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July 26, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
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Suzanne Somers' Health Crisis & Mission: Beating Breast Cancer | Dr. Oz | S6 | Ep 145 | Full Episode
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Coming up next on Oz, TV legend Suzanne Somers beat breast cancer.
Now, she reveals a devastating family health crisis.
And the four-point detox checklist she says saved her family.
Plus, cheers to your health.
Whether it's allergies, weight control, or headaches, sip away your symptoms.
Dr. Oz ranks the best wines for your health.
Coming up next on Dr. Oz.
When you know her as Chrissy from Please Company, Carol from Step by Step, or simply because you love the Thigh Master, which I do, everyone knows Suzanne Somers.
She's here today.
You can go ahead and celebrate her.
I love her.
She's here today revealing her personal health crisis and her new health mission, she says, saved her family's life.
Please welcome my friend, Suzanne Somers. - This is where I lost. Suzanne Somers. - This is where I lost.
Oh, please.
Daisy was a superstar.
You do everything.
Well, clearly I don't.
I'm not on the show anymore.
You did a fabulous job.
I did.
You know, I wanted to show that it's not about your age, it's about your energy and your health, and I did that.
I stayed on for five weeks, right?
Yes.
Yes.
Very well.
Can you share your age with everybody?
Are you bashful about that, or is it okay?
No, I celebrate it.
68. 68. Wow.
I want you to keep that in the back of your mind because a lot of things we're going to talk about are issues that a lot of folks think are attributed to age.
In fact, you're arguing, and this is a fantastic book, it's called Toxic.
Suzanne does one thing very well, and she does it very passionately, which is write books, and this is one of the ones I think you're most passionate about.
I am.
This is a very personal story for you.
It's a journey that you started on because you were trying to figure out what was going on with your family.
What was the inspiration?
Well, our house burned down, and so that's like something to deal with.
And then we moved into this beautiful leased house on the mountain overlooking Malibu.
It was so beautiful, I thought, let's buy this and, you know, not rebuild and go through all the trouble.
In the four years that we lived there, we started getting sick.
My husband's eyes went red and watery and it made him look so much older than he is.
And then he started developing facial tics and facial spasms.
And then my stomach, I was eating right and exercising and my stomach, I wake up with a flat stomach and by the end of the day my stomach was a basketball.
Anybody have that basketball stomach?
Yeah, basketball stomach.
It's the lowest.
It's terrible.
And so I couldn't depend on what I was going to wear, how I was going to look.
And then my granddaughters started getting sick and they lived in a different house and I couldn't figure out what was going on.
But what I was really worried about My husband, we went to two doctors diagnosed with Parkinson's or pre-Parkinson's, and I'd say, no, no, no, no.
He is so healthy.
The guy eats fruits and nuts all his life.
He eats so healthy.
And then I ended up in the hospital for six days.
I was in anaphylactic shock.
I was rushed to the emergency room.
The ER doctor kept saying, why can't you breathe?
Why can't you breathe?
And I'm going...
I don't know.
Anaphylactic shock is, you can die from it, and it's one of the scariest things.
So you're allergic to something, but you don't know what it is.
I don't know what it is.
I don't know why I'm in the hospital.
I'm in the hospital.
I had rash all over my body.
I mean, in my nose, in my ear, every rash in my extremities, my hands blew up, my feet blew up, and the doctor comes in and he says, you got cancer.
Oh.
And he said, I have never seen so much cancer.
Now, can you imagine how I felt?
I live a healthy life.
And I had beat cancer 15 years ago.
And it was confirmed by six doctors six days in a row.
And each one would validate what the first doctor said.
That you had cancer.
Right.
Widespread cancer.
Widespread cancer.
And the doctor said, what we can do is we can start you on chemotherapy today.
Well, because I live a natural life, I said, you know, with all due respect, I would rather die.
He said, well, then I think you need to think about getting your things in order.
And so I looked at my husband and I said, what has happened to our life?
And he is spasming in his face.
And chronic nose and things and something, something was eating us.
And now, cancer, is that what it is?
Well, I finally had surgery on the sixth day.
They opened my neck to go in and they said, you have a mass on your lung.
It's so large, it's covering your liver.
He said, you have so many tumors in your chest, we can't count them.
They all have masses in them.
When I was wheeled into surgery, I said goodbye to my husband as though it was the last time I was ever going to see him.
I had a little caveat.
The night before the surgery, I heard a voice.
It was like a microphone came on, but I guess it was in my mind.
I looked at my husband who was holding me in my little bed.
My children were asleep at my feet.
The voice said, It's not who you are.
It's not what you do.
It's not what you have.
It's only about who you love and who loves you.
I still want to cry when I hear that.
And I looked at my husband and I looked at my children and I thought, I have more love than most people.
And I was ready.
I had no idea the story was...
It was the night Obama was elected.
Because I know it was six years ago.
I'm lying in bed and I went...
He won.
Oh, wow.
And I'm dying.
That's what I thought.
I know what it feels like to know.
How do you get from there to here?
From there to here.
So when the house burned down and we moved into the beautiful house on the hill, I didn't know there was an unfinished room.
I knew there was an unfinished room, but I never went down there because it was unfinished.
I didn't know there was standing water.
And in that standing water was black mold, Strachybotrys, which is the worst kind of black mold, crawling like little shop of horrors up into the drywall through all, it was everywhere, in the air conditioning ducts, in the heating ducts.
I had seen mold in my closet, but I never thought much about mold.
I did not have cancer.
I had mold.
And then it dislodged a dormant fungus called coccidium mycosis.
Everything got activated.
And so then I realized, wow, we have to get this out of our bodies.
And that's what we've spent the last four years doing.
You know, we've talked about toxic mold on the show.
Right.
Organized medicine, the CDC, I think, speaks for a lot of physicians like me.
We acknowledge that it happens in respiratory tracking, cause infections of your lungs, eyes and skin irritation.
Some of the things you mentioned, I think most doctors appreciate, but a lot of us aren't aware of these deeper possibilities.
And I bring it up because it makes...
You wonder what's really happening out there.
Right.
You know this.
Yeast, candida, mold, fungus, they're all similar organisms.
And so, if you don't understand what they thrive on, which is sugar, You can set off an episode.
Everybody's got a different tipping point.
My husband was gluten intolerant.
We knew that.
We didn't realize that his liver was overloaded with toxins from the environmental assault, from what we were cleaning the house with, what we were putting on our skin.
We always did eat organic food.
That the mold was his tipping point.
Threw him over the top.
And evidently it was mine, too.
And, you know, I talked to some...
I interviewed such amazing doctors in this book.
And a lot of them are worried about the flooding in Sandy Hook.
One doctor, Dr. Shoemaker, he said, they think the problem is their wet houses.
He said their problems haven't even begun.
And having experienced mold to the degree that I've experienced it, I shudder to think because insurance doesn't really recognize mold as an issue.
You went on a journey for the book.
You interviewed a lot of environmental experts, doctors, people who are just beginning to uncover what's really there.
And because it's so difficult to tell if it's mold or not, but because it could be mold, people end up trying to search sometimes in places they don't expect to look.
So when you actually did your homework and began to uncover some of these deeper opportunities for us to be healthy, what are some of the big takeaways?
Well, I think one of the things we have to recognize now is there's an epidemic of ADD, ADHD, OCD, bipolar, schizophrenia, autism, asthma, autoimmune diseases, MS, fibromyalgia, lupus.
When you and I were kids, who did you know who had lupus?
Who did you know who had ADD? When did that happen?
We have to be alarmed.
You're hearing about more and more children with brain conditions.
So my granddaughters, one of them, straight A student, Violet, they're both straight A students.
One has ADD and the other one has ADHD, mold exposure in their school.
Their house was clean, but their school was not clean.
Then she got bit by a lime tick.
So now we're hitting a tipping point.
Here's this smart girl, really super smart, who can't think.
She lost almost a year of school because, as an example, bring the plate to the sink.
And she'd sort of stare at it for a while, trying to process it.
And this is common with children today.
So your detractors say that your unconventional approaches are often dangerously wrong.
What do you say to them?
I never give advice, ever.
I always say, there are a couple ways to go.
You can go that way.
Great.
I go this way.
If you want to know what I do, this is how I go.
I am 68 years old.
I do take hormone replacement.
I don't have any bone loss.
I don't have any brain fog.
I don't have senior moments.
I am a productive member of society.
I'm not a drain on society because my brain is working so I can keep on working.
I am living the life that I write about.
I walk my talk.
And I love that I'm able to be a messenger to women.
And that is one of the other reasons I did Dancing with the Stars.
And one night I started to cry because you're so emotional on that show.
And I said, I am doing this for women out there so that they can understand that if you take good care of your body, Just as if you had a Maserati.
You would never put inferior fuel into a Maserati.
You would never wait until it all broke down before you took it to a mechanic.
You've listened to the language of your body, and that's what I write about.
The language of the body, a new way to age, and how to thrive and survive in the greatest environmental assault in the history of humanity.
And one more thing.
People always say, organic food, oh, it's so expensive.
I always say, you know, it's more expensive to be sick.
Well, you're one heck of a Maserati.
So that is a detox checklist She's going to share it with us when we come back What's your favorite natural immunity booster?
I don't know the exact science behind it, but the minute the temperature drops, I reach for vitamin C. It may be a placebo effect, but it makes me feel healthier.
Share yours on Facebook.com slash Dr. Oz.
Coming up next, Suzanne shares her tips on how to regain optimal health, plus her four-point detox checklist that anyone can use to improve their life.
If you can pick it, pluck it, milk it, or shoot it, you can eat it, all right?
Coming up next.
Forget expensive cleanses.
Dr. Oz has a three-day detox that works to eliminate toxins and restore balance.
Get the plan today.
All new Oz.
You could be losing almost an hour of sleep every night and not know it.
The reason?
Pain.
You've got a plan to tackle both your pain and your sleep so you can get a restful evening every night.
Plus, we're counting down the funniest sleep habits in America.
From weird noises...
Hard to figure that one out, isn't it?
...to sleep positions.
Have a laugh.
It's good for your health and sleep.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Suzanne Summers is here with your detox checklist to regain optimal health.
She wants you all to hear this.
How'd you come up with the list?
Interviewing these incredible environmental doctors.
And then getting myself so healthy.
So healthy that...
I mean, who's going to bet on a 68-year-old woman to launch a brand new hotel in Las Vegas?
And I just signed a...
I would do it.
A one-to-three-year deal, depending on my energy, which I will last three years, at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas.
May 23rd, come see me.
But...
It's because I have no bone loss and because I'm so healthy.
And everything I've put into my health is having such a payoff, and especially having a clear mind.
Come, take us through this checklist.
We're going to start off with an interesting one.
It's using glass.
And not just pouring things in glass, using glass.
Like, you know, I make fresh stock every week.
It's part of my cooking thing.
You put it into one of those plastic that we grew up with, with the seal topped and all that, you're outgassing phthalates and dangerous chemicals.
So, store everything in glass.
Go out of your way to buy glass, you know, that old-time maker that starts with a P. They make glass containers.
Drinking water.
One of the stats I came up with, if a pregnant woman drinks out of plastic bottles, The entire duration of her nine-month pregnancy, it will lower the IQ of the baby because of the outgassing of the phthalates.
So if we're getting this bombardment, then you've got to try to take charge of your own environment.
It's not hopeless.
That's the thing.
You just have to make changes.
Think about what you store your food in.
Think about what you put on your skin.
Think about what you clean your house with.
It matters today.
It didn't used to matter so much.
Okay, now.
Glass is number one.
I talk so much.
No, I love when you talk.
Now, you talked about the gut a little bit.
Yes.
The second big tip you offer is that we have to be very smart about balancing our gut with probiotics.
Totally.
If you only took one supplement for the rest of your life, take a probiotic, a high-quality probiotic, and take it every morning and every night for the rest of your life because...
This whole thing of the chemicals going in there, the flora is out of balance.
And if you have been born cesarean, you've missed a huge step.
When we go through the birth canal, nature, which is so incredible, has planned that our first swallow is not air.
The first swallow is our mother's vaginal flora, and that's how we colonize.
So if you were born cesarean, you didn't get that.
So just take probiotics.
Do you take them every day?
Every day, every morning and every night.
If I wasn't going to take anything, that's what I take.
So you don't have anything that's on your body, but you argue we should embrace fat.
Yes.
Explain that for everybody.
Okay.
Since we went on the low-fat movement, we've gotten fatter and sicker.
I mean, look around.
Nobody's doing well on the low-fat diet.
Again, the GI tract, if I can go back in there, because I'm just fascinated by it.
I love the intestines, too, by the way.
I love the intestines.
And when they work well, life is good.
So nature wants us to eat fat.
So I eat butter, cream, sour cream, olive oil, full-fat cream cheese, coconut oil, flax oil, grass-fed steak.
I eat a high-fat diet.
I don't eat sugar.
I don't eat sugar because I've had the mold organism.
I'm not giving them a happy meal because, you know, they can multiply 52 million times in 24 hours.
You've been speaking to this issue, but I'm gonna end up with sort of the big manifesto for you to eat clean.
Yeah.
And define that for folks.
Okay, if you can pick it, pluck it, milk it, or shoot it, you can eat it, all right?
One more time.
Pick it, pluck it, milk it, or shoot it.
And make sure what they ate was clean, too.
So you want organic and grass-fed.
You don't want antibiotics and growth hormone and all that from the cows.
But enjoy your steak.
Ask for a grass-fed steak and keep asking at restaurants so that they start saying, hey, a lot of people are asking for grass-fed.
But enjoy your butter.
I am enjoying you.
Thank you very much for joining us.
Suzanne Somers.
You're the sweetest.
For more of Suzanne's story and more details on her detox checklist, check out her new book, Toxic.
From Toxic to Nautic is in stores now.
I'll be right back.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for letting me talk.
I so appreciate it.
Tell us, do you grow any of your own foods at home?
We grow all our own tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, and eggplant.
There's something satisfying about growing your food.
It never gets old.
Share your story on Dr. Oz's Facebook page.
Coming up next, we're popping the cork on some of the best wines for whatever ails you.
Allergies, weight control, headaches.
Learn to sip away your symptoms with a glass of red or a glass of white.
Ranking the best wines for your health.
Coming up next.
All new Oz.
You could be losing almost an hour of sleep every night and not know it.
The reason?
Pain.
You got a plan to tackle both your pain and your sleep so you can get a restful evening every night.
Plus, we're counting down the funniest sleep habits in America.
From weird noises...
Hard to figure that one out, isn't it?
...to sleep positions.
Have a laugh.
It's good for your health and sleep.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
What if the shells of your wine store were labeled more clearly?
For example, let's say they were labeled the best wines for allergies or for weight control or headache prevention.
Today, wine coach Laurie Forza did just that for us and is here with the best wines for your health.
Welcome to the show.
Hi, thank you.
So why is it that some wines are better for our health than others?
Well, as a wife and working mother, I think all wine is essential to health.
Mental health, I mean.
But really, we all know the health benefits of red wine for your heart and antioxidant quality.
But overall, it's like your food.
You want to research and know it's a good quality producer winery that really takes care when they make their products.
So find a great wine store, a wine expert like me, to help you find those wines.
Again, some wines are better for some health issues than others.
Exactly.
All right, so I want you to ask a question for everybody.
Raise your hand if you had a glass of wine for dinner last night.
Who had more than a glass of wine?
Ginger, come over here.
Ginger, your hand never went down.
How many glasses of wine did you have last night?
Right here.
I had probably about two.
Two?
Yes.
Pinot Grigio.
Pinot Grigio.
I did, yeah.
You just like the taste.
I love it.
I love it.
You don't know why it's good for you.
I don't.
Okay, come over here.
So with the first aisle, we're going to talk about which are for allergies.
These are the best wine if you happen to have allergic issues.
Do you have seasonal allergies?
I do.
Pollen really bothers me.
I get, you know, stuffy, throat, the whole thing.
Take it away, Larry.
What kinds of wines should allergy sufferers use?
Well, here's the deal.
Red wines have lots of histamines.
And they come from the red grape skins.
When we make red wine, we let the skin sit with the juice.
And those histamines, that's why you take an antihistamine when you get allergies, are in there.
So try white wine like Sauvignon Blanc, lowest in histamines.
It's crisp.
It's clean.
It's a lot like your Pinot Grigio in style.
You want to avoid those red wines.
But there's another thing in wine that some people are allergic to, and it's called sulfite.
And we use a little sulfite to preserve wine, but even if you don't use it to preserve, it's just naturally there.
So if you have that problem, look for organic wines or wines that are more organically made.
Yeah, but you specifically say Sauvignon Blanc, not just any white wine.
Yes, because it could be her Pinot Grigio could work as well.
But Sauvignon Blanc, this is a well-made, low histamines.
But yes, white wine in general, this is my pick because I think it's delicious.
The most popular shelf in Lori's store is the weight loss.
Now, just to not give you permission to drink the whole body.
You're not drinking wine to lose weight.
We're going to show you ways of actually not affecting weight so much.
So, Lori, when you drink a lot of wine, does it cause problems?
Well, yes.
I mean, it does.
And portion control is a big thing.
First off, look for your lower alcohol.
Those are going to be lower calorie wines.
So places like France are cooler and they make lower calorie wines like our Beaujolais.
It's only 12% alcohol versus having a 15% alcohol Zinfandel.
Stay away from those sweet wines, those dessert wines for sure.
But then, portion control, you talk about this all the time with food.
This is four ounces in a white wine or all-purpose glass.
Do you have the big red wine glasses at home?
I know it.
I do too, and they're so fun to swirl and drink out of.
But look, This is four ounces.
It doesn't look like much in this glass.
Would you normally fill it up a little bit?
Of course.
This is the usual pour I think we see.
Yeah, the eight-ounce glass, right?
That's important.
If you got the other things you showed me, I'd be upset.
But the other big thing that I'm so passionate about is wine is meant to be with food.
Wine is part of the recipe of your meal.
And if you make what I call a wine sandwich, you sip your wine and you have it over dinner.
You take a bite of your food, savor, go back and sip the wine.
If it's a great pairing, the wine tastes better, and it slows down your eating.
You enjoy the wine even more.
Really, it's a great way to go.
I love that.
I'm definitely going to incorporate that.
Portion-controlled wine sandwich.
You can do it, Ginger.
Thank you very much.
I can do it, thank you.
All right, next up, the best wines for headache sufferers are Linaise.
How about you, Linaise?
So, when you drink a wine, do you normally get a headache?
Yeah, when I drink red wine, it totally goes to my head.
Is it just reds?
Yeah, I don't know if it's the tannins in it.
Yes, very astute, very astute.
If you have migraines, and I get them from time to time too, tannins, which is another thing in those red grape skins and in the wine, it feels like the little bit of astringency you get on some red wines.
Wines high in that will cause migraines.
So does chocolate.
High cacao content chocolate has tannin, so you have to stay away from that.
I chose the pick here, Pinot Gris.
It's from Oregon.
And I don't know if you know, but Pinot Gris, same grape as Pinot Grigio.
We just use a different name here in America.
It's got lots of citrus and floral notes.
It's really delicious.
Please take a sip.
And you're going to avoid those migraines.
Now, the number one reason why people get headaches from wine, do you know what it is, Dr. Oz?
Too much of it.
Drinking too much wine.
That's right?
It is.
I was joking.
It's true.
People need to keep the water intake because most of the reason is dehydration.
Now, there's one other thing that's in red wine at a high amount, which is called tyramine.
And it's a compound that's also in cheese.
It's in fermented products that causes migraines.
So you want to watch out for that.
But this white wines are much lower than that, and you're going to avoid the problem, the dreaded headache.
Give me some advice.
Temperature issues.
Because I never know quite when to put the freezer.
Don't do the freezer, please.
Sometimes you'll find slushy in the morning if you do that, right?
But the big deal with temperature in this country is white wines are usually served too cold.
If you keep your white wine in your fridge, the perfect serving temperature for white is 45 to 50. What's the temperature in your fridge, you know?
No, I never checked.
39. So it's way too cold when you take that white wine out.
The flavors will be locked in the glass.
So should you take it out before you're going to serve it?
About 10, 15 minutes before you serve it and let it warm up.
Then red wines, we say serve it at room temperature, right?
That's easy.
But 65 to 68 degrees is the right temperature for red.
And that's only room temperature in a medieval castle in France.
Exactly.
Most of our homes are in the 70s, so you know what you do?
Pop that red wine in the fridge for like 10, 15 minutes, and just gets it to the perfect serving temperature.
Wonderful advice.
I hope it's helpful for your headaches, the weight, and everything else.
else.
We'll be right back.
What do you pair your favorite wine with?
I was never a big wine guy, but my girlfriend turned me on to pairing our meals with different varieties.
My favorite is Chardonnay and any kind of seafood.
Tell us on Facebook.com slash Dr. Oz.
Coming up next, has your hair been thinning?
Do you have unwanted acne and hair that you just can't get rid of?
You could be suffering from a condition commonly misdiagnosed by doctors.
Find out if you're at risk and how it can be treated.
Coming up next.
Look and feel younger in minutes.
Dr. Oz has the secrets to fight aging the safe and healthy way.
Visit DrOz.com to learn more.
All new Oz.
You could be losing almost an hour of sleep every night and not know it.
The reason?
Pain.
You got a plan to tackle both your pain and your sleep so you can get a restful evening every night.
Plus, we're counting down the funniest sleep habits in America.
From weird noises...
Hard to figure that one out, isn't it?
...to sleep positions.
Have a laugh.
It's good for your health and sleep.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
If you have unwanted hairs or acne that you just can't seem to get rid of, I want you to pay careful attention because it might be due to a condition that doctors often miss.
It's called PCOS or polycystic ovary syndrome.
Now, once you know you have it, there are easy things you can do to find relief, so I'm going to ask my audience a series of questions to help determine if you have PCOS. Everyone at home, follow along with us.
Pretty straightforward.
There are yes or no questions.
First question.
Are you overweight?
I'm not looking at the answers, so answer privately.
I've got my blinders on here.
Think about this.
About 75% of people who have PCOS have a body mesinix 26 or higher, which means that they're officially a little overweight.
Second question.
Have you noticed hairs popping up where you don't want them?
Especially on your face, your chest, stomach, etc.
Alright, so answer honesty again.
Third question.
Has your skin become very oily or acne-prone?
Fourth question is, have your periods become irregular, or maybe you've actually started missing periods?
I'll explain why that's important in a second.
And then finally, has your hair been thinning?
So you're getting hair in places you don't want it, but you're losing hair in places you do want it.
That's the fifth question.
All right, so audience, who answered yes to two or more of these?
I'm glad there's no guys with their hands up.
One exception over here.
Ma'am, what's your name?
My name is Carol.
Carol, come on if you don't mind.
We'll talk to you for a second.
You don't mind if I call you down here, do you?
Not at all.
All right.
May I see your quiz?
Sure.
So you said yes to three questions, right?
Yes.
You said yes to, I'll hold it up there.
Are you overweight?
Mm-hmm.
You said yes.
You said that you noticed some hair on your face, stomach, or chest.
Yep.
And your hair's been thinning on top a little bit.
Yes.
Is that right?
Yes.
So have you ever considered prostate ovarian disease?
Actually, yes.
One of my good friends has been diagnosed with it, and I had asked my doctor, and I was totally dismissed.
Blown off.
Yeah.
Totally blown off.
Again, it's a pretty common problem.
More common than folks acknowledge.
But if you answer yes to two more of these questions, I really do think you should push the doctor.
In fact, just show them the quiz.
We'll put it up on DrRoz.com.
It's going to sort of mandate you do some of the things we're talking about today.
Super easy to figure out.
Can you hold that for me if you don't mind?
Come on down.
Let's talk a little bit about this.
Let me show you what this all means.
So you can put these gloves on.
These...
Our ovaries, the way they're supposed to look.
And ovaries naturally, there are two of them obviously, and they're sort of small, a little bit larger than a marble, and they look like this.
So go ahead and feel that.
It's pretty smooth, you might notice.
Yeah, wow.
Would you describe it as sort of putty-like?
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
And open it up for everybody.
If you just peel it open like this, you notice the inside's also pretty smooth.
Yeah.
Okay?
Now, let me show you a picture.
I don't actually have a polycystic ovary here because we don't take them out.
You actually help people heal them on their own, so you don't want to have them in a specimen tray.
But this is a picture of one we took.
This image right there is what a polycystic ovary looks like.
The hormones are thrown off whack, which means this ovaries are forced to, instead of pushing out the eggs each time and sort of be happy about it, they push too many out, they get stuck in there, they form these little cysts, thus the name polycystic, which happens to a lot of folks and they don't realize what it is.
They think it's them or, you know, something else they're doing wrong.
It's actually a very treatable medical problem.
So this is a topic that requires some expert attention.
So I've asked an expert to join me.
So if it's okay, you can put your gloves off unless you want to take the ovaries with you.
Oh, maybe.
No, you're not.
It's hard to take them through airport security.
Grab your seat, Carol.
Thank you.
This is important information for you and everybody else who checked off two of those boxes.
Thank you.
Gynecologist Jessie Shepherd is joining us.
Jessica, why is PCOS so commonly misdiagnosed?
So commonly misdiagnosed in women because, as you can tell, with all these symptoms, you really do have a myriad of other diseases that can cause all of those symptoms.
So it really is putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
So Carol mentioned that her doctor blew her off.
Yeah.
What is the test that you would actually have your doctor do for you to figure out what's going on?
So PCOS is actually a criteria that we look at and we look at three things specifically.
So we want to see an increase in male hormones that are in the blood and that's again going to give you the oily skin and the acne and also the hair growth.
So we do a blood test for that.
And then the second thing is from the patient actually telling us, you know, my cycles are really irregular or I've missed a lot of them.
So that's the other thing that we look for.
And then the last thing that we look for are the ovaries, like you discussed over there on the table showing the polycystic ovaries.
We do an ultrasound and we look for a typical sign.
And so of those three criteria, we lead at least two of those.
Come back here and show everybody what this ultrasound looks like.
We brought an example.
And this is actually, you won't forget this once you see it.
Go ahead, Di.
So if you see here, this is a beautiful picture, ultrasound of an ovary.
So typically what you'll see, you'll see all these little dark circles and those indicate follicles or eggs.
And so typically you don't see a lot of these around the outside portion of the ovary.
So when you see that, that indicates that there is increased eggs because of the increased hormones.
And also we call it a string of pearl sign.
So that's the string of pearls that you'll see.
Pearls you don't want?
Not in your ovaries, no.
On your neck, yes.
Alright, so once someone's found out through these tests that you've mentioned that they have PCOS, what do you do about it?
How hard is it to treat?
The good thing is that it can be managed and can be treated.
And so for women who are not typically looking for fertility or to conceive, We want to, again, decrease that hormone in the blood.
So we give them oral contraceptives or birth control pills because that decreases the male hormone in the blood.
And it also regulates your cycle.
So you'll find that people who have had really irregular cycles and sporadic cycles here and there, that really makes them regular.
And that's great for the patient, too.
And so also, obesity is a factor.
70% of women who have PCOS are obese.
So losing 5% to 10% of your body weight can really reduce some of those symptoms.
So touch on that a little bit, because the foods that you eat are important in this process as well.
So foods.
Foods are very important.
I think diet is a really important key to all of our health.
And so specifically for PCOS, you really want to decrease any of those foods that are going to have high glycemic index.
So high processed snacks, high processed carbs, anything with white flour, white sugar, and also some fruits that have a lot of high sugar, such as melons.
What do you think, Carol?
Can you follow that advice?
Absolutely.
For all the two boxers out there, it's good advice for general health anyway.
You can find the symptoms of PCOS on DrRoz.com.
If you have any of them, I urge you to speak with your doctor and push him a little bit.
It's worth it.
it we'll be right back coming up next a woman fighting to make a difference in her hometown an inner city plagued by violence She's inspiring girls from Camden, New Jersey, to be survivors.
The Drill Team, marching to an inspirational beat.
Coming up next.
We are bringing a healthy back this season, and I want you to bring it too.
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All new Oz.
You could be losing almost an hour of sleep every night and not know it.
The reason?
Pain.
You got a plan to tackle both your pain and your sleep so you can get a restful evening every night.
Plus, we're counting down the funniest sleep habits in America.
From weird noises...
Hard to figure that one out, isn't it?
...to sleep positions.
Have a laugh.
It's good for your health and sleep.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
All new Oz.
You could be losing almost an hour of sleep every night and not know it.
The reason?
Pain.
You've got a plan to tackle both your pain and your sleep so you can get a restful evening every night.
Plus, we're counting down the funniest sleep habits in America.
From weird noises...
Hard to figure that one out, isn't it?
...to sleep positions.
Have a laugh.
It's good for your health and sleep.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Confidence, discipline, dance.
That's what Tawanda Jones drills into the girls of Camden, New Jersey, an inner city plagued by violence.
Today, meet the woman helping her hometown march to an inspiring beat.
My sisters!
And brothers!
Are y'all ready?
They're called Camden Sophisticated Sisters, a drill team from one of the poorest and most dangerous cities in America.
My name is Tawanda Jones and I am the founder of the Camden Sophisticated Sisters Drill Team.
Tawanda started the group when she was a teenager.
I was raised here in Camden.
I know what it's like to grow up here.
The streets can get you, you know, caught up if you're not careful.
The drill team is her way of trying to change what many believe is destiny for her city's young people.
The expectations of these children are very low.
Our mission is to empower the youth through the structure and discipline of drill team.
Nowhere is that more needed than right here.
When I was 15 years old, I was on my way to gang initiation when I ran into Wawa.
And she told me about her drumline and her drill team, and she asked me just to come watch.
So I actually went and watched, and the robbery actually did happen that day.
Had I not met her that day, I would probably be either dead or in jail.
She saved my life.
People say that we're the worst city in the nation.
When you hear that, it just makes you scared.
And Ms. Wawa is definitely a big help with that.
She tries her best to keep us under this safe haven so we won't stray off into things that we know that we shouldn't be doing.
Are you supposed to be on your phone or are you supposed to be doing homework?
The moment that they walk through those doors, homework, homework, homework.
That insistence on academic excellence may be the program's most important legacy.
Wow!
Just two years ago, only 49% of Camden's kids graduated from high school.
But that's not the story for the kids under Tawanda's watch.
Over the years, we've had over 4,000 youth come through the program.
Many success stories.
We have teachers, social workers, correctional officers.
Some go off to college, some goes off to trade schools.
When I graduate, I just want to come back and help Ms. Wawa with the kids, show them a better life.
With so much at stake, Tawanda is determined to be a catalyst for change.
I do what I do because I want to see each and every last one of these kids succeed.
It's not easy living here in Camden, and I get that.
Are we able to save every child?
No, but we try very hard to.
Tawanda Jones is here.
The nickname is Miss Wawa.
Now you've been leading the Sophisticated Sisters for 29 years.
29 years.
So what motivates you?
The children.
The children motivate me.
I love that revolving door.
The fact that they want to be a part of it, even though they go away to college, they still want to come back and be involved.
So when you know that story behind the children, that makes it all worthwhile.
And why do you call them the Sophisticated Sisters?
You've got little boys in there.
Absolutely.
We have to set the bar high.
You know, these ladies have to live up to their names.
Sophisticated sisters.
The Distinguished Brothers, that's the other entity.
So it's very important that the world knows that, you know?
So, like I said, set the bar high, and these kids know what I expect from them, and they expect that from themselves.
How many of you want to meet some of these Sophisticated Sisters and destroy your show?
Come on out, let's meet them!
Kellogg and the drill team.
*music* *music*
*music* *music*
*music* *music* *music* Unbelievable! *music* Take a bow.
Just simple, only one question I'm going to ask.
Is Miss Wawa tough on you guys?
Yes.
She is?
Yes.
Is it worth it?
Yes.
I am so proud of you, Miss Wawa.
Guys, take us out to break.
Whoever said a doctor's visit isn't fun has obviously never been to the Dr. Oz show.
Is that right?
Make your appointment today.
Go to DrOz.com slash tickets and sign up for free tickets.
All New Oz.
You could be losing almost an hour of sleep every night and not know it.
The reason?
Pain.
You've got a plan to tackle both your pain and your sleep so you can get a restful evening every night.
Plus, we're counting down the funniest sleep habits in America.
From weird noises...
Hard to figure that one out, isn't it?
...to sleep positions.
Have a laugh.
It's good for your health and sleep.
All New Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
All new Oz.
You could be losing almost an hour of sleep every night and not know it.
The reason?
Pain.
You've got a plan to tackle both your pain and your sleep so you can get a restful evening every night.
Plus, we're counting down the funniest sleep habits in America.
From weird noises...
Hard to figure that one out, isn't it?
...to sleep positions.
Have a laugh.
It's good for your health and sleep.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
America is delicious.
Well, it is when former art director Chris D'Orso creates state-shaped foods for his son Cameron.
Now, Chris posts his fun-tastic, these are fantastic, by the way, pictures on Instagram from New Jerky.
It's appetizing, isn't it?
All the Jerseyites out there?
That's where I live.
How about California?
Ooh.
And Ry-o-ming.
That's perfect.
And one of my favorites, Avo Colorado.
It's perfect.
Chris is almost done sculpting all 50 funited states of America.
Enough puns for now, but it is time for in case you missed it.
First, my Oz Nation fans that love a little wine with dinner, which I think is a good idea, but still want to watch your waist size, you can try a Beaujolais.
These are young wines.
Now, you can't have the whole bottle.
You can have a four-ounce glass that has about 80 calories.
It has lower alcohol content and lower calorie content to regular glasses.
But notice, if you use small glasses of wine versus a big glass, it looks like a lot more.
So use an all-purpose wine like this.
Don't get tricked with those big glasses.
They look great to swirl around, but you trick yourself into putting twice as much wine in the glass.
I know you've all been here before.
I'll drink to that.
Finally, be careful of dubious people online that make it seem like I'm endorsing their products, because I don't.
To see a full list of our trusted sponsorship partners, you can go to DrOz.com.
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