time now for "sunday house call." >> joining us is professor and chief of robotic surgery. >> and dr. mark seigle. >> good to see you both. >> good to see you. >> we have an action-packed show. should we start? >> let's do it. >> well, the hollywood movie is shedding light on a debilitating disease. let's look. >> life expectancy is two years.

>> what about the brain? >> the brain is not affected. your thoughts won't change. it's just that no one will know -- >> that's a clip from "the theory of everything," depicting the life of a physicist following his diagnosis of als, lou gehrig's disease. >> even more powerful than this is when you pay attention to this movie, you learn so much not just as a patient but as a doctor. the message we will learn from this is the theory of everything. it's love, it's everything. life is everything. and hope is everything. which is what you need as a doctor to take care of these patients and, without that, there's no chemotherapy or medication that we can give. it's a wonderful movie and great message. what is als?

amyothophic. there's no nutrition to the muscles. over time they die from respiratory failure. a lot of times, two to five years is the period. in this particular case, he went on for over ten years, which is very unusual. and so, you know, it's the message that this whole ice challenge brought in, brought this disease to the surface. and we're learning a lot from this. the good news is, let me just say, as a result of all of these donations, now we're getting closer to finding the gene researchers have come up with a gene called hbk-1 which is going to hopefully really break this disease and come up with a lot of hope. >> mark hawking, adopted, unbelievably, still writing his books and his studies and research. first of all, symptoms, how do you know if you get it and is

there any way to avoid it? >> first of all, his famous expression was, look up at the stars, not down at your feet. he gets this diagnosis, says his brain is powerful, he keeps thinking. erases a family and has lived to 73 and he's still alive, which is unbelievable. 2 to 5 years is the usual life span. the first point i want to make is, als is unpredictable. in some cases is burns out, in some cases it's more severe. it involves the lateral aspects of the spinal cord. those are the areas of nerve cells which lead to voluntary muscle movement. your lungs, arms, swallowing is involved, speech is involved. he can't speak so he was able, through eye movements, to develop a system where you can use a computer-aided voice. now, believe it or not, in this film they actually used steven

hawkings voice. he lent it to the film because he was so shocked by the job that was done portraying him, showing the weakness and the motor neurons, the central nerves that lead directly to these muscles, atrophy, they die off and then the muscles die off. we've made very little progress in this except to emphasize the point that was just made, now we're figuring out which mutations occur, which genes are involved. it's often familial, it often runs in families. and we're going to end up with -- >> what should you look for? >> well, here's what i look for, first and foremost in the office, the tongue that is literally vibrating, that's very tell-tale. if someone is having sudden weakness or falling like they show in the film, you're walking along and you start falling and i test you and find your muscle

strength has diminished and you're like 30, 40 years of age -- >> if there's no cure, is there something that can help slow it down? >> no. there are no medications. there is a medication that only adds maybe three more months. but there's no real cure. and this is about 10% genetics, 90% we really don't know the cause. and this is part of the problem. we've come a long way in this particular disease. we've spoken about the fact that john martin sharko finds this. lou gehrig in 1939 brought it to the surface and now with this challenge we've brought so much money to put a dent in this disease. now, typically you see this between 40 and 60. going back towards what you were saying, the tingling feeling that starts from the feet and the legs and starts spreading to other things. fortunately, they don't have any bladder or bowel issues as we've

seen with m.s. and other diseases. five years they survive, ten years is an anomaly. to see a story like this is tremendous. >> and it could be two years. the reason that they don't do well is because of their breathing. they go on respirators. hawking went on a respirator in the 1980s. he's been on that ever since. they lose the ability to breathe and swallow on their own so secretions build up and they get more infections. it requires, and the film shows this beautifully, it requires exactly -- >> you read my mind. >> support from a wife, from someone else who is around them. >> the message of hope and the fact that there's always life and you fight for it. you love what you do. >> you love what you do. now, empire, the show on fox, i love this show, the lead character on that show played by terrance howard, this character

has als and he, the character in the tv show, is trying alternative drugs. of course, we don't -- >> i'm glad you're bringing this up because i want everyone to look at the medication that we have posted. your point is well taken. there are a lot of medications outside the u.s. that are experimental and it may work that right now the fda is not approving this. it's important to have a conversation and we're having a communication with the als association. it's a good point that you're bringing up. >> i want to get back to eric's point about how you know it and i told you one example of how i might look for it in the office. if you're a person out there -- i'm not trying to scare anyone because this is a very rare disease, you start having falling episodes. why did i fall? why am i suddenly weak? why aren't my hands working? why can't i speak the way i usually speak? >> is it sudden or gradual? >> it can be sudden. it's a great question, david.

great point. because if it's somebody that isn't aware that they have a problem, they may be building up weakness and not know it and suddenly fall. >> david mentioned tingling. >> usually it's motor. >> it's the synapses of the muscles not working. if you don't have that kind of power -- >> spectacular symbol, a fantastic movie. >> great movie. >> so glad we discussed this in the segment. and a shout out to the caring caregivers. >> the power of support and the hope is what we all get as a doctor and also as a physician. >> i love it. shout out to "empire," too. that's my favorite show. >> talk about mind over matter. the snow and the ice and man oh man is this a brutal weekend. it's so cold outside. 16 below in waterville, maine.

>> do you even feel that? >> how do we protect ourselves? the doctors will have the answers coming up next. .. ...heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm... amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief.

to breathe with copd?ow hard it can be it can feel like this. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that helps open my airways for a full 24 hours. spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva respimat does not replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva respimat. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain or problems passing urine, stop taking spiriva respimat and call your doctor right away.

side effects include sore throat, cough, dry mouth and sinus infection. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. to learn about spiriva respimat slow-moving mist, ask your doctor or visit spirivarespimat.com and back now to our "sunday housecall." there have been snowstorms and more people have been suffering from hypothermia and frostbite. the south is not used to this

cold snap that they've had down there. >> they don't know that you have to have wool gloves and wear hats. it's connected to frostbite. we talk about them as though they are separate but they are connected. you know why? because when it's cold, your body wants to preserve blood flow to your brain, your liver, your kidneys, your vital organs. and if it gets cold, it's got to get the heat from somewhere and takes it away from your fingers, to your toes. >> from your extremities? >> from your extremities. they start to cool down. you get frost nip. >> what is that? >> when it starts to turn color and it gets a little numb. then when it starts to really -- the damage really starts to -- then you get deeper damage and your tissues get injured and then you have a real problem. then you could even get scarring. i caution people, get it before it's even frost nip. >> you know, dr. samadi, i don't

think people realize what the cold weather can do to their bodies. they are trying to go about their business. how damaging that cold wind can be on the skin, talk to me about that. >> it can obviously cause a lot of numbing and tingling and the color can change. if you don't get enough blood to the area, you're going to see this bluish color. that's really the time that you want to go inside and not play anymore. you want to make sure that you have layers. anything over 30 minutes and your temperature is lower than 95, you're in deep trouble. so use commonsense. this is a -- you know, you have very cold weather and it's going to take a lot of blood, as marc mentioned, away from your fingers and toes and you're going to have a lot of pain. short term you may recover but if you go on for too much time, you're going to have some damages and the worst thing you can do is go in hot water. because at that time, your sensations are not there and if you're going to put your feet or

toes under hot water, you can have a first or second-degree burn. >> really good point. >> if you're outside and you feel tired, is that a warning sign? >> that's a huge problem. if you're not thinking clearly -- the one bit of good news is if you have a problem with hypothermia and you get to the hospital, we have more time to bring your heart back and bring you back because the cold preserves your organs. one thing i want to tell everyone out there to do is be prepared for the loss of power in these situations. that's a terrible problem if on top of the cold you lose your power, i want to reveal a secret, dr. samadi has a back-up generator. everyone should have one. >> i see your point is very important, eric, a lot of people at this time try to clean up the snow and the rate of heart attacks, especially older men, is very high. so if you feel exhausted, go in. don't push yourself. the next thing you know, you're going to be putting a lot of

pressure on your heart and have a massive heart attack. >> don't make snow shoveling the first thing you do. if you're not in good shape, don't pick up that shovel. >> and then try to shake off the doldrums. >> okay. star athletes swear by it. it's an injection that is supposed to help treat pain in your joints. but could it be right for you? our doctors tackle that when we come back. in a work, work, work world...

take time for sunday. just know that your truck... has a little thing for monday.

and our old internet just wasn't cutting it. so i switched us from u-verse to xfinity. they have the fastest, most reliable internet. which is perfect for me, because i think everything should just work. works? works. works! works? works.

works. . time now for should i worry,

our weekly segment about everything that worries us. now, this year is asking i would like do know what the doctors think about platelet rich plasma injections for shoulder rotator cuff problems. i would like to know if the doctors think it's a procedure worth trying. dr. samadi, what do you think? >> there is a lot of healing power, growth factors to make sure that the tendon is healed. all of the studies that i've looked at doesn't prove or show any positive findings. this looks like more like a p s placebo woods and tiger woods and other players swear by this. but there are questions about how long you should be getting them and whether it works or not

and it's about 800 bucks given by doctors so i'm not a big fan of this. . >> did you notice that lebron james was dribbling while dr. samadi was answering? surgeons are the people injecting this and there was a study in the new england journal of medicine in june that emphasized this point, that saline or salt water worked just as well as this stuff did and it is a thing. athletes benefit from it, but there's never been, until this june study, a trial showing it. it looks like it may be some hype. the theory behind it is that when tendons are injured, they get chronically injur jurd inju they don't heal well until you get chemicals in there.

platelets issue healing chemicals. so in animals it has helped. >> this is for people who have undergone physical therapy. on the way to surgery if they want to get i shot, maybe it would be possible. there is no scientific backing behind this. if you have any type of blood cancer, you should not be touching it. i don't think there will be any huge benefit to this, and we'll see. >> so this person must have problems with their rotator cuff. any suggestions? >> we don't have time, but i'll make a list of all the herbs over the years we've spoken about to take for this, whether it's st. john's wort or other things we'll talk about. i think those herbs are better than this injection, don't you agree with that? >> yeah, it looks like hype and people are making money. >> it's $800 in the office but it doesn't work. it may keep your house quiet and your parents a much-needed

break, but a new study says when you want to put your toddler down for a nap, now they're saying it's not a good idea. what are they talking about? we'll ask the doctors next. ♪ ♪ welcome to the most social car we've ever designed. ♪ the all-new nissan murano. ♪ nissan. innovation that excites. that's keeping you from the healtgap will closerve.e when healthcare gets simpler. when frustration and paperwork decrease. when grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home.

so let's do it. let's simplify healthcare. let's close the gap between people and care. whitestrips compare to a whitening toothpaste? let's see. the paste didn't seem to do much for me. the whitestrips made a huge difference. that's not fair! crest whitestrips work below the enamel surface to whiten 25 times better than the leading whitening toothpaste. crest whitestrips. the way to whiten

.. ...heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm... amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. back to our "sunday ha

housecall." studies show that maybe mothers shouldn't have daytime naps for their toddlers and they would sleep better at night. you have to put the baby down. it's bad for the baby's health if they don't sleep. it's bad for my health if i don't sleep. >> i agree with you. a health study tried to prove you wrong, and if they had actually proven it, parents would be devastated because they need to rest with this nap in the afternoon. theoretically, the best nap to have for anyone is uninterrupted sleep. at night you go into a rem sleep, that's a deep sleep. >> when does that start? >> that starts a couple hours in, but that's the deepest rem is a couple hours in. you're not getting it from a nap, but most sleep researchers believe that those naps, especially in young children who need 11 to 15 hours of sleep a

day help in performance. i'm completely on board with that. i think up to the age of five, at least, you need that nap in the middle of the day. i have to confess i didn't get enough sleep coming in from boston. i took a nice nap this morning, and here i am, all awake and alert. >> so we're saying napping for babies, that's good. what about for the big kids like us? i'm a vampire. i rarely sleep, you all know that. famous people, berlusconi, he didn't sleep. >> he was working on "50 shades of grey." that's what he was doing. i think six hours is very healthy. you absolutely need sleep because that's where you do all the repair, et cetera. this particular one, talking about adults, power naps are the best. coming out of europe, the studies, if you take even 15 minutes of nap, it reboosts your biological clock, it gives you energy and more cognitive skills

and better decision making. >> how long is too long to nap? >> if you go over 45 minutes to an hour -- >> you should do an hour, i think, but they say 20 minutes. >> 20-minute naps in the middle of the day, the power naps are the best thing you can do. for kids it doesn't really interfere with nightly sleep, so i don't buy this study. kids need to sleep to grow, and you should start taking at least four hours, no more. >> i'm awake at night. >> thomas edison, power naps. margaret thatcher, power naps. thomas edison took these naps in the middle of inventing the light bulb. >> get up, have some warm milk and maybe even a banana. >> no milk. that's bad for your stomach. >> put some butter on bread, pop it in the microwave, eat the warm bread.

>> or a banana. >> this is what i do -- oh, my gosh, i don't know what happened. we have to go. nice to be with you this sunday. i'm leland vittert and welcome to america's news headquarters. >> i'm shannon bream. the massacre intended two years ago is going for an attack on the largest shopping mall here, the mall of america. advice to shoppers about that threat. plus, his explanation for why the president refuses to use the term radical islam. the ceasefire continues to unravel as a bomb tears through a march for former pro-russian president. yes, the united states still refuses to send