Ask Dr. Drew - Long Covid Treatment, Fentanyl Epidural Safety, Dilaudid (Hydromorphone) IV Effects & More From Your Calls – Ask Dr. Drew - Ep 282

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

Ask Dr. Drew LIVE! Callers from Spaces ask Dr. Drew anything about ANYTHING! Topics include: treatment for Long Covid (Covid Long Haulers), safety of fentanyl epidurals in childbirth, experiences with dilaudid (Hydromorphone) IV in a hospital, and more from callers. Plus a special appearance from Jimmy Failla! WHY 3 CALLER SHOWS? Producer Kaleb Nation and his wife just had a baby! To prepare for sleepless nights with a newborn, we are not scheduling guests for a week… and instead, Dr. Drew is taking YOUR calls in 3 special episodes! 「 SPONSORED BY 」 Find out more about the companies that make this show possible and get special discounts on amazing products at https://drdrew.com/sponsors • GENUCEL - Using a proprietary base formulated by a pharmacist, Genucel has created skincare that can dramatically improve the appearance of facial redness and under-eye puffiness. Genucel uses clinical levels of botanical extracts in their cruelty-free, natural, made-in-the-USA line of products. Get an extra discount with promo code DREW at https://genucel.com/drew • PRIMAL LIFE - Dr. Drew recommends Primal Life's 100% natural dental products to improve your mouth. Get a sparkling smile by using natural teeth whitener without harsh chemicals. For a limited time, get 60% off at https://drdrew.com/primal • THE WELLNESS COMPANY - Counteract harmful spike proteins with TWC's Signature Series Spike Support Formula containing nattokinase and selenium. Learn more about TWC's supplements at https://twc.health/drew • PALEOVALLEY - "Paleovalley has a wide variety of extraordinary products that are both healthful and delicious,” says Dr. Drew. "I am a huge fan of this brand and know you'll love it too!” Get a discount on your first order at https://drdrew.com/paleovalley 「 MEDICAL NOTE 」 The CDC states that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and reduce your risk of severe illness. You should always consult your personal physician before making any decisions about your health.  「 ABOUT THE SHOW 」 Ask Dr. Drew is produced by Kaleb Nation (https://kalebnation.com) and Susan Pinsky (https://twitter.com/firstladyoflove). This show is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 「 ABOUT DR. DREW 」 Dr. Drew is a board-certified physician with over 35 years of national radio, NYT bestselling books, and countless TV shows bearing his name. He's known for Celebrity Rehab (VH1), Teen Mom OG (MTV), Dr. Drew After Dark (YMH), The Masked Singer (FOX), multiple hit podcasts, and the iconic Loveline radio show. Dr. Drew Pinsky received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and his M.D. from the University of Southern California, School of Medicine. Read more at https://drdrew.com/about Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

welcome everybody this is uh concludes our week of all calls although we are expecting a visit from jimmy phala whom will be joining me along with cat timp and i think kennedy at the uh music hall in the chelsea music hall under the chelsea market on monday that's next monday so do check us out there 8 30 p.m 8 30 p.m uh and in chelsea in chelsea at the chelsea market i'll be there too susan will be there too. Susan will be there. We'll hang out afterwards. We'll love to answer questions.

But today we are answering questions on any topic. Again, we're at a special time. We go back to our usual schedule next week and usual guests and whatnot. Though there's a little flyer for what's coming up. All right. So we are on Twitter spaces. You raise your hand there. You come up. Ask me anything, really on any topic.

Hopefully we can. Should we also mention that if you go to drdrew.com slash nycomedy and use the code Drew, the tickets are 50% off, okay, for our listeners. And that's 50% off $30. So the ticket will be 15. So bring a friend, get some butts in the seats, and ask us some questions. And we'll tell you more after this. Our laws as it pertains to substances are draconian and bizarre. The psychopath started this.

He was an alcoholic because of social media and pornography, PTSD, love addiction, fentanyl and heroin. Ridiculous. I'm a doctor for f***'s sake. Where the hell do you think I learned that? I'm just saying. You go to treatment before you kill people. I am a clinician. I observe things about these chemicals. Let's just deal with what's real.

We used to get these calls on Loveline all the time. Educate adolescents and to prevent and to treat. If you have trouble, you can't stop, and you want help stopping, I can help. I got a lot to say. I got a lot more to say. I think everyone knows the next medical crisis could be just around the corner, whether it comes in the form of another pandemic or something much more routine like a tick bite. You and your family need to be prepared. That's where the Wellness Company comes in. You know the Wellness Company, we have their physicians on like Dr. McCullough frequently. The wellness company and their doctors are medical

professionals you can trust. And their new medical emergency kits are the gold standard when it comes to keeping you safe and healthy. It's really, it's a safety net. It's an insurance policy that you hope you're not going to need, but if you need it, you sure as heck are going to wish you had it if you need it. Be ready for anything. This medical emergency kit contains an assortment of life-saving medications, including ivermectin, Z-Pak. The medical emergency kit provides a guidebook to aid in the safe use of all these life-saving medications. From anthrax to tick bites to COVID-19, the wellness company's medical emergency kit is exactly what you need to have on hand to be prepared. Rest assured, knowing that you have emergency antibiotics, antivirals, and antiparasitics on hand to help you and your family stay safe from whatever life throws at you next. Go to

drdrew.com slash TWC. That is D-R-D-R-E-W dot com forward slash TWC to get 10% off today. Just click on that link. Speaking of TWC, I think people have seen some of the announcements. We are getting very much involved with TWC, and I'm coming up with some of my own packets that I think, you know, my greatest pleasure in working with TWC is that they are trying to restore the, let me put it this way, the most efficient unit we have in medicine is a well-informed caring physician and an informed, motivated patient.

That's your best unit. Anything you put on top of that is a mess. Now, the physician part has become adulterated by being employed by a hospital, insurance companies, there are a million, you know, we're aware of the drug companies and what they're doing.

We've been adulterated a million ways. So we have lost that battle. It seems to me the way to fight it, an alternative way to fight it, is to put the locus of control back in the hands of the patient. And that's what TWC is interested in doing. That's what I am interested in doing. So I'm happy to be a part of that.

And I will mention again, so it makes Susan very happy when I talk about this Monday, November 6th, we're going to be at 830 at the Chelsea Music Hall. We're going to be answering your questions. Me, Kat Temp, Jimmy Fela, and I'm hearing now, Kennedy, is that true, Susan? Is she actually going to be here? Yeah, I invited her and she goes,

oh, you mean to be on the show? And I was like, oh, yes. Okay, why not? Of course, of course. It's going to be a total shit show. Join us. Oh, here's something interesting on the restream. Dr. Drew is a Scientologist. It's going to be a total shit show. Join us. Here's something interesting on the restream. Dr. Drew is a Scientologist. That's why he can get away with everything. I've never been to a Scientology anything,

but that's an interesting accusation. In fact, I was attacked by Scientology several times. Once I was sort of speculating why people who seem so competent and rich in terms of their contribution to the world were involved with this thing and they attacked me for that. So be that as it may, we are out on, what's a new one? That I'm a Scientologist? Yeah, that's one I have not heard yet. It's been a long time. Never heard that one. Let's see if anything else. Thank you, Mika. Made us laugh.

Oh, Tom Cigar is going at it. Thank you, Tom. Tom is on the trolls fast, boy. He's just like, what do you mean? Yeah, but he's over on Twitch. He's not on YouTube. Well, he's on the restream where I get to see him. I see Susan over at the Rumble Rants. You guys are all there.

Thank you for being here. And again, we were out on the restream. We were taking your questions there. You raised your hand and we'll bring you up. I failed to mention on Susan's behalf that if you go to drdrew.com slash nycomedy, is that correct, everybody? Yes. You can get a coupon using code D-R-E-W.

50% off. 50% off the show. Online. Monday night, 8.30, Chelsea Music Hall. Come on, New York. Show up for us. We want you there. We, Chelsea Music Hall. Come on, New York. Show up for us. We want you there. We'll be in the surrounding area.

I'm excited. It'll probably just be like 10 people and then us. It could be even more fun. Who knows? We'll have a bigger panel than the fans. That's really funny. Or we'll have just our friends in there. Everybody wants to be on the show.

So I want to sort of get something out of the way right now too, so we're not talking about this after the show. Do we have next week's schedule set up, Caleb? Is that our usual time all the way across? I am not 100% sure, and I'm afraid to say it with my baby laugh seat brain. We have Christina Anderson on Tuesday, and that's going to be at noon Pacific because she is that EU leader who is in, I think, UK,

and she's about eight hours later or seven hours later. Yeah, and we're going to give her an hour because we've got to pack up right at the top of the hour because I have to jump on a plane. Right, right. And also, I love that we're doing this at the beginning of the show instead of the end this time. Wow, we're really mixing things up. Oh, shh. My calendar. Let me pull the curtain back here. at the beginning of the show instead of the end of this time. Wow. We're really mixing things up.

My, my calendar. Let me, let me just, let me pull the curtain back here. Go ahead. I'm my calendar. What it says is that on Tuesday,

the seventh, that at 1130, it's 1130 AM Pacific time is whenever we have the show. Then on Wednesday, the eighth, the show goes back, uh, onto 3 PM Pacific. And then on Thursday, the ninth, it also looks like it could.

Same. Yeah, same. Correct. Yeah. Correct. From Austin. And they'll be from Austin. And the twos will be from New York with Christine Anderson.

Kelly will be here on Wednesday. Fingers crossed. Kelly's going to take over. Tune in. Tune in to those Austin episodes. We found a new studio. Yes, it would be very interesting. And I think it's going to be actually noon on that Tuesday,

according to my last email from Emily Barsh. And I'm sure she's listening and will text us if there's any change on that. Okay. The other thing is I want to pull the curtain back. Take some calls. Okay. Well, in just a second. I'm getting so many texts. I think, Caleb, the arrival of the baby has sent us all off our rockers. And so apologies to everybody. Not me.

We know what you're dealing with out there. I got hacked on Facebook, so that sent me off. Just a whole confluence of factors have come to bear recently that are making everybody off our rockers. That's about the best way to describe it. Speak for yourself, sweetness. I'm off my rocker. This is aka Mr. Roper.

We'll get him up here and see what's going on with Mr. Roper. We'll get him up here and see what's going on with Mr. Roper. And you have to be sure to unmute your mic. Hello? Mr. Roper. Hey there, go right ahead. Hey, how's it going, Drew? I had a couple of questions. One comment on the Scientology thing. I think one of the reasons that so many competent people are hacked by Scientology is that they crave praise. And I think that the Scientologists, they know how to hack people's brains a little bit and their emotions. And so they give them ultra praise and they do the NLP thing. And it's a good way to get them in. Well, they do all sorts of organizations like that do this thing called love bombing as a way of getting people in. And they are particularly, look up love bombing if you want to see a really interesting technique. And it works if you're not aware it's happening to you. And they are particularly focused on celebrities they they really put a high value in bringing them in so that's that's where they really give a a lot of love bombing and resources so and i'm sure it

works for people for a period of time but it's it's it's that that all in always be very careful when anyone wants you to be all in or all out on any topic or any club or anything. You should never be all in or all out. That's a disturbed circumstance when you're being required to be all in or all out. Sure. I had one question also to go along with that. So about a month and a half ago, it's about one o'clock in the morning. I go to sit down and I feel this really, I sit down and I feel this really strange pulsing just at the base of my neck, kind of behind my sternum, but just under my neck.

And it really kind of, it felt like a heart thing. And it went on for about 20 seconds, kind of scared me a little bit. I took a couple of aspirin and it went away. I went to the ER the next morning, about maybe 10 hours later. Um, they pulled a blood test. They did a, uh, EKG. They did a, um, a, uh, a chest x-ray and a few other things. Um, after, so my blood test shows not an elevated, uh, troponin levels. It was like 2.3 or under 2.3. Um, and, and as far as the EKG goes, it says I have a sinus arrhythmia, a right bundle

block. Um, and, uh, the cardiologist said that he couldn't, uh, hear the P at here, hear my pulse at PMI. Is there, do you have any idea? I mean, I'm reading all this stuff and I'm looking at all these different things and I'm seeing like, uh, you know, enlarged heart and, you know, pericarditis and myocarditis. I'm not vaccinated, but I had a pretty intense, uh, Delta COVID in 2020, 2021. Um, And I'm just wondering... Do you have an enlarged heart?

Hang on, was the heart enlarged? Well, I haven't had a... On the x-ray, it didn't show that, I guess, but I haven't had an echo done yet. I'm waiting for that still. But when I was 16, I'm 35 years old now. When I was 16, I had a doctor tell me that I had an enlarged day order by 10%.

Yeah, that's a hard thing to judge, particularly that small. Did you have a CAT scan for some reason? Is that why they saw that? Well, I was getting a physical for water polo, and the doctor was like, I'm sure you don't have it, but maybe just to check Marfan syndrome. I think my chest kind of protrudes a little bit, and in the middle it sinks. So he wanted to have me see a cardiologist just to make sure and they looked at it and he said your 10 your aorta is about 10 percent dilated but other than that you're fine it'd probably be fine but of course i didn't he told me to keep an

eye on it which of course i didn't do and instead you know smoked for the next 18 years pretty heavy and um oh yeah that's not good i'm glad you're not doing that right now well so so that's called pectus right pectus pectus excavatum and that is sometimes you must be a tall person also it made them think about marfans um but the ability to assess an aortic uh diameter within 10 is kind of a inexact science so i'm i i wonder if that's real probably what you had was just pvcs right which are really common which is your heart's going along it's bump bump bump bump bump bump pause boom and that that's pvcs that should be a clip those are normal and the only the rhythms you have to worry about are either irregularly

irregular like all over the place or fast rhythms Those are normal. And the rhythms you have to worry about are either irregularly irregular, like ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, all over the place, or fast rhythms, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Those are the more concerning rhythms in your age group with a normal heart. Okay. The fact that you have a right bundle branch block can be incidental. I had a right bundle branch for a while. It went away, strangely.

That was when I was lifting heavy weights. I had it. With your smoking history and stuff, I think it's good to see a cardiologist, but I think it's probably just plain old PVCs. Okay. Thank you so much, Drew. I appreciate it.

Hey, when, how does somebody your age even know who Mr. Roper is? Oh, I, I'm, I'm a big fan of,

uh, of the show. I actually watched, I watched both iterations of show. I'm kind of an old, so I was listening to you guys when I was in the, in the mid nineties, when I was like eight years old, nine years old. And I kind of got exposed to a lot of 70s, even like 60s TV.

So I love all the 30s and 40s Hollywood and all that. So I'm kind of an old man. Adam and I lately have been analyzing The Partridge Family and Love Bo, to shine a light on how fucked up the seventies were, but there you go. So they were a mess. Trust me. Trust me. They were a mess.

The fact that we're doing anything remotely like that these days is ridiculous. Okay. This is money, penny, money, penny. And I, I beg you guys patience it takes a second to get the

guests up and then it takes even a second further after that to get the mic unmuted so Money Penny Hi Dr. Drew thank you for taking my call I'm coming up to four years of long COVID can you hear me okay?

Yes. I do, but this just sounds awful. Yeah, it is. The worst thing is that I thought I was 80% better, and then something happened, and I took a massive dive again. I've got a question pertaining to connective tissue illnesses. This is through the rheumatology explorations I've had. I'm having a hell of a lot of neuralgia

and I've got non-serorheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, cerebral vasculitis and a number of other vascular and thrombotic type illnesses that have been identified. But as a whole, the group of long COVID people that are sort of two or three years plus in are seeing a huge amount of connective tissue illnesses, but they're not coming up as being autoimmune. The ANA, the ACA, all these tests that are done are not coming out positive.

Can you explain why and what the significance of that would be? Okay, let me, I'll just tell you where my head goes. First of all, I mean, if you have vasculitis, it's hard to call that long COVID. It's almost like you have a second illness now. And so I would imagine that the, and I don't know if it's incidental or caused by the COVID or who knows, but the treatment modalities that would work for the more traditional notion of what long COVID is, you're in a different category, right? Do you understand that? Yeah, I was perfectly fit beforehand, though.

I had absolutely nothing other than a bit of hate. I understand. You know? No, no, I'm not saying it's disconnected. Yeah, possibly. I'm not saying it's disconnected. Yeah, possibly. I'm not saying it's disconnected from COVID. I'm saying you're in a different realm here with these specific conditions. But let me tell you how they hook in together in my mind.

I've been convinced that the majority of particularly long COVID and some of the pathologies of COVID itself is an endothelitis, right? That there's something about this spike protein, it's interacting with the lining of our arteries in such a way as to create an inflammatory activation, both in terms of cytokine and immune cell activation. And if that continues on, it makes sense to me that you'd ultimately get a full-blown what we call vasculitis which means vessels are being destroyed by the by the endothelitis i've not seen that before you're the first person i've spoken to that has that but it makes sense to me that it could go on to that so uh have you been treated with more traditional immune modulatory sorts of interventions no i've just been offered steroids,

prednisolone and hydroxychloroquine. I've been offered, which I turned down. I'm not vaccinated. I mean, I had the original Wuhan strain. So my spike protein is from the original virus itself. Yeah, it's from COVID. It's not from an interaction of a medical substance that's been given to me.

But I thought I was out there. I had long COVID twice. I I was out. Listen, I had long COVID twice. Not from the vaccine. I had long COVID twice. Both times I had COVID, I had long COVID. And it catches your attention. And I thankfully only had it for a few weeks. But it's miserable. It is truly, truly miserable.

I'm the same. My heart goes out to you. Yeah. Yeah, I understand. It's a terrible illness. They're saying now what's 77 7 of adults may get long covid but the vast majority resolve 48 million yeah 48 million people i wish i wish the one thing i would say is take a good look at whether or not

any of the anti-cytokine anti-interleukin anti-interferon interventions that we were doing back in the day of alpha and delta might have a role to play here because it just you have that kind of activation so i mean that that you know it's kind of how covid would do its thing acutely you're getting in sort of a long form. So it makes sense to me that some of the things, you know, Toxeluzumab or who knows what, maybe Loronumab, but these other things that we used to think about for acute COVID might have some utility in this awful thing you're dealing with. I'm so sorry. This is Queen, Queen of the Juice. We'll get into it

and then we'll continue to take your calls. I'll look over on the restream while we're waiting for the Queen of the Juice to come on up. Here's somebody saying, enough with the long COVID. Hang on one second, Queen. Was that a short, long COVID? Was that a short, long COVID? I don't know what DE means by that. Yes, Bando patches. 7% is a lot.

But the vast majority of those resolve. They don't end up like our last caller. Yeah, I had a, I got better with fluvoxamine and learning language and exercise. But the first time when I had bad COVID, it took a couple months, took a couple months. The second time when I had almost, I didn't even know I had COVID,

it was like two weeks, but it's a couple months. It took a couple months. The second time when I'd almost, I didn't even know I had COVID, it was like two weeks, but it's a very characteristic feeling I got. Sorry about that. Queen of the juice. What's going on? Hey, Dr. Drew. Hey, I'm actually more concerned about the trauma-based mind control with the media and the scare tactics that they have used and what effects that's had not only on the elderly who are, for the most part, isolated already in our society, and then on the young. And knowing now that the shots, they don't stop the illness and they create additional problems.

We know that. The CDC has said that. I want to know why are doctors still telling, especially the elderly and the most vulnerable people in our society to take these shots that they know don't stop anything. They know cause additional problems. I'm going to attempt.

It's a good question. Let me attempt to answer it. It's a big, big, big question. So when the COVID outbreak first happened, I thought it was all at the hands of the press that were trying to whip up panic. And I knew panic could only make things worse. So I was very angry about this. I was saying, don't listen to press that were trying to whip up panic. And I knew panic could only make things worse. So I was very angry about this. I was saying, don't listen to these people, don't listen to them. I didn't know the government was involved at the time. I should have thought of that because I worked under the behest of Dr. Fauci back in the days of AIDS, and we used a lot

of fear back then too. It's the wrong thing to do. But this, in the present media environment, where it's 24-hour news cycles and they have no conscience in terms of using fear, and then social media was out of control, it's a new era where fear is terribly destructive. And they continue to use it. They continue to use fear to capture eyes without concern for what that does to you. I would urge you to look at people that were eight to 15 years of age during the lockdown.

Imagine you were nine years old and someone told you shelter in place, which is what you tell somebody when a nuclear missile is approaching. Shelter in place or you're going to kill mom and grandma. You're going to kill your family. And we're going to take you away from your peers for two years. Imagine what would happen to you. Of course, the mental health consequences are profound. Of course they are. And by the way,

in the meantime, you'll lose your educational milestones, but we'll give you a screen which will expose you to pornography and sexting. Have at it. It's really been just an awful misadventure that harmed young people, which in terms of years of life lost, we got to remember that we were very focused on nursing home patients and the very elderly, which was appropriate. But in terms of years of life lost, the average life expectancy in most studies for a male admitted to a nursing home for long-term care is six months. That's the average life expectancy. If you're harming people that are nine years old, that's 70 years of life you're affecting. It's a very different responsibility,

a very different thing. So that's one side of what I'm concerned about. Now, then you asked about, in any event, I overstated myself and I got very angry about it and hubristic and that was my mistake. And I missed some things because of it. It's important for all of us to not have irrational certainty on anything. To be certain is irrational.

We need rational uncertainty. That is James, Dr. Freiman's frame on things, which I thought was just perfect. Irrational certainty is irrational. Science, biology, it's all uncertain and you can be rationally uncertain. I thought was just perfect. Irrational certainty is irrational. Science, biology, it's all uncertain, and you can be rationally uncertain and still make good decisions. Hubristic, hubris is not in the game. Now, then you asked a separate question,

which was about elderly and vaccines. So I'm someone who vaccinates elderly patients, and I've seen zero side effects. I have many hundreds of elderly patients, zero side effects, and considerable benefit. You have to remember in elderly patients, things get very complicated. There are often times like I had a patient with liver failure and tuberculosis who got COVID whom I couldn't use Paxlovid on. Paxlovid, I've also seen that work extraordinarily well in the elderly. So it's a different question, vaccinating a population who has a lot to gain.

By the way, they get much sicker from COVID or lives are much more endangered by it, versus somebody who has essentially no risk from COVID, like a 25-year-old male, and who has a finite risk of myocarditis. We can argue about whether it's 1 in 4,000, 1 in 8,000, 1 in 50,000. The risk of dying from COVID is not 1 in 50,000. It's like 1 in a million in that age group. It's very remote, or let's at least say 1 in 100,000.

And these are different considerations, vaccinating certain populations versus another, treating certain populations with a medication. Paxlovid was only studied over age 65. So we really don't know what we're doing with that medication under age 65. And by the way, it's going to be 1300 bucks now. Is that worth it? We don't know. We don't, I mean, it's a very significant cost benefit consideration. So the point being is stay uncertain, be, you know, constantly try to get more information to approximate the truth. Um, we'll never get there. We're always trying to get there. We will never get there. We just get some approximation of it, but, but try not to go

all one way or all the other. Keep, keep an open mind. That's my best advice. What do you, what do you say to all that? I'm'm i'm still um very concerned about because the elderly they've been taking all of these flu shots most of all their lives and and we've never gotten even the right strain of flu i feel like they've been vaccine damaged their whole lives and that's why their immune systems are so let me let me just push back on you. Let me just push back. I'm having no problem getting people into their 90s in good shape. I mean, there's always a fall off. I would recommend Peter Atiyah's book, if you want to read about longevity, it's called Outlive. And there's always a fall off at some point in your 80s where you lose muscle mass, you lose mobility, you lose cognitive function.

It just happens to the human, it's just how we're genetically set up. And I'm not seeing that happen. That's happening at later and later, later times in life. We've been pushing that back consistently. People have been living longer, better. I don't see anything like that in my patients being injured or damaged by anything. I just don't see anything like that in my patients being injured or damaged by anything. I just don't see it. Well, I'm coming from a person who most of my grandparents have gotten cancer and had the end-of-life protocols of getting overdosed with opium about hospice. And that is what the medical establishment seems to,

making us medical debt slaves, womb to tomb. I'm someone that I was always vaccinated as a child. I was sick. Now as an adult and I don't get the vaccines, I never get sick. And so my immune system has gotten better. Listen, philosophically, I am actually with you. and so my immune system has gotten better. Philosophically, I am actually with you.

I want you to have control of your health care. I'm in that mode now where I think that is a critical focus. I think it's going to become my life going forward, is trying to put patients back in the driver's seat, but helping them do that in rational ways and safe ways and best risk reward analysis ways where they are helped in those decisions. And they're not easy. I make them all the time for patients. Indeed, those are not easy decisions to make. And so I'm philosophically with you, but I would want to talk more, if you were my patient and I were giving you control of, but I would want to talk more.

If you were my patient and I were giving you control of things, I would want to talk more about some of the decisions you're making and why you made them and advise you to educate yourself more in certain areas, and then we would go forward. I want you to have control of your health care. I like that you're thinking that way. I have to take a little break. Thank you for that call. We have many more calls to come, and we've got Jimmy Fala stopping by after the break.

Woo-hoo! Susan and I have been looking for a nutrition-packed, great-tasting greens drink for a while. And then we tried our friends at Paleo Valley's organic super greens, which is superior to what's out there on the market. Our friends at Paleo Valley, well, they think of everything,

and they've created what's been called a magical green powerhouse. All three delicious varieties, pure, unflavored, strawberry lemonade, and tropical contain 23 certified organic antioxidant-rich superfoods, including the highest quality spirulina. It's also free of cereal grasses, gluten, grains, soy, and dairy, and no added sugars or artificial sweeteners. And what's more, it delivers digestive enzymes, polyphenols, which are believed to burn fat, and eight essential amino acids. Imagine the time, effort, and cost of trying to make this yourself. It's impossible.

Head on over to drdrew.com slash paleovalley, and you will get 15 off your first order all the great products that have there 15 off at drdrew.com slash paleo p-a-l-e-o fall is right around the corner which means dry flaky red skin from allergy season is coming with it but the best way to take care of your skin is with our skincare secret genucell you don't need to worry about that puffy, tired eye look or those annoying dark spots or even dry, flaky skin because GenuCell skincare has you covered. Susan and I love our GenuCell products so much, we want you to try our personally curated skincare bundles. It's risk-free at GenuCell.com slash Drew. GenuCell works so well, you can see the results in this unplanned live moment on our show when the Redness Repair Cream repaired my skin in just minutes right before your eyes. Their concentrated vitamin C serum helps keep your skin plump and hydrated. Plus, with their immediate

effects, you can see astonishing results in under 12 hours. Quick, effective, and easy. Go to GenuCell.com slash Drew right now to try our bundles and save over 60% today. And remember to enroll in GenuCell's world-class concierge program for additional savings and free shipping. Don't wait. It's GenuCell.com slash Drew. G-E-N-U-C-E-L.com slash D-R-E-W. These products have transformed my life and Susan's and saved their marriage. Discover the key to oral hygiene, regardless of your current daily dental

routine, whether you diligently brush and floss multiple times a day or you struggle, you got bleeding gums, bad breath, plaque buildup. This revelation is for both of you. Surprisingly, over 350,000 Americans experience health issues that may be connected to their toothbrush or even caused by it, ranging from heart or blood sugar problems, forgetfulness, digestive difficulties, immune issues, all related to oral hygiene. Scientific studies have shown that a simple switch of your toothbrush can lead to a healthier teeth and potentially save your marriage. Yes, save your marriage. Our study.

We did a personal study. My wife, wife Susan hates the sound of the sonic toothbrushes, but introducing the real white sonic toothbrush, of course also their hydroxyapatite dirty mouth mineral toothpaste by Primal Life Organics, these products have transformed my life and Susan's and saved our marriage. It's much quieter. It's a very powerful toothbrush, but it is quiet and it saved our marriage. So the Real White Sonic Toothbrush from Primal Life Organics stands out among all other electric toothbrushes I've tried. It effectively eliminates plaque, harmful bacteria, promotes gum health. Get yours and enjoy 60% off at naturaltoothbrush.com slash D-R-E-W. Welcome back, everybody.

We are taking your calls. And I'm getting mixed messages about whether Mr. Fela is ready to rock or not. He's ready. No, he's ready. Okay, because I got to. I mean, I don't know. We'll see. You guys are blowing up my phone with all kinds of texts.

He said he's in his seat, ready to roll. Including, Jimmy's not in his seat. Jimmy, welcome to the program. He's a pro. Hey, hey, hey. Jimmy Fallon. Yeah. Hey, buddy, how are you?

Better now. I don't know if you heard, but Susan's a bit of a texter. So there was a lot of- Oh, my God. A little back and forth over where and when. Yeah, and I tell her, like, you you're blowing i'm trying to do a podcast you're blowing up my phone what did i say what did i do like i just thought you needed to know like okay just saying getting the snow susan is a human group text like and i do mean this i enjoy her

enthusiasm for the text drew she texted me yesterday about this and then went on for nine minutes about an Uber ride she had taken recently in San Jose. It was like, what is even happening? It was amazing. You were a cab driver. I thought you might appreciate it. Yeah. So, Jimmy, okay.

She just, so, Jimmy, this is a great example. So, you have to speak fluent Susan to speak Susan. I would have known that she would have been in her brain thinking about you as a cab driver when she launched into that Uber conversation. But you have to translate in real time or you'll miss a whole lot. It's a lot going on, man. Tell me to stop when you want me to stop. No, no, we love you, Susan. You're the best.

But it's like I said, there's this infectious enthusiasm to your texts that it's a lot. It's like it's drinking out of a fire hose. And I mean it in a good way. But it's only now, Drew, that you invoked me being a cab driver that I even stopped to consider

why you were telling me this because it was just it's not like you wouldn't just tell me something like this anyway but now it makes sense oh no listen we we my kids and I read her text back to each other so we for comedy tell the story about what happened in the uber the uber was again she needs to there's a whole conversation she just had with herself that prompted her to tell me this. I'm aware of it. I can read her brain now.

It's crazy. I can read her mind exactly. So the fact is we were in San Jose. We ordered an XL Uber. This guy pulls up in a minivan with like suspect name of some kind of company on the side. Opens up. It's an American.

Yeah, it did not look like a XL, but we jumped in. We were on our way to the airport. And we quickly got on the side. Opens up. It said American. Yeah, it did not look like a XL, but we jumped there. We were on our way to the airport. And we quickly got on the freeway and car would not go over 35 miles an hour, I noticed. And I thought to myself, well, it really isn't road safe for over 35.

So this is fine. Even though we're on a freeway with people zooming past us. And then my wife, who's in addition to being an expert te texter group texter she has a nose that is uh phenomenal and she goes something's on fire something something's on fire i smell smoke and uh about that time and i thought at that time we're sort of getting towards the off ramp i'm you know trying to calculate in my head how many more yards we have to get to the pull up on the

airport i'm thinking coasted off the ramp. Yeah, I'm thinking, even if this thing's on fire, we're going to make it. So I kind of shut up, and the whole engine catches on fire just as we pull up to the luggage drop-off. And the guy gets out of the car, and she starts speaking to him in Spanish, which is a language he did not speak, nor English. He didn't know what fuego meant. She was going, fuego, fuego.

He's like, what? He opened the hood. He opened the hood and smoke billowed out. He closed the hood and drove away to get his next customer. Five stars. You got where you needed to go. Five stars. Five stars. His work is done.

It's scary. I love this. So you're going to join me. I don't know. How long do I have you today? Like for just a few minutes? Is that what we're doing? There.

You're going to join me and Kat and I guess now Kennedy because the group text kept getting bigger and eventually Kennedy got caught in the collateral crossfire. Now she's on the show. And so it's going to be at the Chelsea Music Hall November 6th. Be there at 7.30. Show's at 8.30 beneath the Chelsea Market. Tell people

about your Fox Across America show also while we're talking about this stuff. So Fox Across America is obviously a terrestrial radio show here at Fox News. It's on weekdays from noon to three. And obviously you can get the podcast on the Fox News app or anything like that.

But yeah, we're on about 155 stations across the country. And I'll tell you this, Drew, my radio superpower is the fact that I don't have one. I am very much a regular person having a conversation. Like you do a talk show. I do a talk show. Most political radio is either a staunch right wing advocacy hour or the complete opposite. I really, I do mean this. It's not like shtick. Like I'm not doing a Republican talk show. I'm doing an American talk show. I'm trying to find people who will just have the conversation because

it's so much more productive than just screaming at people to vote one way because if somebody's changing the station and they don't agree with it now they just got an angry guy you're not going to win them over so you know we're doing the whole you know you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar and our honey is like a honey vodka. So it's that much more sticky. It's a laughable honey. And so it is that kind of material we're going to be getting into on Monday, November 6th. You can get 50% off tickets to the Chelsea Music Hall

at drdrew.com slash nycomedy, one word, and use the code Drew. And when you check out, you get 50% off. And Jimmy, I think one of the reasons people are willing to have those conversations with you, it's that history of sort of blue collar working, driving a cab, that kind of stuff. I think people really relate to that history that you have. Yeah, you know, I think most of the people out there, they don't want an academic in this moment when it comes to politics. They don't want to Google which house resolution didn't pass because of a cloture vote. They just want to hear a person give it to them in a language they understand.

I mean, again, that's kind of the hook. Like, I am communicating at a third grade level, but a third grade level allows you to, you know, process what I'm saying, have an opinion on it and feedback. And I think that's the biggest challenge of right now is a lot of people want to show the world how smart they are. But a lot of times that doesn't make for a good conversation. i've got to google every third thing you're saying uh we're not really having a give and take so my show i say this true like it sounds like we get paid in tequila and tide pods and that's partly because it's true and mainly because like that's the vibe that's what you want to do you know yeah

were you ever much of a student of american history yeah but not on a level where anyone listening to this would copy off me on a test but whatever you invoke i'm probably i understand my verse in it yeah yeah but i just i just i you know i know kill me to precedes you is very involved in history is very much considered no no no student of history. No, he's unhealthy. No, no. Kilmeade likes history the way everyone knows a little kid who likes dinosaurs too much and works it into every conversation.

You're like, hey, Ricky, how you doing? I like dinosaurs. Like, wow, thank you for that, Ricky. I was just saying hello. That's Kilmeade. You see him in the elevator. I'm like, how'd the show go? He's like, you know, Samuel Jackson and Frederick Douglass had a conversation on May the 9th, 1850.

I'm like, whoa, what just happened here, Kilmeade? Non sequitur. He has an unhealthy love of history. And I love him for it. But yeah, not on that level. You have completely, you've put Kilmeade to rest for me. Thank you for that. Well done.

I think this is a third grader with a dinosaur obsession. Susan, anything else we need to get from Jimmy before I let him go? I don't want to keep him too long. Do you have any questions for Dr. Drew? Because this is called Ask Dr. Drew. You're dang right it is. First of all, Monday night show.

You should know I'm excited about this. Kat and I were just talking about it on my radio show a little while ago. Are we basically doing this with a live audience? Basically, I thought a little bit of a Gutfeld-esque quality to it too. But yes, we'll get audience interaction. We'll get you, your thoughts. Yes.

I have some things I want you guys to talk about. Yes. So when you say, all right, so a Gutfeld-esque quality, do you want me to dress as if I'm five foot one? No, I don't want you to be Gutfeld-esque quality. Do you want me to dress as if I'm 5'1"? No, I don't want you to be Gutfeld. I want you to wear one of your crazy coats. I want you to be Fela. Oh, let me tell you something, girlfriend.

If you want a just-for-the-occasion outfit, for real, because I have a couple of jackets that shock the conscience. Every once in a while, you get a phone call from wardrobe not an email because they can't say the things they want to say in writing because it's corporate america but i have a couple of jackets that have elicited a phone response uh that i'd be happy to unveil monday night if that's okay with you i'll be happy if i confuse you with divine well i tell you like my my hook drew for real is like i look like a figure skater who let himself go like i used to be the guy winning gold medals and like flamboyant outfits and they hoisted

me up at the end of the routine and now i've got to be the guy doing the hoisting because he can't pick me up that's kind of the hook of what i'm going for. So, yeah, you'll see that. Not quite a Chip and Dale, maybe a Chips and Dip, if you will. But I'll be there. And before I let you go, any questions for me, as Susan put it? It's all questions today, so we're not going to let you go without a question. Oh, you want like a real Dr. Drew question? Absolutely. Yeah, give me a question.

No, no. I think this is a? Absolutely. Yeah. Give me a question. Yeah. No, no. I think this is a good one. Okay. Where are you weighing it? Where do you weigh in on the sugar battle? What I mean by the sugar battle is, okay, when it comes to just weight loss, okay, because I try, like I have a standup special coming out and I don't, you know, I'm not telling you I want to look like a bikini model, but I also don't want to look like a before model. So in the process of prepping for that, I usually try to eliminate sugars from my diet as the quickest expediter to weight loss.

Am I doing something right or wrong here? You're doing something right, but it's not likely to do a lot. Ah, hell. Right? I mean, look, the enemies, simple sugars and starch, anything that approximate cake, anything cakey, anything pure sweet, you're not doing yourself a favor metabolically. If you have metabolic syndrome like me, it actually affects your lipid metabolism. Insulin resistance is enhanced. It's a thing.

You have to be careful. And I suspect you're similar to me in this sort of biology. And so you have to pay attention. But in terms of, there's several different things. Weight loss is one thing. Weight maintenance is another thing. Health maintenance is another thing. And fundamentally, the diet you'll do is the diet I want you to do if you find one that's worked for you losing weight. But you're not going to be able to stay on anything long-term unless you get kind of a sensible thing going and uh susan do you want to ring in with your v shred stuff i know that she's itching to come in here oh oh also you know you can't eat certain oils right seed oils you want to avoid seed oils like canola oil vegetable

oils you want to stay with butter and fat and and avocado if can, olive oil, proper olive oil, real olive oil. It gets a little complicated. And we have a sponsor or an endorsement. Drew has been- And then exercise. He's endorsing something called V-Shred. And I don't know if you've ever seen the ads of us prancing around working out

and talking about the diet. Oh, okay. He's going to look it up now. Yeah, the diet. This is going to be part of the Monday deal. Yeah. Trust me, he's going to attack us for this on Monday. Yeah, well, Drew was a carnivore for four years.

Yeah, I was a carnivore for four years. I was a no-carb, no-anything for four years, just meat. And I would have to cook 10 pounds of steak every Monday. And it turned out I gained a bunch of weight. At it was really good but for a sustained basis it wasn't so good so there you go listen i'm gonna let you go my friend i see you but anyways we're eating carbs now and we're losing weight and we're staying in shape and it's awesome yeah and i this is something to talk about monday because the is like for TV, I always say like I'm surrounded by TV stars. I look like I installed your TV.

Okay. It's a superpower. But I also need to be mindful because I'm in a very aesthetic visual medium. So I will come armed with questions and treat this like a semi-serious conversation. There you go. Okay, great. Jimmy, thanks for being a part of it. We love you. We'll see you soon. Okay, take care, buddy. Rock and roll Monday.

Bye. The great Jimmy Fela. Tata. Follow him on X at JimmyFelaFAI. Two L's? Two L's in his name? Yes, two L's. And you can find him at JimmyFela on Twitter and all the other places. You guys have been very patiently standing by while we've got lots and lots of calls going up. Give him a

shout out. He's a nice out. He's a nice guy. He is a nice guy. Let me try to get to your calls here. I'm sorry that we were sort of vamping there for a minute. Let me try to get Mike up here and see what Mike wants to talk about. Sorry, guys. We're indulging ourselves. We've got a little time left here.

It's funny. A lot of diet questions have come up in the last couple days. Yeah. And, you know, the guy that asked me a diet question yesterday DM'd me again, like, no, I want real specifics. I opened by saying, look, the biochemist I admire most is the one who says,

you can't really say much about real specifics about nutrition. It's too biologically complicated. There are certain things you can say. And I say those things. All right. Try the V-Shred. You might like. And I say those things. All right. Try the V Shred. You might like it.

Oh, we lost Mike. I lost Mike again. We will get to. I do. I'm very picky about diets too. Yeah, I know. It's basically what I would cook normally. But the recipes are very good. And it's easy to follow.

And you can stick with it and see the weight fall off. And then you're amazed because you had like a taco and you lost weight. Like, Ooh, look at that. This is Yolanta. Yolanta, a chance to come in. There you are. Mic dropped off. Hey, Yolanta.

Got to unmute that mic. Yeah, I'm there. Hey there. Thank you very much for letting me ask you some questions. I just listened to the lady that was asking about vaccinating elderly. I've got a couple of questions. It's still concerning COVID and the vaccines in total, of course. Let me ask you another question. Have you read The Turtles All the Way Down?

The Turtles All the Way... I am familiar with that. Yes. I've not read it carefully. It was recommended to me when I was still very dismissive of anything anti-vax. Now I'm listening. I'm still not, I am not in that camp. Let's be clear about this. I vaccinate people.

I understand people are concerned, but go ahead. Okay. But if you will get to this book, realize that it has been published in 2018 or 19 already, before all this debacle has oh yeah oh no it was yeah it was the anti you know listen so i i don't believe it i'm gonna say this i have friends that are you know and i i don't um exclude somebody from friendship because of their belief system on vaccines and uh some of my anti-vax friends were like, you got to read this book. And I was like, all right, okay.

I couldn't read it carefully, but so go ahead. Okay. Yeah. I'm not an anti-vaxxer. I haven't taken the COVID job, but I have been vaxxed up to my eyeballs apart from the, actually, I never had the flu vaccine because I just couldn't really face the ideology behind this that we are taking the shots with the material from last three years to protect us from the common flu strain. Well we in spite of that, we would generally capture about 60% of the flu

viruses. We would generally do okay most years. That's pretty good. I want protection against that. I want my elderly patients to be protected against that. You remember, flu kills old people. You've got to remember that. I know. I'm a doctor as well. The thing is that, you know, even

Dr. McCulloch recently, I haven't personally looked into the detailed data about the flu vaccine, but apparently there are publications already showing. There are about 16. Let me ask you something else. Let me ask something else. This is something I want to... Did you hear me talking about how adulterated the patient-physician relationship has become?

Did you hear us talking about that? Okay. I want to ask you about this. What's that? Was it today or on the previous... No, I said it about half an hour, 20 minutes ago I was talking about it. But listen, are you practicing medicine in the United States? No, I did. I said it about a half an hour, 20 minutes ago I was talking about it. But listen, are you practicing medicine in the United States? No, in UK.

UK. So here, the relationship between the doctor and the patient has been adulterated by insurance companies and hospitals that employ doctors and state agencies. It's just, it's adulterated and And physicians have been trying to break free from it for 30 years. And it's only gotten exponentially worse. I'm of the opinion that the physician, a highly well-trained and caring physician and a motivated, informed patient

is your most effective, most efficient unit in medicine, period. Okay? And that has been adulterated on the physician side by all these employees and financial distortions and drug companies and all these things. I want to put some of the control back in the hands of the patient.

Do you agree with that, that we should be helping patients be the locus of control for their own healthcare? Absolutely, but based on the fact that you've got to give them all the information that is available. And not all information is available to you. Yes.

This is what I thought you would say. And I agree with that, which is why I'm trying to be open to everything. And you know in science, you know in biology, getting at the truth is really hard. It's really hard. And you also know that our clinic, say it again? It got even harder based on the recent experience with the literature that is accessible to us and what is published and the quality of what is published. Yes, ma'am. A thousand percent true. Yes, it's mortifying to me.

I never thought we'd be here, but here we are. So we agree. And so I just think that rational uncertainty on everything is the right approach, that trying to approximate the truth as best we can. But that, our clinical experience has meaning, right? That your and my clinical experience has been washed out of the conversation of what's going on here. It's all about the literature only, and no one talks about what physicians are seeing.

And when you do talk about what you're seeing, you're attacked for it. Do you agree with that? Yeah, that's very true. Yeah. Yeah, you's very true. Yeah. You are not allowed to have experience anymore. You've got to follow the protocols and the boxes. Yes. That's terrible.

And so my experience goes on, cuts both ways, right? So I'm telling you, like, healthy patients, you know, I'm able to get them into their 90s, I'm an internist, I vaccinate them all, it's kind of working for me, and I've not seen any side effects. That's my clinical experience. I'm able to get them into their 90s. I'm an internist. I vaccinate them all. It's kind of working for me, and I've not seen any side effects. That's my clinical experience. I also fought like crazy against the Women's Health Initiative when all the national

gynecological and obstetrical societies told me that I was a, literally these words, I was a witch doctor if I dared to give hormone replacement therapy to a woman. And I said, it's going to destroy a lot of women. It did. They all turned into immobilized spheres with fractured spines. It was atrocious because these societies all took a certain position. I'm worried about all of this now. There's all these very strong positions that organizations are taking. They have been wrong in the past. Are you worried that they're wrong now?

I allow this possibility to fruit coming fruition very soon, actually, because there are several things that has been sort of debunked, or at least I have learned more about them, like, for example, the anti-cholesterol drugs and the role in preventing heart attacks. Now, what I'm thinking about as well, I would like to ask you about it. Like, when you are familiar with the Cleveland Clinic study that they did on the amount of jobs that all the people that are employed in Cleveland Clinic took. Yes, and they got sick. More likely to get sick afterwards. They're more likely to get sick with the vaccine than not, correct?

Isn't that the outcome? That's right. And the more they took, the more sick they got. Now, my question, again, probably I was a bit slow to make this a thought process, but when you think about elderly or when you think about immunocompromised people, you are sort of prepared to vaccinate them because you come from the point that their immune system is malfunctioning in terms of its scenario for the elderly or with the immune compromise, it's not working properly. Yeah, so let's be fair.

So the elderly, we know they're at risk for a variety of reasons, right? I don't think so much about just their immune compromise. I think about all the different mechanisms that the senescence results in issues. But the interesting thing that you made me just think about is if it's an actual immunocompromised patient, let's say with a chronic immune condition, the immunocompromised comes from what we give them,

from the medication we give them. That's where they become immunocompromised. So it's kind of an interesting situation, right? Yeah, this is my question. So how should we expect them to respond to their immune system, to respond to this stimulus if it is not, if it's unlikely to respond without it? I mean normally. I don't know if you've seen... I've only seen that data as it pertains to COVID, and they give extra vaccines. Rheumatologists are giving more vaccine to some of those immunocompromised patients. They're giving bigger doses and more frequent... But just to simplify it, don't you think,

or am I that simple, that it sounds a bit illogical? I'm with your thought process. And Jolanta, I've got to say goodbye. I've got other callers that want to come in. But I appreciate you making me think it through. I want to be thinking things through like that all the time. And yes, please continue to ask those questions. Let's see. This is Kayen. I'm sorry to have to cut you off because I've got other calls I've got to try to get to here. Kayen, you didn't come up for some reason, even though you're requested.

That's weird. I'm going to remove Kayen, and I'm going to ask him to come up again. Okay. Kayen is caught in a loop of some type. Let me bring Josh up real quick. Yeah, bring someone up. I have a quick question. Hey, again. Okay. Kay and is caught in a loop of some type. Let me bring Josh up real quick and bring someone up. I have a quick question after him. Okay. What's happening? Not much. So I just wanted to talk to you about what you said. You woke up in the middle of the night and you were kind of, um, you know, confused about where your position was and i feel like it's okay to be ambivalent about the medical community i think that that's what makes you a really good doctor

is that you're willing to question um what's been placed before you and you you definitely have some real concerns the funny thing here and you'll probably be upset with me for saying this, is you kind of remind me of what happened with psychiatry. We sort of turned against science in the 60s, and like Foucault was someone who turned against the prevailing wisdom of science. And you almost remind me of Foucault. You almost remind me of Foucault you almost remind me of Foucault today uh because you're trying to tread that line you're you know obviously he's a philosopher you're a doctor so

it's very very different but um I just had that something came but I get what you're saying is he doing Foucault in the 1960s you know it's a great question and and i i don't think i hope i'm not i don't think i am uh but what's tough for me is because i'm doing this publicly people have to watch me struggle in real time some people like that some people hate that and it's always the way I've done it. And by the way, when I've been overly certain or hubristic, it's been to my detriment and been a mistake. So I kind of feel like struggle is, you know, I'm advocating for rational uncertainty. I want to be a model for that, that we struggle with things. I'd like to get close to the truth. I'd like close

to getting it right. But to really get something right takes time in biological sciences and medicine in particular. It takes a while for things to sort of clarify themselves over time. And that's the part that we aren't giving each other. We really sort of aren't giving each other that chance. This is Health Uncensored. Thanks, Josh. Trying to get through as many people as we can here. Health Uncensored, unmute your mic there, and let's see what you got.

Hi, Dr. Drew. Thanks for allowing me to come on and speak. My question is, what's your take on vaccine-induced viral reactivation and what role does that have in vaccine injuries? What do you mean by viral reactivation? Vaccine-induced viral reactivation, I mean taking a vaccine towards a targeted pathogen, let's say COVID, and a byproduct of receiving that vaccine is significantly raising the risk of activating dormant viruses you're already carrying. Let's say shingles, for instance, herpes zoster, as a byproduct of taking a COVID vaccine. Okay. Tell me more what you're thinking, because I don't have a strong opinion about this.

My sense of, I mean, you'd have to come up with a mechanism for it, and that's pretty complicated. But I will tell you that things like shingles can get activated from almost anything. So it worries me if we're using shingles as a paradigm. Well, shingles actually, from what I've read, only occurs in the immunocompromised and the elderly, from what I've read. You know, if the immune system is suppressed. It occurs, nope. It's predominantly in those populations, but it's all over the place. I see it all over the place. Healthy people, young people, all kinds of people.

An example of vaccine-induced viral reactivation and the potential connection to various conditions and diseases, a great one would be autism. There's a lot of research going back to the 70s showing a causal association between viral infections and autism. Things like rubella, things like CMV, things like herpes simplex. There's case reports showing how people have an episode of viral encephalitis. And from there on out, they qualify clinically speaking for autism spectrum disorder. They meet all the diagnostic criteria. Right. So, so there is no doubt, there's no doubt that in that, you know, an inflammatory brain condition in childhood can result in massive alterations in development. Massive, massive, massive.

And sometimes if it happens early enough and significantly enough, it will lead to an autistic spectrum type picture. But again, it's a broad category. But yes, certainly, for sure, there's no doubt that that can happen. Now, whether or not vaccines can activate something, I only have the consensus. Again, if there's some other consensus of brewing, I will keep an eye on it.

And the consensus is that's not the case. But, you know, all I can tell you, I was totally dismissive of that two, three years ago. Now I'm watching, reading, seeing if anything strikes, strike, crosses my path. Listen, Caleb, you said you had a question. I wrote that past you. What was that? Yeah, I had a quick question. I specifically didn't Google for this because I wanted to get the answer on the show from you. But when Taylor, when my wife, when she was going into labor with the new baby, I noticed whenever they plugged her into the epidural that in big letters, the epidural says that it's fentanyl.

How is fentanyl as an epidural safe for a pregnant woman to take by an IV when she's pregnant? Fentanyl, there's no medication that people abuse that can't be used therapeutically to good purpose. And fentanyl has been around for a, I've used fentanyl a thousand times. It's a good analgesic. You get to use very little,

has to be done extremely cautiously under very controlled conditions. It's a very powerful analgesic and perfectly fine. It's just that if you're using it on your own, you can easily overdose with it and die. But on, you know, all opiates are essentially the same. I mean, in terms of their effect on the body, they have no effect on the body.

They're harmless. They don't hurt the body. They just make you not breathe if you take a lot of it. And if you're under controlled conditions, you get pain control. Right. I guess that's my question is like, I guess I just automatically assumed

that any use of any opioids for someone who's pregnant could pass on to the baby in some way. And I just didn't understand why fentanyl. Sometimes there are ways that can happen. There are ways that can happen, but it doesn't because it's in the spine. It's just in the spinal column. It's being localized in the spinal column.

But let's say we did give your wife some opioids. It's fine. The baby's not going to give your wife some opioids. It's fine. The baby's not going to have withdrawal from a single exposure to opiate. Right, right. Nor is he or she. It shocked me. I mean, it can affect their respirations,

and I'm sure the doctor will be watching that very carefully, but it's not that big a deal. Look, we used to use patients coming off heroin. We used to use, to detox the babies, We used to use anti-diarrheal medications and that was it. That's all we used. We give them paragoric and they'd have some irritability for a couple of days and that was it. Now people have made much more of babies in withdrawal and they've got a more sophisticated approach to it, but it's still a much milder syndrome that people think it is. And people get too wrapped up in, you know, the, what they hear, you know,

fentanyl bad, you know, right. That's, that's what happened. Fentanyl is a drug that's been around for a long time. It's still very useful. It was just shocking to see, you know, fentanyl in the news all the time and then to see it in a label there, they just bring in this case and I'm like, geez, there's that drug that their cartels are fighting wars over. Just coming in this case here, plugging it into my wife's spine but that's what so i guess the other question there is that if someone let's say someone is like knows that they're an addict and they're pregnant but are they what do they use is there an alternative

epidural or is this different because it's going straight well it's a really interesting question uh the answer is yes and no uh there are alternatives they could use uh they usually be just because somebody's a drug addict doesn't mean they shouldn't get analgesic when they have a surgery or something right it's just what but what happens is that when they let's say they like i remember shelly from sub your rehab she has this great story about how she woke up from a surgery with a morphine pump on. And she'd been sober at that point a few years. But just being in the presence under the influence of that drug, all of her crazy thinking came back. And she immediately began manipulating the nurses for more drugs. She got angry, irritable, started splitting, started doing all the things that drug addicts do. And if somebody's not there to get her off the opiates

and get her back landed in the program, she could easily leave the hospital and start pursuing more drugs. So that's the problem is that it activates all the terrible thinking. I've told you this before that whenever, you know, when I was in the hospital for those nine days back in 2020, I mean, I did two or three hospital stays there when I was in so much pain from my Crohn's disease and my psoas muscle and everything, they would plug me into an IV with Dilaudid. Now I don't, I've never had any, like after the hospital, you know, they gave me Percocets and everything and I tapered off fine. I've never pursued any of them. I don't even like them. But every time someone on the show says the word Dilaudid, I feel a little warm. And I'm like, oh, there was one positive thing with all

of my suffering when I was in the hospital was that I knew that second hospital trip, I could go back. They'd plug me into the Dilaudid, even though I've never tried. Everybody. Right. Like, how does that bite in my brain? Everybody. Caleb likes Dilaudid, everybody. Caleb really, really likes Dilaudid. But not enough to chase it. I understand. I understand. I understand.

You verbalized it every time. Every time someone mentioned it, you go, oh, Dilaudid. You literally say it out loud. But here's the thing. Well, is that from the Dilaudid itself, or is it because I was in so much pain, and it relieved the pain, and my brain was so programmed? No, no.

It's the Dilaudid. It is the Dilaudid. And not everyone has a positive experience to opiates at all, right? I get kind of dysphoric from opiates. I don't like them. I hate them. Would I like Dilaudid?

Maybe, I don't know. But we all have different genetic constructs. And maybe that's your tiny, tiny risk for addiction they're telling us it's there. You might have a little risk with certain opioids or certain something. The risk for addiction is a spectrum from exploding the first time you expose yourself to alcohol to something like you're describing, where if you also had trauma, childhood trauma and emotional dysregulation, and we're seeking relief from that,

maybe you would be more prone to head towards that dilaudid a little bit and maybe it would activate something we call addiction i don't know it won't happen don't worry about it well i just remember my doctor at the time is like i mean i because i was in so much pain they put me on i had so many percocets just in big bottles yeah by the end whenever i was out of pain i was like oh well i don't need these so i just got rid of them through like whatever the secure thing is you get rid of the pills and i was like well i guess i'm not i don't have the addictive gene to opioids as strong no no you don't not not to the not enough to trigger something right not or something to really not enough to really trigger something so it's not something you have to worry about that's for sure right i just i do

remember also that part that second time i went to the hospital i was like god i'm in so much pain this is the worst but at least i get dilaudid so i guess there's one positive percent one percent positive to all this horribleness going on right now so so here's what a real addict does so tom arnold has a story about i think it was tom where he got in a motorcycle accident was laying in the street bleeding, and he was in terrible pain, and he heard the ambulance coming, and he became overwhelmed with the notion, the following thought, oh my God, this is going to be awesome.

This is going to be fantastic. I'm going to get morphine. So psyched. He was just like, oh, this is the best. Just hearing the siren from the ambulance. So that's drug addiction. That's drug addiction. So different, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So Caleb, let's go over all the particulars about next week again. We have noon time or 1130. Please check us with Christine Anderson next Tuesday. Then the usual time is three o'clock Wednesday and Thursday. Dr. Victory will be with me on Tuesday

and Wednesday next week. And then we are Monday night at the Chelsea Music Hall in New York City underneath the Chelsea Market with Jimmy Fala and Kat Timp and now Kennedy. Live. Thanks to my wife. In the flesh. Thanks to Susan's, what did Jimmy call it, fire hose texting? Got Kennedy dragged into everything.

No, I just invited her. She just wanted to be a part of it. 50% off. Oh, we have a new channel at Kik. Kik.com slash D-R-D-R-E-W. Caleb set that up. And a reminder, you can get 50% off at Dr. Drew.com slash NYComedy using the code Drew.

D-R-E-W. Early show Tuesday. Early show? We're doing it early on Tuesday. Oh, we're doing the show on Tuesday, yeah. I know. We have a new time slot. It's we're doing the show on Tuesday, yeah. I know. We have a new time slot. It's not great for our regulars, but just try to remember.

But I don't know if it's going to be 11.30 or 12. Please keep an eye out for that. I don't think Barsh actually sent us a clarification text. She did not. I think it's noon. That was the last email I got, but it should be good. 11.30 would be better. It would be better, I agree.

But we'll see. You know what, guys? As soon as we get this baby into a better sleep schedule, I'm going to make a schedule page on the website so everyone can go there and get the most up-to-date stuff, and we never have to do this again. I'll fix it. And a shout-out.

Oh, it's charming. It is. A shout out to the TWC people who we are working with very closely now. They've been a pleasure. They are allowing me to put things together the way I want to and to try to, again, bring that locus of control back to the patient. The emergency kit is the beginning of those ideas. I just have always thought people should have travel kits and should have first aid kits and should have ways that you can educate people to use these things. There's no reason they shouldn't have them.

And so that's what they're helping me put together. So it's a pleasure to be a part of their world. That's TWC, the wellness company. And look for more coming from them. Susan, anything else before I wrap this thing up? Check out VShred. Okay. I had a feeling that was coming.

Check that out. And I've got to go do my VShred right after this. So thank you all for being here. Thank you for the calls. Thank you for you guys on Restream. I had a feeling that was coming. Check that out. And I've got to go do my V-Shred right after this. So thank you all for being here. Thank you for the calls. Thank you for you guys on Restream. I've been watching you. And of course, the Rumble Rants are always a pleasure. Susan's been over there with you guys.

Talk about why smoking is bad. No, no. Tobacco is all bad. It causes heart disease, causes vascular disease, causes emphysema, causes lung cancer. Actually is associated with several other kinds of cancer as well. It's a carcinogen. Let's be clear about it.

Tobacco is the problem, not nicotine. Tobacco. All right, everybody. Thank you for being here. We will see you next Tuesday at, I believe, noon. Check it out. Ask Dr. Drew is produced by Caleb Nation and Susan Pinsky. As a reminder, the discussions here are not a substitute for medical care, diagnosis, or treatment.

This show is intended for educational and informational purposes only. I am a licensed physician, but I am not a replacement for your personal doctor, and I am not practicing medicine here. Always remember that our understanding of medicine and science is constantly evolving. Though my opinion is based on the information that is available to me today, some of the contents of this show could be outdated in the future.

Be sure to check with trusted resources in case any of the information has been updated since this was published. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, don't call me, call 911. If you're feeling hopeless or suicidal, call the National suicide prevention lifeline at 800-273-8255 you can find more of my recommended organizations and helpful resources

at drdrew.com help