The discussion addresses the multifaceted uses and considerations of Botox, emphasizing its effectiveness in treating medical issues like migraines, lockjaw, and muscle overactivity due to trauma or genetics. It explains that Botox, a toxin that paralyzes muscles by blocking nerve function, can significantly alleviate pain and improve quality of life for those with chronic conditions. However, when it comes to cosmetic uses, the importance of personal choice is highlighted, advising patients to weigh the benefits and risks carefully. The role of a healthcare provider is to provide information and options, allowing individuals to make informed decisions about their health and appearance.

In discussing the risks associated with Botox, potential side effects like facial paralysis are mentioned, along with a case where a friend may have experienced a transient ischemic attack (TIA) from Botox injections. This caution extends to other cosmetic procedures, such as breast augmentation, noting the prevalence of breast augmentation sickness and the societal pressures influencing these decisions. Ultimately, a balanced approach that prioritizes quality of life and personal happiness is advocated, encouraging patients to make choices that align with their individual values and well-being.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:04 – Introduction and Format Change

00:20 – Botox Overview and Medical Uses

01:28 – Posture and Headaches

02:36 – Medical vs. Cosmetic Uses

03:54 – Risk and Decision-Making

06:32 – Botox Risks and Side Effects

08:06 – Cosmetic Surgery and Societal Pressures

10:49 – Quality of Life and Personal Choices

13:09 – Life Perspective and Decision-Making

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] Lots and lots of questions about lots of stuff. We’re going to start going through those. We’re going to change the format of what we do probably next week. Do kind of more of a pillars based, breakdown. Today I want to talk about Botox. I think, got several questions over the weekend. One of our friends, younger woman, did some Botox for, an actual jaw issue. And, and, giving her some issues. Parallelizing sour face. They think maybe she had it. Tia. Turns out it’s going to attack. A lot of people were hanging I there like, what do you thing about Botox? We’re doing Botox. Botox is short for botulinum toxin. It is, by any definition, toxic. It paralyzes the musculature, doesn’t allow the nerves function. So. That’s what it does. The problem is, is that there’s lots of reasons people use it. I think it’s a phenomenal tool for migraine headaches, for, lockjaw for, for like, things that where the muscles are just overreacting to whatever it is, a trauma, a, you know, genetic issue. You know, the way you hold your body. And so now we’re like, for instance, a lot of times people have tension headaches, migraine headaches.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:28] The Botox helps because they’re sitting an entire life staring down at a laptop or staring down at their phone or just staring down at something, and it changes the tone of the neck and creates problems. In which case, by the time you usually find out it’s an issue, it hurts really bad. Or you have migraines, or you have GI shoes, or you have sleeping problems, or you know, all the differences in teeth issues, ear infections, there’s all sorts of things from clavicle or collarbone up that forehead posture or where engineer just damages the body hearing ulcers. So balance. So Botox is beneficial in that point. And great. We have this major issue. We should use the medications that we have that work really well while we’re fixing the problem. Fantastic. Sometimes you can’t get from fix because, you know, with the Botox keeps the migraines away. And in my opinion, migraines from the stroke category because it’s a lack of oxygen in the brain. So, yeah, brain and heart always get preferential treatment. If it’s good for the brain and kind of bad for something else, brain gets what it wants. In this case, it’s oxygen.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:36] So, yeah, Botox is great. Now, most people don’t have a big argument good, bad or indifferent on using it for migraines and obvious pain medical issues. So. We’re all kind of on the same boat on that one. As far as fine lines and wrinkles and stuff like that, that’s up to you guys. The problem that the debate that I get into this, that I have with everybody is, it’s not really my call. It’s your call. I can advise you on it, but it’s your call. When I talk to people and I tell them, I’m going to give you your options. My job is to give you options and information, and your job as an adult is to make your decision. This is what I need. Now, I will tell you, if you’re 25 years old and you’re worried about the forehead lines you might have when you’re 50. I don’t think that’s an acceptable risk. But if you do. Great. Because here’s the thing. There are different verticals in life, in different verticals that are in hierarchies. And, I’m not really as, as a, as a straight guy. I’m not really in the vertical that is terrified of blinds and stuff on my face.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:54] I mean, honestly, I’m kind of in one of those categories that, you know, as I get older and the gray hair and the the lines are coming up, people respect my opinion more. So it’s I’m in a bad position. So if you know, as far as the, you know, female vertical hierarchy and how critical, beauty is to them, the gay, vertical and how important it is to them. It’s not really it’s not really an area that I can make a judgment call on. Because here’s the thing. We’re all going to die. And this is one of those things I think we all need to kind of focus on. And this is kind of a mental thing. You’re going to die whether it’s tomorrow or next week or to 40, 50 years from now, you’re gone. And so a lot of times people spend way too much time focusing on, you know, either the right now or the in 50 years. So we can actually kind of find an in-between. I, you know, you don’t want to do crack because cracks awesome right now, but really shortly after right now leads to horrible terribleness. Botox might not. So at the end of the day, if you’re like, look, I will feel better about myself. I will work in my hierarchy better. You know, all these sort of things. And you think the risk of several are great? All we do is just work out the other side of the chemistry stuff, like, hey, why don’t we increase?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:22] You know, why don’t we increase your detox pathways just a little bit? Why don’t we increase the the oxygen to your system? Why don’t we. Why don’t we do some stuff if we’re going to do a little bit of bad and sue a lot of good and kind of offset it as much as we can? Because at the end of the day, you need to enjoy the next 50 years of your life. If if a small negativity like Botox is going to give you the confidence to go outside and be part of the society, and that’s think of you, you know, all of the benefits of community. If, you know, you’re going to have higher self esteem so you can go out on stage and speaker, there’s so many reasons that you need that little boost of no, no, I’m got. You know, it’s kind of it’s going to be kind of up to you. The biggest issue that we come into is that people think that stuff like low taxes has zero risk. I mean, the chances of you dying are not high, but there’s been all sorts of issues with, you know, they inject it into a certain spot and 90% of it goes there, but 10% of it kind of gets in the fluid and has drifts over and hits another nerve. And now you’re now you have your facial paralysis.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:32] We’ve seen lots and lots of issues where somebody will get in the face or something, and it drifts over to the facial nerve. And this whole section first gets kind of kind of loose. And that could be for a couple days, a couple hours a week or two. I mean, it can be for a minute and that’s just, you know, that’s cosmetic. But like in the case of our friend, you know, and I’m not fully aware of how it created the tia. She had this issue. She went to the E.R., and with the scans and stuff, they did, they said, that’s the. That’s their best guess. It could also be that she had a Tia from something really different, and the Botox wasn’t part of it. But according to what the er. And the doc said it was directly from the Botox, so. I haven’t done anything. I haven’t read it. That’s just what the are said. So that’s where we’re at. There’s a lot of things that fall into this category, though. I know people who think that being as big as I am is grotesque. I happen to love it. So it makes me happy. It makes, you know, I look at myself and I’m like, wow, I had this dream of getting to a specific spot for 40 years. I guess you could. 30 years, let’s call it 30 years. And here I am like, I’m at the point I’ve always wanted to be, so I’m happy with it. I keep telling people I don’t want to be as big as people. And you never know. One day I might be and be like, well, damn, but it is what it is. I love how big I am now. I love the way I look and the way I feel.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:06] That’s fantastic. If you do, too, I’ll teach you how to get there. If you don’t. Cool. But. The plastic surgery. I don’t feel the need at all to have larger silicone breasts. There’s lots and lots of women who do feel that way, and a little insight on that one. If I was a woman, there’s no chance I wouldn’t have plastic surgery, especially for, breast augmentation. And the reason for that is because the way women have, whether society, the women did it, I don’t know, but whoever blame it is, I don’t. I can’t give you that one. But the way women look is a significant, functional piece of their hierarchy. And the studies on the size just on men, where women with larger bras have an easier time in negotiating and dealing with men is pretty. I mean, do we need research on that? I mean, so, yeah, and there’s there’s actually research on when with larger breasts getting, getting have an easier time with other women. So when you have something that’s psychologically obvious, that big of a thing, I understand more why. Who would do it now? Breast. Is is again one of those things we were like, oh, as long as you survive the surgery, everything’s fine. That is not the case. A lot of times when we put those things in, they become toxic.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:33] The toxic breast augmentation sickness issues are rampant and they’re high and they’re all over. And there’s a lot of women who have it who don’t know they have it. But there’s a lot of women who don’t have it. So, you know, it’s kind of one of those things when we when there is no definitive answer on a lot of these questions. And that’s why. I as a practitioner, you got to be like, good. I’m not in your boat. I’m not in your shoes. I can give you all of the details. I can give you all the upsides, all the downsides. I can kind of counsel you back and forth on, you know, different things. And a lot of times what I’m doing is we’re going to talk to women. I’ll give them permission. Like, look, you’ve laid out this case to me where there’s 12 things on the positive side and two on the negative side. Like, are you, are you are you looking for permission that says that this is okay to follow? What you’ve already told me is, is your decision like, okay, now somebody look at my community like, I want to do this thing. I’m like, you’re missing seven of the mass of the most important negatives. But here they are. Now that we have this list established, is it still is appealing to you and lot of times will go, oh, now I didn’t know that. Yeah, I don’t think I want to do that anymore. Cool. Great. Whatever.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:49] Now someone comes in, smoking is a big one here. Like, I don’t want to quit smoking, right? You don’t have to like, well, I don’t have to quit smoking to work with, you know? It’s okay. I’m their guy. I’m not your dictator. And so. But I’ll be like, here’s my suggestion. Right? Do you enjoy all the entire pack of cigarets? In most times we’re like, not really. I’m like, okay, there’s there’s usually a couple cigarets a day that you really enjoy. Like the first one when I for a meal, you know, one if that. 3:00. Like what. Like let’s go down and find the ones that you like. Well, then I remember. I look forward to these every day and 100% save that and then save a couple extra. So let’s say that, you know, there’s 5 or 6 really important cigarets a day for you. And you know, you’re smoking 20. Why don’t we take 4 or 5 away from that 20? We get used to that. Maintain the ones you really enjoy. Because if we work from 20 to 10, you cut your your touch, a toxic facial problem and half you haven’t catch a quality life at all. And we can buffer the ten that you are looking a lot easier. So at the end of the day, it’s harder to be in the boat of let’s do what’s best for quality of life. But it’s also that’s where I live because I’ve been in a couple of car wrecks. I’ve I’ve had an interesting life. I’ve been through some stuff that, you know, should have killed me on more than one occasion.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:09] And I finally kind of sat down and realized I’m going to die. And when you finally sit down and realize you’re going to write your eulogy and you do that type of stuff and you kind of do the in life planning, you get your will and, you know, the house of done that you’re supposed to do. If you haven’t done this yet, this is a maintenance and life changing thing. We’ll go over this in detail as we go through, the push of wellness starting next week. But if you haven’t done this, this is a massive, massive, life changing fact. A lot of people I’ve walked through it have said that in eulogy. Mean, like, there’s nothing to write. Am my. So there are some stuff. Like, you know, it’s your story. This is. How are you? This is one of the ways we write it. We start with the ending and go. There’s nothing to say. Like 3 or 40 more years you have. What have you done? What do you want to say? So, that’s a big deal. So when I wrote I Sit down and wrote mine, I was like, oh. All right. You calculate how much time you’ve got left, and you sit down and really think it through, and you’re like, oh. What’s important. How much I enjoy the journey. Well that that’s that’s if that’s where you’re at. That’s where we need to start. But that’s, that’s the thing on the boat. So I know I realize I didn’t give you a yes or no on it. But the problem is, is that the real questions in life are not binary. They’re they’re they’re binary for an individual, but they’re not. You can’t blanket statement. And so that’s the point that we’re getting into. So if you if you guys are needing a.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:13:48] A more definitive answer for you is there’s a lot of people who are like, what do you think about this thing which you’re allergic to it, so you should 100% not take it or you’re taking this thing that kind of counteracts with it. So you should definitely not take it. There are things like that. Or if you take this, you don’t have to take these two things. So yeah, I’d say take that one. Like for instance, I Sjöström I have a lot of women who are coming in here on pallets with estrogen, progesterone, testosterone or you system testosterone, who, if you take a natural form accepting it converts into estrogen. And that’s using conversion progesterone. So as long as you’re healthy you just need the one thing and it’s better for you. So like little things like that. But that’s the big thing. So if you’re wanting specific stuff, you need to ask somebody who understands the practice and understand the biological function about your stuff. But from a general, you know, over the top view. You know, there’s not a whole lot of things you can say 100%. Don’t use this like scene oils I can tell you don’t use because our bodies aren’t designed to process that much. Omega six all at one time. So there’s a general rule. That one’s a good one. So, sir, as far as a lot of this other stuff, you know. Okay. I’m gonna walk you through how to do it yourself. But you need to have a little bit more, basis on where it’s going. So, and also, if somebody else is using it and you don’t think you should use it, that’s your opinion, like. Give him some grace. So all right. Because any other questions is like questions that Chalmers will. Starcom. You guys. Thank you for your time.

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Dr. Matt Chalmers

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