Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Dr. Puma Talks Heart Health, U.S. Healthcare & Insurance Issues, Life Expectancy & Good Practices, Mental Wealth Expo + more

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Dr. Puma Talks Heart Health, U.S. Healthcare & Insurance Issues, Life Expectancy & Good Practices, Mental Wealth Expo + more · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hold up.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club. You all finished or you all done? Morning, everybody.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Our guy.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, medical. We have Dr. Joseph Puma.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Puma, welcome.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Thanks.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me back again. And really great to
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: see you all.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: We talk about you a lot on this program because
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: we love the work that you do.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: You're saving lives, Dr.
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: Puma.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: You're saving lives. So people who don't know who Dr.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Puma is, tell them about your practice and what your
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: intention is for your practice, and then we can go
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: more in depth about.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Some of the things that you do. Well, first thing
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I want to say is you're very kind to me
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: that I'm saving lives, but I want to tell you,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: you all, Charlemagne, all your advocacy, DJ Envy, Lauren, you're
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: saving lives. In part because you talk about me. I
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: can tell you every single week. There is somebody that's
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: going to be having dinner at Thanksgiving with their family,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: a mom, a dad, an uncle, a granddad, because of
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: the work that you do. So I appreciate that.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Uh, I've been an interventional cardiologist now for 40 years,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: graduated medical school. I can't believe it in 1985. And, uh, uh,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: you know, in this last part of my career, I've, uh,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: gone independent and, uh, We've just taken all the best technology,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: trying to keep humanity in healthcare. And all I'm trying
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: to do is advocate for the communities I grew up
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: in and all the people, as you know, that I
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: think we all have kind of similar backgrounds and try
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: and educate them and inspire them to seek care, get healthcare.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: This might be a dumb question, right? But does heart
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: health get worse around the holidays?
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Yes. Okay. Yes. So there are definitely times. Actually, heart
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: health gets worse at about four in the morning.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Most heart attacks happen in the morning. There's a circadian rhythm.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: And then around the holidays for a variety of reasons, one,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: because of stress. And second, because depression is higher around
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the holidays. And there's, you know, you know, you know,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: one of the reasons, you know, we're such a fan
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: of what you do, Charlemagne, and the mental wealth. And
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I think this is our fourth year supporting it. Yeah.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Is because mental health is connected with. to heart disease.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: You know, one in five people that have heart attacks
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: have significant depression. And if you have depression, you have
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: worse outcomes, higher incidence of death, congestive heart failure, or
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: other complications. One in five people after open heart surgery
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: develop significant depression, kind of like postpartum depression, which everyone
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: knows about, but the same thing with heart disease. Wow.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about the some of the procedures
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: that you have, right? You do a full body scan,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: but you also do a heart scan. Explain what those
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: procedures are and why people should definitely look into doing
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: those procedures, especially for themselves or their family or their parents.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so technology, as you know, has progressed so fast,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: faster than we could keep up, right? And all we
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: ever hear about is AI, AI, AI, right? Well, the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: one place where AI has knocked it out of the
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: park is in heart imaging, right? So if you combine
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: a high-quality heart scan with AI imaging, we can now
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: do an angiogram of the arteries in your heart without
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: having to bring you into hospital and without having to
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: do an invasive procedure. We can get an assessment if
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: there's any blockages of the flow, whether or not it
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: needs a stent or bypass surgery. And we can get
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: even beyond that an assessment of the plaque in the
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: in the arteries. It's kind of like we're taking a car,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: driving it inside the artery, right? So we can see
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: if there's calcified hardened plaque, right? In the old days,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: our parents used to call it hardening of the arteries, right?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And it's from calcification. If there's soft plaque, or even
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: if there's plaque that's putting you at risk immediately for
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: a heart attack. And so with that three-minute scan, right?
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: And you all have been there and you've seen it.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: The literally can tell people you'd have this scan. And
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: then the protocol we use in terms of treating your cholesterol,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: blood pressure, diabetes, we've proven and published now, you reduce
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: the risk of heart attacks. You can live longer.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Now, what's the difference between that and a full body scan?
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Because you also have the capabilities of doing a full
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: body scan as well.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: So one of the reasons full body scans have become
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: very popular, right? Two kinds of patients, patients that are
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: either symptomatic are feeling bad for some reason, abdominal pain,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: or they have dizziness, lightheadedness. And then a lot of
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: people who have anxiety over their healthcare, right? And people
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: are searching on the internet, right? We know that now.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: There's a whole industry now of what's called wellness and longevity.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: And today we have technology that can detect aneurysms or aneurysms,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: which are thinning of the blood vessels and And if
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: aneurysms rupture, no matter where they are, if they're in
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: your brain or in your abdomen, people either have a
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: stroke or can die from it immediately, right? Can detect tumors.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: So there's a variety of reasons why people want a
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: full body scan. You know, my job isn't to tell
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: patients I'm smarter than them or I know better for them.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: My job is to take people as they come and
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: work with them to help them get the things right.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: That they need and give them the comfort. And again,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: as you know, from mental wealth, most common reason people
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: come to a cardiologist, one of the reasons we're so
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: supportive is anxiety. Anxiety, yeah. Anxiety causes chest pain, shortness
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: of breath, palpitations.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: That's right.
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  Speaker 2: It can cause all kinds of symptoms. And so we
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: have the most advanced technology. CT scan in the world.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: It's the fastest, best images, low radiation. It's fast. We
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: have no private pay stuff. We're not concierge. Our goal
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: is to educate people.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Now, what about for people that don't have health insurance, right?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Because people here are talking about it, and I'm sure
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the first thing they're thinking about is, what if I
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: can't afford it? If I can't afford it, does that
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: mean I shouldn't get my heart checked? Does that mean
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I can't get a full scan? So break down somebody
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: who wants to get a full heart scan, a full
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: body scan, and make sure that them or their family
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: members are healthy.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: So I've been blessed to be in a breakfast club
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: a number of times. Every time I've come there, I said,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: we take care of everybody. If you come to me
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: or any one of my doctors, Soren Medical, for help,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: we help you. And if they don't have insurance, they
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: get exactly, if the Queen of England showed up, They're
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: going to get the same care as the Queen of England.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: That I'm not concerned about. They just let us know.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Info at SoarinMedicalNY.com. What their issues are. They don't have insurance.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: We get them set up. It's no different. If you
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: or your family comes, everyone gets the same treatment.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: You know, I was there. I'm always at Dr.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Puma's.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: As soon as I feel something, I go to Dr.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: Puma.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I'm not even going to lie. I probably text you
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the most about this from the show, huh? I'm sure.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: No, I hit him up pretty frequently.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Oh, you do too?
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Well, other people too, though.
• 7:17
  Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying? I definitely call Dr.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Puma a lot. Lauren was in the lead for a
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: while there. But DJ Envy's catching up.
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: I call Dr. Puma a lot.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I email him because I don't want to. I feel like.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, no.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Are you texting? No, I'm telling you.
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: I will call Dr.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Puma.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: I called him on accident the other day, and he
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: called me back, everything okay? And I was like, yes, Dr. Puma,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: everything is fine. It was a butt dial.
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: But I just thought that that was a... He called
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: me right back. He called right back. Yeah, but... Thank you.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So the other day I was there, and there was
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: a gentleman from Switzerland who wanted a body scan, but
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: they didn't offer it, or they said that, I guess,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: for his insurance, he couldn't do it.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: Where, in Switzerland?
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: In Switzerland. Oh, wow. So he flew here. He heard
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: it on The Breakfast Club. I don't know how they
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: listen to Switzerland, maybe on Netflix, but he heard it
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: on here and flew in to get the scan, and
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I met him at Dr. Puma, which I thought was dope.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: But I wanted to ask you, one thing I would
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: say about you, and this is my question to you,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: My parents go to a zillion and one doctors, right?
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: My dad is 83. My mother's 81. You met both
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: of them. When they left your office, they said, the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: one thing I can say about Dr. Puma is that
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: he cares. What makes you like that? Because there's a
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: million and one doctors with, I'm sure that have scans, but...
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: You don't take five minutes to talk to somebody. You'll
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: talk to somebody for hours. Why do you care so much, Dr.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Pullman? Well, you know, first of all, I think a
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: lot of doctors care and I think most doctors care.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: But I think now they're in structures. And, you know,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I think I've said it before here. If they're working
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: for a health system, they're working for a health system.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: So when you show up, they're not working for you.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: We're independent. I work for you. So, you know, and
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: every day if you come to me, you come to
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: me because you want to. Right. Not because you have to.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: You're not going to the emergency room or something. So
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's important that, you know, when everyone that
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I see, I have to make sure I'm giving them
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: what they need. And honestly, some people take five minutes.
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: But some people take 50 minutes. Some people take longer.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: There have been days people miss that. Doctors miss that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: because if I have a conversation with five minutes, I
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: might miss something.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: And when I'm watching you and not just with my parents,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: with people that you talk to. You ask about history.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: What are you taking? What did your doctor give you?
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Send me that information. You get a full analysis based
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: off of their life. And a lot of doctors don't.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: You go to the doctor sometimes and they be like,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Charlemagne went one time to get snipped and he got
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: a finger in his butt.
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: First of all, it was a vasectomy consultation. And while
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: I was there, the doctor asked me have I ever
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: had a prostate exam.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: And he said that I should get one because I'm
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: at that age.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: So he did it right then and there.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, this was a few years ago.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I'm 48 now.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: That was 45, 45-ish.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: But my point is, he went to get snipped and
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: left with a finger in his butt. But you actually.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: This is so silly. Why would he talk like that?
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Dr.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Puma?
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: You know, how many times did he ask you for
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: a prostate exam? You're not even that type of doctor.
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: You see what I'm saying? At least I was at
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: the prostate.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Exam, doctor. But my point is, you know, why does
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: it matter to you to go into depth about really understanding.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: You know, the truth is, we're trained that way, number one.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: But more importantly... people come for all different reasons and
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: they come, you know, I've spent my life basically 40
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: years of my career. You spend your life here in
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: this studio. I spent my life in eight by 10
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: rooms sitting with people and taking care of people is
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: a lot easier when you understand them, you know where
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: they're from, you understand what their issues are. And lots
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: of times you have to coax it out of them.
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: And so even when like your folks were there, you know,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: so typical of like, you know, 80 year old people,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: they're on all these medicine pills, They're dutifully taking them.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I need to understand what their insights are. Do they
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: know why they're taking them? When they go to the doctor,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: there's a high likelihood those visits are going to be
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: 10-minute visits, and they're going to get their prescriptions refilled,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: but they're not really going to get any insights into
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: what's going on with themselves or why they're feeling the
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: way they are. And the other part is, as time
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: goes on, our lives get smaller and smaller, right? You know,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: the body adapts. We adapt. If we're not feeling well,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: you know, we adapt. And so sometimes we get people
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: that just end up sitting on their couch as they
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: get older. So if you go to the doctor and
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: they say, well, Charlemagne, how are you feeling? Oh, I
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: feel okay. Well, that doesn't tell me anything. You know,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: it's more important. Say, Charlemagne, a year ago, how many,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: you know, how much activity were you doing? How many
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: flights of steps can you walk up? Or were you
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: going to, you know, do you cook for yourself? Were
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: you going to the grocery store? What are you doing today?
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: That gives me a much greater insight. Remember, doctors can
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: only do two things for patients. Can only make them,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: you know, after 40 years of all the medicine, all
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: the studying, all the work, we can make people feel
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: better or live longer. And getting people to live longer
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: is a lot harder than it sounds.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: Let's talk about that.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: If I'm 50 years old, right, because I'm 48, I'll
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: be 50 in a couple of years. If I'm 50
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: years old and I walk to your office and I say, doc,
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: I want to make sure I'm here until I'm, I
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: want to live to be 101, but I'm not going
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: to go that far.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: I'll just say 80, 90, right? What exactly are you
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: checking for?
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: Why do you keep putting a number on it?
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: I want to live to be 101. I'm just saying
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: the average lifespan is like 75. So let's just say
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: I want to be here until I'm 80. What exactly
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: are you checking? And what would you tell me to
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: change immediately?
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Right. So that's great. So first of all, basic stuff.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: What your diet is, what's your exercise routine. You know,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: the best medicine, by the way, are the simple things
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: in life. Right. A little bit of exercise. I never
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: tell anyone start preparing for the marathon as exercise. Right.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Even what did I tell you, folks? A walk around
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: the block. Just get out every day, walk around the block.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: That's number one. Number two, at 50 years old, there's
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: a high likelihood you're going to have a metabolic problem,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: whether you realize it or not, because these problems are silent.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Prediabetes or diabetes. So we're going to check simple blood tests,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: hemoglobin A1C. cholesterol, lipid profile, right? Probably the most significant
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: and most important thing to check in terms of the
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: risk over time of a heart attack or a stroke.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: And heart attacks and strokes are the number one cause
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: of death in America, right? And then third, blood pressure,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: simple blood pressure. And, you know, in the black community
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: in particular, Blood pressure starts earlier in life, more likely
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: to start in the 30s than in the 50s, as
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: it would in, let's say, white men, right? More difficult
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: to treat, always higher blood pressures, higher likelihood of complication.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: The blood pressure itself isn't the issue. It's the damage
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: it does to organs, kidneys, eyes, brain, heart, and heart.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: In fact, in the black community now, blood pressure is.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, hypertensive heart disease, the effects of blood pressure
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: in the heart are more common cause of death now
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: than even blocked arteries. So simple, full blood panel. But
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: we check vitamin levels, B12, folate, vitamin D, inflammatory markers,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: because you got to put this whole picture together.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: So that's number one. And then at 50 years old,
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: cancer screenings. colonoscopies, prostate screenings for men, for women, mammograms,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: things like that. Because those are the two most likely
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: things that are going to limit your lifespan.
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: I've done the colonoscopy before. I don't have to go
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: back for it. I kind of have no polyps. I
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: don't want to go back for a long time. And
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: then prostate, did that the way Envy likes it. And
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: I got the blood last week.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: So those are the key things. And then sitting down
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: and having that conversation of what it means. The hardest thing,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: by the way, are the long-term things. Getting people to
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: take their medicines for high blood pressure. Getting people to
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: take their medicines for cholesterol. Now let's go back to
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: not feeling well. We can make people feel better. When
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: something hurts, even if it's their elbow, they usually tell
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: you that. So dealing with that is easier and telling
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: them what to do to improve that is a lot
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: easier than doing the things to make them live longer.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: Why do those things hurt? Like when he said that earlier,
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: my elbow will be doing the same thing. My right
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: elbow will be hurting. My left elbow will be hurting.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: My ears be ringing for no damn reason.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Well, ear ringing can be from lots of things, but,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: you know, joints hurt because of as we age, arthritis, inflammation,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: sprains or strains of the muscles, you know, common things,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: common things happen commonly.
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: He'd be talking to himself too.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: He's talking to.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Himself a lot. I had tennis elbow. And then I guess,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: you know, from DJing and all that stuff, my elbow
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: was on fire. Like to the point where if I
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: shook somebody's hand, it would hurt.
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: What age did all this stuff start at for y'all?
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, this was young because I played tennis. But
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: I would say this. I did everything. I went to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: rehab for my tennis, physical therapy. I did all the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: weight stuff. I did everything.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Puma gave me some stuff the other day. It fixed
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: it in two days.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: What did you give him, Doc?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Anti-inflammatories and pain meds.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: I probably need some of that.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: No, and when I say it worked, when I say it,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: you don't understand. I couldn't lift a 10-pound weight because
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: my arm wouldn't sustain it.
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: Is that what you.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Doctor, he gave me something, and when I said it worked,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: I had to call a doctor. I was like, yo,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: what the hell did you give me? Because it worked.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: I took cortisone shots in my elbow, everything.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: But it worked.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: So somebody dealing with arthritis with those anti-inflammatory things with
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: Help them as well, too, because you get cortisone shots when.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: You do it. Well, you know, we have a lot
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: of advances with arthritis now, right? I'm glad you brought
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: up arthritis and talking about back to, you know, what
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: do we do? So I've been super fortunate to have this,
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: aside from my amazing staff that's bright, happy, and cheerful
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: and glad, you know, focused on taking care of people
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: to get these amazing docs. And we really innovate, you know. So,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: you know, for arthritis, there's lots of different options. Patients
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: are living longer. Many of them either don't want to
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: have joint replacements, but now we have embolization procedures where
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: we can, with a simple tube, we go in 30-minute,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: 45-minute procedure. We can go into the artery that's giving
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: the blood flow to the joint that's causing the inflammation,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: and we inject these special beads that closes the artery off.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: And people, I could tell you, with shoulder arthritis, people
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: have had remarkable, before they leave our office... Their symptoms
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: are gone. Knee arthritis, we've actually done a research study
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: on it and published a paper on it, especially if
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: it's moderate arthritis. They get tremendous benefits in terms of
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: pain reduction. And then when you get pain reduction, you know,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: by the way, then you can get more mobile. And ultimately,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, the key... to longevity is mobility.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: You keep moving, you're able to keep moving and sound silly.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like the more you do, the more
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: you can do. The less you do, ultimately the less
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: you can do.
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: That's why I train so hard.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: But I want to tell you something, Dr. Puma.
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: I feel like with the coronary calcium scans and the
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: CT imaging and the AI-assisted technology now, I feel like
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: we've reached the point where heart attacks should be much
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: more preventable because you can see them coming.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Amen. Amen. They could be preventable. And I think when
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: you and I first met, going back, geez, it must
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: be five years now, that was the message I was
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: trying to tell you. And that's the message I'm trying
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: to get to the community. And there's so many people
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: in our community that either don't have access or it's
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: difficult to access to the health system and to their doctors.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: That one test, and then you add the blood work
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: into it, we can customize and personalize for them. And
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: if they just follow directions, we can— and we've proven it now.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: We've published it in research. We can reduce the risk
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: of a heart attack. And, you know, long-term—and I remember
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: us having that initial conversation all those years back, right?
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: You know, in terms of families having their mom or
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: their dad, you know, in their 40s and 50s. You know,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: those are the most important years for your family, even
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: in terms of— creating legacy for your family, generational wealth
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: for your family. I mean, we have to be healthy
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: and all of these things, you know, and, and Charlotte,
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, you and I, you know, you, you sent
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: me an email a few weeks ago. I don't want
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: to say what it was, but it was in the
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: news who, you know, another 48 year old, a 50
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: year old had a heart attack in the ICU. So
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: much of this is preventable.
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: How early should you start getting those scans?
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Great question. Great question. So, If you have any symptoms,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: any kind of chest discomfort, fatigue, tiredness when you're exerting yourself,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: shortness of breath, you need to show up. It doesn't
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: matter if you have no other medical problems or you're
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: on no medications. But if you're over 40 in a
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: man and over 50 in a woman, and you have
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: any risk factors, high blood pressure, diabetes, you've smoked, you
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: have a family history, high cholesterol, You should come in
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: and get evaluated.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Now, how often should somebody come? So let's say, is
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: it yearly, every three years, especially when it comes to
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the heart?
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: And by the way, they don't have to come to me.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: You know, I know you have a big platform. They
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: need to go get evaluated. But if your doctor is
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: still sending you for stress tests, you need to find
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: someone else because the technology is so advanced. But to
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: answer your question. That answer depends. If you have a
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: completely normal study, no calcification in the arteries, normal arteries,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: we have great research that says you have the lowest
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: risk of a heart attack or stroke over the next
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: eight years. So you don't need another scan for seven,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: eight years unless something changes in your life. And if
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: you get any symptoms, they're not coming from your heart
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: during that time.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: I always feel like I got symptoms.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, me too. I call them all the time. You know,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you, we're dealing with the insurance companies, right?
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I know we had a conversation one time and you
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: were saying that, we were talking and you were saying
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: sometimes the insurance company prescribes something that was popular in
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: the 80s, like a medicine that was good in the
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: 80s and it's now 2026. And the only reason that
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: somebody would be taking that actual medicine from the 80s
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: is because the insurance company wouldn't cover the new one.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Do you see that a lot with prescribing medicine?
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Every single day. They do it today on all different
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: kinds of medicines. I want to be careful I don't
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: say I've become an activist, as you know, in my
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: old age. It is becoming increasingly difficult to take care
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: of patients because what the doctor says you need, you
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: have so many layers of insurance companies, health systems, saying, nah,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: maybe not. So when they do things like that, that's
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: an economic decision. When you go to your doctor, those
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: decisions should be healthcare decisions. What's the best thing for you? Okay.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Your doctor says one thing. And even if it's a,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: you know, let's do just a simple cholesterol medicine, right?
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: So I see a patient yesterday on pravastatin or simvastatin, right?
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: And those are the first medicines that were ever invented.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: And I was prescribing those in 1990. In 2026- You know,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: they wouldn't allow, they wouldn't authorize the Crestor, the Resuvastatin,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: or wouldn't authorize the injectables now that we have. You know,
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: there's one injectable that's two shots a year. Wow. And
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: can drop your cholesterol and LDL by 45, 50 percent,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: proven to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: makes you live longer, and the insurance companies won't pay
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: for it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: But why do they? So you're talking about Rovastatin, right?
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: Is that one of them?
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I take Robustantin. Robustantin. That's a pill.
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: Yeah, but that's so common. I know so many people
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: that take that.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Why do they prescribe it if there are all these other, like, new, more, like,
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: researched methods?
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Well, because we always prescribe things in a sequence, right?
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: But what I'm saying is that they're even denying Rosuvastatin, right? Crestor,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: which is— Oh, that's a big one, too.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: That's one of the most— My mom used to take that.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: common ones. But if you can't get people, we don't
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: just put people on a medication for cholesterol. It's like
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: blood pressure. We have a goal, right? What's our goal?
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Where do we want to get your total cholesterol or
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: your bad cholesterol LDL at? And what we do is
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: we customize that with our heart scan based on your
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: plaque level. analysis so if we want to you know
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: for let's say dj envy we want his ldl below
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: 100 he may only need 20 milligrams of rosuvastatin but
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: let's say for charlamagne we want his ldl below 50
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: because we we see and i'm not saying this is
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: the case i'm just saying you know hypothetically that there's
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: plaque we may say he needs 40 milligrams of rosuvastatin
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: but then when we monitor monitor his levels His LDL
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: may not be there. So then we have to escalate.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: So now we want to go to the injectables. Well,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: the injectables are more expensive, but they work better and
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: they're right for him. But then it's a fight with
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: the insurance company. So that happens all the time. I mean,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: that even happens with procedures. I have a gentleman. who's
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: now in his early 60s, heavily calcified aortic valve, has
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: had stents in his arteries already, and I had him
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: scheduled for Friday for a cath procedure to assess that.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: His insurance denies it.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: That's crazy, man.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: So we're fighting it with them, and we'll do a
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: period of period. But you go through so many hoops
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: because they're, listen, they're corporations.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: They're businesses. One last question on all that. Strokes, right?
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Strokes are something that, for some reason, makes me very nervous,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: especially when I travel.
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: That's what you're saying with Diddy, right? You used to
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: be scared of strokes, right?
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Not those type of strokes. I don't know what you're
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: thinking about. But like I said, when I travel a lot,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: it really scares me because one of my biggest fears
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: is to have a stroke in a hotel room and
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I lock the door and they can't get in to
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: help me.
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: Why just a stroke, though? I feel like any cardiovascular event.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Well, he checks my heart all the time, so I'm
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: pretty clear with the heart. But the strokes are something
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: that does not happen. But the heart is all connected, right?
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: It's all connected. And your blood pressure is good. So
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: your risk is really low.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: But aren't aneurysms also, they cause strokes as well, and
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: they're in the brain? How does that connect to the heart?
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: Because it's blood.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Well, because think of the vascular tree. Think of it
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: as just a tree trunk. The aorta, the biggest artery.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: And every other artery in the body is a branch,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: just like a branch on the tree. is a branch
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: of that. So if you have blockage in one area
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: or aneurysm or plaque, there's a higher likelihood you have
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: it in other areas. And that may be another reason,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: by the way, to one of your earlier questions, we
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: might say, if we know someone has very bad disease
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: in their legs, circulation, or they're getting ulcerations or blockages,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: we immediately take a look at their heart, at their carotids,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: at their brain, because we know there's over a 50, 60%
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: chance they have it there. But the three most common
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: reasons people have stroke in the over 65 population, most
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: common reason is an irregular heart rhythm, um, atrial fibrillation.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: And you see those commercials all the time for the
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: blood thinners. And, but that's usually caused by long-term high
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: blood pressure. The second is high blood pressure. And that's
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: why it's so important to monitor pressure. The problem with
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: high blood pressure is half the people that are on
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: medicine get side effects and they don't like taking it. Right. And, um,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: And that's a problem. And now we actually have, for
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: people on multiple medicines, that we can't control their pressure.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: We actually have a treatment that was recently approved where
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: high blood pressure is often caused by or resistant high
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: blood pressure by overactive nerves in the kidney arteries. So
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: we have like a 30, 45 minute procedure we do
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: where we just put a little tube, you know, by
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: an artery near the hip into the kidney arteries. And
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: we kind of calm those nerves down. And we see
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: usually over two or three months pressure coming down. And
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: often we can back off on medicines. And then the
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: third reason is plaque or blocked arteries, just like we
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: have in the heart. And so, at least from your perspective,
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: you know, only because I know you and know all
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: of these things, your risk is at the lowest level,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: less than 2% over the next 10 years.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: I want to tell you, Dr.
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: Puma, thank you, man, for being a sponsor of the
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: sixth annual Mental Wealth Expo. Like you said, it's like
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: the fourth year in a row that you've sponsored. So
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: when people come to the Mental Wealth Expo, On World
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: Mental Health Day, October 10th, at the Joellen Diane Bloom
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey. What should
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: they do when they come by your booth? What should
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: they be looking for? What information should they be looking for?
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, first of all, they should come. Okay. And
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: this is great. You've started a national conversation. not just
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: about mental health and what I love about it. And
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: the reason we support it is because you you've, you've
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: made it, you've taken the stigma away from talking about
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: your health and, and kudos to you, Charlemagne.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: Thank you, sir.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: It's, it's amazing. And we are proud to support again
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: this year and every year mental wealth. What we do
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: while we're there is I have a bunch of my,
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: my amazing staff and nurses there, some of my doctors there.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: And again, Patients can come talk to us about anything.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: They get a chance, you know, in a low-pressure environment
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: to ask us any questions that are on their mind.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: That's number one. Number two, we do blood pressure screenings.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Number three, we've started to do vascular tests. disease screening.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: So we'll check blood pressures in the arms and legs.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: And so we want it to be whatever it is,
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: whatever people want it to be. We want to be
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: a resource for the community. It's not about Soren Medical. I,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: you know, I think you know me well enough now
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: to know that's not what it's about. It's about educating
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: the community. And what I think mental wealth does, you know,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: when so many thousands of people come It's people come
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: because there's things on their mind and they don't know
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: where to get the information from. And it's become this
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: amazing community of doctors and therapists and people. But it's
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: so common they have other issues. And so that's all
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: we're hoping that it is. So we're proud to support it.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: We're looking forward to it. I think it's in two weekends.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: October 10th.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: Two Saturdays from now.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: October 10th.
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center in Newark,
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: New Jersey. Come see Dr. Puma.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: He will be at the Mental Wealth Expo, man.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: That's right. Well, thank you, Dr. Puma, for joining us.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it. And we appreciate you opening up your
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: place for all our listeners. Because I mean, every time
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I go there, I see somebody that heard it on
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: a breakfast club or heard us talking about it or
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: seen us on social. So thank you so much, Dr.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Puma. Thank you all for inviting me. And thank you
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: all for all your advocacy and what you do. It's
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: making a huge difference in this world.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: Thank you, sir.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: All right. It's The Breakfast Club. It's Dr. Puma.