Jan. 13, 2026
2025 Year-end review with Dr. Tamika Perry & Dr. Rajay Seudath part two
Join host Ron Aaron as he sits down with Dr. Tamika Perry and Dr. Rajay Seudath in part two to reflect on the biggest conversations of 2025. From the most-listened topics to key takeaways, this year-in-review episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.
Docs in a Pod focuses on health issues affecting adults. Clinicians and partners discuss stories, topics and tips to help you live healthier.
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Show transcript
Podcast transcript
INTRO
Welcome to Docs in a Pod presented by WellMed. Over the next half hour, Docs in a Pod will educate you about the health and wellness of adults everywhere. Co-hosts Dr. Rajay Seudath and award winning veteran broadcaster Ron Aaron will share information to improve your health and well-being. And now here are Ron Aaron and Dr. Rajay Seudath.
RON AARON
Thank you so much for joining us today on the award winning Docs in a Pod. I'm Ron Aaron. We come to you as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're also on the radio in several cities in Texas and Florida as well. We're doing a very interesting series of programs today. Last week we looked at the top topics for Dr. Perry co-hosting Docs in a Pod. Today we have Dr. Seudath co-hosting. Both will be with us and that's a treat as well. Dr. Seudath is a board certified family medicine physician. He's a Tampa native and a lead physician for Optum. Dr. Seudath is at the University location in Tampa. He earned his medical degree from the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. He has a true passion for primary care. Dr. Tamika Perry, doctor of osteopathy, is an associate medical director for WellMed. As associate medical director, Dr. Perry's goal is to support the providers at a number of WellMed clinics as they deliver quality care and compassionate patient experience. Dr. Perry earned her undergraduate degree from Prairie View A&M University. She then went on to graduate from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where she was a National Health Service Corps Scholar, and she has done a whole lot more. Let's kick it off. Dr. Seudath, we have some great topics in 2025. This is one that was at the top of the list of your programs. Understanding atrial fibrillation commonly known as AFib. What is it? Who gets it? How do you treat it and is it dangerous?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes. What is it? A-fib, atrial fibrillation is when the heart is not beating in sync. The top of the heart is supposed to go lub, and the bottom is supposed to go dub. Lub dub lub dub. When you're in atrial fibrillation, the top is just kind of doing whatever it wants. Fibrillation is like a bag of worms, so it is basically just kind of quivering. The pace of the heart, instead of being in the healthy upper part of the heart, the atrium is being controlled by the bottom of the heart, which is the ventricle. So instead of doing lub dub, you're getting a bah bah bah bah bah dub. So, that can be dangerous because the heart has been made to go in one direction. It goes from the top to the bottom. It goes into the heart, out of the heart to the lungs, back to the heart, out the heart and to the body. When you have atrial fibrillation, that flow is disrupted, and when that flow is disrupted, it's turbulent. So, if we think of a nice meandering river, the flow is nice and it's going in one direction. But if that river hits rapids, that water starts to get all churned up. That's the same thing with blood. Why is that dangerous? Because when that blood is getting churned up and turbulent and not going in one direction as it crashes into each other, it can create blood clots. Those blood clots can go to your lungs. They can break off. They can absolutely be dangerous. They can harm you. So, atrial fibrillation, when a person is diagnosed with that, that's kind of a life changing diagnosis. When we had that show, Ron, you talked about your journey through atrial fibrillation. Ultimately, it's medications to make sure the heart is beating in a safe rhythm. It's medications to make sure the heart is beating at a safe rate. What does that mean? Rhythm and rate. Again, we're talking about lub dub lub dub lub dub. That's pretty steady. ItÕs a 4-4-4-4 beat. 60 beats per minute. When you get into an abnormal rhythm, it could be lub dub dub dub lub. It could be like a foxtrot for. We want to give you medicines to make sure that rhythm doesn't become a dangerous rhythm. Those could be calcium channel blockers. But most patients are going to have some form of rate control. Now, it doesn't matter if your heart's beating in a norma sinus rhythm or in an abnormal rhythm. We want to slow that heart down so it doesn't go so fast. Because if a person is sitting down watching TV and their heart is going 150 beats a minute, I would expect that if you're running, if you're jogging, if you're exercising, but if your heart is going 150 beats per minute and you're just sitting there watching jeopardy and it's not that it's not that riveting and intense, your heart should not be going that fast.
RON AARON
That's how I was diagnosed. I went to see my PCP several years ago for a regular checkup, and, you know whenever the medical assistant checks your blood pressure, checks your heart rate, and looks at you and says, I'll be right back.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
That's exactly right.
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
It's a little concerning.
RON AARON
My PCP said, your heart's beating at about 140 beats a minute. Do you feel it? The answer was no.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes. Medicines for that are aimed to slow the heart rate. So, that's one of the mainstays of that.
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
You gave a great analogy about the heart. Think about a person who is not only dancing off beat, but they're dancing too fast. That's what the heart is doing. It's off beat and too fast. I need you to slow down and get back on rhythm. You know what I mean? Like you said before, one of those clots could get pushed to the lungs. They can also get pushed up the carotid to the brain, because when the blood flows out of the heart into the aorta and pushed into the carotid to the brain. And guess what that equals? Stroke.
RON AARON
Hold that thought. More with Lawrence Welk and his dancers in a moment. I would love to let folks know who may have just joined us, you're listening to the award winning Docs in a Pod. Our podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. We're also on the radio in several markets in Texas and Florida as well. I'm Ron Aaron. Our co-hosts are both with us today, Dr. Rajay Seudath and Dr. Tamika Perry. Last week, we talked primarily with Dr. Perry about the topics that were the most listened to in her programs. Now Dr. Seudath is leading the way. We're talking about AFib, and we'll move on in just a moment. Dr. Seudath, if you don't know you have AFib and it is ultimately diagnosed, is that a lifetime treatment? Are you on medication forever?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes. A person is usually on some form of medication forever. However, there are things that they can do to try and take a person out of AFib. One is called a cardioversion. So, they can do that with medication, a chemical cardioversion. The other one is an electro cardioversion. So, they basically shock the heart.
RON AARON
Yeah, I had that one.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes. Those kinds of things are trying to resync the heart. Sometimes those can be effective. Other times they may not be. So, that kind of leads us to what's the cause of the AFib. Was a person having a surgery and their oxygen levels dropped or they had some sort of problem, some sort of complication with the surgery and that put them in AFib. That got corrected, and now their hearts perfectly fine. They had that episode of AFib, we monitored them and they haven't gone into it since. So, that person may have what's called an induced or have an episode that was caused by something. Now, another thing is sleep apnea. If a person has uncontrolled sleep apnea where they stop breathing while they're sleeping and it's uncontrolled, that can absolutely worsen or puts a person into AFib.
RON AARON
And that can be managed.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
That can be managed with a CPAp machine. I think we talked about that on the last show as well. A heart attack, a person who has a family of, well, everybody's heart beats like this in my family. So, there's a lot of different things that can go into AFib. Another treatment that we do is an ablation where they go in and burn a small area in the atrium to try and pinpoint what is the dysfunction part of the heart, to make sure that the heart now can beat normally.
RON AARON
So, see your PCP?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Absolutely.
RON AARON
All right. We're going to move on. That's fascinating stuff. If you Google AFib there's like 10 trillion pages on the internet. Dr. Seudath and I were talking off the air about how we both go down rabbit holes day after day after day. I'll tell you what, Google AFib and there are 10 trillion rabbit holes. Next topic for you, Dr. Seudath, and this is a really good one. Stronger bones, healthier lives.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes. When we talk about stronger bones were, almost always talking about osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is brittle bones. Or we can have the slightly less severe, but definitely a steppingstone progressing into osteoporosis, osteopenia. What are the kind of things that that cause people to have osteoporosis? Well, what is age? As we age, we lose bone density. As we age, we are less active. So, there's less impact on our bones where typically losing weight as we age up as well. Those are some of the things. for women, it's being postmenopausal. That postmenopausal state when you have gone through the change, your body is not producing the same amount of estrogen, and that can cause your bones to become more brittle. A long time ago, traditionally as well, when we didn't do prenatal supplements, we didn't supplement women when they were giving childbirth, if you had more and more children, women could lose their teeth. They could have osteoporosis earlier in age, even before they reached menopause.
RON AARON
Did you say having babies can cause women to lose their teeth?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Absolutely. Again, if a person is not properly supplementing for the minerals they need or if they're malnourished, especially, a woman's body will leach those minerals to support their child. So, we often see this in third world countries. On mission trips we can see this where women who were in their 20s and 30s who have had four or five children, they're having all these teeth problems. Here in America you don't often see it unless it's a very low socioeconomic situation or low healthcare literacy.
RON AARON
Hold that thought. We're going to come right back to you. YouÕre listening to the award winning Docs in a Pod. I'm Ron Aaron, and Dr. Tamika Perry and Dr. Rajay Seudath are our very special co-host today. It's our 2025 year-end look at the top shows over the past year. Thanks for joining us on Docs in a Pod.
AD
WellMed and you can rely on WellMed and Optum doctors to care for and understand the health needs of older adults. Our commitment to quality is why the Institute of Health Care Improvement recently designated WellMed and Optum as an Age-Friendly Health System. This means WellMed and Optum care teams provide reliable, evidence based, high quality care to older adults. To get the benefits of an Age-Friendly care team, go to wellmedhealthcare.com to find a doctor near you.
RON AARON
We are so pleased you're sticking with us right here on the award winning Docs in a Pod. I'm Ron Aaron and our podcast available wherever you get your podcasts. We're also available on several stations in Texas and Florida as well. Dr. Tamika Perry and Dr. Rajay Seudath are with us today. It's our 2025 Year-in-Review program, and we're covering the top topics that both Dr. Perry and Dr. Seudath covered during their programs during 2025. Before we leave stronger bones, healthier lives, Dr. Seudath, what can you do about osteoporosis and other issues involving bones?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
One of the things that we can definitely do is if a person is diagnosed with osteoporosis, one of the ways we diagnose that is called a DEXA scan. It's looking at your bone density. It's like a souped up form of an X ray. It doesn't have extra radiation damage or anything like that, but it's one of the ways we look at a person's bones. It calculates a score, and we determine if your bones have a potential for a fracture for breaking. That score tells us if it osteoporosis or not. Let's say a person is diagnosed with osteoporosis. We can give them medicines. There are weekly medicines. There are injected medicines that help to harden your bones to increase the density of your bones. We can tell people eat calcium rich foods, take vitamin D, take a calcium supplement. We can also tell people do weight bearing exercise. We've been told you lose weight. We tell you be thinner. Don't be overweight. Unfortunately, people who tend to be thinner are a little more at risk for osteoporosis because having extra weight as you walk and as you move, it makes your joints denser because they're carrying that extra weight. So, I tell my folks who may be svelte, who may be a little more on the thinner side who have very good health, I need you to have some resistance training, some weight training in your exercise. Then there's medicines that can put you more at risk for osteoporosis. For instance, medicines that block the production of acid in your stomach called PPI medicines prevent calcium from being absorbed because we need some acid for absorbing certain nutrients and minerals in our bodies like iron for making B12 and for calcium absorption. So, those are some of the things that can, affect your bone health. That's what we often talk about to our patients.
RON AARON
The stereotype for osteoporosis is it's a woman's disease.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes, it is, but as men have less testosterone in their body, the male menopause, so to speak. As males produce less testosterone, that testosterone, like estrogen in women, helps to harden bones. So, a man who has been very inactive or who has disease states that could be worsening their bone density, those are things where a man can actually have a low bone density and have osteoporosis. So, we treat them the same way.
RON AARON
Interesting. The next topic, and this is critical, if you take a look at the statistics, it turns out Anglo guys 65 and over are at highest risk of suicide. It's a major problem for everybody in their later years. So, we talked during 2025 about managing depression and anxiety in later life.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes. This is something that we see across the board. This is such an important thing, especially for my patient population, which are over 65. For people who are not working who may not have that structure in their life, they could become more at risk for depression, and for anxiety as well. My job has been my life for the last 65 years, and now I have no purpose. I have no direction. That can make them anxious. That can lead to depression. That can lead to I have no reason to be here. So, depression can come in many different forms. One of the things we do is a screen. It's a two question screen. Have you been feeling down? Have you been feeling like you have lower moods? Do the things you usually do for you for pleasure, are they still giving you pleasure? It's a simple two questions screen. But if those are abnormal, that can lead us to ask more pertinent questions. To ask more questions looking for that depression. That's called a PHQ9.
RON AARON
Do people answer that honestly?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
You would think some people may lie or they may be lying to themselves. You know, denial is just a place in Africa. But I think if you have that relationship with your doctor, that can be a way for them to talk about how they feel.
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Sometimes they're embarrassed or they just don't want to admit. Some people in their head say this is not a real diagnosis. Well, the brain is an organ just like any other organ in your body. So, this is most certainly a real diagnosis. Like Dr. Seudath said, this is where a good relationship with your PCP comes because we see the same people year in and year out. Some people several times a year, and I can tell if you're happy Mr. Johnson versus sad. Mr. Johnson by the eye contact you give me. By the way that you're dressed. You are normally dressed well, and you smell like Old Spice and now you're disheveled. These are signs that we look for to say, what's really going on in your life? According to the CDC, almost 9% of the senior population is plagued with depression for reasons like Dr. Seudath said. My role in life is change. I was super mom, I was super dad, I was career woman, I was soccer mom, and now all of my kids are moved away. My neighbors are dying. My spouse is chronically ill. Who am I? That's why I like places like senior centers. We're fortunate enough to be right next door to one, because you find your tribe and you find your new purpose because people in the senior center, everybody's going through the same thing. Now you have a brand new tribe. My tribe is now the ladies who I take line dance classes with, or the guys who I shoot pool with. This really happens in my senior center.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
ThatÕs so wonderful.
RON AARON
Years ago, I remember asking my mom, how are you doing, mom? She said, you know, Ronnie, all my friends are dead. I said, mom, you're depressed. She said, of course I am.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes.
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Your mom was progressive.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Absolutely.
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
IÕll have patients that will be like, I'm not depressed, but they're crying in the exam room. But I'm not depressed. Yes, ma'am, you are.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
Yes.
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
LetÕs see what we're going to do about it.
RON AARON
Dr. Seudath, if you know someone, let's say your mom, your dad, your aunt, your uncle, and you think, like my mom, you think they are depressed. What can you do to intervene and help them?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
First and foremost, you can talk to them. Let them know that you care. Do the empathetic things. Show them that you're there for them. Also, have them talk to their doctor. If they're giving you warning signs. Again, because when we think of depression and anxiety, we do worry about suicide. You brought that up. That is a horrific statistic. People who are in the depths of depression oftentimes isolate themselves. They oftentimes feel alone. Sometimes you have to be the person that offers them. There's a saying, it's when you are in the deepest darkness, even the smallest light can be seen. Sometimes you have to be that light for that person who's in the depths of darkness. I've told you, there are patients who were really going through it, and they were very good at hiding it. I just said, I notice something's a little off with you today. Do you want to talk about it? I know you answered all the questions normal, but something's off. Let me know. Then it all comes out.
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Yes.
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
As a caregiver, as a brother, as a sister, as a wife, as a friend, being there and being present for that person if you notice something out of the ordinary, that can be the tipping point where all of a sudden this person is now looking to get help, looking to become part of society. Again, rejoining the tribe if they feel that they are been ostracized. All of those things come back together, and you can be the start of that.
RON AARON
How effective can talk therapy be? We know there are a ton of medications now dealing with depression. What do you recommend in your patients?
DR. RAJAY SEUDATH
I say medicine is important, but counseling is just as important. It is almost a 50/50. When you have the two together, it's not additive. It is exponentially better. That is absolutely true. A person may need medicine, a person may need counseling, a person may need lifestyle changes. I think when we think of counseling oh, he's going to talk to me about well, tell me about your mother. We're not talking about just psychoanalysis. Usually, it's solutions based counseling. I'm having problems with my wife. I'm having problems at my job. You need an objective person to listen to your problems, come up with a solution with you that fits your values, that fits your strengths, that fits your situation, and then try it out. Then you meet back with them and say, did it work? I'll tell you, as family medicine doctors, Dr. Perry and I, we have to sometimes be the therapist. There's a great book called the 15 Minute Hour. You have to try and do an hour of therapy in this 15 minute visit. Sometimes you have to give them homework and you have to have them do it on their own. So yes, the medicine is important. Those are the medicines that help to build the chemicals that help you with happiness. But sometimes I tell patients, sometimes those medicines are not to make you happy, they're just allowing you to feel positive emotions. So, you have to make lifestyle changes to allow yourself to be happy. You have to set the boundaries. You have to seek forgiveness. All of that comes with that counseling.
RON AARON
Dr. Perry, do you see depression in your patients?
DR. TAMIKA PERRY
Absolutely. I cosign 100% with what Dr. Seudath said. It's a combination of therapy and medication. We are not meant to live this life alone. We're not meant to be in a vacuum. People who live longest on this earth practice regular fellowship with their fellow man.
RON AARON
Thank you. WeÕre flat out of time. I want to take a personal moment and thank Dr. Perry and Dr. Seudath and all the others who have co-hosted Docs in a Pod and before that, WellMed Radio over the years. I am moving on to co-host, as I have been doing, caregiver S.O.S on Air. We'd like to welcome Carmenn Miles, who will be stepping into my shoes. I only wear a size eight, Carmenn, so no big deal. I'm sure you'll fit. Docs in a Pod will be in great hands with Dr. Perry, Dr Seudath and Carmenn Miles. I'm Ron Aaron and we'll talk with you again right here on Docs in a Pod.
OUTRO
Executive producer for Docs in a Pod is Dan Calderon. The producer is Cherese Pendleton. Thank you for listening to Docs in a Pod presented by WellMed. Be sure and listen next week to Docs in a Pod presented by WellMed.
DISCLAIMER
This transcript is generated using a podcast editing tool; there may be small differences between this transcript and the recorded audio content.
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