Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, but I want to match names with our guest here, Extremely Tired Fred. I am extremely tired. I have sleeping disorders and I don't sleep often and it's been a few days. But I slept enough that my eyes aren't bloodshot.
No one thinks I'm secretly a stoner, so we're doing good. And speaking of sleeping, our guest here has taken many naps many that he may not have woken up from, but he has. And what he's going to talk about today is something that is super, super important, actually. While we'll be talking about all his near death experiences and crossing over and coming back.
The focus point is actually about the failures of the medical system. Now, we've talked a lot before about Navy Medical. Hoo Yah Navy Medical, not a sponsor at all. In fact, they have almost paralyzed my friends, have almost blinded my friends, have neglected a lot of sailors. They've done some great things and it is great to have free medical.
That's only open for during your working hours, never afterward, closed on weekends and holidays. And unless you're losing a limb, don't talk to them or your eyesight. They do care about that because you can't do your job. But we've had a lot of horror stories on not just Navy side, but Marines, Army, military, medical in general.
And then of course the VA afterward, when it comes to dealing with veterans who have PTSD addiction and just mental health and physical ailments as well. We've seen a lot of people get screwed over, but. Our guest here has had that experience in the civilian world from misdiagnoses to failed operations and surgeries to botched parts.
It's it's someone's, it's everyone's worst nightmare. Everyone's worst nightmare is to be medically ill or have an ailment, but it's even worse nightmare. To be at a hospital with a doctor who doesn't know what they're doing, or they make something worse. And, you know, we all know plenty of people who have gone in for an operation and came out worse.
But coming out dead around 50 different times, and then making sure you're still alive, that is something that only repeatedly dead Fred is capable of. And so I'm so excited to have someone on the show to talk about Definitely a unique experience. I think this is something that could only be rivaled by the man who was struck by lightning seven times.
And, you know, his body can handle 10 times the amount of electricity. That's the level that we're on right now. So Fred, even though you're extremely tired, I'm hoping you're going to bring some great energy and some great stories to us today. Me too. Thank you for having me on. So I guess I should start by saying I'm in Canada.
So we do also have the. Pre medical, which, you know, it's a system, right? And every system has its pluses and minuses. And you know, I'm not trying to assign blame to, to anybody. You know, you don't want to piss off to the next doctor that could potentially be the one that tries to save your life.
Yeah, of course. So, so I've I've gone through this crazy adventure with the help of many people. I ended up writing a book about it. 20 times. I don't know how well you can see this. So this is, you know, this is actually what happened to me and it's, there's going to be a sequel because I ended up dying and having a bunch of more surgeries that were just crazy.
We thought 20 was going to be the max. And then I guess life, then like here, hold my beer, you know? Yeah, exactly. So I, I guess I should say the definition of. Death or dead that I'm using is I've been clinically dead, which means your heart has stopped for 30 seconds and you haven't taken a breath for 30 seconds at the same time.
And that's all told. It's around 50 times as as we're sitting here. And I hope I don't make 51, although that would probably make for great content. But a sequel, ladies and gentlemen, we've got repeatedly dead Fred back. He has done it yet again. You know, usually when parents go to the children, it's like, what have you done now?
And it's like, how did you die this time? You know? Yeah. It you know, for most people, everything that went on medically is sort of beyond what they'll encounter in real life. What I encountered. In the hospital at the beginning of this adventure was just, I happened to meet the wrong people on the wrong day.
And you know, and then if they're not invested in you, they're not invested in you and there's really nothing you can do when you're locked into a hospital. That's very true. So when I first got sick in may of 2009, I didn't know I was dying. Like I knew I was upright and then I was. down on the ground and, you know, and then coming back to life.
But I didn't know until about four months later that they figured out that my heart was actually stopping. And that was the cause of all this. They generally were trying to prove we've got this middle aged white guy who's quite overweight, so he must be having a heart attack. And they got stuck on that spot and they wouldn't look for anything else.
And it took about four months for them to figure out. Oh, yeah, we're quite familiar with this. We know how to fix it. So that was a lot of concussions because every time my heart stopped for the most part I was upright and then I would fall and hit my head on whatever was the hardest thing in the immediate vicinity, you know, curb, manholes, sewer covers, concrete sinks.
And that alone is miraculous that anytime you fell could have been the last time if you had hit at a certain angle or, you know, you could have cracked your skull or anything. So it's, it's amazing that you managed to fall so many times and. Not have that happen to you. Well, I'm Canadian and I grew up playing hockey, so I don't know if my skull is actually crackable, but yeah.
It's yeah, there's so many things that were against the odds for me coming through this at any level. And I was on a podcast with Dr. Steven Neff. He's a Australian emergency. Doctor, I think he's an anesthetist. And after we finished our recording, he said like, you shouldn't be alive. By any measure, right?
No way. The accumulation of all these things, one or two of them. Okay. I can see you're alive, but this is ridiculous. So he's a doctor. I'm not. I'll trust his words. Yeah. Well, before we go any further, you talked about first off the, the bias, see that like you said, Oh, someone's overweight must be a heart attack.
But there's so many heart conditions out there. I mean, there are. You know, I've had some family members go through some medical stuff, and I didn't even realize how many different, you know, problems you could have with the heart, so can you, if it's okay for you to share, what was actually the issue that was going on with your heart to have it just frequently or randomly stopping?
I don't know, was there a pattern to when it would stop? Not that I figured out. It would just decide to, to stop working. So, the condition is called a sudden onset full heart block. So, you have these bundles of nerves in your heart that regulate when it beats. These nerves started to die off. So the signal to beat would either get too weak or not frequent enough and, and then it would stop, you know, so I've had those periods of like 30 seconds and we had a couple that were like closer to five minutes before my body started up again.
So at no time was I revived by a medical person. This is all the body being freaking miraculous. And having, you know, probably like your job, a billion backup systems, you know, in case of emergency. And, you know, I probably went to the last level of backup a couple of times before I self revived. Yeah, that definitely gets into some theories.
I've studied some, you know, theoretical science about atomic memory, about memory storage within the nervous system separate from the brain, and it's interesting to think about if your heart stopped and the brain stops and the nervous system goes, we need to power these things back on. Yet, The nervous system is controlled by the brain.
So how would it independently function, but there's a lot of theories on quantum levels on electrical levels on that. And we're not going to get into that because like you said, neither you or I or a doctor or a scientist, although on one online event, someone did call me Dr. Whiskey and Growing up, all I wanted to do was be a scientist and everyone called me doctor.
I never pursued it. So thank you. Thank you for calling me Dr. Whiskey. That title meant a lot to me, but now I'm Mr. Whiskey. And so you talk about these nerve on your heart dying or just not sending a strong enough signal. So it sounds like the cure then would be an artificial signal, something to force the signal through or do that.
So how did you overcome this? What did they try to do to your heart to fix this, this issue you were having? It's not something that's fixable. It's like when those nerves die, they're dead. So the, the fix allegedly is a pacemaker. So for those of you in the audience who don't know what a pacemaker is, it's a little supercomputer.
That's, you know, maybe the size of a pocket watch. And there may be those in the audience who don't even know what a pocket watch is. So, you know, that big and they, depending on what it's trying to correct in your heart, they run a couple of wires from it through the veins and it replaces your, your nerve signals and it ventricle when to beat.
And so that's what they put in. And And it worked really well. I'm 100 percent dependent on it. So, if it fails, if the pacemaker fails, it's like I don't have one. So, it stops, I stop. Right. You're like the Canadian Ironman, almost. Only his was shrapnel in the bloodstream. But what's interesting is definitely as genetic science furthers, if there would be a possibility for finding a way to regenerate these nerve endings, whether they use your own genes or someone else's being able to artificially grow biological nerves that they can then connect to your nervous system and to your heart.
Of course, that's probably stuff that's a little bit beyond our time. Who knows how far into the future, but like you said, you're dependent on this pacemaker. And I know. There's some restrictions that come with it. You know, I've seen that certain thing. It's like airport security. If you have a pacemaker, you can't go through certain machines because of the interference with it.
And I don't know athletically how that has challenged you as well or anyone who has one. I assume it has a certain limitation to it. Or how does that work? No, they're pretty, they're pretty complex. They're not as complex as the stuff you worked on. But for example, it responds to the, if you start running, it knows to speed up, that's awesome.
Like, you know, just like your regular heart somehow knows to speed up. But if you're driving in a car at 60 miles an hour. It can sense there's something going on, but it's smart enough to not set your heart, you know, up to 150 because it knows you're not exerting. So, and then if you are exerting yourself, it also knows to slow your heart down gradually.
So, they're, they're pretty intelligent. I guess it's some sort of an artificial intelligence calculating in the background. Yeah, I assume they have some kind of sensors for whether it's. the amount of oxygen that passes by or Blood or whatever it may be, I'm an intellectually curious person. So I'm going to have to research this later, watch some YouTube videos on this.
Cause I am definitely interested in the science behind that, but it sounds like luckily it doesn't limit your life too much other than the fear that if it stops working, you're How is your heart gonna know to pump? Yeah, and, and that I'll call it anxiety, but that's always running in the background.
Even when I'm not thinking about it, I'm thinking about it. Right? So, with regards to like, going through an x ray machine or whatever. Stuff like that. You have the, the new pacemakers are shielded much better than the ones from 20 years ago. Yeah. So I've got some older equipment in me. I cannot, what is it?
I cannot do, I can't get an MRI. Because everything's not shielded properly. So if I went in an MRI machine, the, I guess it's electromagnetic waves that they bounce around. They would, they would heat up the wires, the pacemaker leads inside me and fry me from the inside out. Oh yeah. I don't like that. Yeah.
I don't, I don't like medical stuff at all. So if I believe some of the newer models. Are better shielded against things like that. So you can actually get the MRIs if you need one, I can get a cat scan, but then, you know, you get a super dose of radiation as well. That goes along with that. So, yeah, I've, I've had to, yeah, I can't go on roller coasters.
You can't go on things that change your blood pressure to extremes really quickly because that, We'll definitely confuse the pacemaker. Probably can't go diving even at maybe at a slow, slow pace, but I don't recommend it consult with your doctor first before you go diving with a pacemaker, but I was going to say, so theoretically you could go.
Get cut open and swap out your old stuff with the new stuff. But given your history with, with medical procedures and stuff, I assume that's not on your bucket list to do unless necessary. No, I'd have to have open heart surgery at this point because I've got so much junk left over cause I, I think I'm on my sixth pacemaker in 14 years because they failed a number of times.
And then the batteries have run out. I mean, yeah, the average pacemaker should last 10 to 15 years. And, you know, I wish my phone or my laptop batteries lasted 10 to 15 years, be much easier. But no, I've gone, you know, when they're malfunctioning, they use more juice. So, it's I've got, I don't know, probably close to 16 feet of pacemaker wire inside my body.
And when they insert it through the vein to your heart, they they have, I guess like a little barb on the end, so it'll anchor to the heart muscle. So once it's in there, you can't take it out. And my vein that they use. is past capacity already. So if they want to take it out, they have to literally crack me open, cut my heart out, remove these barbs, and then try and pull them back out.
It's a crazy, crazy operation. Okay. Yeah, that stuff makes me so squeamish that I personally am a big believer of anything that shouldn't be in the body makes me uncomfortable and I'm not, I'm glad that, you know, that science and technology has evolved to keep people alive. But I do not ever want 16 feet of wires in me.
That's just crazy to hear something like that. But again, you know, human life is very valuable and, and keeping that is, is very beautiful. But you talk about this constant anxiety from this, this, this legitimate fear. I mean, it's a very rational fear to have. But also I know, At some point, did you develop anxiety around medical procedures in general just because of how many different appointments you've had and how many times it has gone wrong, and if so or not, what, what are you using to cope with all of this anxiety for all of our listeners who are afraid of medical procedures, whether it's their first time or their second, third, fourth, fifth time?
What advice do you have for them that has helped you through all of this? Well, the first thing that really helped me was learning about intermittent fasting, which just resets your body. And I can dive deeper into that if you want. But I just gave a talk on Tuesday about things you can do. And the first thing you have to do is learn to self advocate because most of us have, you know, doctors on this pedestal and, you know, the doctors are supposed to be taught, taught that there's, There's a power imbalance between you and the patient and the doctors need to do more to dial their imbalance down and make it easier for the patients to express what's going on.
And I've, you know, it's a lesson I've had to learn that one of my last surgeries I had to tell the Sorry, I'll take a step back. Now they do pacemaker surgeries while you're awake. They used to put you under general. Now they just, you know, numb you up and go for it. And they're, that's unbelievable. So you are what?
Well, I keep my eyes closed. I'm not watching that. I am not watching that. I think I would pass out if anything. That, that might've been good, but because a couple of the surgeries before that were so traumatic and I had actually coded on the table, I said to the surgeon, I don't want any part of this. I know you're trying to save my life, but I don't think I can survive this trauma again.
And I really had to push for them to give me the general. And it's a good thing because the operation went sideways again. You know, it turned out okay, but you know, it it's better that I wasn't awake to go through what I went through. Yeah. Yeah, that's for sure. So I'll say you talk about, that's just insane, but I really, like we said about the balance and being, what you said is something we've said before in the show.
You are your number one advocate for your own health. No one cares about your health as much as you do. And people get this misconception that doctors and nurses well, it's their job to care about me and my health. It's their job to make sure I get the best quality treatment in that, you know, I get whatever is my preference.
And unfortunately not all doctors and nurses are morally righteous and unfortunately they have a lot going on too, you know, I'm not here to bash on them. They have very stressful lives. They work very long hours. And they're taking care of hundreds of people's lives, and they're losing some of those lives, too.
You know, I can't imagine the emotional turmoil within a doctor or a nurse, you know, it's not an easy job. That being said, like you said, we put them on these pedestals that they're miracle workers, that, you know, we always think that we're a special case, too, you know, like, Doctor, what, could you just do it this one time for me, or, what about, you know, this and that, everyone wants to be that special exception or that miracle case, and that's not always how it is.
I think it's important that you, as you mentioned, as much as doctors need to dial down themselves on some degree, you need to boost yourself up by being your own health advocate and making sure that if there are different preferences, different options, that you aren't being pressured or bullied into an operation or a certain type of treatment that isn't for you.
And sometimes I might be seeing multiple doctors and getting multiple opinions. Sometimes that's Researching on your own. And sometimes it's also taking a day or two to think about it. A lot of people, when it comes to medical, I mean, they're terrified, you know, they, they want to get it fixed as soon as possible.
But it's definitely one of those decisions in life that if you, if you can, sometimes you can't, but if you can take a day or two, or maybe more to think about it and actually go over how it's going to affect you, your family, your loved ones, your lifestyle, definitely something important. And so, I, I would love for you to go more into intermittent fasting.
I bet most people when they're talking about medical procedures and anxiety and all that, that's not the first thing that comes to their mind. So I'd love for you to tell us more about that. There's a lot of stuff on the internet about intermittent fasting. I think there's a lot of misinformation, misconceptions about it, and plenty of good information.
So I'd love for you to elaborate your personal experience with it and how it's helped you. So I'll start with the fact that in the early 2000s, I was 340 pounds and Now I'm 220 ish. So not all of that has come from intermittent fasting But the majority of it the I guess we also have to do a disclaimer, right?
Like if you're going to take something on like intermittent fasting, you know, if you're pregnant, it's a no no if you're nursing It's a no no if you've had eating disorders You a lot of the medications we take are, are size dependent or weight dependent. So you may have to get your, your meds adjusted as well.
Intermittent fast, intermittent fasting is more a health plan with a side benefit of weight loss. That's when I went into my cardiologist's office and he threw a book at me. The book was the obesity code by Dr. Jason Fung. And it's all about intermittent fasting. It's, it's a little bit sciencey for some people, but that, that science just resonated with me.
So he said, buy this book, read this book, and then have a luck with your doctors to see if you can actually do this. And that's what I did. And I was type two diabetic when I started intermittent fasting, which was probably May of 2018. By December. Of 2018, I was no longer diabetic. I was off insulin. I no longer had sleep apnea.
I didn't snore. I had no body aches. And for a person that was waddling around at 340 pounds and you know, had played some serious hockey and college rugby, my body used to ache. Like every joint in the body used to ache all that inflammation went away. So. When we talk about it's the health plan with a side benefit of weight loss, for me and many others, and I was a moderator in a very large intermittent fasting group.
That's often what you see is it, it's priority is resetting your body and getting it to heal. And then when it thinks you're at a healthy point, the weight starts to come off. Yeah, so for those of us who aren't familiar with it, I know it's become very popular in the past few years along with other different types of diets or other Fastings, you know, what is intermittent fasting in terms of how would you enact that in your life?
You know the the hours of not eating when you're eating How would you go about that and is it are there different versions? There's as many different versions as there are people. So, you know, I know people that fast only twice a week, you know, they might do a 24 hour fast, have a normal day and then do another 24.
And for them that does enough for their body to do. It's, it's miracle stuff. And for them to lose weight, other people have to be more consistent and, and do it every day. I do it some variant. Pretty much every day. So we talk about fasting windows and eating windows. Okay. So my fasting window is generally 18 hours.
And then I have a six hour eating window. So that doesn't mean I eat for six hours. Right? It means. I can eat during that six hour period, but after that I shut down and I give my body a chance to digest the food and balance the energy stores and work on the healing and that's what works for me. Every so often I'll get inspired and I'll do a longer fast like a 38 or 42 hour fast.
Wow. But, and that's It sounds crazy. I thought it was crazy the first time I tried it. I thought fasting sounded crazy in general and and then I just adapted to it so quickly. And, you know, that's the way our ancestors grew up. We were all feast or famine, right? You didn't know where that next dinosaur burger was coming from.
So, you know, they would, they would overeat to a degree and have some fat stores, but you don't see pictures of, of cavemen with six packs, you know, they've all got little bellies. And you know, so that's the way our body learned to, to feed itself. But now we've gotten into that, the system where there's so many processed foods and seed oils, which are so toxic that our body doesn't know how to process these things and get the proper nutrients out of them.
And it's a big problem. I know it was for me. So, yeah, and it's, you know, we're talking about different diets and one of the most interesting ones you talked about the, you know, people eating a lot because they didn't know when they were going to eat again. You know, having that building of that storage supply.
There was one man, a bodybuilder I saw who he would only eat one meal. It was like every 24 hours at 4 a. m. It was a 5000 calorie meal. And that would just be his one meal of the day. He would eat this huge table of food all at once, and then not eat for 24 hours. And I'm not telling anyone, go do that or not do it.
You know, research on your own. Like you said it's always important to, if you're going to implement a new diet, whether it's a restriction such as fasting or changing the food, it's always important to research first and if you can consult a professional, it's definitely good to do that too. And especially if you have individual health issues or just unique circumstances, as mentioned earlier.
But yeah, I think it's interesting and we talk about people. Hearing those numbers, those, those fasting windows saying, wow, 18 hours. I can't go 30 minutes without food, but I think like anything, it's, it's almost like training, you know, you, once you get past that first window or maybe the first few, it might take a few, everyone's different, right?
So maybe it's a week, maybe it's two weeks, maybe it's a few days. But people. You'll get used to it and it'll become easier. And then, like you said, sometimes getting inspired and going a little bit further, it's just like working out. But Fred, what I really want to talk to you about before we close off here is.
You know, you, you came on here and you've gone on other shows and you, and you've shared your story and some advice, but what is your purpose nowadays? You know, you have, I don't know how your near death experiences have changed your perspective on life and everything, but having lived through all of that and being here now, and I know you're going out on these shows trying to do something.
What exactly is that something you're trying to do with your life and, and to help other people with? I think that the last part of your question is, is really what it is. It's to help other people and to know that they're not the only person going through whatever it is they're going through. And you may not have an answer right now, but you never know when that answer is going to show up.
And it's just, it's, it's been a crazy ride. So many people help me get through all this. People that I barely knew. There's so many people out there that just want to help. They might not know how to help. They want you to ask for help. They, they just want to feel like they're making an impact and try and search out those people because those are quality people and the more quality people you have in your life, it's going to positively impact your health and your mental health.
More than you can imagine. I'm trying to remember his name, Malcolm Gladwell. He, he wrote a book, the tipping point. And I think in that book, he says something like, maybe it wasn't Malcolm. I don't know. Brain damage. He's, you know, as an adult, your personality becomes the composite of the five or seven or 10 people you spend the most time with.
Yeah. And, and I believe that's true. And I'm not that I was a bad person, but I believe I'm a much better person because of all the positive influences that have come into my life. And when people are constantly asking you, how's your health? What are you doing? What can I help you with? It's, it's a big boost.
So, you know, learning to advocate for yourself is a biggie learning to expect the unexpected. Which I know sounds like an oxymoron, but you know, that's what life is. It's a whole bunch of unexpected things. And, you know, you have to work on that and you have to work on being resilient. And I'm not saying any of these things are easy, but you know, I, I try and work on these, maybe not every day, but you know, I, I work on my resiliency through prayer, through meditation.
And and a lot of reflection, you know, how could I have changed this? What could I have done different? Sometimes the answer is nothing, but just the fact that you're putting your brain and your body through those thought processes are beneficial to you. Yeah, for sure. And I know that it's something super important to just a lot of people.
Let medical procedures, even ones that went well, just set them back in life. They, they just continue to focus on it every day, thinking about how they went through that surgery. You know, how other people didn't have to, and they had to. And then again, feeling alone. I mean, Fred, for, for someone who has faced your issues, I mean, there's not many other people out there who have, and I'm sure you've dealt with feeling alone, but you talk about this support system of people.
And you said something that I really love because it's something that ties into a lot of the episodes I've done on suicide prevention awareness, which is there are people out there that care that you don't even know about, or that care more than you would think, you know, and we've seen time and again, when people band together for a cause or for.
To support one another or a single person. We've seen some amazing things, you know, whether it's a GoFundMe you know, a petition or just. Making meals for someone who's grieving, we've seen people do what they can, like you said, not, we don't always know what we can do, especially if we're a loved one and someone we care about is going through a surgery or a procedure or medical ailments that are really Changing your life.
What can we do? What can we say, you know, especially when the things that you talk about aren't easy to do, you know, being resilient through it, you know, moving on from it. But I think you're an important and clear example of how, and not just you, but a lot of the other, you know, guests I've had on my show who went through medical ailments and trials are all shining examples of.
Taking that that pain and what you went through and imploring it into a purpose to help other people to inspire and share and it might just be one person. It might be 100. It might be 1000. But it's important to go out there and do something to use your story. A lot of people feel useless because of certain medical stuff that has happened in their life.
But I think it's so important. Notice that it. You know, you can do stuff still. It might not be the same things that you were doing. It might not be the same lifestyle you were living, but I think the beauty of the internet and of writing, you know, whether you're an author or podcast or both as you and I are both, you know, you can get a message out there and your story can help do something.
It might be a small change or a big change. So I think that's amazing. And Fred, you wrote your books and same kind of question and answer, but. I mean, who are those for who should read those? Well, in the ideal world, everybody would read it. Yeah. You know, if you go back to the Old Testament, there's a saying that said the Jewish people should be a light upon nations.
And I think that's what each of us should try to be a light upon nations to show people the way to Give them a path forward. It's not always going to be easy. There is likely some sort of path forward I believe everything happens for a reason. I just don't happen to know what that reason is, right? So I think anybody who's got family or friends going through Maybe it's not just a medical issue.
Maybe it's an addiction issue. Maybe it's um You You know, not setting proper boundaries for family behavior. And you just like learn to advocate for yourself and, and, you know, learn to make those seemingly tough decisions. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Fred, I want to thank you so much for coming on. And now if I'm not mistaken, your book is done, but it is waiting some editing and changes before it is released.
Is that correct? That might be from my old profile, so I apologize for that. No, it's, it's, it's done. It's here. It's on Amazon. Oh, perfect. Perfect. Available in Kindle and Audiobook for those of you who have those preferences. Awesome. Well, in that case, ladies and gentlemen, you will find the link in the description below.
Yeah, and your your bio had said that you know, you were waiting until I'm editing and planning out marketing. Yeah. You know, we need that, which is true. So ladies and gentlemen, help Fred out with that by sharing this episode and sharing his book with whoever might need it. Remember, you're not alone.
And again, in the description below, you'll find the links to that, to Fred, to his books. And I just encourage everyone going through medical trials and, you know, whatever it may be, that there is hope. You know, we've seen people overcome setbacks like, like Fred here has had so many setbacks, and yet he is still here.
And he is on a mission. So I encourage all of you to support one another and Fred, thank you so much for coming on the show. I appreciate you being open and sharing your story and pushing through all of that. My pleasure. And thank you for all the good work you're doing.
