Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- Kidney stress
- Itchy feet
- Neuropathy
- Himalayan salt
- Recurring UTIs
- Electrolyte imbalance
- Oxalates & digestion
- Ear wax buildup
- Low ferritin
- Costochondritis
- Sleep apnea
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. I hope you're having a great start to your day as we come to question and answer Friday. Okay, let's get to the questions here, because we'll never get finished. Okay. Dan wants to know, "What causes foamy urine?" Well, look, it could be a few things. The first thing that always comes out of my mouth has to do with water, vitamin W. Now look, you can have foamy urine, and that can mean a couple of things. One of them is sluggish kidneys where the kidneys are stress and your kidneys are not functioning at the high level that they should. I always look at that because that can be a factor. The number one factor though, for urine that's foamy is a sign of dehydration. Now, again, I just talk about this all the time. Don't wait till you're thirsty. The sweet spot for water is this: it's two liters of water a day, 64 ounces. Okay? Now, everybody's different. You got to figure that out, but your first morning urine is going to be concentrated. Your body's detoxing.
Your body knows how to do it, but once you start drinking water, I will not allow myself a coffee before I drink water in the morning. Okay. It's just a discipline. It's just a habit, and I drink two liters of water a day. If I sweat, I work out, that's extra. Remember, your body will excrete. You'll never have to worry about too much salt because your body will excrete, but you better worry about too much sugar, and a lot of times that puts enormous amount of stress on the kidneys. Okay? So I call it, Dan, kidney stress. Your kidneys are not filtering properly. You got filters there. You got to keep them clean, and it's Niagara Falls, water, water, water, water.
Marie, "What causes itchy feet?" Well, it could be several things, could be a fungus, very dry skin, a sluggish thyroid. You would usually have other symptoms, but it itchy feet can be a sign that your thyroid is sluggish. It's not working at its highest level. An unexplained itchiness, oftentimes, you look at your thyroid. Again, don't rely on thyroid numbers. Okay?
The TSH number, I have a sweet spot that I look for in TSH, and if it's not there just about for sure your thyroid's not working, but your doctor's not going to talk to you about that because they have ranges. Usually, itchy feet unexplained, you don't see a fungus. You don't see a rash, and even if you have a very light rash there, it can be your thyroid slowing down.
Vera, "What is the cause of tingling at night?" Well, usually, okay. That's neuropathy. You're starting neuropathy. You got tingling in your feet at night, better when you walk around during the day, you're starting neuropathy. Be very, very careful about your sugar and your carbs. Again, I'm not talking about diabetes, although, one of the main side effects of diabetes is neuropathy. It's very common. Now, why is that? Well, because sugar destroys blood vessels. Okay? Your nerves are not going to work properly without blood supply. Okay? Your nerves are not going to work without blood supply, and sugar, its first destruction, it starts to destroy capillaries.
Sugar is very toxic and we remind you about this all the time. Your body will do everything it can to keep sugar within a very tight range, everything it can. One of the signs that your body is starting to get sugar destruction, even before diabetes, is neuropathy, the distal end of the body, when you're lying down, that's usually when it starts and you got to fix that. Get off the sugars completely. Do the reset. The other thing I always look for is low levels of B12. B12 is a nerve vitamin, and when you're low in B12, some people will get neuropathy with it. They don't even realize it, again, because they rely on blood tests and nobody's even thinking of low B12 anymore, but 80% of the population have low levels, not optimized levels of B12. In a diabetic, for example, and they have neuropathy, I can't say that I ever saw a case where they had good levels of B12 They go together and remember, one of the things that happens in neuropathy is a lack of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is what relaxes your blood vessels, opens your blood vessels up. That has an effect, not only on circulation, but on the nerves. Okay? Nitric oxide. What elevates your nitric oxide? B12. Okay. B12, and I like Navitol too for that.
Now Carlos is asking a good question. "I take two teaspoons," I think that's what you're saying here, of Himalayan salt daily," good for you. Why do I like Himalaya salt? Because it's got 84 minerals in it. He said, "Should I discontinue using my trace minerals? I guess you're taking a supplement of trace minerals." I like trace minerals, but Himalayan salt has trace minerals. That's up to you, Carlos. If you're using Himalayan salt are a good sea salt, you're getting those minerals. You're getting trace minerals. If you want to take extra, not going to hurt you. It certainly won't. Okay?
Debbie, "What is the cause of recurring UTIs in a toddler?" Well, anytime you have a recurring, a recurring UTI, urinary tract infection, I've never seen an exception to it, you have a fungus, a yeast, a candida that has formed along the bladder. Because of that, you can have E. Coli that will sit in the bladder. It gives you a recurring infection. The problem is, a lot of times you get an infection, you take an antibiotic and now you're in a vicious just cycle, because an antibiotic will destroy all your friendly bacteria very shortly. If you're not taking probiotics, and then what happens? You develop a yeast. Women know more about yeast infections than men do. Men don't, "Eh, yeast. What is that?" They don't even know what that is. Women know it. If you've ever had a yeast infection, why did you get that? Usually, not always, but usually after the use of an antibiotic, kills your friendly bacteria, even in toddlers. They could be getting a recurring urinary tract infection because they took an antibiotic for what? For an ear infection. I'm usually against antibiotics for ear infections. Doctors know that 99% of ear infections are viral. They shouldn't be giving an antibiotic for it.
Now, when a kid is screaming and you can understand mom, know that child is suffering, but it's viral; antibiotics don't work. "Oh yeah, but they cleared up after a few days. It would've cleared up." That's the time to give a child, some Children Tylenol and all and antihistamine to take the pressure out of the ears rather than an antibiotic. Listen, everybody's different than I'm giving you advice, but not so much for every individual because every individual's different, but I'm just telling you in general what happens. They take an antibiotic even for an ear or a throat infection, for strep, for example, kids can get a strep throat and very painful. They take antibiotics and then they can get a bladder infection because yeast is formed and yeast is the first cousin of mold and it loves moisture. Is a bladder moist? Yep. Women get it because of their anatomy, especially moisture, and open canal there to the bladder. So they're so susceptible to urinary tract infections compared to men. Good question, Debbie.
Diane, "I take many of your supplements. Is any one of them addressing an electrolyte balance?" Well, magnesium is an electrolyte. Potassium, if you're taking Blood Boost, I put it in there. I was telling Carlos Himalayan salts is an electrolyte. It's an electrolyte. So a lot of times when you're dehydrated, it's not just water. It's electrolytes. Okay. So I like magnesium. I like potassium. You eat vitamin S steak, you get potassium. You get magnesium. Got everything in it. Okay? Good question.
Judith, "What do I think of pasteurization milk and homogenization? Are they good for humans?" Well, Judith, I answered that this week. Here's the headline, "Don't ditch dairy, switch it." Okay? Now, I'm not big on drinking milk, okay, because let me just get okay, Leso, L-E-S-O. When milk is pasteurized, is extra sugar added or is it all that sugar in store-bought milk already in it? Well, it's already in it. It's not glucose that's in there, it's lactose and lactose in milk, and a little bit in cream and a touch maybe in cheese. But it's the absence of fact that makes store bought milk. It's pasteurized. You can't sell milk in Canada, and I even think in the United States, in a commercial setting.
If you got a cow in your backyard, you don't have to pasteurize your milk. You might, but you don't have to. You drink it yourself. You're not going to go to the grocery store unless somebody tells me something different, because the law in Canada, the United States has to be pasteurized. Now that's heating milk to a certain temperature to kill any bacteria in milk. Right? Listen, I don't want you drinking milk, drink water and coffee. I don't want you drinking milk. Why are you drinking? Milk. Okay? If you insist, have some cream, that's yesterday's milk. Okay? I want you to eat your dairy, not drink it, unless you're drinking Dr. Martin's Perfect Smoothie, and that's what I recommend you give your kids, heavy cream with some protein powder and they think they're at McDonald's drinking a milkshake. Okay? But I'm not big on drinking milk. I'm just not. It's Pepsi. Okay. It's white Pepsi.
That's what it is, and that's why you see today 70% of the population have trouble with, they say dairy, but I say milk. It's not dairy they have trouble with, and some do., okay, some do, but most not. They put butter and they put cheese in with milk, and it shouldn't be put together. They're completely different in a lot of ways. Okay? So Judith, don't drink it if you don't need it. Leso, it's too sweet. Don't drink milk out of a grocery store. You don't need it by the way, drink water and wean your kids and grandchildren. Get them started drinking water. That's what they need and eat their vitamins. Let them drink it. The best milk in the universe comes out of mommy, and they've never been able to reproduce that. You've got to remember. I come out of the 1950s and the 60s. I was born in 1952. Let me tell you what was coming down the path, "Well, you know what? We figured out that we can give you a better formula than mama's breast milk." The food industry lies through their teeth, guys.
Why? Well they're into sales. The food industry is into sales. They'll hook you and they'll lie right to your face. Okay? So this formula usually made of soy is better for you. How many mothers got duped? "Oh, wow. It's so much more convenient just make them a bottle," but it wasn't true. Every doctor, any doctor that would tell you differently, change doctors. I don't think you'd get an argument today. What's better? Well, mommy's milk. Then when you're done with mommy's milk, when that baby's done with mommy's milk water, not juice, water, and it's habits. If that's all they know they'll love water, but we have grocery stores, there's nothing that drives me crazier, I mean it, when I go into a grocery store and I see all the things you can drink there, and so-called good for you; electrolyte drinks and this and that. The only thing that's good for you in there is coffee, good drink and you teetotalers. Okay? All the rest of it, these sugary teas and sugary drinks and juices, and oh my word. Well, it's the food industry? They're into sales. Drives me crazy.
Okay. Let's make sure I didn't forget because I sometimes do that. Oh yeah, Kim, "If you don't have a problem with vegetables digestively, why is everyone the vegetable bashers with oxalates?" Well, Kim, if you don't have a problem with vegetables digestively, you know me, I'm not big on fiber, again, can I tell you where it came from? The food industry, the cereal companies, "Fiber, fiber, fiber, you need fiber," and even the gurus out there, "Ah, fiber, that's feeding your good bacteria." No, it's not. One of the big problems in the world today is digestive issues from fiber, too much. Body's not meant for that. You're not a rabbit. You're not a cow. Cows eat grass. They got four stomachs. Okay. So Kim is saying, "I don't have trouble digestively. Why am I poo-pooing vegetables?" I'm not, but understand this oxalates are real, and a lot of people, they blame kidney stones and their oxalates, well, there's two things that will form that, sugars, because they'll form uric acid stones and oxalates from vegetables.
Look, all I'm saying about them is this okay, Kim? Don't live on them. You can have them. When you come off the reset, you can have vegetables. You can have some fruit. All I'm saying is, when you look at the vegetable kingdom, there's two kingdoms. There ought to be only two. Okay? You have the animal kingdom, and you had the plant kingdom, which is fruit and vegetables. You live in there, and you're going to be healthy. But what the thinking is today> plants are number one. No, they're not. They're not. They can't measure up to what you get in the animal kingdom. They just don't, and it's only when you're indoctrinated that you believe something else. Well, look, that's fine. In all due respect, I just say, eh, look, plants are there to eat, no doubt about it, but don't live on that. You're far better off in the animal kingdom for all the reasons I could give you. Live on animal products, and the other ones are treats. Don't be duped by that, because you're not going to get the vitamins. You're not going to get the amino acids. You're not going to get the protein from the plant kingdom. You just won't. You can get some protein, but it's not bio available like animal protein is, it's just not. Okay? Kim, good question. Thanks for asking it. I almost forgot it.
Okay. Pauline, two questions about the ears, "Eustachian tube dysfunction?" Well, look, I'm not an ear, nose or throat doctor, but look, leaky gut, leaky sinuses, leaky gut, leaky ears. A lot of times with the ears, it's leaky gut, recurring infections, dysfunction in the use Eustachian tube, try the reset, probiotics. Start the inside out. Look, if you have some type of mechanical deformity in there, well, you might need surgery. Okay? It's possible.
I was never one big on Eustachian tubes. Then with kids, I know they get recurring infections, but I used to be able to treat that with probiotics and getting them off the sugars, and it was amazing how much better their ears were. Okay? Good questions. "What about ear wax washer?" Well, there's devices out there that help if you get a real buildup in there, but why would you get a buildup? You see, that's the question that I like to answer before, which way do you clean your ears up? Why is it so much wax built up? It comes from the gut. Change your diet, fix your gut. It fixes a lot of things, folks. What they say, "What's in Vegas stays in Vegas?" What's in your gut don't stay in your gut. If it gets into your bloodstream and go everywhere, and again, yeast or a fungus, especially the ear canal. It loves it in there. Why? Moisture? Moisture, mold, moisture. Okay.
I know I sound simplistic, I am. Okay. Darcy, "What are the causes of low ferritin?" Well, low ferritin is usually low vitamin S you don't eat enough steak. Now there could be malabsorption there. I understand all that, but low ferritin now in women, it can happen heavy menses. They can have an iron deficient anemia, vitamin B12, low ferritin, sometime B12 is connected to them. What goes on in the liver? What goes on in the gut? I look at all that, but women with low levels of ferritin, it can happen with them, more than men. Men, usually, if anything, they get high ferritin because they got fatty liver. Okay. Darlene, "What would you recommend for costochondritis. Well, costochondritis, okay, see where I'm putting my fingers here, right along the sternum? Well, where your ribs attached? Into the sternum, you can get an inflammation there. You heard it. It's usually an injury.
I remember people telling me about that and they said, "Doc, it was like I'm having a heart attack," I used to put my finger right on the bubble like, "Eh, no you got costochondritis," and the best thing to do for it is literally get at it and try and break it down yourself, because it's a very painful. I like our inflammation formula for that because a lot of people have found that that takes that inflammation out of there in a natural way. Okay. Good question, Darlene. Jennifer, "Is it best to focus on the supplements to heal the gut first before adding any other supplements? I'm concerned about absorbing other supplements, so why start with them?" It's a good question. Look, you know me, anybody that knows me, do I want you on probiotics? Yep. If you have any kind of digestive issue and even if you don't, everybody and your dog should be on probiotic. Absolutely. We live in a day and age, people are absorbing a credit card. Okay. I'm going to show you a credit card. People are absorbing a credit card full of plastic a day, yikes.
You better be on probiotics. You better be on probiotics, broad spectrum. I'm big on that, and fix the gut. That's why I like bone broth. That's why I love collagen. Collagen has al glutamine, which heals the gut and yeah, I wouldn't disagree with you, Jennifer. You got to start there, for sure. But I also take vitamin D if you can't get in the sun. Whether you have digestive issues or not, you need vitamin D if you're not getting vidermq from the sun, so I like your point. Yeah, I like starting with the gut. Heal the gut, for sure. Bernice, "Have you heard of C60 supplement?" Yes. I've heard of it. That's Carbon 60. What's an antioxidant? There's not a lot of research on it, so I'm not that big on it, Bernice. Some people like, it good for them. I'm big on what I know 100% the best antioxidant in the world is Navitol pine bark extra. It has over 200 published peer-reviewed studies. I've been using it for well over 30 years and it is the best. I compare everything, when you talk about an antioxidant or whatever, I compare it to that.
How does it compare to that? Like I'd rather take the best. So for me, I was in practice, so I had to get results. I don't know about Carbon 60 because I haven't had that many patients come to me and say, "Well, this saved my bacon." I really haven't. Anyway, good question. Thanks, Bernice. I don't mind answering that. Laurie, "I get nausea from a migraine. What's the best way to get ahead of it nausea wise?" Well, look, I'm big on ginger for nausea. Do it naturally. Ginger's really good. You can take a B vitamin for nausea, but I'm big on get to the root cause of migraines, okay, because I saw so many patients with migraines over the years, I always would do the workup and here's a couple of things I found with migraines. Number one, they were estrogen-dominant. They had too much estrogen compared to their progesterone, and a lot of migraines have to do with that, especially in women. There's dehydration, electrolyte factors. That's why magnesium often migraines is good.
If you get a migraine, eh, now you're into trouble because you want to head them off at the past, but those are the things I found, even B12, low levels of vitamin D people that had recurring migraines, so look at the underlying cause too. I like ginger for nausea. I really do. Okay. "Peppermint tea," somebody said, yep. "A ginger tea," yep, I like that. If it works, you go for it. Grace, "What would cause a slim 40-year-old man to have sleep apnea?" Well slim, Grace, doesn't necessarily mean healthy. Okay. We have this preconceived idea that skinny means healthy, or slim. Okay. Sleep apnea, what is it?, is it oxygen or is it insulin? Okay. Is it oxygen or insulin? What comes first, because they give you a machine, and they put oxygen right up into your brain. Right? True or false? That's what they do. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? Insulin comes first, and you can be skinny and have insulin resistance.
Some people have an enormous ability to store fat, and some people have very little ability to store fat. They can eat like pigs and they don't store any fat. A lot of people are very jealous of those people. But inside the body, they're not getting away with it like they think they are, okay, because you can't eat crap, you just can't and get away with it. You will pay the price for it, because you get insulin resistance, which creates an inflammation and can start damaging their blood vessels, as we talked about earlier and it's silent, they don't even know it, but they have sleep apnea. Here's what science tells us, "They may be skinny, but they got a fat tongue," not that they talk too much, they got a fatty tongue. You get fatty liver, you get a fatty tongue then. Hey, that's what they're saying. They have to put a machine on you. How many people in the 1950s had sleep apnea? It's an epidemic today. Man, I should have invested in those machines. I mean it. Who would've ever thought coming out of the 1970s out of school that sleep apnea would be such a big, big issue. I'm telling you guys, it's an insulin problem. It's fatty tongue. You might not be fat, but you got fatty tongue.
Okay. One more, I think. Andrea, 15-year-old daughter diagnosed with juvenile epilepsy, perfectly healthy, according to the neurologists. They're going to put her on meds, of course, for a couple of years, and well look, I'm going to tell you what they do for epilepsy. Okay, and they still do it today. Ketosis for epilepsy, and that's where keto, the ketotic diet started, in the 1920s. Did you know that? Yep. Why? Because they found out if you eat just fat and no carbs, they could put epilepsy to bed. I studied that in nutrition in the 1970s in school and they still do it today. Sick kids still does it today in Toronto. It works. Think about it. What's the issue? You're burning ketones. It's changing fuels, guys.
Look, there's other things, low levels of B12, usually brain neurology. Look, I'm big on vitamin D for the brain. I'm big on B12 for the brain. For epilepsy, I found they're very deficient in that, and usually very deficient in Omega 3 and the reset. It's hard to get kids to do that. Make them a Dr. Martin's Perfect Smoothie. Thanks for the questions. Okay, guys. I think I got them all. Now I can breathe. I'm you guys are so great asking such good questions. We thank you for that. We appreciate the feedback. Tell your friends, tell your friends about the program. Get them on to our private Facebook group or get them reading our emails or get them on our podcast, The Doctor Is In podcast. They can download it right to their smartphone. Okay? We appreciate it. So guys, we love you, and we'll talk to you soon.
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