Hydration is Key: Dr. Mistry and Donna Lee are Joined by Dr. Georgeanne Freeman to Discuss I.V. Hydration
Speaker 1:
Welcome back to the Armor Men’s Health Hour with Dr. Mistry and Donna Lee.
Dr. Mistry:
Hello, and welcome back to the Armor Men’s Health Hour. I’m Dr. Mistry, your host, your board certifiable host, with my board certifiable cohost Donna Lee.
Donna Lee:
They’re just, I thought it was certifiable, but I can be board certified.
Dr. Mistry:
That’s right.
Donna Lee:
I do have an education in something. I just don’t remember what it was.
Dr. Mistry:
Welcome to our award winning show.
Donna Lee:
That’s right. Award-winning. We are the best men’s wellness award winning show ever.
Dr. Mistry:
You know what? I was nominated to be the top doctor, but I had to pay for my own plaque. So I think that this might be fake.
Donna Lee:
No, it’s not fake. We’re going to get that plaque and it’s going to be real.
Dr. Mistry:
One day. I’ll be noticed.
Donna Lee:
I notice you. We have three listeners who notice you!
Dr. Mistry:
This is a men’s health show.
:
I nominate you and I’m not in your practice.
Dr. Mistry:
Thank you for all [inaudible].
Donna Lee:
That makes it real.
Dr. Mistry:
There you go. There you go. This is a radio show here on KLBJ news radio. And, you can also catch this on our podcast. We are podcastable, as she used to say anywhere you get your podcasts.
Donna Lee:
…famously podcastable. iTunes, Alexa, anywhere you listened to a podcast.
Dr. Mistry:
And you know what we also do? We treat patients, believe it or not.
Donna Lee:
What?! We don’t have time for that. We got a radio show.
Dr. Mistry:
For those of you that this is our professional gig, I am in fact a practicing urologist. That takes up the other 99 of my week.
Donna Lee:
We had a patient call from the show. He’s a listener and they made an appointment and they said, “We really love Dr. Mistry and Donna Lee’s humor. And it’s really funny when she doesn’t get his jokes.” I was like, “What jokes did I not get?” But it’s possible.
Dr. Mistry:
There’s half, there’s half this show you don’t even understand.
Donna Lee:
What is urology again?
Dr. Mistry:
You know, being urologist, we get to really touch upon many, many different specialties in medicine. Primary care medicine is one of the most important and vital ones to us because they’re the ones that set the tone in the patient’s mind about coming to us. And we love our primary care partners. So today we have on the show, once again, Dr. Georgeanne Freeman, the Downtown Doctor.
Donna Lee:
Welcome.
Dr. Freeman:
Thank you so much.
Donna Lee:
Sounds so sexy: “Downtown Doctor.”
Dr. Freeman:
It is sexy. It’s a sexy brand.
Dr. Mistry:
It is a sexy brand. I’m stealing it.
Donna Lee:
The Downtown Urologist?
Dr. Mistry:
I don’t know. I’m just gonna take the cross.
Dr. Freeman:
The orange cross is pretty good.
Dr. Mistry:
So on our last segment, we talked a little bit about what to look for in a primary care provider. What could a patient do to prepare for seeing their primary care. But I really wanted to talk this time about something that you do that’s somewhat unique, and that’s the concept of IV hydration.
Dr. Freeman:
That’s right. So whenever you call 911, or you go to the emergency room, almost no matter what’s happening, the first thing that’s going to happen for you is that you get an IV. Why is that? That’s because fluids are super important and no one knows that more than you, Dr. Mistry.
Dr. Mistry:
That’s right.
Dr. Freeman:
Because you are the plumber of the human body.
Donna Lee:
That’s not sexy at all!
Dr. Mistry:
Hey!
Dr. Freeman:
Fluids in fluids out.
Dr. Mistry:
In most of those movies, the plumber does come into play.
Donna Lee:
Sexy plumber?
Dr. Mistry:
“I’m here to unclog the pipes, lady.”
Dr. Mistry:
IV hydration therapy in part of standard medical practice, you’re right. From a urologic standpoint, all of our patients pre-op, you know, we worry about their hydration status, we worry about their hydration status after surgery. We worry about it when they have prostate problems, we worry about it when they have overactive bladder and go to the bathroom too often, they try to limit their fluid. And then of course, kidney stones. It’s such a quick and rapid way of getting therapy into you. You can do more than just put saline, right?
Dr. Freeman:
That’s right. Folks at home are used to drinking water or drinking fluids orally. When you do that, it goes to the GI system or your gut, right? And the gut is very selfish and the gut will take most of the fluids. So when you get an IV, the needle is put into your arm–and by the way, it’s a needle introducer. So as soon as you have that in your arm, the needle is withdrawn, and then you just have a little plastic soft catheter. So when you’re sitting there getting an IV, there’s not a needle in your arm the whole time. I like to point that out because a lot of people don’t realize that.
Dr. Mistry:
It’s off putting to even think about that.
Dr. Freeman:
So then you get that fluids going through your veins. The fluid goes directly to all of your other organs, not just your GI tract. So the fluids cross what we call the blood brain barrier, which is this really cool thing that’s in your skull. Oh my God, I get chills thinking about it.
Donna Lee:
So Dr. Nerdy. That’s awesome.
Dr. Mistry:
I like that. We like that.
Dr. Freeman:
Doctors are nerds, right? So that’s why when you get an IV, your brain starts to feel better. You get more clearheaded almost immediately. And rather than just a plain saltwater or saline bag that you might get at an emergency room or on the truck, because they’re cheap and they’re quick, and they do what they need to do. But if you come into the Downtown Doctor clinic, we might give you a bag that has a potassium base that can help with muscle aches and different things quite frankly, potassium’s pretty amazing. I don’t have to get all into that. We could. When people have migraine headache disorder, we might give them an IV bag that has magnesium in it. Magnesium can be super helpful for migraines. Other things in addition to what Dr. Mistry was explaining that our dehydration caused urinary tract infections, just not feeling well, having a headache, having a low buzz headache, your skin might be dry, might be a little constipated, your urine’s real dark. I know we like to talk about dry vaginas in urology. Hydration, hydration, hydration. So the IV is a great way to get quickly hydrated and well-hydrated. I do get asked frequently, “Is it a hangover cure?” Yes, it does make people feel better when they’re hung over. It doesn’t cure your hangover. You know, a hangover’s a hangover, but I’ll make you feel a whole lot better. Is it cheating? That’s for you decide. We don’t get into the ethics of it. I just like to make people feel better, because that’s what doctors do.
Donna Lee:
Would you serve them a Bloody Mary while they’re having their hydration?
Dr. Freeman:
No, ma’am.
Dr. Mistry:
You talk about the “cheating” quote unquote aspect of IV hydration. And I think that where that comes up is a lot of athletes before big races, and even after big races, hydrate intravenously in order to avoid cramping and things of that nature. And this is a big, I mean, not now because of Corona quarantine, but one day soon, we’re going to go back to being a big outdoor town that loves to do races, and this is not Olympic trial level stuff. I mean, if I’m going to run my first marathon and I’m worried that I’m going to cramp up and have some trouble, then Ivy hydration may be a wonderful thing to consider prior. And even if you’re an established athlete, and this is not a cool climate. I mean, we get hot here in the summer.
Dr. Freeman:
Yeah. That’s a, that’s a great point. I like to encourage folks that when they’re training, that’s the time to come in and get used to the IVs so that post event you’ll know what it feels like, you know, what it looks like, and then you can come in and get hydrated up. It’s super helpful against the cramping gets you back to exercising quicker, better for your tissues. It’s not cheating. It can be part of your program.
Dr. Mistry:
You mentioned several of the interesting vitamins and chemicals that you can put in the IV bag. And I think that’s really important. You know, if you take it to the furthest level, the, if you are ill, if you have low sodium, if you have low potassium, and you’re in the hospital, this is what we put in you. But this is when you’ve already reached a point where you’re ill like you’re sick, sick. This is not what we’re talking about. If you have a condition that you think will get better from hydration, I think kidney stones is such a great example. I mean, we get patients that call us and say, “That I’m having pain from a kidney stone.” Sometimes we’re forced to send them to the ER for a bag of saline, and they have to incur a huge cost.
Dr. Freeman:
But you’re not really forced to do that. You could send them to me.
Dr. Mistry:
That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying. And so, I think that if you are out there suffering from a urinary tract, that’s a wonderful thought you had. If you had suffered from a urinary tract infection, I bet you an antibiotic will make you better in a day or two. I bet you a bag of saline is going to make you better within a few minutes, really. Just to be able to dilute the inflammatory reaction that’s going on in your bladder, an active kidney stone. I love the idea of the chronic migraine, chronic muscle cramps. I think there’s so much good that can come from it. Who are people that shouldn’t get IV hydration?
Dr. Freeman:
If someone’s fluid overloaded. So there is a condition called congestive heart failure where the heart, which pumps the fluids in the body, that if the heart muscle is weak and someone is fluid overloaded, you wouldn’t want to necessarily give them an IV. There are times when someone in CHF does need an IV, but we don’t have to go down that rabbit hole. So when you get an IV, I recommend going to a place where they have what’s called a doctor. A doctor is someone, a medical doctor went to medical school and will know if someone maybe shouldn’t be getting an IV. And thank you for bringing that up because the Hippocratic oath, the first thing is do no harm. We don’t want people just getting IVs. It’s kind of like the B12 shots. People come in and they maybe want to buy a B12 package from me. And I say, “Well, let’s look at your B12 level. I mean, I sell the package, but I would rather know that you really need it. Like let’s not buy something that you don’t need if you don’t need it.” Right.
Dr. Mistry:
I think that, you know, as we get more and more down this pathway of kind of click or fad medicine, and now almost anybody can do anything for us. It comes down to like shockwave therapy for erectile dysfunction. I always tell people if that doctor does not treat erectile dysfunction, that they shouldn’t be doing something to your penis. And so, you know, if you really are looking for something, you know, maybe look for a doctor that’s doing it, because they probably have the knowledge base to make the most effective decisions for you.
Donna Lee:
That’s right. Your website again?
Dr. Freeman:
www.freemanmedicalclinic.com Www dot Freeman, medical clinic.com or www.hippohydrate.com for the IV therapy, which we do run under the same business under the same roof. We also will come to you, your home, your house. If your vacationing, we’ll come to your hotel room and give you that IV directly. We’ll come to you.
Dr. Mistry:
Hippo Hydrate! How do people get a hold of us?
Donna Lee:
You can call us at (512) 238-0762 during the week, you can ask for me. Our website is armormenshealth.com and you can email us or Dr. Freeman to armormenshealth@gmail.com. And we will be right back.
:
The Armor Men’s Health Hour will be right back. If you have questions for Dr. Mistry, email him at armormenshealth@gmail.com.