dress what is stress we all refer to it so frequently I had a stressful day at work oh my family is stressful my job is stressful we're feeling the stress with all the bills piling up we all are experiencing it whether it's a little bit of stress or a lot of stress we're feeling it stress is the natural reaction that your body encounters when it experiences an external or internal challenge or change from its normal Baseline environment this can result in many different physical emotional spiritual behavioral responses today we're going to discuss stress its treatments how to diagnose it how to recognize it what symptoms it can cause and much more about it and we're also going to answer your healthcare related questions here on this episode of ask the doc send in your questions to questions at allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the ask the do page on our website allhealth tv.com welcome to ask the doc the show where we encourage our viewers to send in their healthcare related questions I'm Dr gumal cor a double board certified primary care physician here in Coral Springs and today we're going to talk about stress I know I'm smiling while saying it I'm just so excited to be here with you guys but stress I know is not something that makes us smile we're going to talk about what causes it how to react or how we react to it and really how we can learn to cope with it cuz stress is everywhere well wouldn't you know we already have our first question from viewer and it comes to us through our website allhealth tv.com this question is from Annabelle and Annabelle asks Dr core I've had an ear infection for almost two months now I was previously on a moxacin but it didn't work for me I have now been on seaner for about a week and I'm still experiencing pain I've heard that Augmentin is a good antibiotic but I'm concerned about its side effects I only have three pills left of the seaner but I don't feel any better what should I do oh Annabelle I'm so sorry to hear that you're not feeling well ear infections ear pain it can be irritating even in the slightest but to have something like this for over two weeks now I'm so sorry it must be so painful now there's so much I could say on ear infections alone but the point and I guess the biggest thing I can tell you the most important thing is if you've had an ear infection for more than two weeks despite trying different antibiotics then you really need to get re-evaluated by your health care provider your physician to make sure that this really is an ear infection and nothing else is going on that be that can be causing your symptoms and even though ear infections are more common in kids adults do experience them in adults they're usually followed by um a viral cold or really uncontrolled allergies that's right A lot of people don't know that uncontrolled allergies can lead to recurrent infections of the ear the throat the upper respiratory system even the lower respiratory system and honestly controlling allergies sometimes is all that's needed to prevent them but back to the actual ear infections when you do have them both amoxicillin and Augmentin are acceptable as firstline medications and treatments for this infection if these aren't working though we start to suspect that there's something more going on under there it might be that you developed a new type of infection or you had one kind of bacteria causing the initial infection then a second type of bacteria came in or that you might be on the wrong antibiotic or that the antibiotic you're on just wasn't given for long enough or and most serious that the infection you do have is so strong or it's caused by a bacteria so strong that it's now leading to excessive symptoms and that can even become more complicated so the biggest thing like I said is to get re-evaluated because we really want to make sure that we're treating the right thing there I hope you feel better speaking of stress there really aren't many things that are more stressed stressful or anxiety-provoking than a continued infection especially an ear infection that just won't go away for those that don't know stress is the reaction that your body has when it's triggered by a threat or a challenge or a change whether that's coming from outside or inside your body but generally once that threat or change or challenge resolves so does your stress sometimes though this doesn't happen and stress can go on and on and then that can lead to other symptoms there's a lot lot of symptoms that you can experience when you're under stress and here we'll go through some of them one of them is difficulty sleeping whether you're stress or have anxiety those racing thoughts that can keep you up at night and have difficulty sleeping you could also have digestive issues so um an upset stomach that you don't know where it came from you can have chest pain increased heart rate increased sweating you just feel anxious and and fidgety speaking of you can also be very restless when you're under stress you can experience headaches all different types of headaches you can also experience increased muscle tension especially in women Studies have shown that we carry a lot of stress on our shoulders we have a lot on our shoulders as it is right so a lot of that stress can turn into tense muscle in the shoulders and the upper back area you can have increased sweating along with that increased heart rate that I mentioned you can have loss of appetite as well and on the other hand some people tend to eat more when they're stressed so you can experience spinge eating you can also feel dizzy when you're really really under a lot of stress it's just your body's way of reacting to that mental stress speaking of mental stress a lot of times it's also accompanied by feelings of depression anger and irritability and anxiety so there's a whole slew of things that can happen when one is under stress we have another question here and this is a unique question from Sasha and Sasha sends this to us through YouTube Sasha says Dr core I was wondering if you could advise on what causes pain in the center of the belly button belly buttons right Sasha so belly buttons are in a location of your abdomen basically your stomach area for layman's terms that can be in front of a lot of different organs inside your body so when you have pain in the belly button area this can be pain coming from your intestinal system some parts of your stomach sometimes um portion of your pancreas and honestly even though your kidneys are way in the back they can actually cause issues that send pain to the front of your body so a lot of stuff can cause belly button pain and if you're experiencing it especially if you're having other symptoms along with it you really want to check with your doctor to see what's causing it and what you need to do to get tested or to figure out what's really going on there so long story short please get valuated by your healthcare provider oh the questions just keep rolling in today so we have another one from Abby and Abby reached out to us through Instagram Abby says hello Dr core how can I treat my hemorrhoids naturally they tend to get worse in the summer huh that's a pretty good question Abby and it is pretty well known that in the summer months and in the hot weather there is a possibility for hemorrhoids to get worse and a lot of different things can cause this most notably when you're in high temperature your body tends to increase your blood flow blood flow away from your digestive system and to your skin and to your extremities where it's needed the most and this coupled with potential dehydration because let's face it a lot of us aren't drinking enough water to begin with and then when we're out there in the heat we are really at risk of getting dehydrated so dehydration with the change in the blood flow can really cause um dryness in your colon and in your GI system and then that can worsen constipation which in turn can worsen hemorrhoids excessive sweating also in these summer months and in the hot weather can lead to irritation and itching in the anal area and then that is irritating also right now Abby before we move further we do have a nice video from the Mayo Clinic discussing more about hemorrhoids hemorrhoids are a common Reas reason for patients to come and see a doctor if your hemorrhoids don't respond to overlook counter remedies that might be the time to seek care hemorrhoids are rarely dangerous except for patients who might be on a blood thinner medication where you could get excessive bleeding or if the bleeding is excessive fortunately surgery for hemorrhoids is rare nowaday but it's for those patients who have ongoing bleeding problems or hemorrhoids that don't respond to Conventional non-surgical treatment now that was some great information about hemorrhoids from our friends at the Mayo Clinic in case you missed it the first few times I do want to reiterate here's another opportunity to find out where you can send in your questions for me send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com welcome back so our next question comes to us from YouTube and this question is from Ted Ted has a workplace question Oh and it could it be more topical so Ted asks Dr core I have a very stressful job oh I can I can understand that and this job pretty much keeps me in the office for about 10 hours a day I want to know what I can do to help alleviate some of my stress stress any suggestions oh that's a great question Ted and yes lots of suggestions now some stress is okay but if stress continues it can actually be be quite harmful to your mental health and to your physical health people don't realize how negative of an impact stress has on your actual physical body so so important that's why it's so so important to take care of yourself and learn some relaxation techniques let's check out this video from our friends at Mayo Clinic which provides some stress relief ideas Life in the Fast Lane is tiring on your body and your brain studies show that our brain gets tired in about 1 to two hours of focused activities so a lot of people are walking around with a tired brain Dr Amit Su is the author of the May Clinic guide to stress free living He says giving your brain short breaks boosts efficiency and promotes creativity if you can capture those 3 or five minutes you really get fresh and if shifting into a lower gear seems difficult at first Dr Su offers this simp mind quieting technique there's an exercise in our program we call it fond exercise which is find one new detail at your desk somewhere else at work or even standing by your kitchen sink wherever you are search a familiar scene until you detect something you've never noticed I guarantee you you'll be able to find something new and that puts you into a discovery mode uh we are by design a curious species and that can make Life in the Fast Lane a happier ride that's some great advice from our friends at the Mayo Clinic and Ted I have some additional suggestions for coping with stress and not just work rated but stress in general so here are some suggestions for coping with stress take deep breaths breathe in slowly through your nose and then hold your breath for about 3 seconds and breathe out slowly through your mouth it might help if you close your eyes and really listen to your breathing and just relax now there's also guided visualiz ation close your eyes picture a safe peaceful scene choose a place that's special to you mountains the ocean the woods wherever you feel the most calm and relaxed what senses do you notice in your scene what colors do you notice what smells do you notice what sounds do you notice then there's also Progressive relaxation this one's quite interesting this involves sitting or lying down and you start by making a group of muscles tense so let's use our shoulders for example tense up your shoulders and then relax them and what you want to do is move from shoulder group to shoulder group you might want to start at your feet and move up towards your head and really that just helps you to be more conscious of the tension that you're experiencing and really the need to relax it then there's meditation meditation has been proven time and time again to be such a wonderful treatment and management for Stress and Anxiety so try to clear your mind which I know is difficult nowadays sit lie down whatever is more comfortable meditate while doing that or you can meditate while doing other activities I know it sounds counterproductive but for instance some people feel very calm when they're running or exercising it that can be a form of meditation as well then there's yoga or Tai Chi now there been a lot of studies done that show that taiichi helps with medical conditions such as hypertension or high blood pressure so definitely definitely helps with anxiety and stress reduction as well now these activities use a group of slow movements of the body and this couples with deep breathing exercises they can help with flexibility with balance with strength overall it's a very wonderful whole body uh um exercise there's also mindfulness this one's really really good this involves keeping your thoughts in the present and not worrying about past worries or future worries but really just being mindful of where you are right now and being appreciative of what you have around you what good things are around you and really just to be in the zone then there's the one that I talk about a lot with my patients nutrition I know I know I say it a lot fruits and vegetables vitamins and minerals but they really really do help to increase your mood and to increase your um the memory that helps with concentration as well basically a healthy balanced diet containing plenty of fruits and vegetables can really help with your mental health and your immune system the less sick you are the more happier you are right then there's Psychotherapy this involves meeting with a mental health professional and really talking about the things that are affecting you and causing the stress and causing the anxiety this helps to reduce the stress and anxiety and then mental health professionals through Psychotherapy can also teach you coping mechanisms that really strengthen your resolve and your resilience um to be able to deal with stress then there's prescription medications we really try to avoid these but if they're needed there are some good medications out there that can help reduce stress and anxiet these are very very specific to each person so please talk to your healthare provider to see which one is best for you and also take advantage of your support group we don't realize it but our support network our friends and family the connections we share with them the venting we can do with them is very very important for Stress Management so you really want to make sure that you're getting the things off your chest that you can so we have another really important question and this one comes to us from Francine and Francine reached out to us through our website allhealth tv.com Francine says Dr Core i a senior citizen and my question is about vitamins how many do I need do I really need a lot of them and which is the best one I can't stop peeing because I have to take water and these vitamins are making me sick oh that's such a good question Francine because vitamins and minerals we're not getting enough of them overall we're just not getting enough of them unfortunately but there's different ways to get them and the best one is through yep you guessed it fruits veget vegetables and healthy Whole Foods those are going to be your best sources now I know that not everybody can eat every vegetable on the planet or every fruit on the planet you might be allergic to it you might just not like it so you know it's not necessary that you're eating everything and if you're not then you're not getting all the nutrients that you need to and in those cases yes supplemental vitamins may be needed now there's so many over the counter right so which one do you take well the best people to ask are your healthc Care Professionals so your physician because you really want to vitamins that are best suited to your personal medical conditions um you want to talk to the pharmacist they generally know a lot about which vitamins are good which ones have preservatives you really want to be mindful of all that but the most important thing Francine if the vitamins you're taking are making you sick then I suggest you stop taking them and really talk to your doctor to see which one and what is best for you if you've got questions we've got answers and just in case you missed it the first few times here's yet another chance to find out where to send me your questions send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth goo on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com here's yet another interesting question that was just sent through our website allhealth tv.com this one comes to us by Jeff and Jeff asks hi Dr core I've been having protracted bouts of violent spitting and and coughing not for weeks but for months oh wow many months the coughing is one thing but the spitting up mucus Flem is insane sometimes 17 hours straight the recent attacks have been so severe and debilitating that I was taken to the emergency room I was prescribed three medications including an inhaler for lung wheezing even though I told the doctor I don't have lung wheezing also hydroxyzine and prednizone it's been a week and these meds just aren't making a difference any ideas Jeff I'm so sorry you're having such a difficult time this is very complicated whenever you have symptoms no matter what the symptoms are and the initial medications aren't helping I understand the frustration that you go through because believe me it's we feel it too as your Health Care Professionals and Physicians we want to do what we can and as soon as we can to make you feel better so when it's not initially working it's just frustrating all in general so what I really encourage you to do is get back to your doctor get back to your Healthcare profession profal and see if something has changed that's now requiring a new type of medication maybe there needs to be further testing done in order to really see what's going on down there now having a chronic condition or having any kind of infection or something going on that just isn't going away is really a source of Stress and Anxiety so in order to really take care of it you need to get re-evaluated because the longer it goes on the longer the infection might get complicated the process might get complicated licated but then the stress that comes with it that's going to make it worse also stress can really exacerbate certain health conditions including respiratory issues um it can worsen coughing it can cause chest tightness so you feel uncomfortable and chronic stress has been proven to reduce and weaken your immune system so whatever process is going on there the more stressed you are the less your body is going to be able to really fight it and take care of it it's going to also contribute to a lot of inflammation and that's going to contribute to symptoms so there's a lot of points here that need to be addressed um stress can really really trigger bad things to happen in the body we all know this but especially when you have something like that going on it can make it worse additionally stress can trigger any underlying conditions that you have so if you have asthma if you have COPD it can make those conditions worse and then increase the coughing the mucus production the muscle tension and really make those coughing fits even worse so there's a couple different aspects that you want to look at here with your healthc care professional managing stress through relaxation techniques mindful pract mindfulness practices exercising and seeking support from your loved ones your family your therapist these are all very beneficial methods of improving your stress levels and reducing any Associated anxiety and really it just improves your overall well-being and potentially could take care of some symptoms that you're having too but Jeff I say it again and I say it it very very emphatically I really want you to get checked out again so we can really know what's going on and get you the best treatment and get you back to fighting condition as soon as possible now the other thing is that stress can also sometimes mimic other health care conditions so point of the story is please get checked out we have another question here that's come to us through Facebook and this is from Cindy Cindy's question is short but it's right to the point she asks what helps memory oh boy that's a loaded question because memory is something for instance we all think that with age memory might go down or should go down but that shouldn't be the case and it doesn't need to be the case if you're living a healthy lifestyle at the Baseline so you're eating well you're eating whole nutritious Foods you're exercising you're meditating or reducing your stress you're avoiding risky substances like alcohol and drugs and smoking and you have strong social connections with your friends and family and loved ones believe it or not that is a great formula for brain health and in turn for memory if you find though that your memory is lacking or you're having issues with it then I do suggest you talk to your healthc care professional to see if there's something else that could be causing it memory is something we all need right we all need to remember things and we all need to concentrate there's a lot of over-the-counter things and supplements that say memory booster and you know memory enhancer and they may be great some of them may be work um I don't know you know you can try them sometimes with the help of your healthc care professional and your doctor but those aren't going to do much if your Baseline lifestyle is not a good one so if you're eating junk food all the time not really gonna help if you smoke or if you are not exercising if you're stressed all the time no matter what tablets or vitamins you take it's really not going to help your memory so at your Baseline you should have a great lifestyle and that's really what's going to help your memory the most we have time for one more question and this one is from Facebook and this one comes from Danny Danny asks I've had hiccups and vomiting every day for three years and the gis can't find anything wrong I've had weight loss and severe blood loss but they can't pinpoint where it's coming from either my whole life has changed and this just isn't normal you're right Danny that's not normal um that's actually very very serious hiccups we all know we get hiccups from time to time and how annoying are hiccups right um and there's different ways to get rid of them people say uh scaring somebody or drinking a whole glass of water chugging it really really quick or holding your breath for 30 seconds or some of those Shenanigans um we've all tried it I'm sure but even having hiccups for just a few seconds or minutes is irritating so I can only imagine what Dany has been going through when those hiccups start to become accompanied by vomiting well um that that's a sign that something more serious might be going on in the body and especially when there's weight loss and blood loss then you really want to make sure that there's nothing else that's being missed because there's a lot of gastrointestinal conditions that can cause these symptoms they can be simple conditions we have conditions that might be inflammatory and then we also have conditions that unfortunately um might be cancerous and you really really want to make sure that that's not the case so with vomiting with hiccups um the weight loss and then especially when we're seeing blood that means something's going on in our GI system and we really really need to get it addressed so Danny I hope you've seen a gastroenterologist um it sounds like you have and you might have had extensive testing as well but I think maybe maybe they missed something or maybe the condition has now changed and now there's other things going on that they need to retest for so really you want to be sure that you've had a very full evaluation and under that full evaluation you want to make sure that they've hit all the points that are necessary to really rule out any condition that could possibly cause this they're going to look in the gastro intestinal system but then there might be parts of the other systems that might be you know nudging the gastro intestinal system and causing those symptoms so you really really really want to make sure now I have another question here and this one says what is the treatment for hepatomegaly well hpat megal can be a en large M of the liver caused by a lot of conditions so if that's something you're experiencing please talk to your health care provider because you want to make sure you're getting the right testing the right diagnosis and then the right treatment so you can live happy live long live healthy well that's all the time we have for today folks I appreciate you tuning in with me I hope I was able to help be happy be healthy that's it for here for us here at ask the do thank you for watching we'll see you next time send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth goo on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com e