Dr. Martin answers questions sent in by our listeners.
Some of today’s topics include:
- White bumps on the skin
- Acupuncture
- Colonoscopies and your microbiome
- Polymyalgia rheumatica
- Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA)
- Skin tags and insulin resistance
- Plantar fasciitis
- Caffeine pills
- Fish or omega-3 capsules?
- Tilia tomentosa
Tune in to hear Dr. Martin’s responses!
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: Good morning. Good to be with you again this morning. Hope you're having a great day. So, Question and Answer, and I'll come on and say hi to the rest of you after. Okay. Let's just get this going here, and then we should be all right. “White bumps on the skin in the sun: Is it fungus related?” Maybe. Anytime you see anything coming on the skin, remember that. Okay? I mean, you can get hives, but if you look at anything that comes on the skin, ordinarily leaky gut, leaky skin. You'll never go wrong treating the gut. Leaky gut, leaky skin, leaky gut, leaky brain. Leaky gut, leaky joints, okay? It's one of the trifecta of all disease is the gut. The bacteria, the war, the invisible war, I call it. That is really, really important that you... Yeah, the white bumps could be fungus and the sun can bring that out.
Don't burn in the sun, but you need the sun. VitDerma, did you get your VitDerma? Guys, there's so many studies on the benefits of vitamin D, the sun. It's incredible. Now don't go burn. So you'll never hear me tell you to burn. In 20 minutes, you get 10,000 international units of vitamin D, but also you get high levels of nitric oxide. And also, you're a human solar panel and every cell in your body, we didn't know this 50 years ago, we didn't know this. We knew guys like me in alternative medicine always pushed vitamin D and you guys know me. If you've heard me in the last 20, 30 years, I've been screaming from the rooftops. I'm going to show you a list of my books. Now, if you're on the podcast, you can't see it. But I think I'm up to 21 books that I've written. And I can't think of a book where I didn't talk about the importance of vitamin D, the sun. So get your VitDerma. Don't you like that word? I'm telling everybody, VitDerma.
Joanne is asking a good question here. She says, "Do you think it is healthy for people never to eat a vegetable or some berries ever again?" Well, let me put it this way, Joanne. I never suggest to anyone to do that. And look, it's not that you couldn't live. There's a popular diet out there now called the carnivore diet. And you can live like that, but you don't hear me preaching that. And I mentioned this yesterday, and I get it. I understand why doctors do this all the time, but this guy, he actually thinks outside the box. I've mentioned this to you. He said on a healthy plate, you have 75% vegetables and 25% meat. And I said to him, "Now reverse that, 75% meat and 25% vegetables". And guys look, for 30 days there's huge reasons why no vegetables. I don't want no oxalates. I don't want no cellulose. I don't want no lectins. I don't want any gluten. I don't want anything that would even hinder... I don't even allow you to have any berries, no fruit, but there's a reason for that. I want your pancreas, your insulin, your gut to have a complete rest, a complete reset. But who is going to live like that forever, right? Never to have any vegetables or any fruit? You know what I call fruit? God's candies. Limits your fruit. We live in a different, different age now.
And I always emphasize that, because we live in such an unbalanced world, as far as eating we're carboholics. And so, when you try and fix that... You can go low carb, but better, I'm telling you, much better to do the Reset first. It resets the body. It takes you out of metabolic syndrome. It fixes all your blood work of your triglycerides and your HDL and your CRP, your C-reactive protein comes down, everything gets better. And then you introduce again, your vegetables and a limited fruit, limited fruit. Okay? So good question.
Okay, “what's Dr. Martin think of acupuncture?” I love it. Well look, I'm no good at it. I took a course, okay? 1972, and those days you get, get fully certified in acupuncture. In 1972, I took the course, but I never really practiced it. I had a doctor work with me who was an acupuncturist in the 80s I guess. He was very good. He knew his stuff and I liked it. Okay? But you don't have to be completely certified. And you get Dr. Troy, for example, who teaches acupressure too. I love it. It's good for you. It's not my expertise, but I certainly have no problem with it.
“What is Dr. Martin's opinion on fulvic acid?” Well, I don't have a lot of experience with it. Again, it's not that I'm negative. I look at that almost like activated charcoal and there was a lot of hype about that stuff at one time. Never really passed for me... the smell test. I tell people, look, what are you using it for? Okay. And then I say, "Well, this is better than that in my opinion". So I don't have a lot of experience with it. So I'm not going to comment too much.
“Does drinking the PEG drink…” You know when you get a colonoscopy and they get you to get ready for a colonoscopy. The question is from Carolyn. And sorry Joanne, you asked the one about fulvic acid and Kent about acupuncture. I didn't mention your name. Sorry Joanne and Suzanne so far. “Does it kill all the good bacteria in the gut?” Yeah. When you do a colonoscopy, you're getting rid of your microbiome. And you're not going to get rid of all of it, but I'm a big guy. You take your probiotics up, if you're getting a colonoscopy, take your probiotics. You should be taking your probiotics. And the day before, whatever, you get ready for your colonoscopy, you don't have to take any probiotics because you're going to wipe out that flora pretty well. Then you better double up your probiotics for about three or four weeks after a colonoscopy. You just want to replace that flora because just the procedure, nevermind the PEG, the procedure is hard on your microbiome, but look, I'm not telling you not to get a colonoscopy. Don't quote me there, because I'm not saying that to you.
Lois, would you comment on polymyalgia rheumatica? Okay. Well, that is where you get an acute onset, just about every joint in your body becomes inflamed. I believe it's viral. I've seen it many, many a time in my office and I used to have a protocol to really help. And it was very antiviral because I used to believe that that was a virus that attacked the body. And I was big on oil of oregano, high doses of vitamin D, I used our inflammation formula, high levels of curcumin and high levels of probiotic and therapeutic doses that I used to do. Okay, Lois?
Marna, PEA. Oh yeah, I've seen it. PEA for pain, again Marna look, I'm not against this stuff. But you have to understand for me, my experience was putting combinations of things together. So if you look at our inflammation formula, we have eight different anti inflammatories in there. And they're chosen for a reason. Look at our Cortisol Formula. Different formula, different ingredients, and the therapeutic doses of those ingredients at the right levels. And again, that just goes to our experience. So when we make a formula, it's based on clinical results, okay? So there's a lot of good products on the market, but are they therapeutic in their dosages and in their ingredient list? That's us, because in practice I had to get results.
So when I recommended something, I had to get clinical results. I didn't just see that patient once, we would follow up with that patient, and whether I gave them a certain eating program or whatever, I had to get results. So when you ask me about PEA, your body actually makes that. Therapeutically, I don't know. I didn't have a lot of experience with it. I've seen it, I've read about it, and I'll put our inflammation formula against that. Curcumin, Ashwagandha, vitamin D, boswellia. It's stuff that I use. And Tony Jr., biochemists, we work well together because we would talk about the ingredients, but the amount in there to get the therapeutic doses. So Marna, thanks for the question.
Laura, "Asking about skin tags on my neck, will they shrink or fall off?" Laura, when they do the Reset, they might because skin tags, guys, are a sign that you have insulin resistance. And a lot of people doing the Reset have noticed that their skin tags have got a lot better or completely fallen off. So when you see skin tags, usually guess what that is. The reason I say this, because it's really important you get this. For a lot of people, as a matter of fact most people today, blood sugar is a lagging indicator. What does that mean? The last thing to happen for a lot of people, not everybody, for a lot of people is, their blood sugar goes wonky. But way before that, the body is screaming at you that you have insulin resistance. It really is diabetes. Diabetes before you become a diabetic.
But for the sake of talking about it, doctor don't like that because you're not a diabetic, your blood sugar, isn't above 6.5 or your A1C, which is hemoglobin in your red blood cells and sugar attaches to hemoglobin, oxygen attaches to hemoglobin, but so does sugar. And once it attaches there, you can't get rid of it. And that's why we talked about that A1C, but a lot of times guys, the body will scream, "Hello? Hey you there.” Acid reflux, well, I've just got to take more Tums. Acid reflux. No, it's your body's screaming. 95% of the time, it's your body telling you, "Hello? Check the engine light is on". Your body is unbelievable.
Somebody is asking about plantar fasciitis. Shirley, you asked about plantar fasciitis. 95% of people that deal with plantar fasciitis... Now I'm not saying there's not a localized foot problem, a posture problem, flat arches, blah, blah, blah. But when you get any itis, any itis it's usually... And I explained that actually in the Reset, in the book, I talked about it because you get what we call glycation. Big word. What does that mean, glycation? It means literally you lose the elasticity in tendons and muscles and things like that. You don't have the elasticity, and we call that glycation. Glycation is caused by sugar.
And a lot of people, they get a tendonitis, even in their elbows or whatever. And they don't realize. Yeah, I know I got tennis elbow. Okay? Whether you play tennis or not, gripping or whatever. But when it doesn't heal, it's your body saying, "Hello? You are a carboholic. You're eating way too many carbs or sugars are both". It's the body's way of trying to get your attention and a lot of people are not listening because they don't even think of food could be causing it. They get acid reflux, I got acid reflux. Bursitis, tendonitis, all these things, glycation. It's one of the ways your body screams at you because of sugar. Sugar is so destructive, but we have this diagnosis today of diabetes and it bugs me because I could tell people in the office, I grab their little face gently and say, "Look, you're in trouble. Change your diet. It's food". The magic is understanding that. And once you understand that you and carbs don't get along. You got a bad relationship. You're being abused by carbs. And you're going back to that relationship. It's abusive. Why do you expect any different results? Carbs are abusive to most people.
What are the studies saying now? CDC, I talked about this a billion times, 88% of the population, 88% have a bad relationship with food, but I'm not a diabetic. Yeah, but you got bad triglycerides. You got fatty liver, you got low HDL. You got visceral fat around your organs. You got the signs of metabolic syndrome and metabolic syndrome affects cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, autoimmune... Guys it's complicated, but it really isn't. I don't know how many years ago, 20? It was like a light came on, clicked in my head. Tony Jr. and I talking, "Man, the world is changing. I've never seen so much insulin resistance, insulin". It's not like it wasn't around before, but now it's crazy. So I don't want to be that simplistic, but it really is food. And we live in a world that just doesn't get it.
A world that is focused in now on a virus. I posted this last night on the private Facebook group. Anybody, almost no exceptions. I didn't say it. The world has said it. Scroll down and see, or maybe I'll post it again. You didn't go to the hospital with a virus. You were not hospitalized. Remember the elephant in the room? You were not hospitalized unless you had two things. One, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, 100%. Two, low levels of vitamin D. It was universal, guys. It was universal. But all the emphasis was on treating the virus. And I guess when you get really sick, what choice do you have? But to the rest of the world, they didn't get the memo. What affects your immune system more than anything is food and the sun. Sun, steak, and steel.
No, but seriously guys. And you know what makes steam come out of my ears? I look at people and they're walking around. They got a mask on and they're eating Twinkies. They pull their masks down to have their Twinkies, or they want you to get a vaccine and they lure you in the United States with donuts. That's why I get so excited, in a negative way. It's like we got a mass, nevermind here, over our eyes and we refuse to see the truth. They refuse to see the truth. Metabolic syndrome not only makes you more susceptible to cancer, to cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes obviously, but it affects your immune system. Your immune system to fight viruses and bacteria. Your immune system is suppressed. And then, you get a perfect storm because bigger people like obesity and whatever, they don't even realize this. When you take a person that's got metabolic syndrome, 99% of the time, they also have low levels of vitamin D. Their D hydroxy, vitamin D 25, in their blood is very low.
It's consistent. It's almost 100%. And nobody talks about it, nobody talks about it. It would be the cure. We're always going to have viruses, guys. Coming to a theater near you, always. In the fall, are we going to lock down again? Probably, but nobody wants to talk about the elephant in the room. Why don't we take care of our immune system? How about we cut out, at least preach it? People going to make their own minds up, but at least give them the information. But what do you have? You have medicine that knows squat about nutrition. Gee, you go to the hospital. What do they feed you in there? It's crazy. Who makes those decisions? I can't stand it. Okay. Better get going. I'm getting too excited.
So Shirley, I answered. Mary, there's two Marys. Okay, so Mary one, “what does Dr. Martin think of caffeine pills for those who work the night shift?” I don't like it. Drink coffee. Then you get vitamin C. Caffeine pills, be careful with that stuff. Even kids drinking these caffeine loaded or whatever to keep yourself awake and drink. I hate that stuff. You're playing with fire there. Russian roulette. I wouldn't do it. No, you know me, I'm about coffee, drink coffee, okay? And people ask me about decaf. Decaf's good. It's the bean, for vitamin C. Okay? Try and get the Swiss water decaf because there's no chemicals used to decaf the coffee. But I don't like it. I don't like energy drinks. I hate that stuff. And I don't like caffeine pills. I don't.
The other Mary, "If I eat fish two or three times a week, why do I take omega-3 capsules?" Well, I wouldn't take omega-3 capsules if you eat fish. The only thing that I would recommend, Mary, and you got to figure this out for yourself, but if you're asking me if you eat fish... See I have fish every day. I had my fish this morning in a capsule every day. But therapeutically, Mary, good question. Therapeutically, I am convinced, I've seen it, I am big on not omega-3 per se. I am very, very convinced on high DHA because your brain is made up of DHA. And all I'm saying, Mary is this.
And by the way, you eat fish two or three times a week. If you eat grass fed beef, you're going to get more DHA, more omega-3 in there than you will in fish. Is fish good? 100%. But vitamin S, steak is better for omega-3. And guys, I eat a lot of vitamin S. I eat a lot of vitamin S but I therapeutically understand, and this is, if you're asking, here's the answer. If you're going to take omega-3, then you make sure there's a lot of DHA in it. There's EPA, DHA. EPA is good. DHA is better. Simple as that. And therapeutically, for people who have cognitive issues who want to protect their brain from Alzheimer's, it's the diet, it's lowering your sugars and all this and that, but DHA is therapeutic in the right dosage. And I'm big on that.
I have proven it to tens of thousands of patients. Concussions, ADD, ADHD cognitive issues. If you can get dementia early enough, I would put DHA up against anything, probiotics too. But for the brain therapeutically. You see for me, Mary, I want to prevent, I need my brain and DHA for your heart. It's oil, it's lubrication for your heart. And there's nothing better. It's so anti-inflammatory. But that's why Mary, I like it therapeutically. But listen, if you don't want to take supplements and I agree with you, by the way, don't just take omega-3 for the sake of taking omega-3. If you're eating fish, don't do it. But therapeutically, I would recommend you take a high DHA. And I recommend that to anyone. If you're going to do something, do it right. Okay? Do it right.
It's a real good question, Mary, because look, you know me, I'm a food guy. There's no one that preaches food more than me. Food first, you can't out-supplement a bad diet. You can't out-exercise a bad diet. You can't, you can't do it. Your diet needs to be good. But if you have that, that is the foundation. And again, somebody said, "I have to take a lot of supplements in the morning". Well, you know what? You should see what I take every day. And again, this is up to you, but I see it, if you're asking me, for me, I look at my body. A lot of people make investments and good for you. I had two restaurants. I was going to write a book, I never finished it. Don't get into the restaurant business. Why not to get into the restaurant. Because doctors, we make investments. We make money. We make investments. I've invested in real estate. I invested in this, I invested in that. Some were good. Some were not so good.
But the best investment you're going to make is into your body. People, "You know what? I'm going to live my life. I'm just going to eat whatever I feel like, and blah, blah, blah. And let the chips fall where they may". Okay. That's all right. If that's what you decide, hey, I don't have a gun pointed at anybody's head to take supplements. But if you ask me, I say, "If you're not taking a probiotic, you're making a mistake". That's me. If you don't get enough sun and you don't take vitamin D, you're making a mistake, sorry. You don't take DHA, and you want your brain to last? In my opinion, you're making a mistake.
I mean, there's some foundational things that I am very big on. And sometimes, I put people on the therapeutic things, hormonal, DIM, lots of stuff. But again, there's my philosophy and I'm pretty consistent about it, okay? The only thing I've ever changed my mind on... No, I shouldn't say the only thing, is probiotics because I went from taking them a couple of times a year, 20 years ago, to I believe, should be daily. The more we study the microbiome, the more we need it. This week, we talked about the chemicals and all the xenoestrogens, and plastic. It's in the air. It's here, there, everywhere. These things get into your body, they destroy your microbiome. But how do you get away from that? What do you plan on doing? Going to live on Mars? You're going with Elon Musk and taking one of his spaceships and you're leaving the planet? Well, good for you. I'm not joining you. Okay? So I've got to live on planet earth. Well, there's some issues with planet earth. And to me, it's not the climate, it's the chemicals. It's our food, it's in everything guys.
Rosalinda, "Is our blood pressure release valve in the kidneys?" Yes, there is. Well, usually between your ureter, there's little valves there, and those things can stop working. Will it affect your blood pressure? It could if they get backed up. And again, kidneys, do you know what affects the kidneys? Two things, Rosalinda, two things are going to affect your kidneys. One is insulin, sugars. It's not salt, it's sugar. And second, is H2O, water. Vitamin W. You need water. Kidneys or Niagara falls.
Joy, "Irregular platelets. I get black and blue suddenly. What could cause that?" Well, you better get that checked out. You want to make sure that you don't have some kind of blood disorder that can come suddenly. Make sure Joy, and if they're saying it's benign and no big deal, then that's good and don't eat too much salad. Get K2 instead of K1. Okay? I like our Blood Boost for that.
Sherry's asking about tilia tomentosa. Yeah again, I'll just say this Sherry, look at our Cortisol Formula. Everything in there is what I know works. There's other things I could've put in there, but I didn't have the experience with those other things combined. I'm a combination guy. And so you want to try it? Tilia? I got no problem with that. But again, you put it up against our Cortisol Formula, I'd say there's nothing like a... John's saying, "Stay away from carbs". Yep, because the cancer causing acrylamide. Well acrylamide... potato chips, peanuts, mostly found in carbs and yeah, you stay away from that at least temporarily and potato chips. Do I got to tell you? Women like potato chips more than men do.
So Cecille "loss of taste, can it be a lack of zinc?" Yep. It could be. That's usually the first thing that I think of when you lose your taste or COVID, that's one of the classic things, but with COVID what did they find? It used to be therapeutic to give zinc and they get away from that. They got away from that.
Last one. “What causes edema?” Well, a lot of things Rita, cause edema, okay? It could be kidneys. It can be dehydration. It can be congestive heart failure. You need to check it out because there's a lot of things that do it. It's usually in those top three things that I check for.
Okay. You guys are great. Thank you very much. Thanks for your patience. We appreciate it. Thank you for joining the Martin Clinic Facebook group, that private group. What a great group. I love reading all the posts and all the stuff and the back and forth and keep it civil. Tony Jr. says this all the time, we don't want to lose that platform because first of all, we're in the alternative health and Facebook doesn't like that. They like our group because they love the interaction, but we got to keep it civil and we've got to respect each other, that's really important. And you've got a different opinion. I might come back at you, but that's all right. I heard something the other day, I really liked it. You need to develop a thick hide and a tender heart. I like that. I want to keep my heart tender towards people. I love people and I love you guys. We appreciate you very much. 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!