I'm a little late to the reddit game,
but we just created a sub reddit
Doctor Mike, spelled out please.
Someone instantly shared with me in a private message
that there is a thread with the question
posed to the doctors of reddit
"What is something you wish everyone
knew about their body?"
Has sixteen thousand responses.
I'm about to weigh in on this.
React to what people are saying.
Are you ready?
I'm ready!
Bear are you ready?
Bee-woop!
What do I want people to know about their body?
You need seven to nine hours of sleep
as an adult.
I don't want to hear people say that they think
they function better on five hours
because it's just not statistically
or scientifically true.
Superman, Wonder Woman still need seven to nine hours
as an adult to be healthy.
On average.
Antibiotics only work against bacteria,
they are not some kind of wonderpotion
that cures anything, and they should
not always be given.
I'm sick right now.
I know that statistically ninety percent
eighty percent of the time this is viral.
Fact that I'm getting better slowly,
my fever's going away.
It's not bacterial.
If all of a sudden my fever spikes
then I'm gonna go and get some antibiotics
'cause I know I'm getting a bacterial super infection.
Most of these are viruses, and if your doctor
gives you a once over.
Does a proper history and physical,
and tells you you don't need antibiotics.
Don't force their hand.
You're only doing this to service yourself.
Tell us what drugs and alcohol you're on
We aren't gonna tell the cops.
We aren't gonna lecture you.
But it might change the anesthesia I give you.
Some stuff I give you might kill you.
If you drink a thirty pack a day, tell me.
Okay, this goes into the whole idea
of patient confidentiality.
So first of all, if you tell your doctor
no one else in the world is going to know about it.
Unless you give us the rights to share that with that person
There is a lot of drug drug interactions
that we want to avoid.
Very commonly, at least in my line of work.
What's happened is a patient, I can sense,
or I know they have a history of cocaine use.
And if you give a medication as a beta blocker,
which you give to slow the rhythm of the heart,
improve circulation to the heart after
a heart attack.
You don't want to give these two medications together.
So when patients come in, I ask them.
Tell me what drugs you've taken.
Tell me what you've been taken most recently.
They get all nervous thinking I'm going to call
the police.
That's not what we're asking for.
We're asking for it to make sure
to give you the best possible care.
When we ask you your last drink of alcohol
it's that so we can avoid a condition
known as delirium tremens.
It's a very dangerous condition
that can lead to seizures and even death.
Trust us, we're looking after your health.
Nothing else.
There's a wide range of normal.
Don't be embarrassed by your body.
Having said that, if you're concerned about anything
ask your doctor.
We generally have heard it all before, and trust me,
we have nearly always seen it all.
Maybe you have something that
has been bothering you for ages,
but you were too scared or embarrassed to ask about it
so just ask. It might be nothing
and you have been stressing about it for no reason.
And if not, then you are at least one step closer
to getting it fixed.
No one can help if they don't know.
There are no stupid questions, so ask away.
I think this is a really good point.
When patients ask me the very simple question of
when should I go see my doctor.
The answer is, if something is bothering you
or if it's giving you anxiety.
The longer you wait, two things happen.
You build up more anxiety about the issue.
Or two, you can actually make the condition
become worse and worse and progress to the point
where treatment might not work as affectively.
Some people seem to think if you act healthy for a bit,
it'll make up for being a wreck.
There's a lot wrong with this.
One example, antioxidants are like gas for your car.
You can store up a certain amount of vitamins,
but your tank can only hold so much.
If you binge and overfill your tank,
it doesn't do anything, except excrete it as waste,
and you can't expect to go the next several months
without gas.
Just because you're bringing in extra materials
that we know you need to maintain a healthy liver,
bones, brain function, whatever it is.
It's doesn't mean you're going to get
better bones if you have more materials.
The same way that if you're building a building
and all of a sudden I say
"Well you know what instead of me giving you
the materials you need for this month,
I'm just going to dump all the materials you need
for the next year."
And now does the building get built faster?
It's doesn't.
It would help if more patients knew their family history.
Prevention is becoming more and more important in medicine
and treating a disease in its early stages is a lot better
than catching it late.
That's very true.
I think that in general
we as a society are not very good at keeping
track of our medical history.
Many of my patients come in and can be taking
ten medications, not know what they are
outside of the color, size, and shape of the pill.
They don't know what medical diagnosis they have.
Which ones have resolved and they no longer
suffer with that illness.
And then the family history
is obviously in addition to that.
The more we can stay on top of that,
and be leaders for our own health.
The better outcomes we're gonna have.
ibeatmymeats. Okay not the greatest name to have.
Don't do DIY surgery, or hold off on reporting
things that are obvious warning signs.
Don't be the guy who tried
to remove his skin cancer with a knife.
Duh?
Yeah, please don't do your own surgery.
I have seen some videos online of people
popping their cysts.
Stop that!
Stop that.
Just 'cause you watched some pimple popping
videos on YouTube doesn't mean
you're qualified to do that.
It looks simple, but there's a lot of things
that can go wrong.
There could be a blood vessel there that you pop
and now all of a sudden you can't control the bleeding.
What are you gonna do then?
What happens if whatever cyst you took out
actually turned out to be cancer,
now you'll never know
cause you didn't send it to pathology.
Good point beat my meat.
You need some kind of exercise.
Doesn't matter how you feel right now,
sitting for twelve to sixteen hours a day
will have negative consequences.
Hundred percent true.
In fact before doing this video,
I contemplated doing a video on
the dangers of sitting.
That may sound funny, but it's so true.
Sitting is like the new smoking.
Is a slogan that's been used by media companies,
and some people say "Oh it's overblown, it's overblown"
The amount of risk is overblown.
But the fact that sitting for too long
effects your mental health, your physical health,
your cancer risk, muscle aches and pains.
Stop sitting for fourteen hours at a time
playing video games, Netflix, YouTube,
all this stuff.
Take a break. Stand up. Go for a walk.
Get a puppy, go on a date, get some water, go pee.
Whatever your excuse is,
walk around and be happy and healthy.
Your kidneys and liver cheerfully
do all the toxin elimination you'll ever need
I love that term cheerfully.
Cleanses and other detoxifying products are B.S. woo
and a waste of money. The people who sell them are predators
who only care about your money becoming theirs.
That's a hundred percent true.
As I said in my TED Talk.
IKA experts are interested in one thing, and one thing only.
And it's not slimming your waistline.
It's slimming your wallet.
That administering CPR compressions as soon as possible
is one of the greatest indicators of successful outcomes.
You are right. And that's why we say
"Chest compressions, chest compressions, chest compressions"
Instead of saying hands only CPR, like saying,
chest compressions, chest compressions, chest compressions
'cause that's the first thing you should do
if you feel no pulse, and someones not responsive.
You'll not only save a life, but you'll be proud
that you too have some medical knowledge
and can improve this world.
Some things just don't belong in your rectum.
I would go ahead and say most things
don't belong in your rectum.
I think some is and understatement there.
You often will feel normal even with high blood pressure.
It's found incidentally.
So don't wait until it gives you symptoms
you don't want to go through.
Very good point here.
Too many of my patients think that
because they feel fine that there's nothing wrong
with their blood pressure.
It's not something you feel.
It's something intrinsically happening
that your heart has to battle against.
Therefore, you increase your possibility
of developing heart disease.
And as we know that's not good.
And also strokes, even worse.
Not only should you be listening to your doctor
and taking the medications or treatments
that the doctor prescribed to you.
You should be taking it regularly,
and consistently.
I'm a vet but I'm sure doctors
will have come across this too.
Amputated limbs do not grow back.
I've had too many people asking me ho long it'll take
for their pets amputated limb to grow back.
So I'm assuming a few doctors out there will have
patients asking the same of their own missing limbs.
Yeah, limbs don't grow back.
If you reattach them the right way, they can heal.
But they don't regrow.
Oh, Kofiko. Your mental health is just as important
as your physical health.
How did I not give that one to you guys in the beginning.
I'm so passionate about that.
If you are not healthy mentally,
it will reflect in your physical health.
Give you a simple example.
If you're very stressed or depressed,
that can effect your blood pressure.
When your blood pressure is high it causes
increased rates of heart disease and stroke.
If you're depressed and your cortisol levels are high,
which are your stress hormones,
it constantly keeps your body in a high sympathetic state.
Basically a fight or flight state.
It doesn't heal well, it doesn't digest well,
you don't get nutrients from food very well.
You could see how a worse mental state
will give you worse physical state outcome.
Believe it.
This isn't woo
Just because a part of your body hurts
doesn't mean that part of your body is damaged
or out of alignment or needs to be repaired.
You can have tissue damage without pain,
or you can have no tissue damage with a lot of pain.
Absolutely correct.
Absolutely agree.
And the reason why I actually discourage my patients
from rushing to get MRI's
Here's what happens, if you take a hundred people
who have no back pain.
You scan their backs, meaning their spines with an MRI
you'll find that seventy to eighty percent of them
will have some sort of finding on that MRI.
What that finding means is pretty much nothing
because, clinically, they are pain free.
They can function well.
Now if you take someone who has back pain
and then you find one of those findings
then you might be able to say,
"Well they have this herniated disk,
they have back pain, it's probably because of that."
Ninety percent of sports medi injuries,
like back pain, do resolve with conservative treatment
like physical therapy.
So one of my first and foremost treatments
that I give to all my patients outside of
the home exercise program,
osteopathic manipulation that I do, is physical therapy.
Do not rush for unnecessary surgery or even worse
unproven treatments which there are a ton of.
Please if you want some more videos of me
and the Bear-pup to see how he's doing,
like maybe a day in the life Bear video.
Definitely drop it down below in the comments,
and check out this video of actually seven reasons
of why maybe you shouldn't be getting a dog.
Even though I love Bear.
As always, stay happy and healthy.
(upbeat music)