Episode 256
Title: Overlooked Cause for Prostate Issues
Host: Dr. Nicole Rivera
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Transcription:
Dr. Nicole Rivera (00:01.036)
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Integrative You Radio. You have Dr. Nicole here talking about a man's topic. So I have a client that I was working with recently, and we were talking specifically about prostate issues in men over the age of 50. And I realized I haven't really talked about this specific topic.
in on the podcast, but I really think it's important because the statistics are insane when it comes to the average of men over the age of 50 that are dealing with prostate issues. So the percentage of men that are dealing with prostate issues over the age of 50 is 50%. And then listen to this, after the age of 70,
it goes up to 80 to 90 % of men. And so this is a bit ambiguous because I'm not talking about anything extreme. I'm not talking about prostate cancer per se. I'm talking about a condition of the prostate. And so this is one of the reasons why one of the most profitable drugs out there is Flomax. And I know it's not the most fun.
party conversation or dinner time conversation. But if you ask the majority of men over the age of 50, what medications they're on, it's almost unanimous that they are on blood pressure medication. They are on prostate medication like Flowmax for better urinary flow and for prostate inflammation. And they're on cholesterol medication. It is the trifecta that
They're all on. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy. And this is from my own. I don't want to say research. I'm saying this based on the people that I've seen, which is thousands over the past 13 years. But obviously, I have many, colleagues in this industry. And when we look at their data, it's the same. Those three medications. So we have to really ask, like, why is it so
Dr. Nicole Rivera (02:25.582)
common for men to have issues with their prostate. And so let's start with this because there are some people that actively know that they have prostate inflammation, benign, hyp, hyper, benign prostatic hypertrophy, or they've been told they have a sister in adenoma. But the thing is, is that there are a lot of men that are walking around that have
the start of prostate inflammation and don't even know it. And really the way that this looks is changes in your urinary flow and stream. So some of the questions that I typically ask is, you know when you go to urinate, do you find that you start and stop with your flow? Question number one, because if you do, that is a sign of prostatic inflammation.
Do you also find that your stream is weak? Another sign of prostatic inflammation. And the third is, do you find that you urinate and then you're like, my gosh, it's been like 15 minutes? Why do I feel like I have to urinate again? And it's almost the sensation like I didn't get it all out. Another sign of prostatic inflammation. And so...
In the population that I work with, I work with all different age groups and I'm hearing these symptoms in men that are in their late 20s, that are in their 30s. So they're showing that they know the data that men have some level of prosthetic inflammation over the age of 50. But if you understand the symptoms, you're gonna find that
There are young men that already have the start of prostatic inflammation. So why, what the heck is the issue? Like why would this be happening? You know, if we want to look at the prostate and just look at it from a urinary perspective, then, you know, we could say, do, you know, are men walking around with asymptomatic infections in their urinary system?
Dr. Nicole Rivera (04:40.736)
Are they walking around with asymptomatic STDs or sexually transmitted diseases? Yeah, of course, all of those things are possible. But if you listen to my other podcast, I talk a lot about anatomy. And I talk about this because when you understand anatomy, sometimes things are so fricking obvious that are completely overlooked in conventional medicine settings.
And you know, part of it, I get it. I get that everyone is a specialist. I get that, you know, there is going to be the urologist. There is the gastroenterologist. There is the cardiologist. And everyone has their specialty because all of these organs are complex. Fantastic. I get it. But at the end of the day, we are an integration of all of these systems. And anatomically, there are certain systems that will affect other systems because it's almost like guilty by association.
guilty by proximity. So when you look at the anatomy of the pelvic bowl of a male, you're going to find that their prostate backs up to their rectum, AKA part of your colon where you poop. And so when I do my deep dive diagnostics, I find that so many men, especially over the age of 50,
are dealing with gut issues if they know it or they don't. And the reason why, this isn't just men by the way, but we're obviously talking about the prostate, but we have to think about it this way because I'll give you one example that will preface with what I'm about to talk about. When I work with people, a lot of times I'm not their first stop. I'm sometimes, you know, they're second, sometimes I'm their 20th and they've
started to make changes. They started to make lifestyle changes. They started to change their diet. They started to become maybe more aware that there's a bunch of chemicals in the food and they find out that there's chemicals in certain products they're using. So, you know, a lot of times they've cleaned up their lifestyle and their diet a bit before working with me. And so I always say, I think it's fantastic that you made these really positive changes, but...
Dr. Nicole Rivera (07:01.612)
despite if you've been doing these changes for three months or you've been doing them for the past six years, you have to remember all of the years prior was a compounding effect of all the things you were exposed to before you knew better. So we are all being exposed to different chemicals from all different sources every single day. It starts when we're in the womb.
because the amniotic fluid, they've now found over 200 chemicals in the amniotic fluid. So it started there. You know how many kids and infants I treat that are toxic and their livers are already taxed out? It is insane. So it started there. And then if you were born in a hospital and they put the ointment in your eyes and you were a C-section and then you were touched by all of these, you know, the doctors and the nurses that are literally in a hospital where there's all of these
antibiotic-resistant microbes. Like, listen, this is not a fear tactic. This is just a reality check. And don't get me wrong. Our bodies are strong and resilient and they were designed to fight all the things off and clear out the toxins. But the problem is, is that our systems are so overloaded and our immune systems are debilitated already at such young ages for a variety of issues or for a variety of reasons, I should say.
So we are literally be our livers and our kidneys are getting assaulted every day. And this is from the formula that is given to the children with soybean oil and hydrogenated oils and so many different preservatives and chemicals into the snacks that are appropriate for children to then the sugar that's in everything. I live in Italy now and I eat pastries very often and it
still to this day blows my effing mind that nothing is sweet here. Nothing is sweet. And they use sugar. So Nick and I, my husband and I have been having these conversations where like, I've never personally had access to pure cane sugar. Like is pure cane sugar not that sweet? Because they're using pure cane sugar here in these pastries and they're not that sweet. And in the US, everything is so...
Dr. Nicole Rivera (09:31.352)
freaking sweet and yes, there's high fructose corn syrup, but even things that have sugar in them. And is it the amount of sugar or is it something that they're doing in the processing of the sugar that is making it so much sweeter in taste? So anyway, derail. But overall, our systems are getting assaulted by all these chemicals. There is heavy metals in the tap water.
So you're like, no, I drink filtered water. Perfect, you shower in it. You bathe in it. You bathe your baby in it. You know, there's things that are in the personal products that we're using. I was laughing. My husband's getting his haircut yesterday and I was looking at the hair products because they're like, you should use this. You should use that. And I'm like, these products are horrific. Hydrogenated oils, propylene glycol, all of these different dyes. And these young men are just walking out, know, I need this.
hair putty, gel wax and it's like people have no idea that these things are not just toxic to our system, toxic to our gut, toxic to our prostate, but they're also hormone disruptors. So the moral of the story is that we are all being exposed to a slew of different toxins, especially through food.
And these toxins, these heavy metals, mercury from fish, it's all going directly into our digestive system. And your body will get rid of what it can until it can't. And so this is what I always find comical is people will say, my gosh, I used to be able to have a bottle of wine. Now I could barely drink a glass and I feel like garbage the next day. I used to be able to tolerate coffee. Now I can't tolerate coffee. I used to be able to take Tylenol. Now I could barely take, you a half.
And people are not realizing that's a sign that your liver, your major filtration organ of your body that gets rid of all the toxic shit is completely maxed out and overloaded. And if it's maxed out and overloaded, then guess what? The toxins that you're being exposed to, like all the pesticide residues, organophosphates on your food, all of that's just going in and it's just sitting there. All those residues. And as you accumulate more and more
Dr. Nicole Rivera (11:53.382)
residues from pesticides and herbicides and benzines and all this shit that's all used in agriculture and farming, all of that getting into your gut, what happens is now you're more prone to infections. So because it's wiping out all your good bacteria, what we call your probiotics, now you have bad bacteria in your gut. Now you get exposed to a parasite, your body can't expel it, so it lives in your gut. All these things are now living in the gut.
Some people are symptomatic, diarrhea, constipation, I have pain, I'm cramping. Some people don't. Some people are just like, eh, my stomach hurts here and there, and a little bloated, no big deal. But the more issues, residues, toxins, and inflammation that you have in your gut that start to create inflammation in the rectal area, the descending colon, you are going to then cascade that inflammation. You're gonna even cascade those chemical residues.
and you're going to cascade that bad bacteria or any of those infections into the prostate. Because guess what? There are lymph nodes that surround your rectum, surround all of your intestines, surround your prostate, and they're the cleanup. So if all of those different chemicals, and toxins are getting dumped into the lymph, and also getting dumped into the blood vessels, that's how it's then going to make its way into other places like the prostate. And the prostate is the neighbor. It's right there.
So this is a huge contributing factor that no one is talking about when it comes to prostate issues. So, you know, we're living in a world where men are waiting, they're awaiting the prostate cancer diagnosis and the frequency or the commonality of prostate cancer is insane nowadays. And so what if we could be doing more about it by dealing with our gut health? And
If that is the root cause, then you can take all the prostate medication you want, and you can do all the prostatic surgeries that you want. And it's not going to change it because people will still get a cancer diagnosis in that area. And they're like, but the prostate was, is gone. We're like, well, it's not in your prostate. It's in your lymph nodes surrounding where your prostate was. These are, these are the feedback mechanisms saying it wasn't the prostate. It was something else.
Dr. Nicole Rivera (14:17.718)
and nobody is getting it and nobody is looking at it. And also too, for those of you that are new here, you wanna go to your gastroenterologist and say, hey, check me for parasites and check me for pesticide residues and check me for benzene. This crazy lady on our podcast is talking all about it. They don't know how to test for it. They might do a stool sample on you. They'll do a stool sample for one day. So this is a really fun fact. You can't get information
from a stool sample. You don't get quality information from stool samples at all. But if you really wanted to try to get good information from a stool sample, you would need to do a 10-day sample. You need to shit in a box for 10 days straight. And you would need to have a microbiologist look at the shit within 20 minutes to 30 minutes after coming out of your body. You tell me where you're gonna find that. Because parasites will do something called autolyze.
They self-destruct after exiting their host. You're the host. They exit you, they die, they deteriorate. So they're never found in your stool sample that took three weeks to get to the lab. And also you shed parasites at different times. You shed bacteria at different times. So if you're doing a one-day sample, whoopity-doo, it's not giving you any quality information. And so you wanna ask, test me for...
The chemical stuff. They're like, well, I don't, don't know how to do that. We don't, we don't do that. You have to work with functional practitioners that understand this. There's a variety of different ways, different companies, Viber in America, Viber in Wellness. They run some fantastic toxin, environmental toxin panels. They will be able to measure everything from benzines and organophosphates and pesticide residues, glyphosate, all of these things they can measure.
what's in your gut, what's in your system. And so this can really help you to understand like what is going on causing these prostatic issues. So I invite you to take a different approach. I invite you to Google the anatomy of the prostate and the rectum and you're gonna see they're right next to each other. They are neighbors. I invite you to get better data.
Dr. Nicole Rivera (16:41.396)
on your body so that you actually know what the heck is going on. What's the big picture here? Because people will focus in on the one thing that scares them. But in reality, they have a slew of other symptoms. They have brain fog, they have headaches, they have minor gut discomfort, they have reflux, their hormones tanked, and they have muscle cramps and muscle pain and joint pain. And they have all those things, you know, whatever, I'm just gonna live with those. But you know, the prostate thing's real scary. So we're gonna deal with that. But guess what? They're all connected.
Because if you have inflammation in one area, it's inevitable that it's going to cascade into other areas. If you have toxins in your gut, guess what? There's a thing called the gut-brain access. So you're going to have neurological issues that can create nerve pain, that can create headaches, that can create brain fog, and create memory loss. This stuff isn't just aging. You don't just deteriorate as you get older. There are some people that are thriving and there are other people that aren't. And it's because it's not about aging. It's actually how taxed out.
your filters are. So I'll leave you with this one example because I think this visual really helps people understand this concept. So if your body is extremely resilient, your body is extremely smart, your body can recover from anything, even the most extreme diagnoses, don't ever, ever, ever forget that. But the thing is, is that it's about removing the roadblocks.
So when you think of your kidneys and your liver, your liver is a major filter. It gets things out, bad stuff out of your body via your gut, AKA you poop it out. Your kidneys are the filters of your blood. It gets anything bad and harmful out of your bloodstream and you urinate it out. So those two systems are very important. And if you think of them as filters, filters on a vacuum, you can go out, buy the best vacuum on the market, and drop your multi hundreds of dollars on your Dyson.
and you could use your vacuum, but after a week of using your vacuum, the filter is gonna get full and it's not really gonna work anymore. Simple solution, you just go, you dump the filter and you're good to go. There's nothing wrong with the mechanics of the vacuum. The thing is, is that it's the same idea when it comes to the liver and the kidneys. They're filters, they can get taxed out and their filters can get full.
Dr. Nicole Rivera (19:04.268)
But no one teaches us this and no one gives us solutions on how to empty them, how to reset them. And in reality, the main practitioners that know about the resetting of liver and kidneys is going to be more functional integrated doctors because this concept is not understood when it comes to conventional medicine. God knows why, but hey, whatever. In addition to that is...
Our lymphatic system is in another system that is part of our immune system, but also part of filtering out toxic and harmful things. And so if you have any issues in your liver, in your kidneys, in your lymph, or all three, which is the majority of people that I work with, you are going to be harboring a lot of bad shit in your body. And it's going to be a snowball.
of different symptoms and diagnoses, symptoms and diagnoses, symptoms and diagnoses, and you're going to call it getting old. It ain't getting old people. So I hope this was extremely insightful. I hope that you're walking away with tools. Also, going and doing a gut reset. You got to know what's in your gut. So if you're going to go and Google a bunch of supplements right now and like, I'm going to do a gut reset because that's going to help my prostate.
Like I've said before, be my guest, but in reality, you're potentially wasting a lot of time and a lot of money because you don't know what you specifically need. If you're trying to improve liver function, one approach. If you're trying to kill a parasite, one approach. If you're trying to kill bacteria, another approach. So there's a lot of complexity. It's really not that complex. It's complex for someone who doesn't have data. If you have data, it's easy.
So please get more data on your body before embarking on a healing process so that you do not waste some of the most precious assets, which is time and money.
