Can COVID-19 Affect You More If You Have Eczema? – The Eczema Podcast (S4E05)

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([00:00]):

So, whenever something comes into your body, like the flu, like Corona virus that is going to flare up, your system causes more inflammation. So folks with eczema are gonna generally experience more eczema, flare ups and B, well with asthma, well the lungs and we will see kids on ADHD, they might not necessarily have the coffin, other symptoms, but their behavior is going to be off the charts because that’s how their body, their antibodies, their immune system is no… That’s how it knows how to react. And in some people, if you get super inflamed, because remember the body is really complex and when the immune system gets fired up, you have a lot of inflammatory cells and you have a lot of anti-inflammatory cells and in some people you get the virus and the anti-inflammatory cells for the skin are like, Oh, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. And in most people is a pro inflammatory. They’re like, we hate the skin. So then they’d go and attack the skin.

Abby ([01:02]):

And that was just a quick sneak peek from my guest today, who’s also an integrative pediatrician. She also just launched a really cool course for anyone who whose child has eczema. If you want to check it out and you want to learn more head to Bit.ly/childeczemacourse and you can get $100 off.

Abby ([01:44]):

We are currently at home since there is the closure of all daycares in our area. I hope that all of you guys are staying safe out there as well and I just really wanted to record this episode, because I’ve been getting a lot of questions on whether people with eczema or either people with eczema on medications are more prone to getting the coronavirus and also whether having not just being on medications but also having eczema in general makes you more immunocompromised. So today I have a super great guest on the show. She’s an integrative doctor and an integrative pediatrician as well. She had three kids and one of them had eczema and the other two had other health issues like allergies and ADHD that she helped them reverse, so I’m so happy that she was on the show and she gives a lot of great information and for example, did you know that we touch our face 24 times a day so we really have to be careful not to that and not touch our face, especially after we touch other things or if we go outside and it’s just a great episode.

Abby ([03:06]):

I hope that you’ll learn a lot from also, I just want to thank you for supporting small businesses during this time, especially if you’ve been supporting the conquerors skincare products like the conqueror, soothing bomb and the body wash and the bath soak as well. It really means so much to small businesses, especially with your support during this time. So, I just want to thank you all. If you have been supporting it, it really means so much. And don’t forget that you can use the code podcast 10 to get 10% off your order. Just head to shop.eczemaconquers.com and you can find all the products there and if you want to read other articles of healing stories and healing tips, head to eczema conquers, you can also find me on social media, on Instagram, Facebook, and also my free Facebook group at eczema conquerors. So, I hope that helps you today and hope you enjoy this episode.

Abby ([04:23]):

Hey everyone. Welcome to the podcast today. I am such a great interview for you today

Abby ([04:29]):

And it’s a really timely one because it comes in the time of the Corona virus. I know everyone is talking about it, but not a lot of people are talking about it, especially how it relates to eczema specifically. So today I have a great guest on this show. I actually recorded another interview with her that we’ll be launching soon all about kids and eczema and how to treat it. She’s an integrative pediatrician. She’s a doctor and I just love that she’s a mix of both, you know, holistic and conventional remedies as well. So, it’s just so rare to find someone who has a type of knowledge and especially to be on the show today. She’s also doing a lot of news interviews about the Coronavirus. So, she’s definitely doing a lot of TV appearances if you’ve seen her around. I just want to welcome her to the show again.

Dr. Anna ([05:23]):

So, hi, Dr Ana-Maria. How are you? So great to be here. 

 

Abby ([05:31]):

Yeah, it is so good to see you again and I really appreciate you for coming back on the shows. So, thanks so much. 

 

Dr Anna: 

They give so much. This is, this is great. I’m so glad that we can bring it together on this topic. 

 

Abby:

Yeah. And I know you’re super busy with you know, TV appearances and news interview appearances. So, you know, I’ve also gathered some questions from social media about people who are wondering about what to do with what to do, especially if they do have a eczema and the Corona virus. So, I’m just going to get right into it. And before I start with that, is there anything that you might want to share with our audience specifically about the virus that’s going on right now?

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([06:14]):

So, the common questions that I’ve gotten about the virus specifically is going to be you know, are we sure that it started in December of 2019. We have no evidence that anything has started before that time. This is a novel virus and we don’t have really a lot of information. The information keeps changing daily. A huge question is what are the symptoms and for the majority of symptoms is high fevers, dry cough, shortness of breath. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have other symptoms as well. Those are just the majority. And it is confusing the time of the year because flu is hopefully on its way out, but it does mimic flu symptoms. And it’s different than allergies cause your allergies are going to be more itchy, watery eyes, itchy, runny nose, juicy kind of phlegmy cough and you’re itchy all over. That’s more in the allergy category, but it, there is a lot of cross-reactivity.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([07:10]):

So that’s a huge that’s a huge question that I get all the time. And then you know, how soon is it going to go away? We don’t know. Those kinds of things. You know, the modes of transmission I think are huge because we’re know now that you, you know, when you cough it out, you spew billions of particles. It can sit on surfaces, it will actually can even be in the air sitting in the air particles for like about up to three hours. It could sit on cardboard for 24 hours and solid surfaces for like 72 hours. This is where hand-washing comes in, you know, huge play because we can reduce the risk of getting this illness by 70% with washing our hands. So, I would say those are the big ones that I keep getting over and over again.

Abby ([07:56]):

Awesome. Thank you for sharing. All of that information that is really helpful. So, okay, let me dive into some of the questions I have because they are really easy. My specific so some of the questions I’ve gotten R and I in the compromise and high-risk category, if I do have eczema or severe eczema flare ups, the

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([08:18]):

The folks that have eczema are not at risk necessarily for ARDS, which is the acute respiratory distress syndrome that people are ending up in the, on the ventilator. They, but folks with eczema especially that is very poorly controlled, are more likely to get the virus because their skin’s broken down. They’re more portals of entry. The virus likes to come in through our noses and our mouths and our like in our eyes. But if your skin’s all broken down, it can come through the skin. Also, youngsters and people who are at eczema are so itchy so they can’t keep their hands off their bodies and off their face, which is more likely to bring the virus in. So that’s how they’re more at risk. But we’ve not seen that folks with eczema are high risk for death or intensive care unit admissions if that helps.

Abby ([09:09]):

Thank you for clarifying that. I’m sure so many people are wondering that because you know, a lot of people do have you know, all these symptoms of scratching. And the thing that I find hardest personally is I touch my base a lot. Whether it’s just constantly moisturizing or if I’m out of the store, I’d just like, you know, sometimes it’s dry or maybe it’s just bothering me. And I know like so many people, you know, this condition are, you know, constantly touching their face. And so, the hardest thing is actually, you know, they say don’t touch your face, but it’s so hard not to touch your face.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([09:43]):

Do you know, since the day they, that we said the average person touches their face 24 hours. I mean, 24 times in an hour, I started paying attention and I’m so annoyed. I’m like, why am I touching my face 373 times an hour? It’s like everything. And suddenly I’m like, I think my nose is itchy. I think my eyes itchy. I think I have a hair. I mean I’ve become so incredibly aware and I think that I’m like defying the odds because I feel like my hands are always on my face.

Abby ([10:10]):

I can totally relate to you. Thank you for sharing that statistic about, you know, we touch our face 24 times an hour. That’s very interesting. So, I know a lot of people are told to wash their hands a lot are told to use hand sanitizer, but for people who do have, you know, cuts or rashes on their skin, it’s so hard. You know, it can sting, it can dry out the skin. And I know a lot of my friends are complaining about that too. So, I was just wondering if you have any tips for people who are, you know, constantly using hand sanitizers or washing their hands, how do they prevent that pain that’s developing that staying,

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([10:50]):

Gosh, using alcohol on your hands when your hands are already sensitive and broken down can really rip your skin apart. And a lot of people are under the understanding that hand sanitizers are the gold standard and that is simply not true. Washing hands with soap and water, especially when you find a soap that has few chemicals that is, that you’re not reactive to is going to be as effective and I feel sometimes even more effective. So just when you wash your hands, the soap actually starts breaking down the envelope, the outer part of the virus and breaks it apart and the mechanical rubbing breaks a virus apart and then you put them under water and it gets the virus off your hands. So, I would say one of the, the my first go to if I had irritated hands, whether I have eczema or not, is going to be soap and water more, alcohol sanitizers less.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([11:43]):

And just remember the 22nd rule because we need to truly get the front of our hands back of our hands, under our nails in between our fingers. What another, we’ve realized people don’t know how to wash their hands. My 13-year-old, I was like watching him wash his hands the other day. I’m like, are you serious right now? Like this is all I talk about on every news channel, every podcast. And the joker is sitting there just like put soap on a stand and let the water just run the soap off. I literally almost jumped over the counter and I was like, okay, back to five-year-old lessons. People don’t know how to wash their hands.

Abby ([12:22]):

That’s so interesting. I actually saw a Dr Oz showing on TV how to actually wash your hands properly because not a lot of people are washing it properly. So that is so interesting. And thank you for touching on that point. So another question I got from social media was I want to it WordStream eczema and I considered high higher risk for contracting it because of the depicts it and also what about people who are on steroids as well or other medications,

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([12:50]):

Right? So topical steroids are going to have less risk of a depressing the immune system, but they still do oral steroids and oral immunosuppressants do put you at higher risk because they’re keeping the immune system down. So in that case, I say, yes, you are in the high risk category for contracting it and having a more difficult time with it because your immune system is not working the way it should be because it is overreacting and giving them eczema so you have to calm it down, which is putting you in a situation. So, you need to be quarantined. You are having social distancing, you’re washing hands, you’re drinking warm liquids and we can go through some quick tips that we can do later. But yes, they would be, I would consider them in my higher risk category.

Abby ([13:36]):

Thank you for clarifying that. I know yeah, so many people are wondering about that and yeah, I’m just so glad that you brought that up and that you shared some insight on that. So, a lot of people also mentioned that their skin flares whenever they get sick or when they have the flu or a virus. So, my question is, will there your skin flare as well when they’re not feeling well or you know, if they do contract the coronavirus and I know everyone is so different. I’ve, I’ve found personally that sometimes my skin clears up a bit. So, I know everyone is so different. But I would love to know, you know, whether people’s skin might flare or why it might flare during the BA the virus as well.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([14:19]):

Yeah, like really why? So, I think that’s a really great segue. Talk about the difference between traditional medicine and integrative medicine ‘cause it will clear up why your skin flares up. Just stay with me for a sec. In traditional medicine we are going with topical eczema. Let me do something on the outside. Right? And if you have asthma, you go to the pulmonologist and date, treat your skin and you could go, if you have ADHD, you go to a neurologist and they treat your nervous system. But nobody’s treating the whole person. We’re only focusing on an Oregon integrative medicine. We look at all the, those things that we talked about and the grouping they all have in common is inflammation and inflammation is causing eczema in some people asthma and some people, ADHD and other people. So, it is the way your body is built to react to inflammation.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([15:08]):

So, whenever something comes into your body, like the flu, like Corona virus that is going to flare up your system, cause more inflammation. So, folks with eczema are gonna generally experience more eczema flare ups and be well with asthma. Well the lungs and we will see kids on ADHD, they might not necessarily have the coffin, other symptoms, but their behavior is going to be off the charts because that’s how their body, their antibodies, their immune system is no, that’s how it knows how to react. And in some people, if you get super inflamed, because remember the body is really complex and when the immune system gets fired up, you have a lot of inflammatory cells and you have a lot of anti-inflammatory cells and in some people you get the virus and the anti-inflammatory cells for the skin are like, Oh, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. And in most people is a pro inflammatory. They’re like, we hate the skin. So, then they’d go and attack the skin. But it’s all related to the central core of eczema, which is inflammation because it is not a skin problem. It’s a gut and internal problem.

Abby ([16:18]):

Thank you for sharing that and for clarifying. Yeah, I know that a lot of people have brought that question up to me before, so I’m glad that you’re able to add insight to that as well. And I know a lot of parents are listening to this and they’re probably wondering, are my kids at high risk for getting the Corona virus compared to adults or you know, especially if they have a skin condition like Zima will they be even more high-risk as well? So, do you have any insight that you can share on that as well?

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([16:50]):

Yeah, the interesting thing is that the way this virus is behaving, and now we have data from over 200,000 cases. And you know, there’s probably more, we just haven’t tested everybody, but in 200,000 cases, kids look to be spared mostly, which is awesome. Hey, do this. I know there’s been, so far, I’ve not seen any case fatalities from zero to nine years old, which is amazing. And one of the ways that this virus, again, these are all hypotheses and we’re looking edit as it’s coming in so you know, don’t want me to it. I may change my mind like you know next week, but okay. So far what we’re seeing is that there’s very specific receptors called ACE receptors that are in ourselves and the more of these receptors that you have, the less likely you are to have big problems with covid-19. Kids are known to have tons of these receptors, which is looking like it’s protective.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([17:45]):

As we age, we get, we have less and less receptors as we, therefore we’re seeing such a huge number of elderlies dying from it. Also, interesting fact that I just learned yesterday, women have more ACE receptors than men. So that’s another hypothesis that’s going around of why women seem to have milder disease than the men because we are showing that the men are generally more severely affected than women. So, there is a fun fact for that. But as far as for the kids, they’re looking like they’re being spared, they’re getting it, but their symptoms are really mild and often asymptomatic. The issue with the kids is that they’re actually giving it to other people. So, in your child you may see their eczema flare up, which makes it even more confusing because what the heck is going on? Do they have COVID-19 cause now it’s the eczema or, but it’s not going to have a long-term effect on them even if they have eczema.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([18:44]):

And that’s not an immunosuppressant and they’re severely ill. I’m just speaking generally. But the big concern with the kids is that because they’re mildly affected and often asymptomatic, they’re given it to those that are older and sicker and could die. 

 

Abby:

 

Thank you for sharing that insight. And I’m so glad that kids are spared and that they’re having mild symptoms because thank God, you know, a lot of us parents worry a lot about our kids. So yeah, I’m just so glad that a lot of kids are showing mild symptoms. And I have heard that males tend to get it more. And that’s very interesting that you brought up that point. So, let’s get into the juicy part because a lot of people are going to ask, how do I boost the immune system? How do I prevent this? You know, I know that in conventional medicine a lot of people are you know, I know that there’s not a whole lot that they can recommend. I saw one news article where one doctor said all you can do is sleep and get enough rest. And other than that, he said there’s nothing else that you can do. But you know, I, I don’t believe I’m looking at your shock face right now. I really believe that. I believe there’s a lot that we can do to be seen in systems. So, you know, how can we boost our immune system and help prevent it in both kids and adults as well. And I know that you’ll be loaded with recommendations, especially being an integrative doctor. So, I’m just so excited for you to share this part.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([20:14]):

Well it is. You know it’s funny cause on the news they’re like, what medicines can we use for Corona virus and I’m like “no medicines”. They’re like, what do we do? I was like, what I do like being an integrative doctor.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([20:26]):

This is what we do. We work with your body to improve the immune system because the immune system is improved. Then your eczema gets better, your asthma gets better, your attention deficit gets better and when there’s a pandemic you are better prepared because we are gifted with bodies and in our bodies, we’re gifted with an immune system. Our immune system can defend us from a pandemic that is not the problem. The problem is that us humans have messed up the immune system and now we’re faced with a pandemic but everybody’s acting like watch just happened to us. This is no, we as a world are so sick. We are the sickest we’ve ever been and we’re seeing a pandemic of proportions never seen before, but that’s not just because the bat mutated and Whoa, Whoa was us. We are at fault for what we’ve done to our societies and our cultures because we’re going the wrong direction.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([21:26]):

Now I’m not saying let’s blame, but you know what I’m saying. The point being is that we have the power in our bodies to defend us against eczema and against the covid-19 and we go back to the basics. Number one if you are an eczema flare up and you’re not working with an integrative doctor, you need to pick the phone up right now and make a call and get yourself on board. I’m going to do a little self-promotion, but the one of the things that we’re doing is I put on an online eczema core has that is running on March 30th and the beauty about it is if you work on your eczema will working for COVID- 19 it is beautiful and the reason that it works is because we go down to the cause that root causes of eczema, which are going to be food allergies, that we’re going to address overdosing on.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([22:15]):

Sugar, sugar stops the immune system from working up to five hours after you ingest it. So, if you eat cookies on a plane from New York city all is one of your flight to LA. For those five hours, your immune system is significantly lowered and you’re more likely to catch the grossness that is on an airplane. Processed foods, the artificial flavors and the chemical food, the chemical garbage, that man has made a single handedly destroying our immune system. So that needs to put to the side. I realize now that with food being a concern, an everybody’s like, Oh, wait a minute. Why would you say that? Because packaged foods last forever. Can I tell you at my grocery store, fruits and vegetables, no one seems to be touching those. Plenty of fruits and vegetables everywhere, right? The best thing we can do, fruits and vegetables, easy to read.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([23:11]):

Ingredients. There’s no additives, there’s no chemicals, there’s no sugar. Fruits and vegetables. Now, if you have noticed that you have issues let’s say with egg or nuts or gluten or dairy or any of those and you under the care of professional, this is not the time where you’re going to reintroduce that because that will flare up the system. I had some people that like, Oh, I can go to my allergist and do my egg challenge. Not the time we’re going to do that and not have time because anything like that is going to flare up the immune system. This is also not the time that we’re going to get immunizations. I am vaccines in a very mindful and concerned manner. This is not the time that we’re going to go stir up the immune system with vaccines. It’s all, we’d only been into this what for like two weeks.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([23:59]):

Everyone needs to relax a little bit. The next thing is we need to do water. Put down your soda, put down your juice boxes. Nobody needs a juice box. Water’s free. People. You just turn on the tap. This is not the time when I go there’s chlorine and then whatever. There’s free water. In the tap and we’re going to put down the other garbage. Watch your alcohol intake at a time of stress and panic. We want to drink alcohol. It will depress our immune system because it turns into sugar and we just discuss how that works on top of other things. Sleep. I totally agree with a sad doctor that sleep is super important because when we go to sleep is when our immune system wakes up. A lot of people are panicked, they’re stressed, they can’t sleep. They’re like wide awake because of everything that’s going on.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([24:46]):

We’re going to talk about that in one second, but the reason sleep is important is when we go to sleep, 20% of our blood in our body, it goes into the immune system and cleans house. The liver wakes up, spleen wakes up. Your brain actually has to declutter there. This beta plaque, beta amyloid plaques that build up in your brain when you don’t sleep, cause during sleep they get cleaned out. So, our immune system has to get a good night’s sleep so it could do its job. We must poop every day. If you’re not pooping every day, you holding on to toxins and many of them are coronavirus particles or you holding on to toxins that are polluting your body and you can’t find coronavirus when it comes in, if that makes sense. Turn off your Wi-Fi and your electronics next throughout the day. Some interesting data.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([25:37]):

So yesterday in our integrative medicine grand rounds, it looks like EMF is very much disturbing our cells. And a specifically goes are the calcium channels which are electromagnetically wired. So, when we’re exposed to a lot of EMS, it opens up the calcium channels and dumps calcium into the cell more than it needs. And when there’s a huge calcium dump, it causes a lot of free radicals. Free radicals are garbage are inflammation and the free radicals damage our cells, especially our lung cells. So, I’m not saying, okay, now we’re just going to cover ourselves in tinfoil. But what I’m saying is we are attached to our devices and our screens for so many reasons. It’s time to take during the day, taking several breaks and at night unplugging the Wi-Fi. Do not sleep with your phone in your room, that children shouldn’t have phones in their room, they shouldn’t have laptops in their room.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([26:34]):

If they do Wi-Fi in the house should be completely unplugged so we can have at least 10 hours of no wi-fi in our personal space. Leave your clothes in your shoes out, smoke it, leave their shoes outside, change they’ll look rock naked. But change your clothes because we don’t know how long the virus particles can live on our clothes. So, we want to change our clothes after being outside. We’ve talked about washing hands for 20 seconds, if possible, couple of times an hour because we touch surf that we come in contact with a different surface 300 times an hour. So, I know you’re like, Oh I didn’t touch anything ‘cause you don’t know until you have like somebody going, like you touched it, you touched it. Yeah. And so, we want to do that. The other awesome thing is when you come in from going outside, just when you wash your hands, spray sailing up your nose, you know that’s weird.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([27:30]):

Remember the virus wants to go up the nose and it attaches to dry mucus membranes. If you spray sealing up your nose, it keeps the area nice and moist and juicy so the virus cannot attach. And for people that spray saying up their nose, then you know that it’s pouring Arduinos and you got to blow your nose. So, when you blow your nose, you blowing out the virus particles. Same thing for warm liquids. If you can sip on tea, coffee, decaffeinated coffee, warm water with lemon, you know, take sips every 20 minutes. If you come in contact with the virus which sits in the back of your throat, you can wash it down into your gut and have the gut digest it with a stomach acid and be done with it. If this sits in your throat, it likes to go in your lungs because it’s the same.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([28:18]):

There’s the same pathway like right here. And also drinking warm liquids cause a question you’re going to get, was it warm liquids versus cold liquids and warm liquids in a study? It was a small study, but it did show that warm liquids make us have more mucus and make the mucus move out faster. So, drinking hot tea makes you have a little bit of mucus in your nose so it makes it run out of your nose and makes your stomach acid work a little bit better. I’m trying to think. Oh, when we… supplements, supplements are really important to take. Are going to be vitamin D, vitamin C, but everybody forgets about zinc. So do not forget about zinc. And also, Omega three fatty acids make a free mega three fatty acids are amazing for the immune system. And amazing anti-inflammatory. Your vitamin D is used in thousands of different processes in the cell and helps decrease inflammation.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([29:16]):

Julio gut help with your eczema. Zinc, same thing. Vitamin C, amazing for the immune system, but everybody’s been focusing on vitamin C and everybody’s forgetting about other things. If you go to the supplement store and they’re out, which is not a problem, you’re gonna go to my Instagram page where I actually in the supplement section of highlights, I actually have foods and how much food you to eat in order to get zinc, D, probiotics, etcetera with God, with dosing directions. Because mother nature has put vitamins and minerals in our food. We just choose to eat manmade food that is complete garbage. And then we go and we take manmade supplements and then we’re like, Oh no, this is not working. We got to go with mother nature. She knows how our body works and it is in tune with fruits and vegetables and, and good whole foods, if that makes sense.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([30:12]):

And then lastly, stress. We are stressed our mind, the reason we’re so stressed is because it’s the unknown and we feel like we have no control. We do not have a control that is virus mutated. We don’t have control that folks from China let the borders before they could do a quarantine. We don’t have control that they telling us that we can leave our house. Right. A lot of lack of control, like the things that I just mentioned are all in your control. You choose what you can eat. Maybe you can choose the toilet paper, but you can choose to eat fruits and vegetables. You can choose to turn off Wi-Fi, you can choose to sleep, you can choose to hang out with your children versus looking at Facebook. You can choose to play games with your kids instead of being on Instagram and acting annoyed to the kids, you can choose not to drink alcohol. What I’m saying is we need to reset ourselves and understand that there’s so many things in our control and stop focusing on the thing over here that you don’t have control over because no one does it. That makes sense.

Abby ([31:16]):

Yeah. I love the way you put it and I think it’s just so great. Everything that you mentioned. I went to the vitamin as, or the health food store recently and the shelves were so empty. You know, vitamin C, there’s only a few bottles left. Zinc, I think there was only one or two bottles left out of the whole health food store. NAC, that was, I took, I think I definitely like the last second last bottle. NAC. Have you found that it helps, especially for this time?

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([31:46]):

Well, I don’t know if it helps for specifically Coronavirus, but again, all these, all these things are working for the body. So, I you we’ll use NAC. I’ll use zeolite, I’ll use bentonite clay. But again, you can just like read what’s online and then start taking it because just remember a lot of these things. So, NAC is a potent antioxidant that works for some people. It doesn’t work for other people. And then the binders are great, but you can’t take ’em with food. You can’t take them with supplements because, and now you just wasted food and supplements. ‘Cause now we just found each other and it did nothing. So that’s why it’s really important to talk to an integrative provider that can help figure out what regimen is best for you. Because if we’re just reading what’s online and what this person is doing, that is not necessarily your body. So just being careful with that. But those are all, they be very helpful for a lot of people.

Abby ([32:41]):

Awesome. And I would love for you to touch upon a bit about the elderberry. I know there’s a bit of controversy going on about that. I know that a lot of parents give it to their kids or parents will take it as well. But I think there’s a lot of controversy out there because there’s people saying that it stimulates immune system too much in the case of the coronavirus. So, I would love for you to share more about your insights on that and the controversy.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([33:08]):

Oh Lord. Yes. So that the reason, so I’ve looked at all the studies and I saw how it came down the pike. So basically, elderberry was studied in 12 people for influenza and another small study, so two small studies and they showed that when you have influenza, it raises your aisle six and cytokines and decreases duration of symptoms of influenza. Great. Then people look at, Oh, but in COVID- 19 the cytokines and aisle six when they’re elevated, it leads to a cytokine storm. Okay. And in COVID- 19 wearing your cytokine storm, they’re using anti aisle six medications. So, people say, huh. And also, if you have uncontrolled or immune issues, like let’s say rheumatoid arthritis and your aisle six is elevated, you will take in modern medicine world and take anti aisle six medications. So based on those things, you’re like, Oh, well if elderberry is raising aisle six in influenza and aisle six is elevated with cytokines inside a kind storm, therefore high aisle six and cytokines are going to cause a cytokine storm in COVID-19 does that make sense? However, that is a huge jump from that to that because the human immune system is not that simple. Aisle six is pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. It’s both. It depends on where the signaling happens in the cell and in which cell and under what environment, things that elevate Aisle six, Doritos and Gatorade and fast food and high fatty foods. That L that’s a proinflammatory. Excuse me. I’ve got a cough.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([35:01]):

I’m sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Aisle six can be increased by exercise because it’s supposed to repair tissues and then overall it becomes in anti-inflammatory. So, if we go by the theory that any elevation now six causes cytokine storm, then we shouldn’t exercise and we should definitely not eat Doritos and Gatorade and bass food. What everyone is focused on, the elderberry, there’s no actual study linking elderberries to a cytokine storm. All the studies show is a raised in cytokines and an aisle six in studies where it actually is helpful. So, I am not exactly sure. I think it’s the panic and the worry that this is happening. And I, my takeaway is this, and by the way, I’ve reviewed this information, it integrative medicine grand rounds with a number of integrative physicians and providers. So, this is not just me reading the literature. I just made sure I was super accurate on this.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([36:01]):

There’s no evidence, but the takeaway is this, there’s not one food or one supplement that is good for everybody. If you’ve taken elderberry before and it works for you, keep going. Awesome. If you’ve never taken elderberry and you have an uncontrolled autoimmune condition, you speak with your doctor. If you get COVID-19, you also speak with your doctor. If you are, you listened to this podcast or reread what I put out there on the internet and you’re still not convincing you’re freaking out, no big thing, you’re going to get blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries because they’re all powerful antioxidants. I am still baffled by the fact that we have gone after a powerful food as the problem for cytokine storm and no one is going after the garbage food that everyone is eating. I completely, completely baffled. That’s how that story went down and in fact, I just posted on Instagram yesterday, I have not looked at the replies. I’m like, we’ll see what that looks like. But I’m so far at this point in time, I’m really comfortable in the information as I understand it as of right now. Okay.

Abby ([37:10]):

Awesome. Thank you for clarifying that. That’s a, that’s just so helpful to hear what you think about that. And I actually read a couple I actually saw that someone posted a couple of studies about how getting the flu shot can actually increase the chances of the getting the upper respiratory tract infections. But I don’t know if you’ve read anything like that or if I just saw like maybe some posts that people were circulating. I haven’t looked at it in detail but we’d love to know if you’ve seen anything like that as well.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([37:43]):

Man, the data is like everywhere, but there is that study specifically comes after the H1N1 pandemic when people were getting the H1N1 flu shot and they notice that a large percentage of people had more colds after getting the flu shot and that their immune system appeared to be down compared to people that didn’t get the flu shot. But you know, and the flu shot world, there is no one straight answer. I got to, I mean ‘cause I can pull up literature and say okay it’s good for you. I put a love literature that says that for you. I can go back and forth. And you know, when we look at literature, we read anything in the published literature with our bias. So, example, if I think the flu shot is bad for me, I’m going to believe all the studies I say the flu shot is bad for me.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([38:31]):

And then either ignore or dis or say the studies say otherwise are not good studies and that’s just human nature and I just want everybody to give themselves a break but really understand that there’s not, can I say that the flu shot is good for everybody? No, I don’t think it’s good for everybody. Do I think flu shots have side effects? Absolutely. Would I get my flu shot right now? Heck no. Cause I’m not getting any immunizations right now. Do I think that some people benefit from the flu shot? Absolutely. And those are going to be my high-risk people. People that have asthma and can breathe or get seizures or have congenital heart disease or had heart surgery. Those, again, it is very specific. And then I have kids that I will absolutely not give them a flu shot that have autism and neurological issues and pandas and brain inflammation and things like that.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([39:20]):

So, it’s very case by case dependent. Also, on their previous, you know, I have kids, I had eczema and they had gotten a flu shot and asthma and they got a flu shot every year. And you know, asked the mom, I said, how are they doing? Like, well she still gets a flu shot. I mean she still gets the flu every year even though the flu shot. And I was like huh, okay, why are we getting this? So, this year they worked with me, we fixed the eczema, we fixed the asthma and they did not get a flu shot. And his first year in her entire 12 years that she’s never gotten the flu. Well look, I don’t think so, but you know, there’s all the doubters are like, Oh. I’m like, well it’s gotten a really bad flu season. Like one of the worst in a while. And she’s been like, the mom’s like, I can’t even believe it. Cause she’s like, you don’t understand, I’m so nervous not give her the flu shot. I’m like, it’s not work. And I really think it’s adversely affecting her immune system. So that’s just an of one. One example. We’re not gonna make a treatment plan by sad, but anyway, thank you for sharing that. That’s very interesting.

Abby ([40:24]):

So, I got quite a lot of questions on a social media. I won’t go through all of them, but one of the interesting ones is that, you know, a lot of people are saying that they know of someone who’s been healthy, but then, and they’re also in their thirties, which is pretty young, but they’re still dying of the Coronavirus. So that was one of the questions I got on social media. So why are people who are so young still being adversely affected and also passing away from this?

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([40:51]):

It is super scary. So, they showed about 54% of people under. So as long as, sorry, when they looked at all the people getting Corona virus in Europe and the States, it looks like 54% of them are under 52 years of old. And there is some mortality, definitely not as high. It is very unclear to me what healthy means. So, they’re saying that again, bad things happen to good people. So, you may have the… you may get the coronavirus, you’re totally healthy, you’ve done everything you’re supposed to be doing and things happen that are beyond our control and you die. And that’s horrible and awful. But that is a minority. But there 30-year old are ending up in the ICU. That is absolutely the case. And there’s a misconception out there that this is a disease of old people. This is a disease of everybody.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([41:44]):

And that’s why social distancing is really important. And I do see the 20 and 30-year old not taking caution on this because they’re like, Oh, I’m 20 and 30 I’m not going to get it. So, I do think that they’re more cavalier. They’re more exposed, they’re exposing themselves more. They’re less likely washing their hands. They’re less likely to take advice because they think they’re invincible. Cause this is a disease of old people. And my also, my question is what is the definition of a healthy 30-year-old? Cause I can tell you that 30-year old are walking around going Oh my God, I’m so healthy. Well they’re on blood pressure medicines. I’m so healthy they eat a complete garbage diet. So, the disease has not caught up with them but their inner body is a wreck. But they don’t know yet. If they were to have live longer, they would have had type two diabetes.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([42:30]):

They would have had lung issues or they would have cancer. But we don’t know. So, I question, I have no proof but I do question when they’re saying all these healthy 20-year old or healthy 30-year-old are ending up in the ICU, what does healthy really mean? Because people will look at a 30-year-old who is thin and they say that’s a healthy person and that is not true. That is not how it works. There are so many thin sick people walking around, they think they’re healthy, but it’s like the shoes waiting to drop anytime. I hope that makes sense.

Abby ([43:07]):

Yeah, that’s actually really, really important because especially when people tell me that they’re healthy, they eat a really healthy diet, but then they tell me what they eat and I’m like, that’s not really that healthy. But according to a lot of people it would be healthy. So yeah, it’s just really, really interesting how, you know, what is the definition of health? And it can look so many different ways. It’s not just from the outside. So, you’re right. Maybe there’s definitely underlying things that they need to work on or you know, that like you mentioned the food issue, maybe they weren’t eating actually as healthy as they mentioned. So, yeah, just incredibly interesting about all the things that you mentioned.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([43:48]):

Right. Well the other thing is too is like we have these 20-year old and they’re drinking a lot. They’re out partying a lot. They’re staying up late. They’re not taking care of their bodies, you know, so then they’re like, Oh, I’m healthy. And I’m like, okay, well you’re healthy for every day when there’s nothing attacking you, but in a pandemic, you’re not healthy, you know? And so again, I don’t have any proof for this, but I’m looking at the demographics of people that are getting hit and I’m like, and I know their lifestyle and a lot of kids, not other the people that are in the ICU, generally speaking. And I’m like, I don’t know that your immune system is ready to go to war. I think your immune system is like, I am okay with like a cold virus, but now this is war. And it’s like, yeah, I’m out. This is way much. I can’t handle all this.

Abby ([44:33]):

I love how you put it, that the main system has to be ready to go to war. And that’s such a big part. Not a lot of people are ready to go to war.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([44:41]):

No, no, no. I got it. Just another cold. I’m like, eh. Hmm. Yeah.

Abby ([44:47]):

Oh, important. Okay. So, another question I got on social media was if you’re affected, how long are you considered infected until you are recovered? And no longer spreading the virus.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([44:59]):

You have to stop coughing and have no more fever

Abby ([45:03]):

And right when symptoms and they’re no longer as well

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([45:07]):

Right when we’re not checking. Now here’s a thing. You know, once you, there’s not enough test to even check people that are sick. So, there’s no actual testing going on for that. But you from the onset of the illness is two weeks quarantine and then add the two-week Mark. If you have no more cough and no more fever, then you’re good to go. But as a two-week quarantine, if you are test positive for covid-19, if you don’t as positive and you had a fever and a cough, it is still a good idea to stay in quarantine for two weeks. Because remember, this is a we, it’s not an me. It’s not about you. It’s about everyone. So, if you’re walking around going, I’m fine and you’re spewing coughing at Costco, the next person’s getting sick and then they can die. And their problem, I don’t mean to scare people, but to kind of do, because in New York they run out of ventilators.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([46:02]):

They run an ICU space and they run out of ventilators, which means that doctors have to decide do you live or do you die? Are you 78 years old and well you’ve lived a good life and you have some medical issues and your 32-year-old mama of two so I’m going to pick the 32-year-old mama June. They’re having to make these kinds of decisions which they are already making in Italy. So, a lot of the deaths we’re seeing in Italy is because they’ve run out of space and run out of people aren’t necessarily dying cause there’s just not enough space. So, it is our job ‘cause you know we’re all in America, I’m sorry, but we’re very much like Oh it’s everyone else’s fault and I’m amazing. No, it is all, it is our responsibility to not spread this illness and cause an overwhelmed the medical system and make these doctors sick and have people dying unnecessarily because you wanted to hang out with your bestie because you’re bored. Because this is kind of what I’m hearing and I know again, I do mean to scare you because you did the worst thing that happens in your life. You got bored, you good. You’re going to be okay because the, the other thing that happens to other people is they lose their mother. So, you just be home and be bored and we’re going to be fine.

Abby ([47:20]):

Did you see the beach situation in Florida? I think the last week or yeah, a couple last week I think it was where it was just crazy. It was so packed

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([47:32]):

The park. But here like behind me there’s a park and I saw, I’m like driving like this and I was like, why are there so many people in park? Why? And there was a cop sitting there and I thought the cop is like blocking the entrance. No, no, no. I’m like, what is he doing? Too many people, the parking lot should not be full at a park. I understand we should be outside, but there’s like no common sense. I’m like,

Abby ([47:54]):

Yeah, they started putting up signs in our playgrounds to let people know that the parks are not safe for, to have a lot of people around. But there still are people playing, playing in the parks and playgrounds.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([48:07]):

And it’s like a couple people is no big deal. But when you see these masses, I mean I’m literally like, I was like gonna go take my camera and I drive around the park and be like, what not to do. You know, cause they’re like, Oh, it’s only a group of six playing volleyball with a group of six. So that’s not a big deal cause we’re still under the, you know, the rules that are in my state right now. And I’m just like, so we’ll wait till half our state dies and then, and then what we’ll do is then we’re going to go on a quarantine. Yeah.

Abby ([48:38]):

I also want to bring up one of the points that you mentioned before about the attitude towards your kids. Cause I know a lot of people are going crazy being in the house and you know, yeah. Even kids going crazy too. And I recently listened to a Facebook live where someone actually shared about how to think about the coronavirus in the terms of not just what it’s doing to you, but how it might actually be serving you. And maybe it’s giving you time to spend more time with your family that you never had a chance to or maybe it’s giving you the chance to appreciate things around anymore. And so. I really love that. You know, despite what it’s what is happening, it’s actually giving us a chance to have a more positive attitude and also learn about how it might be serving us. Maybe it’s giving you new ideas for what you want to do in your business. And in terms of working from home and yeah, just like different ideas that he talked about. So, I just found that so interesting about how, you know, it’s, it can give us a fresh perspective as well.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([49:41]):

I 100% agree and I preach this same thing and I [inaudible] day it. And I don’t mean to be like light about it. This is serious thing, but I’m like what’s happening is an integrative medicine doctor’s dream because I preach all the time. We got to slow down. Our lives are too busy, our kids are over-scheduled, we are having children and we have no time for them. We find them annoying because we have to get 7,000 things done. And you know in the 1980s

 

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([50:12]):

Is when we stopped giving our children time and when we started giving them money, which is…

 

Abby ([50:15]):

That’s a good point. 

 

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([50:22]):

And so now we just buy that.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([50:27]):

All that kids crave is quality time with their parents. They do not crave the fancy iPhone and whatever they think they do and they say they do because you’re going to give it to them. Who would say no would they crave his attention from their parents. And it is this time that I’m like no more sports, no more school. Most people are working from home and the nobody’s doing anything. You can’t hang out with your friends. They can hang out with their friends. There was no more FOMO ‘cause everyone is just folding laundry and Zane at home. So, you’re not missing out on anything and it is your control to take this time and appreciate your children and appreciate your family and play games. And sometimes the games are mind numbing. I understand it doesn’t matter. You’re never going to get this time back. The way I look at it, I don’t, I may cry. My daughter went to college, right? So, first year in college and I missed her so much and now she’s home bound and my house in my head, I’m like this, I’m like this is so great.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([51:34]):

I am, you know, I’m not losing my baby as in like she needs to go out in the world. She doesn’t need to live with me till she’s 46 but it was such a hard transition for me to, to have her go to college. So, having her right now in my house, I am grateful every minute of every day that I just get a little more extra time with my daughter that I would never otherwise would have had ever. And the same thing for my other kids because once you have one go to college, you realize how fast time flies and how they’re gone. Let me tell you, when they were little, each minute seemed like a decade because they are highly annoying and they would put toys in the toilet and they would not listen to anything and one of them would have tantrums, the other one would scream. I understand what I’m saying is never before. And never again will we have time to just cuddle with our babies. ‘Cause, because we could read in the middle of the day at two o’clock because take this time and appreciate your babies because they’re going to be grown up and gone soon. And this is, this is your chance right now.

Abby ([52:43]):

I read somewhere where the social distancing is. There have been some studies where the researchers have said that the social distancing might actually last for 12 to 18 months and that this whole situation could even last up to two years. And so, I was just thinking, wow, you know, it’s an opportunity to actually be with your family like you mentioned. And spend more time with them. And even though some people might get annoyed at that, but it’s, it’s the positive attitude and you know, thinking about how it can serve you and maybe it’s also a time to learn how to eat better like you mentioned and all the tips of boosts your immune system. So yeah, it’s a rare opportunity.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([53:25]):

It is. And you know, and I don’t want to make light of the fact of there’s people that are in dire straits. I mean the restaurant business, the mall business and the service industry. So, I’m not making light of that. I’m just saying I can’t control that that is within your power to become innovative and figure out what to do. I don’t have solutions for that. I’m just saying you have this time, put some time aside to truly, really love the people that are right there in front of you instead of continuously worrying about everything else. That’s just a tip.

Abby ([53:57]):

Yeah. And I just want to say that it was so beautiful what you mentioned about your daughter just finally having her home and spending that time with her. And I think that’s so great and yeah, just thankful that you’re able to share that as well as your journey. And for those of you who will turn it to tune into the podcast episode, that will be coming up soon with Dr Anna Maria. She actually shares how she got all three of her kids to heal and get better because they all had allergies, eczema and ADHD. And so, it’s just amazing just to hear her story.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([54:36]):

Thank you so much.

Abby ([54:37]):

Yeah. And so now that we’re wrapping up, are there any last words or advice you want to give to anyone who does, who is suffering with a skin condition? Who does you know, want to get better or maybe they’re worried that they’ll get infected with this virus and yeah, other things that you might want to.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([54:57]):

It’s the bottom. It’s not that complicated. We are making it really complicated. Like, Oh, it’s not the things that we talked about and be like, he can be this easy. I’m making a shirt in my clinic that says yes, it can hashtag it can’t be this easy. It really is. We humans in our mind have complicated everything. It’s back to the basics. Quiet time, hang out, good food. You know, enjoy your family. De-Stressed sleeps more like we just need to go back old school. And now that we’ve had about a week here to just kind of get a new mindset, now let’s take advantage of this opportunity and turn it to our advantage. But it is, there’s nothing more complicated than what we just talked about.

Abby ([55:39]):

Thanks for sharing that. And I just want to take the time to acknowledge you again and everything that you’re doing, everything that you’re sharing on the news and on your social media as well, just to help people get better, build better immune systems and heal especially for your course as well to help people overcome their skin conditions. So, I’m very thankful for you for being on the show today and also thank you for everything that you’re doing.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([56:04]):

Yeah, I’m so happy that we connected. Yeah. Instagram you know, which is a great community. So I’m so glad we connected and we can speak on this topic and especially now because I don’t know that a lot of people are making the association between eczema and Covid-19, and it is a very important topic and people, again, there’s so much confusing information coming from everywhere. So, I feel very privileged to be able to speak with you here and share with your audience some of the things that we’ve already implemented and seen work in our clinic. 

Abby: 

Thank you. So, if people want to get connected with you, learn more about what you’re doing, where are your courses, where can they find you? How can they get connected with you? 

 

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([56:55]):

So, the easiest probably thing that everyone could remember is my website is dranamaria.com. And from that website you get sent to the Cleveland, get to my practice, you can get to my blog. You can get to the online course. Instagram is dranamariatemple. And on there I have all the facts that we talked about today in handy dandy highlights and stories and so forth and so on. But those two are the easiest. So, I mean if you can’t remember anything, it’s dranamaria.com and we would love to be able to help you and Dr. Anna Maria, are you still doing consultations at this time?

 

Dr. Ana:

Oh, good question. So fun fact Medicaid and Medicare have finally, cause it’s 2020 realize that maybe we can do as an MD, I could actually see patients across state lines. So, because that was not possible until, until like this week, you know, if you’re an MD you could only treat people via telemedicine in your state.

Dr. Ana-Maria Temple ([57:53]):

But now we can treat them nationwide and worldwide, which is unbelievable. So yeah, so all my entire clinic, we usually do, we have a combination of FaceTime and in person we moved everything to FaceTime cause it’s no big deal. And now we can actually help people across different States, which is so awesome. 

 

Abby:

And do you only see kids or do you see adults as well? 

 

Dr. Ana:

I see kids zero to 22. I don’t see adults. We have a three-page waiting list for our well, patients are folks that are chronically sick right now. We’re full for April, but we have spots in May.