Gastroenterologist Dr. Veronica Jarido talks health equity, cancer prevention and awareness

What's up. Your artist is Doug E. Fresh and you're watching and we talked weekly. You're listening to you right here, all right, y'all, So let's why don't we go right into. Who do we have today? Who's doing the honors? Who's doing I can do the honors? Highlights early. Doctor Veronica Gerrado is a gasher enterurologist in rural Tennessee. She focuses on health equity, expanding access care, and simplifying patient education. She trained at the. University of Pittsburgh, Duke University, and the Ohio State University Medical Center. Y'all already know what to do. Let's give a warm we talk weekly. Welcome to doctor Veronica Gerrado. Hey, Hey, how are you? Hi? Hi everyone, Thank you for having me. Fantastic, fantastic. You know, we usually start with asking all of our guests how you're doing today? How are you feeling today? I'm doing really good. You know, this the weekend, so I'm very happy about that, which sometimes mean nothing for doctors, but this weekend it actually means, you know something, So I'm just a little tired. Fantastic, fantastic. I just want to jump right into it, you know, one, thank you for coming to the show. We really appreciate you coming in. Let's start. Let's start from the beginning. You know, we always love when we have, like our healthcare professionals come on. One of the things that I always think of is what got you into that particular field of health, like taking care of patience, taking care of or just getting into medicine specifically, right, we talk about you know, black black black kids in STEM, but more specifically black women and still black girls in STEM, right, and you've become one of those hidden figures, you know, So what actually got you into the field of medicine? That's so funny enough. I just put a post on my Instagram page about how growing up in poverty made me go into medicine. And the reason why is because. When you're when you're really poor, and everyone everyone says that, But when I when I talk about poverty, I'll say, like, you know, I have both my parents. Both of my parents was with you know, in the home. But also I grew up in a rural areas in South Carolina. It was like a really. It shouldn't It was a shock basically because like we didn't have brunt of water. We didn't have heating. If anyone that was a wood stoves, you know, I had to chop wood, I had to learn how to start fires with, you know, to to heat up the house. And we had to do a lot of creative things to to basically survive on a daily basis. But with that, when you're poor, and it doesn't matter where you are, you know, rural or inner city or anywhere, you sacrifice your health to survive. So I saw a lot of people, including my own dad. My dad passed away at the age of forty nine. Uh, and I was in medical school at the time. He actually passed away because of because of a medical era. But seeing him kind of struggle, seeing my mother not going to the doctor, we didn't really go to doctor that much either, made me want to practice medicine. Just so when you're very young, you're like, oh, I'm just gonna cure everything, and I'm just gonna be there, Which is why I actually went back to the real communities. Uh when actually after I got all these you know, great degrees from all these great universities, but I was like, I went into medicine to help the people in real communities, to help people to actually like me, the people that are underserved, and people always confused when I come home, you know, come back home and they're like, why are you here? You could be in a big city, and I'm like, yeah, but this is what I went to school for these people, and I went to the better schools because I wanted to help people that people often ignore. I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but that's basically the baseline. So gastro entrology, right interrologists For those who don't know, can you explain a little bit about what that is? So we are the people that everyone we get. We do the colonoscapy, so people don't tend to like us, so, but we do. We're the people that do the colonospit So we talk a lot about coin cancer is how people are introduced to us. But we deal with everything with the guts, so it could be anything from the esophagus to the to the rectum is basically what we're dealing with. So a lot of Gotcha intestinal disorders, a lot of stomach yellments, so like h Pylori being one asid reflexes. What I see a lot of people for fatty liver is. Going to be a big one that's going to come up a lot in our country. But how people are usually introduced to us it is because of co and cancer screening, and we do procedures trying to try to get to the bottles of some things. Now, when you uh, one second, spart, I just want to get this one out. When you think about well, when you think of your patients who come to you, specifically as it relates to men, right, black men, right, do you see that there's a decline in you know, your male population. Do you see them interested in you know, being seen as a release that particular feel you know, what is it that you believe is an issue when it comes to black men in health like that, I. Would say, like when when it comes to men in general, especially for what we do, they they tend to try to get away from us. But men that who have partners, like you know women partners usually or a partner in general, usually have a better They usually have a higher sis sex rate of getting KOs are coming in. I think sometimes even for you know, it might be a fair thing. It's like a lot of men like are like, well, I don't feel anything. How is this procedure going to go? Like? Is am I going to feel anything when they do the kolonoscy, I'm not going to be awake. So it's a lot of fear and I don't want to say it's distrust because it's more of an education thing. So once someone comes to me and I talk to them about the procedure, like the procedure, you don't remember anything, you don't feel anything, and then they really like, oh this is it, I'm like, yeah, the worst part you have to do is actually the prep the actual procedure. You will wake up, and then a lot of people wakeme in ask me after the procedure isn't done yet, and after that people are you know, the anxiety gets better and they're more likely to do the procedure. When I first started here and Tennessee, I actually did not see a lot of black men at first. But after I think the word got out that oh, you don't really feel anything, then they started to come in more to me as well. And then sometimes they will bring the wife to get the procedure. The wife will wake up and say I didn't feel anything, I don't remember anything, and then I'll see the husband next, and then it just became a word of mouth. Situation. So sometimes it's about you know, education and finding someone you trust, which is important no matter what procedure or doctor you see, because if you don't trust your doctor, you're unlikely to do what they asked. You to do. Awesome doctor can you? And it's basically hitting on what you just said to tell more people about like Chadwick Boseman, he actually died of I believe something with the GI. I believe colon cancer. And I have three siblings who I had them have their colon their colonoscopies at forty five, where I think they just moved from fifty to forty five. But what is seeing polyps? How important that is for you know, to have that procedure if they you know, something that could become cancerous. And why it's so important for black people specifically on what we eat, the blood pressure, the different type of COO, morbidities and ailments that we have in order to get a colonoscopy, even the stool colonoscopy. Yes, so for school colon check. Yes so like the so so the biggest thing that I always tell people is no matter what their screening you do, is any screen is better than no screening would you bring up the stool. So if some people are so fearful of the colonoscopy, then I'll say, okay, do the stool tests. But the proble the issue. I will always tell people it's not the issue. But the thing I was always tell people to be aware of is that test is positive, then you do have to do a colonoscopy. Why is it so important to get screened? And yes, the age of screening went down to forty five is because colon cancer. Is on the rise, is not on the decline. And a lot of it has to do, like you said, with the diet, like the overly processed foods, and it's easy to grab the overly processed foods, but it actually is wreaking havoc on our colon and colon cancer can be really silent. You might not have any symptoms until you know you're further along. And unfortunately, when black patients are diagnosed, it is usually sometimes at a lower stage. I mean not a lower stage, right, a higher stage, and it's it they're there actually have you know it's a higher stage. So it's not much. The more you go up in stages, the harder it is to basically control. But if you were caught very early because you know you got your screening, or are you noticed thing that wasn't right, then it's easier to treat and to beat. But also outside of the age thing, I always tell people very important to know your family history. Now I'm from South Carolina. I know a lot of older people don't like to talk about their family history, and a lot of people kind of keep that close to the chest. But it's very important for us to start talking about our family histories to our family because if we start noticing a pattern in our family, or if we notice like okay, this person is really close to me, like a sibling or a parent, and then they had colon cancer, then our screening for colon cancer. You know, it's earlier than what is the general population. In addition, there are signs that sometimes do show up and we can't ignore that. Like sometimes people even even will say, Okay, I have a little bit of blood in my stool. It's a little bit, it's a little streaky. But I did have a patient who did have that happen and he had strage three colon cancer. So until you know for sure that this is actually hemorrhoids, I wouldn't write it off. You know. Another thing that we have to look out for is is you know, changes in your stool. So are your stools becoming more thin? Is it more pebbly like little pebbles? Abdominal pain? New iron deficiency anemia is one that actually puts on a light for me to actually screen you, and that will actually include an upper endoscap because I need will also look in your stomach as well, and unexplaining weight loss, so all those things. If you have any of those things, definitely talk to your doctor about it. If you're a doctor and all those things I was talking about. If they don't want to screen you or take a look to see if there's anything wrong, get another doctor that will because you shouldn't be walking around with loving your stools and someone tells you the hemorrhoids and they don't look, you know, even if you do have hemorrhoids, because you can have hemorrhoids and then still have colon cancer that's brewing. But if no one's gonna look, you know, then you can easily be misdiagnosed and then go on to a later stage. Yeah, and just for a tid bit, when people are telling their doctors. If you're above forty five, a lot of times they feel like the procedure won't get paid. It will get paid for from your insurance once you identify with one of the one of the elements that you said, if you guys stoole, if you constant paid, if you've got a family history because of the codes that they have to put in, the procedure can get paid for. Yes, yes, definitely, cause screening kolonosophy is that that's paid for, as you were saying, and especially like if your your screening age will go down if your family history is you know, someone has colling cancer, blow the age of like blow a certain age, then your screening will. Actually go down. So you won't be forty five, you might be your forty or your thirties, but that still will be paid for. Cause there are some people who get screening kolonoscopies very frequently because of the family history. So that's why it's very important for us to be honest about our family histories. Did you hear anything about Chadwick Bozeman's case as far as a doctor, What was it that he got diagnosed too late? What was the problem or the content so. Child with Bosman and I don't remember what his what his symptoms were, but he was younger than the age of or forty five actually before the guidelines changed recently about being screened for colon cancer. It used to be forty five for African Americans and it was fifty for everybody else. And you know, but everyone wasn't practicing that right, so like you know, the black patients would just get the fifty screening, but it actually was supposed to be forty five. But like because of the things I was saying before about the about the later stages of cancer, So with Chadwick Bossman, if and there's a big discussion about, well, should we lower the age even further because if we wait until forty five, Chad with Bosman will still be under that age you know of screening. So if we get to forty we have caught it earlier because he would have been around that age. You know that he probably would have, you know, had a much earlier form of cancer that could have been treated and beat it. Is there any preventative or. Diet changes or I don't know, is there anything that can help prevent challenges like this, you know, full blown cancer like what is it that you recommend in terms of like your studies in your background. Okay, so there are some things that we call modifiable risk factors that you can actually do to to to mitigate your risk of getting coon cancer outside of the things you can't control. We can't control our family history, but we should know it. That's the big thing. The other thing is when I brought up the issue of processed. Foods, and it's, like I said, everywhere, process foods are you know, everywhere, and it's easy to get, but it's weakn hav it. So the biggest thing that we can do is to get more whole foods in our diet, so less processed foods, less sugary processed foods, especially a high fiber diet which would be more whole foods anyway, less red meat, less processed meats as well, drinking a lot of water. Obesity does have a big factor on my information as well. So what can cause issues with your gut in terms of increasing the risk of colon cancer? Smoking will always do that as well, increasing your risk and drinking assessive drinking. So those are the big things that you can do. So if I had to say it in terms of diet, high fiber, low fat, low process less process meat and less red meats, and then water, getting our weight under control, and smoking and not. Drinking no doubt. Now you mentioned you know a certain demographic, and because you're working with a certain demographic, right, and you're working to improve access in particular demographics. But I think when I think of those vulnerable populations, I think of like food deserts, right, And if you're talking about trying to mitigate certain factors that will cause you know, or inflame certain things, I think of processed food and certain demographics or you know, certain places where you know that particular demographics can get food, right, And so how do you come to you know, come to grips with a vulnerable population that you're working on, which will probably tend to have more of those symptoms that will cause them to you know, potentially have have cancer, you know. In terms of like like the food desert park aspect. Of yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. So that is a big problem, especially when we're talking about rural areas and you have to drive everywhere to get something. The best thing I could think of is sometimes like honestly, like the grocery stores is more expensive. Than the farmer's market. Like if you can find like. A farmer's market that is nearby, and again it's it's an issue also of transportation, then that might be one way to mitigate that. And sometimes even like where I am in Tennessee, there might be vouchers for people who are on like snap benefits and things like that, so that they can use these things to pay for it instead of paying for the more on process food. Because let's be honest here, process foods are a lot cheaper, and if it's between you surviving another week or you getting food today, you're probably gonna pick the process option. So sometimes it might be a factor of knowing, like if there are any soup kitchens that actually have more whole foods available, because sometimes they do, but you know, like those things actually perish very quickly, so they might have more on non pershables on site. But but like it might take a little bit of research. And sometimes I do hate saying telling people like all it is all you have to do is go to the farmer's market, because it's not that easy. Like sometimes it's hard for even people to even come in to see the doctor because of all these instimulating circumstances. So yes, it it may sound easy on paper, but sometimes it might take a little bit of elber room to see if there are you know, community centers that are serving more whole foods, or if there's harmer markers that will take those vouchers to see if that will help with reducing the processed food load. What would be some things to look at, you know, for a gentleman or a young lady, to to make sure that you know, they can they can spot certain things. What would be some of those symptoms to look for outside of stool? Right, we talked about kind of maybe blood in the stool or maybe the way the stool comes out, but what other things could someone look for? So sometimes I would say, like you know, like so the constipation, yes, that's a big one. But the weight loss. So if you're like, oh, I. Didn't I didn't want to lose thirty pounds, and you notice this came often and you were re first of all, you weren't trying to lose it and it came out off quickly. That requires you to get some work done right there, you know, And that is without you having without you even having blood in the stools, because sometimes that can just show up abdominal pain that is persistent too. And abdominal pain is harder because there's a lot of things that cause abdominal planes in the GI world. But even for a lot of adminald pain, we actually do look. So it's it's it's worth bringing up because it might be something that might be a signal that something is going on. The iron deficiency you would not know it, but your labs will show it. So if you're getting labs and you're like and your doctor's like, oh, you're iron deficient, and then they don't send you a GI doctor, you need to ask. Them to send you to a GI doctor. And for women it's a little bit harder because iron efficiency could be something else. You know, it could be also your period. But we also should be involved in that part of the conversation because of the fact that iron deficiency can be a sign of cancer. So that is why I said, you know, if you need to get lab work, and you need to keep up with that work so that if something shows up new, you shouldn't let someone write you off and say, okay, this is iron deficiency. You'll be fine. Just take some iron. But why am I iron efficiency? Like why do I have iron deficiency? What is the cause? You know something caused this, so we need to, you know, ask the question why a lot for some of the things. And that is how sometimes people end up with me. Sometimes people just you know, they'll they'll they'll send themselves and say like this is on my labs, like. Can you can you check me out? And I'm like okay, yes, And then you know, we'll go back and look and you might not have iron efficiency last year, but now all of a sudden you have it. So that one is a big one. So don't ever let anyone write off the iron deficiency. It deserves to be worked up. Wow, can I ask you about I guess how parasites within the GI? So they basically say that the GI is your second heart. Do you believe that a lot of autoimmune like loop is fibermyalgia autism? Do you think that it's a lot of times the foods we eat that are from processed foods like you mentioned that could have those other effects. I think the autoimmune things a lot of it's environmental because there are some autoimmune g I diseases or conditions that happen as well. The most common one being also the cladis and Chrohn's disease and a lot of its environmental. Do we know exactly what it is, what's the trigger? I can't tell you. But do our foods helping Probably not, because the foods, like the food we eat. If we're doing more whole foods. And you always hear about gut bacteria and microbiome, if you're eating more you know, fiber whole foods, it does give you a more healthy microbiome, which is good for your gut and some of those autoimmune things. But if we can point. To one single thing, we don't know that yet, but we do know a lot of it's in environmental. Would probiotics help with that? Probiotics, Yes, it does help with with the microbiome. Yes, but it's better to eat it. So like a lot of people don't like yogurt, the yogurts are good for you know, the microbiome. If you're on a lot of antibiotics, it's good to be on. Like, is not gonna hurt you some probiotic because sometimes when you're on antibiotics, it does kill some of your good, good gut bacteria. So yes, it's good to keep a good, healthy gut. That makes sense, all right? Yeah, I got a quick question right because I was watching some of it. I mean, you you're very busy. If if you guys don't know, make sure you go to the doctor's instagram. It's so funny, it's amazing. So I do have a question because I gotta colonoscopy done. And it's the prep that I mean, I never drunk so much gatorade in my life, right. So what is it? Like? Why can you explain to people why the prep it's so so much? Why is it so much that you have to do instead of taking, like, I don't know, something to make you go to the bathroom and keep it moving. I mean, I never drunk so much Gatoray. I stopped drinking a brand of Gatorade because I just can't look. At it no more. It was just way too much. But why is the prep? Let's talk a little bit about the prep? Oh yeah, So you know the funny thing is, you know, when people see me, I always tell them the prep, the prep is the worst part. Let's be honest here, the prep is the worst part. And I always says, you know, just to give you the worst expectation. I'm always like, hey, this is the worst part. It's gonna be the worst day of your life. But it is over the reason why the prep is so it but it is the most important. So like, the reason why we have to give you so much is because we need to have it clean. And I always tell people if you can't see through it, I can't see through it. So you know, and. When you when you have a good prep, the way you know you have a good prep is it looks like pe. So you can see through pee, but you can't see through poop. So and the reason why is because when we go through your colon, so we go the initial part of it, we go through your rectum, and then we go through to the very beginning of your colon and then we start looking, you know, for paula. So if there is poop on top of polyps, and sometimes there are flat ones that you can't really see if it's on it, we can try to wash it off, but sometimes we can't wash off everything, so and then you can miss it. Basically, you can miss that as flat. And the flat one is the one that you're worried about because the flat one actually has a higher risk of turning into cancer. And the other ones too, Like there's the ones that you can actually see sometimes too, but the flat ones are definitely the ones that we worry about a lot. So that's why we will torture you. And sometimes if you have a bad prep and people hate us when we tell them that they have to come back, that's the reason why. Is because we don't want to miss those flat ones, the ones that we couldn't see because the prep wasn't good. And yes it's torture, Yes you're on you're on a clear liquid diet. Oh that's another thing. When people get up upset about the clear liquid diet, then they can't eat. The other reason I always tell people is because okay, I can sometimes tell that people took that prep right. They torture themselves with the prep, but they ate food and that is what made it a bad prep. Because I could see the lot of us. I can see the tomato seeds and I can see I can see everything and it covers up you know those things too. And one time one woman I never forget, I was like, oh, you had a lot of line of beans on She's like yeah, you know, but her prep was so good, all drink another All she had to do was drink another another PREP and then come back the next day. But it's really important because those things could hide. And sometimes I have found people like those flat poles on people when they had to come back and do another prep because it was it was just too much for me to say, Okay, this is a good example. Wow, that's wow. Doctor I wanted to know about the it's the wave of ozimbic and the y Govi's and things like that, and a lot of doctors are saying, you know, it is good for diabetic people, but a lot of times people are using it as the fast weight loss. Are there going to be digestive issues in the future for people who are using them long term? Are they trading the weight loss for you know, gut issues for their future self? So Zimpic can sometimes like there are some sort of so zimpic and I don't see enough of people talking about this. And I've scoped a lot of people who was on a zimpic and then they start having nausea and vomiting that persist and sometimes and not to scare anybody, because ozimpic is really good for what it does, and sometimes we do have to use it in the GI world because of fatty liver. But sometimes, like one person I remember, she was having she had a nausea and vomiting for about four weeks, and she did lose a lot of weight, but no one wants to lose weight like that. But it got to the point that she couldn't even eat and that she had to get like a feeding too temporarily because her stomach had kind of just stopped, you know, moving, And that's what zimpa does. It kind of just stops some motility a little bit. Now, how long is it going to happen? Is it ever going to recover? I'm not sure. You know, some people do recover, it just takes a little bit longer. I think we need to do more studies into this because I think now that there's a whole lot of people on ozimpic and Mogovi's and all the other ones as well, that we might actually might actually see or can do studies on what happens long terms for people, and sometimes like people might have to you know, like I've seen stuff in the g I world will say that that they said that, Okay, if you're using it for like satty liver. It might it might be a chronic thing for you, because obesity is considered a chronic disease. So but and then but but as to your point, people will get off when I have heard studies or sawt studies of saying people should stay on. So like, in terms of the gut part, I have seen things in a cute phase where people haven't they say they were not the same. In terms of long term, we probably need to do more studies to see if this actually recovers after some time. Uh, doctor, are there any instances where you have learned that taking those shots have impact impacted someone's organs, or in fact that someone's organs in a negative play. Organs. Yes, I haven't seen any deliver anything like that. Okay, I'm gonna tell you a story. My doctor put me on Logobi twice. The second time she put me on, I was only wonder for four months. I ended up passed out somewhere downtown in Philadelphia because I couldn't move get to the hospital and they had to do emergency gold blacker removals, saying that I had goalstoons and there was no way to pass them. To her procedure, I get back to my doctor and I'm just going for a regular checkup. They're asking about anything that happened. I tell them about the surgery, and then she looks at me and said, yeah, when you guys are on those shots, you just lose the weight so fast your body doesn't know what to do. And I looked at her and. Hold to curse around because you ain't tell me this was one of the subjects and it was only four months and you put me on this and I didn't ask for it, like you said, I needed to lose some weight, and this is how you wanted me to do it. That's right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, So that could definitely happen, and that could happen outside of GOV even if people you know, did something else. To lose a lot of weight. But when you lose a lot of a lot of weight fast, you can definitely just develop gallstones. And then one time, if the gallstones can if they traveled from the gall bladder into the duct, it can get stuck and then it causes a lot of pain because pinker titus, and sometimes you have to do a procedure and if that happens, you definitely have to get your go. You shoot. Most people need to get their gall bottle removed. So yes, that definitely can happen. Definitely can happen with raber weight loss. Another question I had for you is that when people sit on the toilet because there's no base under it and we're taking I think I read an article when you're taking their phones into the bathroom and you're you're smiling because you're going, yeah, right, tell us what it is when you're taking your phone in the bathroom and you're only supposed to be there for a couple of minutes, but you're there for a lot longer. So there's two parts to this. So when you're because you said there's no base on the floor, So I'll start with the phone thing because that's a big thing. And don't tell me my husband does this. Too, when people take their phone into the bathroom and they're just sitting there, just sitting on the toilet, and gravity kind of just pushes all that blood, you know, right to your anal area, and the longer you sit there, you can engorge the an blood vessels. And that is what hemorrhoids really are. So you get make your hemor you can make your hermorrhi's worse about just sitting on the toilet. So my rule is get poop poop, and when you're you know, do your business. Use the midet actually if you have one and you know, and then get up when you're done. But because you don't, you just don't want that all that, you know, the gravity to do what it is supposed to do, and and then your himmerh is a lot worse. The second thing is when you said about the base, you're right if you ever heard about the squatty potty and where you put your foot on like on base in front of you supposed to switch simulate a squad because we put our foot flat on the floor in the US and we don't squat down like in other countries where there might be like a hole and you know, on the on the floor, but us sitting down might be more comfortable, but it's harder on your colon because you are pushing, you know, to have a bowel movement. And then sometimes that pressure from putting pushing could cause other things like diverticulosis, which is a little pockets that happen in your colon from like strain sometime. But if you use a squatty potty. Then it kind of stimulates a squad and then you're using less you know, you're using less force and less training to have a bottle movement. So it's actually better actually for your for your overall gut health. So it doesn't have to be a squaty body. It is something that basically puts your feet up when you're using a bottle moment, having a bottle moment, it was actually better for your mores if you're not straining. I hope people are taking notes. This is a free a free class, so much information that they can now be equipped to talk to their doctor about or just to take, you know, in every day. Thank you for that. But what if you're if you're sitting there for so long and you can't go, you should be really like drinking more water and like you know, even to avoid sitting here for so long, and. If you think about it, go ahead, doctor uh. And to your point, like if you're even if you're having trouble going to the bathroom right and you're like, well I can't go to the bathroom, I feel like I need to go still get up, Still get up, go walk around, drink some water. You might need some help sometimes, you know, Mara relax and other things you might need to help you. But it's still better to get up. It's still not better to just strain, because even you straining can actually cause some of those other things we were talking about, like hemorrhoids, and that's why people have a lot of them, cause they just sit there. And I know I have the other problem, but as frustrated it is, it's better to get up, drink some water, or try something else. How many times a week should a person move their bowels? Uh? So some people do it, so everyone's different, but some people do it every day. You don't have to move every day every other day, but sometimes three to four times a week. It is okay. When we should worry about bil moments. Is like, now all of a sudden, I can't have bid moments and I can't pass gas. If that ever happened, those two things happen, immediately, go to the emergency room. So doctor, is it unhealthy to movie bowels after every meal? It some people do not like moving their bows after every meal. That's what I think people for a lot, and sometimes it might be what you're eating sometimes too, But typically that's that that might be a little sessive too, because if every time you're eating, you're going to the bathroom, then we have to figure out if there's something else going on with aero syndrome or something like that, or like I said, what you're eating. Wow that? Yeah, well there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, look you do this this series called are you Smarter than? What is it? A health student? Is something like smarter than a medical student? How did you come up? Like? What was the impetus of creating that series on your I g because most people aren't smarter than come on, do. We're not smarter? Okay? So I was just because last like I said, last month was Colon Cancer Awareness Month, and I try to play with how I can get the message about why we need to do Colon's out. So I was just like, okay, maybe people will stick around to see if they're smarter a medical student. But the such was at the end to basically you know, uh, I think I had hammer, Yeah, empty hammer was on there, and I was like, if you knew, if you know this dance or you know the artist, you definitely need to get. A coon cancer screening. So that that was the that was the point to draw you in, to keep you around so that you can play the game. And then I'm like, yeah, you need. To get. It's smart. That means that their their age is up there, you know, can't. Can't touch you. Better touch this, You better get that done, no doubt, no doubt. Is this something that you feel like everyone should know before we let you go? Because I think that one, I love your I g I mean it's so engage and and people need why don't you let everyone? Well, I'm gonna get there because I want everyone to follow you. But what is it that you would want everyone to know? Just in terms of their their health? You know? And and real quick we talked about things that may not help you pass in terms of being regular. Can mental health play a role in you not being regular or going to the bathroom? Could that play a role in it? Yeah? Because like so a part of the I brought up rag double bowels in your ibs. A part of that is the brain gut access. So the brain talks to your gut. And so if sometimes when I talk to people about the irrigable bowl syndrome, I do ask a lot about like what's going on currently with. Them, I'm like, are you having these stressors? They don't, and I'm like, you don't have to tell me what's going on, but is there something big going on? Or has there been something big going on? And then by you know, spending a little bit more time, we could tease out like Okay, this actually happened. When this happens, so yes, your gut, your brain plays a big role in your gut. And then sometimes people go too much. Actually sometimes people have diarrhea instead of being constipation, or sometimes it's a mix. So yes, or your gut can play a role. But it's still, like I said, it's very important to not do I diagnose yourself. It's very important to have someone who's gonna look and you still might get that cold on osky to make sure there's nothing else going on. And then once we're okay, there's nothing structurally going on here, let's start digging and making sure we rule stuff out. Yeah, yeah, because I'm sure stress can tear that stumbing up, you know, to make you feel absolutely absolutely, So what is it? Is it something that you believe that everyone should know as it relates to kind of their health, and you feel that people just don't know, and you believe that you need to get their word out there for them to have more information about Okay. Yeah, so like like my instagram or TikTok actually is the same name. Like I bring up a lot about coin cancer. And the reason why is because and that is because it's it's it's it's it's increasing, right, the rates are going up, and we should definitely not be scared of getting that done because of the risk or whatever we tell ourselves because you know the colonospe Yes, the part you know is a lot in terms of drinking, the prep and the gatoray, And you might hate gatoray. After seeing that, you might ever want to see it again. But it's very important because what what what are we What are we risking. By not doing it right? Like you're you're you're putting yourself at undue risk for something that might not even have any complications for you. And so that's the biggest thing is get you get the screening. Definitely get the screening, any red flags, get that. It's all over my instagram if if if you want to go there, it's all over the internet actually just type of red flag g I symptoms. And then it'll it'll tell you on Google even. But also like if the biggest thing is finding a doctor that you trust is the big one, and and that's a very valuable thing because if you find a doctor that doesn't take your health very seriously or don't even listen to you because sometimes you like you sometimes you want sometimes like okay, yeah, maybe the thing that we're worried about may not be a big deal, but someone sometimes people have to listen work it up right. But if you don't feel like. That person is in your best interest, I don't know the doctor, is what I was always say, because at the end of to day, it is your health. It is your health, and you have to take care of yourself. So don't skip on our doctor's appointments and talk to your family about your family history, because it's very important that we let people know like what's going on, and it's not about putting your business out there. It's very important that we know so that we can combat some of these things that as we are seeing, especially in gi. Yeah, real quick, why Gatorade though, I'm just curious, why is it gatorade? Like nothing else they just recommend gatorade? You know, actually don't know. I think it's because it's like to help you with the taste of it to get it down. But I mean, you can drink a lot of other stuff other than gatorade. You can do juice. We want to just to be clear, but. I'm jealous. Kind of concoction. That was terrible. Y'all had gay radn this gator I had these big things a gatorade. I was just like Jesus, I can't dream the more gatorade I can. I'm traumatized as electro so like you're pooping in p ando, I mean pooping all the time, so you get rid of a lot of electrolytes. So that's why getting raided is is a good choice. Fantastic, Well, it was an absolute pleasure to have you, Doc. Why don't you let everyone know how to get get in contact with you? Definitely that ig so they can follow you. It's lady Doc of butts and guts. You'll hear that. We had definitely had to end with that. So, uh, you got anything else coming up that someone needs to know about you? And all that little stuff? Not not right now in terms of events or anything. I just I post randon you have you seen my ig. You see I post randomly and I try to keep it funny when I can, so yes, so just check me out for. That fantastic fantastic all right, Doc, Well, we definitely appreciate you. One thing that we say is once you come to the show, you a friend to the show, so you're always welcome to come back one more again. How can they get in contact with you? It's gonna be on TikTok and Instagram. Lady Doc of Butts and Guts love it. I love it. I love it all right, y'all, We really appreciate you. Make sure you tune in and keep on and keep subscribbing and wants your episode come out. We'll make sure that you get it so you can have something, you know, put a clip on your IG. That would be pretty cool, no doubt. But we love you, Doc, and make sure you come back. All right, Thank you, thank you for taking all. Right, y'all, I don't want you. That's funny. I like her. I really like her, man, she really got it going on. Make sure you go to our ig though. I mean, she's definitely a vibe, man. The doctor is a vibe. The doctor is a vib. All y'all, I don't want you to go anywhere when we come back. You already know we got coming up next week. Got good news and bad news by Classy Lady Sparkle, I mean boy Charles Gregory with. The beautiful Classy Lady Sparkle and. The beautiful Laurence and the beautiful Tanisha Henry and would be right back, y'all. 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