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April 29, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
41:11
Is Your Metabolism Making You Gain Weight? | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 26 | Full Episode
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Time Text
That extra weight may not be your fault.
It could be your metabolism.
But do you even know what it is?
Taronda Jones from the hit show Empire is here to find out.
What in the world does metabolism mean?
Um, uh...
Do you feel like the leg part?
The leg?
Yeah.
Well, that's the first.
What is it?
Where is it?
And how to make sure yours is working.
Coming up next.
We'll save lives today.
day We are ready to get healthy!
I get a lot of questions about metabolism and they come in many different forms.
You blame it on your weight.
Of course, no one gains weight without a metabolism problem, or so a lot of folks say.
You say your lack of energy is caused by it.
Some of you are even jealous of others when it comes to their metabolism.
So, on the show today, we're going to explain what it is.
Where it is and what you need to do to make sure your metabolism is working for you.
Plus, the trial making headlines around the country.
A doctor many are calling a drug dealer is now facing life in prison for the murder of three young men who are her patients.
And we have an exclusive interview with two moms whose sons were affected by this case.
You need to hear their story.
And finally, we want to show you the safest way to save money on the prescription medicines that you need.
So, let's get started with metabolism since they're the biggest questions out there.
Everyone seems to know what it is, but no one can really explain Especially when it comes to your weight.
So I decided to clear up the confusion.
Today I'm giving you the ultimate field guide to your metabolism.
And we're going to have a little fun with this, so I recruited Tarana Jones from the hit TV show Empire.
She's getting in on the action by talking to women about their metabolism.
Hey Dr. Oz, I'm hitting the streets of Chicago doing your dirty work, trying to figure out if people know what metabolism really is.
So hopefully they know because I don't.
What is metabolism?
Oh my god, I've never been asked like this.
Like energy, something like that?
It's like the thing that makes your body get.
Let's see.
Hand it over.
What?
I can't do it?
No!
Is this like your rate of something?
Your who?
Actually, there's a guy named Lepitin that stores fat in your body.
So confused.
I don't know if it's a little man in her stomach.
Metabolism refers to the process by which your body turns food into energy.
Food into...
It's the whole...
- Yeah.
- Phospholipids into, well-- - Wait, phalif-- - Phospholipids.
What is it?
Can you show me where you think your metabolism is located?
In the stomach area.
In here.
And right here.
In here.
And in there.
Where's it located?
Like the leg part?
The leg?
Yeah.
Well, that's the first.
Does it feel like a metabolism is there?
I feel like it.
I think so.
It's in the heart.
- You know, it's in the heart too.
- It's in the heart.
- Yeah. - When you were a kid, would you say your metabolism ran fast or slow?
It ran fast.
Show me!
We was in it!
We were in it!
Chin up!
Yes!
He's a maniac.
Real fast because I didn't have it.
What about now?
How is it now?
Now it's just a little steady, like slow down.
Not that slow, you know?
And how is it now?
Like this.
Yeah, that's slow.
That's how slow it is.
As I'm aging, it's getting slower and slower.
Okay, Dr. Oz, how do the people of Chicago do?
Because we want to know what in the world does metabolism mean?
Because I don't know!
That was wonderful.
Thank you.
Why were you so gung-ho to torture these poor people about their metabolism?
Because I don't know what metabolism is.
I need to know.
You heard the little baby.
She don't even know.
I just want to know.
That's why we got you, Dr. Oz, so you can let us know.
So you must have had a little homework on this.
When you Googled and searched, what do you think metabolism is?
I Googled it, and it won't come up.
It won't.
Too many big things.
Yeah, so that's why you're gonna tell me.
Come on, let's take a look.
All right, so this is really cool.
Think of your muscles like a metabolic furnace.
When you're nice and big and strong, the furnace is working well.
You dump extra food, like coal, and your body burns it off.
It's not a big deal.
You actually want more muscle because it makes the flame bigger and you can keep up with the food you're eating.
Your furnace burns the coal efficiently, you don't gain weight.
But if you don't have a lot of muscle, and instead you're a little bit weaker, without that muscle, any food you eat, you can't burn through.
It owes too much.
And so you gain weight because you can't burn through the regular calories.
That's what a slow metabolism really is at its core.
All right, so I'm going to introduce you to Dr. Carolyn Cedar-Quest, an expert in this area.
Come have a seat here, by the way.
Thank you.
I'll get to sit down.
Seventeen years of practicing medicine and she's an expert in metabolism because she helps people lose weight.
That's what she does for a living.
So you see there's some surprising things about how we measure all the energy in our body, the metabolism.
Yes.
What's really interesting for most people is that the majority of the calories that we burn all day, what most people think about as metabolism, actually happens at rest, not running, not exercising.
What do you think about that?
Imagine the two-thirds.
It's easy for me.
I'm asleep.
There's a catch though here.
Okay.
All of us eat more than two-thirds of the energy we need.
So if that's the only energy you consume all day long, that's a problem.
So I bought you a jumping rope.
Okay.
I thought you'd like this.
Here you go.
Okay.
You know how to jump rope?
Yeah, I know how to jump rope.
I gotta take these bad stuff off.
Do they make you work out in the set?
Do you have time?
I do.
I do, Lou.
And you know what?
When we're in the trailer, we can't do much because you got somebody next door to you.
But one day, Jesse...
Like Cinderella shoes.
One day, Jesse was in his trailer.
I don't know what he was doing, but I was next door from him, and the trailer was just rocking back and forth, back and forth.
That could be bad news.
Yeah, I knocked on the door.
Neighbor, what are you doing?
He said, oh, I'm just, you know, working out.
So when I heard him say that...
Was he alone?
Yeah, he was by himself.
I'm asking.
The trailer's rocking.
Yes, he was by himself.
He was working out.
So I decided to bring some little dumbbells, 10 pounds.
It wasn't that much.
I brought those, and I do that while I'm on set, because we're on set a good 13 more hours.
Yeah, a long time.
Let me see if we can jump, Jack.
What do you want me to do?
Jump rope a little bit.
You want the hood?
Just the hood.
Do the hood one.
Do the hood one.
Can I jump in with you now?
Oh, she does it well!
Doing really well.
Alright.
What a show off.
I love that.
Alright, Rhonda.
So, that's the other third of the energy we normally consume, right?
Through movement.
But you gotta move.
And most of us don't actually move the right way.
So, professors, take it away.
What's the best way to move?
And give us a little insight here that's gonna surprise folks.
Well, you know, any exercise is good, but just like you shared, that's actually really important.
You said you're on the set 13 hours a day, you're sitting a lot.
They've actually done some recent studies that show even small bursts of exercise may even work better, burn more fat.
If you were to get three 10-minute segments of exercise, it would equal 30 minutes of exercise.
So to hear it right, you're better off breaking up the exercise to, let's say, three different equal amounts than doing it all at once.
Yes.
I say this because a lot of you go work out once a day, and you actually find yourselves gaining weight, and that'll be part of the problem.
Yeah.
So, I did your math.
We've got this calculator for metabolism, BMR calculator, and yours is around 1500 calories.
What is, is that going to be?
Because I don't know.
It's a good number, actually.
Okay, okay, good.
But in fact, no matter what your number is, we all have our numbers.
There's this calculator, by the way, is on drroz.com.
You can put the, you know, we ask you a couple questions and we'll give you an estimate of what your basal metabolism is, which is what happens when you're sitting.
Then you want to add to that whatever you need to add, the activity you're doing, for example, so you can eat something.
Otherwise, you're going to be hungry all day long.
Now, I bring that up for an important reason.
The way you get your exercise can also affect your metabolism itself.
So come over here.
I've got a little quiz for you.
Dr. Speaker, you can run the other side if you don't mind.
Yeah.
So, these are three bodies.
Okay, here's mine.
That's yours.
That's mine.
That looks good!
Is that you?
That might be you.
That's me!
All right, so I gave you three possibilities here.
Medium, slowest, and fastest.
Okay.
So, I want you to tell me which body shape is the slowest metabolism, which is the fastest, and who's in the middle?
Aw, that's not fair.
Pick them out and put them up there.
What do you think?
Slowest?
What do you think, audience?
Which one's the lowest?
The right.
And you think that's the lowest because it's the heaviest?
You can put it on this little square there.
Little big mama.
Just big mama.
Little big mama?
Gosh.
Medium.
And only because that's me.
That's you.
You know, you're actually pretty close.
In many ways, you're actually right.
How many of you would have picked the middle one as the fastest metabolism?
About 50-50.
Right.
Dr. Siderquist?
Yes.
You know, she does have the fastest metabolism because you can really see that she has like some great muscle definition.
She actually has very low body fat, probably lower than most people, but most of our metabolism is really determined by our tissue, our muscle, our muscle mass.
Now, what's interesting about these other two, her amount of muscle mass may not be that different from hers, so they may be similar.
But the big takeaway is when you see someone with a lot of muscle, their metabolism is going to be fast.
And why is that important?
Because I want you to build muscle when you're exercising.
So you're over here jumping rope, but the barbells you're lifting, those are actually more important to you because you build up these little guns in here.
You see your guns?
You see these guns.
You see those guns in there.
These guns there, they'll actually help burn through a lot more calories.
And there are a lot of folks, I think, who feel like they're stuck at their weight because their metabolism is slow.
You ever hear that?
Yeah.
They all say that metabolism is slow.
Dr. Cedars, can you change a quote-unquote slow metabolism?
I find that many of my patients do have a slow metabolism, and it can get better.
What it comes down to is losing fat, but maintaining your muscle in the process.
That's the key, maintaining the muscle.
So how do you do that?
That's a big question.
Up next, that's what we're going to do.
If you think your metabolism is out of whack, find the number one thing that's missing from your diet.
It's a diet solution, actually, that really works to get your metabolism moving again when we come back.
Next, if your metabolism is not working the way it should, it could be your diet.
It may not be what you're eating too much of, but what you're eating too little of.
More with Taronda Jones when we find out what controls the bulk of your metabolism.
Coming up next.
News breakthroughs that make you feel good.
All new Oz.
Can this balloon help you lose that last 20 pounds?
I like this idea.
I like the concept.
The groundbreaking procedure you'll only see on Oz.
Then, ditch your double chin without surgery.
This material actually kills the fat stuff.
It makes them literally burst.
Plus, you took the ice bucket challenge.
Now see why it was worth it.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
If you think your metabolism is out of whack, it could be your diet.
And I'm not talking about what you're eating too much of.
I'm talking about what you're not eating enough of.
This is a big deal.
Why don't you focus with us here?
Back with me are Dr. Cedarquist and Empire Star Taronda Jones.
Welcome to both of you.
Taronda, let's get real here about diet.
So when you try to lose a little weight, what do you do?
And what works, what doesn't work?
I do a detox water with cucumbers, lemons, and grapefruits.
And I eat a lot of salad.
I try to cut out Everything.
My cookies, cakes, pies, chips, everything.
All the fun stuff.
Yes, and I just do like spinach, mainly spinach.
Spinach.
I do a lot of spinach.
Only spinach?
Spinach, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, the salad!
So, let me go back.
You said something really important.
You said we start cutting out all these things.
That's what most of us do when we go on a diet, right?
We cut things out.
Yeah.
That makes it really hard to do the right thing for your metabolism.
So, do you ever step up with this program?
All the time.
All the time.
With great pride, she says.
It's going to change your minds about a lot of these things.
Please educate all of us about something you do in your practice.
You've done it for a lot of folks with who you've gotten success with.
It's something that we never had thought about being a focus.
Go ahead.
Yes.
One of the most important things about when you're trying to lose weight is you don't want to lose your muscle.
And in order to keep your muscle, you must have protein.
But it's very important that we have regular protein spread throughout the day and that we have enough.
So when you cut down on protein, you actually lose muscle and your metabolism gets slower.
What that means, real quickly, is the first thing we think about when we lose weight or try to go on a diet is not what to cut out.
It's adding protein.
And very specifically, it's 30 grams of protein for each of the meals plus a snack.
It's a big, big difference in what we've talked about generally in America when it comes to losing weight.
This is, I think, and for physicians who are on the cutting edge of this, everyone has their own philosophies.
So it's not one size fits all, but it's a big difference.
So, link me up a little bit on this.
If we're gonna give people protein, does it matter if they get it evenly throughout the day?
Does it have to be perfect every single day?
What happens is the body only has the ability to use a small amount at any one time.
We need protein at breakfast, at lunch, and at dinner.
And you're absolutely right.
The 25 to 30 grams is where I usually want my patients to be, for meals and then usually two snacks.
So breaking news, everybody.
Big study was done.
I shouldn't say big.
There was a study done on people, which is always big.
And they looked at what they did when they went on a diet.
They put half the folks on a high-protein program, and the other folks were on a low-protein program, and they both could eat as much food as they want.
And they both gained weight because they could eat as much as they want, right?
But the people who are having a lot of protein in their diet, half of the weight gain was muscle, which is great because it revs up that metabolism, right?
The people who didn't have much protein, almost all their weight gain was fat, which is what we experience.
And that explains the mistake that so many of us make because we grab for what we think of the best foods for us, but they're not actually the right ones for us.
That's why this metabolism game is so important.
Well, what would you say is good protein?
Because I know it's bad protein, right?
What would you say is good protein?
Because I like steak.
That's a good question.
It's a great question.
What I find is the key is lean protein.
So we don't want a lot of the saturated fat that's in red meat.
There's, you know, a lot of concern about that.
Okay.
So, we have some pictures up here of what I think are some pretty good meals that Dr. C. Degrees recommended.
Take us through these three meals plus snack.
Yes, sounds good.
So we have for breakfast a breakfast frittata that's actually made with egg and vegetables, a little bit of cheese, and it can be very, very healthy.
So you want to get that.
And then this was actually a picture of a turkey burger, so a lean protein.
I probably would like the salad with it instead of the bun, you know, if we're actually trying to lose weight.
But if you don't need to lose weight, that would be a good lunch.
Never had a burger without the bun.
I need the buns.
No, it's great without the bun.
And then a good snack would be something like apples with peanut butter.
And then dinner, which would be like chicken.
And here we have some Brussels sprouts with it.
You know, some good healthy vegetables or the spinach you like.
I love spinach.
So you took your shoes off to be in this segment.
What are you doing with my shoes?
I'm going to see if they fit me.
No, what size do you wear?
I wear a ten and a half.
What do you think?
Close?
I feel a little too big.
A little too big.
Why do women wear shoes like this?
I ask the question because you can't possibly walk around and burn off any calories of shoes like this on you.
I'm sure you can, but I took them off because I don't like heels, but I try to get cute for you.
I want it to look nice for you, so.
I'm going to go with my outfit, which I love very much.
Listen, Ashley, thank you very, very much.
When we come back, we've got a fantastic game we're going to play with the audience.
It's a game of Never Have I Ever.
You know how to play that game?
No.
Yeah, but when we come back, you want to see about shoes and everything else.
Next, we just can't seem to put it down.
We're calling you out and asking you the tough question.
Where's the most inappropriate place you've used your phone?
Never have I ever sent a text from the toilet.
You get to do a lot when you're on the toilet.
Coming up next.
Almost every one of us is obsessed with our phone.
We pick it up as soon as we open our eyes in the morning.
We're using them all day long until our last waking minute.
Are you guilty of that?
Of course she is.
I'm not gonna say!
I'm not gonna tell you.
I've got evidence.
Even when she's playing an actress on television, she's still using the phone too much.
Take a look.
What the heck is a boo-boo?
Doo-doo, boo-boo.
That's what you say.
That's the slang term for number two.
It is?
Yes!
Doo-doo?
Doo-doo, boo-boo.
You guys have heard that before?
Oh, where have I been?
I don't know!
Get here!
We have different words, but I get here, right?
In an attempt to make us all honest, I want to play a little exercise with you.
It's a game called Never Have I Ever.
Here's how it works.
Some members of my audience have been giving paddles.
Actually, you all have paddles, right?
One side says, I have.
One side says, I never.
I'm going to give you a scenario.
All you got to do is respond.
If you've taken part of the activity by saying, I have, or if you haven't, say, I never.
You're all clear on this.
Everyone at home can play along with us.
Are you ready?
Yes.
Never have I ever sent a text from the toilet.
So what was so urgent?
You have to talk to someone that moment.
I mean, that's your moment of peace.
You get, you know, you get to do a lot when you're on the toilet.
So while you're doo-doing along, you're still texting along as well?
Why do I have to do this though, Dr. House?
Why do I have to do that?
Why do I have to do that?
Well, that's where you're sitting.
Or I could have just been sitting on the toilet seat.
You could, meditating.
Maybe.
Next time you can use your time more efficiently, I guess.
Alright, next.
Never have I ever tripped or bumped into someone while checking my email.
The other day.
The other day?
Did you really have it the other day?
Yes, I was actually here.
I was with my publicist and I was walking.
I wasn't texting, but I was on social media.
And I saw him move real fast and I'm like, what is he moving so fast for?
But I kept walking and it was like a...
A concrete something.
And you ran into it?
I hit, yeah, I hit my, um, box.
I hit my box.
I'm getting all kinds of vocabulary today.
Box.
A doo-doo box.
You guys are both pretty normal for you, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're not even surprised to say this.
Okay.
Anybody record it?
No.
Well, this fellow, unfortunately, that I'm about to show you, in fact, they have three examples of what could happen.
There we are.
Watch this guy.
He's walking in there, right?
Going to his desk.
He's texting someone really important.
And then watch him sit down.
Oh, oh, oh!
And here's someone texting, texting, texting.
Oh, door wasn't open.
This one, what the heck?
Oh!
Oh!
Now, amazingly, maybe because he was so relaxing with his texting, there were no injuries at all since they did any of those falls.
Yeah, I don't want to text no more.
I'm good.
All right, one more.
Ready?
Never have I ever sent an inappropriate text while drunk or tipsy.
Drunk or tipsy.
Oh.
Some of you guys lying!
You put it up, then down real fast.
What does that mean?
That's bad news.
Because I know I did it, but I can't remember.
That's pretty good.
All right.
Can anyone share one that's legitimate for daytime television?
No, I didn't think so.
Okay, last one.
Never have I ever checked my phone right after sex.
Oh, you have?
Oh, you a saint.
You're such a saint.
I would never do that.
Misa, you're so mad at me.
Is it a regular occurrence?
What happened?
I mean, sometimes my grandma pop in my head.
I know that's bad to say, but, like, I got to talk to my granny.
Hey, granny.
I love you, granny.
Hey.
Well, thank you for being honest.
You're wonderful having you here.
Thank you very much.
Once in a while, put your phone down.
Everybody else, check out Toronto on Empire.
It's a great show.
Wednesday nights on Fox.
Up next, we're taking a turn.
It's the trial that is capturing the nation's attention.
Next, the trial making major headlines.
A doctor who many are calling...
A drug dealer in a white coat.
No questions asked.
Prescriptions causing medication abuse with patients.
How to stop the growing pill mill epidemic.
Coming up next.
All new Oz.
Can this balloon help you lose that last 20 pounds?
Then ditch your double chin without surgery.
It actually kills the fat stuff.
It makes them literally burst.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Now we're taking a turn into the growing pill mill epidemic and a trial that's making headlines around the country.
At the center is Dr. Lisa Tseng, an osteopathic physician who wrote more than 27,000 prescriptions in just three years.
This is the case of a doctor some are calling a drug dealer in a white coat.
If found guilty, she could face life in prison for the death of three of her patients who overdosed from prescriptions that she wrote.
Today we ask, how could something like this happen?
Joey Rivero and his college buddies came in December 2009 to get theirs.
With pills in hand, young men drove back to college.
Nine days later, Joy was dead from a mix of alcohol and the drugs Sang prescribed.
But Rivero's death wasn't the first.
Records show over 12 patients who visited Sang overdosed, one in her clinic hallway.
Sang has been under DEA investigation ever since 2010 when she lost her license to prescribe controlled substances.
But for prosecutors and law enforcement, connecting the dots in these kinds of cases isn't easy.
It took nearly six full years.
But finally, on August 31st, Lisa Singh went on trial for the murder of Joey Rivero and two other young men.
It's a problem that's spreading all across America.
Pill mills.
Places where addicts, or for that matter anybody, can get a prescription for narcotics from questionable doctors looking to make a buck.
It's estimated that 15,000 people die every year from prescription painkiller overdoses.
And pill mill prescriptions are often to blame.
Whatever the judge and jury ultimately decide in the trial of Dr. Seng, the nationwide crisis of prescription painkiller abuse continues to spiral out of control.
Dr. Adi Jaffe is joining us.
He is passionate about this issue.
He once struggled with addiction and was a drug dealer himself.
He turned his life around and became a psychologist and an addiction specialist.
These people know they're a serious epidemic.
You're going to be hearing a lot about them.
Why, Dr. Jaffe, is this trial so significant?
Well, first of all, you don't typically hold these doctors accountable in a criminal setting, right?
Sometimes they get their licenses taken away, etc.
But this is a criminal setting.
One of the last times we heard about this was Dr. Murray with the whole Michael Jackson case.
But this is not a celebrity case.
These are regular people going to their doctor and we're holding the doctor accountable.
I mentioned at the top, and you were kind to be transparent about this, that you were a drug dealer in your past.
You've had a lot of experience on the other side of this equation.
What is going on?
Why are people turning to these prescription medications and how they become recreational so easily?
You know, the unfortunate thing is, look, if we look at human history, people look to change the way they feel on a relatively ongoing basis, and they'll choose the path of least resistance.
The thing about these medications is they're relatively easy to get and they're relatively cheap compared to illegal drugs.
And then the bigger piece of it, and why this is, I think, so important, is they think they're relatively safe because doctors are giving them up.
And so, the thought is, how bad could this be?
And we know how bad it could be, right?
It could be as bad as 30,000 overdose deaths a year, about half of those coming specifically from opiate prescription pills.
It's an epidemic.
I think, depending on how this trial goes, it might actually have a major impact on how doctors prescribe.
But let's say, let's say, independent of the trial, that you have some say on this.
What can we do to make these prescription medications, these opiates, a little more difficult for patients to get?
For doctors to not prescribe them so frequently?
Well, first of all, I think there has to be some real oversight on the doctor's prescribing habits.
If you're not a pain specialist, if this is not the area of expertise that you had practiced in...
You know, I've got to say something to everybody here.
One of the biggest mistakes we make is asking a doctor for pain pills, pain medications, and then not being surprised when we get a month's worth.
It's a mistake, I believe, for someone to get a prescription for that many pills.
Because if it's that much pain, you probably ought to see a specialist before you're giving that dose.
And I've had personal experience, friends actually losing relatives because they have been given large doses of narcotics.
It breeds addiction and it creates problems, not just for the person, but for their family.
So up next, this conversation is going to continue on these pill mill problems.
We're going to speak to some victims, some of the families of these folks, for the first time.
Later.
Looking for a more affordable option to take the pain out of expensive medications?
We've got the Pharmacist Insider Secrets.
The cheapest prices in the land, and here's the big secret.
The field guide on how to get discount prescriptions you can trust.
- Coming up. - Today we're talking about the pill mill epidemic and the trial that's making headlines across the country.
Dr. Lisa Tseng is being dubbed a drug dealer in a white coat and standing trial for murder.
Not manslaughter, but murder.
Now the mothers of two victims are speaking out exclusively with us.
Jody and Lori, thank you both for being here.
I know these are difficult stories to share.
Lori, I'll start with you.
Your son was a patient of Dr. Tseng's.
That's correct.
When did you figure out that he was using pills that he probably shouldn't have been given?
Well, he started seeing her in mid-2008 and by February 2009 he asked for help and handed me a bag of empty pill bottles and asked me to take him into detox.
He knew at that time that he had a problem and had been seeing her for every month, walking out with three different scripts and up to two to three hundred pills each time.
What kind of pills was she prescribing for him?
She was prescribing the 80-milligram Oxycontin, Somas, and also Xanax, sometimes Opana.
Oh my goodness.
And each time, he got scripts for each one of those.
Did he have a problem that would warrant that kind of heavy narcotic dosing?
No.
I think what he said was that he had fallen off a ladder, was what he told her.
But no, he had absolutely no legitimate medical need for any of these prescriptions.
Are these the bottles?
Yes, they are.
Oh my goodness.
I'll put them here so you can get a shot of them.
There's Octa Singh's name.
I see it right there.
Correct.
These are unbelievable.
So, was your son nervous when he found out Dr. Seng's practice was being shut down by the DEA? No, he wasn't, because there were so many other doctors that were out there that would prescribe, and Dr. Seng actually told him and his friends which doctor to go to next.
She referred him to different...
She referred him to the next doctor.
To the next pill mill?
Correct.
And is that next doctor still in practice?
He is.
He's still practicing today.
It's amazing to me.
It's like whack-a-mole.
As much as we might search after these folks, it's hard to get ahead of it.
It is.
It's very sad.
As a mom, you're watching this happen to your son.
You're watching others go through this as well.
How does that affect you?
As a mom, it's very difficult.
I will never give up hope on my son.
I love him more than life.
But it's an addiction that you can't...
You know, as a mom, we want to protect our children.
It's our instinct to protect them.
And with this, you can't.
You know, it's like the mama bear that's going to rip the head off anybody that messes with their cubs.
And unfortunately, there's no way to rip the head off of drugs.
We have to stop with the awareness, you know, with getting more awareness out there.
We always say that, right?
Awareness, educate them.
But if we make it easy to do the wrong thing, the wrong thing happens.
I must say, I knew that your son had been getting prescriptions.
I'm shocked that he was easily able to move from huge doses with one doctor to huge doses with another doctor.
Think about that for a second, because that, to me, is a real breakthrough epiphany.
Jordi says her son had a prescription drug overdose that came from Dr. Tseng's office, but he wasn't a patient of hers.
So if he wasn't a patient, how did he get access to the pills?
Well, his friends were patients of hers, and they were prescribed 90, oponin a bottle, Oxycontin, Xanax, Vicodin, whatever they asked for, and they were in and out of her office in less than five minutes.
In less than five minutes.
So why was it important for you to come talk about this?
This is obviously a painful event in both of your lives.
Because my son's death was preventable, and all these thousands of lives are preventable through education and through awareness.
A handsome son.
We need to speak out.
We need to break the stigma and stop the shame because we are good parents, and these kids came from great families.
They played sports.
They were straight-A students.
They were cheerleaders.
They were in college.
This can happen to anybody in any family.
I understand you confronted Dr. Seng, went to her office.
I did.
After my son passed away and I discovered more and more kids went to her and were dying, I realized we had an epidemic and all over where I live in Orange County, Her name was well known.
So I started collecting empty pill bottles from some moms and the scripts and I went into her office and I said, why?
After my son passed and his friends, why would you prescribe, over-prescribe all these deadly combinations in one visit?
And she said, it's not my fault, it's the parents' fault.
How'd you react to that?
I said no.
I said you're the professional and you knew better.
And she just continued to say no comment.
So no remorse?
No.
So what do you want folks to know?
You have the pulpit now.
What do you want them to know about these prescription pill mills and the doctors that are responsible for them?
I would like the public to know to stay away from the pill mills, for one, to not keep quiet about this, that parents need to realize that, you know, break the stigma and don't feel shameful and talk about it.
Because if we all kept quiet, nothing would get done.
We wouldn't get laws passed.
We wouldn't get regulations.
Nothing would be complete.
We just need to talk about this.
So this path to addiction that we've been talking about, it is well paved by doctors.
We're often given advice to how to take care of, for example, pain that is either outdated or sometimes even erroneous.
And they're over-prescribers.
They've been out there before.
They're going to be out there tomorrow.
Again, stunned that it was so easy to replace her role with someone else's doing the same thing, probably.
We've got to stop this, and only we have the power to stop it.
So Dr. Jaffe, a lot of folks who are watching, I'm sure will be as angry as these two wonderful mothers are.
What can they do to Well, I don't think a lot of people get into this knowing they want to become addicted to medication.
So I think you have to watch some things at the front end.
If you're going to a physician that will only accept cash payments, doesn't ask you about your medical history, doesn't do a full hour, 45 minute long sort of session with you to figure out what you're there for, Maybe even refers you to a specific pharmacist that they want you to fill out the prescription with.
Those are all red flags.
And if you see that, it might feel really good at the beginning to get the drugs you want, but you don't want to end up six months a year down the line addicted to those medications, no matter how much you thought you liked them in the beginning.
And so I think that's part of our own personal responsibility to watch out for.
Well, thank you very, very much.
I know this is painful to share these stories, but you'll save a lot of lives today.
Bless you both.
We'll be right back.
Later, the new app that shows life-saving information even if your phone is locked.
All new Oz.
Can this balloon help you lose that last 20 pounds?
Then ditch your double chin without surgery.
It actually kills the fat stuff.
It makes them literally burst.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
I want to take a look at the other side of prescription medications because, of course, most of them are good.
Doctors write more than $4 billion every year.
And for many of the costs of these drugs are concerns.
So today I'm going to give you the field guide on how to get discount prescriptions that you can trust.
Consumer reporter Elizabeth Leamy is here to help break it down.
She's great at this.
She has solutions that can help everyone find less expensive medications that are safe.
So, first step.
Okay, warehouse clubs, Costco, Sam's Club, that sort of thing, they have some of the cheapest prices in the land on prescription medications.
And here's the big secret.
You ready for this?
Please.
You do not have to be a member to use their pharmacies.
That's right, they will let non-members in to fill prescriptions.
Do any of you know that?
Literally nobody.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Score one.
It is one.
Yeah.
That is surprising.
And when you use one of these warehouse clubs, they're pharmacies.
You don't have to remember the club, as you mentioned.
How much can it save you?
As much as 77%.
Yes.
Why didn't you tell me this earlier?
How much money I've wasted because you were so delinquent.
All right, next tip comes from a pharmacist.
Take a look.
Hi, Dr. Oz.
I'm a pharmacist and here's an insider's secret.
Show me this little discount card and it could save you big money on your next prescription fill.
In fact, it could save you up to 70% off.
This is a great tip for people without insurance coverage on their prescriptions, but it's also good for people who have a medication that might not be on their insurance provider's covered list.
So what's the discount card?
Where do we get them?
Okay, well, some of these might be available through something that you're already a member of.
My friends at consumerworld.org did a little experiment where they, generic Lipitor, they went looking for a month's supply.
And look at these prices.
I mean, they got some crazy different amounts.
So paying cash, it was $110.
But then they went looking with a generic discount card, the simple savings card.
A lot of people are leery of online pharmacies, and for good reason.
But there is a way to scope out the legitimate ones, and that is to look for that VIPS seal, Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site.
It's not just any seal.
It's a living seal.
It's clickable.
So go ahead and click it.
And it will take you through to this actual screen here offered by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
It's an active verification process.
And that's key because some shady pharmacies might try to put up a fake seal.
But this active process assures you that that pharmacy, an online pharmacy, actually gets inspected, follows all the rules and regulations in its state.
So you can be confident shopping there.
And how much money can you save with these prescription pharmacies online?
Well, here's why it's worth going through this process.
93%.
Up to 93%.
These are huge numbers.
Yes.
Oh, my goodness.
All right.
And the last thing that you want to point out is that you can literally split the costs in half by literally splitting the pills.
Yeah.
Now, follow along here because this sounds a little crazy, okay?
Many medications cost the same regardless of the number of milligrams of the pill.
Weird, right?
Well, take a popular cholesterol drug.
A month's supply of 20 milligram pills costs $127.
A month's supply of 40 milligram pills costs $127.
It's literally the exact same.
Yeah, so if your prescription is to take one pill twice a day, instead of getting a month's supply of 20 milligram pills, you could get half as many 40 milligram pills and cut them into 20 milligram pills.
And by cutting your pills in half, you are cutting your costs in half.
How do you know if you can actually cut the pill in half?
Well, you shouldn't do this with all pills.
You should ask your doctor some time-release formulas, that sort of thing, aren't appropriate.
You need to ask.
But if it is appropriate, you can cut your costs in half.
How about that?
I always love your advice.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
When I come back, we're revealing the phone app that can save your life.
And I'm speaking literally.
The search is on.
We're looking for a nurse to join our core team of experts to provide wisdom, expert commentary, and advice.
If you'd like to nominate yourself or a nurse who's made a difference in your life, go to DrOz.com and click on hashtag nurse search.
Queen Latifah opens up.
We rushed to the emergency room, you know, to see what was going on.
An issue close to her heart.
One in five people could develop this in America.
That hit her close to home.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday. - Over in the show, we talked about our obsession with phones.
Now it seems our phones could play an even more of a pivotal role in our lives.
Tomorrow you'll be talking about the app, brand new, that allows anyone to see your medical information even when your phone is locked.
So here's a scenario.
You'll find someone that's unconscious.
You call 911 from your phone, but you want to call their family member or give the MT their medical information, but you can't because their phone's locked.
Raise your hand if you ever needed to unlock someone's phone but you couldn't.
Put your hands up.
I'll put my hand up for sure.
Most of the audience.
Here's the deal.
Before, you'd be SOL because without this new life-saving tool, you couldn't get in there.
I'm going to walk you through a very simple step you all have on your phones right now.
We're going to set it up and we're going to do it right now.
First, you've got to plug in the right information.
So who wants to help me out here?
Come on down.
What's your name?
Lawanda.
Lawanda's going to help you out.
All right.
So...
I'm gonna program your phone, so if you ever collapse, someone you love can save your life.
How do you spell your first name?
L-A-W-A-N-D-A. Then we'll put date of birth in there.
We'll just pretend that was your date of birth.
And then, medical conditions.
Allergies.
There's a place for allergies down lower.
Let's say diabetes or blood pressure or whatever.
Seizures.
Any medical notes you might want to put in there so people know that you can't hear in your left ear or something.
Any allergies you can quickly put them in there.
Mold.
Pollen.
Perfect.
And then, medications you're on, just pretend you're on Aspirin, okay?
Okay.
And then, down here you can put emergency contact.
This is really important.
Emergency contact, it goes to your contact book, and you can put, you know, mom's name in there.
Okay.
So that, when they go into here, mom's name is going to appear there.
Put your weight, your height, anything else you want to put in there, right?
And then, you save it.
Then you're done.
Now here's the thing.
Your phone's locked, right?
Right.
You collapse.
They hit the button.
They want to find out what's going on with you.
They can't.
They don't really can't.
Password.
Watch very carefully.
See it says emergency in the bottom left?
Hit emergency.
See Medi-Kill ID? Hit that and there it is.
All the stuff we just put in there.
Wow.
So even though your phone was locked, all your information is up there.
For anyone to see, they can call someone that you care about to make sure they know about you as well.
Very simple and you can do it right now on your phones.
Wonderful.
Here's a little gift for you.
Thank you.
Alright, thank you for joining us today.
Remember, happy and healthy starts at home.
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