1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions

2
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,000
with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura.

3
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000
Now, here's Dr. Todd.

4
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,000
Good afternoon. I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified non-force doctor of chiropractic

5
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000
and practitioner of functional medicine.

6
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,000
I've got a great program for you today. We're going to be talking about,

7
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,000
this is breast cancer awareness month, October.

8
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:36,000
Everyone's wearing their pink ribbons, out raising money for breast cancer awareness.

9
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000
I don't know about you. I think most people are probably already aware of breast cancer

10
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,000
and that breast cancer is one of the most prevalent forms of cancer.

11
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:54,000
Maybe it's just me. Might it not make more sense to have October be breast cancer prevention month?

12
00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,000
I'm going to tell you about a couple of breast cancer patients that I've seen.

13
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,000
One who was told she had breast cancer that immediately needed surgery,

14
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:07,000
who was able to completely eliminate it without surgery or any other medical treatment.

15
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,000
And another who was a breast cancer survivor.

16
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,000
There are over 4 million breast cancer survivors in America,

17
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:22,000
and a lot of these women have lingering, persistent health challenges that no one is helping them with.

18
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,000
We're also going to talk about statin drugs, the most common cholesterol-lowering drugs

19
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,000
that 99.99% of doctors seem to think almost everyone should take.

20
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,000
Do you need a statin drug? What are the side effects?

21
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,000
Do they actually do what they're reported to do?

22
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000
Do they actually reduce your risk of a heart attack or a stroke?

23
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,000
Does cholesterol cause heart disease?

24
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,000
These are some of the questions we're going to get to, so stay tuned.

25
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:56,000
Anyone with a family history of breast cancer, of a mother, a sister, an aunt who's had breast cancer

26
00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:02,000
who wants to reduce their risk of getting breast cancer, can do that by getting tested,

27
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:07,000
by checking to see if their immune system is functioning at its peak,

28
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:13,000
by testing to see if their tumor markers, the same tumor markers oncologists use

29
00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:18,000
after you've been diagnosed with breast cancer, you can't use these to diagnose cancer,

30
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:27,000
but you can identify with tests that things called CEA, CA15-3, CA27.29.

31
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:33,000
These are tumor markers that oncologists use to see if your cancer is coming back

32
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,000
after you've gone through treatment before it gets bad enough to show up on a scan again.

33
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,000
Well, they're not going to test those before you have cancer because they're not going to do

34
00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,000
chemotherapy or radiation on you if those numbers are a little bit elevated,

35
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,000
but should you know about those numbers?

36
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,000
Sure, if those numbers are elevated and you have a family history of breast cancer,

37
00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,000
then you can do something about those numbers.

38
00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000
You can take some supplements and improve your diet and exercise

39
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:08,000
and in the context of a comprehensive blood test functional medicine, blood test workup,

40
00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000
identify all the things that your immune system is challenged by

41
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:18,000
and support it with better food, exercise, and supplements.

42
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:23,000
And then retest, retest those numbers to make sure that they're going down.

43
00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,000
If they're elevated, make sure they're heading in the right direction.

44
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,000
Make sure they're at a safe level.

45
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:37,000
There are never any guarantees, but the condition of your body is always more important

46
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,000
than the name of any disease you've been diagnosed with.

47
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:47,000
And doing functional testing, looking for early signs of stress on all of your organs and tissues,

48
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,000
especially your immune system, and doing the same tumor markers

49
00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,000
that identify how well your body is keeping cancer in remission.

50
00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:59,000
You can test those things right now, and if you do that and address them,

51
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:05,000
to keep those numbers under control and keep the stress off all your organs and tissues,

52
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:10,000
keep them into a healthy level like they were when you were in your teens and your twenties.

53
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:19,000
This is a viable means of reducing your risk of breast cancer and almost any other disease.

54
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:25,000
Here's something anyone can do to dramatically reduce their risk of getting breast cancer,

55
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000
as well as prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and a whole host of other cancers.

56
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:36,000
Get functional levels of vitamin D into your system.

57
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:44,000
The standard recommended daily allowances of vitamin D, 400, 600, sometimes 1,000 units a day,

58
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,000
are just barely enough to prevent rickets.

59
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,000
They don't do anything to boost your immune system.

60
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,000
And there is robust data. You can look this up on PubMed,

61
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000
the National Institutes of Health website.

62
00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,000
There is robust data showing that people who have the highest levels of vitamin D in their blood

63
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:08,000
have dramatically lower incidences of some of the top cancers that people get,

64
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,000
breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer among them, and several others.

65
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:18,000
So the blood level, you want to get your vitamin D blood level tested.

66
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:27,000
You want your blood level of vitamin D to be between 50 and 90 nanograms per milliliter, 50 to 90.

67
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000
Normally, most doctors tell you if it's above 30, you're fine.

68
00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,000
That's enough to prevent rickets.

69
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:40,000
It is not enough to keep your immune system strong or help you fight off or prevent cancer of any kind.

70
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,000
So to get that level in your bloodstream,

71
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:49,000
most people need to take 4 to 5,000 units of vitamin D a day.

72
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:56,000
The standard dose for adults or even children who weigh over 50 or 60 pounds

73
00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:06,000
is 4 to 5,000 units a day if you want to be healthy and keep your immune system strong.

74
00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,000
So let's take a look at a case just to give you an idea of what's possible.

75
00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,000
I had a woman in her early 40s who came in to see me,

76
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:21,000
and she had just a couple of days ago developed a grape-sized mass in her breast.

77
00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,000
Three days later, it had grown to the size of a jalapeno.

78
00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,000
She went to her general practitioner.

79
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:33,000
He referred her to an oncologist, and because she was over 40,

80
00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,000
standard recommendations are to remove it, to surgically remove it.

81
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:46,000
So she was told she needed to have that suddenly appearing, dramatically growing cyst.

82
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,000
It wasn't a tumor. It was a cyst.

83
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,000
The technical term is a fibroadenoma.

84
00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:57,000
This is a very common cyst that occurs in many women's breasts.

85
00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,000
And cancerous tumors don't grow that fast overnight, full stop.

86
00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,000
So I explained to her that this is not an emergency,

87
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,000
and she does have time to consider some other options.

88
00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:16,000
These things go up and down in size oftentimes with the passage of a woman's menstrual cycle.

89
00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:22,000
They get bigger when you're going through your cycle and then get smaller in between.

90
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:26,000
So the point is we had some time. I explained that to her.

91
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,000
I put her on a high dose of iodine.

92
00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:34,000
Iodine, one of the most important nutrients for breast tissue, is iodine.

93
00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:39,000
And a high dose of fish oil and some other nutrients, high dose of vitamin D.

94
00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:45,000
In three weeks, her jalapeno-sized tumor was gone.

95
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:51,000
Three weeks later, after a few supplements, her jalapeno-sized tumor,

96
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:58,000
it wasn't a tumor, it was a cyst, it was a fibroadenoma, disappeared completely.

97
00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:03,000
This was several years ago. It has never come back.

98
00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,000
So every situation is different.

99
00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:11,000
Do not assume that if you have a jalapeno-sized tumor in your breast

100
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,000
that you can fix it with iodine, fish oil, and vitamin D, and a few other supplements.

101
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,000
See a doctor. But I just want to give you an idea of what's possible

102
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,000
and some things that most doctors don't consider.

103
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:31,000
Most doctors don't check to see if your immune system is getting all the nutrients

104
00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,000
it needs to function at its peak.

105
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,000
When you do that, amazing things can happen.

106
00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:44,000
I am Dr. Todd Binkley, sharing with you safe, effective, natural solutions

107
00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,000
to almost any health challenge.

108
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,000
If you're ready to take the next step and find out what's possible for your situation,

109
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,000
email me at drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com.

110
00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:03,000
That's D-R-B-S-N-BOY-I-N-K-L-E-Y at binkleyhealingcenter.com.

111
00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,000
Now, what if you've already had breast cancer?

112
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:13,000
There are over 4 million breast cancer survivors in America today.

113
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:18,000
Conventional oncology for most breast cancers works pretty good.

114
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:23,000
But there are lingering problems for a lot of those breast cancer survivors.

115
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:28,000
So here's another example of a breast cancer survivor who had some lingering issues

116
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,000
that she was concerned about.

117
00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,000
A lot of people are worried about hormones.

118
00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:37,000
So I had a 76-year-old woman who came in with osteoporosis,

119
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:45,000
high cholesterol, chronic cough, fatigue, leg cramps, nighttime tingling in her feet,

120
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:50,000
low libido, and painful intercourse ever since stopping the conventional

121
00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:56,000
hormone replacement therapy that she was taking up until she was diagnosed with cancer.

122
00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:01,000
So her cancer was ERPR positive.

123
00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:10,000
That means that she had estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors identified on her cancer.

124
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:16,000
So that means taking estrogen or progesterone and or progesterone could increase,

125
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,000
very likely increase her likelihood of the cancer coming back.

126
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,000
So that's why they removed her from hormone replacement therapy.

127
00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,000
But here's the thing.

128
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:33,000
Standard conventional hormone replacement therapy is not the only option for women

129
00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,000
who have problems with their hormones.

130
00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:42,000
Standard hormone replacement therapy practiced by most endocrinologists

131
00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:48,000
uses blood tests only to identify whether or not you need more estrogen or progesterone

132
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,000
or any other hormone or one of its precursors.

133
00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:58,000
And very, very commonly give you way too much estrogen, progesterone,

134
00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:02,000
testosterone for men, et cetera, full stop.

135
00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:03,000
So what did I do?

136
00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:08,000
Instead, I did a salivary hormone test on her.

137
00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:14,000
The equipment used to test salivary hormones is a hundred times more sensitive

138
00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:19,000
than the equipment used to test for blood levels of various hormones.

139
00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:25,000
And your blood levels of hormones are going up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down all day long.

140
00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:30,000
And when you do a blood test, you're just getting a snapshot of what it was

141
00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,000
that particular minute you had your blood draw.

142
00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:39,000
So salivary hormone tests, the salivary glands have a very rich capillary bed,

143
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:46,000
the smallest blood vessels surrounding the salivary glands that produce saliva.

144
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:52,000
And because of that, anything that's in your bloodstream enters your saliva in very small concentrations.

145
00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:56,000
So it requires very sensitive equipment to measure this.

146
00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:06,000
But the importance of that is when you treat most hormone issues with anything transdermal,

147
00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:12,000
for example, a lot of people, most people treat hormone related issues with some kind of transdermal therapy,

148
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:17,000
a cream, an oil that you rub on your skin, a suppository,

149
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:23,000
something that's passing from your skin or some other membrane into your bloodstream.

150
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:28,000
Blood tests do not accurately measure the levels of those things.

151
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:33,000
When you take, when you take a hormone and apply it to your skin,

152
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,000
it doesn't all directly enter immediately enter your bloodstream.

153
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,000
Some of it is bound up and interstitial fluid.

154
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:49,000
And the result of that is standard hormone replacement therapy often results in women being way overdosed

155
00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:55,000
with estrogen and progesterone and men taking way too much testosterone.

156
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,000
And your body can become resistant to those things over time.

157
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000
You reach a point of diminishing returns.

158
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:08,000
So obviously someone with estrogen sensitive and progesterone sensitive cancer,

159
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,000
the survivor of that type of cancer is not going to want to take conventional hormone replacement therapy.

160
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:18,000
But when I did this 70 year old woman's hormone test, her tests came back.

161
00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:24,000
She had very low normal range estradiol.

162
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:30,000
That's the, there's three forms of estrogen, estrone, estradiol, estriol.

163
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:35,000
But estradiol is the one that most people, that is involved in standard,

164
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,000
that is used in standard hormone replacement therapy.

165
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:45,000
That is the concern when someone is ER positive, estrogen receptor positive cancer.

166
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:49,000
And her progesterone was also in the low normal range.

167
00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:53,000
But guess what else? Her testosterone was undetectable.

168
00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,000
It was below the detectable range on the lab.

169
00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:03,000
And a precursor called DHEA.

170
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:14,000
DHEA, this is a precursor that your body uses to make both estrogen and testosterone was really, really low.

171
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:19,000
So I explained to her, her adrenal glands were also really, really stressed.

172
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,000
So I gave her some support for her adrenal glands.

173
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:30,000
And I explained to her that even though she has estrogen sensitive receptors on the cancer that she survived

174
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:40,000
and progesterone receptors on that cancer, that it's totally safe for her to take a precursor.

175
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:44,000
I didn't recommend that she take estrogen or progesterone. Of course not.

176
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:56,000
I did put her on a low dose of DHEA, which her body, your body, anybody's body will then convert into estrogen if you need more

177
00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,000
or testosterone if you need more.

178
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:07,000
So guess what? Six months later, after some nutrient support to improve her adrenal glands,

179
00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,000
her adrenals are now completely back to normal.

180
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:21,000
And her estrogen, estradiol, the most important estrogen that you would be concerned about for someone who had ER positive estrogen receptor

181
00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,000
positive breast cancer, changed not at all.

182
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:32,000
It was one before and it was one after taking DHEA for a few months.

183
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:38,000
But guess what? Her DHEA level went up from 40 to 104.

184
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:45,000
That's still just a little bit low, but her testosterone went from undetectable to 34.

185
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:50,000
So more important than that, of course, is how she felt.

186
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:58,000
She had osteoporosis. I also gave her some calcium and some high doses of vitamin K2 and made sure she had adequate levels of vitamin D.

187
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,000
I gave her some nutrients for her high cholesterol.

188
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:07,000
She had a chronic cough, fatigue, leg cramps, nighttime tingling in her feet.

189
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:12,000
All of these things were better. You have to wait two years to get the DEXA scan back.

190
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:21,000
Two years later, her follow up bone scan for osteoporosis came back and it had gone from osteoporosis back to low bone density.

191
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:26,000
The replacement term for osteopenia. Her cholesterol had dramatically improved.

192
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:33,000
Her cough had improved mostly because I told her to put a HEPA filter in her bedroom to filter the air that she was breathing all night.

193
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:39,000
Her fatigue was gone. She had energy like she hadn't had in years.

194
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:44,000
The leg cramps and nighttime tingling in her feet that she had were gone.

195
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:52,000
And her libido and the pain that she had when having intimate relations with her husband had gone.

196
00:16:52,000 --> 00:17:03,000
She felt younger than she had in years and she was not taking quote unquote hormone replacement therapy.

197
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:11,000
I didn't give her any hormones. I gave her a very low dose of a precursor hormone and most importantly tested it.

198
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:21,000
I told her we need to test this to make sure that it doesn't go up too high to make sure that you don't have any increased risk of recurrent breast cancer.

199
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:29,000
And that's exactly what we did and she felt amazing and was delighted and she's doing better than ever.

200
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:34,000
Time to talk about statins. Cholesterol lowering drugs.

201
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:44,000
Nearly every doctor seems to think that almost every American should take statin drugs to lower their cholesterol to prevent heart disease.

202
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:49,000
Do they actually prevent heart disease? Do they reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke?

203
00:17:49,000 --> 00:18:02,000
Well, there's data to show that they do. If you're fat, if you're highly stressed, if you have diabetes, if you're severely diseased, have a host of comorbidities.

204
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:08,000
For many people there is data to show that taking a statin drug will reduce your risk of heart attacks and strokes.

205
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,000
That's one of the reasons that they're so commonly recommended.

206
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:21,000
Here's another reason. Lipitor, a torvastatin made by Pfizer, has for many years, along with Zocor, Simvastatin made by Merck,

207
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:29,000
been the top selling drugs in America with over 112 million prescriptions per year.

208
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:40,000
And I'm sure all the billions of dollars on marketing that those pharmaceutical companies spend to convince doctors that everyone should be on a statin has nothing to do with the fact

209
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,000
that they're the most popular drugs in America. Maybe that's a little cynical.

210
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:55,000
A lot of people, heart disease is the number one cause of death in America. And if there's a way to prevent some of those deaths, then here's a drug that purportedly will do it.

211
00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:02,000
It makes sense. It's understandable that they're so popular. But here's the thing.

212
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:13,000
Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease. I'll say that again. Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease.

213
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:24,000
Inflammation causes heart disease. When we're talking about heart disease, what we're really talking about is the formation of plaques in your arteries that eventually become clogged

214
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:35,000
and choke off the circulation to your heart, causing a heart attack or a piece of that breaks off and migrates up to your brain and causes a stroke.

215
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:49,000
That plaque formation is caused by inflammation. Lots of people have high cholesterol, 250, 300, and never get a heart attack or stroke because they don't have the inflammation

216
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:58,000
that initiates the process of plaque formation. The inner lining of your blood vessels is kind of like pantyhose.

217
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:09,000
It's a thin membrane that's smooth, that keeps everything flowing through your blood vessels. But it can also become brittle.

218
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:20,000
It's the inflammatory debris in your body that causes the endothelium to become brittle and creates little micro tears in the inner lining of your blood vessels.

219
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:25,000
When you get a little micro tear, your body forms a little scab to heal the tear.

220
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:39,000
Guess what that scab is made out of? Fibrin, the same protein that creates scar tissue after any kind of injury in your body, cholesterol and calcium.

221
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:49,000
So yes, if you already have a lot of inflammation, which many, many people do, then you're going to have lots of little tears in your blood vessels

222
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:55,000
and your body's going to be creating scabs over, which are made of fibrin, cholesterol and calcium.

223
00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:08,000
And therefore, if your cholesterol is higher, it will tend to cause those plaques to get thicker and thicker and break off little pieces and cause a heart attack or a stroke.

224
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:17,000
But it doesn't have to be that way. The assumption that everyone needs to be on a statin to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease

225
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:25,000
ignores the fact that there are many, many other ways to reduce inflammation with nutrients.

226
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:32,000
You can reduce your cholesterol with nutrients like niacin and bergamot dramatically.

227
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:37,000
And we'll talk about this more later. We're getting to, we're going to run out of time here pretty soon.

228
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:47,000
But there are many ways you can both reduce your cholesterol and reduce the inflammation that actually causes heart disease without any drugs.

229
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:53,000
Then, of course, there are the side effects. Statin drugs cause all kinds of side effects.

230
00:21:53,000 --> 00:22:05,000
In a study of hundreds of people that was published in Pharmacotherapy Journal, 93% reported muscle pain, 88% fatigue and 85% weakness.

231
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:12,000
These drugs direct put a chemical clamp on your liver that blocks both the production of cholesterol.

232
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:19,000
60% of the cholesterol in your bloodstream that's measured on your cholesterol blood test is made by your liver.

233
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:25,000
And the statin drugs do nothing to affect the cholesterol you're getting from your diet.

234
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:32,000
They just put a chemical clamp on your liver to stop it making the cholesterol that your body needs.

235
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:41,000
Cholesterol is an essential nutrient to make cell membranes throughout your body, to make all of your sex hormones and a host of other essential functions.

236
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:55,000
Otherwise, why would your liver make it? So the enzyme pathway that is blocked by statin drugs like Lipitor, Atorvastatin, Zocor, Simvastatin also blocks coenzyme Q10.

237
00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:11,000
CoQ10 is the most essential enzyme for repairing your heart. And it's also essential for building and maintaining muscle mass throughout your body and making the mitochondria, the energy producing parts of every cell in your body, work normally.

238
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:21,000
This is why when you take statin drugs, it causes muscle pain, fatigue and weakness. There are other options.

239
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:33,000
I got a call after last week's show from Roberta asking about insurance coverage. Unfortunately, most insurance does not pay for functional medicine.

240
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:45,000
Your car insurance doesn't pay for tune-ups and oil changes. It pays when you crash your car. Medical insurance, there is no such thing as health insurance.

241
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:55,000
There is no insurance that pays to increase your health. It's medical insurance. Medical insurance doesn't pay for healthy food or your gym membership.

242
00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:01,000
It pays when you crash your body and need crisis care.

243
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:25,000
But when you consider the costs of deductibles, copays, lost time from work, the hassles of waiting for permission from some faceless gatekeeper to even get an appointment to see your doctor, you've paid outrageous premiums for full coverage, whatever that is, plus the misery and anxiety you may be suffering while waiting.

244
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:37,000
Compared to all that, the cost of coming to see me is far less than you might imagine. Everyone's situation is different. So to find out what's possible for you, email me.

245
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:44,000
I look forward to speaking with you right here next week, Friday at 4pm. Have a wonderful weekend.

246
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:59,000
You've been listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com.

247
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:16,000
Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved ones because our health matters. Join him next Friday at 4pm for Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions right here on 98.3 The Word, KDAR.