Change Your Brain Every Day - How to Recover Quickly After a Medical Procedure

Episode Date: July 3, 2018

In today’s fast paced world, undergoing a medical procedure such as a surgery can put you on the sidelines and keep you out of action, causing you to get behind in your life. In the second part of a series focused on Surgery, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen give you the ultimate “BRIGHT MINDS” focused approach to get you back into the game quickly and with optimal recovery.

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. So it's so nice to be back. So we're doing surgery week since this is my first day back after having surgery. I'm two weeks post-op and so happy to be here. We missed you so much.

And I missed you guys. It's nice to be finally out of the house. Before we start on our surgery week, I want to read one of our testimonials. It's always fun for us. This is our candy. Just so you know, this is candy for us since we don't. With no sugar. Right. Well, it's kind of like our sugar. It's the sweetness we get. So this is from Gimme a Break.

That's their title. Listening to these podcasts has given me new hope for dealing with lifelong anxiety and depression. I had two concussions as a child and early drug use. I'm inspired to further investigate all that Amen Clinics has to offer. That's awesome. That is and that's why we're here. We're here for you and I can't tell you how many times you know for our patients lifelong depression, concussions, and drug use go together and so there is hope, there is healing for you through the Brain Warriors Way path. This is a path, a tribe, a community of people who want to have the best brains possible. One more testimonial. If you've ever just wondered, why do I do that? This podcast will answer that

question and much more. As a teacher, I've always tried to focus on ways to help my students learn better and focusing on what I can do to make my brain healthier will help my students also. Yes, getting well is about love. It's about love for yourself, love for the people in your life. I'm excited to teach my students how to get rid of the ants, the automatic negative thoughts, and also how they can protect their brains to become better students and people in this world. This podcast offers many topics about health and points to things you can do to help your brain. I love that. And one of the things you can do to help your brain

is if you're sick and you need surgery, well, what are the things you can do to get ready for surgery? And then what are some of the things you can do afterwards? And last year I wrote a book called memory rescue that I'm thrilled with and just went over a hundred thousand copies so I'm even happier than more people are reading it and in it it has this super simple idea if you want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it if it's headed for the dark place. You have to prevent or treat the 11 major

risk factors that steal your mind. And I created a mnemonic, a memory device called Bright Minds. And as I was thinking about surgery week, I'm like, well, these are still the same factors that are critical to take care of before surgery and afterwards. So let's talk about each of them as they relate to surgery and your overall health. So the B in Bright Minds is for blood flow. Low blood flow is the number one brain imaging predictor of Alzheimer's disease. And how do you know if you have low blood flow, if you have hypertension, any form of heart disease? If you don't exercise, is that related to your overall physical condition before you go? Yes. So this really, we're talking about surgery week. So my uncle who just came in,

I have an uncle who just came in to be scanned because he had open heart surgery. And that's a much bigger- And subsequently had memory problems. But we, that's a much bigger surgery than what I had. But this really, this bright minds really applies to him because with open heart surgery, you definitely have a higher risk

of memory issues afterwards and depression. So this really like triggered me to think of that. And so he came in and one of the things he had was sleep apnea. Which is the S in Bright Minds. Yeah. So I won't jump ahead, but this really, since we're talking about surgery week really made me think. Well, I think Carol's just a great example. Bright Minds is perfect.

Yeah. And R, so how do you help blood flow? It's really it's exercise. So I don't want to jump over that because people listening need to hear that. And as a nurse, I think it's frustrating. And as somebody who has a loved one who's gone through open heart surgery, I want to mention that again. I don't know why more people don't tell patients that are going into open heart surgery that, oh, by the way, you may get depressed and have memory issues because it scares the heck out of their families. It scares the heck out of them. That is one of the potential side effects.

In fact, it's fairly common. So just know it, but know that there's something you can do. And do the things you can do. Right, know there's something you can do. And do the things you can do. Right, know there's something you can do. Because, you know, in that last podcast, I mentioned hypnosis and how helpful it was after coronary surgery decreased anxiety and depression. And hypnosis, I don't know if you know this, under hypnotic trance, people have increased blood flow to the brain.

Right. Especially to the focus and motivation parts of the brain. So if you want to increase blood flow, it's exercise. And then it's a healthy anti-inflammatory diet that also includes beets and rosemary. Excuse me, because I'm still post-surgical, so I have to wear my baggy clothes and sit on my pillow and I'm adjusting myself. Sorry. I have to wear my baggy clothes and sit on my pillow and I'm adjusting myself sorry I have no words are in bright minds is retirement and aging the older you get the more serious you have to be about your health because it's harder to heal the older you get

well and there's this misconception that because I'm older it should be it's harder to heal the older you get. Well, and there's this misconception that because I'm older, it should be, it's normal for my body to like deteriorate and I shouldn't really have to, I shouldn't bite it. That's not true. So get that out of your head. It's just the older you are, the more serious you should be really paying attention and taking care of yourself and doing the things to fight that, to counter that. I is for inflammation, which is a universal risk factor for anxiety, for depression, for dementia. So there's a blood test we do too, actually, C-reactive protein and the omega-3 index.

If you have inflammation in your body, you want to make sure you take great care of your teeth. Paradontal disease is actually one of the major causes of inflammation. You want to be on an anti-inflammatory diet. So just look at the Brain Warrior's Way cookbook, Tana, that's how she cooks, which is basically lots of vegetables, healthy fat, and get rid of processed foods, sugar and foods that turn to sugar. And high quality protein. And high quality protein. The G is genetics.

Stuff runs in families, but as we say, genes are not a death sentence. They should be a wake up call. But let's just say, so okay, so I had to have surgery. Yeah, what was going on with me is genetic. Every woman in my family's had the same thing. Now, I take care of myself. I don't want you thinking that because if you take care of yourself and you have something happen and medically that you have to take care of, it's not your fault. Take care of it. But still, be sure you do all these things so that you recover better, so that you

are less likely to get sick. But if you get sick, you can deal with it and handle it. That's such an important point. Right. It's not your fault. But do your part. But your responsibility, and you're the one that taught me this, responsibility doesn't mean it's your fault. It doesn't mean blame. It means your ability to respond. Right. And that's what we want you as a brain warrior to respond in a helpful, thoughtful healing. I always want a hundred percent responsibility over what's going on with my health. Doesn't mean blame, but I don't want other people in control of it. Okay. So I want to be able to, I want help. I don't want them in control. So I'm willing to take that responsibility. I've already been on the other

side of that. It's not fun. H is head trauma. You want to protect your brain, especially after surgery. Um, we have a two story house and I'm like watching this woman like a hawk. Oh my God. He got so mad at me and I started't want to wake him up. And I started to get out of bed. I was still a little wonky. I was more than a little wonky. Drug. We have to talk about it. I was very drugged. We'll do that in the next part.

But I started to get, I thought, I've already woken him up. I have to let him sleep. Because if he doesn't sleep, then he's not able to do anything. And so I started to, he's like, don't you dare. Right. Because the last thing I want is you to have a head injury. Right. You're temperamental enough as it is. Maybe it would make me nicer. I don't want to take that chance. Yeah. Maybe one out of a hundred actually does make people nicer. 99 times out of a hundred,

they're not nice. But that is so important. How often have we heard? Actually, I had a recent event where somebody we know fell and was on the ground for three days with a broken pelvis. Really sad. Really sad. So be thoughtful. Be careful. And especially when you're under pain medicine,'re what was the word you used wonky wonky i don't think that's in the medical textbook no but the other one you sort of get the idea the

other one we used in the icu in the icu where i work we also use gorked gorked out a lot that's not nice but it's true but it's not nice um t is toxins so anesthesia is a toxin. Actually, the reason I wanted to get her out of the hospital the same day is hospitals are toxic. Yeah. So we've talked about this app you can get for your phone. It changes everything. It's called Think Dirty. It's not what you think it is. It's an app that allows you to scan your personal products and it'll tell you

on a scale of 1 to 10 how toxic they are. Well, do you remember like they had this crazy stuff. They didn't do this when I was in the hospital but when I used to work in the hospital. This time when I went in this is this was so different. They had me do that twice. I had to do that like crazy bacterial soap scrub the same scrub they use for what the doctors scrub their hands with. I do that twice in the shower before I went. And then when we went, I'd use those crazy pads to wipe everything down to make sure you don't get these MRSA infections because the bugs are getting stronger now. So they want to make sure that you're not going to get an infection in surgery. But those things are like nasty. My skin itched

and burned for like, remember that? Dr. Justin Marchegiani I do. Dr. Mary Beth Franklin It was terrible. So you got to wonder what that- Dr. Justin Marchegiani There's probably toxic stuff in there. Dr. Mary Beth Franklin do. It was terrible. So you got to wonder what that- There's probably toxic stuff in there. Right. It's very toxic. Because-

But you don't want to get an infection. The hospitals, if you look at the food they serve and the kind of soap they have- They could do better. They could do better. But they don't want you getting an infection, so I understand. Which is really important. Right. M is mental health. So depression, as you said, is really common after some surgeries

because the anesthesia can be, not for everybody, toxic for the brain. And then the pain meds, which are generally downers. Well, and let's not underestimate, you're not moving. And I don't know about other people, but when I'm in bed for very long I just it something happens well since you were a teenager exercise has been your antidepressant it is but most people I think if they just lay in bed all day every day it's terrible so it just makes your whole body begin your whole system begins to just like drop so yeah so that doesn't help. So starting every day with today is going to be a great day. I'm going to give my uterus away. I'm going to donate because it has not been helpful to me. Okay. You're a man. You don't get to say that. You just don't, you don't get away with it.

I lived with your uterus for a long time and the trouble it was causing you. It was pretty hostile. It was pretty, it just decided to go hostile one day. I don't know why. Today is going to be a great day. So start every day with today is going to be a great day. Finish every day with what went well today. So important to direct your mind in a helpful way. Where you bring your attention determines how you feel, right? If you think of all the things that went wrong in the healing process it will actually delay your

healing so yeah I want to talk about something probably we'll talk about it more in the next episode because I want to spend a little time on it you want to preview it to keep yeah exactly there is like the news so there is a with well there's one thing I think that can thwart a lot of this. And I had an epiphany about it when I was going through my recovery process because I was so prepared. And then I got thrown a little off track because of one of the common things. All right. So hold that thought because they have to listen to the next one.

Okay. The second I is immunity and infection. So important for surgery that you want to strengthen your immune system. And a super simple way to do that is probiotics. They help your gut. Your gut has got a lot of immune function tissue. Make sure your vitamin D level is high normal. I say that over and over and over and over again. But I keep my level at 80. I think that's about where D level is high normal. I say that over and over and over and over again. But I keep my level at 80.

I think that's about where your level is. Yeah. Because that helps your immune system. Right. And one of the things, you know, you talked about your gut. So one of the big common problems, this is a little sidetrack, but I'm a nurse and I can't help it because this is just a nursing thing. And after the anesthesia, your ADD is worse. Okay.

Well, anyways, so this is a nursing thing and I can't help it. Post-surgical, someone's just got to say it. Constipation is terrible. Okay. It's just terrible. So because the medicine, when they actually put you under anesthesia and then they put you on painkillers, it causes this terrible problem. And one of the things that my doctor actually, I actually know a lot about probiotics, but I never thought about using them because they actually help your gut to move more. And so to like clear things out, she's like, make sure you're taking your probiotics. I'm like, well, I do take them, but I didn't think about that for that reason. So I learned something new about probiotics. When you went, Chloe and I clapped.

That was a little TMI, but... All right, so vitamin D, probiotics, mushrooms, garlic, and onions also help to enhance your immunity. The N in bright minds is neurohormone deficiencies, and your hormones are low like testosterone or growth hormone, DHEA, you don't heal as fast they are hugely important to healing D is diabetes oh my god so important with 40% of the American population obese 50% diabetic or pre-diabetic this is so important to eat in a healthy way, to get your blood sugar balanced, to be super serious.

And then the S is sleep. So you're really good at trying to get eight or even nine hours of sleep before surgery, really trying to turn on health promoting genes. So if you don't get seven hours of sleep at night, it actually turns off 700 health-promoting genes. So when I was working in the ICU, we often had to call psych down to help us with drugs

because people would get ICU psychosis from not sleeping. Because in the ICU, we have to wake you up sometimes every hour. And we used to see that in the Army all the time. They do war games. People would be up for three days, and then they get goofy. So if you come in with a head injury, we wake you up every hour and check your pupils. What do you think that does? Well, we have to.

But what do you think that does for your sleep? And before we know it, people have ICU psychosis, and they're literally, you don't want to be taking care of them. All right. When we come back, we are going to conclude surgery week with practical things, more practical things you can do to heal better, faster. 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.

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