Change Your Brain Every Day - Does COVID-19 Leave Lingering Effects in the Brain?

Episode Date: August 19, 2020

For this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, it’s Brain in the News time! Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen take a look at some of the cutting edge brain health topics in order to help keep you informed of the latest in brain science and research. This week’s episode features topics such as COVID’s impact on the nervous system, virus-induced microclotting, connections between unemployment and addictions, and a breakthrough new nasal spray for treating patients with suicidal thoughts. 

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to Brainmd.com. Welcome back. We are so grateful you are here with us. In this episode, we're going to talk about brain in the news. And the brain has just been in the

news so much. Yeah, it really has. So anything you learn, questions, concerns, or especially what you've learned, if you would post it and tag us, we'd be grateful. If you want to take a screenshot and send it to us, that'd be awesome. And if you go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com and leave us a review, five stars are always welcome, obviously. That helps us get our message out there quicker. It will enter you into a drawing for one of our books, either the end of mental illness or the brain warriors, my cookbook, you get to choose. So if you go to brain warriors, my podcast.com and do that, and also tell us what's going on in your life, we would love to hear it. So brain in the news, what has been going on

in the news so much. And early on in the the pandemic it was reported that people lost their sense of smell and their sense of taste so that's clearly bringing the news and then so that means covet 19 in a fairly high percentage of patients um it's impacting your nervous system. It's impacting your brain. So many people have this seriousness of it, and that worries me because I am afraid this is going to become like some of the other pandemics where the virus really ends up impacting the brain for a long time. And we're actually scanning people who've had COVID-19 and it's had a significant impact on them. Well, and part of the problem is we keep hearing like this misinformation going around, or we hear that there's, you know, the numbers are not correct. And so it gets people not believing it, but, but let's make no mistake. The virus is real.

The numbers might not be a hundred percent accurate, but you still don't want this virus, right? So whatever your personal philosophical or political beliefs are, the virus is still devastating. So that's the part if, you know, and it's not for everybody, it's different for everybody, but if we don't know the impact and that's the problem. Right. And it could end up being like Lyme disease where you might not even know you had it. A lot of people who had COVID-19 didn't know they had it,

but you know, a month later, a year later, they're affected. Speaking about the micro-clotting issue, it's frightening. When they released some of the first autopsy reports on people who died from COVID-19 and they looked at their liver, at their kidneys, at their heart and their brain, what they're seeing are just a myriad of these little tiny clots that the virus seems to have an impact on platelets and that micro clotting may actually be doing most of the damage. And we don't know what the long-term damage from that is going to be. And we don't know the long-term impact. You know, I just know my mom, dad, and sister have it.

My mom and sister seem to be doing just fine. My dad really never recovered, but it wasn't the only thing causing his death. But I have an employee that we just dearly love who was young, who ended up on a ventilator in New York for almost two months. So be smart and do the right things. We often say that don't worry, be happy. People die the earliest from accidents and preventable illnesses. And this in large part is preventable if you do the right things. And mental hygiene is just as important as washing your hands, which means you should wash your hands and you also need to wash your thoughts. Also, brain in the news, there's a new nasal spray that's been approved for treating suicidal patients. Johnson & Johnson came out with Sprobato, and it's been approved as the first antidepressant for actively suicidal people.

And actually, it's a form of ketamine, which is an anesthetic. We use it all the time. people. And actually, it's a form of ketamine, which is an anesthetic that has been found to work for a certain percentage of people. It's expensive. It's not the first thing I would do. But it gives hope for people who may be in a crisis. Right. And we want to talk about, of course, drug overdoses, mental health concerns. As this pandemic continues, we know right off the bat, there were the calls to the suicide hotline were up a thousand percent. And so that's a problem. Obviously, suicide is up. But as unemployment and these things, especially as checks start to run out, for every percentage point of unemployment that went up, there was a threefold increase in opiate use, correct? Opiate addiction. Opiate addiction.

Went up 3.4%. Okay. So the unemployment rate went up from 3% to almost 20%. And so you just think that addiction can skyrocket, which means now is a time to be more diligent about your brain and mental health, not give yourself an excuse to smoke more pot or drink more alcohol.

Right, well, and they're saying that the overdoses now, not just addiction, overdoses are up 30 to 40%. So that's pretty crazy. And it's, you know, you can see it though. You see, some people do fine when they're at home. You know, I have a mother who lives alone and I was so worried about her. I wanted her to come stay with us.

And she's like, I want nothing to do with coming to your house. And she is actually doing great by herself. Did she really say it that way? Yeah, sort of. Pretty close. So she's like, I'm independent. I want to do my own thing.

But she's doing actually really, really well. But then I see other people who they really just can't seem to keep it together because they're so lonely and so by themselves. And it's just overwhelming and trying to do everything on their own. And it's just too much. And I, we see mothers that are, you know,

having to deal with ADD and OCD kids that are not doing well and they're self-medicating. And it just, it's really been an avalanche of things we we've seen. So it makes sense that people are stressed out and they're looking for something, but that's not the thing to look for. So finding healthier alternatives is really important. Well, and that's why video conferencing is just so important. And Amen Clinics is open. We've been open the whole time. I mean, we considered ourselves an essential medical

service. And so all eight of our clinics have been open. And if you need to talk to someone, if you need to be seen, we're doing video conferencing literally with people around the world. Yeah, no, it's been great. And I've been doing some live chats on my Facebook and Instagram page with our doctors, and they have been exploding. And it just shows me the need. It shows me the need of the people

and what they're sending in their questions. And it's fantastic. So we have those resources for you. I've done 75 live chats during the pandemic. Tana's done a bunch. So you can find Tana on Facebook, Tana Amen or Dr. Daniel Amen on Facebook. And any night, we may show up.

So follow us for sure. So yeah. So even if you are struggling with resources, there are so many free resources on both of our websites, Amen Clinic's website. So don't let that be a reason not to reach out and try to get some help. And we would love to hear from you if you're struggling, if you're having problems or questions or concerns,

please don't hesitate to reach out. Leave us your questions, your comments, go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com and leave us a review. Good reviews are always welcome. And it will enter you into a drawing for either the end of mental illness or the Brain Warriors Way cookbook. So you you get to choose and if we read your question on air you'll automatically get a book from either of us stay with us if you're enjoying

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