1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,960 Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:12,320 with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura. 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:14,800 Now, here's Dr. Todd. 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:15,800 Good afternoon. 5 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:21,000 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified doctor of non-force chiropractic and practitioner 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:22,720 of functional medicine. 7 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:28,140 I use standard diagnostic tests to identify conditions other doctors miss because they 8 00:00:28,140 --> 00:00:30,280 don't do all of those tests. 9 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:35,080 Most people go to doctors that are paid for by insurance companies and insurance, there 10 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:37,320 is no such thing as health insurance. 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,840 What we call health insurance is medical insurance. 12 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:41,280 It doesn't pay to keep you healthy. 13 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:42,760 It won't pay for your gym membership. 14 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,760 It won't pay for you to get a good water filter or a HEPA filter or to do anything else that 15 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:48,920 will improve your health. 16 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:50,640 It pays to treat disease. 17 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:55,320 It pays for when you need medical care and therefore, in my humble opinion, it should 18 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,720 be called medical insurance, not health insurance. 19 00:00:58,720 --> 00:00:59,720 It's important. 20 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:01,800 Everyone should have medical insurance. 21 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,440 Everyone is likely to need medical care at some point. 22 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,720 People get upset that it doesn't cover things that make you healthy and that's because that's 23 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:10,840 not what it's designed for. 24 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:17,120 It's designed for people to pool their resources so that some among the pool can draw from 25 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:18,560 it when they have a crisis. 26 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:20,640 It doesn't pay to keep you healthy. 27 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:26,120 If you want to be truly healthy, if you want to live long and live well, you're going to 28 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,160 need to budget for most of that yourself. 29 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:36,680 I wish it were otherwise and I try to make my services as affordable as possible so that 30 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,760 most people can get the care they need. 31 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:44,880 If you or someone you love wants a consultation with me, it's $100 per half hour. 32 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,460 I say $100 per half hour instead of $200 per hour because most of the time, it just takes 33 00:01:49,460 --> 00:01:51,160 a half hour. 34 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:52,160 Send me an email. 35 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:53,520 Let me know what's going on with you. 36 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:59,600 I'll email you or send you a link to my website to get a seven-page questionnaire to complete 37 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,760 which gives you boxes to tick for all of your symptoms. 38 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:06,820 Most people have two or three things they're concerned about and think all the other stuff 39 00:02:06,820 --> 00:02:08,480 doesn't matter. 40 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:13,840 Everything affects everything else so I really need to see any symptom, however minor, that 41 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,400 you're experiencing at least once a month or more. 42 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:22,040 Then when you come in, we review the answers that you put on that questionnaire and discuss 43 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:23,560 what's most appropriate for you. 44 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,800 I'll recommend appropriate testing and you can decide what you want to do from there. 45 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,080 For most people, 80, 90% of the time, it's $100 for a half hour consultation and then 46 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:38,180 you'll know what it will cost and what you need to do, what the next step would be. 47 00:02:38,180 --> 00:02:43,960 One of the most common things people come to me for is fatigue, tiredness, lack of energy, 48 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:49,680 not feeling like you have the oomph that you need to do the things that you normally do 49 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:54,520 all day long, especially if nothing has changed in your life. 50 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:59,320 You're still eating the same, you're exercising, you're doing everything you think you need 51 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:05,100 to do to stay fit and healthy and feel good, getting good sleep maybe even. 52 00:03:05,100 --> 00:03:10,560 For some reason, your energy is just declining year by year. 53 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,000 Well, if you've been to a doctor and they've told you there's nothing wrong with you and 54 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,960 you're still fatigued, there is something wrong with you and we probably can figure 55 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:18,960 out what that is. 56 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:25,720 I've been talking about the 12 most common causes, most overlooked causes of fatigue. 57 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,680 Last week, we covered the first six, iron deficiency anemia. 58 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:35,520 If you have a deficiency of iron, it's very often subclinical, meaning you get your blood 59 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:37,840 tested, your doctor tells you it's fine. 60 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:43,000 Well, it's not fine unless you do a ferritin test to really know if you have adequate iron, 61 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,200 not only in your red blood cell count, but store it up in your tissues so that your bone 62 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:53,320 marrow has enough iron readily available to make red blood cells and carry oxygen to all 63 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:54,680 of your tissues all the time. 64 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,280 That's number one, iron deficiency anemia. 65 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,080 Number two, pre-diabetes. 66 00:03:58,080 --> 00:03:59,520 Most people know what diabetes is. 67 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:04,720 Pre-diabetes, the early stages of diabetes can definitely cause significant fatigue because 68 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,960 of the crash you get after having too much sugar in your blood. 69 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:09,960 Low protein. 70 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,840 Number three, lots of people who eat plenty of protein still have low protein when we 71 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,600 test their blood for a whole host of reasons. 72 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:22,880 Dehydration, not drinking enough water causes fatigue because your body needs water to flush 73 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:28,080 out toxins and keep your brain, kidneys, joints, cardiovascular system functioning properly 74 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,480 and if they're not, then you will feel fatigue. 75 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,920 Number five, subclinical hypothyroidism. 76 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:40,760 Lots of people, especially women over 50, it seems to me like half of women over 50 77 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:45,520 have subclinical hypothyroidism, meaning maybe they've been to the doctor and been told their 78 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:50,800 thyroid's fine, but when I test it and test for the normal function of the gland, not 79 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:57,360 just a single TSH test to see if their pituitary is working or not, if you do the actual thyroid, 80 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:03,000 proper thyroid evaluation, it is functionally low and that very frequently contributes to 81 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:04,000 fatigue. 82 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:05,000 It happens in men too. 83 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:10,800 Number six, chronic subclinical infections, meaning not a full blown high fever, runny 84 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:16,600 nose, aches and pains, cold or flu kind of infection, but an infection where you've got 85 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:23,560 a bug, a bacteria, virus, fungus, mold, something that's been in some part of your body, usually 86 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,920 the guts, the most common place and it's been there for a long time, but it doesn't cause 87 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,720 your white cell count to go up when you test your, when you do your complete blood count, 88 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:38,280 it causes your white blood cell count to go down because your immune system is so challenged 89 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:43,920 that it can never completely fight off that bad bug and it causes a drain on your system 90 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,360 and your white blood cell count goes down. 91 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:50,840 There are ways to boost it, to support the immune system, to fight, finally fight off 92 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:54,760 that bug once and for all and get your white cell count back up to normal and your immune 93 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,240 system functioning properly. 94 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:58,760 So that's the first six. 95 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:06,060 Number seven on our list of the dozen most commonly overlooked causes of fatigue, subclinical 96 00:06:06,060 --> 00:06:08,960 B vitamin deficiency, anemia. 97 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:14,380 Again, subclinical meaning you can go to a hundred doctors and they'll all tell you you're 98 00:06:14,380 --> 00:06:19,240 not deficient in vitamin D. They'll even test your vitamin D levels in your blood directly. 99 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:23,080 I don't recommend testing your vitamin B blood levels. 100 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,840 That test is really just to see if there's something wrong with your liver, to see if 101 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:32,000 it's too high often, too low for other reasons. 102 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,920 But the main thing is it doesn't really matter. 103 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:36,200 It's kind of an exception to the rule. 104 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,880 It doesn't really matter how much B12 is in your blood. 105 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:47,520 What really matters, the best test, the most functional test is B12 and B6 and to a certain 106 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:55,680 extent B12, most importantly B12 and folate and to a certain extent vitamin B6 are essential 107 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,540 for your bone marrow to be able to make adequate red blood cells. 108 00:06:59,540 --> 00:07:03,820 So the best way to test if you have adequate amounts of those in your system is to just 109 00:07:03,820 --> 00:07:05,520 look at the CBC. 110 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:15,740 When you lack sufficient vitamin B12, folate and sometimes B6 to make red blood cells in 111 00:07:15,740 --> 00:07:20,400 adequate amounts, then your red blood cells which have an average lifespan of about three 112 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,480 months will get bigger. 113 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:28,960 So on a complete blood count is a measure of the size of your red blood cells, the average 114 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:30,560 size of your red blood cells. 115 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,680 It's called MCV, mean corpuscular volume. 116 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,000 That means just the average size of a red blood cell. 117 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,120 It's a couple other tests that measure that as well. 118 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,880 A little bit too technical for this, but the bottom line is looking at a complete blood 119 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:53,920 count is the best way to tell if you're deficient in vitamin B12, folate and sometimes B6 because 120 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,680 your old red blood cells that are trying to take up the slack because you're not making 121 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:05,140 enough new red blood cells that you need to carry oxygen to all of your cells, your older 122 00:08:05,140 --> 00:08:10,520 red blood cells that are nearing the end of their lifespans get bigger on average to take 123 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:11,520 up the slack. 124 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,960 So that's number seven, vitamin B deficiency, anemia, very, very common. 125 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,320 I see this all the time. 126 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,180 Number eight, vascular inflammation. 127 00:08:21,180 --> 00:08:24,360 Have you ever had a sed rate test? 128 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,280 Well, probably don't even know what that is. 129 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:33,480 So sed rate, sedimentation rate, erythrocyte means red blood cell, erythrocyte sedimentation 130 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:34,480 rate, ESR. 131 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:40,680 I know that's kind of technical, but it's an important test that most doctors never order. 132 00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:45,080 Unless you have rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis, some kind of an autoimmune condition 133 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:50,960 or a chronic known chronic inflammatory condition, most doctors do not test your sedimentation 134 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,720 rate, your ESR. 135 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,060 And this is a very important test. 136 00:08:56,060 --> 00:08:59,220 It measures blood viscosity. 137 00:08:59,220 --> 00:09:01,000 So it measures how thick your blood is. 138 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:07,000 If you've ever had, if you've ever gone to give blood or have a blood drawn and they 139 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,600 say, oh, you know, your blood's really thicker, it's, you know, they find a vein, okay, but 140 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,460 your blood comes out really slow. 141 00:09:13,460 --> 00:09:16,920 It's more like milk or cream instead of water. 142 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,960 Well, that is because your blood is viscous. 143 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,120 It's thicker than normal. 144 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:30,420 And always, always, always the cause of increased blood viscosity is inflammation. 145 00:09:30,420 --> 00:09:37,200 So inflammation, the debris, the inflammatory debris produced by many, many types of illness 146 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:43,920 and stress accumulates in your bloodstream and causes your blood to become thicker. 147 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:45,200 And so this test is very simple. 148 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:50,640 They just takes a sample of blood, set a timer and see how long it takes for the red blood 149 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,040 cells to sink to the bottom of the test tube. 150 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,440 Erythrocyte, red blood cell, sedimentation rate. 151 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:02,680 How long does it take for the red blood cells to settle to the bottom? 152 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:05,120 So it's an important measure of inflammation. 153 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:10,600 Everyone should have that test done because so many chronic disease involve chronic inflammation. 154 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:12,240 And you know, doctors don't test it. 155 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,460 Most doctors don't test it because they're not going to put you on steroids or heavy 156 00:10:15,460 --> 00:10:23,420 gun anti-inflammatory medications unless you have, you know, some full blown inflammatory 157 00:10:23,420 --> 00:10:29,200 disease like irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis, et cetera. 158 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,080 But everyone should test this because you can reduce inflammation with just eating better 159 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:38,480 food, getting adequate amounts of vitamin D, eating less grain, starch and sugar, and 160 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:44,000 in some cases taking supplements like turmeric, fish oil, a whole host of other things. 161 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,000 There's lots of natural ways to reduce your inflammation. 162 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:52,800 And if you reduce vascular inflammation, it makes your blood flow better. 163 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:57,000 It makes your all of your, it provides more oxygen, makes it easier for your heart and 164 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:01,200 your circulatory system to provide oxygen to all of your cells, which has the net effect 165 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:03,960 of increasing your energy. 166 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,280 So if you have vascular inflammation, it causes the opposite effect. 167 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:09,880 It causes fatigue and lack of energy. 168 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:15,840 But this is really important because reducing, preferably eliminating, but reducing to as 169 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:21,360 little as possible any inflammation in your bloodstream is also super important for preventing 170 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:27,480 heart disease and dementia and even cancers. 171 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:32,800 Reduce your risk of cancers, reduce the side effects of treatment on, if you get cancer, 172 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:38,840 most of the causes of chronic disease and death throughout the Western world involve 173 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,560 some component of vascular inflammation. 174 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:44,920 But it's also nice just to have more energy. 175 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:52,120 Number nine, number nine on our list of the 12 most commonly overlooked causes of fatigue, 176 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,440 vitamin D deficiency. 177 00:11:54,440 --> 00:12:00,720 So there are three things that I always tell anyone they should consider supplementing, 178 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:06,400 even if they don't do a consultation with me, even if you don't ever do any blood testing. 179 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,080 There are three things that I've just found on thousands of people over 30 years that 180 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:15,600 no one, 30 plus years, three things that people, most people do not get enough of from their 181 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:23,040 diet and they are adequate minerals from a good multivitamin with absorbable minerals, 182 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:27,980 which is always a four capsule a day dose unless you weigh less than 120 pounds. 183 00:12:27,980 --> 00:12:31,200 Maybe it might be three, but one a day multivitamins are useless. 184 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:35,080 The minerals that your body can actually absorb take up space. 185 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:36,080 They're bulky. 186 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:37,080 They won't fit into one tablet. 187 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:42,320 There's all one a day multivitamins are not really going to do what you think they're 188 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:43,320 going to do. 189 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:49,280 So a good multivitamin mainly for the minerals, adequate fish oil for the omega-3 fatty acids 190 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:53,560 that have so many beneficial effects on your brain and heart health, joints, controlling 191 00:12:53,560 --> 00:13:00,320 inflammation, a very long list and vitamin D. The adult dose for vitamin D, standard 192 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:01,320 adult dose. 193 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:07,720 You want your immune system to be healthy and your heart and your brain and virtually 194 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,160 every tissue in your body. 195 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,520 Look up benefits of vitamin D online. 196 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:16,220 There's thousands and thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of studies documenting 197 00:13:16,220 --> 00:13:19,360 the beneficial effects of vitamin D. 198 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,600 But most people think, oh yeah, I'm taking vitamin D. I take a thousand every day. 199 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:28,280 Well, a thousand international units of vitamin D is what you should give a newborn infant. 200 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:29,760 That's an infant dose. 201 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:37,440 The RDA for vitamin D is 400 units a day, a little bit more if you're pregnant or elderly. 202 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:38,480 And that's just ridiculous. 203 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,000 That's barely enough to keep your bones from collapsing. 204 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,400 So that's what that RDA is based on. 205 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:50,480 The RDA, 400 units is enough to prevent rickets or osteomalacia as to prevent your bones from 206 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:51,480 collapsing. 207 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:56,840 It won't even prevent osteoporosis and it certainly won't keep your immune system strong. 208 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:01,720 Your immune system is totally dependent on adequate amounts of vitamin D and adequate 209 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:07,360 amounts the research shows as having a blood level between 50 and 90. 210 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:08,680 50 and 90. 211 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:12,840 So the only way to really know if you're getting adequate vitamin D is to get a blood test. 212 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:14,120 And don't just get the test. 213 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,960 Most doctors will order this test for you now because the information on it is out there. 214 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,240 Most doctors know that it is important and its effect on your immune system. 215 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:27,840 But they ignore most of the more important functional research that shows all the things 216 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:29,920 that I'm always talking about. 217 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:35,720 And on the form, lab core request, hospital forms, whatever lab, the medical range for 218 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,200 vitamin D is now 30 to 100. 219 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,480 Ten years ago it was 20 to 100. 220 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:42,640 They raised it up to 30. 221 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:43,640 But that's still not enough. 222 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:45,800 It should be between 50 and 90. 223 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:50,680 So if you ask any doctor to order the vitamin D test for you, they probably will and your 224 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:52,960 insurance will pay for it if they do. 225 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,200 But don't just ask them if it's normal. 226 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:56,480 Ask them the number. 227 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,920 The number you're looking for is somewhere between 50 and 90. 228 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:04,240 So most doctors will say your vitamin D is fine if it's above 30. 229 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:09,360 They might even say it's high if it's 40, which is ridiculous because the medical range 230 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:10,960 is 30 to 100. 231 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,000 The healthy range is 50 to 90. 232 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:17,240 It is possible to take too much vitamin D, but it almost never happens. 233 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,440 And when it does, you just stop taking vitamin D for a month and stay out of the sun and 234 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:21,840 it goes back to normal. 235 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:27,920 So most people are vitamin functionally vitamin D deficient for your immune system to function 236 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,760 normally, which will prevent fatigue. 237 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:35,760 If your immune system is not functioning normally, you will be fatigued. 238 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:40,440 Most people need to take 5,000 units of vitamin D per day. 239 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:45,760 Number 10 on our list of the 12 most commonly overlooked causes of fatigue, hydrochloric 240 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:47,880 acid deficiency. 241 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,080 So your stomach makes hydrochloric acid. 242 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:56,120 You often hear that it's important to maybe drink alkaline water and eat vegetables to 243 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,120 keep your system alkaline. 244 00:15:58,120 --> 00:15:59,960 You know, you don't want to be acidic. 245 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:00,960 Acid is bad. 246 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:06,160 Well, acid is bad in a lot of places, but there's two places in your body where you 247 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:07,880 want to be acidic. 248 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,080 You want your skin to be slightly acidic. 249 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:17,020 So you know, constantly washing all of the skin cells and the normal, there's a normal 250 00:16:17,020 --> 00:16:21,880 film on your skin that keeps it healthy, even a microbiome, normal bacteria that live on 251 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:23,160 your skin to keep it healthy. 252 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:29,440 And if you're constantly washing all that off with really strong soap, which is all 253 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:36,480 soaps are alkaline, then it can cause skin dryness, dandruff, skin rashes, et cetera. 254 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:40,800 You want your skin to be slightly acidic, but much more important, your stomach should 255 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:46,280 be a boiling cauldron of strong hydrochloric acid. 256 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:50,200 Hydrochloric acid is one of the strongest, not the strongest, but near the top of the 257 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:51,200 list. 258 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:57,420 It's one of the strongest acids in chemistry and your body makes it every day in your stomach. 259 00:16:57,420 --> 00:17:03,640 You have parietal cells in your stomach that make hydrochloric acid to digest your food. 260 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:09,880 And these cells are surrounded by mucus producing cells that protect the rest of your stomach 261 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:12,000 from the effects of that strong acid. 262 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:13,200 So it's a beautiful system. 263 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:19,160 It's got this wall of mucus making cells that protect the stomach itself with interspersed 264 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:25,320 with little jets that squirt out really, really strong acids so you can digest your food without 265 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:26,760 digesting your stomach. 266 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,660 Well, if that mucus breaks down in your stomach, then you get an ulcer. 267 00:17:31,660 --> 00:17:36,640 If that mucus breaks down in your small intestine just past the stomach, then you get an ulcer 268 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:37,960 in your stomach. 269 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,920 Fortunately, most people don't get that. 270 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:46,080 And the other thing that you think about with too much acid is GERD, gastroesophageal reflux. 271 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,760 If you're getting heartburn, if that acid that's supposed to be in your stomach leaks 272 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:55,120 up into your esophagus, into the tube that goes from your mouth and the back of your 273 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:59,440 throat down to your stomach, you don't want acid in that either. 274 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:05,080 You want strong acid in your stomach and you want a strong muscle sphincter, the valve 275 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:10,240 between your esophagus and your stomach to close off and keep the acid in your stomach. 276 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:15,720 So many, many, many people have hydrochloric acid deficiency as they get older. 277 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,920 Even 20s, 30s, and 40s, I see people with this. 278 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:21,960 There's many reasons for that. 279 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:27,760 If anyone, starting with the most obvious one, if anyone is taking any kind of acid 280 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:36,000 blocking drug from the simplest things like over the counter, Tums, or Tagamet, all the 281 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:44,680 way up to prescription proton pump inhibitors like Nexium, any acid blocking drug, Protonics, 282 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:50,680 Prevacid, anything that blocks acid in your stomach is a problem because you need acid 283 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:51,680 in your stomach. 284 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,680 You don't want acid in your esophagus because if you let that go on for too long, you can 285 00:18:55,680 --> 00:19:00,280 get an ulcer or you can get a dramatically increased risk of throat cancer. 286 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,040 So that's not good and there's ways to test for that. 287 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:09,040 But there's lots of ways to keep acid strong in your stomach without having it leak up 288 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:10,040 into your esophagus. 289 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,360 And that's part of the subject for another talk. 290 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:17,280 But hydrochloric acid deficiency is really important because if you don't have enough 291 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,360 acid in your stomach, then you won't digest protein. 292 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:21,880 It's really the most common cause of low protein people. 293 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:26,560 I talked about earlier if you're, you can be eating a steak every day and still end 294 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,440 up with low protein in your bloodstream if your stomach isn't making enough acid to break 295 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:36,680 down that protein so that it can enter your bloodstream and enter your cells. 296 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:42,260 Hydrochloric acid is also essential to break down vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and a host 297 00:19:42,260 --> 00:19:43,760 of other minerals. 298 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:45,540 So let's say that again. 299 00:19:45,540 --> 00:19:50,600 You have to have adequate hydrochloric acid in your stomach to break down, digest, and 300 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:58,720 assimilate protein, vitamin B12, iron, calcium, magnesium, and several other minerals. 301 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:00,520 Well, we've all heard of these. 302 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:01,520 These are really important. 303 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,160 And it's also your first line of defense. 304 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:10,280 Hydrochloric acid in your stomach is the first line of defense against all intestinal infections. 305 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:14,160 So if you've ever heard of somebody who went out and had a bad meal and someone next to 306 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,760 them with them had the same food, you get sick, the other person didn't, what's the 307 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:18,760 difference? 308 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:20,140 Well, it's partly a numbers game. 309 00:20:20,140 --> 00:20:24,520 If you ate the exact amount of the same food, so you've got, you're introducing the same 310 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:30,480 number of pathogenic bacteria into your stomach, then the difference is one person had more 311 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:36,480 acid in their stomach to kill those bacteria before they got into your bloodstream to cause 312 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:37,920 an infection. 313 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:45,880 So both chronic infections and deficiencies, anemia caused by B12 and iron deficiency and 314 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,080 low protein, all of these things cause fatigue. 315 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,920 Hydrochloric acid is a very common cause of fatigue because of these things. 316 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:57,720 Number 11 on the list of the most common causes, overlooked causes of fatigue, coenzyme Q10 317 00:20:57,720 --> 00:20:58,720 deficiency. 318 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:05,080 CoQ10 is essential for every cell in your body, especially the kidneys, heart, all of 319 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:06,420 your muscles. 320 00:21:06,420 --> 00:21:12,880 It's made by your liver, but natural production of it peaks around age 25. 321 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,640 After age 25, you know, when you're young, you can, you, you, you injure yourself, you 322 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:24,320 do all kinds of crazy things in excess and you recover quickly in part because your body 323 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:29,880 cranks out coenzyme Q10 to rebuild, produce energy in the mitochondria, the powerhouse 324 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:35,080 of every cell in your body and keep your heart and your muscles strong, keep your kidneys 325 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:36,600 functioning. 326 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,600 But after age 25, that production starts to decline. 327 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:44,240 And so there's easy ways to test for this, to see if it's deficient. 328 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:48,280 And many people are deficient in coenzyme Q10. 329 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:52,280 And if you are, that will dramatically increase your risk of fatigue. 330 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:58,000 Number 12 on the list of the top 12 most commonly overlooked causes of fatigue side effects 331 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:04,500 of medications, especially two classes of medications, statin drugs that lower cholesterol 332 00:22:04,500 --> 00:22:08,240 and mood altering drugs for anxiety and depression. 333 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:15,160 So all the statin drugs, Lipitor, Atorvastatin, Zocor, Simvastatin directly block the production 334 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:16,800 of CoQ10 in the liver. 335 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:22,060 So that's how they cause a lack of energy because you need CoQ10 to produce energy in 336 00:22:22,060 --> 00:22:26,280 every cell in your body and you need CoQ10 to keep your heart strong. 337 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:31,040 So very few people really need to take statins if they're willing to eat better food and 338 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:36,560 take safe, effective cholesterol lowering supplements instead of cholesterol lowering 339 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:37,560 drugs. 340 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:45,680 Antihistamines, muscle relaxants, and especially antidepressants like Trazodone, Lexapro, Paxil, 341 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:55,840 Prozac, Cymbalta, Effexor, Elivil, and some blood pressure drugs, beta blockers like Metoprolol 342 00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:03,840 and Propranolol, opioids like Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Codine, and Tramadol, and benzodiazepines 343 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:09,800 used to treat anxiety and seizure disorders like Larazapam, which is Ativan, Diazepam 344 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:15,960 or Valium, Alprazolam or Xanax, Clonazepam or Clonapin. 345 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:20,560 These are all really common, you know, millions and millions of people take these drugs and 346 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,400 they all frequently cause fatigue and drowsiness. 347 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:31,600 So many people need these drugs, but safe, effective natural alternatives are often available. 348 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:32,760 I'm Dr. Todd Binkley. 349 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:38,000 We have gotten through the top dozen most commonly overlooked causes of fatigue. 350 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:44,520 Check out my other website, FatigueFreeLiving.com to see more information about that and one 351 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,600 of the many, many, many case studies that I've had the good fortune of helping people 352 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:54,280 with over the years to eliminate fatigue and keep it at bay forever. 353 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:55,760 Thank you so much for listening. 354 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,840 If someone you know has fatigue and has been told that there's nothing wrong with them, 355 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:06,120 please tell them about this show, which will be available on my website in a week or so. 356 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:09,680 And on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. 357 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:14,560 All the past episodes of this show are available there for you to share with friends and loved 358 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,880 ones to find out how they can take better care of themselves and live long and live 359 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:19,880 well. 360 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:20,880 Thank you for listening. 361 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:26,740 I look forward to the privilege of speaking with you right here next Friday at 2 p.m. 362 00:24:26,740 --> 00:24:28,560 Have a fantastic weekend. 363 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:34,060 You've been listening to Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley. 364 00:24:34,060 --> 00:24:38,580 If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to 365 00:24:38,580 --> 00:24:43,160 drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com. 366 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:47,840 Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved 367 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,800 ones because our health matters. 368 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:58,080 Join him next Friday at 4 p.m. for Safe, Effective Natural Solutions right here on 98.3 The 369 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:06,480 Word, KDAR.