mindful-medicine
Articulate, passionate and humorous, Dr. Holly Lucille breaks down the myths and misconceptions about health and health related topics.

The Most Deadly Health Myth

From the Show: Mindful Medicine
Summary: You might be putting yourself in danger without even realizing it.
Air Date: 5/27/15
Duration: 10
Host: Holly Lucille, ND, RN
Guest Bio: Jacob Teitelbaum, MD
Jacob Teitelbaum head shotJacob Teitelbaum, MD, is Director of the Fatigue & Fibromyalgia Practitioners Network and author of the best-selling book, From Fatigued to Fantastic! He is also the creator of the popular free iPhone & Android application "Cures A-Z."

He is the lead author of four studies on effective treatment for fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and a study on effective treatment of autism using NAET.

Dr. Teitelbaum does frequent media appearances including Good Morning America, CNN, Fox News Channel, the Dr. Oz Show and Oprah & Friends. He lives in Kona, Hawaii.
The Most Deadly Health Myth
With breaking health headlines constantly being busted, you might be concerned as to whether or not you can trust what you've always been told.

For example, research has shown that "bad foods" such as chocolate, eggs, salt, coffee, and tea have turned out to be health foods and recommended in order to improve your longevity.

On the flip side, many recommended health tests such as prostate, pap tests and mammograms have been shown to cause more harm than good.

However, one health myth that may come as a surprise is the use of medications.

Over 200,000 Americans die needlessly each year from the side effect of medications, including 30,000 to 50,000 from ibuprofen-related arthritis medications alone.

The first thing you might tend to do when you're not feeling well is to pop an anti-inflammatory. But, research shows that sticking to natural remedies is more effective, costs less, and can be much safer.

Listen in as Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, discusses the number-one health myth, how you can avoid unnecessary side effects, and natural remedies that you can use to address your health concerns instead.
Transcription:

RadioMD Presents: The Dr. Holly Lucille Show | Original Air Date: May 27, 2015
Host: Holly Lucille, ND, RN
Guest: Jacob Teitelbaum, MD


It’s time to separate fact from fiction and health fads. It’s time for the Dr. Holly Lucille show. Here’s Dr. Holly.

DR HOLLY: Hi, folks. Thanks so much for coming back. Listen, here we go. It is the number one most deadly health myth. Like, I love busting health myths because, I have to tell you I lecture all across the country and sometimes I’ll just get in a mode and I’ll say, “Okay, folks. I don’t want you to think about it, but how many people think eggs are dairy?” And, hey, a lot of you lovely, educated people will automatically raise your hand. Eggs are dairy because we think that for a reason. We had a marketing campaign a long, long time ago that told us that eggs were dairy because we saw them with the glass jar of milk and the stick of butter. Eggs are dairy. Eggs are dairy. It’s in our head. Eggs are dairy. Eggs aren’t dairy! They’re like liquid chicken. They come from chickens. They’re chickens, right? So, Dr. Teitelbaum, help me, help me, because I love when people wake up. I know we all have brains but can we use our minds? That’s my biggest question. That’s what I want people to do when it comes to their health. I want to put the commonness back in common sense. And thankfully, I have you here to help me do that.

DR TEITELBAUM: Well, Holly, how do they say? It was the best of times. It was the worst of times when you look at modern medicine today. It has been a horrible two years for our healthcare system but an awesome two years for the public. We are going through the birthing pains of a new healthcare system. It is really a very exciting time. And, I’m not talking about Obamacare versus Republican Care. This is just a side show that’s being put on where the medical industry really owns both sides of the debate. It’s very distracting, but, it’s all really silliness. I’m talking about what’s more real. Let’s take a look. In the last couple years, recent medical myths are falling like dominos. You talk about eggs being bad. No, eggs are healthy. They do not raise cholesterol. Salt’s bad for you. No! If you salt-restrict to the government guidelines, the main thing is you are twice as likely to die prematurely from heart disease. Coffee, tea, chocolate, Alcohol...all these myths about these being bad for you have been falling by the wayside. And now, the number one deadliest health myth for the last 200 years is falling like the biggest domino there is. And that myth is that your doctor knows everything that can help you. That is just such utter nonsense. MDs know maybe about 20 percent of what can help people but they think they know everything. And, again, it’s kind of like a toolkit. MD medicine is like the hammer in a toolkit. You have appendicitis? It’s really good to go there. You have a major trauma and need heart resuscitation? That’s when the doctors, the MDs, are really good. But, for most things, sadly, unless it is a life threatening emergency...And, again most doctors...When I did my medical training it was in university hospitals, not regular hospitals, but where the sickest of the sickest people dying were sent to and that’s where we got 99 percent of our medical training. They didn’t teach us to treat colds or pain or fatigue or day to day chronic illness. And, most doctors are clueless. They’re clueless about how to treat these things and they’re clueless that they don’t know what they’re doing with these things and that others can help. So, the myth that your doctor knows everything and your doctors says “I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do.” That you go home and die. Bust it! If you’ve got a problem that your doctor can’t help you with, tell him “Thanks for letting me know you can’t help,” and instead of going home to die, go next door see your naturopath, your chiropractor, your acupuncturist. There’re so many other tools in the toolkit. I’m starting to think that there’s very little that can’t be effectively treated when you use the whole toolkit.

DR HOLLY: Yep!

DR TEITELBAUM: Let’s say we take a couple things. Pain, heart disease, and fatigue--some of the most common medical conditions. Maybe, we’ll add heartburn if we have time. And, take a look at how standard medicine approaches it and how the rest of the toolkit does. Shall we go play?

DR HOLLY: Let’s do it.

DR TEITELBAUM: Okay, so let’s look at pain. One out of three Americans (that number has gone up from one in four) suffers needlessly with chronic pain. What’s the standard medical approach? To give ibuprofen-related arthritis medications or Tylenol. Give narcotics. Oh, and let’s not forget slash for cash if there’s something that you can do. Back pain? Aha! Disc disease? No, but we’re going to cut anyway. That’s the standard approach. The cost? Well, we’ve got 30,000-50,000 American deaths each year from ibuprofen-related medications. No, your doctor hasn’t seen that research in most likelihood. But, the studies are available and these are large studies. Fifteen thousand overdose deaths from prescribed narcotics and one out of three people suffering from pain. But, let’s take a look at the rest of the toolkit. You’ve got structural things like a chiropractor, your massage therapist can do myofascial release. You’ve got the biophysics of pain that your acupuncturist knows how to do. And, then let’s take a look at the biochemistry. Study after study is showing that herbal remedies, curamin which is an amazing, what I call a pain relief miracle, a mix of four different herbs. End Pain, a mix of three herbs. Topical comfrey. And, even treating the root cause of the pain. Pain’s like the oil light on your dashboard. It just something needs attention. You put oil in, the oil light goes out. You give your body what it needs which I call SHINE...Sleep, Hormones, Infection/Inflammation/Impingement, Nutrition, Exercise, the pain goes away. This has been shown in our published research. Ribose, an amazing nutrient for giving your body the energy it needs and muscle release. So, as you do the score about, who wins when it comes to treating pain? Well, MD medicine00clueless! All the other alternatives and the thousands of people I’ve treated from all over the world with horrible chronic pain, I can count on my fingers the amount we’ve not been able to get good solid relief and/or usually have the pain go away.

DR HOLLY: You know, I love that you are an MD yourself. Conventional, western reductionistically-trained MD, but you get it. And I got to tell you ...because it’s not about, for me, Jacob, ever saying that, “Oh, it’s us versus them.” There are times and there is a place for that style of reductionistic medicine, of course. And, I would hate to see an ER function without it. I would hate to see urgent care function without it. You’ve got to be thinking in that “this is triage,” sort of. But, by and large regarding the state of our health, especially in our modern day, we have to open up and be able to utilize, I think, this more broad-minded thinking, for sure!

DR TEITELBAUM: Absolutely! And, let me give a quick resource for people. There’s a free smartphone app. It’s called Cures A-Z (so C-U-R-E-S capital A dash Z) for anything from acne to zoster, it’ll tell you. There’s how to use the best of standard medicine and alternative medicine. Let’s take a look at heart disease, the number one killer. What does standard medicine offer? Surgery, and some moderately helpful medications. What are some of the alternatives? Structural medicine offers external counterpulsation as effective, or more, than heart bypass. Ribose, CoQ10, other nutrients, hawthorn, very effective for heart failure. And, then cancer. I find that there are many things that help cancer well beyond chemo and radiation. So, if you can’t get help, know that there is help even if your doctor hasn’t been able to give it to you.

DR HOLLY: You know, and I love that you say that. And, quite honestly, you said that, “Hey, if your doctor says they can’t help you with something, say ‘Okay, thank you for telling me.’” My experience, Jacob, is that a lot of doctors aren’t willing to get to that place where they’re going to say, “I can’t help you”. Actually, their help is force and ineffective. And so, I always am encouraging my patients to... hey listen, your doctors work for you. You can smile and nod and say, “Thank you for that suggestion,” but, a second opinion, a third opinion, you take power. You be your own PCP. You are primarily in charge of providing care for yourself. We’ve got a team of people. You can smile and nod, “thank you,” but after all, you get to use your brain, not only that, your mind. Wake up and really take control over the situation.

DR TEITELBAUM: Absolutely. There’s always hope. And, there’s always, virtually always, effective treatments for things. You just need to know where to look. You look at your whole toolkit.

DR HOLLY: Alright. That’s Cures A-Z on your smartphone. It’s an amazing app, folks. Get that. Learn more about Jacob Teiltelbaum and his lovely work at endfatigue.com. I am Dr. Holly Lucille. I’ve got to give a big shout out to RadioMD to Lauren, to Kevin, to the Tims, for making my life a lot sweeter.

You, out there, remember, you’ve got a brain, but can you use your mind? Come back into your common sense. Make it a little bit more common when it comes to your health. I’m Dr. Holly Lucille. This is Mindful Medicine and we’re going to be right back.