carolaltfnc or post it on my facebook page. that's all for today. thanks so much for joining me. until next time i hope you're learning to be more of a healthy you. hi, everybody, i'm jamie colby. good news it's time for sunday house call. >> hello and welcome i'm eric shawn. joining us dr. marc siegel associate professor of medicine at the nyu langone medical center. unlocking the secret code of sickness and health. great to see both of you. >> good morning. >> we begin with something that's really important. you heard about the meningitis outbreaks at some college campuses and now a fourth student has been struck by meningitis at the university of california santa barbara. and that's a similar strain they say of the disease that sickened

eight students already, at princeton university in new jersey. so doctor, how dangerous is this first of all how is meningitis spread and you think it could be scary if it gets onto college camp uses. >> yes, it's frightening. not only because of the disease by itself but the fact that it has been around since march and it hasn't gone away. usually they have a short period and they disappear on their own. the fact it is also going all the way from princeton to santa barbara, that's also another concern. that's one of the reasons why cdc made the unprecedented decision to bring in a vaccine from europe, made by novartis, to really against fda approval to see if we have to vaccinate our teenage and college students. meningitis is really the inflammation of the lining around the brain. the brain and spinal cord are surrounded by fluids. meninges is a cover, a lining over that and when you have an infection, bacterial, with the bacterial meningitis, viral would be viral meningitis and

you can die from this. 10% of patients die quickly, despite the fact that you're healthy. so what do you look for? headache. high fever. and the one that's very concerning, stiff neck. and that's a red flag and doctors will pay attention. how does this spread you ask? social events, bars, it's basically the cough droplets, so from coughing, sneezing, kissing on campuses, the social sharing, the beer cup et cetera you've got to be very, very careful and if you have the symptoms we need to treat you with iv antibiotics. >> so mark let's say you're a parent or you're in college, you see what we look out for. the stiff neck, high temperature. how do you jump on it fast? >> number one is fatigue also. and there's a very, very dark rash you see characteristically, like david said the headache, sensitivity to light. it can be all over the body usually you look for it on the extremities. a dark, red rash from the meningococcus. the reason this has been

happening we've been vaccinating in 37 states it's mandatory or practically mandatory to vaccinate against strain "c." but strain "b" of the meningitis has been all over europe and now it's coming here. the two in santa barbara and princeton are different dna. so it doesn't look like it jumped from one place to the other. but it's not a coincidence. we're starting to see strain "b." we don't have a vaccine for strain "b." there is one called bexsero developed in australia. the cdc got permission to use it in princeton they're going to offer it to 6,000 people this month. it's a really good idea with the holidays coming up. even though this is a very rare thing and even though it's hard to spread, you've got to have close contact which is why it's spread to colleges, people are buddying up, they're kissing, they're sharing god knows what -- >> this is really scary because colleges years ago, mark, required that students get the meningitis vaccine before they started college. you're saying this strain doesn't respond 20 that vaccine. >> that's exactly the point. >> where did it come from?

>> it came from europe. and, in fact, we're down to 2500 cases in the u.s. per year of the other strain because of that vaccination policy you talked about. before you go to college you get that vaccine. this strain is emerging now, because the vaccine is only around in europe and australia. now the vaccine that the cdc is offering is quite safe. so i have a feeling it's going to be coming more and more in general usage. everyone should get it that's at risk. we get a million questions and we're going to get them today. what about some child that's going home for the holidays. the chances are slim. but meningitis could last for a week before you see symptoms, so it's theoretically possible. >> the symptoms are very common close to regular colds. so, people would wait on it and thinking that it's just a regular cold that's going to go away. if you have stiff neck and severe headache, and high fever, that's the sign that you have to see someone quickly. >> one other quick point is it's 10% deadly if it's not caught right away. you can get paralyzed from it. you can have a lot of long-term complications.

>> started with it, this is a serious topic, parents should make sure their kids are okay over the holidays. >> especially with that, act on it. >> absolutely. >> thanks so much. i wanted to get to this topic too, another really important one because a lot of us take vitamin "d." it does play an important role in maintaining our bone health. but there's a new study that claims that not having enough of the vitamin may actually cause serious damage to your brain and other organs. wow. it's sounding like "d" is becoming the new fish oil. >> well, i love vitamin "d." i think vitamin "d" is the super vitamin. and that's the one thing i check in every single patient, jamie, because we live in a northern climate here. i check 25 hydroxy "d," that's what we check in the doctor's office. i'm finding it epidemic of vitamin "d" defirensy especially in older patients and i put them on vitamin d3 at least 1,000 units a day which is the recommended dose is and i follow the level. it's been shown to be associated not onl with heart health, there's some evidence that there's a risk of

colon cancer if you don't have the right amount of vitamin "d." depressi depression, and now the point today. this study is in rats but i think we would find this in people, too, that if you were vitamin "d" deficient you wouldn't think as scleerly. some of the diseases we're going to talk about later, autoimmune diseases that david suggested for today, those can actually be mimicked by a vitamin "d" defirensy. i call it a superremember vitamin or a pro-hormone. it's almost more of a hormone than a vitamin. >> and eric would want people to know you have to ask for a vitamin "d" test. it's not part of the standard blood panel. this is kind of scary. is there anyone that shouldn't take vitamin "d"? >> no, i think as a nation you know, almost a third of the country, we're vitamin "d" deficie deficient. and part of it is we're a little sun phobic. you get your vitamin "d" from exposure to the sun and there has been so much sunscreen and great for skin cancer but now we're not getting enough vitamin "d." you need about 10 to 15 minutes of the sun and then you get about 10,000 units uncovered

sleeves and exposure to the sun. vitamin "d" has mark mentioned it should be looked upon as a hormone. we don't think of it as a vitamin for bone health. we see a lot of studies that low vitamin "d," affects your cognitive, you're tired, autoimmune disease and colon cancer and many other diseases. you need to know your 25 hydroxy vitamin "d." we like it to be 50 to 80. ask the doctor what is my level? between 50 to 80 is a good one. if it's between 30 to 50, you need supplement. and certainly if it's below 30 you're in trouble. normally people go for about 1,000 to 2,000 un thes. i personally sometimes take 5,000 when my level comes down to catch up and you can get it in different forms. but we like vitamin d3 which gets absorbed, it absorbs calcium and phosphorus from the gut and it's really, really healthy. we'll talk more about this when it comes to autoimmune disease. it reduces some of what we ca

call -- reduces inflammation which is going to help you with autoimmune disease. >> one thing about vitamin "d" is you also can find it in oily fish like sardines, mackerel, you can find it in eggs and fortified milk. and now in orange juice. but here's the thing when david was saying about you can get it from 15 minutes of skin -- of sun exposure. i want to caution people out there i totally agree with that. but ask your doctor if you can actually have the sun exposure or not. we might want you to get it from foods. we might want you to get it from supplements, instead or we might want the sun exposure. but you've got to be very careful about that. david's point is excellent. the dermatologists have done a lot to cause me a vitamin "d" deficiency epidemic in my practice because the sunscreen and staying out of the sun has made a big impact. >> but i think low vitamin "d" the big secret that a lot of people don't know and there is no way in the world that people are going to basically gobble all these sardines, nobody's going to take -- no, seriously. >> with all due respect for the

sardi sardines. >> or tuna or salmon there's only so much you can take. >> check levels. >> make sure. you can take too much of this. >> you cannot? >> you cannot. so it's not so much toxic, talk to your doctor, get your levels, and you will feel so much better once you have it. >> i love the fact you say ask your doctors. we're going to make a list about everything you ask, you go to the doctor, you think they know what to get so ask for vitamin "d." a lot more is coming up, the autoimmune disease. you know how common that is? affects millions of people across the country. if it affects you you're going to want to hear the very latest on what the doctors have to say about autoimmune diseases. stay with us on sunday house call.

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treat that. dr. samadi, first of all, what is autoimmune disease. >> autoimmune disease is basically our immune system working fine, working correctly but attacking the wrong target which is our own organs. for example, type i diabetes you're going to see our immune system will go after the pancreas and that's how you get die beatous. autoimmune disease i think it should be changed to syndrome. it's not one disease. between celiac disease, thyroiditis and on and on, fibromyalgia, lupus, there's a whole series of autoimmune that everybody wanted to hear and that's why we're doing this. the ideology and cause behind this could be viral. people talked about epstein barr virus could be bacterial, could be some of the heavy metals we have and all the other things or could be the toxic food we have and we use. what do doctors do when they come to me i don't see a lot of them but they usually give steroids and they want to reduce the amount of inflammation.

that's temporary. that's only taking care of the symptoms. but the truth is that our diet is not so healthy. we talk about sugar. i made a list of the things that people need to know. so i'll go through this really fast. just so new treatment. you need to get rid of dairy foods. dairy, cheese, milk and other things, causes endotoxin, causes increase in autoimmune. get rid of trans fat. mark has talked about this. no gluten. get rid of sugar. no red meat. and no processed food, fast food, you know, fried food. but what we want to stick to is healthy vegetables and fruits. add to your diet which reduces inflammation and go to olive oil and finally, vitamin "d." vitamin "d" is very important. >> but mark, i mean realistically, -- >> it's not so bad. >> people are going to eat what they want to eat. how do you really deal with this? >> the first thing you want to figure out is what's causing it and which one you have. because they're not all the same. what autoimmune disease is -- i agree with fresh foods and

keeping foods out that are produced that can trigger your body to make antibodies against itself. it's your body using its own immune system to attack itself. now in multiple sclerosis which is a big one it's probably a post viral syndrome which a virus causes the immune system to attack. doctoringly enough, there's research going on in atlanta where they're taking your own immune cells, washing them down, radiating them, cleaning them, and putting them back in to fight off those antibodies. that's very dynamic. in other places they're using probiotics. in montana they're using probiotics. the goal is to get those immune cells from attacking your own body. foods can be helpful. probiotics can be helpful. avoiding certain things can be helpful. prednisone is our staple but even more is something -- even more of our staple is something called gamma globulin where we take antibodies and we use them against the antibodies you're making in an attempt to stop the

immune system from attacking itself. number one in the country on this and the world is diabetes. both type i and type ii diabetes have a component of your antibodies attacking itself. we're going to talk later about diabetes in a different way, but your antibodies attacking themselves, your body is a part of diabetes. >> but i want people to know that steroids is not the answer. you don't get better with steroids. if you don't take the underlying problem, which is for example diet soda. we talk about diet soda, right? so that's your aspartame that gives you formaldehyde that causes multiple sclerosis and other nerve and neuropathy. unless you change your lifestyle eric and you're not really going to make any difference, this is all band aid therapy. >> the suppressions are not the cure. they're the treatment. and they're necessary if the immune system gets out of whang. but we've got to get to the cause. >> i am what i eat. >> but doctors will accept even small changes in your diet, so if you introduce a few fresh

vegetables and fruits they'll be really happy. and coming up they're going to answer a troubling medical question that comes from a viewer. we love your questions. we love to answer them. coming up, should i worry? that's next.shou i worry? that's next. when i first felt the diabetic nerve pain, of course i had no idea what it was. i felt like my feet were going to sleep. it progressed from there to burning... to like 1,000 bees that were just stinging my feet. [ female announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause rious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right ay if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in md or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores friabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't ink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery

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>> and eric has an idea to answer questions about a we should worry about. this week,. >> veers ask, i have seen blood in my urine a few times. should i worry? doctor? >> first of all, your doctor better be checking your unit written. they check blood. check urine. urine is amazing look into the body the i look for protein,

glucose which should not be in the urine. blood, if the urine is not coloring color and when it is really turning color, both something to be concerned about that occur without any other symptoms. you could have an infection. i give an antibiotic i am reassured. if it continues i send the patient foe a work-up could be cancer action kidney stone or from exercising too much. it could be from sexual activity. a lot of things cause blood in the urine you do not have to worry about but when it persists it has to be worked up. >> what we would do, the first thing, is she a smoker or not? it is a major risk cancer for bladder and kidney cancer. i look at kidneys and think what could possibly be here. skid knee -- kidney cancer or

stones? there could be a tumor in the lining of the kidneys. that also is as a result of smoking. you want to look at the urine and there are for lotions but when it comes to the bladder, you worry about bladder stone, you worry about the enlarged prostate and bladder cancer. what do we do? after checking the urine i have to put a scope in the bladder to rule out bladder cancer and we get an el extra sound or cat scan of the kidney. if you have any pain, any burn ing, probably it is an infaction but see a urologist. we want want to rule out any problem. >> and the internists should be screening, part of the regular screening, blood and urine. i look for things in the blood that will temperature if you there is a kidney problem.

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washing about diabetes. have you heard the centers for disease control says over the next few decades, one if three will be diagnosed with diabetes. dr.samadi, how do we prevent that? >> stay away from sugar. we are consuming 30 teaspoons a day in america. that sour average amount of sugar. women should take six a day and men should take only nine teaspoon a day so we are way over for sugar. our food chain system is completely poisoned. i have said it many times.

the reason is over the last two decades we cut the fat and the food doesn't take good anymore so you add more fructose, high fructose corn syrup. this is the reason why we have the diabetes, increasing insulin and cancer, perhaps, which we cannot prove now but that is coming. cut your sugar. unfortunately, it is all over our food in bread, in soda, you cannot avoid it. the fruit sugar is healthy but do not take some of the genetic changes in food. so be careful about sugar the. >> you mentioned there is so much sugar, not only in sodas but the whole wheat bread, some bread that looks healthy starts with sugar. >> skim milk.

>> i emphasize that it is not justify the sugar but the bread, the grains you eat and even in tomato sauce. look at the able. your body, your pancreas is a motor, producing insulin. the more sugar you give it, the harder it has to work. the more sugar you give, the more weight you grain because the i body converts sugar to fat then your insulin works harder and hadder when you are obese putting you at risk for heart disease and stroke and we have a diabetes epidemic. there is a frequent correlation between how much carbohydrates you get, including bread, if you take one thing away from the she, stop eating breast and pasta. don't i cut down on sugar, i'm not using it or having ice cream or cake and gobble up the bread. >> how about whole wheat pasta?

>> the amount you take in. look at the size of the soda and the question come, what? i use some of the artificial sweetner? that is not good, either. so be careful. >> sugar is sugar is sugar is sugar. >> before we go, and i am shocked that skim milk has milk. dr.siegel you have a very special interest of tomorrow. >> this week i have started to interview dick cheney's cardiologist and this week i inof interview the vice president about his heart and how the medical technology came out just in time to save him each time, whether it was a stent or heart transplant, he is doing tremendously and we will talk about it next week. >> he teetered on the border. he could have died the amazing. can't wait to see the interview. that does it for us. much, doct.

that will do it for us. we hope you learned a lot. we hope you'll have a healthier week. >> watch that sugar say the doctors. >> have a greatsunday. "mediabuzz" is up next with howard kurtz. here's howie. >> martin bashir resince under pressure at msnbc saying he deeply regrets his disgusting comments about sarah palin. why did it take so long for the talk show host to pay a penalty. could he have kept his job if msnbc moved quickly to suspend him. president obama tries to boost his sagging fortunes by turning to chris matthews and msnbc. >> how do we get back to that confidence that we can solve our manmade problems and other problems? >> why was the host of hardball playing such softball?