Change Your Brain Every Day - How to Prepare for Unexpected Health Emergencies

Episode Date: July 2, 2018

Health issues are inevitable. Even the healthiest of us know that at some point, those fights are coming. And, as Tana Amen often says, if you wait until fight day to start training, you’re in trouble. In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Tana, and Dr. Daniel Amen coach you into fighting shape to give you an unfair advantage when those health issues attack you.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the 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 nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. And stay tuned for a special code for a discount to Amen Clinics for a full evaluation, as well as any of our supplements at brainmdhealth.com. Welcome back. Well, I'm so excited to have my partner back. I'm happy to be back. We call this week surgery week because a couple of weeks ago, Tana had major surgery and we actually thought she'd be out for a month, but she's back. And part of that has to do with how well she took care of herself before surgery.

Yeah. So before we get to you and surgery and all that, we've got just more great testimonials. And we've had a whole bunch of people listen to the podcast come to Amen Clinic. Yeah, they like that. They're taking advantage of that little gift. The discount. whole bunch of people listen to the podcast come to Amen Clinic. Yeah, they like that. They like taking advantage of that little gift. The discount, but really take advantage of knowing. We want you sharing the podcast because the information is what's important. So this comes from an IIN health coach, Institute of Integrated Nutrition.

Oh, my God. You are my tribe. I love your podcast and so happy to have your voice and interviews on a regular basis. My first intro to Dr. Daniel Amon was on PBS years ago, then as a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and now she just graduated. I'm currently enrolled in Institute of Nutrition Gut Health course. That's awesome. And what I'm hearing on your podcast is aligned with what I'm learning. Yes, it's a gut-brain connection.

It would be, yes. It is all connecting on so many levels. Thank you and very grateful for your wisdom and sharing as I am sharing this with my family and friends around me. Much love. That's awesome. So I just love that. So whenever people have surgery, it's a big deal.

I just published a couple of blogs on the impact of general anesthesia on the brain, which is not a good thing. No. And you know how sort of foggy you felt afterwards. Yeah. But you bounced back. Yeah. And I'm still a little tired.

It's two weeks right now. I'm still a little tired if I overdo it. I mean, I'm finally able to be up and out and driving, but I get tired. So I have to listen to my body. I'm finally old enough that I have enough wisdom. So I've had enough medical surgeries. This is my 10th medical surgery. So based on all that wisdom, and the interesting thing is this surgery, I have recovered from the best.

I'm the oldest. I'm almost 50. And this surgery, I am that old. So I have recovered better from this surgery than any of the past surgeries for several reasons. When I was younger, I didn't take as good a care of myself. That's the big one. Because I thought I was indestructible, right? We think we're invincible when we're young. Didn't listen, thought I was special because I worked out so hard and, you know, was whatever. I thought I was special and didn't have to listen to all the rules. And so I got up and did stuff way too early. I just didn't do as well with the surgeries. And this one I've done really well because I really just prepared well and listened. So

interesting. The recovery has been better. You actually went home the day of surgery. Yeah. They told me that I wouldn't do that. And I, I, I'm a nurse. So I know number one way to get sick. Best way to get sick is go to a hospital. Number one, spend time there. And because there's bugs, there's germs, there's sick people. Right. And the other thing is I knew I wouldn't sleep. So with all them checking on you all night and the noises and the, the IV alarms. And I'm like, if I don't sleep, I'm not going to recover. So I got a doctor, I'm a nurse. I'm like, if I can go home. And I, so after talking to my doctor, she's like, well, if you do really well in surgery, if the surgery goes the way I think recovery goes the way I

think you will see about letting you go home. And so they ended up letting me go home, which I think was the best thing that happened. So what did you do to prepare for surgery? And, you know, I asked that question and I think, well, you have been preparing for surgery for the last 10 years, right? As you've been super focused on your health. So I have a line that I use in Brain Warrior's Way, our books, Brain Warrior's Way. You don't wait till fight day to start training. You cannot, I practiced martial arts and I was attacked when I was 15.

Hadn't, obviously didn't have any training at that time. And I almost lost that fight. I won because I'm just a brat. Because I'm crazy. I can attest to the brats. Because I get a little crazy when people, you know. But it made me people, you know, invade. But it made me realize, you know, you don't wait until fight day

to start training, especially when you're talking about your health. You guys should write that down, underline it, pin it up on the mirror. It's one of the most important things you can get from this podcast. Because you don't wait until you. No, I got blindsided.

Because you don't wait until you get sick to try to get healthy. Well, I got blindsided. That is not the smartest thing in the world. Most of us get blindsided the first time. I got blindsided with cancer at 23. I was like, what the heck? And then when it came back several times, I just didn't expect that. I didn't expect it.

After that, I got a little wiser and I'm like all right I don't want to keep going through the surgery thing I don't want to keep having to do the radiation surgery and not and feel so lousy all the time so I got really serious about my health and I thought whatever comes up I want to be ready for it what we all know something's coming at some point we most of us hope it happens when we're 90 95 100 but we know it's coming at some point. So why don't you want to be ready for it? To think it's not coming is just foolish. So be ready for it.

So I just, I've been preparing for a long time, but the big thing is, so physically with food, with sleep, with whatever, I've been doing that a long time. That was really important. And I think that's why I'm healing so well. What I really did differently this time as well, though, I really focused on, I got my environment completely ready. I mean, you saw me, I got my all, you know, everything really ready in my room. I made sure everything, the house was sort of like organized before for everything I would need beforehand. But I really spent a lot of time mentally. And, you know, you guys have your way of preparing for things.

I actually called everyone I knew and asked them to pray. So I had like a ton of people praying. And I actually believe in the power, very much the power of prayer. When two or more gather, you know, this idea. And I spent every day meditating and praying and focusing on. So when you say you spent every day meditating, tell people what that means. So besides calming.

Chanting. No, no, no, no. What? No, I don't chant. But besides, besides prayer, prayer is a big part of my meditation. I would, in addition to that, do a visualization. Like I would actually visualize just every, you know,

just this healing light and being healthy. And this is going to sound really funny. It's going to sound a little corny. But I think, so I had a hysterectomy. I had this alien growing in my body that just decided to go rogue. Ten times normal. Ten times normal size, which on my frame was significant. So it was causing a lot of problems.

She looked pregnant. I did. I looked pregnant like four and a half months. Cute pregnant, but pregnant. But pregnant. And so it was miserable. I was feeling miserable. And so, but I spent time actually thanking my uterus for my daughter and like making

peace with my uterus and saying goodbye. And so, and now I'm wondering why the heck I didn't do this five years sooner. So I really didn't want to have surgery, but I have to tell you now that I've done it, I'm like, why didn't I do this five years sooner? I feel so much better. Yeah, her doctor was telling her she was walking around 12 weeks pregnant. But it felt more like four and a half months, because when I was 12 weeks pregnant, I did not show like that.

So let me tell you. Yeah, it was big. Okay. So when you meditate, because I want to make this super practical for the people listening. I have my meditation online. So I did a vlog on it. Where can people go? So I did a vlog on it.

They can either go to my vlog at tanaayman.com or go to YouTube. Look me up. Look up meditation, Tana Ayman Meditation. You'll see the meditation. I've got several meditations on there. So I did our loving kindness meditation on there. I have a forgiveness meditation. I have a forgiveness meditation. I have a general meditation, but I,

I very much focus on this healing lights, um, that, you know, just really focusing on my body being calm and healing. And, and the last thing I thought about as they were wheeling me in, we prayed, I had people, you know, with me, but as I was going in and as I was going under anesthesia, I mean, I just focused on, again, might sound corny to some of you and that's okay. I just focused on, you know, these loving arms around me in this beautiful white light and that's how I went to sleep. And the next thing I know I was awake. But it was different than other surgeries because I mentally was so prepared for it. So you prepared your body, you prepared your mind, you prepared your spirit you prepared your mind you prepared your spirit that's what

we talk about you prepared your physically group my my food what do we talk about in brain warriors way we talk about preparation being the first thing you do awareness and preparation so get your numbers checked and then prepare brain warriors way we talk about arm prepared and aware right arm prepared because when you go through a fight like the surgery would be the fight the metaphorical fight so you go through the fight and then you can win you can't win if you're not trained and prepared and aware and so when i was an intern at the walter reed army medical center in washington dc and i was on the surgery rotation, I would hypnotize my patients ahead of time

and have them do a visualization around healing. There's a brand new study out that I actually talk about in my new book, Feel Better Fast and Make It Last, it's coming out in November, where they looked at people who had open heart surgery. And those that had hypnosis beforehand, and I know that's one thing you use a lot as well, had significantly lower levels of anxiety and depression after surgery than the people who didn't. So getting your mind right, getting the internal environment right for surgery is so helpful.

And I had a great support team. I mean, you were amazing. You took amazing care of me. My daughter was right there. My mother was right there. I mean, I were amazing. You took amazing care of me. My daughter was right there. My mother was right there. I mean, I had so many people. I was your nurse. I'm like, I really like being a doctor better than being a nurse.

But I love nursing you. But you were a good nurse. But I love nursing you. I mean, you were up in the middle of the night with me. Because you're so important to me. Yeah, no, you were amazing. So having that loving environment, people that love you, take care of you, it makes a big difference. You know, just knowing that you've got this support system, you know, is really helpful.

So it was really, really helpful. So before surgery, be nice to the people in your life. That's really important. Know that they're going through a stressful time too. Right. Right? My daughter was pretty freaked out. I mean, you know, that's a hard thing, even though, you know, it's a routine surgery.

Anytime someone goes under anesthesia, you know, bad things can happen. Well, and you have more knowledge of medicine. Chloe was pretty freaked out. She's very close to me. And so it really scared her, you know, the idea of- Well, it's scary. So acknowledging that, but then giving people the statistics that actually you're more likely to wake up

than come home if you drive to LA, all of those things. So stay with us. We are going to come back and talk about more practical preparation for surgery. And then what the heck should you do when you wake up? Stay with us. Use the code podcast10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com or on our supplements at brainmdhealth.com. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to get a free signed copy of the Brain Warriors

Way and the Brain Warriors Way cookbook we give away every month.