|
In this issue:
Meow,
Kat Interview: Dr. Bernard Hayden Practices
Integrative Medicine
This kat caught up with member, Dr. Bernard Hayden, last winter and thought
it was high time that I publish my interview.
At 60, Dr. Hayden is a semi-retired gynecologist with a serious interest in
complementary medicine. Here’s what we talked about earlier this year.
Q: What brought you to medicine in the first place?
BH: A bet, a scholarship, and the Lord’s will led me into medicine and
it’s been a good run. I went to the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine.
I was blessed to practice in the golden age of medicine, when we could choose
the best treatment for patients. By "best treatment" I mean prescribing the best
drug or using the best technique for a particular problem instead of resorting
to a second best or generic drug because of different insurance formularies.
When I was practicing obstetrics, I brought more than 6,000 babes into the
world.
Q: Congratulations! That’s a huge contribution! Are you still
delivering babies?
BH: I still practice medicine because I enjoy it but I stopped
obstetrics some 10 years ago due to the astronomical malpactrice fees.
I prefer to focus on quality over quantity and managed care just kept cutting
reimbursements while malpractice insurance kept going up and up. Getting out of
obstetrics seemed the only way to be able to stay in business.
Q: What does your practice look like these days?
BH: With patients ranging in age from 16 to 90 years old, I see a lot
of different conditions -- from irritable bowel syndrome and gastric reflux to
diabetes and obesity. I spend a lot more time educating patients on diet and
lifestyle changes.
With gastric reflux, so many people end up on stomach acid inhibitors, such
as Tagamet. The good Lord meant us to have stomach acid, which protects against
gastrointestinal infections as well as aids in digestion, so that’s not the
problem. I prescribe probiotics for reflux, which reduces the need for
pharmaceuticals and aids the body in establishing a more natural balance.
Similarly, constipation goes with irritable bowel syndrome, so probiotics
work well in treating IBS. It seems that the stress that creates ulcers in men
seems to trigger IBS in women, so I recommend stress reduction activities along
with probiotics.
And, of course, any time a patient has been on antibiotics, I follow up with
probiotics to put the friendly bacteria back in the gut.
With so many processed foods with such little nutritional value, there’s
always a build-up of toxins in patients. The best way to regulate what you’re
absorbing is to have good bacteria in your gut.
For ladies with a family history of breast cancer, I prescribe melatonin,
which is good at
decreasing estrogen levels and thus helps in decreasing breast cancer. A
nice secondary effect is the fact that it is also a mild sleep aid.
I could go on about a variety of supplements, especially antioxidants.
Anything that bumps up the immune system is valuable for any patient, young or
old!
Q: How did you get so interested in nutrition and supplements?
BH: A few years ago, I was on a statin drug and had trouble
concentrating and multi-tasking. I thought I was just getting old, but it scared
me. I started doing research on statins and learned that statins reduce the
body’s coenzyme Q-10, causing all sorts of side effects, including neuromuscular
problems.
I went off statins (the focusing problems quickly stopped) and became
interested in Linus Pauling’s formula for lowering cholesterol. This research
led me to your Heart Plus, which was the first thing I purchased from the Co-op.
I continued to do research and went to some seminars offered by Dr. Steve
Sinatra, a cardiologist and certified nutritional specialist, who speaks
regularly on preventive medicine. I picked his brain for three hours over dinner
one night, and learned that he saw problems with statins quite early in his
career as a cardiologist. Dr. Sinatra got interested in treating his heart
patients with nutrition and supplements.
Similarly, I became interested in learning more so I could help my patients
feel better and stay healthy. It’s not that I don’t want to ever put on my
doctor’s hat and cure their ills. I still enjoy healing them, but I prefer to
prevent their troubles as much as possible in the first place!
Q: Talk to us about prevention versus treatments in your practice. BH:
To assess current status of health, I do lipid profiles, metabolic profiles and
C-reactive protein (CRP) tests on all my patients. CRP measures
inflammation in the body.
It’s back to Linus
Pauling’s work, which demonstrated that inflammation starts the cascade
of clotting events which causes cholesterol plaquing to block arteries.
It’s just as important to decrease inflammatory factors (the root cause) as
it is to be concerned about cholesterol numbers. To that end, I prescribe
Vitamins C & E, fish oil, CoQ-10, nattokinase, policosanol, and other
antioxidants as needed to lessen free radical load and thus reduce inflammation.
Diabetes is skyrocketing across the country, so metabolic profiles are
important for assessing liver and kidney health, along with blood sugar levels.
Type II diabetes or pre-diabetic stages are where we can work on prevention,
since by the time someone has full-blown diabetes, 75% of the damage to blood
vessels has already been done.
If an obese woman comes in with a family history of diabetes and her tests
come back with mildly elevated blood sugar, I can show her the numbers and
explain the progression that’s ahead if she doesn’t start to manage her eating
habits and lifestyle in a different way. When it’s all in black and white, it
gives people more determination to make significant changes in their diet and
exercise routines.
I try to get every patient to a nutritionist if I can, although,
unfortunately, a lot people won’t pay for things not covered by insurance.
Q: What surprises you most in your patients?
BH: What surprises me most is how few women take supplements other
than calcium. They are not really familiar with most of the things I tell them
about supplements.
Interestingly, many of my older patients say that their husbands “take
vitamins” but they don’t! What strikes me as funny about this is that most women
are much better at seeing their doctors regularly than men are.
My working hypothesis is that the guys know vitamins can help keep them out
of their doctors’ offices!
Q: Okay, it’s time to ask “the question.” What’s your take on the
Co-op, our sense of humor, and this kat in particular?
BH: Your products are very reasonably priced, so I have no qualms
about sending folks your way. I also encourage them to
sign up
for your newsletter, so they can enjoy the humor and even learn some
things along the way.
I learned a long time ago not to talk over my patients’ heads. If I want them
to understand, I cannot make it complicated. You do a good job of making
information understandable and interesting.
I like the kat and the humor – it’s all cute, witty, and fun and kept me
interested when browsing your site and learning about other supplements that you
have that I like.
For some reason, the kat also reminds me of my daughter, who started out as a
lawyer and now is a
fine art photographer.
Q: Do you have any requests for the Co-op?
BH: I would like to see you sell CoQ-10 in doses of 150mg. I prescribe
150mg twice a day for ladies on statins. I’ve had to refer my patients to local
stores for this dosage.
Well, Dr. Hayden need refer his patients to local stores no longer.
The Co-op, on his request last winter, is proud to be introducing CoQ-10
150mg softgels (oil included in the softgel formulation for better
absorbability)!
The inventory is in, and we’re just waiting on our independent laboratory
test right now. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, Dr. Hayden does not have his own web site, but we will pass along
any notes that you would like to send. Please write to him via this kat:
guido@ourhealthcoop.com
By the way, I made mention of Dr. Hayden being from Tennessee, when, in fact,
he is from the great state of Kentucky. The elves that transcribe my stuff
for the web got it all wrong.
Dr. Hayden had this to write about Tennessee:
As for the Tennessee
slip-up, my son will be much more upset than I ever would be.
He works for the University
of Kentucky's sports media department, and Tennessee is a cuss word in his
office! :-)
All I can
say now is, "Go Wildcats!" ^..^
Health in the News
Stay tuned next week for an update on our new warehouse and the inside scoop
on what new products you can expect to see (finally!) now that we have plenty of
space.
Still purringly yours,
Guido
Guido Housemouser
Chief Kat and Community Manager
Our Health Co-op
4188 Westroads Drive
Unit 123
Riviera Beach, FL 33407
|
