Dr Ford Brewer - PrevMed

t's easy to criticize docs for not keeping up with the most recent medical science. But when you begin to see the distractions created by the "healthcare marketplace", it becomes easier to understand why. Labs call themselves national businesses. Yet their services are local, and very unreliable. Pharmacies are much more tech-driven. So they have done a better job of developing national standards. Unfortunately, the pharmacies have turned that advantage into an opportunity to overcharge for medications. (see related videos on pharmacy over-charging)

And labs & pharmacies are nothing compared to insurance companies in terms of challenging care.

It may sound like I think docs should be left alone to practice as they see fit. I can tell you from my own experience - that would be even worse - far, far worse.

Healthcare is hard. It's no wonder that you're docs are distracted - or retired.

Got an inflammation panel but don't know how to interpret it? I use my own recent cv inflammation panel results to explain. I compare to old results. I'm getting a little inflammation. It's not totally surprising. In the past year, I gained 10 pounds. It's motivating me to continue to drop weight, fast, watch my carbs & continue to increase my HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training). I do a 10-minute version of this video here. If you want more detail, stay tuned. We'll release a 24-minute version in a few weeks.

Getting the right diagnosis is harder than you think. (it seems docs aren't aware of how hard it is, either). Doctor errors in diagnosis are surprisingly high. And a bigger concern is that doctors are usually not aware of the difficulty and errors). So patient frustration with doctors comes with good reason. Artificial intelligence is now becoming available to help.

But so far, docs have been slow to adopt diagnostic software. The study cited below in the British Medical Journal shows the good reason: previous software got the right diagnosis only 35% of the time. What the docs failed to realize, though, is that doctors are worse. Yes, docs get easy cases right about 55% of the time. But they correctly diagnose more challenging cases less than 10% of the time. And again, they usually think they're right. Therefore, they don't know that they need to keep checking.

How can we develop a computer that beats the world chess masters easily - but we can't develop one that helps your typical doc? It has to do with the process. To date, the software has been developed using "expert logic". This means rules are obtained for experts and programmed into the software.

But Toyota gained prominence through a continuous improvement process. And Deep Blue became Very Deep Blue through a continuous learning process. If IBM can make Deep Blue continue to learn, why can't the diagnostic software developers?

There is one out there now doing just that - K Health. I've met this team and plan to do some work with them. Will you help me by trying it? Download the app. Take it for a spin. And comment below.

https://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h3480

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1731967

Docs often disappoint. But there are good reasons: regulations and financial concerns result in the 2 biggest drains on your doctor's time: insurance and medical records. Can AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) help?

This video covers a Harvard Business Review article on the subject. IBM Watson is helping with a lot more than chess games these days. It's helping in many areas of industry. Now it's demonstrating potential with medical records and medical care.

Athena, Epic, Cerner, and other health records companies are beginning to recognize it. I'm working with a system - the K Health system to help me open my practice again to do what I love to do - help people live longer, healthier lives.

https://hbr.org/2018/12/using-ai-to-improve-electronic-health-records?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_monthly&utm_campaign=technology_not_activesubs&referral=00208&deliveryName=DM21777

This is the first in a series on fiber & heart attack/stroke risk. The landmark article, the most quoted, was a clinical trial.

In 2000, there was a landmark article published by the Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The authors worked at the VA Medical Center in Lexington, KY. And they had many excellent academic affiliations. But they also had an affiliation with Proctor & Gamble. Anyway, it was good research. It showed pretty conclusive evidence that adding psyllium husk fiber to an AHA diet significantly decreased serum ( blood) total cholesterol & LDL ("bad" cholesterol).

It was a great study, a clinical trial. But there are 2 problems. The Proctor & Gamble affiliation was bad enough, but they obviously got over that. It was quoted everywhere - & a lot of commercials - wonder why?

But here's the biggest problem. Total cholesterol & LDL are old science. It really says nothing about CV inflammation or insulin resistance, blood sugars, etc.

I plan to investigate further.

John recommended the following supplement:

https://ph.iherb.com/pr/yerba-prima-daily-fiber-formula-12-oz-340-g/4347

I mentioned I use the following psyllium fiber supplement from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011QGTRG4/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Genetic research in Iceland in 2005-8 lead to a worldwide hunt for a devastating cause of disability: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. This is the story. From a key scientific article chronicling the discovery: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ana.21480

We cover some interesting (if you're a science geek) details re: 9P21 - the heart attack gene. First, remember FH (Familial Hypercholesterolemia) patients get this 9P21 risk in addition to FH, further increasing their risk. 9P21 is a controller gene. That means that its function is to control the function of other genes. We do a little review on this gene and show research indicating the genes it controls. The end result? Increased arterial plaque from SMC (arterial wall Smooth Muscle Cell) proliferation.

This video's major point is to cover this article from NATURE mag: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20173736/

This is an article that shows this area results in Abdominal & Brain aneurysm as well as heart attack & stroke: https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.72?proof=true

Here's a good website explaining allele frequency, which we discuss: https://www2.nau.edu/lrm22/lessons/hwe/hwe.htm

There was a study announced yesterday using the Apple Watch to screen for atrial fib. 150 now atrial fib patients were found, out of what was probably a relatively healthy young population. I just have 1 question: how many of these people will be saved decades in a wheelchair. If it's only 1 - it was more than worth it.

Good docs miss diabetes for a reason. In fact, there are a lot of reasons. The standards change. There are multiple tests. And the interpretations for individual tests change as well. Meanwhile, there are so many people with advanced diabetes today, docs don't have even time to focus on the earlier stages - Insulin Resistance (IR), which is also called prediabetes or metabolic syndrome. In this video, OAG ( Charles Hancock) tells of his own experiences. He's glad he found our channel, check again, & actually did the testing! Because treating this is hard enough. How can you ever start if you don't know you've got it?

Susan has FH - Familial Hypercholesterolemia. She has a classic story:

chest pain at age 34 - the doc said it was the flu & sent her home;

returned in a couple of days demanding a work-up; cholesterol was over 600;

quadruple bypass;

15 years later - another bypass;

significant improvement with lifestyle changes.

Susan appeared on a 5-minute video earlier. This is a more detailed version of her story.