- "Do you tell patients to subscribe to your channel?"
Imagine I walk into a room, "Hi, I'm Dr. Varshavski,
"you were just involved in a code blue,
"please subscribe, please sub."
(chill out beats)
What's up folks?
Dr. Mike here, I'm back at it with another
responding to comments video.
I will say it's been a while since I've done one of these,
but you are slacking.
I want more questions in the comment section,
get to it, start writing,
even if it's in the middle of this video,
don't stop until you get your question answered.
because I wanna answer all of them.
Let's get started. (imitates a ninja)
In reality, the only times my channel comes up
with my patients is if they already know me
or in the instance that we've run out of time
and a patient wants to know about a specific subject
that I know I have a video on that subject.
I'll then recommended that they check out one of my videos,
but I don't push it on anybody, that's not for office time.
That's strictly for us, me and you, you and me,
you know, YouTube.
KarWren Cobbster, "Dumb question,"
there is no such thing as a dumb question.
"In a heated situation where one has to perform CPR,
"how does a person ensure that no ribs get broken?
"Particularly the ones nearest to the lungs."
Almost all the ribs are near the lungs.
It's that something you should think about.
That's the bottom line.
What you should think about is making sure
that help is called, that you've nominated
someone to call help or called help yourself
and right away if the person's not breathing,
no pulse, to start pounding on that chest.
Doing it at a hundred beats per minute.
Singing Staying Alive, if you will,
and pushing at least 2 inches deep,
so you gotta push pretty firmly
in order to make that happen.
If you crack a rib, no worries,
you're extending the person's life
in order to get them help.
They're already gone, by doing the chest compressions
you're actually increasing their chance for recovery.
That's the best thing you can do when someone's heart stops.
"Who tends to Bear when you work a long shift?"
Robin-Cherry Seigler.
The great thing is that one of my close friends
is my neighbor, so he gets to hang out with Bear.
Then my nephews oftentimes take turns coming to see Bear.
Sometimes I have someone clean my apartment
while I'm not home.
So there's always someone taking care of Bear
or hanging out with Bear when he's alone
for a long period of time.
And I don't work the 14 hour shift,
that you guys saw on my vlog the other day, all the time.
That's like once a week thing
where I have a really long shift
that I wanted to take you with me on,
but in reality most of my shifts are shorter than that
and Bear's not alone for more than six, eight hours,
which he's totally fine doing.
He sleeps in the bathroom,
even if I'm home at that time anyway.
Bear, do you hear his little feets?
Hey, hey, hey little peppers.
You wanna say hi to the camera?
They want they want you to say hi.
(laughing)
God, you're such an aggressive kisser.
Bear, ask for consent.
Connor Perry, "Can hats give you headaches?"
Great, great question.
There's actually a type of headache that's lesser-known.
It's called a compression headache
from wearing helmets, headbands, hats,
all of those things that can put
unnecessary pressure on your scalp
can actually cause you a headache.
Not to worry though, generally,
when you take those things off, in a few hours,
maybe if you need to take something over the counter,
medication, it will go away.
But the reason this happens is
'cause there's always movement
between the sutures of your scalp
and there's always a little bit of movement.
There's blood flow that needs to happen.
There's a little bit of expansion there
and when you don't let that happen,
you could actually get a headache
known as a compression headache.
So Connor great question.
"Is it true that stress can
"lead to the growing of white hairs?"
Ursella Ariella, I gotta tell you, I got them white hairs.
What's happening is actually you have a decrease in melanin
producing cells called melanocytes in the hair follicle.
If your hair's white, that means
you completely have lost all your melanin.
But if you have some, you get gray hair,
so it's almost like partial pigmentation, if you will.
Now, the question you asked is if stress effects it.
We know genetics is the most important thing,
but stress seems to play a role in this.
I've looked into this myself.
We don't have a cause and effect relationship.
Let me tell you that out right,
but when we look into it, we do see some sort of pattern
and correlation emerge between those who don't sleep enough,
who have very competitive jobs,
high stress levels at work, family members.
They generally gray earlier.
Our reasoning for this, which is unproven,
but what we think happens is that there is an inflammatory
response from free radicals that occurs from stress
and that actually interferes with melanin process.
Like the way that the color is brought to the follicle.
And when that happens, you're more likely to gray earlier.
While science hasn't given us a definitive answer,
I'm gonna give it a preliminary true
that stress does cause your hair to turn gray sooner.
"Is cracking my knuckles a bad idea?
"Will I get arthritis?"
Well Henry, I can't promise
if you're gonna get arthritis or not.
But what I can tell you is that medical research
has looked into the science of cracking knuckles
and that sound that you hear is actually
just nitrogen bubbles popping in your synovial fluid.
Synovial fluid is the stuff that lubricates your joints
and when you hear that cracking,
you think that's a bad thing, that it's your bones breaking
or anything like that.
That's not really the case.
It's these completely harmless nitrogen bubbles
and there's been really decent evidence that shows
it does not lead to arthritis
and unless it's causing you some kind of pain or discomfort,
it's usually and generally pretty harmless.
If it makes you feel better, psychologically speaking,
crack away.
And as long as you're not bothering anybody, that's fine.
Now, if you're getting pain when you're cracking,
maybe you already have arthritis,
maybe you have a tendon injury.
Definitely don't crack in those scenarios.
If you find yourself needing to crack otherwise
you do have pain, that could also be a sign
that something's going on
and you should talk to your doctor,
but in general know that when you crack your knuckles once
see like now, I can't crack them again.
The reason why is because you need to give time
for those nitrogen bubbles to reform in the synovial fluid.
It's kind of a fun fact for you.
Katharine Allard, "How many patients do you have?
"Just wondering."
That's a good question.
I see around 30, 40 patients a week in my outpatient office
as a family medicine doctor doing primary care stuff
and urgent care.
And then I have probably a panel of
what like 500, 600 patients that I built up from residency
who I'm their primary care doctor
that when they schedule an appointment for a follow-up,
whatever it is, they schedule it with me.
This panel of patients that I built up,
I've a very close relationship with them.
Not all of them come in all the time.
And sometimes they can get care from one of my colleagues,
but they're important to me
'cause we've established a rapport.
I know their history.
That's the beauty of having a family medicine doctor,
so that we don't give you unnecessary care
and we can guide you to the best specialist,
the best imaging places,
the best physical therapist, all of that.
Navigating the health system
can be a really troublesome feet.
And if you have a good guide in a family medicine doctor,
it's gonna save you a lot of time, money, trouble
and you're gonna get better outcomes.
Marcos Morales, "Aren't canker sores
"and cold sores the same thing?"
They may look similar, but they're actually not the same
thing at all because of their cause.
Cold sores are caused by a virus
and canker sores are, sometimes can be caused by a virus,
but usually they're caused by some sort of stress,
whether that means it's a stress to your immune system,
it could be a stress like a physical stress,
like if you have braces
and they're rubbing along a specific your mouth
and inside of your cheek, you can get a canker sore.
Also, hot liquids, spicy foods
can sometimes cause canker sores.
It's really a physical stress,
cold sores come from a virus
and unless you have been infected by that virus,
you're never gonna get a cold sore.
Canker sores you can get, virus or no virus.
Kelly Vo, "Hey Doc, what's your intake on dragon's breath
"AKA liquid nitrogen is it safe to consume?"
What, dragon's breath?
It doesn't sound safe, so I wouldn't do it.
The only thing that should be going into your lungs
is air and ideally you'd like it to be clear air.
Like what we're breathing in New York City is not ideal.
So no, I think liquid nitrogen
doesn't sound safe to consume.
I need more information
before I give you an official doctor's recommendation.
Lydia Dimock, "I often lucid dream and walk and talk
"in my sleep, I feel like some nights
"it could be causing me to be deprived of sleep.
"What should I do?"
Ooh, that's a good one.
Sleepwalking is actually a problem
and sometimes people realize it luckily
because one of their partners realizes it,
their family members realizes it.
The real solution here is to get a proper work up
from a doctor,
hopefully one that specializes in sleepwalking,
so that we can figure out the cause,
perhaps give you a treatment for the cause,
whether that means lifestyle changes or even medications
and monitor your sleep to see if it continues happening.
But know that there are treatments out there.
Srushti Kulkarni, "What can we do to reduce muscle soreness
"after exercises?"
Oh, man, this is something I struggle with.
DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness.
Man, I get this so bad on the second day
after like heavy workout or a new work out.
Things that I do that I think work quite well.
A, warm up and cool down are crucial.
And it doesn't mean stretching.
It means like dynamic warm-ups, those are ideal.
The second thing is I love massage,
even though massage may not improve circulation
as much as we'd like in muscles.
It still feels good, it's relaxing,
it lowers your cortisol levels,
which allows you to recover better.
And then the final thing is,
on the day after a workout and you feel sore
and even the second day after,
do a little active recovery.
Do some of the motions that are sore,
but don't do them with heavy weights.
So lower by like 80% intensity of the action
and you'll see that your blood flow
will start to improve and you'll get better recovery.
That's something I really enjoy doing.
Entity303 Does Stuff, "What is the best way to remove sodas
"and energy drinks from your diet?"
The best way, cold turkey.
Walk to your fridge, take them out, spill them out,
recycle the bottles and then say you quit.
If it's not in your home and you don't buy it,
you're not gonna drink it.
That's the bottom line.
Maddie Baker, "I wanted to go and follow you on Twitter,
"but your account is suspended.
"What did you do?"
I didn't do anything.
I think my Twitter account is fine.
I'm gonna look it up right now.
No, my Twitter account is fine.
Maybe you wrote this a long time ago.
First of all, you need to follow
me on Twitter. (whistling)
It's a real doctor spelled out Mike.
I post some good articles.
I give my opinions on things,
you really should be following me there.
So go and Twitter follow me, just saying.
Here's an awesome playlist I put together for you
that starts off with my hospital vlog.
Literally a full day in the hospital
where I teach everybody about how to stay happy and healthy.
I'll see you on this playlist.
Let's do it.
(chill out music)