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Nov. 3, 2023 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:36
Why Young Women Are Having More Deadly Heart Attacks? | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 10 | Full Episode
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A Dr. Oz alert.
The new face of heart attacks in America.
Women under 55. Staggering statistics reveal young women are at more risk to die than anyone else.
The warning signs that can save your life.
Systems that every woman needs to know.
Plus, flu shots under fire.
The controversy surrounding the vaccine.
Coming up next on Oz.
Today, a show no woman can afford to miss.
You know heart disease is the number one killer of women.
But now, there's a new face of heart attacks in America.
And it's younger than you think.
Staggering new statistics show that when a woman under 55 has a heart attack, she's more likely to die than anyone else.
Would you know if you're at risk?
Heart disease strikes nearly half a million American women each year.
Even more alarming, under age 50, women's heart attacks are twice as likely as men's to be fatal.
Factors putting younger women at risk?
Obesity, hypertension, family history, and lifestyle choices like smoking, excessive alcohol use, poor diet, and lack of exercise.
And now a new study comes to a surprising conclusion.
Young women are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack or die of heart disease if they suffer from depression.
Yet, while heart disease is on the rise in younger women, many remain in the dark about the risk, including the medical professionals failing to diagnose the disease.
Gail was 37. Robin was 27. And Kendall was 32 when they suffered from heart attacks.
They are here today to make sure that you would not miss the signs.
The fact is, young women are more likely to miss a heart attack because they can't imagine, never cross their mind, that this could happen to them.
You know what?
Healthcare workers aren't catching it either because we don't expect it.
Gail, you were caught completely off guard with this.
Explain to me what it was like and what were the risk factors that you ultimately end up having?
I definitely was caught off guard.
I did not believe that I was at risk for a heart attack.
At the time, I do remember being stressed, but didn't realize that was a risk factor.
I did not have hypertension.
I wasn't a diabetic.
I didn't have high cholesterol.
I was physically fit, so I just assumed that I wasn't at risk.
I do remember being under a lot of stress because my husband had just been deployed to Iraq.
I had a daughter who had just started high school, so I was being the mom to her, and I was working a lot of hours at work.
In retrospect, you put those pieces together.
Yes.
Robin, arguably in the best shape of your life when this happens, you had a secret, a hidden risk factor.
Yes, actually my dad's side of the family has a lot of heart issues, but I never thought I was at risk.
I coached gymnastics and I'm young and healthy and I actually thought I dislocated my shoulder.
I insisted actually it was my shoulder and I was very lucky that the doctors realized something else was going on and I went to cardiac arrest hooked up to the EKG. Oh my goodness.
They actually had to put a defibrillator in and so I have a nice scar now from it and you know it changed my life.
It is a miracle that you're actually in a hospital when your heart stopped.
Yes they told me had I not been there I wouldn't have survived.
I'm quite certain they're right.
And Kendall, you actually have a little bit of a family history, and you know, you had a grandfather, and I just pointed to both of you, if I can talk about all of this for everybody.
If you have a relative, a first-degree relative, that means a parent or grandparent under the age of 60 that has had heart disease or a stroke, then you're at genetic risk, no matter what, and you need to pay attention to that.
Kendall, what risk factors did you have?
Like you said, I knew that my family history pointed towards heart disease.
My mother had a heart attack at 42 and my grandmother passed away at 54 from heart disease.
But the biggest problem for me was the lifestyle choices that I made.
I was a smoker.
I was 200 pounds.
I liked food and paper bags and crinkly wrappers and all the things that you're really not supposed to have.
I barely exercised and when I did it was just to out exercise my diet.
You know, you run on the treadmill to eat cake and I did that and it was everything that I shouldn't have done and I was aware of that.
I knew that.
Well, I'm happy that you turned around at least the risk factors that I know about.
But this isn't about blame.
It's about the reality that we just don't know what's happening.
And women under the age of 55 are the least likely to seek medical attention when you're having a heart attack.
For many reasons that I want to talk about today.
Symptoms are particularly important, but they can be very subtle.
And it's easy to chalk up your symptom of a heart attack to things like stress.
You mentioned stress, being exhausted, aches and pains, things that really aren't that relevant.
If you're listening to your body, and this is a real key story here, if you know those warning signs, you can save your own life.
And if you don't know those signs, the best person to save your life won't be paying attention.
You.
There are five symptoms that every woman in America needs to know.
And I'm passionate about this.
Let's go over and talk about these on the other side of the studio.
Come on over.
First issue is pain.
And Kendall, you describe the fact that you actually probably knew that you could have had a problem, although you're only 32 at the time, so who would have suspected it?
But describe what the symptoms were like that ultimately got you to go seek attention.
The pain that I was having was never in my chest.
I never had the elephant on the chest feeling.
My pain was more located to my shoulders and my jaw.
But the thing that said I need to call 911 was when my fingertips were actually tingling.
It's that feeling that you have fallen asleep on your arm and now you have pins and needles.
That was like the big warning sign for me.
We think about pain a lot.
Let me just, if I can, take away the fiction around pain.
First issue.
Pain can be anywhere, right?
It doesn't have to be like the elephant on your chest, as Kendall mentioned.
It can be in your chest, of course, but your jaw, neck, arm, shoulder.
It can be anywhere in this upper part of your body and still be related to your heart.
I've had people come to me with pinky pain.
That ended up being the sign that they were having a heart attack.
That pain can radiate down your arm, it can feel like pressure, and you can sometimes get numbness or tingling sensations in your fingertips, especially in your left hand.
So don't ignore the many different ways pain can wake you up to the reality that you're having a heart problem.
Next is extreme fatigue, women who are tired all the time.
Gail, how do you differentiate this kind of fatigue from your normal exhaustion?
My fatigue was to the point where, when I was at work, just to go from my desk to go to the ladies room, it was just exhausting.
It was intense.
Tiredness.
Just to walk was too much.
And then the night of the heart attack, I do remember sitting at the table eating dinner and just being drenched in sweat just from sitting at the table eating dinner.
So I decided to go upstairs to lie down.
Oh, perfect.
To walk from...
You have a heart attack when I go down.
Relax.
Wrong.
I learned now.
Wrong thing to do.
But just to walk up the stairs to get to my bed, I had to hold on to the stair rails and pull myself up the stairs.
That's the type of exhaustion.
Just to underline this, the exhaustion that Gail is describing is classic for women.
If you're too exhausted to do the normal activities of life, walking up to the bedroom is something you should be able to do without holding on to the handrail.
That could be a sign of a heart attack.
The next symptom is nausea and indigestion.
Robert, describe how that affected you when you were having your heart attack.
Well, I actually thought that the nauseous feeling was from the pain in my shoulder, since I thought I had dislocated my shoulder.
So I just kind of pushed it off, and I went to the bathroom, couldn't get sick, and then I started sweating.
It was like just puddles of sweat, and so I knew something else was wrong.
All three of you are describing as part of this the sense that you had a bad flu.
Is that the right word to put on it?
I'll tell you, one of the most memorable moments of my life was talking to a pathologist and she told me that the first thing she did when she was doing an autopsy on a young woman was to look in the stomach.
Do you know what she was looking for?
Antacids, pepto-bismol, things like that.
Because so many women with indigestion chalk it up to their gut and it's actually their heart that was causing their problem.
Let me if I can explain anatomically why that's so.
When you're having a heart attack, The heart doesn't actually have any pain fibers.
I could touch your heart, you wouldn't feel anything.
It has nerves that go to the spine.
From the spine, it crosses other nerves, like the ones that, for example, come to the stomach, because your stomach does have pain fibers.
So the nerves from your stomach cross the ones in the spine that are coming from your heart, and you'll feel, it's called referred pain, You'll feel like the pain is in your belly.
You'll feel like you have indigestion, classically, or a bad flu.
What's really going on is your heart's crying out, begging you to pay attention.
The only way you can is to use this little ability to cross nerves that are coming from the belly.
So I don't want folks to write off a bad indigestion to just last night's food.
In the back of your mind, especially if you have any of the other symptoms, be thinking, could this be my heart?
And young women, that doesn't come across their minds right now.
We want to change that today.
That's the purpose of the show.
Next up, shortness of breath.
Kendall, what do you feel with shortness of breath?
I did feel shortness of breath it it almost seemed like a panic attack or anxiety attack which is why when I went into the ER the admitting nurse was like you need to calm down you're hyperventilating and I was trying everything to calm down and catch a breath I you try to yawn or you try to just take that deep breath but I I could not take it if you can't walk and talk You cannot walk and talk.
That could be a sign of a heart attack or at least heart failure.
So those are just simple little ideas that I'm throwing out there, but they're profoundly important.
The final tip is about dizziness and being lightheaded.
Did any of you feel that?
Did all three of you feel that?
I do remember when I was saying I had to pull myself up the stairs, I do remember feeling lightheaded and dizzy, but because I was holding onto the stair rails, it helped.
Alright, so those are the classic ones.
If you feel dizzy or lightheaded, you're going to sit down, you're going to close your eyes, that's what you should do anyway.
If it doesn't go away pretty quickly when you do that, you've got to think it's your heart.
I want every woman in America to look at these signs.
I'm going to put up this big word cloud.
These are the key symptoms.
I want you to memorize these symptoms.
You guys brought them alive beautifully and I thank you for doing that.
Remember these stories.
Remember the symptoms.
Go with them.
If you've experienced them, you call 911 and then you put an aspirin, a big aspirin, an adult aspirin, 325 milligrams in your mouth and you chew on the thing.
That way you absorb it more rapidly.
I do not want another woman to think that these symptoms are normal.
Kendall, I want to give you the last word.
I know you had a passionate reason for wanting to come on the show today.
I do.
As a mom and a wife, I know that women have a tendency of underplaying or downplaying all of their symptoms and all of the things.
Even from the flu, we just go to bed and try and sleep it off.
If you have any of these symptoms, Please see your doctor.
Please talk to your physician.
Don't take it for granted that your age is your advantage because it is affecting women under the age of 55. It's killing women under the 55. Heart disease is the number one killer of all of us.
And if you can do anything, you know, increase your diet, increase your exercise to prevent it because it really is tough to do the things that you need to do to recover from a heart attack at our age.
Beautifully stated.
Beautifully stated.
All right, you can find out lots more information on these heart attack warning signs and find your risk with my Real Age of Your Heart calculator.
Simple to do.
You'll know your exact risk.
It's on DrRoz.com.
I'll be right back. - Next, flu shots under fire.
Why is a toxic ingredient that was banned still lurking in your vaccine?
The one question you need to ask your doctor before your next flu shot.
Coming up next...
It looks like cocaine, and its effects can be just as lethal.
A Dr. Oz exclusive.
We need to have this product banned.
The dangers of caffeine powder abuse.
I'm appalled that something this potent is on the market.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
In the medical spotlight today, what's sure to be a controversial new book about your flu shot.
Today's guests are asking a highly charged and controversial question.
Why does the U.S. government allow a toxin to be added to one of your most common medicines?
The toxin is mercury.
It's found in thimerosal.
The medicine?
Your flu shot.
Two world-class leaders have come together to write a book that will change the way you think about your annual flu shot.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mark Hyman are joining us.
So vaccines, we all know, they're going to throw a lot of fire in the medical community.
And, you know, I want to just clear the air on this.
Robert, are you anti-vaccine?
No.
Both Mark and I are fiercely pro-vaccine.
I have six kids.
I get them all vaccinated.
We believe that hundreds of millions of lives have been saved by vaccines.
We ought to have full vaccine coverage.
Everybody ought to get their vaccines.
Absolutely.
I vaccinate my kids, I get vaccinated, and I recommend vaccination to my patients.
It's one of the greatest advances in medical history, and we're pro-vaccine.
So let's talk about the focus of the book.
It's called thimerosal for a reason.
Thimerosal has been used as a preservative, everybody, and it's been at the center of controversy for years.
It's the hot button medical controversy that just won't go away.
Thimerosal has been used in vaccines since the 1930s.
A powerful preservative, it was originally added to make vaccines safer, preventing the growth of dangerous fungus and bacteria.
But in the 1990s, thimerosal came under fire, implicated as a possible cause in the skyrocketing rates of autism and other neurological disorders.
The reason?
Thimerosal contains a form of mercury, a potent neurotoxin.
The link between thimerosal and autism was ultimately discredited.
But better safe than sorry, in 1999, the government and medical community agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or cut from our vaccine supplies.
Since 2001, thimerosal has been eliminated from all vaccines in this country, with the glaring exception of some flu shots.
The EPA considers medical products containing thimerosal to be hazardous waste.
So what is it still doing in your flu shot?
Dr. Hyman, why is it in the flu shot?
It was taken out of all the other vaccines.
Well, due to an abundance of caution, the government, the CDC, took thimerosal out of, recommended that thimerosal was taken out of all vaccines.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, U.S. Preventive Health Care Task Force, jointly stated that thimerosal should be taken out of vaccines, and it was.
But at the same time, they started recommending increased doses of vaccines for flu, for everybody, from six months old till you die.
And that led to the persistence of the thimerosal in the vaccine supply.
So by the time, you know, you're a kid, if you look at the doses they're getting now compared to what they were getting on pediatric vaccines, it's an equivalent dose, which is why we're concerned about it.
Let me explain what Dr. Hyman is saying.
So normally when you go to a doctor's office or a pharmacy to get a flu shot, it comes to you in this nice little vial, and they put the needle into the vial, they pull out what they need to give you, and they give you your shot, right?
And then they put that needle in the trash, get rid of it, and then take another needle for the next patient, put it back into that same vial, and pull back.
Now every time a needle goes into that, Potentially it could contaminate that vial of vaccine.
And then they put the vaccine at the end of the day into the refrigerator to store it for the next day.
So we don't want to throw it away, you don't want to waste it.
Dimerosal is added, like I'm adding This pigment here, in order to ensure that nothing bad happens to that, that it's preserved perfectly.
So every time a needle goes in there, you can rest assured that what's coming out is not in any way damaged.
The question is, does that thimerosal that they had to add to do that really help you out?
And that's the real essence of the battle here.
Why was this left in?
It's still a question that no one seems to be able to answer for me.
And that's where I think we've got to start dealing with some bigger issues.
Robert, thimerosal, is it in all flu vaccines now?
No, it isn't.
As you pointed out, it is in the multi-dose vials, but a lot of the flu vaccine is in the single-dose vial.
And for example, when I go to get my annual flu shots or flu shots for my kids to my pediatrician or my doctor, I ask for the thimerosal-free version and they get it.
It used to be very hard to get, but today it's easier to get, and that's what people should do.
And this, if I can push back a little bit, Dr. Hyman, thimerosal, is it really that much of a problem?
What does it do to the body?
Well, it's a potent neurotoxin.
It's been linked to all sorts of neurodevelopmental issues.
50% of thimerosal is mercury.
And any form of mercury is toxic.
There's no reason we should be putting in our medical products.
There's other safer alternatives.
We've taken it out of other vaccines.
We can take it out of flu vaccines.
And our goal is to take it out of vaccines globally.
There's a reason I wanted to do this show.
I was passionate about this topic.
We did a survey on DrOz.com.
65% of you have little trust in vaccines.
Two out of three of you don't trust vaccines.
This bothers me a lot.
Today's really about restoring your trust in vaccines, especially flu shots.
We can't do that when we have these kinds of debates hanging out there.
65% of our audience doesn't trust vaccines.
That's right.
As doctors, how do we restore that trust?
Well, that's part of why we wrote this book and are talking about this issue.
We want people to get vaccinated.
We want to restore public trust.
And we think by the government saying, look, we are better, safe than sorry.
All the evidence isn't in, but there's enough evidence.
There's a smoking gun here.
Let's take the precautionary principle.
Let's do the right thing and get mercury out of all vaccines.
Get it out of all medical products.
You say that, but when we asked the CDC about their role in taking thimerosal out of the multi-dose flu vaccines, the thing I just showed you, here's what they said in part.
The conclusion of the scientific community is clear that thimerosal-containing vaccines are safe and effective and do not represent a public health risk.
Robert, what would you say to the CDC? Well, the statement that you saw there is not a scientific-based statement.
Well, we spent three years.
We had a crack scientific team of the best scientists, research scientists, doctors, and editors in the country who combed all the scientific literature.
We found 500 peer-reviewed studies.
Virtually every one of them said that thimerosal is a potent neurotoxin that should not be in vaccines.
We couldn't find a single valid It's a plausible scientific study that said that thimerosal was safe.
So what we've said to CDC is, show us the study.
And they have not been able to show us the study.
And the confusing part is, you know, on one hand, the FDA says, this is not safe to put on your skin.
And we banned it in 1998 from all topical products.
And the EPA says, gee, if you spill it in your office and you have a mercury-containing flu vaccine bottle and you spill it on the floor, you have to call a hazmat team to clean it up.
But it's okay to inject into pregnant women and children.
This is a contradiction that's just very strange.
The government agents are not talking to each other.
And the truth is, we should not be putting anything in pregnant women and children that has any potential to be toxic.
Let me start there and offer some final thoughts.
The FDA is on record saying they want thimerosal out of all vaccines, including the multi-dose flu shots.
So what are we going to do?
Here's the game plan while the government figures this out.
First off, pregnant women and babies and people over 65, you're at risk.
You should ask for thimerosal-free vaccines like the kind you find in a single dose.
And as for healthy adults up to age 50, it's pretty simple.
Consider asking for a flu nasal spray.
That doesn't contain any thimerosal.
You don't even need a needle.
Just put it in your nose and it's just as effective.
We'll be right back.
Coming up...
One of the true pioneers of integrative medicine.
Dr. Andy Weil traveled the world and discovered new natural pain remedies.
From his home to yours, he shares them with you.
Come on, I'll give you a tour.
That's coming up next.
Stay tuned.
As part of Bringing Healthy Back, I'm going to give you access to some of the top doctors and experts in And that means going inside their homes to find out how they live and what inspires them.
Today, one of the true pioneers of integrative medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil, opened his doors to our cameras.
We're on Cortez Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Cortez Island is about halfway up Vancouver Island.
I was first invited up here in 1983 to teach a workshop on herbal medicine.
And I remember looking up at this magnificent landscape of ocean, snow-covered mountains, forest-covered islands, fell in love with it, and I always dreamed about having a place of my own here.
It took three years to build the house, but I'm more than pleased with how it came out.
So please come in and see it with me.
When people walk into the house, I want them to feel relaxed at home and in touch with the nature that surrounds it.
So you'll see this is one big open space, all natural materials.
This is my bedroom.
I situated it here in the southwest corner of the house to take advantage of the panoramic views.
I usually go to bed about 9.30, and then usually when I get up, the first thing I do is meditate.
Dogs usually settle down when I meditate.
Even the puppy often curls up at my feet or with Ajax, and they're quite quiet.
I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so I wanted a kitchen that was functional, open, might prepare food even from here by myself.
When guests are here, they automatically put the work in the kitchen.
We all make meals together.
But it is quite wonderful to be making food and be able to look out at the ocean at the same time.
Another major pastime when I'm here on Cortez is working in my garden.
I grow a lot of my own food.
Come on, I'll give you a tour.
I love my garden.
This is my personal greengrocer here.
A lot of vegetables that I use every day.
I also grow a lot of flowers because they raise my spirits and so I have dahlias, lilies, gladiola at the moment blooming that I cut and put in the house.
And I have medicinal plants here.
Many of the plants that grow here are remedies that I discovered and have brought back from my travels around the globe.
So it's my pharmacy as well as my grocery store.
Wow.
What an amazing place to call home.
You know, Andy actually spends a lot of time traveling the world in search of natural pain remedies and bringing him back to that beautiful garden.
Here's one he learned about on a trip to Okinawa, Japan.
I first learned about turmeric during a number of visits to Okinawa to study the healthy old people there.
Okinawa has the highest concentration of centenarians in the world, and I was taught to drink cold turmeric tea, very refreshing in hot weather, and I'd never encountered that before.
Turmeric is the most powerful natural anti-inflammatory agent known.
It's very useful for any conditions like arthritis, and it has cancer protective effects as well.
You can make turmeric tea at home with powdered turmeric and add about a cup of hot water near boiling to that.
And then I like to pour it through a fine tea strainer.
I usually don't put any sweetener in it, but you can put some sweetener in it if you want.
That's good.
Tina from our audience is joining us.
Let's travel to a tropical southern part of Asia.
You ready?
That's awesome.
I've never been there.
Let's go.
All the way down to Okinawa, where turmeric is an essential part of life, as Andy was saying.
And he talked about this, what the raw root looks like, and they churn it up and make powders of it.
He likes to make a tea.
But I've got some other solutions.
I made you a mocktail.
A mocktail with turmeric.
Go ahead and try that to make you like it.
So here's the deal.
Turmeric, papaya, and orange juice.
You mix it up like this.
Oh, that's delicious.
Isn't it great?
Yes.
And you can serve it at parties if you have friends who have achy bodies and getting...
A little bit more.
You can try all you want, exactly.
The turmeric doesn't get you the alcohol with.
All right, let's take a look at another one of Dr. Weil's remedies from around the world.
In Scotland, I learned about the use of wintergreen as an external application for joint pain.
This is a carpet of wintergreen growing here.
The leaves, if you crush them up and smell them...
You'll instantly recognize the aroma.
You can soak these leaves in rubbing alcohol and it will extract the volatile oils and then you use that as a rub on sore joints.
Peppermint's a European plant.
I learned about it there in my travels.
Peppermint is a powerful medicinal plant, a very good remedy for stomach or intestinal pain.
I like to just pick peppermint leaves and put them in cold water, then chill it in the refrigerator, strain it.
Very refreshing on a hot day.
Leslie's joining us.
Let's head over to Scotland.
Almost been the globe there.
This is where wintergreen naturally grows.
When you think of wintergreen, what do you think of?
Mint, air fresheners, gum.
Everything, all those bump things.
We use those smells for a reason.
They actually have a profound effect on our brain.
Really?
Now, it's present as a rub.
That's what Andy was saying.
You can use the oil for that purpose.
But if you buy an over-the-counter joint cream for muscle aches and pains, You're going to probably find some that has wintergreen in it.
They put it in there already.
You just never knew it.
Come to think of it, the scent.
I smell like the minty scent.
It's up there.
It sneaks up on you.
It actually desensitizes your body to pain.
It works sort of the way aspirin does.
Okay.
But let me say something.
All these natural remedies, they really do have powerful benefits, but they can have some side effects as well.
Okay.
So to avoid them, a couple of things.
Remember, because it's like aspirin, avoid taking it with aspirin so you don't overdose.
Okay.
You don't want to put it on every hour of the day.
You know, four times a day is probably a reasonable amount.
If you're pregnant, you know, with small kids, you want to try to avoid it.
Okay.
I love these simple remedies because they're easy, they're inexpensive, relatively safe.
You know, I love Andy for sharing them with us.
Me too, me too.
Well, I have lots more on DrRaj.com.
Be right back.
Next, feel like your brain is in a fog?
The hidden reason that could be killing your concentration.
Dr. Raj shows you a new mood and foods to naturally boost your brain.
That's coming up next.
Caffeine powder abuse.
We need to have this product banned.
Are your kids at risk?
I'm appalled that something this potent is on the market.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
You ever feel like your brain is in a fog, that you've got 10 unfinished projects because you can't focus on getting a single one done?
Well today, I've got the hidden reason that could be killing your concentration.
But first, I need a little bit of help from my assistant of the day.
So if you're sitting in seat, how about 21?
Thank you.
Well, how are you?
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
Let's put this up here.
What's your first name?
Ronia.
Ronia.
Does this look familiar to you?
Somewhat.
Somewhat?
You know, fog sometimes?
Yes, definitely.
Trouble concentrating?
Yes.
Give me an example.
What might happen when you don't concentrate like you normally used to?
I may go into a room to try to maybe For keys or something, and then go into the room and forget what I went in for, or try to call someone, and then as soon as they pick up, it's like, who did I try to pick, who did I try to call?
And I forget.
That's called really short-term memory loss.
Okay.
So, a lot of us feel like this, literally.
I mean, there's just a fog in there, and we're not sure what happened, but we know that There's something we should be able to do to get rid of all this.
And I actually have news for you.
There is.
There's a single hidden reason for a lot of folks, women, who have concentration that's not quite what it used to be.
And I think we can deal with that.
Okay.
And you're going to reveal it to everybody.
Are you ready for the moment of truth?
Don't run away.
When you have a problem concentrating, when your head's in a fog, when you've got short-term memory loss and you can't understand why you even called the friend you called, rip this down.
Take a top off here.
Show it with me.
Ready?
It is...
Declining estrogen levels.
Oh, okay.
I didn't know that.
So, can I ask you how old you are?
I'm 43. 43. So, you're still young.
Yeah.
Right?
So, most people don't think estrogen is a problem at 43, or 35, or whatever age we might be at, until you go through menopause when people start to focus on estrogen issues.
But let me show you something.
Okay.
This is a graph of estrogen in this country.
So on the bottom, I got the ages of people.
And the little red dots are the amount of estrogen you have in your body.
So you notice that you're here at 43, somewhere about here.
Mm-hmm.
Your estrogen levels have already begun to come down a fair amount.
Yes.
Even though you might not be in menopause.
Yes.
In fact, the estrogen levels, they start to come down even in their 30s.
Wow.
So a lot of folks won't realize they've got an estrogen problem.
Mm-hmm.
Because they don't measure it normally.
But you'll notice subtle things, like the fogginess that we talked about earlier.
You'll notice a lack of focus.
You'll notice irregular periods sometimes, not always.
But importantly, you'll also have mood swings that happen in minutes.
You ever experienced that?
Yes, definitely.
Especially around the time of the month.
So what do your friends say about you?
Do they complain or is it your spouse?
Not too much.
You know, they might say, well, you know what?
We can tell it's that time of the month.
Leave it to yourself a little bit, so...
All right.
So here's a question.
Why does the decline of estrogen cause a problem?
It's a hormone we know for, you know, important for making babies and for having your menstrual cycles.
Why is it estrogen is important for our moods and for our concentration and for our focus?
So I built you a little model.
I hope you like basketball.
Okay.
So that represents your brain up there.
Okay.
And we're going to help the hormone, that's the hormone of estrogen, get up to the brain.
Okay.
Now when we're young, It's a little bit easier, so go ahead and hop on the trampoline.
Okay, let me take my shoes off.
Please do.
You like basketball?
Yeah, I played a little bit.
All right, go on up there.
Please don't fall.
Yeah, please hold.
I'm holding you.
I can't lift you up there, so you can jump up a little bit and make that shot.
Ready?
Jump up.
Okay.
Yeah!
There it is.
All right.
Do one more.
Do one more.
Really get up there.
Really get up there.
Oh, one more.
I'll give you one more shot.
Come on, get up there, get up there.
Now, turn around for a second.
When we're young, you're a little closer.
You get that bouncing, so you can get up there, right?
You can dunk the darn thing.
It's so easy.
And once in a while, you'll miss a ball here and there, so you'll forget something when you're 20, but usually pretty quick.
When we get into our 30s, it changes.
So hop off there for a second.
Now, all of a sudden, The trampoline, at least, you know, you used to be able to go like this, right?
Behind your head, and no one would even care about it.
Now, this all disappears.
That's gone, and you're down here.
Now, take that estrogen and do your best with it.
Now it's a little bit of a different battle.
Ah!
Ah!
Now jump a little higher.
Get up.
All right.
The story is told.
It's a lot more difficult.
You don't have the balance, you don't have the height, and you can't get the estrogen up your brain.
So what do you feel?
Yeah, foggy.
Go on, walk on into it.
Our life is just one big fog bank.
And we're winding through here.
And it's just not what you want to be doing in life.
And who wants to live in a fog bank when we know we can get it back?
Yes, definitely.
So, now that you know estrogen is not where it needs to be, what are we going to do about it?
So I was thinking long and hard about this, and I looked at some new studies that have been done on estrogen, because it's not a new problem.
Doctors have known that estrogen has been an issue for a while.
And there was a cool study where they looked at yoga.
In particular poses, some applauders out there, but I gotta say, if a couple poses can get you to get your estrogen levels up to your brain and get you to feel more alert and quicker and concentrate better, would you try it?
Yeah, I would try it.
Yeah, why not?
So this is your pad, this is mine over here.
Okay.
All right?
And then you can, yeah, you kick your shoes, I'll kick mine off.
All right?
Okay.
So then I want you to get down your hands and knees like this.
All right.
Well done.
Well done.
Now lie down on your stomach like this.
Okay?
We're gonna do something called cobra.
Okay.
All you gotta do is push up.
Let your shoulders relax.
Let that lower back open up.
And this pose, and others like it, were done in this study, and they stimulated estrogen release.
I mean, a fair amount of it.
Okay.
So it's the kind of thing that may make you feel alert.
In fact, people, when they do yoga, will often feel more alert.
It's one of the benefits that they claim to it.
Okay.
Okay?
And then many other poses that I'm not going to waste your time with, but they're easy to learn.
We've got lots of stuff on DrOz.com.
We have videos, actually, of yoga that, if you're not concentrating well, you might want to try.
There's also the issue of foods.
So I'm going to give you two foods that I want you to focus on that can help with estrogen levels.
These are foods that might benefit you if you're having issues with your concentration.
The first are yams.
The other, if you don't like yams, although I love them, how would you make yams?
Candied yams, you know, Thanksgiving.
You know, Christmas.
Be honest, I'm honest.
Brutally honest.
This one you can't change, though.
Pistachios.
Just a little bit of pistachio, because they actually have the same kinds of estrogen-like compounds.
They'll also do the same thing.
They'll give your body a little extra boost, but from the plant kingdom, so your body doesn't have to make it all itself.
Okay, great.
I have thoroughly enjoyed having you on.
All right, thank you, Dr. Oz.
We'll be right back.
Be right back.
What foods do you eat to concentrate and get down to business?
Tell us.
Foods?
Come on, Dr. Oz.
I'm all about coffee, but I'll give an Oz-approved option a try for you.
Now, Dr. Oz wants to hear from you.
Share yours with hashtag OzFoods.
Coming up, Miss Idaho's brave and provocative move that started a social media frenzy.
What she did that inspired America, got everyone talking, and the surprise she didn't see coming.
That's next on the Dr. I Show.
I'm thrilled to meet our next guest.
Miss Idaho, Sierra Sanderson, will be competing in the Miss America pageant this weekend.
But her poise and beauty aren't the only reason she's making headlines.
Sierra made a very personal decision about her health that is now causing a nationwide movement.
The newly crowned 20-year-old Miss Idaho 2014, Sierra Sanderson.
Her stunning combination of beauty and personality may have helped her win the title of Miss Idaho, but it's Sierra Sanderson's courage that has everyone in awe.
The 20-year-old beauty queen who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2012 surprised the world during the swimsuit competition when she stepped out on stage wearing her insulin pump clipped to her bikini bottom.
This brave and provocative move generated a social media frenzy.
With people all over the web, not only applauding Sierra, but proudly displaying their own insulin pumps in a show of solidarity.
This one-time beauty pageant Hope Bowl is the confident face of hope for people dealing with diabetes.
One woman's decision has now helped so many others.
Sierra Sanderson, come on out.
Welcome to the show.
Welcome, welcome.
Come have a seat, Sierra.
Look all around the studio.
I put pictures everywhere.
These are all photos of folks who are proudly showing off their insulin pump just like you are.
Why'd you wear it in the first place?
What prompted you?
So, in preparation for Miss Idaho, I had to study current events and controversial issues to prepare for interview and onstage question.
And one thing that really What got to me is how the media portrays beauty.
We look at the covers of magazines and we see these tall, skinny, flawless girls and they never have any flaws.
And I felt like I was lying to them because I'm not perfect and it's okay not to be perfect.
You're still beautiful and you can still be confident.
Alright, so, let me show everybody how this pump works.
So, it's pretty cool.
The machine is here that actually pumps the insulin in the brains of it.
But the part that's important is this plastic tube is connected to another tube which is put into the skin.
And that little plastic tube stays in the skin, and it helps regulate the amount of insulin in your body.
All right, so I heard there was a moment, an important moment, when you're about to walk out on stage, and someone saw you wearing this pump and was asking you about it.
What happened?
It almost changed your mind about competing with it.
So backstage, I was really nervous about wearing my pump.
And so I walk out of the dressing room before I even go on stage, and there's a little girl named McCall.
And she says, hey, what is that on your, is that an insulin pump?
What's that little machine?
And I was like, oh no.
Like, my tummy just like flip-flopped like I was on a roller coaster or something and I thought I was going to be sick.
So I was like, okay, I have to take it off.
But before I did, she was like, no, no, no, I'm a diabetic too and I don't My goodness.
I don't wear a pump because I'm scared of what kids at school would say or what people will think of me.
But I think it's really cool that you have diabetes too.
And so the next night, before I went on stage, she gave me a card and it said, To Miss Idaho 2014. And I hadn't even made top 10 yet.
And I was like, oh my gosh.
Like, I don't want to disappoint her.
I hope I can make her proud tonight.
And so when I won, when they called my name and said I won Miss Idaho, all I could think of was McCall.
Like, I did it for McCall.
I can't believe I like...
Well, you know, I heard this story and I just couldn't do this show without bringing McCall Salinas out also.
Can I surprise you with her?
Are you serious?
She's here.
Come on out, McCall.
I recently just had a summer party, like, the night before I left for New York.
What the heck?
What did you get here?
How long did you stay here?
What did you get here yesterday?
Come have a seat.
I'm so proud of both of you.
I just want to hear from you.
First of all, I love the way Sierra told the story, but I'd love to hear your thoughts back to Sierra.
Oh my gosh.
So, same thing that night.
I saw her backstage, and earlier that day during rehearsals, my mom had said, McCall, I think one of the contestants is diabetic.
And I said, oh, cool.
And I didn't know who it was, but then backstage I saw her pump, and I was like, oh my gosh, I bet that's her.
So I asked her, and then it all happened.
Well, I should say, you're wearing a crown also, because it's Miss Preteen Idaho as well.
The Sierra is going to compete this weekend for the Miss America pageant.
It's on Sunday night on ABC. You excited?
Yeah.
We're all rooting for you, aren't we?
Yes.
God bless you.
We'll be right back.
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It looks like cocaine, and its effects can be just as lethal.
A Dr. Oz exclusive.
A popular kid killed by a deadly and legal new product.
An equivalent of 250 cups of coffee in their blood, like that.
Now, his parents break their silence to Dr. Oz.
We need to have this product banned.
The dangers of caffeine powder abuse.
I'm appalled that something this potent is on the market.
All new Dr. Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Caffeine powder abuse.
We need to have this product banned.
Are your kids at risk?
I'm appalled that something this potent is on the market.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
That's time for In Case You Missed It.
Now we asked the question today, why mercury, a controversial toxin, is still in use in our flu shots?
Now all my guests today are pro-vaccine, but they express concern that mercury is an unnecessary danger.
So until we have answers, here's what I want you to do.
Pregnant women, babies, and people over 65, you're at risk.
You should ask for a thimerosal-free vaccine.
They're out there.
There are many different ways you can get it.
But they're single-dose and achievable.
And for healthy adults up to age 50, consider asking for the flu nasal spray, which contains no thimerosal, and it's just as effective.
You don't have to get a shot, so why not?
Next, give an all-natural pain remedy a try.
With these natural remedies, there are some creative ways to take in them.
You can try our turmeric mocktail.
It looks like this.
It's unbelievably good.
It's got turmeric, papaya, and orange juice.
I used to do this all the time before I stopped doing aggressive exercise and hurting myself.
But it's very effective for muscle aches and pains and the like.
Now here's a cost saving bonus tip.
Turmeric it turns out freezes very, very well.
So you can take a little bit of turmeric after you've frozen it, thaw it out, and then use a grater.
You can make your own turmeric supply without spending much money.
Not that it's that expensive to begin with, but pretty easy to make no matter what your budget.
Next, if you think your estrogen decline could be hurting your concentration, focus on adding those foods to your diet.
Yams are a great example.
They can give you the equivalent of about 26% more estrogen in your body.
From a plant source, though, pistachios are a wonderful source as well.
You don't need a ton of them, but an eighth of a cup, it'll get you where you need to be.
Now, I want to close with a warning.
Please be careful about what you buy online, especially weight loss pills.
There are some dubious people online that prey on folks like you who are trying to do the right thing for your health.
Sometimes, they even try to make it seem like I endorse their products.
I do not.
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