ObamaCare, TrumpCare and Dementia

Star Com Radio Network, The Ed Tyll Show, 21 minutes: Ed hosted me to talk bout TrumpCare vs. ObamaCare and its impact on dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s.

Enjoy listening to our conversation [21 Minutes] (or you can read the transcript below) and let me know if you have any questions.

</p> <div> {Editor’s Note: this is a transcript of Janet Rich Pittman being interviewed by Ed Tyll of the Ed Tyll Show on national syndicated Star Com radio network 3/3/17.}</div> <div>Ed: Starcom Radio Network. Janet Rich Pittman is our guest on the Ed Tyll Show. Hi Janet. Janet: Ed, glad tidings to you. You are the man, I have to say. Ed: Oh, thank you, bless you. You know… Janet: You know it’s true, most talk show hosts hee-haw on current events, but you take the conversation a little bit to the edge. I mean you make your listeners think from a different perspective. You come at issues from another angle. And that’s why you’re so popular. And to be honest, that’s what we’re gonna have to do with Obamacare. We’re gonna have to approach this healthcare coverage from a different angle. We know it’s not working, and change is in the wind, especially for seniors. Ed: Big time. Now the first thing you can tell us more about, it was a little unsettling when I saw it. I didn’t know that as bad as the Affordable Care Act was that it was allowed to contaminate Medicare. Honestly I mean Medicare was doing fine. This bad idea comes into town. And now according to this it says how will the Medicare benefits given to seniors under the ACA. How did they get co-mingled? Why wasn’t that just to insure everybody who wasn’t on Medicare? Janet: Yeah, that’s a question for Ezekiel Emanuel right? the one who orchestrated this disaster. Absolutely, let’s talk to him about that. And thank gosh he’s off the bandwagon now, we’ve got some real hardcore Trump professionals in town to clean up the mess. But here’s the problem and I think what seniors have to look at, you know we had some really heavy, good benefits with Obamacare for seniors. No do-nut hole, remember there used to be a limitation on your prescriptions. And so that was taken away and seniors were able to get preventative benefits like free flu shots. Now I’m not a proponent as a dementia prevention specialist and as The Brain Nerd, I’m not a proponent of ‘flu shots and that is another story we can talk about. But Obamacare gave us cancer screenings and diabetes screenings and those were good. And also, something that was good, a lot of people don’t realize, is the regulation that Obamacare brought in for electronic medical records. Right, to be all congruent, so a doctor can talk to another doctor. So you’re seeing two separate doctors, they’ve got the same historical data to go on. Now that’s a good benefit as well. And then also the one I like too was reducing hospital readmissions. So like, if you’re in the hospital and you are released, but then you come back into the hospital within say their timeline, I think it 20 days may have been 30, I’m not quite up on that statistic. But anyway, if you come back into the hospital with the same concurring condition, then the hospital would have a reduction in their reimbursement admittance. So you know reduction in their reimbursement for Medicare. So those were some of the benefits that the seniors under Medicare received. Yes, absolutely and change is in the wind. And because Trump is such a businessman and he knows the bottom line. The bottom line is it’s not working, so usually well as an entrepreneur, the last hired is the first fired. So some of these statistics, some of these benefits I think, we’ll have to see go away. Ed: You know I love the idea that dementia prevention is even a thing. Because in my life, right, watching first my grandfather’s generation then my parents’ generation, it was more widespread than people were expecting at the time. Now that we’re looking at my crowd starting to drop dead, we’re 60 and we’re already having some fatalities, we’re starting to think wow what about us now? Are people entering old age, are we going to have a better handle on stopping them from getting dementia or are we gonna let them get dementia and medicate them out of it? What is the cutting edge on dementia prevention today? Janet: So Ed, it’s like you said. We were the second and then we’re looking at the third, your children are the third generation that we’ve got with dementia hitting us. And so big pharmaceuticals, big medical companies have done nothing. Modern medicine has done nothing for it. There is no cure in sight. And let me give you some harrowing statistics. One out of six aged 62 and over has some form of dementia. One in two aged 85 and over has a form of dementia. I mean that’s harrowing. And let’s talk about what exactly is dementia. Because people get dementia and Alzheimer’s confused and they intermingle the two. There are over many…50 different types of dementia, for example Alzheimer’s of course is a dementia. Parkinson’s is a dementia, Lou Gehrig’s disease is a dementia, AIDs is a dementia. The problem is, Alzheimer’s represents 57% of all the dementia So Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia. Now what is dementia? Well dementia is when you have a vast, strong, heavy amount of brain cells die in a certain part of your brain in a very quick fashion. All right now what is quick? Well, when you’re 62, five years is pretty quick, isn’t it? Ten is quick. And there are instances and all the papers and the research that I have seen, instances where dementia has been percolating in people’s brains 15 to 20 years before symptoms ever occur. So 10, 15, 20 years it takes dementia to percolate, to formulate in your brain before symptoms occur. So that’s basically, make sure we’re all on the same page what dementia is, what Alzheimer’s is. Ed: Now how prevent…? Janet: So it is coming at us like a huge freight train. Ed: Sure of that. And how preventable is it? Are we able to slow it down, get rid of it or do we wait for it to onset and then treat it after it sets in? Janet: Well that’s why I’m such a big proponent of good brain health. Because it’s very difficult to treat it once it sets in. So preventive measures are the best, absolute best. Once it does set in though, it can be reversed. It can be turned around. It’s very hard to do so and we’re just on the cutting edge of understanding how to turn that around.</div> <div> Ed: Okay and what is happening when those brain cells die? What is happening? Is this a virus, a bacteria? What kind of action is happening in there that they’re having so much trouble arresting or reversing? Janet: Well, the brain cells go away. And what happens is your neurons go away and all the supporting cells to direct and focus and point those neurons to help you continue to think, and operate, have your body operate and you function cognitively, those cells are gone. So it’s like you’re talking all of a sudden and boom, you forget what you were gonna say. You’ve got a deadness there in your brain that kind of…of course it’s a fog but now it’s a dead end. You don’t know where your words were going. So your neuron is like you hit the brick wall and you’ve got to direct it to turn it either right or left to continue your train of thought. To come back around that dead space so that you can again fulfill your thoughts. Ed: All right so let’s go through some of the things that are showing great promise with dementia prevention and dementia reversal. What is working? Janet: Well, you know, I can’t remember who said this, the famous quote that once you know the problem, it is 70% solved, right? Ed: Yes. Janet: So that’s it. We don’t know exactly the true cause of dementia. There’s not a cookie cutter cause out</div> <div>there, what in our body function and our brain function is not working or is low or is maybe too high and so needing to correct that. And so what I always advise the folks I counsel is the first thing you need to know is you need to know your numbers. You know where do you stand in your health life? And for good health, body health and brain health, where do you stand. For example, what’s your BMI? You know as weight goes up brain size and brain function goes down. Now what’s your blood pressure? Same concept, when your blood pressure goes up, your blood flow to your brain goes down and your brain starts to shrink. You know we’ve gotta get your BMI and your blood level, we’ve gotta get those at optimal level. And I’ve got a whole list of numbers that I can certainly go over and gosh we can maybe even have a show on that if you want. And the bottom line is you gotta know where you stand health-wise. Where’s your thyroid? How are your triglycerides? Alzheimer’s, two out of the three Alzheimer’s victims are women. Now triglycerides though, and testosterones, play a key role in Alzheimer’s disease. And women it’s very important to know their testosterone levels. Because they know it’s testosterone, that’s a male hormone, well no it’s not. It’s a female hormone as well which just we don’t have as much of it as you guys do, but consequently we need it. And a lot of times often they’re super low or non-existent and our brains react to that. So again, there are a number of numbers that you should know. One thing too we need to realize, there are seven basic triggers to Alzheimer’s disease. And there are basically three types of Alzheimer’s disease. And again, we could do a complete show on just those two topics in itself. If you subscribe to The Brain Health Revolution through my website thebrainnerd.com, I have some of those will be coming up in my blog. And you can have access to those as well.</div> <div>Ed: Yeah, right Janet: Yeah, exactly. So when I counsel I can immediately pretty much tell you if they’re gonna go over the edge into death, or if they would at least come to a plateau or even better their health condition, by their attitude and by their mindset. If they can understand that their diet and sugar, the bad white foods of our world, sugar, white rice, white corn, white flour. Understand that those foods are harmful to them and I can get them on a understanding that they’ve gotta take care of themselves. They’ve gotta get out and exercise. They’ve gotta get out and exercise their body and they’ve gotta get their mind working.</div> <div> Ed: I just wanna know, for the people who are about to get it, maybe myself any time soon. What should we know? Should we know that this thing is unlickable and then in isolated cases there can be improvement or are we really near the precipice where 25 years from now we’re gonna knock this thing out? We got it. We’re gonna get some Stem cells, we’re gonna get some good delivery system. We’re gonna do whatever it is but those dead brain cells are coming back. That’s what I feel, you know, for the ordinary person, it’s good to keep them updated on. You know it has a sound of finality, maybe it shouldn’t. Janet: So those brain cells can come back. That’s the deal. And the way we’ve proven that is what creates new brain cells. You know five or six years ago we didn’t think you could create new brain cells. We thought well, we didn’t understand that. Now we can create new brain cells and the way to create new brain cells is you move your feet, you exercise. You go through aerobic exercise. So I’m not saying to run a marathon. I’m saying walk around the block, right. And you have to walk around the block every day to create the new brain cells. And then here is the next thing that, well you get the new brain cells, you’re walking every day for a month but the problem is unless you get those new brain cells connected, those new neurons connected they’re gonna fizzle out, become really weak and fizzle out and those new brain cells are gonna die. So you gotta connect them, you gotta connect those brain cells. Well how do you connect the brain cells? Well you don’t sit in front of the TV 24/7 and watch it. You gotta do invigorating ideas and activities. And volunteer at church or at the synagogue or you need to coordinate with the PTA and go with your grandkids. Go to the baseball and figure out why he’s not the best hitter, why he’s only the second-best hitter? And investigate and see if you can get batting help for him. Or the ballet class, why is she having a hard time with her balance? Get your granddaughter the balance exercises she needs. You’ve gotta continuously improve your mind. Accomplish new items in your mind. And you’re right about how the house is already on fire, I’m not going in to save the cat. I’m totally with you on that. And here’s where I also draw the line, well it’s up to you. What do you want? Do you want to feel better? Do you want to have energy? Do you wanna be able to pick up the five-pound bag of dog food and bring it into kitchen? Or do you wanna sit calm and just wither away. So it’s up to you and that’s why I say I can tell you if they’re gonna beat this or lick this or put them in sort of a plateau based on their attitude. Ed: Right, if you’re just joining us, boy have you missed a lot of good information. We’re gonna be replaying this interview later this evening. But our guest is Janet Rich Pittman and her upcoming book is called “It’s There: Five Simple Ways to Find Your Memory and Prevent it From Leaving” is the title of the book. It’s available at the website www.thebrainnerd.com. What did you learn by writing the book? What was the most interesting thing to you that, in the process of the book, became clear? Janet: I just surrounded myself with medical words. And just a very sophisticated understanding of the way doctors and pharmacists and chemists and biologists talk and how to get myself in that. So when I wrote the book, I needed to speak to John driving the truck, the delivery of your new furniture. Or to the mom who’s picking up the kids from school. And I had to get to my mom’s level and my dad’s level. I wrote it to talk to my mom and dad, so they could see. So the way I wrote the book, it’s really five little booklets together in one and five whole chapters if you will. And it’s kind of fiction, it’s nonfiction within fiction because it’s easy to understand and to follow. And you say, “Oh my gosh I understand what’s going on now, I see what’s happening. I understand how that has an effect.” And so that’s kind of the new thing that… Ed: So that was big right, decoding all of that jargon into ordinarily understandable terminology. Wow, that’s a heavy lift man, nice going on that. So I’ll ask you as we wrap up now, you’re a former Republican executive committee chair. Janet: That’s right. Ed: That’s a cool gig to some people. Other people in the audience are like, “What is that? What do they do?” Are you still passionate and on the edge of your seat with political contests like the one that just ended? Or is that an old chapter of your life and you don’t watch as copiously, you know what I mean. Look for all the nuances. Are you still involved? Do you still get wow turn that up, is that Trump? Turn that up in there. Are you still like that? Or are you maybe less interested now because the new horizon has really captured your imagination? Janet: Well both. And the problem was that in my former career I was a political operative and I would get people elected to office. And I got my husband, helped to get my husband elected to an Appellate State judgeship. And in our State we have a canon law. Supreme Court nor Appellate judges can raise money, fundraise, donate, put a yard sale in your yard or a bumper sticker on your car for any political candidate. That judge or their spouse, neither one can do that. So my career was pulled out from under me and so my mother said, “Oh honey you were so good taking care of grandmother when she was in the nursing home. You should look into that.” Of course I did and that’s how I made the jump into dementia. But still, while I can’t put a yard sale in my yard, I still watch the TV and I still keep up with the radio as to what’s going on in our political circles? And so yes, I have both items of passion, politics and dementia prevention, thebrainnerd.com. Ed: Right I got it. It’s gotta be something you can’t really shake altogether. There is an adrenaline rush with it. So in your words, not as an expert on dementia prevention but as a former Republican executive committee person, chair, how extra ordinary was it for one rich guy with a television show to knock out the 16 guys at the top of that Republican Party? That must have made your head spin a little, right? Janet: It really did and in the concept and the years I’ve been in dementia, I’ve been able to step back really from politics. And not so much wave my Republican flag but wave my Conservative flag. And so I was very enamored with Obama coming in and I mean I felt that was incredible. How he could come in and slip in like that and take presidency. And then as Trump came in, at the back of my mind the word UK Brexit just kept revolving over and over. And as he continued to win primary after primary after primary and we went through all of the debates on TV, and some of the radio work, this Brexit just kept spinning in the back of my mind. And so while I was somewhat surprised, really not really. I was not really surprised because it felt like we were on a need for some hardcore change. And I liked it because I’m a former entrepreneur. You know I’ve made payroll myself . Ed: He has an extraordinary appeal for people who have signed the front of a check. If you’ve ever signed a check for a payroll, I think he really connects. Well fascinating, really. Congratulations on the upcoming book. The website is thebrainnerd.com. Janet Rich Pittman, a magnificent guest on a Friday. Thank you so much for being with us. You know, I’ve only got a couple of minutes left here, So I just wanted to ask you, short answer now, we can elaborate next time we visit. Are there lots of things that might have subtle or more than subtle impact on the brain and dementia that we’re just learning about now and we should have been on the lookout for a while ago? Janet: Absolutely. Bottom line it’s really not Alzheimer’s. It’s not a disease, in terms of Alzheimer’s disease, it really starts with your gut and your liver. What you inhale, what you ingest, that’s where it starts. Ed: Right. Well, you are a terrific guest Janet, and we look forward to having you back. Thank you for all of the information. And you also make it easy to understand, I think you said earlier about your challenge in the beginning. Medical terminology etc., well you’ve really succeeded on that. Thank you. The new book is… Janet: Well, thank you. Ed: Sure. “It’s There: Five Simple Ways to Find Your Memory and Prevent it From Leaving.” Go to the website TheBrainNerd.com. Janet Rich Pittman, on the Ed Tyll Show Star Com Radio Network.</div> <p>

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