oh, you should try and live without them." Because one of the things that happens with that medication is you're on the Titanic, on your way to Alzheimer's and dementia." It's a proven fact, longterm. They're never meant longterm. [00:23:00] People use them longterm, but they never meant that. There should be a big warning on the label of those meds. There used to be, there used to be. Any who, so recap. What are some of the common side effects you should look for? One, nausea. Gurgling in the stomach and you're nauseous. Two, sleep, especially in the middle of the night. Hidden [00:23:30] signs of cortisol. Cravings, sugar or salt. Cravings because of what cortisol does to blood sugar.
Remember that I wrote a book years ago, Tony Junior. night, Two Hormones That Want You Dead. And I don't recant. What was it? What were the two hormones that wanted you dead? Insulin, that's food. And cortisol, that stress. Bad combo. Serial [00:24:00] Killers: Two Hormones That Want You Dead. I think you can download that book if you haven't. I am not sure. I should ask Tony Junior or Brandy. I don't know. I thought you could download it. Somebody asked me yesterday, if they can get that book, Serial Killers. Okay. But two hormones that want you dead. You got to fix that, guys. Well, you know how to fix your insulin, lay off the carbohydrates. It ain't calories. It's carbs. [00:24:30] It's a sea, all right. But it ain't calories. You want to know the diet, ask me. I'll give you the Cole's Notes version of the diet.
I've seen them all in 46 years. You name the diet. I've seen it. Any one's that went on calories don't work. Because the problem is not calorie. You know what? Just let me finish with this. You can have 400 calories in a steak or [00:25:00] 500 calories in a steak and have 350 calories in a chocolate bar. Okay? The big difference on how that burns in your body guys, you know me, I'm always talking about fuel. And one way to help with cortisol is fuel. Change your fuel. Your adrenals will appreciate it. And the better fuel is put a log on the fire, not paper and twigs. A chocolate bar [00:25:30] is paper and twigs, burns too fast. And that elevates your cortisol. It makes your blood sugar go up, and it makes your blood sugar come crashing down because it burns too rapidly.
See, there's big difference between a 500 calorie steak and a 350 calorie chocolate bar. The steak is better for you every time, every time. It'll help with your cortisol because it'll burn like a log on the fire. Takes a [00:26:00] long period of time for a steak to burn. So the calories, what does it mean? That don't mean nothing to me. You'll never hear me talking about those things. Calories. "I want to count calories." Well, don't talk to me. You're talking to the wrong guy. I won't talk to you about calories. I don't care how many calories are in a food. You know what? I want to fix your cortisol. I want to fix your insulin.
Big difference, the amount of insulin used for [00:26:30] a chocolate bar or a granola bar. You ladies and granola. Ooh. Okay. It's so different. Women, they have their little things that they like, like salad and chicken. Men like steak, women like chicken. I can't get over it. I got to laugh about it. We're just so different. I can't get over it. Here I am. I'm 68 years old. I'm still learning that how different I am. Women and their granola. Oh, for [00:27:00] heaven's sakes. Throw that stuff out. It's garbage. Okay, guys. I love you guys.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In podcast with your hosts, Dr. Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode, and thanks for listening.