It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

Wesley Knight 0:00
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Speaker 1 0:42
Oh, oh, good morning, Las Vegas. This is Andrew Pollard. It's where I am. Is the name of the show right here on 91.5 jazz and more, the number one smooth jazz station in the nation. Y'all, I have re invited Dr Sandra Pierre Louis to the studio because she was so awesome the last time she was here. And after the show, we got to talking about health care. Yes, right, yes. And I'd mentioned some things about a few men I know, one of them being my husband, and the other being my son. Yeah. So today's show is how to get your man to the clinic. Is that the name of it? Right? Yes, because it's so true. It is so difficult one, I have a husband, and I have a hard time getting to the doctor for his regular appointments, and then I'm trying to train my youngest son, or one of my younger sons, to start making those appointments, because he is now an adult. Absolutely, Mommy's not doing it anymore. Yes, you are responsible to make your appointments, right? You got to see a primary care physician. You're a dentist. Yes, you're a mental health provider. Absolutely, all of them because, hey, legally, I can't do it anymore, absolutely. So how do we get them? Let's start with the husband, because he should know better already.

Speaker 2 2:27
Start with the husband, absolutely. So first of all, thank you for having me again. Oh yes, appreciate that. It's a hot topic, very interested topic, close to my heart, so it's always as a primary care provider, one of the challenges that I usually face is having the wife comes over and talking about how significant other the husband just hesitant.

Speaker 1 2:55
Right now, you know, it's time for a colonoscopy, absolutely. You know it's time to get checked for prostate cancer, absolutely. And they still don't. They also have to get checked, like for breast cancer, absolutely, breast

Speaker 2 3:07
cancer for men as well, not just female these days. So when you take a look of that, Men's Health is a critical area that often overlooked, and especially with the with the certain health concern that we have, such as our disease, diabetes, and, as you mentioned, mental health challenges, yes, so a lot of time. And then when you take a look at mental health, you also have sexual help men.

Speaker 1 3:38
Ed is out there. Y'all, it's prevalent. It's absolutely,

Speaker 2 3:43
yeah, absolutely. So a lot of time, this is where the hesitancy come, right? They just, just don't want to come. A lot of time with the ED, it's often that it's finding themselves a little bit embarrassed, yes, as a man, and to talk about it, and then feel that they're going to be judgment, right? But, you know, by the provider or what else you know, and not wanting to talk about the issue that they might have, right? So a lot of time it's as a provider myself, it's to try to create, first of all, create the respect, you know, and respect comes into, create that safe space, yes, for them, and then allow them to elaborate, and then so that way you can, kind of like, start to educate and then reinforce the importance of getting those yearly checkup, those regular checkups, absolutely and whether to get the eye exam check. Oh

Speaker 1 4:46
yeah, that too, the vision, you know, what a big thing is, the the diabetes, because the sugar absolutely will affect your vision. Absolutely right? Yes, it makes you feel super thorough. Thirsty, yes, yeah, dry mouth,

Speaker 2 5:02
absolutely. And then when you take a look the blood sugar, not only making you, you know, the side of the sign and symptom, thirsty and dry mouth, but also affect your sexual side effect too, as well. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, absolutely have. Why does it affect that? You know, having the high sugar constantly can certainly affect the main ability to satisfy the wife, to have a full erection, absolutely a full erection. So that is the reason why a lot of time we, especially those men who went up to uncontrolled diabetes, walking around with a high blood sugar of three and 400 constantly, right? And then, you know, you not only looking at the risk factor diabetes, but you also looking at the hypertensions, the cholesterol. If

Speaker 1 5:52
I knew that, I would have took away that extra piece of peach gobbler over Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 5:58
So definitely, diabetes is a multi system failure. And when you take a look and having them to get the annual exam, the eye exam, getting them to get their colonoscopy, and getting them to get the lab and to kind of take a look at that blood Absolutely, because Diabetes can affect the kidney functions, kidney functions, and so definitely, you want to take a look of that, getting a cmp, look at the metabolic pineal, the lipid, the, you know, the cholesterol, the thyroid, and looking all of that Overall to making sure that they're doing okay, and then, and for you to kind of like, be a lot more preventive, and trying to educate them, whether the high blood pressure is high, what are the meds that they on? Are they having certain good control? What meds can we add, can we removed? And, you know, educate them about lifestyle modifications, whether it's a diet, you know, diminishes the carbohydrate intake, so that way the blood sugar can be on control and stress level too, as well. Yeah, it's a big issue. And so a lot of time getting them, I think getting them educate the reason why it is important. It's just the primary Wow issue. So it just as a provider, I find myself in clinic to talk about that. When it's come to men, I find myself kind of like, take a lot more time with the men to try to convince them the reason why the apartment is important. And what I tends to do a lot of time giving them, not only giving them the appropriment, telling them, Hey, you have an apartment, but as well as give them that details ahead

Speaker 1 7:48
of time, yes, create that list of discussions, absolutely. Yeah, that

Speaker 2 7:53
list of discussions on having them, hey, the next visit. This is what we will be doing together. The next visit. This is what, two weeks prior. This is the lab that I would like you to get done, you know. And you know, if they come to you start talking about, you know, Ed, as you mentioned, BPH, prostate and large prostate they might have, that's the time you refer them to see neurology, urologist, urologist, urologist, and then, you know, you definitely talk to them a lot of time. When I talk to them, is primary thing is to kind of like individualize the care and kind of find out, because, you know, they're going to be hesitant to go. So first is to try to find, what are they like.

Speaker 1 8:40
But why do you think they're so hesitant to go? I mean, because I know it's harder to get men, yeah, to go to the doctor than women. Why is that?

Speaker 2 8:48
You know, a lot of time it's a fear of diagnosis, their fear of getting that diagnosis. Okay, yeah, I have men where after I'll do the physical exam, health exam, and you will go over the health history, family history, social history, and all of that, drinking, smoking, and mom and dad both has diabetes and hypertension. So you definitely kind of like, take a look of them, and you're like, oh, okay, Mom and Dad has that so you know, let's check on that. Let's making sure we know what your a 1c your 90 day blood sugar, but

Speaker 1 9:28
like when it's running in the family. Dr Sandra, is it because it's genetic, or is it because you're passing down a pattern of eating certain foods?

Speaker 2 9:40
It could be bought, but absolutely you get the genetic. Genetic is definitely a cause, and also the way we eat, yes, and also the lifestyle modifications, because if you have a patient who just only thing they eat and not exercise and not walking, and just sit there and things like that, absolutely and continue. Of gaining away. So absolutely. So it's a little bit a combination of both. Okay, yeah,

Speaker 1 10:04
wow. So you were giving me, you sent me some statistics about men, and what is this from the Cleveland from

Speaker 2 10:13
the Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic, yes, survey that was done now over 1000 male and when the survey comes back, it shows you 72% of mail they would write her do some house,

Speaker 1 10:27
household chores, absolutely, like cleaning the bathroom or mowing the lawn, then go to the doctor, absolutely. And then it says additionally, 77% of men who are married or in a domestic partnerships would prefer to go shopping with their spouse or partner than visit the doctor.

Speaker 2 10:47
Absolutely. Wow, absolutely, wow.

Unknown Speaker 10:50
Because their fear, their fear, fear

Speaker 2 10:53
of the diagnosis, okay, they fear a lot of time, as I was saying with the you're looking at the family history, and they're telling you here, my mom, my dad, my mom and dad had cancer. My mom and dad had blood pressure, high blood pressure, and all cancers and things like that. Guess what? They are fear to get the diagnosis to said, Hey, and fear can be a powerful thing if you allow it absolutely, absolutely. So a lot of time they're just delayed, which is

Speaker 1 11:21
why your physical is always connected to your mental health.

Speaker 2 11:25
Yes, absolutely. The fear, the anxiety, the anxious feeling, you know, should I go? Should I not? Should I just not go?

Speaker 1 11:35
So I'm also looking at some things that you noted for me about getting your loved ones involved. Now, when I was growing up, you could not discuss your parents, health, anything personal about them. You better not tell nobody my business. Yeah. But now you're saying we want to get the children involved. Absolutely, Hey,

Speaker 2 11:58
Dad, absolutely, you know. Okay, absolutely, so I My background is geriatric, so a lot of time you get adult children who comes in and kind of like my dad, don't want to come and see a doctor, don't want to get the lab work. It's been two years, three years, since he last had a lab work. But yet I can see something is wrong with that, or is telling me I can't even see or telling me I'm having a hard time, I'm going to the bathroom several times per night, and having all these and then a lot of time. What

Speaker 1 12:29
is that? Because I've heard of that men's complaining about going to the bathroom all night. What is that?

Speaker 2 12:35
Yeah, it could be, or could it be, could it be so many factories, one of them could be on large prostate,

Speaker 1 12:42
oh, okay, so, or kidney stones could be,

Speaker 2 12:45
you know, kidney stone, but mostly a lot of time it's a kidney stone would be like a lot more pain and they having a lot of discomfort. Yes, absolutely. So that's the time you kind of like, Hey, what's going on here? Right? So when I find myself, it's so difficult to convince to kind of get them involved, and then that's the time you either, hey, why don't you bring your wife next time? Because you want to get the permissions from them. So first and foremost, kind of let them know that you are on their side and you want good things for them,

Speaker 1 13:20
and the wife should know what she has to deal with, right? Absolutely, I found out through some paperwork. I found that my husband has high cholesterol. He didn't even tell me. Absolutely, I found out through a mail letter, you know, that was laying around the house, yes, absolutely. So it's like, you have to tell me these things, because I have to adjust, oh, I'm cooking in the morning.

Speaker 2 13:43
Absolutely, absolutely. So a lot of time talking about cooking, that is a lot of time male who has diabetes, and that's when I would when I do the teaching diabetes, teaching the food, the carbohydrate intake, and things like that. So I would absolutely encourage them and invite them to bring the wife, because you want to find out who's cooking, who's the chef at the house. So most of the time, it's the wife that usually take that role. So definitely, when you do that type of teaching, you want to include the family, whether it's another the children, adult children, adult daughter at the house. So you want to get them involved, to talk to them and educate them. What is not to do. What are the carbohydrate intake to eat? How much intake to

Speaker 1 14:32
have? And I love the clarity that you provided with adult children. Yes, yes. Absolutely for that. Absolutely okay. And so then you want to address miscon misconceptions.

Speaker 2 14:41
You know, misconceptions on mail. A lot of time, mail was raised to said, Hey, you only go to doctors when you are sick, so which is not true,

Unknown Speaker 14:53
or when you Johnson's not working absolutely.

Speaker 2 14:57
So you want to, kind of like let them know. Don't wait until, like, when you at the ends of whoop and into kind of like, oh, let me get to see the doctor before it really working. When it's Saturday evening and you start having pain and uncomfortable, and that's when now we got wife is calling now I want to drive you to the emergency room. So a lot of time it's to be proactive rather than active, absolutely. And then encourage them. Hey, let's have those exam let's have those physical exam help. And

Speaker 1 15:28
then I also mentioned, I was talking about my, one of my younger sons, who is 2021 and I also have one that's 25 Oh, yeah. Okay. Now with my daughter, it was easy. You know, she had kids, she knows to make the appointments, yes, but these men, these young men, yes, they don't get it so quick. No,

Unknown Speaker 15:51
they don't.

Speaker 1 15:51
So I'm sure that, because I'm just now experiencing this, right? This is new for me, having young adults, yes, I didn't realize that I needed to train them, teach them to make appointments on their own. Absolutely. I just felt like it was my job. Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. So we want to make that clear, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 16:17
You know the best way to do it, we as Mother, we tend to take a lot and we forgot how old our children, our adult children, are sometimes. So the best way is to kind of like, encourage them, remind them, hey, it's important to get those visit, those checkup, those yearly checkup. Yeah, you know the way you can kind of like tell them so many times they still not listening, doing it. So find that perfect timing that you and the son is together into kind of like, hey, you know what? Why don't we call the doctor together right now?

Speaker 1 16:51
He told me, I'll call him later. Absolutely, there was, did you call son? I forgot.

Unknown Speaker 16:57
Not yet. I'll call.

Speaker 1 16:59
I'll call Absolutely, but, you know, we just as mothers, we stay on top, oh, I'm just keep asking, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 17:06
We have to be determined, yeah, consistent, so until they make that appointments, and for them in a lot of time, it just, I usually tell parents, you know, just try not to give up, be consistent, and then to just remind, and remind, constant reminder, and a lot of time in my clinic is to use, you know, other men that went through it, who had that hesitancy, but yet, as they're going through it, and did listen and follow through. And I kind of use those example, you know, of course, HIPAA, but you use those example to kind of like, go over with them and said, Hey, I had this guy, you know, this is what happened, and this is how we ended up saving, prevented things from happening further, yeah, giving them that diagnosis of either prostate cancer or colon cancers and everything by follow through early and then, but yet. Now look at him. He is cancer free. He's doing great and things like that. So you want to use give them some example of success story. There you go, yes, that you have had in your clinic.

Speaker 1 18:16
Well, you know, I also wanted to follow up and let you know that you gave me some advice the last show you were on good we were talking about young adults not leaving the nest, right? Yes, and you gave me some advice. You gave me a step by step of what to do, and I followed it to the T Dr Sandra, it worked, good. It worked for 24 hours, but it worked. Yeah, we still have, you know, a long way to go, yes, but I saw some progress for the first time, and that was exciting, good. So I want to thank you for that. Thank you, yes, and we will continue absolutely to follow through. If you missed Dr Sandra's last show that she was on on it's where I am. You can always find it on major podcast platforms such as Apple, Spotify, Amazon and the like, okay, all you have to do is go to that search bar, type in, it's where I am with Zandra, and there I am, and all the shows will pop up. So let's continue on with men's health. Before we go any further, we want to make sure we give information about you, where people can find you. How to get help from you. Please tell us about your practice and any other salient information. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 19:48
Thank you. So I have a private practice mental health that I provide mental health services and based in Las Vegas, and it's basically how. Hybrid, and I see patient in person and also virtual. Okay? And do have some appointments availability, and which

Speaker 1 20:09
is rare, y'all, I'm sorry to cut you off, but it is hard to get an appointment with a mental health professional. Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 20:17
And contact number to reach us at 702-843-5015, and our email address is in full, divine, Soul, Mental health.com. Love it Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1 20:34
Get that assessment if you feel that you need one or a loved one, absolutely. And then also, you know, you want to make sure you reach out to that primary care physician, absolutely, to get those checkups, get your blood work done, because sometimes it starts there, yes, you know, yes. And then once you know what, what you're working with, yes, you can expound and understand what you're dealing with, right? Absolutely, absolutely. So just like we were talking about men's health, and I hate to go back to the Johnson, but this is so true. Yes, I had no idea that it affected that. Yes, knowing that you are pre diabetic and you're noticing some of the silent symptoms, yes, such as dry mouth, yes, such as feeling thirsty all the time, yes. Glory vision, yes. And then you see your Johnson ain't working absolutely well. Then you got something to talk about. You have a good start to moving forward. Yeah,

Speaker 2 21:34
yeah, absolutely. It's time to kind of come in and get that holistic character that's right, and then making sure that you start from mental health and physical and making sure they all work in proper That's right, and you'll have a good relationship with your loved one. So Dr Sandra,

Speaker 1 21:52
how do we make it easy for them to see the doctor? Do I mean, we can't just make the appointment for them ourselves. We have to consider their schedule absolutely, you know, yes. So how do we make it easy?

Speaker 2 22:03
How do we make it easy? I find myself in clinic, and, you know, a lot of time, as we talked before these the male kind of, there is a fear of getting the diagnosis, and then, therefore, there's that hesitancy to get to the doctors. And a lot of time, there's a lot of excuses and to whether, why I didn't go, why I didn't make the appointment. I was busy, and they don't have a late appointments. They don't have that Saturday, and I'm off. The only days off, it's Saturday and Sunday and things like that. So that's the time we as a healthcare provider, I make that availability, making it convenient for them. Oh, and then offer that, give them that late appointment, especially those men kind of like have that dedicated spot for them, and then making sure whether it's a late appointment after five and six, and then giving them that the luxury they can do virtual, yeah? Because a lot of them don't want to drive and after work and to come

Speaker 1 23:08
because with your educational background, it's not just in mental health. So you are able to talk about every physical, yeah,

Speaker 2 23:15
absolutely, absolutely, family, nurse practitioner, providers. So what about like,

Speaker 1 23:20
blood work? So absolutely, do they have to already have like, blood work in or can you order?

Speaker 2 23:26
Oh, absolutely, we usually, kind of order the blood work prior the visits and sends it to the lab, and then they go and get it done at the convenient and the results will comes to me, and by the time, that's the reason a lot of time you encourage them to go get it, you know, one to two weeks prior the apartment. And then so that way you can have it at the time of the apartment, okay? And then so you can go over everything with them. So making it convenient for them, and especially those patients that you know that's convenient for anybody, yes, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, making it the dedicated the dedicated spot, and kind of kind of treat them individualized.

Speaker 1 24:05
Oh, you better give us your information again, because I didn't realize, yes, that that it was like a one stop shop kind of thing. Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2 24:13
So the phone number direct contact. It's 702-843-5015, divine, sold mental health, all

Speaker 1 24:23
right? And then, so if they want to come in person, you're located on Eastern. And what's your cross street, Eastern and Silverado, Eastern and Silverado area? Okay? Absolutely. But there's also that convenience of virtual Yes, so we do hybrids, and then you're given that education? Oh, absolutely,

Speaker 2 24:42
education is the key. Yes, I think if we want to gain anybody trust, what a win them over, encourage them and prioritize their healthcare needs, I think education is the key. Yes, it's just not, not. To tell them, hey, you need to go to doctors they, you know, but to tell them the importance, take that time, that one in one time, and give them that why the give them the rationale. Why is it important, you know? Why is it important to minimize that cigarette smoke, that number of cigarettes,

Speaker 1 25:17
because insurance is high. Oh, absolutely. Girl, when you go to the doctor, the first thing they do is check to see if you smoked a cigarette. Absolutely,

Speaker 2 25:24
I didn't know that. Yes, yes, because we you have to, because, as it turns lead to, you know, with COPD, with lung issue, with asthma and things like that, so lung cancers. So a lot of time when these patient comes, that's the time you start screening them and then making sure that you review their labs, do a PHQ nine, you know, screen them for depression, screen them for the anxiety. So when you come on that first visit, getting that help physical health, you kind of gathered a lot, and for you to guide you as a provider, where do you need to focus in making sure the patients get the care that they deserve? Divine

Speaker 1 26:07
Soul, Mental Health. I love it. Dr Sandra. Pierre Louis, thank you so much for coming on the show again. You know you are always

Speaker 2 26:16
welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 26:19
This is Andre Pollard. It's where I am. Is here on 91.5 every Saturday, at 7:30am we'll have something special for you, as we always do, because I'll be on for you. Thank you, and have a great day. Bye.