It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

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Zandra Polard 0:44
Good morning again. It's Sandra Pollard. It's where I am show that focuses on mental health and wellness. Well, my guests decided to stay so this is part two of last week's conversation. We have Eric and Chiquita are still here with us. Eric is a pediatric physician, and Chiquita is a doctor of gerontology. So this discussion has been about infancy through older adults, because I have learned they are not called seniors. They're called older adults such as myself. So anyhow, let's get back into it. You know, we were on a hot topic talking with Eric last week about COVID. A lot of people feel differently about COVID. Now they're changing their mind. They want the vaccination. They don't want the vaccination. They got it. They don't want it anymore. So let's get back into it, starting with that hot topic, COVID. So Chiquita, I'm gonna address this to you. I will admit I got the COVID shot twice, or maybe three times, I think three times, I don't know, but I'm not taking it anymore. I agree so well. How do you think adults, older adults, feel now, like, should they continue? Do they want to continue? What are you hearing about? You know, their feelings with

Chiquita 2:13
that? You know, I think that that is such a personal issue. Now, yes, as Eric alluded to before, and interesting enough. I don't know if you know if you know this, but they have a special vaccine for people who are 65 and older. Oh, okay, yeah, so it's not just the COVID. And you know, when COVID first came out, right? People were standing in line doing everything they could to take the vaccine, yeah, because they were afraid of dying. I was one of those people who I caught COVID Before the vaccine was available to the public. Okay, so I was fearful Eric, because he works in healthcare. He got the shot, you know, and me and my son were at home unvaccinated, and we both got COVID. But since then, I like you. I think I've had about three shots as well, but I don't intend to take any more. I think that, had it not been for the negative media around the COVID vaccine, I probably would, and most other people would, too, in terms of what I've heard, not from the medical community, but just from the older adult community. People are pretty much done with COVID vaccine. Yeah, pretty much done with the COVID vaccines. But what about that flu shot, the flu shot, I think people take religiously, okay, yeah, most people, because you don't. You never hear too much negative media surrounding the flu vaccine. And we know that that influenza is deadly, can be deadly among the older population, but it depends on their health, because, again, not all older adults are homogeneous in terms of their lifestyle and their health issues, so if they have multiple chronic illnesses, then the COVID, COVID and the flu will impact them much harder than a person who is totally healthy. And that's why a lot of the people who passed away with the COVID disease or virus, I should say they had other issues. They had other underlying health issues. So that always complicates things.

Zandra Polard 4:08
So Eric, that's why we want to make sure in our youth and also parents taking care of children, to take care by doing that self care, which was what? Again,

Eric 4:19
yes, self is an acronym which stands for s, stands for making sure we get enough sleep. Children need to get about eight to 10 hours of sleep. And you know the beauty of sleep is that when we're resting or we're sleeping, we're restoring and regenerating the strength and integrity of our body and our immune system while we're resting sleeping. We're also de stressing, stressing less while we're sleeping. And it's been shown that those who get eight to 10 hours of sleep, seven to eight maybe as adult, are just healthier. Their immune system is healthier. They're better to less stress, and they're more productive and they're healthier. The E stands for make sure we eating, eating right, eating those fresh fruits and vegetables, those whole grains, making sure we're staying away from a lot of starches, a lot of fats. I mean, fats are good, but a lot of those fats that are more unhealthy for us and exercise, we want to make sure that we keep it simple, maybe three times 3030 minutes, just straight 30 minutes, three times a week. Just start there. And it can be walking, it can be body weight exercises, calisthenics, something like that. The L, which is very important. Stress is very unhealthy. It really takes its toll on the body. So we call stress less. We need stress in order to do well. But less stress is very important. And then lastly, the F stands for just being having fun, being connected, socially, connected to family and friends. What Chiquita was talking about in COVID, one of the main problems at COVID, one of the reasons why we had a lot of mental health problems in COVID, where people were separated from their friends and families, and that really took a great toll. So yeah, sleep, education, exercises, less stress and fun, family connection, fun with family and

Zandra Polard 5:56
friends. So you mentioned the social part, social distancing or not being around a lot of people during COVID which came about next was, or what we saw happening was the tele health, right? Telemedicine, telemedicine. How is that working? Telemedicine?

Eric 6:17
I think it was, it was wonderful.

Zandra Polard 6:20
But is it accessible now for everyone? Yes, okay, it's very interesting

Eric 6:24
for the organization I work with. You know, we were trying to do more telemedicine, more telehealth, but it just wasn't sticking. Because people actually wanted to see see their doctor, but when we flipped over, our numbers flipped and we went to 8090, 95% tele, or what's called virtual care, okay, during COVID times. So that actually kind of stuck. And so now, you know, we're about 10 20% of virtual care because, you know, that's very accessible. And some things you don't necessarily need to see your doctor is very quick, you know, get some quick information. You can talk to your doctor, maybe do a video visit, but telehealth, telemedicine in certain circumstances for certain people, where certain conditions is very helpful. Now, if you have a complicated chronic condition and you're really not knowing, you're really not doing those things which are helping yourself, you need to see your doctor. And I prefer seeing my patients, because, again, like we said before in the first show, you want to develop that relationship with your healthcare provider. And as Chiquita was talking about earlier, with COVID, when many of the things are with chronic diseases, is that you need help to control the know, the ohm. But what about the control? How are you going to control that? Are you going to go to social media? Are you going to get your information from some Instagram or some other Tiktok platform?

Zandra Polard 7:30
That's where I was going. Like, please don't google it. I mean, Google is a nice base before you speak to your doctor, so that your doctor can clarify. Okay, yes, yes, yes. I see the nod, a nod of approval. Okay,

Eric 7:42
yes, I say, many times I joke with my parents and families. I say, you know, dark alleys and just the wandering Google search are very dangerous.

Zandra Polard 7:51
Yes, diagnose yourself with a whole lot of

Eric 7:56
stuff. One thing I would, I would quickly say, is that many times we talk about things that parents may not agree with, they say, Well, I'm going to do my research. Yes, what does that? What does that mean? Research? People think that when they read the first thing that pops up on Google is research, but it's really not right? Research has a methodology to it. You have to have a hypothesis. What is your control group? And there's a whole series of things. You know, Dr Chiquita really went through research getting her doctors so she knows. But lastly, what I would say about research is that, just keep it simple. Look at the source of who you're reading, and what is there? What are they trying to say? What information are they trying to get

Zandra Polard 8:36
across? Well, I think, for me, I think it's helpful, because it helps me to develop questions, right? To ask my doctor for clarity? Yeah. So I in that way, in that respect, you know, I think it's good, but other than that, you know, but

Eric 8:49
if you know, that's okay, I like questions. I like I love questions, because first of questions start from a point of humility. Questions start that I really don't know. And so let's have a conversation. You don't have to agree with me, but I don't like as as as a person, not a doctor, but as a person. Then when you say, I read this article, don't know the source, and I've made this decision that, to me, can be dangerous for your child. Yes, yes. So if you say, Doc, I've read this article, it raised a question, and I just want to hear your opinion on it? Well, then most of the time since what I talk about they, most of my parents trust me, and if they don't trust me, they need to pick up their child and run out of the room. But most of my parents trust me, and when they do that, then we can have that conversation, and most of them will agree, because it's for the best of their for their child.

Zandra Polard 9:39
Yeah. So what other I know my son, he has two he's no 16, about to be a senior in high school, and now they want another vaccine before he goes back to school. Yes. Is it for meningitis?

Eric 9:54
Yes. Okay, yes. And so we were talking about the COVID vaccine and the COVID vaccine. This a little bit to the side. I really don't discuss. I discussed the COVID vaccine, very little the vaccines. We talked about vaccines. We talked about vaccines have been around for 2030, 4050, 6070, years. These vaccines have a ton of information on their safety profile. So I spend most of my time on vaccines, talking about ones that have been around longer than I've been in medicine and longer than my parents have been living. Okay, so when we talk about the meningitis vaccine, meningitis, when I was coming up in my training, we saw meningitis, unfortunately, regularly. Remember, that's what is it? It's a brain infection. Oh, so if you think, if you have a fruit, have if you have an orange in your hand, the orange is the brain, and the orange peel is called the meninges. Okay, so if the orange peel the top gets infected, what happens to the orange? It also gets infected. So that the meninges gets infected, the brain gets infected. And many times it can be a 10 to 20% death rate, 40 to 50% chronic disability rate from that one infection and I had, when I was training, I had a patient die in front of me in 16 hours. Oh, wow. Came in. They were a little bit irritable. And 16 hours, this child had died from meningitis.

Zandra Polard 11:14
Wow. How old was the child?

Eric 11:16
The child was between 18 and 2024, months. It was a toddler. It was what we called a toddler. And to witness that sticks with you. Yeah, we also, we also used to do what was called lumbar taps. That's a special procedure that we would obtain fluid from the base of the back that surrounds the brain. Oh, yes, okay, to determine if someone and we did that quite regularly. I did that three or four times a month since the vaccine, I have not done a lumbar tap since the vaccine, I have not done though that procedure and probably be about seven to eight years. I used to be very proficient. I can do it in my sleep if someone needed a lumbar tap today, I don't know if I could do it, so I just say that, because the vaccines have been so successful at reducing we saw what we said before, disease, disability, and in some cases, death. And that's a historical epidemiological perspective. And so I discussed that with my parents, because this is not from my opinion, it's not from what some particular organization says. It's from what I do and what I've seen.

Zandra Polard 12:22
So what about those? Because they won't even let you go into school until you get that vaccination when you're a senior. I don't remember the other vaccinations I went through because I was kept my kids vaccinated. But for those, for religious reasons or personal reasons that don't have their children vaccinated. I always ask them, were you ever vaccinated? And the answer usually is yes. So I feel so bad for the child, because it's like, well, you've gotten and you're not giving them anything. Do you see children who have attained diseases because they weren't vaccinated. Yes, what are those numbers like? What is that like?

Eric 13:03
Well, fortunately, those numbers have gone way down, okay, because most people are getting vaccinated. Unfortunately, right now, as we speak, there's epidemic of measles, measles, which is a very infectious, very disabling and sometimes deadly infection that started in Texas, in a community that chose not to vaccinate, not to vaccinate, vaccinate, that disease spread to Oklahoma, spread to Florida and spread to California. There's been about 20 cases in California, and so far, we've had two children die from who were not vaccinated from measles this year, just in 2025 so when I talked to parents, I said, you know, you have a choice, but remember, your choice has consequences, both for good and for bad. Yeah. And so when I, when I, when I, when we have that discussion, most parents will choose to vaccinate at least, if not the whole series. At one point they'll start that series.

Zandra Polard 13:55
So do you see parents that will change? This sounds like you may see parents that change their mind, like, No, I'm not going to vaccinate my child, but Okay, now that they've gotten sick, I'm deciding to get them vaccinated.

Eric 14:05
Yeah, because, again, we talked about this before you build up that relationship of trust, I'm a person. I'm not social media, and I think once they see me once, twice, 10 times, they know where I'm from, and they trust me. And, you know, taking a step back, we have to understand that there's just we have an overabundance of information, and unfortunately, misinformation and just disinformation. A lot of these people who don't like vaccines are making money off of purporting that vaccines are not needed or not good, and they're making money off them. So we have to understand that parents are being overwhelmed, so not beat them on the head, but just walk them through.

Zandra Polard 14:42
Yeah. So now getting back to Chiquita, I know that you there's a lot of things that you want to piggyback off of from Eric. And so you were mentioning

Chiquita 14:53
the self care, for example, and in particular, he talked about knowing your numbers. This is. One of the things that we talk to adults about all the time, knowing your cardiovascular numbers. You know, knowing what your cholesterol level is, your glucose your glucose level and your High Blood your blood pressure, because those diseases all contribute towards memory issues, if you will. Because people will always say to me, oh, what causes dementia? What causes Alzheimer's? They don't know at this point what actually causes it, but if you have those other chronic illnesses, it will negatively impact any other disease that you may get. And so staying healthy and also sleep. You talked about sleep, yes. And you, you talked about memory lapses sleep.

Zandra Polard 15:43
Is it harder to sleep when you get older? Because I noticed that for me, I have broken sleep

Chiquita 15:48
now, yes. And some of that, it goes back to what you said earlier about hormones. Oh, so that is, that is one of the side effects.

Zandra Polard 15:56
Oh, well. Another side effect is sometimes I feel like heat is coming out of my ears,

Chiquita 16:01
that too. Oh yeah, that the hot flashes and interrupted sleep. Yes, that is definitely one of the things that we experience as we grow older.

Zandra Polard 16:09
Okay, and well, what about guys? What about men? What do they experience? Do they have any kind of I don't know, what do you what do you say menopause? Or what's going on with menopause for men? Why do women have to take it all on.

Eric 16:20
I'm in support right now.

Chiquita 16:24
I'm sure there's something.

Eric 16:27
No, I mean, they're, I mean, I'm not, you know there is something. There's a male menopause and, but I'm not an expert. So, okay, yes, okay, but we do, and let's be fair, there's a male menopause. Okay, yeah,

Chiquita 16:40
well, yeah, but

Zandra Polard 16:41
his role mostly is to being supportive. To support.

Chiquita 16:46
He's a good supporter, but, yeah, but sleep, we need more sleep. You need to get enough sleep, because sleep, not getting enough sleep definitely impacts your memory. I don't know if you had a bad night, you didn't get enough sleep, and the next day you can hardly remember anything, right? You know, you have a foggy brain, brain fog. And menopause causes brain fog, definitely So, and all the other things that we discussed in the other show, you know, the diet, the vitamin deficiency, infection, not feeling well, so that's just something that you have to stay on top of And as Eric also talked about, having a relationship with your doctor is key. And getting those wellness checks, yes, because you need kind of a benchmark as you grow older, so you have they have some place to go with you. So if when you turn 65 and as I'm hearing from my friends now, you go in and they give you a whole battery assess, you get one of the best physicals you've ever had when you it's kind of unfortunate. You have to wait until you get 65 right to get that, but it's still good. So you get this baseline physical, overall wellness check, and then you continue to go so that they're monitoring you, you know, as you grow old. So you want to grow older, I should say you want to make sure that that you're being progressive and a participant in your healthcare. That's key.

Zandra Polard 18:02
I want to ask my audience out there, when was your last well check? When was the last time you seen your primary care physician? Was the last time you had your mammogram? When's the last time you've had your colonoscopy? What else are the what are some other things you have to make sure you're checking on for men, the prostate, even if

Eric 18:22
you don't want to get the digital exam, go ahead and get the blood test right. One of the things that if I could Sandra touch on something that Chiquita said, was that, you know, I do have parents in the exam room with the child, and what we do know is that healthy parents have healthy children, and so if you have a parent who is not doing proper self care, they have increased risk, and it's likely that if they're unhealthy, their child will be unhealthy. So we talked about the self care, but we didn't talk about not self care. So if you're if audience, everyone out there, if you're not getting enough sleep, if you're not eating healthy, if you're eating unhealthy, if you're eating late,

Zandra Polard 19:00
you enjoyed that food from the Fourth of July a little bit too much. Yes. And your peach cobbler, macaroni cheese, bacon, you know? Yes.

Eric 19:09
And you're eating at 1010, 11 o'clock and going to bed at midnight. And if you're stressed to the max, and if you're disconnected, then you're going to, as a parent, going to increase those risk is what Chiquita is talking about. Yeah, and your child, who I take care of, is also going to be unhealthy. So the final point is, since you care so much about your child, get your checkup parent, and that checkup for you will ensure that your child is healthier. Okay,

Zandra Polard 19:39
be a model. Be an example. Example,

Chiquita 19:41
yeah, it works, does. And isolation is a risk factor definitely for older adults. Well, sometimes

Zandra Polard 19:49
I want to be isolated, like I said today, like I just want, like, two days where I don't have to do anything for anybody and just do me.

Chiquita 19:59
Well. Well, that's by choice, and you have an outlet, and that's only temporary, but there are people who are isolated, not by choice, right? And and they're lonely, and loneliness causes depression, and studies show that that's a risk factor for someone's health so but luckily, we have technology, right? And we learned that during COVID Those older adults like my mom, for example, who's on Facebook and she's she can text. That was a way to keep people connected. So even though they didn't have that physical visitation with people, they weren't totally isolated. But in general, another thing that Eric said about telehealth versus going to the doctor, a lot of older adults, those who are lonely and maybe not have the social structure that they need. They go to the doctor for that outlet, dress up and they show up at the doctor's office. That's their outing for the day. Maybe stop and get something to eat on the way home. But I think that going in, and I'm not a medical doctor, but I can just say from the social perspective, being able to lay eyes on people. Sometimes that speaks volume. You can see maybe what they won't tell you. You know, if you're talking to talking to someone face to face and observing them, you know their their facial expressions. You know, yeah, because you know voice

Zandra Polard 21:13
I agree because, you know, I know culturally, you know, going to doctor visits. Sometimes different cultures, they don't speak as much, so they don't speak up or advocate,

Chiquita 21:23
right? Yeah, they're intimidated, or they give not even

Zandra Polard 21:26
intimidate. Well, that too, that too. But sometimes, just out of signs of respect, maybe they'll smile more, not more, but not speak up to what they're experiencing,

Chiquita 21:38
right, right? And that's where the advocate comes in, yeah, that I mentioned earlier, sometimes it's good to take somebody, someone with you, if that's you

Zandra Polard 21:45
and the writing with the pen and the paper, or use your cell phone to make notes about things that you're experiencing. So when you get your time with the doctor, you can let them know what's happening, right?

Eric 21:58
And three, three basic questions, that, because it's a partnership, it's a conversation. This is your health. And so three questions you can ask, any procedure, a medication, any intervention, any vaccine, as number one, what is this? What is this that you're advocating doctor? Number two, why? Why do you want me to take this and then, number three, how will it affect me? So a good doctor, which we all are, a caring doctor, which we all are, is not going to be scared of those questions. And if your doctor is careful or dismisses those questions, you need to get another doctor. Yeah, wow.

Chiquita 22:34
I agree. That's so important. So many times my mother has come home from the doctor to call me to ask, what does this mean? Sometimes I get a little agitated, Yeah, Mom, why don't you ask the doctor that question? Because she was

Zandra Polard 22:47
thinking, I'm gonna ask Chiquita

Chiquita 22:48
exactly what she said. Yeah, that is key. And the other reason why you want to make have a list of questions, because the doctors don't have a lot of time these days, yeah, you know. So you want to go in and try to get as much in as you can.

Zandra Polard 23:02
Yeah. And the reason why I was asking how telehealth was working in the medical field is because I know with getting mental health services, even with the advancements of telehealth, tele visits, it's great, but it's still difficult to get an appointment with a mental health doctor. So

Eric 23:19
yeah. So the other thing is to remember is that your doctor is human. I know that they're still, even in the 25th century, most people are still very respectful of doctors, and sometimes that can be helpful, and sometimes not, if you're scared of the doctor. But the thing is, is that I tell my younger patients, my teen patients, and I said, Do you want a dumb doctor or intelligent doctor? And they say, of course, you want a smart doctor. I say, the more you tell me about what's going on, you're educating me. But if you're giving me grunts and single word answers, then at the end, I'm going to be a dumb doctor. About you, yes, and therefore I may make a recommendation which may not be good. So please out there making sure that you have the smartest doctrine. How do you do that? Give them all the information. Write it down, take notes before because, as Chiquita said, you don't have a lot of time. So tell them exactly, as best you can what's going on,

Zandra Polard 24:12
and don't be afraid to take your time, right? You know to do that, so long as you're prepared, you should be fine. Yeah, I want to thank you both for coming back. Thank you for inviting us. Oh, you guys were awesome. So much information. You guys. We talked about so many things, but you know what you can do? You can always find me on those social media platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google, you name it, just type in. It's where I am with Zandra. I want to thank 91.5 jazz and more. We're continuing to program it's where I am. The show that focuses on mental health and wellness. I'm here every Saturday, 7:30am it's where I am. I have a great day. Be well. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai