November 14, 2024 • 39 mins
Today, Doug Pike interviews Dr. Danesh Sopariwala about losing muscle mass as you age. Pike also speaks with Dr. Shalsee Vigeant about veterinary care.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, This is Keith from Lewis Jewelers. It all starts
with a ring. It's designed by you and handcrafted by
us right here in the great city of ann Arbor.
We look forward to celebrating your moments at Lewis Jewelers.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Remember when it was impossible to misplace the TV remote
because you were the TV remote. Remember when music sounded
like this? Remember when social media was truly social?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hey, John, how's it going today?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, this show is all about you. This is fifty
plus with Dougpike. Helpful information on your finances, good health,
and what to do for fun. Fifty plus brought to
you by the UT Health Houston Institute on Aging, Informed
Decisions for a healthier, happier life and Bronze Roofing Repair
(00:59):
or Replacement Brun's Roofing hash you covered and Now fifty
plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
All Right, Thursday edition of the program starts now. Will
and I are are deep into wordle Will. Have you
gotten past your third guest yet? I'm still thinking about it.
You have time. I don't. I'm on my fourth. Actually
it might be my fifth. Let me take a look
at Yes, I'm on my fifth and just because I
(01:27):
went rogue on the very first one. I dug myself
into a hole. We do this almost every day that
we work together, and usually it's a pretty tight race.
I would say that over time, Will, Will's a very
a very worthy adversary, a worthy opponent in this game,
and we probably went about half and half, wouldn't you say, Will,
(01:48):
I'd say, So we go back and forth. There's some
weeks where I'm only hot fives and other weeks I'm
getting twos and three. Every now and then, we've had
I think between us, I think I had one first
try ace. Do you recall that? Or no? I remember
I had one? Did you Okay? We're even just like
(02:08):
holes in one in golf. I have one of those,
the only one I had. Fortunately, I was playing with
my son, who was old enough to recognize the significance
of it. And actually it was he who found the
ball in the hole. Very late in the evening. That
sun had just gone down and we were playing number eight,
so we knew we would be able to finish. But
(02:29):
I hit a shot that I really couldn't with my
senior eyeballs, really couldn't quite tell exactly where the ball
had stopped. I knew it was on a good path
toward the hole, but I thought it had gone long.
So when I got out of the car and I
grabbed wedge and putter and I went up there and
was looking around, and my son just ran straight to
the hole. He said, Dad, look, your ball's in the hole.
(02:52):
I said, oh, that's cool. So I went in and
bought a lemonade, treated everybody in my group to a
drink at the ball, well, not at the bar, at
a table. But we got eliminated and moved on from there.
And that's the only one I've had, and probably I
don't know half a million tries as long as I've
been playing golf. Well, I have a word update. Uh oh,
I just got it in five and four. I've already lost.
(03:16):
Now it's just about saving face and completing the task
that troubles me will because I'm really you have no
idea how far out I am of where I need
to be. Anyway, Welcome to Thursday. Looks so far at
least a lot like Wednesday, but feels more like what
Friday's gonna feel like, while also looking very much like
(03:36):
Wednesday and Thursday. And you get all that will that
makes sense. Oh, it was a bit of a word jumble,
but I think I kept a pace jumbles. That's the
other thing that I That's probably the only reason I
take the newspaper. Well, my wife likes it. She'll headline
read and then do the puzzles. Now got her addicted
to those as well, And if I find someplace to
(03:57):
do those online, I may be able to eighty six
that subscription. I don't mind reading the digital version, but
the woe in the yard. Our routine now is for
me to pick it up in the morning on my
way to work and then bring it home to her
to headline read, when if she would just look at
the news on her phone or her iPad, then she
(04:19):
would be up to date long before I get home.
Whether it's complicated, but at least not so much when
it's just sun, blue sky and cool dry hair. I
like that. Speaking of complications, the tropics continue to ignore
the change of season. Tropical Depression nineteen plodding northward into
the Bay of Campeachee over the next day or two
(04:41):
and ultimately into the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected
to become a tropical storm, and potentially even it's saying
in a low grade hurricane. Not supposed to get any
real major issues from this thing wherever it eventually goes.
For now, at least most of the models show it
turning to the northeast in the Gulf of Mexico toward
(05:03):
northwest Florida sometime down the road, like maybe middle of
next week, late next week. I said most models, by
the way, because there are a few now that show
this thing potentially going going ashore just about anywhere in
any northward something direction. Once it's fully in the Gulf
of Mexico, including all points from basically from the Rio
(05:26):
grand to Miami, mostly though mostly high pressure expected to
push it into the northeasterly trajectory and land it somewhere
as tropical storm around the middle or into next week.
Like I said, in northwest Florida. I don't think we're
in the I don't think we'll be in the ultimate
cone for this thing when it gets to about three
(05:48):
days out, but it's gonna it could do anything at
this point. I hope this little snap we've got going
the cool snap that's gonna make us very comfortable for
the next few days. I hope it pushes really hard
on that thing keeps it out of here. Time for
today's highs and lows and haikoup from Texas Indoor Air
Quality specialist tho'll pound two point fifty, say healthy air,
(06:10):
and the person who answers the phone, we'll be able
to explain exactly what they do to get that duct
work of yours cleaned as it should be. Ready, will
hit me first? Real cool? Snap here? Shift toward winter
feels great audio summer, wouldn't it be audious? Fall? No,
(06:33):
we don't have fall here. Come on, we have at
least two days. This is summer light or winter light,
but it's not fall.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Hmm.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I'll give that one. Hold on, let me write it down,
all right, write it down, Go take your time. I'm done.
All right, let's story. This one is a six point two.
Thank you will. That's a half a point better than
I had. Wow. Yeah, I feel like I've bothered you
(07:07):
and upset you this week a couple of times. So
I'm aiming low so you can. You can come in high.
It makes me feel better when I do that. If
I'd have put a seven and a half up there
and gotten that six point two, i'd have felt pretty bad. Well,
if you set your expectations low. The you'll never be disappointed, right,
It's right, that's exactly right, pleasantly surprised most of the time,
(07:30):
most of the time. And isn't that a way to
live life? Yes? Isn't it?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Though?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Very quickly, I look at Wall Street. We're gonna just
drive right down the middle of Wall Street. Another one
of those red days across the board at ten and
even now even oil had fallen into the red twenty
minutes ago, down a quarter almost to sixty eight dollars
a barrel, which is good for filling up the gas tanks.
Gold lost more than a sawbuck. For those of us
(07:56):
old enough to know the term, you know what a
sawbuck is? Will Is it fifty dollars? No, it's ten
maybe fifty cents? No, ten bucks? Ten bucks? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Why.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
It comes from a very somewhat well somewhat obscure reference.
It combines an X shaped wooden rack used in carpentry
with the Roman numeral for ten, which is an X,
which appeared on early ten dollars bills, and by early
I mean the nineteenth century, like in the eighteen fifties,
and that's where the term originally showed up in writing
(08:31):
somewhere in the eighteen fifties. Well it's a cool little factoid. Yeah,
throw that out at the Christmas party and watch them
just scatter to the four winds. Go find something more
interesting to talk about. Oh, old people stuff. Yeah, you
can't get enough of that, can you. Nope? Never ut
Hells Institute on Aging Speaking of older Americans and anybody
(08:54):
else who's around here really who just needs the help.
We have people fly into our medical center from all
around the world, and a lot of our seniors, and
they'll be pleasantly surprised if they'll look. If you are
among them today. Go look at uth dot edu slash aging.
That is the website of UT's Institute on Aging, which
(09:14):
is a collaborative effort of more than a thousand healthcare
providers in this Greater Houston area, all of whom have
educated themselves above and beyond their official requirements to get
the diploma on the wall in the office as to
how they can apply their expertise, specifically to seniors, to
(09:36):
us to help us live better, help us live longer, healthier, happier,
more robust lives. Go to the website. You'll find tons
of resources of great value to you if you're a
senior at all, or if you're looking on behalf of seniors.
That's how this whole show started, was me needing help
for my mother as she was getting older and nearing
(09:58):
the end of her life. And it's blossomed into this
great relationship I have with ut Health Institute on Aging
because I learned so much from them. Ut H dot
edu slash aging, ut H dot ed U slash aging.
What's life without a net? I suggest to go to bed,
sleep it off, just wait until the show's over. Sleepy.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Back to Doug Pike as fifty plus continues, Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Fifty plus on AM nine fifty k p r C.
I'm dougies will another glory state to be aligned in
Southeast Texas, and we'll talk in this segment about the
dreadful truth that unless we dedicate significant time and effort
to avoiding it, each and every one of us is
going to lose muscle mass a little bit every year,
starting I think in our third until we just wither
(11:01):
down and near nothing, and that withering accelerates past age sixty.
Thank you. Aging process explains a lot about how I
look in the mirror these days to explain why all
this happens and help us hang on to what we've got.
I will bring in doctor Denesh sapariwalla instructor at the
Institute of Molecular Medicine at Mcgovernment Medical School where he
and his team are investigating this and hopefully on the
(11:24):
verge of discovering the fountain of youth? Are we close yet? Doc?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Hi, thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Sure, pleasure.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I really appreciate the person to you know, share our
research with you and your audience.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah, so, so, yeah, as you go go ahead, no
you go.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So?
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Yeah, as you mentioned, like this process that you referred
to as you know, losing muscle mass, that's termed as sarcopenia,
and it's you know, the age related decline and muscle mass,
but also strength. And it happens to the extent that
there is muscle weakness, loss of balance, in increased tiredness
or fatigue, and then this will cause you know, reduce
(12:04):
mobility and trouble performing you know, daily activities like difficulty
carrying groceries, getting up from a chair, even twistings of
the doff a jar. So if you don't address this
decline in muscle mass, and strength. It's gonna you know,
snowball and lead into lower quality of life, increase in
(12:26):
falls and fractures because lower muscle mass will also weaken
your bones and eventually cause a loss of independence in
the elderly.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Do do some people tend to lose muscle faster than others?
Is it is it age related, gender related, anything like that.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Yeah, so it is age related, and so muscle loss
will start as early as say thirty years of age,
and then the rate of decline gets progressive and it's
especially significant after age sixty. So as you mentioned in
some indo whish was, it does decline faster and that
(13:03):
is roughly about ten to thirty percent of the population
aging population about sixty years of age. So especially in
these individuals, they should be watchful about, you know, changes
in their muscle strength, sudden changes in the ability to
do daily tasks, and the doctors will administer something called
(13:26):
as a sark F test, where S stands for strength,
A stands for assistance with walking, our stands for rising
from a chair, see is for climbing stairs, and f's
for fall. So there are questionnaires that you know, like
will screen you for subsupena.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
That would be good to know. I guess at least
establish where I am. Now I've got a physical coming up,
I may ask him about that, talk about the steps
my audience could take beginning today to hang on to
whatever muscle they've got and maybe even build on a
little bit.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Yeah, So to answer that question, let's just paint a
quick picture about how the muscle functions. Right, So very simplistically,
there are four basic requirements for muscle contraction or exercise
to happen. First is a neuronal signal from the.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Brain, right.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
A second is adequate blood supply to bring in oxygen,
fuel and take away carbon dioxide. And the third is
a contractile machinery that is all the proteins in your
muscle that actually bring about the contraction of your muscle.
And then finally, you need to have healthy mitochondria. Now,
these mitochondria are the ones that are actually burning the
(14:41):
fuel and producing energy, and energy is required for all
these processes that I mentioned, so you can appreciate that
muscle contraction then becomes a multifactorial system. And what happens
with age is that these individual components of the system
start breaking down, and in sarcopenia, this process is faster.
(15:02):
So but the good news is that if you follow
the simple principle of use it or lose it, you
can preserve muscle mass. So you need to regularly use
your muscle to maintain the strength and mass. And if
you want to talk about you know, what are the
risk factors of cyclopenia. One of the first things I
(15:24):
would mention is inactivity. So inactivity is a big risk
factor because as we age, the neuromuscular junctions that transmit
the signal from the brain to the muscle they start
getting weaker naturally, and if we don't activate these neurons
constantly through exercise or some activity, then we're going to
(15:45):
lose the integrity of these connections and lose the ability
to activate muscle. And then the second one would be
poor nutrition, which is also a risk factor because we
need to have a balanced diet with adequate protein, especially
as we age and the muscle is constantly undergoing repair
and getting rid of the damaged proteins and building new proteins.
(16:06):
And for this we need adequate sleep. So that becomes
your third basic requirement, good quality of sleep. And if
you don't have a combination of these, or if you're
lacking in one or more of these aspects, you're going
to end up with secondary conditions like obesity, diabetes, which
is going to cause even further inflammation. And you know,
(16:30):
just expedite this process of cyclopenia.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Talk about this the study, the research that you're doing.
Now we're only down. We got about two and a
half minutes left and that's all. So I want to
hear about that.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Okay, okay, okay, cool. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
So in our lab, what we're looking at is how
can we improve exercise, like, how can we make it
possible for the elderly specialty to get the maximum out
of their muscles. Right, So we work on this protein
called estrogen related receptor.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Or ERR for short.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
And what this does is it gets into the nucleus
where the DNA is and it can activate a number
of target genes and now these genes can go and
activate further protein. So it's like a controlled domino effect.
So when we express this protein specifically in the muscles
of mice and we can do this genetically, we found
(17:21):
that these mice like became a marathon mice, you know,
without any prior exposure. They were able to run longer,
much farther, and this protective effect of the muscle was
maintained even when we ate the mice to an equivalent
age of say seventy or eighty years in humans. In fact,
these mice outran the younger mice with normal levels of ERR.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
I want to be a marathon mouse.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
So, and we found that in studies in humans too,
As we naturally age, our muscles start losing this RR protein.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
So yeah. So that's that's what our research is geared towards.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
How far down the road is your work from being
something that can be tested and determined whether it can
be done with with people.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
So we we are at an exciting stage right now
because we are currently utilizing the tools that are already
being used in human studies for delivering genes into the muscle.
So we are testing these out on mice in old
mice where we can deliver the ERR gene into the muscle,
(18:36):
and our hope is to see if it can reverse
some of the harmful effects of sycopenia, like return some
of the muscle functions muscle mass back in old age.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
So that's where we are at right now.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Fantastic doctor deniesch so power Wallat, thank you so much.
I'm an old mouse. I'm ready bring Just tell me
when it's time to come out there and get this showing.
Just keep moving, you know, I got fired up yesterday
on becoming more health conscious with what I'm eating, and
then today I think today is going to be my
turning point to get more active than I am now,
(19:13):
which it's it won't be hard. I'm doing some but
not enough. So you have inspired me as I was
inspired yesterday, and I thank you for that.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Yeah, I would just say when when you exercise, try
to incorporate, like you know, two days a week of
some kind of resistance training and the rest of the
week can be concentrating on cardio or balance, because balance
is also.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Something that is really critical as VH.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Amen to that, Doctor Denesh SAPARi Walla, thank you so much,
my friend. Thank you for uh huh my pleasure. Buy bye.
All right, we got to take a little break here.
On the way out, I'll tell you all about the
city of Alpine, and it's invitation to you and me
and anyone else who wants to make the drive. And
then they'll concede that it's a long drive. Okay, it
is look it up and put punch it into your
(20:00):
your GPS and it'll tell you pack a lunch, because
it's a long ways out to West Texas, the Big Bend,
the beautiful, amazing, the amazing geography out there in the
Big Bend, where the night sky lights up with millions
of stars, not dozens like we can get in the
city around here. We only see the brightest of the
(20:21):
stars under the city lights of Houston. But out there
in West Texas and Alpine one of the most amazing,
totally free stargazing opportunities you'll ever have. And on December
fifth through the seventh, they have kind of put together
a little opportunity to do some structured activities or you
can do whatever you want out there. The structure is
(20:45):
on Thursday, they have what they call a wastle crawl
amongst all the shopkeepers on Holland Avenue and Murphy Street
where you could find some amazing, unique gift items to
bring back to your friends for the holidays. Then on
Friday they have a concert scheduled and other activities to
(21:05):
kind of fill your day and evening. And then the
long weekend will be capped on Friday with a tour
of their beautiful historic Alpine Adobe trail. All of these historic,
beautiful homes will be decorated for the season and ready
for you to take a good look at some of
the most amazing architecture in North America too. And probably
(21:26):
I would guess second only to Santa Fe in the
the style of these homes and the architecture of them.
Christmas season in the Big Bend in Alpine free stargaze
every night. Everything else is up to you. Historicalpine dot org.
Go to that website, Historicalpine dot org, click on the
(21:48):
big box in the middle of the page and you
will find out all about what's going on out there now.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
They sure don't make them like they used to. That's
why every few months we wash them. Check us fluids
and are you on a fresh cod o wax. This
is fifty plus with Doug Pike. All right, welcome back
to fifty plus. Thanks as always forgiving us a listen.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
We'll talk in this segment about some of the special
things we need to be aware of over the coming
holidays in regard to our pets, and to lead the way,
I'm going to bring in doctor shall see Vigeant with
veterinary emergency group right out in Sugarland where I live.
That group nationally deals with more than six hundred thousand
(22:36):
pet emergencies every year. Welcome to fifty plus, doc. I'm
doing well, Thank you very much. We'll we'll cover as
much as we can in our time, but I'm going
to jump out on a limit. Just guess that over
the holidays, the emergencies involving pets maybe involve them being
fed foods that are dangerous to them. Is that right?
Speaker 6 (22:57):
Yep? That is one of the most common things we see.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Absolutely, So what are the major food issues for pets
once the parties and family gathering starts pick dogs, cats,
wherever you want to start.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Yeah, I think it's actually probably safe to consider everything initially,
even you know, things as simple as turkey, which can
be perfectly fine for your pets, it could be really
bad when you add on the seasoning and the oils
and the butters, the fat. All of those things can
make them really sick. So I think when you think
about it, not giving them any table foods, not giving
(23:30):
them any sweets and some stuff you might even think
that isn't toxic. Is you know, we give them things
that have sugar fee sweeteners in it, and those can
be poisonous our pets. Yeah, so it's a I think
it's probably to be honest safest to assume that anything
in those holidays are going to be holiday foods are
going to be stuff that our pets shouldn't eat. We
(23:52):
do definitely give our pets turkey. It's the kind of
thing though, you want to rinse off all that fat
and all those seasonings because those are things they're tummy
not really used to.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
It's a good point, what about cats? Any issues there?
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Same things cats? Cats tend to be a little bit
more hearty for sure, and the things they can eat.
But we also find to be honest, most people are
starting to put up Christmas things by the time Thanksgivings
finishing up, and things like tensils and wire ornaments and
plants like you know, you put out Poinsetta's or you
put out holly and those kind of plants. Cats will
tend to go to. And many of those plants can
(24:26):
be really upsetting to their stomach, and tinsil on trees
can actually cause form bodies in those cats. So our
cats tend to want to play with the things we
put out a bit more too, and if.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
They knock down glass ornaments that can be an issue
for him as well.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Huh.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Absolutely, And you'd be surprised that anchoring your tree is
probably one of the big things people don't think about.
Whether it's because the cats are the dogs, and then
you'd be surprised how many dogs will eat broken glass
from an ornament.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So I had a Christmas tree climbing cat once for
several years and did did. Definitely did have could be
anchored down? Is that cat? That cat was going to
the top. Any issues with fish or people throwing turkey
legs in the fish tank or anything.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
Not that I've seen so far, but I would not
be surprised.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It's just really never a good idea to feed them anything,
as you said that, And they're so good at begging
for food around the table too.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
Oh ass yeah, yeah, we and we think, you know,
we're eating it and it's safe, so we could give
it to them. But there's actually quite a few things
our pets can eat that we can eat, so it's
always it's always safe to just think no, but they
definitely will get in it. And we vege were open
twenty four to seven, so Thanksgiving we are all there
and at any point if owners are concerned or worried,
(25:43):
you know, we're here for anything that happens, so they
can always give us a call at any of our
veges and talk to a doctor and see if what
they're pet's eating is going to be bad.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Holidays are kind of all hands on deck. Huh.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
Absolutely, They're definitely our busiest time.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Aside from food issues. What else is happening to the
dogs most often.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
So on holidays. Two of the things I think that
we probably didn't talk about. We talked about anchoring your tree,
but you'd be surprised how many dogs and cats will
get under there and drink from the basis you have
your tree in Okay, and a lot of times that'll
have either chemicals in it or a lot of people
will put thin preservatives in it to keep their tree
going longer. So those can make them really sick. So
making sure your pets can't get under your tree. And
(26:23):
something talking about turkey legs in aquarium alcohol Like you know,
everybody's you know, drinking alcohol in the holidays, and animals
cannot drink it. They get alcohol toxicity way quicker than
humans do. And so I think thinking about those things.
You know, it's not necessarily the food, but it's the
things that come out in the holidays that they tend
to get into a lot.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Is it proper to just tell your guests when they
come to your house, especially for a party where they're
just friends and not even family members who might already know,
but just to put up a sign somewhere, don't feed
the dog or whatever.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
Yeah, absolutely, because a lot of people, you know, they
might feed their own pet, and their pet might be
used to that kind of food, or you know, it
might not have an allergy that your pet may have.
So I think a lot of people, as they become
more and more aware of how sick our pets can
get with us, are saying that, you know, don't make
sure you don't give the dog anything, or even just
saying they get really sick, so don't give them anything.
It usually helps a whole lot. So most people know
(27:21):
about the things like alcohol. But I think, you know,
once you're having a party, sometimes oh they're not finishing it.
They'll just let the dog lick the plate. So I
definitely think saying it to your guests is not I
think it's appropriate and that I don't think anybody gets
upset by that anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
What should we be watching for in our pets too,
that they might signal to us that they're very stressed
about all the people in the house at the same time,
and it's given to a point where they may just
go berserk or something.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
Yeah, well, I think, and this is why quite a
few people I know actually put their pets away when
they have some of the holiday parties.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
You know, your dog may.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
Be very and cats very socialized to your house and
the goings that are normal, but then you bring in
a bunch of people for a party and they do
get stressed. So if they seem anxious or restless and
they're panting and pacing that most owners will know when
they're starting to get stressed, but some animals will. If
they get very scared or someone chases them into a
corner to pet them, they may even lash out or
(28:17):
bite or scratch simply because they're afraid not used to it.
So many people do put away their pets when they
have some of these holiday parties. So I think gauging,
you know, even if your pet is really good with you,
gauging how they are with crowds or noise or things
they're not used to.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Yeah, dog, that's a defender of the realm, so to speak,
the one that's got to be careful with them. And
that's it's probably not going to be their fault because
it is such a different environment all of a sudden. Okay,
so that's fine, what about.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
Yeah, and it's it's go ahead. It's like us we
can say, oh, yeah, that noise scares me, or no,
I'm going to walk away from that that bothers me.
They can't really do that, so I do think it's
a little bit harder for us to stay on top
of that.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Doctor Chelsea Vigeant on fifty plus here outside the holidays,
what's the primary reason people show up year round?
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Well, it's actually we see so many things. It's in
emergency wise. It's such a range anything from traumas, lacerations
or terrible things like hit by cars too. They're eating
something they shouldn't be and they're getting sick. So we
you know, twenty four hours a day where they are
all the time. And at vegs you can one of
the good things that you can call and speak with
the doctor to ask, you know, what's going on. Do
(29:26):
you need to see if that do you need to
come in? So yeah, So it's a really great it's
a great a resource for people to have and they
can always go. We do have a website too that
they can go to and see where their closest vedge
is or what the phone number to a close vedge
is at Venary Emergency Group dot com. So if they
there's ever any questions or worries holidays are not, we
will be there.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
And you are at the sugar Land location, correct on University. Yes, yeah,
I know where that is.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
Yeah, in Houston. We yeah, exactly. We have one in
Katie and one in the Heights, but we just opened
this year in sugar Land too, So we are down
there right off the University.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Right stop by some time, Say hi, I passed that
way a lot. I really do.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Just see, we have a really VEG has a really
different concept. We have a very open concept so you
can stay with your pet the entire time, and so
it's definitely a very different place to visit. So you
should swing by.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
All right, we'll do. Thank you so much, Doctor Chelsea
Vigeant from Veterinary Emergency Group down there on University Boulevard
and sugar Land. Thank you, Thank you boy. All Right,
we've got to take a little break here. On the
way out, I'll tell you about a late health. It's
a place where you can go if you've got an
emergency with an enlarged non cancer, well, that's not going
to be an emergency. It's going to come on gradually.
(30:34):
And if you're one of the guys over fifty five
sixty sixty five years old who's starting to experience symptoms
of that, you need to get it addressed and you
can get it alleviated at a late health. What they do,
they're vascular clinics around town, and what they do is
go in and identify the exact specific artery that is
(30:54):
supplying blood to that pesky thing, and then they shut
it off. They plug it up right there in the office.
You don't have to go to the hospital and worry
about bringing home something you didn't go in there with.
You just go in the clinics, get that procedure done.
Everything they do is usually done in a couple of hours.
Backs and you'll need somebody to drive you home, of course,
(31:17):
because you will have been under anesthesia. But then you
can go home and recover at home, and shortly you
will start feeling better. And that's the same for almost everything. Well,
it is the same for everything they do there to
help you feel better. It's gonna take a little bit
of recovery time. But these symptoms of whatever it was
that was bothering you, whether it's ugly veins, those can
(31:39):
go away like right away, maybe fibroids in women. There
are even some head pains that can be alleviated with
vascular procedures. They do all of that there, and almost
everything they do is covered by Medicare or Medicaid too,
So why would you wait? A latehealth dot com is
the website. They do regenerative medicine as well too, to
(32:00):
alleviate chronic pain, and nobody should have to deal with that.
Seven one three, five eight, eight thirty eight eighty eight.
Seven one three, five eight eight thirty eight eighty eight.
Give them a call, set up a consultation. Seven to one,
three five eight, eight thirty eight eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Aged to Perfection. This is fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Oh my goodness, will end of the program. Last segment
starts now of fifty plus and so much so much
in my notes. Still, holy cow, I'm gonna go jump
over that one. I'm gonna jump over that one, and
I'm gonna go to this one. Congress has been hearing
(32:48):
testimony about UFOs now for a couple of days, and
it's pretty safe to say that the general public around
the world, I would I would say has been kept
in the dark about extraterrestrial visitors. Lawmakers are pushing for answers,
but and they want fully transparent answers too, to exactly
what our government knows about UFOs, whether or not we've
(33:10):
recovered crashed spacecraft or alien life forms, whether we've actually
been in communication with life from beyond Earth. Some of
this stuff dates back as far as ninety years, long
before Area fifty one made headlines. Much of what's known
as classified obviously because that's why we don't know about it,
(33:32):
which means we still don't get to hear about it
or see it. But I do believe that Americans are
smart enough and calm enough to accept whatever the truth
might hold. For some people that would confirm long held beliefs,
and for others it would open up all sorts of
psychological and theological thoughts that might take while to process.
(33:56):
There are said to be somewhere between the Pacific and
the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of images and files and records
and items of interest dashed away somewhere someplace you and
i'll never go. And I think it's time to bring
them to light. I really do. And either way, either way,
just tell us what you know and let us let
(34:18):
us soak it in, let us absorb it, let us
see how it can be used for good, and try
to keep it from being used for evil, and just
see what's there. Bring it to light. Either way, the
truth will be here for all to see.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Well.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Do you believe in extraterrestrial life? Sure? That's not committed
at all. That's like you're just going along if I said,
do you believe in unicorns? Just yes? Or no? Do
you believe in extraterrestrial life?
Speaker 1 (34:54):
How?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Is sure not a synonym for yss? It's not why
because it's it's just too casual, too casual? Yeah? Sure, Yeah,
you believe in the Easter bunny? Sure? Yes, I have
my theories actually, one of which I'm reserving for a
screenplay if time ever allows me to write it. I've
got about half of it developed in my head, I
(35:17):
really do, and in note form somewhere, and it's an
undisclosed location, and the premise, honestly is quite believable. I do,
I'm pretty sure of that. I'll see how. I have
to see how and when I can get that knocked
out if I win the lottery. I'm telling you that's
what I'm going to do for the rest of my
life is write screenplays and maybe a book or two.
(35:38):
I have a passion for writing, and I love what
I do here. I don't get me wrong. I like
what I do here very much, but I also want
to be writing more and right now between raising a
seventeen year old and taking care of a thirty two
year old house or thirty one, however old it is now,
it's just it's a lot. So I'm comfortable. I'm confident
(36:00):
that I'll have time to do that at some point
in my life, just not yet. There's nothing wrong with
that astrodome in the news again this week after the
county proposed billion dollar makeover that I'm not really sure
is going to draw enough crowds to enough events to
pay for itself in fifty years. The problem that nobody's
talking about, or at least not a lot, is about
how that area is going to attract people when there's
(36:22):
no rodeo, no Taylor Swift concert, no big draw that week.
I don't think Houstonians are going to flock to the
old Astrodome to try out any of the forty or
fifty fast food options it might offer, no matter how
they're presented, even for fine dining for that matter, everything
(36:42):
this facility could offers as an eating area is available
all over this city, and I'm not going to drive
an hour to get a steak or a lobster or
a hamburger or a pancake that I can get ten
minutes down the road. Only idea bubble that seems to
make sense. It would be a guaranteed cash cow. Is
(37:04):
a casino hotel combination casino hotel expo area, and we
already have that there. The space is more than adequate
to do it right, and it could open up as
the world's largest place to gamble away everything from rent
money to inheritances to small fortunes. Las Vegas and Lake
(37:25):
Charles get a lot of Texas money. Think about how
many people go over there every day. A lot of
money from here going there. If the same enticements were
right down the street with shuttles and security constantly circling
the parking circling the parking lot. People would flock there,
people and their money. The place would pay for itself
(37:46):
in a year if there were enough dollar slot machines
and high stakes poker tables and all the hullabaloo that
goes along with that. Wouldn't take the NFL long to
throw another Super Bowl our way either, And I'd that's
worth more than a billion dollars to the city if
we had all those pieces in place. Either that or
like I phoned into Sean Salisbury's show this morning when
(38:09):
they were talking about this, fill it up halfway with water,
stock it with bass, and run guided fishing trips. That's
what I would. That's what I'd do if it was mine.
If I went a fifty billion dollar lottery someday, I
think I'll buy the Astrodome and I'll fill it with fish,
and I'll invite all my friends. We'll go there every day.
(38:30):
It's all We'll do. Well, we're almost out of time,
good heavens our time flies very quickly. Will no surprises here?
Just another Texas day? Or stop doing that? Stop doing that.
Nine percent of people say they always or usually take
a photo of their food when they're eating out. Have
you ever done that? Will? I true confession. I don't
(38:55):
really do that at all. You've never done it? Do
you don't do it at all? Now, I'm not gonna
say that I've never done it. No, I've never done it,
but I think I could probably count on my hands
the amount of times I've done that. I understand young
adults more likely to do it. Older folks like us.
Don't ever do this. Just don't do it. Stop it
(39:16):
all right, We got to get out of here and
stop this. We'll be back next week. Thanks for listening.
Audios
Hi, This is Keith from Lewis Jewelers. It all starts
with a ring. It's designed by you and handcrafted by
us right here in the great city of ann Arbor.
We look forward to celebrating your moments at Lewis Jewelers.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Remember when it was impossible to misplace the TV remote
because you were the TV remote. Remember when music sounded
like this? Remember when social media was truly social?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Hey, John, how's it going today?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, this show is all about you. This is fifty
plus with Dougpike. Helpful information on your finances, good health,
and what to do for fun. Fifty plus brought to
you by the UT Health Houston Institute on Aging, Informed
Decisions for a healthier, happier life and Bronze Roofing Repair
(00:59):
or Replacement Brun's Roofing hash you covered and Now fifty
plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
All Right, Thursday edition of the program starts now. Will
and I are are deep into wordle Will. Have you
gotten past your third guest yet? I'm still thinking about it.
You have time. I don't. I'm on my fourth. Actually
it might be my fifth. Let me take a look
at Yes, I'm on my fifth and just because I
(01:27):
went rogue on the very first one. I dug myself
into a hole. We do this almost every day that
we work together, and usually it's a pretty tight race.
I would say that over time, Will, Will's a very
a very worthy adversary, a worthy opponent in this game,
and we probably went about half and half, wouldn't you say, Will,
(01:48):
I'd say, So we go back and forth. There's some
weeks where I'm only hot fives and other weeks I'm
getting twos and three. Every now and then, we've had
I think between us, I think I had one first
try ace. Do you recall that? Or no? I remember
I had one? Did you Okay? We're even just like
(02:08):
holes in one in golf. I have one of those,
the only one I had. Fortunately, I was playing with
my son, who was old enough to recognize the significance
of it. And actually it was he who found the
ball in the hole. Very late in the evening. That
sun had just gone down and we were playing number eight,
so we knew we would be able to finish. But
(02:29):
I hit a shot that I really couldn't with my
senior eyeballs, really couldn't quite tell exactly where the ball
had stopped. I knew it was on a good path
toward the hole, but I thought it had gone long.
So when I got out of the car and I
grabbed wedge and putter and I went up there and
was looking around, and my son just ran straight to
the hole. He said, Dad, look, your ball's in the hole.
(02:52):
I said, oh, that's cool. So I went in and
bought a lemonade, treated everybody in my group to a
drink at the ball, well, not at the bar, at
a table. But we got eliminated and moved on from there.
And that's the only one I've had, and probably I
don't know half a million tries as long as I've
been playing golf. Well, I have a word update. Uh oh,
I just got it in five and four. I've already lost.
(03:16):
Now it's just about saving face and completing the task
that troubles me will because I'm really you have no
idea how far out I am of where I need
to be. Anyway, Welcome to Thursday. Looks so far at
least a lot like Wednesday, but feels more like what
Friday's gonna feel like, while also looking very much like
(03:36):
Wednesday and Thursday. And you get all that will that
makes sense. Oh, it was a bit of a word jumble,
but I think I kept a pace jumbles. That's the
other thing that I That's probably the only reason I
take the newspaper. Well, my wife likes it. She'll headline
read and then do the puzzles. Now got her addicted
to those as well, And if I find someplace to
(03:57):
do those online, I may be able to eighty six
that subscription. I don't mind reading the digital version, but
the woe in the yard. Our routine now is for
me to pick it up in the morning on my
way to work and then bring it home to her
to headline read, when if she would just look at
the news on her phone or her iPad, then she
(04:19):
would be up to date long before I get home.
Whether it's complicated, but at least not so much when
it's just sun, blue sky and cool dry hair. I
like that. Speaking of complications, the tropics continue to ignore
the change of season. Tropical Depression nineteen plodding northward into
the Bay of Campeachee over the next day or two
(04:41):
and ultimately into the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected
to become a tropical storm, and potentially even it's saying
in a low grade hurricane. Not supposed to get any
real major issues from this thing wherever it eventually goes.
For now, at least most of the models show it
turning to the northeast in the Gulf of Mexico toward
(05:03):
northwest Florida sometime down the road, like maybe middle of
next week, late next week. I said most models, by
the way, because there are a few now that show
this thing potentially going going ashore just about anywhere in
any northward something direction. Once it's fully in the Gulf
of Mexico, including all points from basically from the Rio
(05:26):
grand to Miami, mostly though mostly high pressure expected to
push it into the northeasterly trajectory and land it somewhere
as tropical storm around the middle or into next week.
Like I said, in northwest Florida. I don't think we're
in the I don't think we'll be in the ultimate
cone for this thing when it gets to about three
(05:48):
days out, but it's gonna it could do anything at
this point. I hope this little snap we've got going
the cool snap that's gonna make us very comfortable for
the next few days. I hope it pushes really hard
on that thing keeps it out of here. Time for
today's highs and lows and haikoup from Texas Indoor Air
Quality specialist tho'll pound two point fifty, say healthy air,
(06:10):
and the person who answers the phone, we'll be able
to explain exactly what they do to get that duct
work of yours cleaned as it should be. Ready, will
hit me first? Real cool? Snap here? Shift toward winter
feels great audio summer, wouldn't it be audious? Fall? No,
(06:33):
we don't have fall here. Come on, we have at
least two days. This is summer light or winter light,
but it's not fall.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Hmm.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I'll give that one. Hold on, let me write it down,
all right, write it down, Go take your time. I'm done.
All right, let's story. This one is a six point two.
Thank you will. That's a half a point better than
I had. Wow. Yeah, I feel like I've bothered you
(07:07):
and upset you this week a couple of times. So
I'm aiming low so you can. You can come in high.
It makes me feel better when I do that. If
I'd have put a seven and a half up there
and gotten that six point two, i'd have felt pretty bad. Well,
if you set your expectations low. The you'll never be disappointed, right,
It's right, that's exactly right, pleasantly surprised most of the time,
(07:30):
most of the time. And isn't that a way to
live life? Yes? Isn't it?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Though?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Very quickly, I look at Wall Street. We're gonna just
drive right down the middle of Wall Street. Another one
of those red days across the board at ten and
even now even oil had fallen into the red twenty
minutes ago, down a quarter almost to sixty eight dollars
a barrel, which is good for filling up the gas tanks.
Gold lost more than a sawbuck. For those of us
(07:56):
old enough to know the term, you know what a
sawbuck is? Will Is it fifty dollars? No, it's ten
maybe fifty cents? No, ten bucks? Ten bucks? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Why.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
It comes from a very somewhat well somewhat obscure reference.
It combines an X shaped wooden rack used in carpentry
with the Roman numeral for ten, which is an X,
which appeared on early ten dollars bills, and by early
I mean the nineteenth century, like in the eighteen fifties,
and that's where the term originally showed up in writing
(08:31):
somewhere in the eighteen fifties. Well it's a cool little factoid. Yeah,
throw that out at the Christmas party and watch them
just scatter to the four winds. Go find something more
interesting to talk about. Oh, old people stuff. Yeah, you
can't get enough of that, can you. Nope? Never ut
Hells Institute on Aging Speaking of older Americans and anybody
(08:54):
else who's around here really who just needs the help.
We have people fly into our medical center from all
around the world, and a lot of our seniors, and
they'll be pleasantly surprised if they'll look. If you are
among them today. Go look at uth dot edu slash aging.
That is the website of UT's Institute on Aging, which
(09:14):
is a collaborative effort of more than a thousand healthcare
providers in this Greater Houston area, all of whom have
educated themselves above and beyond their official requirements to get
the diploma on the wall in the office as to
how they can apply their expertise, specifically to seniors, to
(09:36):
us to help us live better, help us live longer, healthier, happier,
more robust lives. Go to the website. You'll find tons
of resources of great value to you if you're a
senior at all, or if you're looking on behalf of seniors.
That's how this whole show started, was me needing help
for my mother as she was getting older and nearing
(09:58):
the end of her life. And it's blossomed into this
great relationship I have with ut Health Institute on Aging
because I learned so much from them. Ut H dot
edu slash aging, ut H dot ed U slash aging.
What's life without a net? I suggest to go to bed,
sleep it off, just wait until the show's over. Sleepy.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Back to Doug Pike as fifty plus continues, Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Fifty plus on AM nine fifty k p r C.
I'm dougies will another glory state to be aligned in
Southeast Texas, and we'll talk in this segment about the
dreadful truth that unless we dedicate significant time and effort
to avoiding it, each and every one of us is
going to lose muscle mass a little bit every year,
starting I think in our third until we just wither
(11:01):
down and near nothing, and that withering accelerates past age sixty.
Thank you. Aging process explains a lot about how I
look in the mirror these days to explain why all
this happens and help us hang on to what we've got.
I will bring in doctor Denesh sapariwalla instructor at the
Institute of Molecular Medicine at Mcgovernment Medical School where he
and his team are investigating this and hopefully on the
(11:24):
verge of discovering the fountain of youth? Are we close yet? Doc?
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Hi, thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Sure, pleasure.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I really appreciate the person to you know, share our
research with you and your audience.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Yeah, so, so, yeah, as you go go ahead, no
you go.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
So?
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Yeah, as you mentioned, like this process that you referred
to as you know, losing muscle mass, that's termed as sarcopenia,
and it's you know, the age related decline and muscle mass,
but also strength. And it happens to the extent that
there is muscle weakness, loss of balance, in increased tiredness
or fatigue, and then this will cause you know, reduce
(12:04):
mobility and trouble performing you know, daily activities like difficulty
carrying groceries, getting up from a chair, even twistings of
the doff a jar. So if you don't address this
decline in muscle mass, and strength. It's gonna you know,
snowball and lead into lower quality of life, increase in
(12:26):
falls and fractures because lower muscle mass will also weaken
your bones and eventually cause a loss of independence in
the elderly.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Do do some people tend to lose muscle faster than others?
Is it is it age related, gender related, anything like that.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Yeah, so it is age related, and so muscle loss
will start as early as say thirty years of age,
and then the rate of decline gets progressive and it's
especially significant after age sixty. So as you mentioned in
some indo whish was, it does decline faster and that
(13:03):
is roughly about ten to thirty percent of the population
aging population about sixty years of age. So especially in
these individuals, they should be watchful about, you know, changes
in their muscle strength, sudden changes in the ability to
do daily tasks, and the doctors will administer something called
(13:26):
as a sark F test, where S stands for strength,
A stands for assistance with walking, our stands for rising
from a chair, see is for climbing stairs, and f's
for fall. So there are questionnaires that you know, like
will screen you for subsupena.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
That would be good to know. I guess at least
establish where I am. Now I've got a physical coming up,
I may ask him about that, talk about the steps
my audience could take beginning today to hang on to
whatever muscle they've got and maybe even build on a
little bit.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Yeah, So to answer that question, let's just paint a
quick picture about how the muscle functions. Right, So very simplistically,
there are four basic requirements for muscle contraction or exercise
to happen. First is a neuronal signal from the.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Brain, right.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
A second is adequate blood supply to bring in oxygen,
fuel and take away carbon dioxide. And the third is
a contractile machinery that is all the proteins in your
muscle that actually bring about the contraction of your muscle.
And then finally, you need to have healthy mitochondria. Now,
these mitochondria are the ones that are actually burning the
(14:41):
fuel and producing energy, and energy is required for all
these processes that I mentioned, so you can appreciate that
muscle contraction then becomes a multifactorial system. And what happens
with age is that these individual components of the system
start breaking down, and in sarcopenia, this process is faster.
(15:02):
So but the good news is that if you follow
the simple principle of use it or lose it, you
can preserve muscle mass. So you need to regularly use
your muscle to maintain the strength and mass. And if
you want to talk about you know, what are the
risk factors of cyclopenia. One of the first things I
(15:24):
would mention is inactivity. So inactivity is a big risk
factor because as we age, the neuromuscular junctions that transmit
the signal from the brain to the muscle they start
getting weaker naturally, and if we don't activate these neurons
constantly through exercise or some activity, then we're going to
(15:45):
lose the integrity of these connections and lose the ability
to activate muscle. And then the second one would be
poor nutrition, which is also a risk factor because we
need to have a balanced diet with adequate protein, especially
as we age and the muscle is constantly undergoing repair
and getting rid of the damaged proteins and building new proteins.
(16:06):
And for this we need adequate sleep. So that becomes
your third basic requirement, good quality of sleep. And if
you don't have a combination of these, or if you're
lacking in one or more of these aspects, you're going
to end up with secondary conditions like obesity, diabetes, which
is going to cause even further inflammation. And you know,
(16:30):
just expedite this process of cyclopenia.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Talk about this the study, the research that you're doing.
Now we're only down. We got about two and a
half minutes left and that's all. So I want to
hear about that.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Okay, okay, okay, cool. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
So in our lab, what we're looking at is how
can we improve exercise, like, how can we make it
possible for the elderly specialty to get the maximum out
of their muscles. Right, So we work on this protein
called estrogen related receptor.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Or ERR for short.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
And what this does is it gets into the nucleus
where the DNA is and it can activate a number
of target genes and now these genes can go and
activate further protein. So it's like a controlled domino effect.
So when we express this protein specifically in the muscles
of mice and we can do this genetically, we found
(17:21):
that these mice like became a marathon mice, you know,
without any prior exposure. They were able to run longer,
much farther, and this protective effect of the muscle was
maintained even when we ate the mice to an equivalent
age of say seventy or eighty years in humans. In fact,
these mice outran the younger mice with normal levels of ERR.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
I want to be a marathon mouse.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
So, and we found that in studies in humans too,
As we naturally age, our muscles start losing this RR protein.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
So yeah. So that's that's what our research is geared towards.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
How far down the road is your work from being
something that can be tested and determined whether it can
be done with with people.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
So we we are at an exciting stage right now
because we are currently utilizing the tools that are already
being used in human studies for delivering genes into the muscle.
So we are testing these out on mice in old
mice where we can deliver the ERR gene into the muscle,
(18:36):
and our hope is to see if it can reverse
some of the harmful effects of sycopenia, like return some
of the muscle functions muscle mass back in old age.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
So that's where we are at right now.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Fantastic doctor deniesch so power Wallat, thank you so much.
I'm an old mouse. I'm ready bring Just tell me
when it's time to come out there and get this showing.
Just keep moving, you know, I got fired up yesterday
on becoming more health conscious with what I'm eating, and
then today I think today is going to be my
turning point to get more active than I am now,
(19:13):
which it's it won't be hard. I'm doing some but
not enough. So you have inspired me as I was
inspired yesterday, and I thank you for that.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
Yeah, I would just say when when you exercise, try
to incorporate, like you know, two days a week of
some kind of resistance training and the rest of the
week can be concentrating on cardio or balance, because balance
is also.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
Something that is really critical as VH.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Amen to that, Doctor Denesh SAPARi Walla, thank you so much,
my friend. Thank you for uh huh my pleasure. Buy bye.
All right, we got to take a little break here.
On the way out, I'll tell you all about the
city of Alpine, and it's invitation to you and me
and anyone else who wants to make the drive. And
then they'll concede that it's a long drive. Okay, it
is look it up and put punch it into your
(20:00):
your GPS and it'll tell you pack a lunch, because
it's a long ways out to West Texas, the Big Bend,
the beautiful, amazing, the amazing geography out there in the
Big Bend, where the night sky lights up with millions
of stars, not dozens like we can get in the
city around here. We only see the brightest of the
(20:21):
stars under the city lights of Houston. But out there
in West Texas and Alpine one of the most amazing,
totally free stargazing opportunities you'll ever have. And on December
fifth through the seventh, they have kind of put together
a little opportunity to do some structured activities or you
can do whatever you want out there. The structure is
(20:45):
on Thursday, they have what they call a wastle crawl
amongst all the shopkeepers on Holland Avenue and Murphy Street
where you could find some amazing, unique gift items to
bring back to your friends for the holidays. Then on
Friday they have a concert scheduled and other activities to
(21:05):
kind of fill your day and evening. And then the
long weekend will be capped on Friday with a tour
of their beautiful historic Alpine Adobe trail. All of these historic,
beautiful homes will be decorated for the season and ready
for you to take a good look at some of
the most amazing architecture in North America too. And probably
(21:26):
I would guess second only to Santa Fe in the
the style of these homes and the architecture of them.
Christmas season in the Big Bend in Alpine free stargaze
every night. Everything else is up to you. Historicalpine dot org.
Go to that website, Historicalpine dot org, click on the
(21:48):
big box in the middle of the page and you
will find out all about what's going on out there now.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
They sure don't make them like they used to. That's
why every few months we wash them. Check us fluids
and are you on a fresh cod o wax. This
is fifty plus with Doug Pike. All right, welcome back
to fifty plus. Thanks as always forgiving us a listen.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
We'll talk in this segment about some of the special
things we need to be aware of over the coming
holidays in regard to our pets, and to lead the way,
I'm going to bring in doctor shall see Vigeant with
veterinary emergency group right out in Sugarland where I live.
That group nationally deals with more than six hundred thousand
(22:36):
pet emergencies every year. Welcome to fifty plus, doc. I'm
doing well, Thank you very much. We'll we'll cover as
much as we can in our time, but I'm going
to jump out on a limit. Just guess that over
the holidays, the emergencies involving pets maybe involve them being
fed foods that are dangerous to them. Is that right?
Speaker 6 (22:57):
Yep? That is one of the most common things we see.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Absolutely, So what are the major food issues for pets
once the parties and family gathering starts pick dogs, cats,
wherever you want to start.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Yeah, I think it's actually probably safe to consider everything initially,
even you know, things as simple as turkey, which can
be perfectly fine for your pets, it could be really
bad when you add on the seasoning and the oils
and the butters, the fat. All of those things can
make them really sick. So I think when you think
about it, not giving them any table foods, not giving
(23:30):
them any sweets and some stuff you might even think
that isn't toxic. Is you know, we give them things
that have sugar fee sweeteners in it, and those can
be poisonous our pets. Yeah, so it's a I think
it's probably to be honest safest to assume that anything
in those holidays are going to be holiday foods are
going to be stuff that our pets shouldn't eat. We
(23:52):
do definitely give our pets turkey. It's the kind of
thing though, you want to rinse off all that fat
and all those seasonings because those are things they're tummy
not really used to.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
It's a good point, what about cats? Any issues there?
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Same things cats? Cats tend to be a little bit
more hearty for sure, and the things they can eat.
But we also find to be honest, most people are
starting to put up Christmas things by the time Thanksgivings
finishing up, and things like tensils and wire ornaments and
plants like you know, you put out Poinsetta's or you
put out holly and those kind of plants. Cats will
tend to go to. And many of those plants can
(24:26):
be really upsetting to their stomach, and tinsil on trees
can actually cause form bodies in those cats. So our
cats tend to want to play with the things we
put out a bit more too, and if.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
They knock down glass ornaments that can be an issue
for him as well.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Huh.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Absolutely, And you'd be surprised that anchoring your tree is
probably one of the big things people don't think about.
Whether it's because the cats are the dogs, and then
you'd be surprised how many dogs will eat broken glass
from an ornament.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So I had a Christmas tree climbing cat once for
several years and did did. Definitely did have could be
anchored down? Is that cat? That cat was going to
the top. Any issues with fish or people throwing turkey
legs in the fish tank or anything.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
Not that I've seen so far, but I would not
be surprised.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It's just really never a good idea to feed them anything,
as you said that, And they're so good at begging
for food around the table too.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
Oh ass yeah, yeah, we and we think, you know,
we're eating it and it's safe, so we could give
it to them. But there's actually quite a few things
our pets can eat that we can eat, so it's
always it's always safe to just think no, but they
definitely will get in it. And we vege were open
twenty four to seven, so Thanksgiving we are all there
and at any point if owners are concerned or worried,
(25:43):
you know, we're here for anything that happens, so they
can always give us a call at any of our
veges and talk to a doctor and see if what
they're pet's eating is going to be bad.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Holidays are kind of all hands on deck. Huh.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
Absolutely, They're definitely our busiest time.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Aside from food issues. What else is happening to the
dogs most often.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
So on holidays. Two of the things I think that
we probably didn't talk about. We talked about anchoring your tree,
but you'd be surprised how many dogs and cats will
get under there and drink from the basis you have
your tree in Okay, and a lot of times that'll
have either chemicals in it or a lot of people
will put thin preservatives in it to keep their tree
going longer. So those can make them really sick. So
making sure your pets can't get under your tree. And
(26:23):
something talking about turkey legs in aquarium alcohol Like you know,
everybody's you know, drinking alcohol in the holidays, and animals
cannot drink it. They get alcohol toxicity way quicker than
humans do. And so I think thinking about those things.
You know, it's not necessarily the food, but it's the
things that come out in the holidays that they tend
to get into a lot.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Is it proper to just tell your guests when they
come to your house, especially for a party where they're
just friends and not even family members who might already know,
but just to put up a sign somewhere, don't feed
the dog or whatever.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
Yeah, absolutely, because a lot of people, you know, they
might feed their own pet, and their pet might be
used to that kind of food, or you know, it
might not have an allergy that your pet may have.
So I think a lot of people, as they become
more and more aware of how sick our pets can
get with us, are saying that, you know, don't make
sure you don't give the dog anything, or even just
saying they get really sick, so don't give them anything.
It usually helps a whole lot. So most people know
(27:21):
about the things like alcohol. But I think, you know,
once you're having a party, sometimes oh they're not finishing it.
They'll just let the dog lick the plate. So I
definitely think saying it to your guests is not I
think it's appropriate and that I don't think anybody gets
upset by that anymore.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
What should we be watching for in our pets too,
that they might signal to us that they're very stressed
about all the people in the house at the same time,
and it's given to a point where they may just
go berserk or something.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
Yeah, well, I think, and this is why quite a
few people I know actually put their pets away when
they have some of the holiday parties.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
You know, your dog may.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
Be very and cats very socialized to your house and
the goings that are normal, but then you bring in
a bunch of people for a party and they do
get stressed. So if they seem anxious or restless and
they're panting and pacing that most owners will know when
they're starting to get stressed, but some animals will. If
they get very scared or someone chases them into a
corner to pet them, they may even lash out or
(28:17):
bite or scratch simply because they're afraid not used to it.
So many people do put away their pets when they
have some of these holiday parties. So I think gauging,
you know, even if your pet is really good with you,
gauging how they are with crowds or noise or things
they're not used to.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Yeah, dog, that's a defender of the realm, so to speak,
the one that's got to be careful with them. And
that's it's probably not going to be their fault because
it is such a different environment all of a sudden. Okay,
so that's fine, what about.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
Yeah, and it's it's go ahead. It's like us we
can say, oh, yeah, that noise scares me, or no,
I'm going to walk away from that that bothers me.
They can't really do that, so I do think it's
a little bit harder for us to stay on top
of that.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Doctor Chelsea Vigeant on fifty plus here outside the holidays,
what's the primary reason people show up year round?
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Well, it's actually we see so many things. It's in
emergency wise. It's such a range anything from traumas, lacerations
or terrible things like hit by cars too. They're eating
something they shouldn't be and they're getting sick. So we
you know, twenty four hours a day where they are
all the time. And at vegs you can one of
the good things that you can call and speak with
the doctor to ask, you know, what's going on. Do
(29:26):
you need to see if that do you need to
come in? So yeah, So it's a really great it's
a great a resource for people to have and they
can always go. We do have a website too that
they can go to and see where their closest vedge
is or what the phone number to a close vedge
is at Venary Emergency Group dot com. So if they
there's ever any questions or worries holidays are not, we
will be there.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
And you are at the sugar Land location, correct on University. Yes, yeah,
I know where that is.
Speaker 6 (29:50):
Yeah, in Houston. We yeah, exactly. We have one in
Katie and one in the Heights, but we just opened
this year in sugar Land too, So we are down
there right off the University.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Right stop by some time, Say hi, I passed that
way a lot. I really do.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Just see, we have a really VEG has a really
different concept. We have a very open concept so you
can stay with your pet the entire time, and so
it's definitely a very different place to visit. So you
should swing by.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
All right, we'll do. Thank you so much, Doctor Chelsea
Vigeant from Veterinary Emergency Group down there on University Boulevard
and sugar Land. Thank you, Thank you boy. All Right,
we've got to take a little break here. On the
way out, I'll tell you about a late health. It's
a place where you can go if you've got an
emergency with an enlarged non cancer, well, that's not going
to be an emergency. It's going to come on gradually.
(30:34):
And if you're one of the guys over fifty five
sixty sixty five years old who's starting to experience symptoms
of that, you need to get it addressed and you
can get it alleviated at a late health. What they do,
they're vascular clinics around town, and what they do is
go in and identify the exact specific artery that is
(30:54):
supplying blood to that pesky thing, and then they shut
it off. They plug it up right there in the office.
You don't have to go to the hospital and worry
about bringing home something you didn't go in there with.
You just go in the clinics, get that procedure done.
Everything they do is usually done in a couple of hours.
Backs and you'll need somebody to drive you home, of course,
(31:17):
because you will have been under anesthesia. But then you
can go home and recover at home, and shortly you
will start feeling better. And that's the same for almost everything. Well,
it is the same for everything they do there to
help you feel better. It's gonna take a little bit
of recovery time. But these symptoms of whatever it was
that was bothering you, whether it's ugly veins, those can
(31:39):
go away like right away, maybe fibroids in women. There
are even some head pains that can be alleviated with
vascular procedures. They do all of that there, and almost
everything they do is covered by Medicare or Medicaid too,
So why would you wait? A latehealth dot com is
the website. They do regenerative medicine as well too, to
(32:00):
alleviate chronic pain, and nobody should have to deal with that.
Seven one three, five eight, eight thirty eight eighty eight.
Seven one three, five eight eight thirty eight eighty eight.
Give them a call, set up a consultation. Seven to one,
three five eight, eight thirty eight eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Aged to Perfection. This is fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Oh my goodness, will end of the program. Last segment
starts now of fifty plus and so much so much
in my notes. Still, holy cow, I'm gonna go jump
over that one. I'm gonna jump over that one, and
I'm gonna go to this one. Congress has been hearing
(32:48):
testimony about UFOs now for a couple of days, and
it's pretty safe to say that the general public around
the world, I would I would say has been kept
in the dark about extraterrestrial visitors. Lawmakers are pushing for answers,
but and they want fully transparent answers too, to exactly
what our government knows about UFOs, whether or not we've
(33:10):
recovered crashed spacecraft or alien life forms, whether we've actually
been in communication with life from beyond Earth. Some of
this stuff dates back as far as ninety years, long
before Area fifty one made headlines. Much of what's known
as classified obviously because that's why we don't know about it,
(33:32):
which means we still don't get to hear about it
or see it. But I do believe that Americans are
smart enough and calm enough to accept whatever the truth
might hold. For some people that would confirm long held beliefs,
and for others it would open up all sorts of
psychological and theological thoughts that might take while to process.
(33:56):
There are said to be somewhere between the Pacific and
the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of images and files and records
and items of interest dashed away somewhere someplace you and
i'll never go. And I think it's time to bring
them to light. I really do. And either way, either way,
just tell us what you know and let us let
(34:18):
us soak it in, let us absorb it, let us
see how it can be used for good, and try
to keep it from being used for evil, and just
see what's there. Bring it to light. Either way, the
truth will be here for all to see.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Well.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Do you believe in extraterrestrial life? Sure? That's not committed
at all. That's like you're just going along if I said,
do you believe in unicorns? Just yes? Or no? Do
you believe in extraterrestrial life?
Speaker 1 (34:54):
How?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Is sure not a synonym for yss? It's not why
because it's it's just too casual, too casual? Yeah? Sure, Yeah,
you believe in the Easter bunny? Sure? Yes, I have
my theories actually, one of which I'm reserving for a
screenplay if time ever allows me to write it. I've
got about half of it developed in my head, I
(35:17):
really do, and in note form somewhere, and it's an
undisclosed location, and the premise, honestly is quite believable. I do,
I'm pretty sure of that. I'll see how. I have
to see how and when I can get that knocked
out if I win the lottery. I'm telling you that's
what I'm going to do for the rest of my
life is write screenplays and maybe a book or two.
(35:38):
I have a passion for writing, and I love what
I do here. I don't get me wrong. I like
what I do here very much, but I also want
to be writing more and right now between raising a
seventeen year old and taking care of a thirty two
year old house or thirty one, however old it is now,
it's just it's a lot. So I'm comfortable. I'm confident
(36:00):
that I'll have time to do that at some point
in my life, just not yet. There's nothing wrong with
that astrodome in the news again this week after the
county proposed billion dollar makeover that I'm not really sure
is going to draw enough crowds to enough events to
pay for itself in fifty years. The problem that nobody's
talking about, or at least not a lot, is about
how that area is going to attract people when there's
(36:22):
no rodeo, no Taylor Swift concert, no big draw that week.
I don't think Houstonians are going to flock to the
old Astrodome to try out any of the forty or
fifty fast food options it might offer, no matter how
they're presented, even for fine dining for that matter, everything
(36:42):
this facility could offers as an eating area is available
all over this city, and I'm not going to drive
an hour to get a steak or a lobster or
a hamburger or a pancake that I can get ten
minutes down the road. Only idea bubble that seems to
make sense. It would be a guaranteed cash cow. Is
(37:04):
a casino hotel combination casino hotel expo area, and we
already have that there. The space is more than adequate
to do it right, and it could open up as
the world's largest place to gamble away everything from rent
money to inheritances to small fortunes. Las Vegas and Lake
(37:25):
Charles get a lot of Texas money. Think about how
many people go over there every day. A lot of
money from here going there. If the same enticements were
right down the street with shuttles and security constantly circling
the parking circling the parking lot. People would flock there,
people and their money. The place would pay for itself
(37:46):
in a year if there were enough dollar slot machines
and high stakes poker tables and all the hullabaloo that
goes along with that. Wouldn't take the NFL long to
throw another Super Bowl our way either, And I'd that's
worth more than a billion dollars to the city if
we had all those pieces in place. Either that or
like I phoned into Sean Salisbury's show this morning when
(38:09):
they were talking about this, fill it up halfway with water,
stock it with bass, and run guided fishing trips. That's
what I would. That's what I'd do if it was mine.
If I went a fifty billion dollar lottery someday, I
think I'll buy the Astrodome and I'll fill it with fish,
and I'll invite all my friends. We'll go there every day.
(38:30):
It's all We'll do. Well, we're almost out of time,
good heavens our time flies very quickly. Will no surprises here?
Just another Texas day? Or stop doing that? Stop doing that.
Nine percent of people say they always or usually take
a photo of their food when they're eating out. Have
you ever done that? Will? I true confession. I don't
(38:55):
really do that at all. You've never done it? Do
you don't do it at all? Now, I'm not gonna
say that I've never done it. No, I've never done it,
but I think I could probably count on my hands
the amount of times I've done that. I understand young
adults more likely to do it. Older folks like us.
Don't ever do this. Just don't do it. Stop it
(39:16):
all right, We got to get out of here and
stop this. We'll be back next week. Thanks for listening.
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