and after
Amazing what a good bra will do, no?
6531. robertjayb - 7/9/2005 6:52:54 PM
Physicians for a National Health Program...(pnhp.org)
Physicians for a National Health Program is a not-for-profit organization of physicians, medical students, and other health care professionals that support a national health insurance (NHI) program. Specifically, we believe that a single-payer system (where the government finances health care, but keeps the delivery of health care to mostly private control) is the only solution to solving the United States' many health care problems: 43 million citizens with no health insurance, many more with only limited coverage, skyrocketing health insurance premiums, malpractice costs, long-term care issues, and relatively poor health indicators, when compared to similar industrialized nations.
6532. wonkers2 - 7/9/2005 9:19:58 PM
A single payer system has got to come some day. I think I recall that 20 percent of health care costs are unnecessary administrative expenses incurred by insurance companies and providers having to deal with a multitude of payers with complicated plan provisions.
6533. arkymalarky - 7/10/2005 11:07:34 AM
Arkansas public school teachers have the fourth highest insurance premiums in the country. It's awful, especially if you have a child, because the cost is the same per family no matter how many children. My surgery, even after insurance, cost me about $1500, which floored Bob and me.
6534. thoughtful - 7/11/2005 11:36:24 AM
pelle, just because the studies that have been done have been done poorly doesn't mean there is no evidence that obesity carries health risks. Certainly the correlation between rising obesity rates in children and the run-up in the occurrence of "adult-onset" diabetes among children is compelling. All the work done around 'syndrome X' poor blood lipid readings, diabetes and abdominal weight should not be ignored. The fact that many people with adult onset diabetes are able to control their disease with weight loss, diet and exercise alone strongly suggests the linkage between the two. Clearly there is sufficient evidence of health risks associated with obesity to label people as 'morbidly obese' and to encourage serious surgeries such as gastric bypass in order to attempt to save their lives. And while the data may be skewed by other medical advances such as improvements in the ability to treat diabetes and heart disease may postpone death, it isn't measuring the quality of life issues including kidney disease, blindness, limb amputations associated with diabetes. Obesity alone adds its own health problems including the ability to move, be flexible, not to mention theatre attendance.
So whether the proper studies have been done or not regarding specifically obesity and death rates, it's foolish, IMO, to ignore the gestalt of the evidence.
And certainly the food industry plays heavily into the argument about obesity...including the fact that the group "Center for Consumer Freedom" which is strongly promoting this 'myth of obesity' argument is funded by the likes of Coca-cola and Wendy's.
6535. alistairconnor - 7/12/2005 2:37:39 AM
I have no problem with obesity : whether it be the normal expression of a natural phenotype; a lifestyle choice; or whatever. The normal rules about freedoms apply : as long as it doesn't restrict the freedoms of others, people should be free to smoke, drink alcohol, be fat, indulge in offbeat sexual practices, whatever. I may deem them to be risky or unhealthy things (and I may be right or wrong), but as long as they shoulder the consequences, I have no moral judgement to cast on them.
But obese children. No. That is not normal or natural, and it's an imposition on them, with heavy (ha) consequences. Perhaps not as tragic as imposing sex on children, but as serious as feeding them tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Society has a right, and a responsibility, to address this issue.
The problem is so widespread and systemic that it can't be addressed by constraint. Consciousness raising and social engineering are required.
6536. alistairconnor - 7/12/2005 2:40:58 AM
Indeed Tful... follow the money.
6537. thoughtful - 7/12/2005 6:43:10 AM
I have mixed feelings about the food industry when it comes to health and obesity issues. Clearly they want to sell product so as soon as they catch wind of what consumers want, they can turn a massive food industry on a dime. To wit, the response to the atkins phenomenon...when they finally figured out the no carb thing was significant, they went about eliminating carbs from even the most carb-laden foods. Of course they were late and now lament that much of that stuff sits on the shelves.
And they are operating in a market place so of course they will do what it takes to sell product including using economic incentives so for a nickle more you get twic as much soda or whatever. So the economics of the food industry encourages larger portions. This is especially true at restaurants where the food is probably the least expensive item the restauranter faces, compared to taxes, heat, wages, social insurance, etc. So far better for them to raise the price and offer incredible amounts of food so the customer feels they're getting 'value'. Heck even this controversy about soda machines in the schools comes about because the school systems are desperate for money and they profit from the coins the kids pop into the soda machines.
But then there are all the ways that they have altered food without regard for the health effects. For example, the data is something like back in 1900 the average person consumed 5 lbs. of sugar a year vs. now it's 150 lbs. of sugar a year. Check the labels sometime and you'll find they add sugar to peanut butter and ketchup! Or the transfats which are seriously damaging to health though they have the property of extending the shelflife of food. And then again there's the difficulty of attaching a name brand to commodities. So pushing green beans is nowhere near as lucrative as pushing fig newtons. So their is a natural bent to produce more and more processed foods which take us further and further from health and nutrition.
The only fix I see is education. But the people who have an incentive to teach proper nutrition don't have the $$ of the food industry. And the docs who make money treating people for all their nutrional deficiencies are too in bed with big pharma to fight it...don't tell your patients to skip the cookies...give them glucophage instead.
It's a conundrum.
6538. arkymalarky - 7/12/2005 9:56:43 AM
In the US, we're not going to address childhood obesity, especially among the poor, where it is much more pervasive, until we address what they serve for free lunches in the school cafeterias. I get tired of the blame being placed entirely on businesses (not that it's being done in here, but the government is trying to place all the blame on them), while no one even looks at what kids are being fed at school, where poor children get at least two meals a day, and generally a snack.
6539. arkymalarky - 7/12/2005 10:00:53 AM
A typical school lunch meal is some kind of deep-fried, breaded meat patty or hot dog, mashed potatoes or fries, sweetened canned fruit, white bread rolls, and cheese and chili for things like hotdogs. Vegetables are generally canned, and while older kids have the choice of a salad bar, the most little kids get from that is occasionally a few cut vegetables or a small mixed salad. A lot of that stuff tastes good, and I've learned to avoid the lunchroom to avoid gaining weight during the school year.
6540. thoughtful - 7/12/2005 11:23:35 AM
schools do play an important role but they're balancing limited budgets against what a battery of nutritionists say is healthy (didn't at one point the govt say that ketchup could be counted as a vegetable???) and most importantly what children will eat. The lunch line was always longest on Fridays at our schools as that's when they made pizza....lousy though it was.
I ended up bringing my lunch to school every day...cheaper and tastier.
6541. arkymalarky - 7/12/2005 1:27:10 PM
Pre-kindergarten through 3rd or 4th grade is a good time to feed kids much healthier food and just create a school environment where they're not going to get deep-fried, high-fat, and sugary food. I've always had a problem with kid finickiness driving what they're fed, at home or at school. I've seen parents fix their kids entirely different meals from what was just cooked, and the kids are obviously using food to control the parents, which is unhealthy in all kinds of ways. And I say that as a finicky child and adult myself. Kids will eat when they're hungry, and if there aren't unhealthy options available they'll eat the healthy ones. I think schools, especially for small children, have an obligation to feed kids healthy food.
6542. thoughtful - 7/13/2005 7:20:59 AM
Problem starts at home though. We haven't been in a fast-food joint in years and years (except to use the potties when we're traveling), but my mother tells me she's seen babies who can't even talk but have no problem grabbing a french fry, dipping it in ketchup and consuming it heartily.
As an adult, I know how powerful sugar cravings can be and children have a much higher tolerance for sweets than adults. (I used to eat candy corn and those orange peanut things like there's no tomorrow, not to mention things like scooter pies and marshmallow fluff. BLECCH!) So before they even get to school they're already trained to choose food that's extra sweet or extra salty rather than healthy.
Even the sippies things for young babies that are 'supposed to be healthy' because they have 'natural flavor' and vit c added are fundamentally sugar water.
Then try to get a kid to opt for broccoli instead? Fat chance. (no pun intended).
6543. arkymalarky - 7/13/2005 8:59:37 AM
I realize the problem begins at home, but in poverty-stricken families you're not likely to get a lot of information to them, much less get them to change. However, when a child depends on the school system for at least two of his meals from the time he's 3 years old, and he receives them as part of the free lunch program, the school has a huge role to play in that child's nutrition, and there's absolutely zero excuse for feeding them crap. Parents beat their kids too, but it doesn't give the school reason to do it, as well. Deep-frying and opening cans is not cheaper, it's just a lot easier to deal with. In fact, lunchroom cooks used to prepare great stuff on very little money. At the virtually all-black rural school where I taught two years, they had beans instead of meat once a week, and the kids, especially the little ones, ate it. They didn't have any choice.
6544. arkymalarky - 7/13/2005 9:01:19 AM
And I agree with all of what you posted, since I was the same way, except that it's any excuse for a public school to offer unhealthy choices to small children. My allowance was spent almost entirely on candy until I was old enough to care what I wore in public, which wasn't until I was in my late teens.
6545. arkymalarky - 7/13/2005 9:02:55 AM
And...it's much better for young children to get at least some healthy meals while they're in school than to get none at all. When they're teens it's more problematic, but if schools are consistent it won't be an issue by then.
6546. arkymalarky - 7/13/2005 9:05:40 AM
...they had beans instead of meat once a week, and the kids, especially the little ones, ate it. They didn't have any choice.
Which, it occurs to me, would be another reason not to teach elementary school. I'd have hated to be a kindergarten teacher about 2:00pm on bean days.
6547. thoughtful - 7/13/2005 1:10:04 PM
are school meals provided free of charge? or do they have to pay?
6548. judithathome - 7/13/2005 5:47:16 PM
Even the sippies things for young babies that are 'supposed to be healthy' because they have 'natural flavor' and vit c added are fundamentally sugar water.
And now, they are putting Splenda in those drinks and most of the sweet snack foods and colas kids are having.
6549. arkymalarky - 7/13/2005 6:23:37 PM
Thoughtful,
Kids who qualify get free meals, and some have reduced price meals. It's a federal program, and is a basis for measuring children in poverty in public schools. It also helps determine the amount of state aid to high poverty (70% or more on free and reduced meals, and in AR a number of schools have over 95% of their students living below the poverty line and on the F&R program) public schools in Arkansas--one of the good things that came out of education reform here in the last couple of years. AR also added a preschool program for three and four year olds, so now, in addition to the Head Start Program, children in poverty have the state option of preschool, where they can get free or reduced price meals, making it even more important that schools work on offering healthier food.
6550. arkymalarky - 7/13/2005 6:51:28 PM
We went to visit a fairly low-income district as part of our promotion of fair reform for poor and rural schools a couple of years ago, and the kids were having hamburgers that day, which is common everywhere--but the buns were homemade, because it was cheaper for them to make buns than buy them.
6551. thoughtful - 7/14/2005 7:19:24 AM
because it was cheaper for them to make buns than buy them.
That's amazing! I mean a production line churning out thousands of buns an hour vs homemade? Un-freakin'-believable! And for schools to have 95% below poverty is also unbelievable.
The coasts really are different from the middle and being a lifetime coaster, I guess I'm really really sheltered.
6552. arkymalarky - 7/14/2005 9:00:36 AM
Some of those poorest districts can be the most rewarding to work in, too, if they're small enough that kids and teachers don't get lost in the system and buried in non-educational paperwork, and if their administrators are taking lower pay because they care about the kids and community rather than because they can't get jobs anywhere else. There's just so much community support and people appreciate the school and staff. Community people are also willing to work in lunchrooms and as janitors and will do more for less (like making homemade buns). In many rural communities the school is the biggest employer.
I've turned down several higher paying jobs over the years (and in fact, got a call at home just last week offering me a teaching job in a larger school--one time I got an offer while I was standing in line to get my car tags) because I am committed to where I am, and I was miserable trying to work in another--many would say better--teaching environment. In working with administrators over the last two years, I've been most impressed by the competence and accomplishments of those who are really committed to high-poverty rural schools (of course I am very biased in that regard).
(reining myself in--note to self: don't morph every discussion into rural education!)
6553. arkymalarky - 7/14/2005 9:18:05 AM
And now for something completely different:
What, exactly, is the difference between an MD and a DO?
6554. thoughtful - 7/14/2005 9:53:45 AM
Encyclopedia definition: osteopathy (o(ste-o(p'?the-) , practice of therapy based on manipulation of bones and muscles. This school of medicine, founded by A. T. Still in 1874, maintains that the normal body produces forces necessary to fight disease and that most ailments are due to “structural derangement” of the body. Frequent slight strains are held to be capable of causing misalignment of bones and various other conditions of the muscle tissue and cartilage, and treatment is directed toward correction of these conditions.
The first school of osteopathy was founded at Kirksville, Mo., in 1892. A growing number of other colleges in the United States are accredited by the American Osteopathic Association to give the required four-year course of training and to grant the degree of D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy). These colleges give a complete course of instruction in conventional medicine as well as in osteopathic theory and practice. Osteopaths are licensed to practice medicine, including surgery and the prescription of drugs, throughout the United States. Many specialize in treating bone and muscle conditions, but about half are primary-care physicians in general medical practice.
6555. thoughtful - 7/14/2005 9:54:43 AM
toys?
6556. arkymalarky - 7/14/2005 11:49:17 AM
Oooohkaay. Thanks! Does anyone here have an opinion on them one way or the other?
6557. thoughtful - 7/14/2005 11:51:03 AM
don't know...never been to one.
6558. arkymalarky - 7/14/2005 11:57:41 AM
One was just hired in our doctor's office, and I expect mine is preparing to retire in the next year or two. There will also be an MD coming in next summer, so I'll probably go with her instead, unless someone gives me compelling reasons to try the DO. I was thinking we'd discussed them in here a long time ago, but I couldn't recall any details.
6559. PelleNilsson - 7/14/2005 1:06:18 PM
Here in Sweden they are classified among others who practice "alternative medicine".
6560. thoughtful - 7/14/2005 1:22:25 PM
good news and a big surprise from my brother...he's quit smoking though his wife has not. He is using this inhaler thing which seems to be working quite well for him. He's also lost weight, been watching his diet and added exercise. He's been to 2 docs already who have said his eyes are good enough that he can return to driving...just needs one more with the insurance co for where he was working and he'll be able to get back to work.
I just hope he sticks with his reforms!
6561. arkymalarky - 7/14/2005 2:45:17 PM
That is so wonderful, Thoughtful, especially since he's been able to lose weight and quit smoking. It's often discouraging for smokers to gain weight when they quit--it takes a lot of discipline to lose it instead, so that's a great sign that he's very serious!
6562. arkymalarky - 7/14/2005 2:47:00 PM
That's interesting, Pelle. I guess "holisitc" would fall into that category as well? I wonder if DO's are the main practitioners of holistic medicine.
6563. judithathome - 7/14/2005 2:51:25 PM
Does anyone here have an opinion on them one way or the other?
I love them...I've been going to DOs for over 10 years. They are very good doctors and mine in particular is very open to vitamin therapy. He has been so interested in what I am taking for lowering cholesterol and boosting my bones that he's looked into the things I'm taking...red yeast rice and plant-based calcium...and has told me to keep doing what I'm doing.
They are doctors, period. And the ones I've been involved with are good ones. I've never had him say I could be cured by skeletal manipulation but I have had him tell me what to do to improve my posture and to help my broken leg heal properly.
We had a friend who was a DO and he was a Major in the Air Force...he was a flight surgeon and took care of all the pilots. Once I had a pain in my neck and he manipulated my spine and the pain was gone...they know more than regular MDs, I feel, and sure, they have some alternatives to prescribing pills but they are very good at what they do. At least the ones I know have been.
I'd recommend DOs in a heartbeat.
6564. arkymalarky - 7/14/2005 2:56:20 PM
Thanks Judith. This man's background sounded good, and I would trust my doctor's choices of people to come into his office, but I couldn't remember what I'd heard about DO's and couldn't get a lot of information that wasn't pretty vague.
6565. thoughtful - 8/4/2005 7:44:34 AM
Articles like this annoy me....correlation is not causation. And they ignore completely the possibility that people who are interested in yoga are also generally more interested in their health and thus more likely to watch their weight.
Anyway, here it is for your digestion:
Practicing yoga may be one way to prevent middle-aged spread, according to the findings of a new study.
Although the connection appears to be indirect, yoga practitioners are apparently able to avoid - or at least minimize - the one-pound-a-year of gained weight that most people endure between the ages of 45 and 55.
The researchers used data from more than 15,000 men and women ages 53 to 57, who reported their weight at age 45 and their current weight.
The subjects were also asked to report whether they engaged regularly in three specific recreational activities - walking, weight lifting, and yoga - and whether they participated in two broader categories of activity, moderate and strenuous exercise. The researchers assessed the diet of the study participants using a detailed food questionnaire.
Practicing yoga for 4 or more years, for at least 30 minutes once a week, was associated with a 3.1-pound lower weight gain among people who were normal weight at age 45. The yoga practitioners who were overweight at 45 lost an average of 5 pounds, as opposed to an average gain of 13 pounds in overweight nonpractitioners. Being overweight was defined as having a body mass index of 25 or greater.
6566. wonkers2 - 8/18/2005 8:44:31 AM
High altitude pulmonary edema. Sounds like this is what got my sister's fiance last weekend at 14,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes. Here.
6567. thoughtful - 9/29/2005 10:56:53 AM
latest nutrition action newsletter does a review of the CDC study which suggested that people who are slightly overweight tend to live longer than those who are thinner.
They essentially destroy the study results. Key considerations are that they did not adequately adjust for people who are already ill and the aged. People who are ill and old tend to lose weight as they tend to be less healthy...think of those who literally waste away as a result of disease.
There were a number of other criticisms of the study including its use of the BMI which is a poor indicator. The waist to hip ratio measurement is a better indicator, esp as one ages as one tends to lose muscle. So one could easily be the same weight at 65 that they were at 25 but if it's fat and not lean muscle mass, they are clearly not as healthy.
Their final point was, many studies have had difficulties adjusting for various factors when trying to associate long life with weight. However, the studies are very clear on the correlation with being overweight and the risk of disease including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. So, it's best to maintain a low, healthy weight and minimize the risk of these horrible diseases.
6568. wonkers2 - 10/2/2005 8:48:07 AM
What Americans have to look forward to.
6569. thoughtful - 10/5/2005 12:50:19 PM
Doc has had hubby on Red Yeast Rice to lower cholesterol. Hubby went to apothecary to get more and she said that the stuff is no good...the statins...the chems that reduce cholesterol... have been taken out by law by the FDA and the stuff may actually be harmful to take while doing no good. (No comment as to who was behind that move!)
I sent a note to doc to see what he has to say and we'll go fro there. Frankly I'd rather he didn't take the stuff at all since he has 0 history of cholesterol problems in his family.
6570. judithathome - 10/5/2005 2:27:45 PM
Well, my doc said it seemed to be working on me....
6571. thoughtful - 10/6/2005 7:41:34 AM
From Whole Health MD
If you've been waiting for solid scientific evidence before trying red yeast rice extract (original brand name, Cholestin) to lower your cholesterol, there's good news and bad news, as doctors like to say. The good news first. A rigorous trial from the UCLA School of Medicine, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1999, confirmed that a supplement known as red yeast extract reduces cholesterol levels by an average of 40 points in 12 weeks when combined with a low-fat diet. That's about the same result you'd expect from a low dose of the popular cholesterol drug, Mevacor.
Red yeast extract contains a number of cholesterol-lowering compounds known as statins, among them lovastatin, the same active ingredient that's in Mevacor. Other red yeast compounds are similar to those in other cholesterol medications, such as Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Zocor (simvastatin). Which brings us to the bad news. Because red yeast extract contains lovastatin, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has successfully banned red yeast rice from open store shelves, arguing that it's really a drug, needing a doctor's prescription. Therefore, red yeast rice can no longer be sold an unregulated supplement. Should it return to the market, it will require full FDA oversight, as do all other prescription drugs.
6572. wonkers2 - 10/6/2005 9:59:46 AM
My brother-in-law who is a drug research scientist is recommending Tamiflu as a treatment? or preventive? for avian flu. Anybody know anything about it?
6573. wonkers2 - 10/6/2005 10:00:22 AM
I believe he said it's a new anti-viral drug.
6574. Magoseph - 10/6/2005 10:07:25 AM
tamiflu
Tamiflu is for treating adults, adolescents, and pediatric patients 1year of age and older with the flu whose flu symptoms started within the last day or two. Tamiflu is also used to reduce the chance of getting the flu in people age 13 and older who have a higher chance of getting the flu because they spend time with someone who has the flu. Tamiflu can also reduce the chance of getting the flu if there is a flu outbreak in the community.
6575. PelleNilsson - 10/6/2005 10:37:13 AM
Yes, Tamiflu is the drug authorities hope will keep essential societal services going if a pandemic breaks out. It will take time to produce a vaccin in quantity because (a) it cannot be designed until the virus has already mutatated to spread between humans and (b) the production involves fertilized chicken eggs which come from specially bred livestock so production capacity is limited.
6576. wonkers2 - 10/21/2005 1:25:55 PM
6577. judithathome - 10/21/2005 2:58:08 PM
Well, of course they took red yeast rice off the market. Because it works and is extremely cheap compared to prescription drugs, they couldn't let it run riot over the competition.
6578. PelleNilsson - 10/21/2005 3:27:18 PM
Who are "they"?
6579. robertjayb - 11/13/2005 4:01:54 PM
Marrow stem cells boost heart function...(Reuters)
DALLAS, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Heart attack survivors whose hearts were infused with stem cells from their own bone marrow showed nearly twice the improvement in the organ's pumping ability as patients given a placebo, according to a new study presented on Sunday.
A further analysis of the data found that benefits to heart function seen four months after an attack appeared to be most pronounced in patients with more severe heart attacks that caused greater damage to the muscle, researchers said at the American Heart Association annual scientific meeting.
6580. alistairConnor - 11/13/2005 4:35:36 PM
Damn. That's serious.
Immortality is not far off.
6581. judithathome - 11/13/2005 4:45:43 PM
Who are "they"?
Pharmaceutical companies and the FDA.
6582. Jenerator - 11/14/2005 12:25:11 PM
wonkers,
Tamiflu is new? It's been around for awhile in pill and shot forms.
6583. thoughtful - 11/15/2005 9:50:21 AM
Today's NYT and heart disease risk...better than BMI, get out the tape measure:
A study in the Nov. 5 issue of Lancet, the medical journal, has found that waist-to-hip ratio is a better predictor of heart attack.
A waist-to-hip ratio (waist measurement divided by hip measurement) below 0.85 in women or 0.9 in men is average. Anything above that is a risk for heart disease.
The researchers, led by Dr. Salim Yusuf, a professor of medicine at McMaster University near Toronto, studied 12,461 people who had had a first heart attack and compared them to a matched group of 14,637 without heart disease.
A body mass index greater than 28.2 in women or 28.6 in men did indicate an increased risk of heart attack, but the relationship disappeared after adjusting for age, sex, geographic region and tobacco use.
Waist-to-hip ratio, on the other hand, showed a continuous relationship to heart attack risk even after adjusting for other risk factors. Those in the highest fifth were 2.52 times as likely to have a heart attack as those in the lowest fifth.
6584. robertjayb - 11/16/2005 9:57:34 PM
Chronicle SciFi guy tips a anti-fat drug...
I like the cholesterol news...
The New England Journal of Medicine published results today for the drug rimonabant (which would be marketed as Accomplia). They're pretty spectacular, especially when you consider that other weight-loss drugs have had little success:
1. Triglycerides reduced by 12.6 percent, compared to 0.2 percent reduction with placebo
2. HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) increased by 19.1 percent, compared to 11 percent increase with placebo
3. Weight loss of 15.2 pounds, compared to 3.3 pound weight loss with placebo
4. Blood pressure decreased more than six times the decrease seen with placebo
It should be noted that the drug's company, Sanofi Aventis, funded the study, which is one of four Phase III clinical trials for rimonabant. In short, if the other trials go this well, this pill could be on the market by next summer.
6585. robertjayb - 11/16/2005 10:03:56 PM
The New England Journal of Medicine
6586. wonkers2 - 11/30/2005 1:13:08 PM
Sounds too good to be true. I'm already taking Lipitor which I have reservations about.
6587. thoughtful - 11/30/2005 1:24:58 PM
As with any drug, the issue is what are the side effects once it gets out in the gen population? The drug is clearly blocking some natural body function that is leading to that result. The question is what damage is being done by blocking that function...are there eg nutritional impacts? impacts on muscle strength? hormonal changes?
And of course there's no known long-term effect at this point as it hasn't been around that long.
6588. thoughtful - 11/30/2005 1:43:23 PM
As with any drug, the issue is what are the side effects once it gets out in the gen population? The drug is clearly blocking some natural body function that is leading to that result. The question is what damage is being done by blocking that function...are there eg nutritional impacts? impacts on muscle strength? hormonal changes?
And of course there's no known long-term effect at this point as it hasn't been around that long.
6589. robertjayb - 11/30/2005 2:21:46 PM
impacts on muscle strength?
My heart doc took me off Lipitor for 6 weeks due to strength concerns. Whoop! Cholesterol shot up to 249. Now, of course, I'm back on the drug.
6590. wonkers2 - 11/30/2005 2:26:06 PM
I convinced my doctor that taking one 10?mg Lipitor pill every other day instead of every day would be worth a try. My first blood analysis indicated that it was doing the trick--lower cholesterol and higher HDL.
6591. thoughtful - 11/30/2005 2:30:15 PM
my doc has had hubby fooling around with red yeast rice and he was running into muscle pain problems. We've since taken him off of it.
I worry about the side effects of all these drugs of which we are not aware. They always come out after the gen population has been on the drug for awhile and people are injured before they pull the drug.
6592. Ms. No - 12/1/2005 12:33:00 PM
6593. PelleNilsson - 12/1/2005 1:20:00 PM
I wish Tom Lehrer were alive and would come up with a devastating song about the pharma companies.
6594. Ms. No - 12/1/2005 3:42:57 PM
He'd be just the man for the job.
My stepfather mentioned something to me over the Thanksgiving holiday: We haven't cured a serious disease in 30 years.
No cures in 30 years.
Wonder why? Because you make more money treating chronic illnesses than curing them.
6595. judithathome - 12/1/2005 4:41:47 PM
Bingo!
6596. thoughtful - 12/1/2005 4:46:20 PM
I'm not sure I'd agree with that. At least not entirely. A lot of it has to do with the nature of the diseases we are trying to cure.
I mean, we haven't cured cancer, but cancer is more than a single disease. But we have eliminated cancer in some and certainly extended life expectancy rates for a lot of cancer victims. Part of it has to do with detection rates and we've gotten better at them through screening tests. Part of it is through better education which can prevent some cancers, eg smoking. For example here are long term cancer survival rates.
We haven't cured heart attacks, but we've made huge improvements in terms of things like pacemakers and stents and even understanding the role of diet and exercise. I mean, there may not ever be a cure for heart disease as heart failure is bound to kill everyone eventually, but we've done a lot to extend life.
We haven't cured cataracts, but we have gotten to no or one stitch surgery that gets done in a flash vs. the surgery my grandmother rec'd where she couldn't bend over for 2 weeks had to be patched for weeks and spent the rest of her life in coke-bottle glasses.
And in terms of diseases, I suppose you could say we've cured lyme disease as it didn't exist 30 years ago. But it's largely because its a bacterial infection which is treated with antibiotics and they've been around for a long time. But there have been new ones that work better against certain diseases. And that's been essential since the diseases mutate and require different treatments, eg antibiotic resistant TB.
And even for viral infections, while we've not cured them, we have made strides in reducing the suffering and intensity many of them, for example early treatment of shingles greatly reduces the length and intensity of pain.
Better understanding of hormones has also allowed for improvements in menopause symptoms...though no cure as it's not a disease so it literally can't be cured, symptoms can be eliminated with HRT.
But you'd have a long way to go to prove to me that the medical profession and big pharma are conspiring to keep people ill so they make more money rather than curing them.
6597. Ms. No - 12/1/2005 5:38:36 PM
I didn't mean to imply there hadn't been any medical progress and I don't think it's a conspiracy by any means. I do think that pharmaceutical companies make more developing new chemo drugs for cancer patients than they would make researching the Alkaline Diet.
We as a nation are conditioned to believe that a pill will save us or change us before we think about changing our behaviors. There's no money in eat less and exercise more.
I'm concerned about drug-resistant bacterias because they've evolved due to overuse of anti-bacterial agents in everyday products and over-prescription of antibiotics. Our kids are overmedicated and more and more people are taking anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs just to get by in the everyday world.
The problem is much bigger than pharmaceutical companies and the AMA, but they are a significant part of it.
6599. thoughtful - 12/2/2005 9:00:34 AM
Well, let me ask you this....what disease would you think should have/could have been cured in the last 30 years but wasn't because of a desire to treat vs. cure?
And while 'eat less exercise more' doesn't make money for big pharma, there is no shortage of diet and exercise information including the fact that the diet industry alone is worth about $40 billion.
I agree there is a dearth of studies around vitamins and nutrition, but that is as much a problem with the nutrition industry and govt as of big pharma. Clearly big pharma has no economic incentive to investigate, say Vit E as they can't patent any findings. But the nutrition industry has fought regulation tooth and nail so they can sell as much product, regardless of quality or efficacy or toxicty, to the public at large. And it's govt's role to step in to fund research that isn't happening at a private level due to externalities, and they aren't doing that. So I see lots of fault here and wouldn't lay it all on big pharma.
6600. Ms. No - 12/2/2005 10:47:29 AM
I'm wondering why we still have TB and MS and Lupus and Graves and ALS and Crohns. Improvements have been made for many people who suffer from these conditions but doctors still don't even know what causes most of them. Researchers have got plenty of time and money to put out a drug like Viagra but all we can do about TB is get ready for a pandemic.
And while 'eat less exercise more' doesn't make money for big pharma, there is no shortage of diet and exercise information including the fact that the diet industry alone is worth about $40 billion.
And the more money they make every year the fatter we get as a nation. Clearly the money they make is on snake oil.
So I see lots of fault here and wouldn't lay it all on big pharma.
I'm not sure where you got the impression that I thought this was all solely or even primarily the fault of big pharmaceutical companies. There's plenty of blame to go around and a lot of it can be laid at the feet of the consumer. You can't make money off stuff that people don't buy.
6601. thoughtful - 12/2/2005 11:27:58 AM
TB is because there has been a lot of undertreatment of the disease due to poverty, drug/alcohol addiction, etc. which has now allowed it to mutate into a more virulent strain. So I would view this as a system problem. Same thing with diseases like cholera and dysentery...we have cured them for the most part, at least in developed nations, but they will come back if sanitary conditions aren't met.
Graves and Lupus are autoimmune disorders which is the body attacking itself. We're only learning now -- odd as it seems to say with the help of AIDS -- at understanding how the immune system works and how to fix it. It's not like an outside invader like a bacteria that can simply be zapped with drugs. I recently read something though about a cure for graves which at this point looks promising in the next few years.
ALS and MS, yes no full understanding of the diseases yet, but neither of them is contagious and at least one seems to have a genetic component. Gene therapy is coming on stream and may offer the best hope for at least ALS among other genetic disorders.
So in addition to the systemic issues in health care, what we may be observing with the 'no cures in 30 years' may simply be the lumpy way in which major research break throughs occur in medicine and in other fields.
For example, for years I've enjoyed old movies and while clearly the styles have changed, for the large part of my life, the technology was pretty much the same...telephones in the 1930s operated pretty much as they did in the 1970s. But in the last 15 years or so, communications technology has made tremendous leaps forward....computer technology has made tremendous leaps forward. So while progress was being made throughout, they weren't of the breakthrough kind. Doesn't mean they aren't coming though.
6602. Ms. No - 12/2/2005 11:41:58 AM
I hate waiting.
6603. robertjayb - 12/2/2005 3:13:50 PM
Dangerous bacterial illness appears to spread...
ATLANTA -- (AP) - A deadly bacterial illness that is often seen in people on antibiotics appears to be growing more common, even in patients who are not taking such drugs, federal health officials said yesterday.
The bacteria are Clostridium difficile. The germ is becoming a menace in hospitals and nursing homes, and last year it was linked to 100 deaths over 18 months at a hospital in Quebec.
Recent cases in four states have found that infection is appearing more often in healthy people who have not been admitted to healthcare facilities nor even taken antibiotics, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
6604. jexster - 12/15/2005 7:08:35 AM
Can you explain this:
If you join in 2006, for covered drugs you will pay
a monthly premium (varies depending on the plan you choose).
the first $250 per year for your prescriptions. This is called your "deductible."
After you pay the $250 deductible, here's how the costs work:
You pay 25% of your yearly drug costs from $250 to $2,250, and your plan pays the other 75% of these costs, then
You pay 100% of your $2,850 in drug costs, then
You pay 5% of your drug costs (or a small copayment) for the rest of the calendar year after you have spent $3,600 out-of-pocket. Your plan pays the rest.
Some plans may be called standard plans but may be designed so that the deductible is lower and the coinsurance is slightly higher. Other plans may charge copayments or set amounts instead of coinsurance.
In general, your out-of-pocket costs should work out to be about the same under these plan designs.
6605. alistairconnor - 12/15/2005 8:43:12 AM
All you need to understand :
hire a lawyer before you sign for a health insurance plan?
6606. alistairconnor - 12/15/2005 8:43:49 AM
or at least run it past your accountant.
Or build a spreadsheet and run some simulations.
6607. thoughtful - 12/15/2005 9:09:53 AM
yes I can...it's a perfect example of what a crappy piece of legislation the rx benefit is. There is a notch...an unmitigatable notch...in the system which costs you big $$$. In their infinite wisdom...otherwise known as a gift to big pharma, not only will they not negotiate for lower rx prices, but you can't buy secondary insurance to cover the copays or the notch.
While I yearn for universal health coverage, not while these jamokes are in office. Can you imagine what a mess they'd make of that???
6608. wonkers2 - 12/16/2005 10:27:52 AM
6609. Magoseph - 12/21/2005 6:11:43 AM
Frist’s Backroom Coup Is a Shot in the Arm for Drug Industry, a Slap in the Face of Consumers--11th Hour Conference Report Rider Bars Compensation for the Injured and Absolves Reckless, Negligent Drug Companies of Responsibility
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A 45-page rider tacked on to the Defense spending bill conference report by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is far more generous to drug companies than an earlier version, because it absolves drug makers of responsibility even for gross negligence or recklessness when making tainted, defective or deceptively labeled products. Worse still, legal immunity under the bill would extend to already available commercial drugs if they are used to prevent, treat or cure a designated epidemic or pandemic disease. The measure will reduce the incentive for drug makers to make safe pandemic vaccines or drugs, and will deter people from being vaccinated, Public Citizen warned today.
(continued)
6610. thoughtful - 12/27/2005 9:23:19 AM
Today's NYT had an interesting piece about a rare but significant side effect they believe associated with the 'cleansers' used for prep for a colonoscopy. Side effect can be renal failure. They suggest avoiding solutions containing phosphates. Apparently it's a lot easier to take which leads people to drink far less than the recommended fluids to go with the solution. Nonphosphate solutions require drinking a gallon of water with it which is far less pleasant but not as unpleasant as a lifetime of dialysis.
6611. judithathome - 12/27/2005 3:53:22 PM
Well, that's just great. That solution is so much easier to take than the other stuff and it's bad enough having to undergo the procedure, let alone cram your body full of 2 gallons of laxative. The phosphosoda is much easier....and I guess eventually, what's easier may kill you. Or at least make you wish you were dead.
6612. Magoseph - 1/9/2006 10:00:22 AM
From the Los AngelesTimes:
Brain Protein May Be Linked to Depression
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer
4:03 PM PST, January 6, 2006
WASHINGTON — Scientists have discovered a protein that seems to play a crucial role in developing depression, a finding that may lead to new treatments for the often debilitating illness -- and fundamental understanding of why it strikes.
Although problems with the mood-regulating brain chemical serotonin have long been linked to depression, scientists don't know what causes the disease that afflicts some 18 million Americans -- or exactly what serotonin's role is.
The newly found protein, named p11, appears to regulate how brain cells respond to serotonin, researchers from Rockefeller University and Sweden's Karolinska Institute report Friday in the journal Science.
"We're all very excited about this discovery," said Nobel laureate Paul Greengard, a Rockefeller neuroscientist who led the research. "People have been looking for modulators of serotonin for a long time."
Said Oxford University pharmacologist Trevor Sharp, who reviewed the work: "This finding represents compelling evidence that p11 has a pivotal role in both the cause of depression and perhaps its successful treatment."
Most depression medications used today are members of the Prozac family that work by making more serotonin available to brain cells. They stem from a theory that depression patients might not have enough serotonin, a neurotransmitter, or chemical that carries signals between nerve cells.
Then scientists discovered the serotonin connection was more complicated, dependent on how well the neurotransmitter binds to receptors, or docking ports, on cell surfaces. Fourteen different serotonin receptors have been discovered.
The new research focuses on one of those receptors, dubbed the "1B" receptor, that seems to play a particularly big role in major depression.
Greengard and colleagues discovered that the p11 protein increases the numbers of these receptors on the surfaces of cells, mobilizing them so they're available for serotonin to do its job.
That led to a series of remarkable experiments, using mice as well as brain tissue saved from the autopsies of depressed patients, that found:
* Depressed people have substantially lower levels of p11 in their brain tissue than the non-depressed. So did a breed of mice, called "helpless" mice, that exhibit depression symptoms.
* Then the mice were given two older antidepressants -- one known as a tricyclic, the other an MAO inhibitor -- and electric shock therapy. Each treatment increased the amount of p11 in mice brains, even though each therapy is known to work in different ways.
* So the researchers bred mice that had no p11-producing gene. They acted depressed, and had fewer 1B receptors and less serotonin activity than regular mice. They also were less likely to improve with depression medication. Mice genetically altered to produce extra p11 acted in just the opposite way -- no depression-like behavior, and their brain cells carried extra serotonin-signaling receptors.
"It's a very important finding," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, which funded the research. "This gives us a new set of targets for drug development," but also "suggests a whole new area of investigation for trying to ... ultimately discover does this have anything to do with why some people get depressed and others don't."
The researchers don't yet know whether a genetic defect or some other factor is responsible for altering p11 levels.
"The p11 is upstream of the receptor, and now the question is what is upstream of the p11," Greengard said.
But Sharp noted that bouts of depression often are associated with serious stress, and that p11 is part of a protein family known to be sensitive to certain stress-related hormones.
Greengard's lab now is researching the potential for p11-related therapies.
But the discovery likely will aid research into other diseases that also depend on cell-based receptors.
"We're finding that other molecules control other receptors, so I think this may open up quite a major new area of approach to developing therapeutic drugs," Greengard said.
On the Net: Government depression information: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
6613. thoughtful - 1/9/2006 2:19:55 PM
Multiple health problems with one root cause: Diabetes
An estimated 800,000 adult New Yorkers - more than one in every eight - now have diabetes, and city health officials describe the problem as a bona fide epidemic. Diabetes is the only major disease in the city that is growing, both in the number of new cases and the number of people it kills. And it is growing quickly, even as other scourges like heart disease and cancers are stable or in decline.
Have you exercised today? Have you switched from white bread to whole grain? Do you know the sugar content in your morning cereal?
Even making a few simple substitutions and adding 10 minutes of walking after every meal can make drastic changes in your risk of diabetes and all the diabetes-related issues: kidney disease, amputation, blindness...
6614. thoughtful - 1/9/2006 2:21:20 PM
One in three children born in the United States five years ago are expected to become diabetic in their lifetimes, according to a projection by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The forecast is even bleaker for Latinos: one in every two
6615. alistairconnor - 1/10/2006 3:57:38 AM
Winter makes you SAD? Lighten up
According to the company which installed the boxes, all the average Sad sufferer needs is up to an hour a day under one of its light boxes. "Sad is believed to be due to the brain and body not getting enough light," says Kat Nilsson, the centre's programmes manager. "We wanted to not only debate the issue but offer people who may be suffering from Sad the chance to test one of the most popular treatments."
The science is well known: lack of light causes an increase in melatonin (the hormone that makes us sleepy at night), and a reduction of serotonin, which regulates our happy moods. But experts differ as to whether Sad, which is usually accompanied by lethargy and cravings for carbohydrates, is a severe form of winter blues or a separate disorder. According to a new theory it may be linked to hibernation patterns and a once-valuable evolutionary adaptation that prepared women for pregnancy.
6616. jexster - 1/27/2006 5:59:33 PM
HEADLINE: Health Care Confidential
BYLINE: By PAUL KRUGMAN
BODY:
American health care is desperately in need of reform. But what form should change take? Are there any useful examples we can turn to for guidance?
Well, I know about a health care system that has been highly successful in containing costs, yet provides excellent care. And the story of this system's success provides a helpful corrective to anti-government ideology. For the government doesn't just pay the bills in this system -- it runs the hospitals and clinics.
No, I'm not talking about some faraway country. The system in question is our very own Veterans Health Administration, whose success story is one of the best-kept secrets in the American policy debate.
In the 1980's and early 1990's, says an article in The American Journal of Managed Care, the V.H.A. ''had a tarnished reputation of bureaucracy, inefficiency and mediocre care.'' But reforms beginning in the mid-1990's transformed the system, and ''the V.A.'s success in improving quality, safety and value,'' the article says, ''have allowed it to emerge as an increasingly recognized leader in health care.''
Last year customer satisfaction with the veterans' health system, as measured by an annual survey conducted by the National Quality Research Center, exceeded that for private health care for the sixth year in a row. This high level of quality (which is also verified by objective measures of performance) was achieved without big budget increases. In fact, the veterans' system has managed to avoid much of the huge cost surge that has plagued the rest of U.S. medicine.
How does the V.H.A. do it?
The secret of its success is the fact that it's a universal, integrated system. Because it covers all veterans, the system doesn't need to employ legions of administrative staff to check patients' coverage and demand payment from their insurance companies. Because it covers all aspects of medical care, it has been able to take the lead in electronic record-keeping and other innovations that reduce costs, ensure effective treatment and help prevent medical errors.
Moreover, the V.H.A., as Phillip Longman put it in The Washington Monthly, ''has nearly a lifetime relationship with its patients.'' As a result, it ''actually has an incentive to invest in prevention and more effective disease management. When it does so, it isn't just saving money for somebody else. It's maximizing its own resources. In short, it can do what the rest of the health care sector can't seem to, which is to pursue quality systematically without threatening its own financial viability.''
Oh, and one more thing: the veterans' health system bargains hard with medical suppliers, and pays far less for drugs than most private insurers.
I don't want to idealize the veterans' system. In fact, there's reason to be concerned about its future: will it be given the resources it needs to cope with the flood of wounded and traumatized veterans from Iraq? But the transformation of the V.H.A. is clearly the most encouraging health policy story of the past decade. So why haven't you heard about it?
The answer, I believe, is that pundits and policy makers don't talk about the veterans' system because they can't handle the cognitive dissonance. (One prominent commentator started yelling at me when I tried to describe the system's successes in a private conversation.) For the lesson of the V.H.A.'s success story -- that a government agency can deliver better care at lower cost than the private sector -- runs completely counter to the pro-privatization, anti-government conventional wisdom that dominates today's Washington.
The dissonance between the dominant ideology and the realities of health care is one reason the Medicare drug legislation looks as if someone went down a checklist of things that the veterans' system does right, and in each case did the opposite. For example, the V.H.A. avoids dealing with insurance companies; the drug bill shoehorns insurance companies into the program even though they serve no real function. The V.H.A. bargains effectively on drug prices; the drug bill forbids Medicare from doing the same.
Still, ideology can't hold out against reality forever. Cries of ''socialized medicine'' didn't, in the end, succeed in blocking the creation of Medicare. And farsighted thinkers are already suggesting that the Veterans Health Administration, not President Bush's unrealistic vision of a system in which people go ''comparative shopping'' for medical care the way they do when buying tile (his example, not mine), represents the true future of American health care.
6617. arkymalarky - 1/27/2006 6:40:43 PM
For the lesson of the V.H.A.'s success story -- that a government agency can deliver better care at lower cost than the private sector -- runs completely counter to the pro-privatization, anti-government conventional wisdom that dominates today's Washington.
This is the bottom line of almost all the bullshit that's been trotted out since well before Bush took office, and it hasn't shown to be true in a single instance where it's been applied. Costs are higher, quality is lower, outcomes are less desirable when private corporations run government services.
6618. wonkers2 - 1/28/2006 12:14:58 AM
For profit health care is just what it sounds like! And most of U.S. health care is of the for profit variety--for the profit of the drug companies, the medical equipment makers, the insurance companies and the doctors. Why it's so expensive is no mystery. Recent articles show that the money spent on our lawmakers at the federal and state levels is peanuts compared to what the drug and medical equipment makers shower on doctors in order to get them to prescribe or use their products.
6619. judithathome - 1/28/2006 1:09:20 AM
compared to what the drug and medical equipment makers shower on doctors in order to get them to prescribe or use their products.
And every single drug rep I've seen is a leggy bleached blond with very expensive clothes and veneered teeth and they all seem to show up when it's time for my appointment with the doc.
6620. arkymalarky - 1/28/2006 12:43:08 PM
Right Wonk. I try to explain that to people who want to privatize public schools. The first motive is profit, not educating kids, and it's actually more expensive with less benefit for teachers, even in private schools where the first priority is education rather than profit.
I think states should pass laws that drug reps aren't allowed to visit doctor's office during appointment hours.
6621. wonkers2 - 2/8/2006 10:24:25 AM
Now they tell us!Here.
6622. thoughtful - 2/8/2006 2:29:19 PM
Yup, just as I had learned from schwarzbein. The low-fat diet thing is a myth. The first study that put them onto it was a poorly designed study that included having people quit smoking in addition to following a low-fat diet. Results for whatever reason created this false paradigm that it was the diet that did it when in fact it was the smoking.
Latest thinking is that transfats are the bad fats and having a balance of fats in the diet is best including the omega-3s and 6s and 9s.
Also that the syndrome x including diabetes, high bp and abdominal fat is a result of excess carbs in the diet and the insulin rush that that requires.
So do the schwarzbein for best health: every meal consists of protein, carb, fat and nonstarchy vegetable. Drink lots of water. Moderate exercise. Sleep well and lower stress. Eat sufficient protein for your body (6-8 oz per day for women 8-12 oz per day for men) don't worry about fat as your body won't let you overeat it, and control the intake of carbs to control your weight. Opt for healthy carbs (from starchy vegetables, whole grains) over empty carbs (cakes and pies). Eat real food with minimal processing and without chemicals. Avoid alcohol and artificial sweeteners.
All pretty basic, sound advice.
6623. Ulgine Barrows - 3/3/2006 6:26:18 AM
Moderation!
6624. anomie - 3/4/2006 4:56:37 AM
IV sedation works well for dental work. I had been stressing about "going under" and getting a wisdom tooth and moler removed for about a month now. I had the fight or flight, or approach/avoidance turmoil going on right up to when they started the IV yesterday. But then I woke up and it was over. I had no awareness at all of what was going on or even of time passing. Residual pain is very mild and I can look forward to fewer head and ear aches. Best of all I can finally stop obsessing about the procedure.
6625. arkymalarky - 3/4/2006 11:47:21 AM
I had an epidural for my hysterectomy last spring. I just couldn't get beyond being stressed about "going under" either. I wasn't even worried about the surgery, even though they had to do a cesarian-type incision. I hadn't been under anesthesia since I had my tonsils out when I was 8.
6626. wonkers2 - 3/4/2006 12:29:08 PM
"The Health Care Crisis and How to Fix It" by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells in "The New York Review of Books," March 23, 2006 Here.
6627. anomie - 3/4/2006 1:25:48 PM
Arky,
Most of my anxiety was caused by thinking about what they would actually be doing while I was out, amd worse, what if I woke up in the middle of it.
6628. wonkers2 - 3/4/2006 1:29:36 PM
One of my best friends had a quintuple bypass yesterday. During the several days when he was in the hospital before the surgery they put him on Xanax to reduce his anxiety.
6629. anomie - 3/4/2006 1:32:40 PM
We'd better fix the health care system before the economy makes the choices for us.
Some people piss me off. I met a guy while traveling once - right wing, etc - who boasted about how he payed his own way for health care and everything else and didn't need ANY help from the government. I asked him how much he paid to prevent himself from getting polio and smallpox, and how much for his doctor's education. I don't think he got the point.
6630. arkymalarky - 3/4/2006 4:02:40 PM
Wonk, I do that for mammograms every year. I've had several abnormal ones, and though all have been fine, I get increasingly stressed about them from one year to the next.
6631. arkymalarky - 3/4/2006 4:04:16 PM
I did for the week or two before my surgery last spring too, come to think of it.
6632. wonkers2 - 3/4/2006 4:37:52 PM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "I can't handle more'n two abnormal ones!"
6633. anomie - 3/4/2006 5:16:22 PM
I've used Valium for other dentist visits, but this guy said he wanted my system clean for the IV. Just as well too as long as you can get yourself to the office and in the chair.
6634. judithathome - 3/4/2006 8:13:26 PM
Well, I know exactly what that stress is like, Arky...I read the MRI report yesterday when I picked it up to take to the specialist next Thursday.
Now, I know doctors and those who read MRIs and X-rays have to cover their asses these days...I know that intellectually but emotionally, that all goes out the window when you see words like "malignant" and "metastasis" and "cannot be ruled out at this time". It's one thing to know they have to put that in there to avoid liability but it's a whole 'nother thing to be hurting like bloody hell for almost 4 weeks and taking vicodan like it was candy and reading those words.
6635. arkymalarky - 3/4/2006 9:17:39 PM
I really hope Thursday comes quickly for you and you get a good report, Judith.
6636. SnowOwl - 3/4/2006 10:10:32 PM
Shit,Judith. I don't know what to say excpet good luck for Thursday.
6637. woden - 3/4/2006 10:15:56 PM
Judith, I'm hoping for the best for you.
6638. thoughtful - 3/6/2006 8:16:11 AM
Hang tough Juds. I know this stuff ain't easy. Don't borrow trouble. I know it's harder to do than to say, but try to keep it in mind. You'll have plenty of time to deal with bad news when it comes, should it come. But if it doesn't come, then you'll have put yourself through the wringer for nothing.
6639. thoughtful - 3/14/2006 11:41:43 AM
I'm sorry, but this just struck me as funny. I guess it's not if it's you, but this is un-freakin'-believable!
Study Links Ambien Use to Unconscious Food Forays
The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators like animals and consume calories ranging into the thousands....
Most of the people who use Ambien say the drug puts them to sleep, and they wake up without incident. But several doctors and a number of patients say that sleep-eating is one of a variety of unusual reactions to the drug.
The reactions range from fairly benign sleepwalking episodes to hallucinations, violent outbursts and, most troubling of all, driving while asleep, a subject explored in an article last week in The New York Times.
6640. PelleNilsson - 3/14/2006 11:48:50 AM
Reading on, you come across this:
Among sleep-eaters, the desire for food can be tremendously powerful. One woman in the Minneapolis area whom Dr. Schenck treated, Judie Evans, said she began taking Ambien while recovering from back surgery. At the time, she was in a full body cast and needed assistance to get out of bed.
During this time, Ms. Evans, who is 59 and lives alone, began to notice that food was missing from her refrigerator. She accused two nursing aides who were caring for her of stealing food. It was not until her son came to spend several nights that Ms. Evans said she realized that despite the body cast, she was getting up to eat while she was asleep. "During the day, I couldn't even make it to the bathroom by myself," Ms. Evans said.
The first night her son was there, he found her standing in the kitchen, body cast and all, frying bacon and eggs. The next night he found her eating a sandwich, Ms. Evans said, and sent her back to bed. Later that same night, her son arose to find her standing in the kitchen again. "I had turned the oven on," she recalled. "I store pots and pans in the oven and I had turned it to 500 degrees."
Ms. Evans said her problems ended when Dr. Schenck diagnosed Ambien-induced sleep-related eating disorder.
Totally absurd!
6641. wonkers2 - 3/14/2006 1:43:07 PM
Questions about the safety of a major heart drug--Plavix.
6642. thoughtful - 3/30/2006 8:15:56 AM
Was up early this am watching a very interesting piece on local pbs station dedicated to dana reeve on the mind/body connection. Things like the length of time for a wound to heal is far longer in people under chronic stress than people who are not. How a pregnant woman whose water broke far too early was able to avoid infection for 4 weeks using stress reduction and guided imagery vs. the normal 1 week for those without those techniques. How a boy with cerebral palsy who suffered chronic pain was able to diminish it with self-hypnosis techniques. And most surprising was a fellow going in for back surgery and his insurance company gave him a tape on guided imagery for a successful operation. Why? the $17 tape has been proven to reduce the length of hospital stay and need for medications in surgery patients by, on average, $2,000.
Western medicine is just beginning to pick up on such things and I'm glad to see it spreading. How we feel emotionally affects us physically...how we feel physically affects us emotionally. Rather than the usual way of thinking that if there's no physical cause it must be psychological, the two are not mutually exclusive and treating a patient well means dealing with both aspects of their life, not just the physical.
6643. robertjayb - 3/30/2006 10:32:31 AM
PBS late night talker/interviewer Charlie Rose is having/has had heart surgery in France. I'm looking forward to interesting reports on European health care.
6644. robertjayb - 3/30/2006 10:37:51 AM
More Charlie:
(AP)---Talk show host Charlie Rose underwent heart surgery Wednesday in Paris to replace a valve, a spokesman said. He was in intensive care.
Rose, anchor and executive editor of PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show," had mitral valve surgery at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital, spokesman Howard Rubenstein said in a faxed statement.
Rose, 64, experienced shortness of breath last week while in Syria to interview President Bashar Assad and went to Paris for treatment, according to Rubenstein.
The mitral valve connects the upper left chamber with the heart's main pumping chamber. If it leaks or narrows, surgery may be need to repair or replace the valve.
6645. judithathome - 3/30/2006 3:36:42 PM
I was just sure that story Robert posted was going to say "Much to the doctors surpise, they found Mr. Rose's heart chamber empty."
6646. anomie - 3/30/2006 4:09:37 PM
From the CNN Health Section today:
"In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications..."
6647. wabbit - 4/5/2006 5:47:04 PM
Holy crap, what next?
Lasik@Home
6648. wabbit - 4/5/2006 5:54:35 PM
Ok, in all fairness, is this just a wee bit late for 4/1?
Good eyesight lets you do so many things you could not do before, like paint and watch movies where the Eiffel Tower is about to be exploded by a humongous helicopter! btw, don't forget to follow the instructions very carefully - DON'T BLINK! And then smoke comes out of your eye socket!
And despite all these positive things, the 'doctor' is still wearing glasses ... hmmmmmmm ...
I need the tshirt.
6649. arkymalarky - 4/5/2006 9:50:52 PM
Bob wants to know more about it. He said he'd try it on one eye. I'm relatively certain he's kidding, but he's been wanting lasik surgery for years.
6650. tmesis - 8/1/2006 9:03:45 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4965034.stm
Americans 'more ill than English'
Obese woman
Higher rates of obesity in the US could not explain the differences
White middle-aged Americans are less healthy than their English counterparts, research suggests.
Americans aged 55 to 64 are up to twice as likely to suffer from diabetes, lung cancer and high blood pressure as English people of the same age.
The healthiest Americans had similar disease rates to the least healthy English, the Journal of the American Medical Association study found.
The US-UK research found greater links between health and wealth in the US.
We should look for explanation to the circumstances in which people live and work
Sir Michael Marmot
The joint team from University College London, the University of London and health research organisation Rand Corporation, chose two groups of comparable white people from large, long-term health surveys in the US and in England.
In total, the study examined data on around 8,000 people in the two countries.
Each group was divided into three socio-economic groups based on their education and income.
They then compared self-reports of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks, stroke and lung disease.
The American group reported significantly higher levels of disease than the English.
Rates of diabetes were twice as high among the US group as the English.
One of the study's authors, James Smith of Rand, said: "You don't expect the health of middle-aged people in these two countries to be too different, but we found that the English are a lot healthier than the Americans."
'Medical care'
Those on the lowest incomes in both countries reported most cases of all diseases, except for cancer, and those on the highest incomes the least.
But these health inequalities were more pronounced in the US than they were in England.
The researchers suggested the lack of social programmes in the US, which in the UK help protect those who are sick from loss of income and poverty, could partly help explain why there was a greater link between Americans' wealth and disease.
But the study also found that differences in disease rates between the two nations were not fully explained by lifestyle factors either.
Rates of smoking are similar in the US and England but alcohol consumption is higher in the UK.
'Bad lifestyle'
Obesity is more common in the US and Americans tend to get less exercise, but even when the obesity factor was taken out, the differences persisted.
One of the researchers Professor Sir Michael Marmot, of the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London, said people would automatically presume the differences were caused by the variance in healthcare systems.
US healthcare is funded through an insurance system while England's NHS is funded by taxation and is free at the point of use.
But he pointed out that Americans spent almost double per head on health care than the English do, even though the system was organised in a different way.
He said: "There is more uneven distribution in the US and something like 15% of Americans have no health insurance and (there are) a bigger number who are under-insured."
But this could not fully explain the differences because the richest Americans with access to highest levels of healthcare still had rates of poor health comparable to the worst off in England.
Infant mortality
"We cannot blame either bad lifestyle or inadequate medical care as the main culprits in these socio-economic differences in health.
"We should look for explanation to the circumstances in which people live and work.
"We have to take a much broader look at social determinants of health in both countries.
"We need to do further research to fill in the jigsaw pieces of the puzzle," he added.
A Department of Health spokeswoman acknowledged health inequalities in England of the kind revealed in the research and said the government was anxious to tackle them.
It aims to reduce health inequalities in life expectancy and infant mortality by 10% and improve health generally.
"Health trainers, targeted initially at the most deprived communities, are one of the many initiatives which will help narrow this gap by supporting people to make healthier choices in their daily lives," she added.
6651. tmesis - 8/1/2006 9:04:58 PM
The original JAMA article:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/295/17/2037
6652. arkymalarky - 8/1/2006 10:21:36 PM
Good info, Tmesis. Thanks for posting it!
I've ranted about lunchroom food in public schools and 1) the dependence of poor children from pre-k through high school on it for much of each year and 2) the differences between lunch offerings in rich public schools vs poor ones.
Of course there are lots of factors (British eat less food because so much of it's awful over there?), but I think if we're going to start with kids, which is where the govt and Bill Clinton are focusing, the health benefits of lunchroom food have to be addressed.
6653. arkymalarky - 8/3/2006 9:37:17 AM
Interesting on childbirth, from Trillium in the Cafe:
http://www.infoforhealth.org/inforeports/fistula/index.shtml
For a lot of people, it's still "150 years ago" where childbearing is concerned. Apparently obstructed labor happens in about 5 out of 100 cases. It's a problem that is especially difficult for teen/pubescent mothers, who may be small because of age, and in addition because of malnutrition.
Obstetric fistula is gross, so sorry about that aspect of my post. The problem of delivery in those cases is similar to what's described in partial birth abortion movies, except it takes much longer; the baby's head is too large to pass, baby dies, and the mother may have to suffer up to a week later until decomposition is sufficient for it to pass. In the meantime a great deal of damage occurs to the guts of the mother.
I too am glad that advanced medical help is available in our particular area of the globe. I used to be very pro-midwife-natural childbirth; and I still like having that option, but more people could acknowledge -- wow is the existence of clean surgical facilities and experienced surgeons a GOOD THING. A blessing, as many people would describe it.
6654. arkymalarky - 8/3/2006 9:39:07 AM
Another thing wrt Tmesis' post earlier, is American portions are out of control and they eat out A LOT. Even if they don't gain weight, the quality of the food they consume is often pretty bad, partly because they're always on the go--not just eating out, but grabbing food between work or on the way from one place to another.
6655. Trillium - 8/4/2006 10:23:16 AM
Thank you for posting the #6653, Arky!
I don't expect obstetric fistula to get much discussion, but it seems like something that should be part of broader public knowledge.
We seem to have amnesia about the risks of unattended childbirth, something that used to be widely known but not spoken of in polite company. Obviously, the many people in the past who had watched their mothers, aunts or sisters die in childbirth that lasted a week or more were affected by the experience and knowledge, even if they didn't speak of it (except in polite euphemisms that avoided the foul details, like everything else related to death).
The problem is that we in the "first world" have forgotten the risks of childbirth almost entirely; while we benefit from technology. Yet damage/death during childbirth remains a huge problem elsewhere, and STILL isn't spoken of openly even though it is a problem with massive implications for a whole society. I've been discussing Africa on another board, and this problem has to affect the progress of Africa in a huge way.
I recently watched a snippet of a 1950s sex-ed filmstrip for teenage girls, where a lovely young blonde 16-year-old announced that she was not afraid of childbirth because the doctors can do so many things now to make it safe to have babies! I don't have the name of the filmstrip, but it was interesting. There was an actual campaign apparently to make people feel that childbirth was safe because of science. And it is, relatively if you have the benefits of the technology available; but many people don't.
Our national policies towards contraception in other countries are affected by conditions in our own country, and we think as if it is the same everywhere else. Yet that isn't the case.
6656. Trillium - 8/4/2006 10:27:37 AM
About food portions -- I like to eat. But if I don't get the opportunity to walk or bicycle every day, I'll put on weight.
The problem of weight would be helped a great deal if our traffic patterns were set up to encourage pedestrians. In many places walking doesn't even appear to be legal, it is so discouraged -- no sidewalks, no trees shading the sidewalks, or the sidewalks begin and end abruptly without reaching any sort of logical destination (like a school, shopping or entertainment area). In older neighborhoods sidewalks are part of the overall plan; in post WWII areas, the plan appears to be that everyone must get climb into an automobile for every excursion, for every purpose.
That could be modified, and a lot of people whose bodies work like mine would benefit enormously. I've been living for several months in a pedestrian-friendly area where I seldom drive, and the physical effects are quite noticeable not only to me but to my family and acquaintances as well. It's a good thing.
6657. PelleNilsson - 8/4/2006 11:38:35 AM
150 years ago the highest risk for child-bearers was not complications during delivery but streptococcus infections following it.
6658. arkymalarky - 8/4/2006 7:43:49 PM
Doesn't the US have one of the highest infant mortality rate among developed nations?
6659. arkymalarky - 8/4/2006 7:47:38 PM
AR now requires every student to have 30 minutes of physical activity at school. This is causing scheduling nightmares, but if it can be worked out to where we all "just do it" as part of the school day, rather than as yet another requirement that makes it hard for poor and rural schools to meet standards, I'd enjoy it. There are a lot of ways they could make it fun for everybody.
Or they could make it as miserable as my jr. high p.e. class.
6660. Trillium - 8/5/2006 1:24:23 PM
Pelle, streptococcus is deadly, but if the woman survives, she won't be shunned. The terrible thing about obstetric fistula is not only that the baby usually dies, but that the injured mother will become like a leper, shunned by the rest of the community as "dirty" because of incontinence; some also have "foot drop", neurological damage from the labor, and have trouble walking. In those cases the consequences of childbirth are crippling, like polio. Childbirth damage doesn't happen to every woman, obviously, but it happens to enough people in the population to have a huge social impact. Or so I read, and it makes sense to me.
Arky, from what I've read, the high infant mortality rate here in the U.S. also has to do with teen mothers, many of whom may be trying to hide their pregnancy because the social circumstances are unfavorable. Others don't eat well, or use toxic substances while pregnant.
Arky, does your state have a program to make all schools pedestrian-accessible, or is it only up to local communities? A new sidewalk was finally built to one of the local high schools. We've had all sorts of "exercise path" projects, but there wasn't any kind of focused effort to make sure that students can walk to school safely, without walking in the road or in ditches.
6661. arkymalarky - 8/5/2006 1:47:32 PM
It's a local thing, and the state would have to fund a mandate like that in order for larger districts, especially, to comply, due to the number of campuses they'd have to accommodate. I doubt it would ever pass at the state level because they've imposed so many unfunded and funded mandates already and we're having difficulty handling them all. Our rural town has a nice paved walking trail already that would make it fairly easy to ensure total pedestrian access to the school, but most communities don't have that, or at least not as handily close to all the campuses as what we do.
6662. arkymalarky - 8/5/2006 1:50:20 PM
WRT teen pregnancy in the US, it occurs most often in high poverty areas where the health practices of the population are already marginal.
6663. PelleNilsson - 8/5/2006 1:53:45 PM
Trllium, my simple point is that more women died from infections than from any other cause associated with pregnancy.
I've never heard or read about women becoming " like a leper, shunned by the rest of the community as "dirty" because of incontinence". That must be an American, Puritan thing.
6664. Trillium - 8/5/2006 3:25:57 PM
Pelle, I copied the following off of a website that claims connection to UN Family Planning Fund. Do you think that they would make this up? The problem is linked strongly to early marriage (as in age 10-15), rural areas without access to hospitals, and of course war zones where medical help becomes unavailable.
http://www.endfistula.org
If you think it's bogus, I'd be interested to know why.
"The Challenge of Living with Fistula
I have to put on heavy clothes. There are painful blisters and itching. I have to continue doing work and it causes increased dribbling of urine. Nobody wants to stay with me because of the smell.
—A woman from Bangladesh, as quoted in an EngenderHealth study
Without treatment, fistula often leads to social, physical, emotional and economic decline. Although some women with fistula display amazing courage and resilience, many others succumb to illness and despair.
The misery of fistula is relentless. In spite of one's best efforts to stay clean, the smell of leaking urine or faeces is hard to eliminate and difficult to ignore. The dampness causes rashes and infections. The cleaning up is constant, and pain or discomfort may be a continuous as well. The grief of losing a child and becoming disabled exacerbates the pain. The courage many women show in the face of these challenges is extraordinary."
6665. wonkers2 - 8/9/2006 11:45:53 AM
How about a discussion on fecal incontinence?
6666. wonkers2 - 8/9/2006 11:48:12 AM
While we're at it. Some army VD pics on gonnorhea would be great, too.
6667. Trillium - 8/10/2006 4:45:25 PM
No Wonkers, while we're at it, we should discuss AIDs
(or are we in a time warp to the early 1980s and it's still a taboo topic?)
When a large part of the population is sick/disabled, it takes a toll. It's difficult to be prosperous under those conditions.
http://www.endfistula.org
Either the problem described on the website above is bogus, or a huge problem is being ignored; Pelle, IIRC, has lived in places where this problem is apparently significant, and he says he's never heard of it.
If it's a big enough problem and enough people have never heard of it, could some foreign aid/economic development plans be falling short of their mark?
6668. Trillium - 8/10/2006 4:47:44 PM
My link didn't work. Try again?
UN family planning link
6669. Ulgine Barrows - 8/29/2006 11:50:45 PM
So how did you get exercise today?
I really whacked my kneecap out of kilter in the spring. I hit it by mistake on the inside with a huge iron plant hanger.
And in the next few months, the outside is swelling up and gives me pain when I bend down.
I think I shifted some kind of floating knee plate.
Damn, why cannot I bounce back like I'm 21?
I think I might ask a chiro about it, rather than a surgeon.
6670. alistairconnor - 8/30/2006 2:42:21 AM
Oh get that knee seen to. We're not getting any younger. My girlfriend did a handstand in a swimming pool to impress my daughters (she was a champion gymnast in her teens) and it's still sprained, two months later.
6671. concerned - 8/30/2006 12:52:39 PM
Fistulas are hardly my area of expertise, but couldn't skin/membrane grafts take care of most such problems?
6672. concerned - 8/30/2006 12:59:41 PM
Speaking of growing decrepit - my right knee has had some soreness and pain around the kneecap and ligaments apparently due to inflammation for the last six months. It seems to have improved significantly during the last month or so with the soreness having pretty much gone away, but it still lets me know it's around by twinging when I exert myself. Funny thing is, the pain has actually changed location over time. It used to be entirely on the lower outside portion of my kneecap but seems to have gone toward the inside portion more recently.
It may be related to the fact that I still run up stairs two at a time whenever possible at age 51 which probably stresses my knee joints more than it used to.
6673. concerned - 8/30/2006 1:03:31 PM
I think I might ask a chiro about it, rather than a surgeon.
A chiroquackter?
6674. concerned - 8/30/2006 1:04:44 PM
Why not an osteopath?
6675. arkymalarky - 8/30/2006 3:40:25 PM
My GP died suddenly and I'm stunned and sad and hating to find and get to know a new one. I told Mose he was the first person she ever saw. He had quit delivering, but did for me, and I've always been grateful for that. He was old-school, common sense, and he knew me well. Bob too, for that matter, since he started going to this doctor when we married. He was very proud of how Bob dealt with things after getting diabetes.
6676. judithathome - 9/1/2006 9:08:18 AM
Sorry to hear that, Arky. I saw the same GP from the time I was 3 until I was 28 years old and he made a rather serious misdiagnosis of my son's condition. It didn't make any difference but I lost confidence in him when he seemed so flummoxed by the situation.
After years and years, I came to see he couldn't have possibly diagnosed Hodgkin's in such a short time since it took a team of doctors almost 3 weeks to fully diagnose. But I never went back to the guy, regardless.
These days, it's very rare to keep the same doctor for more than a few years. Things conspire...insurance, etc...to keep that from happening. Or so it seems.
6677. webfeet - 9/1/2006 10:21:03 AM
Has anyone heard of or know someone who has had a PPH - or a post-partum hemorrhaging?
It can happen when the uterus fails to contract and the placenta is not delivered.
6678. Trillium - 9/2/2006 4:43:53 PM
webfeet: Over a decade ago, the upstairs neighbor (and favorite babysitter of my children) hemorrhaged the way you describe.
Another neighbor, a midwife's assistant, bundled her off in a taxi to a nearby city hospital, where they gave her a transfusion.
Happy ending, although without a hospital and blood transfusion supply a few blocks away, she wouldn't have survived.. she, the husband and kids are all still thriving.
6679. Trillium - 9/2/2006 5:01:53 PM
concerned: surgery can take care of fistulas, but the surgeons and surgical facilities are not available in many parts of the globe. This is because of rural location, lack of money to pay for help, or sometimes because women may not be seen by male doctors, and no women have been educated to do the necessary surgery.
If you search the websites, the claim is that this is a medical situation afflicting millions of women, but shame suppresses discussion of the problem.
I know that when mission/settlements were set up in Appalachia in the 1920s, they focused primarily on education of children and maternal health programs.
I would sometimes wonder briefly why maternal health and hospital birthing was such an issue, because the potential risks of childbirth weren't discussed in polite society. I think in the generation prior to mine, because so many babies were born at home, the witnesses and families knew the secret risks even if they didn't talk about it in public.
The problems of difficult births are so unspeakable that they have been forgotten, and there is a tendency to assume that medical care is as available on the rest of the globe as it is in the urban first world.
What misery, though, for those people who can't get help when they need it.
6680. Ulgine Barrows - 9/2/2006 5:35:57 PM
6673. concerned - 8/30/2006 8:03:31 PM
I think I might ask a chiro about it, rather than a surgeon.
A chiroquackter?
6674. concerned - 8/30/2006 8:04:44 PM
Why not an osteopath?
Mmmm, osteopath is the path to a surgeon.
I've had worse experiences with surgeons than chiros, let's leave it at that.
6681. wonkers2 - 9/2/2006 6:19:49 PM
An osteopath is basically the same as an M.D. I recently went to a chiropractor once a week for six weeks or so for low back pain. It was the first time I'd seen a chiropracter and had been prejudiced against them. But several people whom I respect recommended this guy. I found him quite helpful. One of the first things he did was determine that my right leg was approx. 1/4 inch shorter than my left. He gave me lifts for my right shoes. Also he taught me a lot about how to take care of my back--sitting properly. Also, he recommended a back cushion for my car. Much of the benefit was from educating me about my back and how to take care of it. Also, he gave me some exercises. But he said walking every day was the best thing I could do.
Orthopedists make their living doing surgery which doesn't always work out very well. Some of them will recommend surgery when less invasive techniques should be tried first. I agree with Ulgine that a chiropractor is a good place to start.
6682. concerned - 9/3/2006 9:03:48 PM
Re.6680, 81 -
I guess I'll have to defer to your experiences in this case. I suppose a good chiropractor can be preferable to a mediocre osteopath, especially if the latter is on the make to perform medical procedures.
Even so, I would proceed with caution. In the case of a more serious illness, a real medical professional is much less likely to misdiagnose such a condition than a partially medically trained chiropractor.
6683. Ulgine Barrows - 9/4/2006 2:37:33 AM
"partially medically trained chiropractor"
And this is different than a partially medially trained surgeon exactly how?
OK, given equal parameters, I -might- listen to a 56-yr-old surgeon harder than a 56-yr-old chiro.
But most of those 50+ surgeons have retired due to insurance hassles,.
When faced with an early 30s surgeon vs and early 30s chiro.....
I'll take door #2, the chiro.
6684. Ulgine Barrows - 9/4/2006 2:38:39 AM
Damage control!
6685. alistairconnor - 9/4/2006 4:10:09 AM
Around here, there are still a few "rebouteux".
They are sort of folk-chiropractors/physiotherapists. Bone-setters, witch-doctors. No formal training in anatomy or anything, but people swear by them.
6686. Wombat - 9/5/2006 1:54:48 PM
I am waiting for artificial spinal discs to become mainstream.
6687. judithathome - 9/5/2006 2:45:15 PM
Osteopaths ARE Medical Doctors...been through the same courses, interned the same amount of time at hospitals, etc.
Just as with any profession, there are good ones and bad ones. I wouldn't group them with Chiropracters at all.
6688. wonkers2 - 9/5/2006 8:27:31 PM
True. The choice is between an orthopedist and a chiropracter. Osteopaths now prefer to be called D.O.'s or just plain doctors. As Judith says, D.O.'s get the same training as M.D.s.
6689. wonkers2 - 9/6/2006 7:25:21 AM
The latest on killers in our diet.
6690. webfeet - 9/6/2006 8:37:39 AM
Trillium: thanks for the response.
This is why women should never choose those loopy alternatives to hospitals like at home pregnancies, etc, bathtubs. Things can go terribly wrong. I'm relieved to hear your babysitter was treated well.
I hemorrhaged with my daughter, requiring two transfusions, and wondered how many other women experienced this. I recently learned how you can hemorrhage with a C-section as well. I thought that perhaps if I avoided a vaginal delivery, it wouldn't have occurred. But that isn't the case. In fact, that is an even more dangerous scenario.
Thank God I was ignorant during my first pregnancy and gave birth books, birthing stories a shrug. I think the more you know, the more frightening the idea of giving birth becomes.
6691. concerned - 9/6/2006 8:40:19 AM
I assume that the main appeal of chiropractors (never having been to one) is that they're considerably cheaper than medical doctors. Half the price for half the expertise seems about right.
6692. wonkers2 - 9/6/2006 9:15:49 AM
No. Actually they cost more because many or most health care insurance plans don't pay for chiropractors or only pay under limited circumstances.
In my experience, the appeal of chiropracters is two-fold (1)good word-of-mouth at least for temporary relief and (2)back surgery recommended by many orthopedists is problematical--i.e. doesn't work very well in a significant number of cases.
Also, as I pointed out above, the chiropracter I saw about 5 times @ $60/half-hour session, the process was educational about how my back works and how to take care of it. Also, the chiropracter pointed out that my problem stemmed in part from the fact that my right leg is shorter than my left leg. Upon his recommendation I have added 1/4 inch heel lifts to all my right shoes.
6693. concerned - 9/7/2006 12:02:03 PM
Well, I am definitely not an advocate for back surgery unless absolutely necessary, or for joint replacement, either. I'll hobble along on my own unmodified gristle as long as possible, thank you.
OTOH, it sounds a lot like what most chiropractors do is deal in a limited form of physical therapy.
6694. concerned - 9/7/2006 12:10:53 PM
My father is starting to have significant problems with cataracts - something he was able to forestall for a couple year with keratinoid supplements, but now he has decided that the time has come for a lens replacement.
He and I were discussing the available surgical options yesterday, which now extend beyond the conventional single focal point lens. He was particularly interested in a replacement lens called 'Crystalens', which utilizes the eye's lens focusing muscles to change focal length, thus, besides curing the cataracts, is advertized to restore much of the eye's focusing ability after a short period of acclimatization.
One advantage important to him wrt Crystanlens is that its manufacturer claims that it has no significant glare problems that might limit night driving, unlike some competing multiple focal length implantable lenses.
6695. wonkers2 - 9/7/2006 1:45:12 PM
That's about right on chiropractors.
6696. Trillium - 9/10/2006 9:23:12 AM
web, I'm not anti-home-birth -- some of my friends had very good experiences with this, but all of them did a lot of research on what to expect and what can go wrong. Plus, they all went through the process while only about 5-10 minutes' taxi ride from a well-equipped hospital.
It's the oversimplification of one side or the other that bugs me. A lot of my home-birth advocate friends would carry on at length and with high emotion about how much they are anti-cesarean section and that C-sections are only done for hospital/doctor profits, etc.
Then on the other hand the radical medical advocates say everyone should always get to a hospital and receive the farthest line of medical treatments available.
I just like to have all the options available... call me spoiled!
6697. Trillium - 9/10/2006 9:28:15 AM
I've had excellent results from a chiropractor who also specializes in "trigger point therapy". Trigger point therapy was developed by an Air Force physician who used to treat Jack Kennedy's back pain in the 1960s. It deals with "referred pain" that can come from favoring one leg over the other etc. (which in my case had happened after I had sprained an ankle that took several weeks to recover). The imbalance took some time to really blow up in my lower back... anyway this practitioner hit all the right spots of nerves and muscles, with immediate relief, plus some retraining. One of his favorite techniques is to put tennis balls between your back and a door post, and roll up and down -- when you hit the "right" spots, there is an electrical sort of sensation, but it loosens up the whole framework.
I'm not particular about titles, but I do like personal recommendations from other people who've been successfully treated.
6698. arkymalarky - 10/4/2006 12:06:45 AM
I posted a while back that my doctor died suddenly, and his replacement (who was going to come work with him, and it had been arranged for over a year) is a young woman who was a student of Bob's for a semester years ago. We've all three seen her since then, and she's GREAT. Mose was still going to her pediatrician and was needing to find a regular GP, and she's very happy with her. There aren't any other doctors we would be comfortable going to in the town where we go, and it would have meant at least an hour's drive to go elsewhere. We're all just thrilled about it.
6699. robertjayb - 10/6/2006 1:11:51 PM
Great news! Pot mitigates Alzheimer's...(Reuters)
WASHINGTON - Good news for aging hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana’s active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.
Now, if I could just remember where I put my stash.
6700. arkymalarky - 10/6/2006 5:03:34 PM
That's good news for all these aging Baby Boomers.
6701. Magoseph - 10/31/2006 5:38:56 PM
The following from Forbes magazine:
Marijuana-Like Compound May Slow Alzheimer's
10.18.06, 12:00 AM ET
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A new U.S. study finds that marijuana may help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, while a second report suggests the "club drug" Ecstasy could yield insights into Parkinson's disease.
Both findings were presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Atlanta.
In the first presentation, researchers from Ohio State University in Columbus found that marijuana may contain compounds that can slow memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease.
In their study involving rats, a team led by psychology professor Gary Wenk searched for ways to reduce Alzheimer's-linked brain inflammation.
Wenk was already familiar with data that found that long-term marijuana users had lower rates of Alzheimer's disease than the general population. His team sought to find a compound that might reduce disease-linked brain inflammation but avoid the drug's psychoactive effects.
"We are using a component of marijuana that stimulates the same centers in the brain that marijuana does," Wenk said. The synthetic compound, which is very similar in composition to marijuana, is called WIN-55212-2 (WIN).
Experiments conducted on young and old rats revealed that WIN is "a very effective anti-inflammatory, it reduces brain inflammation," Wenk said.
What makes this discovery special is that this compound can cross the blood-brain barrier, Wenk explained. The results of a special rat "maze test" suggested that WIN "also reversed the memory impairment in the older rats," he said.
Brain inflammation is characteristic of many diseases other than Alzheimer's, including multiple sclerosis, ALS, AIDS, Huntington's and Parkinson's, Wenk noted. "We are beginning to notice that brain inflammation is always in the background as people get older," he said. "Inflammation doesn't cause the disease, it contributes to the pathology," he said.
WIN is not appropriate for use in humans because it still contains substances that may trigger a "high." However, Wenk hopes that some form of this compound might be used to benefit people with neurological diseases.
"We have the added advantage that millions of doses [of marijuana] have been taken by millions of people over the past centuries," he said. "We already know a lot about its actions in the body and its toxicity, or lack of toxicity. The only problem we have is that it's illegal."
Wenk is not suggesting that Alzheimer's patients start using marijuana. "Patients would have to be so careful not to get too much," he said. "That would only worsen the symptoms of their dementia."
The challenge is to find a dose that has an anti-inflammatory effect but does not make patients high, Wenk said. "It's hopeful," he said, "but it's not a therapy until we find a way to make it work in humans."
One expert believes it may be possible to derive therapeutic benefits from marijuana without inducing other effects that could be harmful to Alzheimer's patients.
"These are still early days for thinking about drugs derived from cannabis," said Dr. Samuel Gandy, director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
"Still, we know the structure of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) [the active ingredient in cannabis] in detail, and it is not inconceivable that helpful THC-based drugs could be created chemically that benefit brain function but lack the 'high' that currently stigmatizes the compound," Gandy added.
In the second report, researchers from the University of Cincinnati found that, in rats, MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) -- more commonly known as the illegal drug Ecstasy -- increases the survival of dopamine-releasing cells in the brain during fetal development.
"The club drug Ecstasy can cause dopamine neurons to grow and prevent them from dying off," explained lead researcher Jack Lipton, a professor of psychiatry.
Dopamine cells are critical to the regulation of voluntary movement. This discovery might lead to better therapies for neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, the researchers said.
Ecstasy, as is, is not beneficial for Parkinson's patients, Lipton cautioned. But a part of MDMA may be.
The trick now is to find the components of MDMA that have this effect on dopamine cells and develop ways to use it to help Parkinson's patients, Lipton said. It could also be used as an adjunct to stem cell transplantation, something that's now being studied in Parkinson's patients.
"It could help transplants take better and have more cells survive," Lipton said.
6702. Ulgine Barrows - 10/31/2006 11:07:37 PM
6701. Magoseph
Ever been to a chiro?
Wondering, Ulgine
6703. Magoseph - 11/1/2006 1:04:55 AM
No, almost married one, though.
6704. thoughtful - 11/10/2006 3:58:56 PM
The Purina Diet
I have a Golden retriever & I was buying a large bag of Purina dog food at
Wal-Mart. A woman behind me in line asked if I had a dog. (Here's your
Stupid sign!)
On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Purina Diet again,
although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last
time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care
ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it
works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one
or two every time you feel hungry & that the food is nutritionally complete
so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now
enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind us.
Horrified, she asked if I'd ended up in the hospital in that condition
because I had been poisoned. I told her no; it was because I'd been
sitting in the street licking my butt and a car hit me.
6705. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 4:05:16 PM
Lol!
6706. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/15/2006 10:31:55 AM
From an Email I just received:
Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of federal Washington, DC offices.
Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United State s contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America
The data below speaks for itself.
Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $ 0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%
Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%
Keflex: 250 mg
Cons umer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%
Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%
Norvasc: 10 mg
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%
Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%
Prevacid: 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%
Prilosec : 20 mg
C onsumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%
Prozac: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%
Tenormin: 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%
Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%
Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%
Zestril: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809
Zithromax: 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%
Zocor: /B 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%
Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%
Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit , did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!
At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.
I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.
I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.
I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (This is true.)
I went there this past Thursday and asked them. I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.
Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov
6707. wabbit - 11/15/2006 11:04:56 AM
6708. wonkers2 - 11/15/2006 2:17:09 PM
The "ethical" pharmaceutical industry is hardly ethical. They bribe our doctors to prescribe their drugs and they bribe our legislators as well.
6709. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 4:47:50 PM
Tissue Engineering at a Crossroads
6710. prolph - 11/17/2006 1:54:56 AM
good news for dry macular degrnration, PRESIVISION works, I have been treated at the Shiley eye center which is a treatmebnt center as well
as a reserch. Shiley keeps track of all of us and advises us when the have a trial that has proven to work. I now have better vision than last check.
My sister also has the problem and has gone back about two years in
sight. She is with an HMO where the doctors were amazed at her better sight, Kind of irritates me beccause if i hadn't told her she would have not known the regimen, One presivision gel morning and night and a
lutein gel capsule ar lunch All to be takne with meals, Be careful though
some are sold together so read labels,
There are people who can be helped who haven't heard about the help that is out there which i think is seriously wrong. oh.,both are over the counter I won't go into health care (aaargh) but I will not go to any hospital that is not a teaching hospital . Sister is now able to get her driving license back and i am able to the crawls at the bottom of a tv screen
,,
6711. alistairconnor - 11/17/2006 5:57:50 AM
That's first-rate news Patsy... I hope to read you more often on the Mote!
6712. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 8:43:12 AM
That's wonderful news...I'll be sure to pass it along. Husband of a friend of mine has mac degen, but I'm not sure if it's wet or dry...may be wet.
6713. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 8:51:03 AM
I hope it continues to work, Patsy. I can only imagine what it would be like not to be able to read easily.
6714. prolph - 11/17/2006 3:44:54 PM
Thougtful-there is a cure now for wet md.
Also your purina diet has chuckling every time i feed the cats,Thanks
6715. arkymalarky - 11/17/2006 6:38:08 PM
That's absolutely fantastic, Patsy!!
6716. robertjayb - 12/1/2006 9:21:37 PM
New breast cancer detection method...
CHICAGO — An experimental ultrasound technique that measures how easily breast lumps compress and bounce back could enable doctors to determine instantly whether a woman has cancer without doing a biopsy.
In a small study of 80 women, the technique — called "elastography" — distinguished harmless lumps from malignant ones with nearly 100 percent accuracy.
If the results hold up in a larger study, elastography could save thousands of women from the waiting, cost, discomfort and anxiety of a biopsy, in which cells are removed from the breast — sometimes with a needle, sometimes with a scalpel — and examined under a microscope.
6717. thoughtful - 1/9/2007 3:47:42 PM
Hallelujah! They're finally starting to catch on!
Now repeat after me: fats not bad...sugar bad.
The Cure for Diabetes
6718. CharlieL - 1/9/2007 4:33:07 PM
That's a great article.
6719. arkymalarky - 1/9/2007 4:56:42 PM
CHARLIE!!!!! Great to see you! Hope your holidays were good!
6720. CharlieL - 1/9/2007 5:37:09 PM
They were good, Arky. The band stayed busy, we had six gigs in December, and I'm able to breathe for a bit before the hectic schedule starts again in March.
6721. wabbit - 1/9/2007 6:12:39 PM
Hey CharlieL, how lovely to see you again!
t'ful, when I was very young, I had a ton of cavities (lucky they were baby teeth!), but fortune was smiling on me. The doctors and dentists all impressed on my mother how important it was to keep my sugar intake under control, not so much because of cavities, but because of diabetes. Now maybe they didn't have the studies to back them up, but it sure looks like it was very good advice.
With the health problems I do have, it's nice not to have diabetes to boot. I lost an aunt to diabetes (type-1 though), and the whole family is pretty vigilant as a result.
6722. thoughtful - 1/10/2007 8:31:19 AM
Hey CharlieL...nice to see you, stranger.
6723. thoughtful - 1/10/2007 9:38:22 AM
wabbit, yes, especially since there is a correlation among all auto-immune related disorders.
6724. thoughtful - 1/30/2007 12:04:15 PM
For those of you who are concerned about your cholesterol levels and/or your blood glucose levels, beware.
When visiting mom, she thought she'd do us the favor of buying pepperidge farm cookies. I looked at the label and saw 0 transfats and thought ok...but then i noticed something called 'interesterified' fat. What the heck is that?
No one knows. I mean it is a way of combining fats using enzymes as catalysts to give it the same room temperature solidity as transfats, but no one knows what the heck it does to the body or if it's safe.
I came across one study that suggests that not only is the interesterified fat just as damaging as the transfats on the ldl/hdl ratio, but that it has even worse effects on blood glucose levels.
My take, avoid it all.
Eat real food, avoid processed food, bake your own goodies where you can control the fats that go in and substitute 1/2 of the white flour with wheat flour to add fiber and nutrition.
And when you read labels, don't just look at 0 transfats and think ok...it may not be. Read the ingredients and watch for 'partially hydrogenated' and/or 'interesterified'. Avoid them like the plague.
6725. wonkers2 - 1/30/2007 11:01:54 PM
Thanks for the heads up on "interesterified." I saw in today's newspaper that McDonalds is going to stop using transfats. Maybe they're going interesterified.
6726. judithathome - 1/31/2007 12:11:28 AM
No, they aren't going interesterified.
They're going interesteriFRIED.
6727. thoughtful - 1/31/2007 11:53:01 AM
groan
6728. concerned - 2/1/2007 12:16:19 AM
I've got to put a recommendation in for Flaxseed Oil. With a daily dose of that and chromium picolinate (to keep blood sugar under control), not to mention Vitamin E and a broad spectrum vitamin pill, I've got nearly as much energy as I did 25 years ago. This evening, for instance, after a few drinks and some tunes (and not long before typing this), I whipped off 35 pushups, chest to ground to full extension. Not too shabby for only my second attempt after nearly a fifteen year layoff at age 51 and 6'5 1/2", 260lb. I'm starting to seriously consider getting back into a regular weight training regimen. The Omega 3 fatty acids (from the flaxseed oil, after only two weeks) have cut my knee soreness (inflammation) down to the point where I usually don't feel it at all.
As I mentioned, I take 1mg of flaxseed oil with a bowl of GoLean cereal with nonfat milk in the morning and it pretty well keeps me going at work until lunch which is great. I feel that this forces assimilation of the Omega 3 fatty acids which are known to cut the body's inflammation response.
6729. concerned - 2/1/2007 12:28:01 AM
It is considered that for polyunsaturated fats, that a 5 or 6 to 1 ratio of Omega 6 & 9 (which increases the body's inflammation response) to Omega 3 saturated fats is optimal. The typical Western diet gives more like a 35 to 1 ratio.
Thus it can be seen that with a breakfast cereal such as standard GoLean which has only 1 gram of fat per serving with nonfat milk, and 1 gram of essentially pure Omega 3 fatty acid supplement, that the balance is shifted well toward the low inflammation response side for at least several hours each day.
6730. concerned - 2/1/2007 12:32:08 AM
Also, just minutes ago, I was able to do a one legged squat from my computer chair with each leg (although just barely) without excessive joint distress from my knees.
6731. wonkers2 - 2/1/2007 12:57:37 AM
It's been a long time since I could do a full one-legged squat. Once long ago I could do that easily on either leg and 18 chin-ups on the barn rafters.
6732. alistairconnor - 2/1/2007 4:25:18 AM
Well, my regular exercise regime is restricted to not using the lift (I work on the 5th floor, my girlfriend's apartment is on the 6th floor)
and I have never done dietary supplements. But I eat mostly organic, and avoid processed foods like the plague. And I use exclusively olive oil. The ancient Greeks had a longer life expectancy than just about anyone before modern times.
6733. arkymalarky - 2/1/2007 9:38:10 AM
That all does sound good. I'm going to pass it on to Bob (he's 55), who takes supplements and adds sugar-lowering stuff like cinnamon and coffee, eats very well--he loves oatmeal and Kashi 7 Whole grain Puffs" (least carbs for his diabetes)--and walks three miles a day, but he has been wanting to incorporate some muscle work into his regimen for a while. That sounds like it might help him get started.
BTW, last week marked his third anniversary of starting his program and he's kept his weight off and blood sugar down. He still remembers his appointment with a dietician the afternoon after he was diagnosed with diabetes, telling her he was going to have a last big meal that evening and start the next day. She said, "I wouldn't do that." And he didn't. He started right then. He'll splurge occasionally now (not with sugar, but with a big meal), but never binge.
6734. wonkers2 - 2/1/2007 10:47:59 AM
Ali, that's a convenient arrangement. How many trips per day up and down to the 6th floor?!
6735. alistairConnor - 2/1/2007 3:38:12 PM
Didn't think of that! Not the same building Wonk...
6736. alistairConnor - 2/1/2007 3:39:07 PM
You can tell when I've been to my girlfriend's place because I shave.
Lucky I don't have a webcam!
6737. thoughtful - 2/1/2007 4:52:55 PM
Concerned, while we may disagree in other threads, I'm with you 100% on flax seed oil. Hubby and I have been taking it for a long time and it has made drastic improvements in our aches and pains. We don't mix it though...take is straight from the bottle at night. Yum!
6738. arkymalarky - 2/3/2007 3:43:11 PM
I've got one of those "meant to have asked, keep forgetting" questions for Mote women.
Last night I was folding clothes and finally remembered a project I've been wanting to do for a long while now--cut the underwire out of all my bras. I hate it, and the ones I wear the most are either sports bras or I've already done the surgery on them. I'm wondering which women do like underwire and why. I could see the benefit of a padded foam support of some sort underneath, but underwire is awful. Even the shape of the wire, with the sharp edges felt through the cloth and tubing, seem designed to cause discomfort, not comfort.
6739. judithathome - 2/3/2007 4:16:00 PM
I like my underwire bras but that's because they never poke me or seem uncomfortable. I've only had one that the wire poked through and I threw it out.
I used to be relatively flat-chested...back in the late 60s early 70s I wore a tube top that had FRONT emblazoned on it. Didn't even wear a bra until we moved to Japan in the early 80s. Then I, ahem, "blossomed" and needed bras...I like any bra that is comfortable, lacey, and doesn't make me feel like my boobs are leading me around.
Arky, I wear underwires because I need them but the cups are only satin cloth and not augmented by any foam or anything like that. I don't think you need underwires...you have a great shape and shouldn't need anything but a regular, comfortable (and sexy!) bra.
6740. wabbit - 2/3/2007 4:25:16 PM
I can take or leave underwires, but what really drives me crazy are the straps always slipping. Wide-set straps may look good in the VS catalog, but they are a nightmare to wear. Give me a comfy racerback and I'll deal with or without underwires.
Meanwhile, Arky, have a look at these!
6741. arkymalarky - 2/3/2007 8:23:27 PM
Thanks, Judith! But it seems like (other than sports bras) my size come with underwire. I usually don't notice until I get them home. It may be that they're too cheaply made or that I tend toward cysts, which might make me more sensitive. All I know is, I love having finally gotten around to removing them. I like them otherwise--they're soft and comfortable, which is why I got them in the first place.
And thanks for the link, Wabbit!
6742. thoughtful - 2/5/2007 8:58:43 AM
I used to hate underwires but finally switched over because I was starting to look too matronly and clothes weren't fitting properly. I really need the extra support they give. I'm most frustrated though as I found some for cheap in reading pa outlet in a tent sale and i LOVE them...they look great, fit perfectly, have a great shape and are extremely comfortable. Now I have no idea if I'll ever be able to find them again and buy more. I've never been poked by underwires but find they sometimes can rub uncomfortably against my rib cage.
If you need the support but cant stand underwires, try the 18 hr bra...it's built like a tank.
There's also one maker...warner??...that switched the underwires with plastic that's supposed to be more comfortable. There are also makers that have shortened the wire on the outside so they won't poke under the arm...i believe they're called no poke.
Check out OneHanesPlace...it's a catalog full of bras from various manufacturers and it's a great place to see the options available, of which there are many many many.
6743. wonkers2 - 2/5/2007 9:14:13 AM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "A picture's worth a thousand words!"
6744. wonkers2 - 2/5/2007 9:15:56 AM
Cap'n "Oops! I jest noticed wabbit's in #6740."
6745. arkymalarky - 2/5/2007 12:25:00 PM
The ends don't poke me, it's the feel of the wire itself underneath. I could go the extra and get better made I guess, but I love the ones I have with the wires out.
6746. alistairconnor - 2/5/2007 12:46:37 PM
6740 : what, no bells and whistles?
6747. thoughtful - 2/5/2007 1:03:15 PM
Just for Cap'n Dirty, a pic of thoughtful before she got her new bra
and after
Amazing what a good bra will do, no?
6748. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 2/5/2007 1:24:06 PM
or Prozac . . .
6749. wonkers2 - 2/5/2007 3:39:29 PM
The Cap'n sez, very thoughtful of you thoughtful. Thanks.
6750. thoughtful - 2/6/2007 11:19:46 AM
Calling all current and future seniors, here's news from Dean Baker's Beat the Press where he beats up on the press for doing such a lousy job. This is incredibly significant and underreported:
In fact, President Bush does propose phasing out Medicare in his new budget, if the NYT got its facts right. According to this article, President Bush proposes to change the rules on the means-testing of Medicare benefits, so that the income current cutoffs of $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for couples are not indexed.
This means that over time, more and more of the senior population would have to pay premiums that largely cover the cost of their Medicare. In other words, Medicare will no longer be government provided health care for most of the elderly population.
How fast will the benefits phase out? Well in roughly twenty years, the means-testing would be hitting singles who are the same point in the income distribution as someone earning $40,000 a year today, and couples earning $80,000. In forty years, the point at which Social Security is first projected to face a shortfall, the means-testing would be hitting singles who are at the same point in the income distribution as someone earning $20,000 a year today, and couples earning $40,000. In other words, under President Bush's proposal many middle income elderly people would face the loss of their Medicare subsidy before Social Security faces any funding shortfall. A bit further out, and only the poor would still recieve any subsidy through the Medicare program.
After Social Security, Medicare is the country's largest social program. When a president proposes phasing it out, it should be big news. Why aren't the reporters covering it?
6751. wonkers2 - 2/6/2007 4:23:21 PM
My former employer recently announced that henceforth, retirees will have to eat any increases in the company health care plan. The effect will be similar to that of Bush's Medicare proposal.
6752. robertjayb - 2/14/2007 10:37:33 PM
Why does health care cost so much...(Ezra Klein)
The nonpartisan McKinsey Group has released a study called "Accounting for the Cost of Health Care in the United States." The idea, as the title suggests, is to figure out, in a rigorous and methodical way, why we pay so much more than any other developed country.
.................................................
The very short answer is that we pay more for units of care. McKinsey estimates that it is not higher disease prevalence. Differences in health account for only about $25 billion of the variation -- a drop in the bucket. The difference really is that we pay higher doctor salaries, higher drug costs, higher operation costs, more per day in the hospital, etc, etc. In essence, we're getting a terrible deal.
6753. wonkers2 - 2/15/2007 10:01:03 AM
A Health Care Plan So Simple, Even Stephen Colbert Couldn't Simplify It
Cobert on Bush health plan: "It's so simple. Most people who can't afford health insurance also are too poor to owe taxes. But if you give them a deduction from the taxes they don't owe, they can use the money they're not getting back from what they haven't given to buy the health care they can't afford."
Robert H. Frank shoots holes in Bush health proposal
6754. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 2/15/2007 3:59:09 PM
And the opposite of The Bush Health Plan . . .
Charlie, a Rottweiler mix, whose own mother rejected him, snuggles Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 with his substitute mother, Satin, at the Meriden Humane Society in Meriden, Conn. The cat had just had her own litter of kittens and took on Charlie in addition. (AP Photo/Bob Child)
6755. wonkers2 - 2/16/2007 11:09:44 AM
Krugman on "The Health Care Racket."
Krugman on "The Health Care Racket"
6756. arkymalarky - 3/7/2007 8:06:15 PM
Hey Thoughtful, didn't you post a site on calisthenics here a long time ago? Do you have the link handy to post again, by any chance?
6757. arkymalarky - 3/7/2007 8:18:32 PM
This one looks nice.
I didn't find anything until I googled calisthenics routine as opposed to just calisthenics.
6758. robertjayb - 3/19/2007 8:57:35 AM
breath test for lung cancer?
Boston (eCanadaNow) - A new study has shown that a breath test could possible detect lung cancer in patients.
The breath test device would be very small, the size of a coin actually and can detect up to 75% of all people with lung cancer according to researchers.
One negative to the test though is that it found many people with lung cancer who did not actually have the disease. Too many false positive test results.
A very unsatisfactory account of an interesting prospect...
6759. judithathome - 3/19/2007 9:22:08 AM
Keoni received a call from a former co-worker last night and learned a 50 year old man he once worked with had committed suicide over the weekend. The guy was on the list to receive a liver transplant and evidently, some computer glitch or missing paperwork caused him to be dropped off the list...it's unclear what caused the change in status...but he became extremely depressed and shot himself in the head.
6760. thoughtful - 3/19/2007 10:20:47 AM
how horrible. I wish more people signed up as organ donors...I mean if you're not using them any more, why not let someone else get some milage out of your pieces and parts.
We got a nice letter from the eyebank telling us that 2 people can now see who couldn't before because we donated my SIL's eyes.
6761. thoughtful - 3/19/2007 10:27:34 AM
Wow Arky, you've got a good memory.
I think the plan I was referring to was the XBX for women and 5BX for men...it was developed by the royal canadian air force. I looked on line and don't see it posted neatly anywhere though there are links to buy one of the books.
Only thing is I stopped doing them as it was shortly thereafter I needed neck surgery. Have no idea if it was causative or not, but I figured I'd better quit.
Instead I now do weight lifting in the evening and walking in the a.m. to keep fit. I use an old joyce vedral book to guide me on the weight lifting...done at home with free weights.
6762. thoughtful - 3/19/2007 2:42:59 PM
I've been very concerned about hubby as doc has him on statins to lower his cholesterol. Well it worked...his total cholesterol is 168!
But I understand it blocks co Q10 and I'm concerned about hubby and dementia as it runs in his family. Turns out that statins seem to help prevent dementia, which is a good thing. Even tho doc says it's not necessary and there's no evidence that it helps, I think I'll start hubby on co q10 supplements anyway. Can't hurt.
and just another excuse for tmesis to hate me.
6763. wonkers2 - 3/19/2007 3:34:13 PM
I managed to get my cholesterol and the other measurements under control by reducing my intake of fat and taking a low dosage of Lipitor. As far as dementia is concerned, I worry, too, because Google is slowly destroying my memory. I never tried to remember phone numbers because they were easy to look up. Now Google has compromised my memory of people's names (actors, politicians, et al) as well.
6764. thoughtful - 3/19/2007 4:09:14 PM
wonks, reducing intake of fat won't do it...it's the lipitor, and it's reducing sugar shock and insulin rush that will help your heart. Rather, shoot for a balance of fats in the diet.
See for instance Atkins diet best for weight loss - US study
"Compared with women who were assigned to follow diets having higher carbohydrate content, women assigned to the diet with the lowest carbohydrate content had more weight loss and more favourable changes in related metabolic risk factors at two and six months," wrote lead author Christopher Gardner in JAMA.
Despite previous concerns over low carbohydrate diets adversely affecting blood lipid profiles, the current study did not report any such adverse effects.
This is also consistent with the research on 'syndrome x' which suggests that diabetes, with excess carb intake and excess insulin, excess weight around the abdomen and high blood pressure go hand in hand with heart disease.
Frankly it will take time for heart docs to catch up with what the endocrinologists know about the damaging effects of excess insulin and the low fat diet cannard that pushes people into excess carb intake and increased risk for obesity and heart disease.
My MIL always said if you want to lose weight, cut out the bread and pasta and desserts. It's taking another 40 years for the medical profession to catch up with what we knew back then.
6765. wonkers2 - 3/19/2007 4:58:47 PM
Well, I try not to eat a lot of carbohydrates, either. One or two pieces of toast and a lot of vegetables and salads. My wife has turned into a semi-vegetarian. I sneak out for a couple of sliders or a Coney Island a couple of times a week. We eat a fair amount of fish and fowl. I do miss steaks, lamb chops, etc. Whatever I'm eating my blood tests are all okay according to my internist, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, etc. That's why he okayed my taking a Lipitor 10mg pill every other day instead of every day.
6766. wonkers2 - 3/21/2007 9:44:07 AM
For temesis--Are you getting your "fair" share of this loot? Pharmaceutical companies bribing our doctors
6767. wonkers2 - 3/23/2007 9:01:54 AM
Diagnosis as Art, Not Rocket Science
6768. judithathome - 3/23/2007 1:34:48 PM
One or two pieces of toast and a lot of vegetables and salads.
Wonk, try Pepperidge Farms Very Thin sliced breads...two of them are about 18 grams of carbs and 80 calories. (A serving is 3 slices but I always do only two...brings the numbers down that way and is still satisfying.) Toasted, they give you that crunch and a bread fix without a lot of damage to your numbers.
6769. wonkers2 - 3/23/2007 8:02:10 PM
That makes a lot of sense. It's amazing that for the past couple of weeks we've been buying unsliced bread from Breadsmith, a local franchise bakery, and slicing it thinner ourselves. That way I can still have two slices for breakfast and a grapefruit. How does that sound?
6770. judithathome - 3/24/2007 12:35:22 AM
Sounds great! I like my toast very crunchy and with this thin stuff, it's perfection every time. I can't stand a piece of toast that is limp and chewy.
6771. wonkers2 - 3/24/2007 7:47:52 AM
Same here.
6772. thoughtful - 3/24/2007 8:41:42 AM
great ideas...but make sure you're eating whole grain breads...far healthier than the white stuff.
I so enjoy whole grain breads now that I skip the white stuff even in restaurants...tastes like eating paper and it isn't the least bit filling or worth the calories.
We've been making our own homemade graham crackers and they are wonderful. They are crispy and chewy at the same time. Easy to make with honey and molasses...yum and no trans fats.
6773. judithathome - 3/24/2007 9:01:52 AM
Yes, I thought "whole grains" was a given...can't imagine eating white bread myself, either.
However, I will do it at restaurants...our fave Italian place makes THE best garlic yeast rolls and I always have one even though I know it's "waisted" calories.
6774. judithathome - 3/24/2007 9:03:09 AM
Wonks, I can't recall if you are on cholesterol meds or not but I am and mine had a warning that I not consume grapefruit at all.
6775. wonkers2 - 3/26/2007 6:58:29 AM
Insurance companies make money by not paying claims So what else is new?
6776. robertjayb - 3/26/2007 10:45:22 AM
Drugs for "good" cholesterol fail tests...(NYTimes)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The hot new strategy of trying to prevent heart disease by raising good cholesterol had more setbacks Monday as new studies showed that experimental drugs didn't work and also had safety problems.
The news follows Pfizer Inc.'s abandonment in December of an $800 million investment in torcetrapib, the leading contender in this class of drugs, because it raised the risk of heart attacks and deaths.
Heart specialists have been anxious to know whether the problems extend to all such drugs and doom this approach.
6777. thoughtful - 3/26/2007 11:02:58 AM
won't be long before they figure out that reducing cholesterol is not the way to avoid heart attacks...
I'm keeping hubby on the statins though since I read that they can postpone the onset of dementia...
6778. wonkers2 - 3/26/2007 4:20:32 PM
Your point on cholesterol differs from what I've read and been told by my internist. What do you base it on?
6779. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 7:08:10 AM
Uh oh...do we really want to start another 'global warming like' discussion here? Where you can tell me I'm in the pocket of the gopers? Or i must work for wesson or crisco? Or that I'm in denial or insane or just plain stupid? All because I'm not willing to accept the "low fat" paradigm as the be all and end all to a healthy heart and a long life? Because I don't drink the kool-aid and keep an open mind and recognize that science is not only all one way but often results in conflicting data and that science also frequently reverses itself as more data comes to light.
But we've been through all that.
But since you asked, I base this on the fact that
6780. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 7:30:05 AM
Consider your typical 'healthy' american breakfast. It is nothing but a total sugar load, so everyone starts their day with a sugar high and insulin rush.
orange juice
Raisin bran
Skim milk
banana
coffee
You're looking at about 85 grams of sugar or about 21 teaspoons, depending on if you add milk and sugar to your coffee.
6781. alistairconnor - 3/27/2007 7:45:50 AM
Makes sense to me Tful... I have been suspicious of the cholesterol cult for decades.
Well anyway, you're telling me what I want to hear. I've been feeling a bit uneasy that since I went back to eating meat a couple of years ago, I may be overdosing on animal fats... I like the message that it's all good except the sugar/carbs.
6782. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 11:53:13 AM
Knock me over with a feather!!!
This paradigm, I can break, but not the global warming one.
OK.
Since you're willing to listen, I'll give you a little more.
Don't worry about saturated fat. Rather avoid transfats like the plague. They are sand in the gears of the body. When it comes to fat, it's more important to get a balance of fats including your monounsaturated (olive oil) and your omega-3s (fish oil and flax seed oil and walnuts). These are essential fatty acids (essential meaning the body can't make them out of other things).
Eat adequate protein...6-8 ozs per day for the average woman; 10-12 ozs per day for the average man...it's necessary to build muscle.
Adjust your carb intake to control your weight. Eat good carbs not bad carbs...brown rice and whole wheat bread and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes or acorn squash are good carbs...chocolate cake, cheetos, and french fries are bad carbs. Remember all carbs get converted to sugar so your body doesn't care if it comes in a grape or tostitos chip. Only difference is the nutritional content that comes with the carb. But a grape can raise blood sugar just like a cookie, and should be counted as carbs. Milk which is full of lactose is a carb.
Balance your meals. Every meal should consist of a fat, a protein, a carb, and a nonstarchy vegetable. This will limit the sugar shock from the carb and make sure you are getting a full complement of nutrients. Nonstarchy vegetables are especially important as they a) are low calorie but filling b) add a lot of necessary fiber c) are nutrition powerhouses which help fight cancer, add anti-oxidants to eliminate free radicals and much more. Further, balance your snacks. Better to eat a handful of walnuts with an apple than to have just an apple...the walnuts add fat (omega-3) and protein, slowing down digestion and minimizing sugar shock from the carbs in the apple.
Drink lots of water. Avoid processed foods and chemicals and excess salt. Eat what comes naturally...what you can fish, farm, pick, milk, etc. Don't eat stuff your ancestors wouldn't recognize. Cheese does not come in cans. Fruit does not come in rolls.
6783. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 11:55:07 AM
BTW, when I was in wyoming a couple of years ago, I struck up a conversation with a biochemist about this diet stuff and he was surprised at what I was telling him as he said that's what the biochemical science is discovering and that medical science hasn't caught up with them yet...he said I was very leading edge.
Maybe so too with the global warming, eh?
6784. alistairConnor - 3/27/2007 1:23:40 PM
Well, I come from a medical family that has a strong sceptical streak. I have enough scientific training to know to take nothing on faith; when in doubt, I need to understand enough of the premises of the question to at least work out who I can trust. I have done enough biochem to know that the medical profession has been driving blind and bluffing a great deal. I have always been inclined to pay attention to folk remedies and wisdom in health matters, and to mistrust or question the verdict of the medical orthodoxy. My family doctor does homeopathy. I understand the power structures of the medical profession, where the vested interests of high priesthood and drug companies rule the roost.
None of this applies to global warming. Eminent scientists have been howling in the wilderness for twenty or thirty years. As Gandhi said, first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you... The power structures -- politicians and economic interests -- have fought them tooth and nail. In the last year or two, they have gained a wider audience because the evidence stacks up. The power structures have at least feigned acceptance... all the better to regroup and resist implementation of the necessary changes...
Apart from that, it's a really close analogy, Tful!
But... follow the money eh?
6785. wonkers2 - 3/27/2007 5:17:03 PM
Thanks, thoughtful! Like alistaire, I find you more credible on diet than climate.
6786. wonkers2 - 3/31/2007 8:56:40 PM
Dennis Kucinich on Health Care
6787. robertjayb - 4/2/2007 2:16:12 PM
Epigenetics a promising approach to cancer treatment...(HouChron)
As they completed the "book of life" earlier this decade, scientists with the Human Genome Project declared they had struck upon the path leading toward eventual cures for most diseases.
By scribbling down all 3 billion DNA letters of the genetic code, the scientists reasoned, they could ferret out the defective genes in sick patients that explained why diseases such as cancer flourished and ultimately killed their hosts.
But less than a decade later, a related science called epigenetics may have begun eclipsing traditional genetics. In epigenetics, it is factors such as diet and smoking, rather than inheritance, that influence how genes behave.
A deepening understanding of this process has led to the development of drugs to rehabilitate cancer cells — by wiping away their bad memories — instead of bombing them into submission.
"There are more people working now on the epigenetics of cancer than the genetics of cancer," said Jean Pierre Issa, a professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
6788. wonkers2 - 4/2/2007 5:16:44 PM
Interesting--like plants well fertilized, weeded and watered.
6789. betty - 4/2/2007 5:38:48 PM
Wow, that's really interesting. My dad has just had radiation in his eye for eye cancer...his second bought with the "big C" at 56. His doctors keep telling him that his twinkies and coke diet and thirty plus years of smoking probably have nothing to do with it, it's probably more closely linked with genetics.
considering what thoughtful posted above and what I know about other topics, it seems that Medical science is not very good science. how cutting edge is our medicine?
6790. thoughtful - 4/3/2007 6:20:19 AM
I've seen a lot of statistics, none consistent, on what % is determined by genes and what % is determined by lifestyle. My conclusion is that lifestyle accounts for a lot more than many people think.
I look at my brother who is 54 but looks like he's in his 70s vs me who many people presume i'm a decade younger than I am. He smokes, doesn't watch his diet, drinks too much, doesn't exercise, and has ended up with diabetes and has a stent in his carotid artery as he's had a stroke and was losing his vision due to poor circulation to his brain.
I drink very little, never smoked, exercise daily, and try to eat nutritiously. I also have no significant health issues.
6791. alistairConnor - 4/3/2007 8:31:22 AM
I intend to die old and leave a good-looking corpse (to science?)
6792. thoughtful - 4/3/2007 9:24:53 AM
Funny you should mention that AC.
A long time ago I signed up with an area med school to donate my body to them when I die. Only thing is, I might be rejected. Can you imagine failing to get into med school even as a cadaver???
They won't take you if you are obese or emaciated or have died of something infectious or are mangled or have too many body parts missing....like you were first an organ donor...they much prefer you to be an organ donor if possible for obvious reasons.
I suppose if i get rejected, i can always try to get accepted at the body farm....
6793. alistairConnor - 4/3/2007 9:51:05 AM
Or failing that, at the pig farm. As long as I can be useful.
Perhaps I could get anoxically cremated! Yes, reduced to charcoal, so that my ashes would be sequestering carbon.
Sounds like a promising business venture, actually.
6794. thoughtful - 4/3/2007 11:02:07 AM
we can just throw you in the la brea tar pits and you can fossilize
6795. arkymalarky - 4/3/2007 11:37:10 AM
My dad's good friend once wrote a nice song, "Send Me to Glory in a Glad Bag."
The last line of the chorus: "Just set me on the curb on Tuesday, and let the sanitation locals take me home."
6796. thoughtful - 4/3/2007 2:09:48 PM
I've been teasing mom about at least her being too old to die young. Wouldn't you know it the car talk guys had a song on last week "Just Too Old To Still Die Young."
6797. alistairConnor - 4/4/2007 6:27:20 AM
Funny how these subjects pop up...
I just read an article about Keith Richards... guess what he did with his father's ashes?
You guessed right... mixed him with some coke and snorted him...
An odd variation on ritual cannibalism eh? (The old bugger always got up my nose, so...)
I certainly hope my kids don't do that to me.
6798. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 7:12:06 AM
That is disgusting. I heard it on the news this a.m. That guy is nuts. Of course I'm always so suspicious of crematoria, I suspect those were probably ashes from someone or something else. I mean do you really think they clean those furnaces after each body? I view the ash thing as more symbolic than anything else.
Remember that joint in GA? Yuck.
6799. betty - 4/4/2007 8:31:16 AM
I have a soft spot for cemetaries because they were some of the first municipal parks (see, AC, cemetaries started the green revolution), but the idea of actually rotting away in one makes me ill. Plus I get into the whole Decca Milford politics of the funerary business...so it's cremation for me, thanks.
6800. clydefo - 4/4/2007 9:56:31 AM
Please leave my bones to the Kilimanjaro vultures.
6801. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 10:51:21 AM
I'm afraid the vultures don't want your bones, but the meat on them...
6802. clydefo - 4/4/2007 11:47:17 AM
Bone Crusher
"The Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture, Gypaetus barbatus, is an Old World vulture, the only member of the genus Gypaetus. It breeds on crags in high mountains in southern Europe, Africa, India and Tibet...
Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals. It usually disdains the rotting meat, however, and lives on a diet that is 90% bone. It will drop large bones from a height to crack them to get smaller pieces. Its old name of Ossifrage (or Bone Crusher) relates to this habit. Live tortoises are also dropped in similar fashion to crack them open.
Seen on National Geographic TV:
Old water buffalo climb above the Kilimanjaro freeze-line to escape predators, starve, and are picked clean by small critters. Bone Crusher finds the skeleton during it's thirty mile cruise around the heights of the cone, lands and eats the bones. There was a shot of one of them tilting his head back some funny way and swallowing an intact buffalo leg bone. Looked like a good way to go.
6803. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 1:23:38 PM
I'll bet it's a lot less gross when they puke on your car.
In an article about an archaeological dig of a neolithic city in Turkey, evidence showed that the people left the dead to the buzzards and then brought the bones into the home rather than burying them in a common graveyard. I like that idea, actually.
I must confess to being fairly morbid, and when I had my hysterectomy I made Bob take me to a cemetery between where I live and work--called, appropriately, "Halfway." I thought I'd love it, but I hated it. It's where his great-great-grandmother, a half-Caddo Indain woman whose first name was Caddo, is buried. It seems to work for her, but I didn't like it. I would rather be buried as close to here as possible. I don't want to be cremated and I want Bob next to me. But I don't want to be on a highway, either, which is where most of his family on his mother's side is buried. We have two cemeteries here, but one is a family plot. I think they'd let us in, but it's on a highway too. I would also like a stele instead of a tombstone. I figure it's like everything else. People will agree with me and then do what they want when I'm not around to gripe about it.
6804. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 1:38:32 PM
It depends on the people. Dad wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread in the gulf stream. I did just that with the help of the US Navy which buries veterans at sea.
My SIL wanted the same thing, but my brother hasnt parted with her yet. Ive offered to take care of it for him when he is ready.
6805. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 1:39:59 PM
Years ago mother said she wanted to be buried under a tree on a hill with a nice view....i suggested she'd be getting 0 view from 6' under. She's into body donation now, if they'll have her. Hubby wants to be cremated and i imagine i'll bury him in the family plot with his parents.
6806. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 1:41:45 PM
never heard about them vultures...very interesting. I guess they will want your bones, clydefo.
that only leaves the question of who gets the meat?
6807. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 1:46:52 PM
I need some input here.
I have gained weight off and on since I was 30 and in that time I have lost down to around 132 or so, but my best weight was 123. Since "Huckabee spoke," as I always put it, and I began working frantically on rural education issues, I have gone up. So have all--not most, but ALL--the women I've worked with, statewide, black or white, regardless of age, on this issue. One (black, middle-aged) is now battling breast cancer, as well. The men seem the same weight-wise, though their stress has been extreme too.
When we won some major battles, organized sufficiently, my personal district was secure for the moment, and I was within three years of being able to retire in the event something happened where I work, I started the fast track to an MSE, which was important to increasing my career choices if my school shut down. That weas last spring, after having had a hysterectomy the year before. I had gone down some from the surgery, but last spring to this fall I have been extremely busy and stressed and the pre-surgery weight is back.
I was thinking of doing a VERY informal blog/daily journal/shared discussion in this thread along with anyone else who's working on weight and/or health issues, the reason being I'm hoping it will help with planning, starting, and sticking with a diet/exercise program and reaching a target (below 130 lbs). I'm starting today (was going to start Saturday after my visit with Judith and Keoni, but this is Plan B), and I'm going to the doctor Friday. I'm planning to start slowly, with calesthenics (why I was asking about them) and a nice treadmill Bob brought back from New Orleans (courtesy of his friend who was anxious to get it out of her house--outdoor walking isn't a good option with my allergies), along with a simple diet that is hopefully healthy but without any potential for gastric surprises, to which I am prone. In the summer I don't care, but now isn't a good time to be implementing a really high-fiber diet or one that might cause my stomach to react.
What I thought about doing was posting my diet/exercise--very beginner stuff--here, whether and to what degree I follow it on any given day, and how I change it. It's like telling everyone you quit smoking, then hoping they'll all drop the subject when you pull that little red plastic tab on a pack of Winstons. If I quit posting, you'll know I quit my program.
What do y'all think about me doing that? Would it bug anyone for me to use this thread in that way?
6808. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 1:51:51 PM
A friend of ours who died suddenly about ten years ago had her insides donated to science, and they buried what was left. It was a good donation, because she had a sudden massive heart attack at 45. She had been on high blood pressure medication, but her father had died of the same thing. He was quite a bit older, though not yet 70, if I recall.
6809. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 1:55:00 PM
Fine by me...would you be open to helpful suggestions...with the caveat that you can tell me to shut up if I become too helpful?
(I'm a lifetime member of weight watchers and have been involved with diet and nutrition and exercise since my teens.)
6810. Wombat - 4/4/2007 1:57:11 PM
Arky:
Not at all. I have been dealing with--or not dealing with--weight issues since college (many many years ago), and now as I approach 50, am dealing with parts of my body that function suboptimally (back and knees mostly).
Four years ago, I had succeeded in losing 40 pounds through a fairly simple combination of calorie counting and a lot of walking. I lost my job not long after, and felt that I had other things to worry about. The psychological dimension in my case seems very strong.
6811. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:01:39 PM
Oh, suggestions would be great! I won't tell you to shut up at all. If I don't like them I just won't do them, and some people who might be working on similar things (whether they post what they're doing or not) might find useful ones for them as well. I also think it would be great to open up some debate about some of that stuff. What prompted me was reading comments on the MSNBC site about what works, what doesn't, etc. But it's not an ongoing thing. I know they have that on the internet for just about anything, but it would be better for me to do something here, with people I know.
I did the Weight Watchers thing years ago and it worked well, but I was much youner. We've done shared stuff at work too, including pools of money and weekly weigh-ins, but it's been a while and I don't think anyone's interested right now. Too much drama going on where I work this spring (not a common thing for us, thankfully), and only 2 more months of school left anyway.
6812. judithathome - 4/4/2007 2:02:03 PM
I think that's a great idea, Arky. And when we come see you and when you come here, we'll maintain our good eating habits so we won't backslide. ;-)
6813. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:02:47 PM
I was younGer, and more inclined to drive over once a week and participate in WW more actively than I would today. I still have all the stuff, though, to keep records on my own.
6814. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:03:38 PM
Judith, I worry more about the liquid issues in that case! ;->
6815. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:09:19 PM
Wombat, you sound similar to Bob, except he has been VERY fortunate not to have any pain or weakness issues at age 55. His breaking point came before any success (though he had quit smoking and was walking at one point and doing very well, it was very temporary) while caring for his dying father, which involved a lot of physical stress along with the emotional, and he suddenly found himself--after years of being overweight--as a serious diabetic. He's lucky he didn't suffer permanent vision loss.
Bob's done the calorie/walking thing entirely to great success, but the last few months he's had difficulty--after two years of maintenance with a weight loss of around 70 lbs--so he may be interested in participating as well, at least through me if not directly, in the thread. The mental part has to be dealt with, and it's so hard to make exercise and diet a priority when the world imposes on us, as it tends to do.
6816. clydefo - 4/4/2007 2:11:06 PM
Something to do after death!
Keeping the chain-saws at bay:
"An eco-cemetery also known as a green burial ground, or a natural burial preserve is an environmentally sustainable alternative to existing funeral practices, where the body is returned to the earth to decompose naturally and be recycled into new life...
...Cemetery legislation protects natural burial preserves in perpetuity from future development while the establishment of a conservation easement prevents future owners from altering the original intent for these burial grounds. These protective covenants are what permit natural burial preserves to function as landscape level conservation tools..."
6817. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:12:07 PM
I couldn't help but notice, regarding Elizabeth Edwards, that when she was diagnosed she was significanty heavier than she is now. You get busy and you grab food when and where you can and you find you're hungrier more often and less inclined to exercise. You just want to sit. Even if you've been sitting all day doing email, research, or whatever.
And I love my laptop, but I've got to get a grip on it, or it will be the death of me. I spend way too much time lounging around with it, calling it "downtime." It's no better than TV and may be worse, at least for me.
6818. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:15:37 PM
I like that, Clyde. Bob and I already agreed we want pine boxes. If you're poor, they use corrugated cardboard boxes.
6819. thoughtful - 4/4/2007 2:23:36 PM
I'll start with my own struggles.
I became addicted to trader joe's dark 72% belgian chocolate and my weight went up. So now I'm trying to find a substitute that is lower calorie but will still give me something sweet to eat after lunch. Dealing with my sweet tooth has always been my problem.
So now I'm doing a couple of trader joes' meringue cookies, but I'm concerned they're too sweet as by dinner time I'm crashing.
Once the container is gone, i'll have to look for something else.
the nutrition letter really likes the new TLC cookies, so maybe i'll try them.
6820. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:30:33 PM
I LOVE the Kashi granola bars with cherries and dark chocolate chips. For chocolate I eat one square of Ghirardelli's dark chocolate with some coffee.
I've always fought a sweet tooth, and I was absolutely addicted to Pixy-stix for years. I haven't eaten them in a long time, though I don't have the heart to tell my students, who still tease me about them. Sweet stuff has much less effect on me than it used to. I don't know why. It had been my bane since childhood.
6821. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:36:18 PM
A "serving" of the Ghirardelli's is four squares, which is 220 calories and 17g of fat. One square makes me happy, though, especially as a way to get a little "me" time before work every morning. The Kashi bars are about 120 calories.
Which reminds me. Another very important thing to my success in the past has been routine, and it's been impossible to establish one. I'm just now to the point where I feel I have some control over my routine, and I know if things get crazy again I have to maintain something resembling structure or I'll fail. My dad has managed to successfully do that, and at age 75 he still eats, runs, and lifts weights. He maintains a very healthy lifestyle, though he's retired, but he did this when he was far busier than I am, by getting up at 4:30 and jogging every morning.
I will say right now. Ain't happening here. I am not and will never be a morning person. But all that is fighting battles that haven't come up. Right now I can work with a good routine without having to make those kinds of sacrifices.
6822. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:39:13 PM
And I know there are a lot of people opposed to Slimfast, but when I'm working it's what I do for lunch, even when I'm not dieting otherwise. Lunchroom food is the quickest way I gain weight, and Slimfast is the easiest way for me to avoid it. I grab a can and pop it into the lounge freezer first thing when I get to work and dig it out the period before lunch. We have a late lunch (12:45), which I love, and that routine leaves me with a slushy and cold lunch that sticks with me until I get home.
6823. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:42:34 PM
Okay, here's my plan, and I'm going to log off for a while (when I get my WildBlue, hopefully soon, logging on and off in chunks will no longer be an issue):
The "core" of this: Humananatura Calisthenics, plus 15 minutes on the treadmill, at a fairly slow (2.5-3mph) pace to start. Not necessarily right together in a day.
6824. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:43:14 PM
I'll post the diet part later.
6825. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 2:49:32 PM
One more thing: Wombat, are you on any kind of program right now or planning to get on one? Are you in a better position to stick with one now?
6826. clydefo - 4/4/2007 3:05:03 PM
For quick weight loss and sustained good health, Nathan Pritikin sez:
Low-salt (why carry 5-10 pounds of dilution water?)
80% Complex Carbs (Minimally processed whole grains, vegetables, fruit "burn" clean , leaving only H2O and CO2 to be removed from the blood.)
10% Protein (Should not be consumed for fuel. The body recycles amino acids and probably needs less than half the protein RDA for replenishment.)
10% Fat (Mostly from vegetables)
Exercise.
It works.
6827. concerned - 4/4/2007 3:49:25 PM
Re. 6807 -
I guess being a guy, it's different, but I concentrate on staying reasonably fit and let my weight take care of itself. As a result, I've pretty much stayed in a 20 pound range over the last 25 years (average weight = 260lb@ 6'5 1/2")
6828. judithathome - 4/4/2007 3:51:46 PM
10% Fat (Mostly from vegetables)
What vegetables have fat?
I think 80% carbs is far too high. Lately they say the high protein diets have much better success at losing than high carb ones.
I agree about the salt...we don't add salt to anything and eat very little of it at all. The only thing I put salt on is a little twist of the salt grinder over my oatmeal. We don't eat that many processed foods and whichever ones we do get, I check the salt content and only by things with a low percentage.
I see people just load the salt on their food, even before tasting it, and it boggles my mind.
6829. Magoseph - 4/4/2007 3:56:09 PM
For those of you who have lower back problems, try these exercises--I guaranty that they work.
6830. wonkers2 - 4/4/2007 4:17:40 PM
Thanks! I printed them out.
6831. Wombat - 4/4/2007 5:12:56 PM
Arky:
When Passover ends (next Monday), I will start up my food diary (again). Basically, I track everything I eat, weigh portions, etc., calculate calories. My maintenance weight corresponds almost directly to my daily caloric intake (in thousands of calories; 250 lbs=2500 calories per day). Anything more, I gain; anything less, I lose. In the past, I have found that it is really difficult to exceed 2500 calories per day.
I don't really track proportions devoted to food groups. I probably eat more fat and protein calories than some diets call for, but I find that carbs--complex or not--stimulate my appetite.
Exercise has been problematic for me. In the past, I have found that it must be in a daily context, rather than have specific time set aside for it. I would get on or off the subway a stop or two before my stop and walk. That was good for 30 minutes to an hour of walking per day. These days--in theory--I could walk my children to and from school (30 mniutes to an hour).
6832. clydefo - 4/4/2007 5:16:06 PM
Most vegetables have 10-20% calories from fat. Collard greens 12%, etc. Oatmeal is 10% fat calories.
Any more protein than is needed to repair connective tissue, skin, etc, is a nuisance for the body to eliminate if plenty of clean carb fuel is available. Hard on the kidneys. May contribute to osteoporosis.
6833. judithathome - 4/4/2007 5:40:03 PM
Well, I don't have osteoporosis and if I eat too many carbs, I gain weight and feel awful...
6834. judithathome - 4/4/2007 5:43:46 PM
Clyde, where did you get that info about the fat in veggies? Because the list I go by which is put out by the American Heart Association shows zero fat in vegetables. In fact, that's why most veggies are in the FREE column on Weight Watchers lists...
6835. clydefo - 4/4/2007 6:11:03 PM
6831.
...carbs--complex or not--stimulate my appetite.
Having a high water content and low calories, complex carbs let one munch all day and enjoy a full belly while still losing or maintaining weight, especially if one stays busy enough to start sweating during the day
6833.
...if I eat too many carbs, I gain weight...
Don't eat too many. Or less couch time.
6834.
When the "food" lobby wrote the labeling laws, they provided loopholes allowing them to "round down" fat % to zero if the amount per portion size is below some threshold, maybe one gram.
This site is probably as accurate as any. Cooked broccoli 10% fat calories
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/11091.html
6836. arkymalarky - 4/4/2007 11:13:53 PM
The absolute best I've ever done, exercise-wise, was with Basic Training, with Ada
I have tapes converted to dvds that I can use on my laptop, and I've done that some, but I'm going to start with the calisthenics and treadmill and work my way up to using her routines again, hopefully by summer. I wouldn't have done any good with any exercise before my hysterectomy and getting my allergies under control, and I'm starting my allergy shots back Friday. I would have a few weeks ago, but I've been fighting a chronic sinus infection. I was about to go on antibiotics, but the rain and following cooler, dry weather are giving it a chance to clear up, so maybe I won't have to.
I'm doing a food/exercise diary, and I got everything set this evening to officially start in the morning. I've "practiced" today, eating less and walking on the treadmill. I'm glad to have four days before school starts back to work into a routine.
6837. Ulgine Barrows - 4/4/2007 11:30:28 PM
larky, I've been 'practicing' for a good 4 months now.
Noting has gotten me off my butt, so sad.
Shout out to all you other big hips & butts.
6838. Ulgine Barrows - 4/4/2007 11:33:46 PM
Every morning, I've got a new chance
-Spoon
6839. alistairConnor - 4/5/2007 7:18:32 AM
Yeah get off your butt Ulgine
and let me get on it.
I don't know if we'll lose weight
but we could have fun trying.
6840. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 7:18:53 AM
clydefo, i'm afraid your high carb diet is way out of date and not in keeping with the learnings from the impact of carbs on insulin and blood sugar levels. I used to follow a high carb diet and found a good chunk of my body nothing but a bin of cellulite. I switched to schwarzbein which is a controlled carb diet and my cellulite evaporated. Cellulite of course is nothing but fat. And the body must protect the brain from excess sugar so all carbs consumed must be burned immediately or layed down as fat, usually around the middle. The basic building blocks of syndrome X. Further, carbs take a lot longer for the body to register as 'full' than do protein or fats so it's very easy to overeat carbs vs. the others.
On top of that, the essential role of protein in the body esp as it comes to building muscle has been greatly underestimated by these high carb diets. See for example, the latest Nutrition action letter on Saving Muscle. In addition to requiring protein to build muscle, the more muscle the body contains, the more calories it burns, even at rest, which makes it easier to lose weight and keep it off.
And as far as protein being bad for your kidneys, that's true. Fat is bad for your arteries and Carbs are bad for your blood sugar, but you have to eat something. That's why the majority of nutritionists recommend, and have recommended for decades the importance of a balanced diet. A diet such as your recommending is not balanced.
6841. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 7:26:41 AM
As far as fat in vegetables, it depends on the vegetable. Corn is high in fat...think corn oil. So are olives and soy beans and especially high fat is avocados. But generally nonstarchy vegetables like squash and green beans and lettuce are not good sources of fat.
For anyone wondering about nutritional content of various foods, I highly recommend this link...very thorough and has a great visual to help you place the food on the fat/protein/carb pyramid.
6842. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 7:29:52 AM
For weight loss considerations, let me recommend another approach. For every 100 extra calories a day you consume, you will gain 10 lbs in a year. Knowing that fact, you can judge where you are today and where you'd like to be. Say you decide you'd like to be 10 lbs lighter in a year. Then with very little effort...say deciding to skip a slice of bread with butter at dinner...you can painlessly lose the 10 lbs and maintain that weight loss.
Or you can combine that with a daily activity like burning 50 calories extra and eating 50 fewer calories and achieve the same result.
6843. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 7:32:55 AM
Also, here is an exercise/calorie burned calculator.
6844. Magoseph - 4/5/2007 7:50:30 AM
Thanks for the links, thoughtful.
6845. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 8:35:02 AM
Great stuff, y'all! Thanks Thoughtful!!
6846. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 8:35:27 AM
Getupoffit, Ulgine, and let's go!
6847. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 8:50:50 AM
Okay. Day one.
After stripping every shred, including rings, trimming my toenails, peeing, spitting, and blowing my nose, I weigh 157 lbs. This isn't true confessions time for everybody, it's just my blog/diary part, so don't feel like you need to chime in with your own weight, but go ahead if you want.
My general "diet" will be cereal with 1% milk (cold or hot) with a max of 200 calories. I will have orange juice at 110 calories, and coffee with 5tbsp of Lite Coffeemate at 50 calories (cutting the cream/creamer in my coffee is my biggest sacrifice--I like strong coffee with lots of cream, no sugar). I will have one chocolate square at 60 calories and one granola bar before lunch at 150 calories. I will take two fiber tablets a day at 20 calories, and plan to have water and tea at hand at all times--0 calories. I will have one can of low-sodium V-8 a day at 30 calories, and one piece of fresh fruit (? calories--usually an apple). I will have Slimfast for lunch while at work and a caloric equivalent at home. For my "main meal," whether supper or lunch, I put a calorie limit of 450. Most frozen dinners (Kashi ones are great, but fairly high carb with the grains) are around 350. For an evening snack, if I can't stand it, I eat a tablespoon of peanutbutter and drink a cup of milk at 200 calories.
I plan to keep a diary of everything I eat and maintain a daily calorie count that doesn't exceed 1500.
I'm taking one multivitamin for people over 50, even though I'm not over 50.
To start, my exercise goal is to do one set (is a set 8-10 reps? it didn't say) of the "core" calisthenics in the link I posted and 1/2 to 1 mile on the treadmill at 2-2.5mph. I'll see how that goes today and do the doctor thing tomorrow morning. This morning I followed the breakfast, which I generally do anyway, and I'm adding fiber to the max and some prunes/prune juice along with lots more water and tea to try to clean out my system somewhat, since I'm going to be home the next four days.
Our luckiest feature where we live is FANTASTIC water, so I can drink gobs of it and take it to work for tea and water.
6848. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 9:00:33 AM
I like grab-and-go stuff, especially the Tropicana fresh orange juice single-serve cartons. I also like the 100 calorie packs of Doritos. Bob loves to measure his stuff ahead of time and puts them in the new little Glad containers (with the blue tops). He measures out his oatmeal for every day, with prunes, nuts, and Splenda. He loves Splenda, but I know Judith for one, has had major problems trying to use it. I don't set out to, but I don't have to avoid it, and Bob doesn't eat all the stuff he used to with a Splenda replacement. IOW, he doesn't drink any soda, eat sweets, etc. He also eats lots of the Kashi 7-grain cereal when he can get it--the one with no sweetener in it. He's having to go to Little Rock for it now. He's very routine, and eats a lot of the same things, but he loves them. For diabetics it's all about the carbs, so he's limited to a low-carb diet, but he hardly takes in any fat or meat at all--which is strange, because he's always been (and still is) such a meat lover. And between oatmeal and Kashi, he eats a lot of whole grains. No bread, though, at all. He loves mixing yogurt (Splenda-sweetened Lite85) with Kashi. He loves tomato anything, and drinks lots of V-8.
6849. Wombat - 4/5/2007 9:31:20 AM
I try and use as little "diet" food as possible, the main exception being diet Coke or Pepsi. I am not going to ruin the taste of my morning coffee by substituting Splenda or Equal (cannot do saccharine) for 2 teaspoons of turbinado sugar (30-40 calories, at most).
I also eschew most lo-fat dairy products (exceptions 1% milk when I have cereal, and Neuchatel cheese for cream cheese with my bagel and lox.
6850. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 9:42:16 AM
I'm generally the same wrt diet, but I've found "Lite" stuff that doesn't substitute but simply contains less of some things (Lite peanutbutter, for instance) suits me as well--and after a time tastes better--than the regular stuff. I read labels for that, though.
I also don't like subbing what I really really like and feeling deprived. That works against me in the long run. Out of necessity Bob uses Splenda for everything and says he likes it as well as sugar and can't taste the difference. There are some other "natural" sweeteners out he hasn't tried, or at least not more than once. One is Stevia, which someone recommended to him.
Mose swears by the "Zero" sodas, but I'm better off not to have them at all, and if I do want a soda I want "real" Coke or Dr. Pepper or Sierra Mist. Bob drinks unsweetened tea wherever we eat out and whatever it is we're eating.
6851. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 9:44:33 AM
Eating out is the big issue, really, especially when we're busy. And Judith can attest to the fact that where I work, to be such a small town, has several MAJOR temptations in that regard. In fact, I shouldn't even be talking about them this early in my new program. ;-)
6852. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 9:47:38 AM
A note on target: I don't really want to say when--though the end of summer is what I'm secretly hoping--but I'd like to get under 130. I didn't weigh over 100 lbs until after college, and since childhood I'd always been made fun of for being too skinny (this was pre-heroin-chic). After Mose I stayed around 115 until I hit 30, when I began bingeing at lunch every day with a friend from work. My best weight with exercise and a "toned up" look after that was 123 lbs. I'd like to get around that at least. I'm 5'4".
6853. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 9:55:46 AM
The truckstop and another gas station with GREAT burgers right up the road have also been a temptation. For me, keeping my stress levels (not necessarily anxiety--for me that's a different thing, and can actually make me lose weight if it gets out of control, and I DON'T want to lose it that way) under control are really key. I forget restaurants when my stress is down. When it's up, I want to just grab food. So I'm also trying to incorporate some meditation and more constructive "down time" and work on pacing myself better. That also means getting back into some things I've wanted to do or used to do, like re-learning the guitar, getting my house in order, etc.
There will be frantic days of finishing projects and getting grades in--I've come to DESPISE deadlines--but I want them to be few and far between, compared to what they have been the past three or four years, and I want to handle them better.
6854. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 10:25:13 AM
Couple more things, then I'm logging off for a while:
First, suggestions from anyone? I tried to lay out pretty much everything I'm planning to do. I will also weigh every morning. That's just me, and I work best when I do that, especially to start. I have class on Monday nights, so may or may not post that day. It is the day I may eat out, as well. When I was on Weight Watchers I ate out one day a week--right after the WW meeting.
Second, the date I'm scheduled for WildBlue internet hookup is April 12, so from then on I don't have to sit here in chunks on dialup wondering if Sweepstakes people are trying to call while I'm online. ;-)
Third, is anyone else who's ongoing or starting some kind of "program" interested in any weekly comparisons, group efforts, etc? (thinking back to what I said about my school in the past) Any "jump-start" ideas or warnings against them? In my night class, they're passing some kind of three-day enzyme diet around, and my prof lost--I think he said something like 30-40 lbs--on it combined with "regular" dieting between that one. He's older than Bob, I think over 60. If I get a copy, which they're supposed to email, I'll post it. I'm not thinking of trying it. I did a cabbage soup one years ago that came from my principal at work, and I still cringe thinking about that soup. Bob and I both did it. The first day it was sort of tasty....
6855. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 10:26:29 AM
Wombat, if you're starting up something after Passover and don't mind posting it, I'd love to read what you're doing.
6856. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 10:31:55 AM
Other possibly relevant details (results-wise) on my particular situation: I've had a full hysterectomy (two years ago) and I'm not on Estrogen or calcium. Like I said, the only supplement I'm planning to take is a multivitamin, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm on Zyrtec sinus meds and a nasal steroid, plus allergy shots. I take something for stress as needed (not often now), and I can't think of anything else that might affect diet/exercise/general health or results of a diet/exercise program.
6857. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 10:33:00 AM
Oh boy, I have lots of comments on your plan but I will limit myself to 2 comments, a commendation, and 2 helpful hints at this point.
Comment 1) plan is very high in sugar...especially the breakfast. Milk is full of lactose which is sugar. Fruit juice is full of fructose which is sugar. Cereal is loaded with carbs which is sugar. (See post #6780 above for sugar content of 'healthy' american bkfst.) If you opt for cereal, try to find one with less sugar and more fiber like the kashi go lean cereals. If you would be happy swapping out the v8 juice for the oj, you'll be saving sugar and calories. Slimfast alone is 4 1/2 tsp of sugar.
Comment 2) plan is very low in vegetables. Nonstarchy vegetables (green beans, zucchini, spinach, broccoli, etc) are very filling, provide bulk and fiber which is great for avoiding constipation which can happen when you eat less, are very low calorie and provide a huge nutrition boost not only for vitamins and anti-oxidants, but also for trace minerals. They don't know why, but many of the health benefits they've tried to isolate in vegetables don't work in pill form, but do work when eaten as whole food.
Commendation: drinking water. It's so essential for the body systems to work and it's especially important to flush out any chemicals that are released as your body switches to burning fat. Further it helps you feel full (like a glass of water before a meal is a great way to keep from eating too much) and it has zero calories.
Hint 1: When eating out, whatever portion they serve you, divide it in half (or even a third)...eat half and wrap half to go. Keeps you from overeating, lets you enjoy the meal a second time and saves you from cooking for a day.
Hint 2: Keep the changes you're instituting manageable. It takes at least 3 weeks to form a new habit and doing too much at once can lead to feeling deprived or that the program is too stringent to follow. Instead, focus on losing weight for a lifetime, not just for a diet and make changes that you can live with for your lifetime. The benefits of that...never needing to diet again...doesn't that sound good?
6858. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 10:52:33 AM
Thanks Thoughtful! (I'm still here, going through the other threads). I already do the Hint 1 on eating out, but even half is too much to do on a regular basis, and I'd been eating out entirely too much. If I limit to once a week and still half it, so it's actually twice a week ;-), I should be able to control my intake a lot better than I have been.
Most of these changes aren't really much change for me, which is why I've got things lined out this way. The main thing I'm trying to do for now is calorie limit+exercise (of which I've done ZIP in the last several months). I want to be able to adjust what I eat with the calorie limit as a base. If I focus on more than that I get frustrated and my stomach goes wack at inopportune times. Teaching school and being prone to IBS I am very limited in how much I can change my diet right now.
The second important thing for me is routine. Not having one is killer for me, because I don't like to cook, Bob has his own diet/exercise down pat and his numbers all excellent, and I keep things as low-maintenance as possible (not just with food, but with everything). I've done this same in the past with quite a lot of success, just because I'm limiting my intake and my eating out so much. I know it is too much sugar and not enough vegetables, and I hope to work to shift that, especially by summer. To try that now would cause me problems. I probably wouldn't give up my oj, but the cereal will probably be oatmeal.
You are right on the lifetime. That's what Bob has done, and it's over three years now for him. The dietician told him he would have to institute a lifestyle change. That was in the afternoon and he told her he was going to eat out that evening and start in the morning. She said, "I wouldn't do that," and he didn't. He started that night and has been going ever since.
And please keep all this info coming! Your knowledge and experience in this area is very helpful!
6859. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 10:55:00 AM
One more thing on the milk. Having had a hysterectomy and not really wanting to do a calcium supplement I've increased my milk quite a lot. I don't care for yogurt, but I love cheese. In a day, though, I have two cups of milk. One with cereal and one at night. If I go to oatmeal I will either half the milk or just make it with water.
6860. Wombat - 4/5/2007 10:57:56 AM
One of the foods that I have learned to do without is fruit juice. Almost completely empty calories. Considering how much I used to drink, I probably saved 100-200 calories per day not drinking it. I'll have a clementine or two instead.
Arky: if you don't mind being excessively decadent, get out the Reddi-Whip and spritz it in your coffee. You could put 4 tablespoons of whipped cream in your coffee and end up with less calories than your dose of artificial creamer.
6861. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 11:00:26 AM
OOOOhhh, I like that idea, Wombat. I'll put it on my grocery list.
I know about the fruit juice, but I LOVE my oj. Y'all are very convincing, though. I'll think about it. I can replace it with an orange. We have fresh fruit for breakfast at school now.
(Dammit!)
6862. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 11:00:56 AM
And that would be two fruits in a day and no juice.
6863. Wombat - 4/5/2007 11:08:58 AM
Cheese is tough. I am capable of eating 8 ozs. of cheese while in my recliner with a good book. Of course, I like the hard, pungent types as well (which are higher in calories, as well). On the other hand, I use a vegetable peeler to shave thin slices on toast (whole wheat or pumpernickel) or ry-krisps. That makes an ounce go a long way.
6864. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 11:11:50 AM
Cheese and nuts are Bob's weaknesses, but they're also pretty much his only significant source of fat and calories in general. He's pretty much quit cheese. I will work any I eat into my supper calories (which is where my veggies will be, as well). I purposely left that part blank, with only a calorie limit.
6865. betty - 4/5/2007 11:12:46 AM
oh cheese, you undue every mile I run.
6866. Wombat - 4/5/2007 11:22:27 AM
Is anyone using a dietician?
6867. clydefo - 4/5/2007 11:34:28 AM
Message # 6840
thoughtful, "Out of Date" is one of my nicknames. Nonetheless, I like Pritikin because it works so good for me both times I've followed his guidelines; first years ago and then last year to lose the beer belly. I got skinny in three months and I'm back to my old High School playing weight of 165 pounds. Pulse rate and BP way down, no insomnia, less Middle Class Stress Disorder, etc. His insights have held up so well over the years as the Nutritional State of the Art has evolved, e.g., his argument that vitamin E supplements do more harm than good is supported by the latest studies.
My guess is that exercise is what makes any plan work. I would quibble over some of your points. To be clear, I assume that "carb" means Complex Carb.
But generally nonstarchy vegetables like squash and green beans and lettuce are not good sources of fat.
This info adapted from tables athttp://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20dw.html
shows that iceburg lettuce is almost 8% fat. And it is far better for you than animal fat.
Nutrients per Serving for Lettuce, iceberg (includes crisphead types), raw
Amounts per 1 cup shredded (72g)
Total Calories10.1(42.3 kJ)
Calories from Carbohydrate7.7(32.2 kJ)
Calories from Fat0.8(3.3 kJ)
Calories from Protein1.6(6.7 kJ)
Calories from Alcohol0.0(0.0 kJ)
Percent of Calories from fat: .8/10.1 = 7.9
...all carbs consumed must be burned immediately...
carbs take a lot longer for the body to register as 'full' than do protein or fats
Conplex carb foods are high water content and so provide a full feeling with relatively few calories. They burn at a steady slow feed, avoiding insulin spikes.
Fat is bad for your arteries and Carbs are bad for your blood sugar
Good arteries need good fat. Blood sugar is food.
...the essential role of protein in the body esp as it comes to building muscle has been greatly underestimated by these high carb diets...
Not at all. Iceburg lettuce is 15% protein calories. The body manufactures most of the amino acids it needs for proteins. Plant or animal, it only needs small additional daily amounts to fulfill its needs. More muscle is desirable but even body builders waste money on protein powder when an extra egg white sandwich will suffice.
6868. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 12:56:06 PM
Is anyone using a dietician?
Bob used one at first through his doctor. I don't know anyone who's using one now.
Another clarification on my diet (nothing to do with anything posted, just an fyi) is that I always do Slimfast for lunch at work whether or not I'm on a diet. It's just the easiest, quickest way not to eat in the lunchroom. Next year when I'm not in school or working so frantically on education issues I plan to make a new plan for school lunch. So anything I eat daily outside of school (like today) will not include a Slimfast.
6869. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 1:06:29 PM
Clyde, from my own and my family's experience, exercise and lots of water. My parents eat sensibly, eat out when they want but pretty sensibly there, and drink sensibly. I don't know where they went wrong with me. ;-)
Seriously, they both tend to be somewhat nagging and preachy about it--most parents were warning their kids about teen sex and drinking, and mine were nagging me to get off the couch and put down the chips. But at 70 and 75 they're very active and go and do whatever they want. I've said it here before, but I expect Dad to go somewhere in that jungly yard of his or at the bottom of his swimming pool. That's what I worry about most with them--they're so active that they'll get hurt or worse while swimming, hiking, or doing yard work. Dad's also not careful enough about working and/or running when I think it's entirely too hot. But I've figured out you can't do anything with that generation. They're such rebels.
6870. Wombat - 4/5/2007 1:12:21 PM
I have found a Dietician most helpful in getting me started, and in providing advice/suggestions/encouragement.
Mine can also round up caloric counts for ethnic fare, which is a major consideration where I live (DC area).
I did Slimfast years ago, slimmed fast, and unslimmed equally fast. I hate the idea missing a meal, and get famished between 5-7 pm.
Ideally, my daily calory range per meal are:
Breakfast: 150-300
Lunch: 600-1000
Snack: 100-200
Dinner: 700-1000
With 4-5 hours of brisk walking and snow-shoveling, leaf raking, lawn mowing, etc. per week, I would lose weight even if I ate along the upper range consistently.
6871. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 1:22:18 PM
I generally have to eat smaller meals more often.
I couldn't do a Slimfast diet plan. I tried it before, and wanted to eat the can I was so hungry.
6872. clydefo - 4/5/2007 1:26:37 PM
Hi arkymalarky.
First tip: Don't consume all your RDA of caffeine and sugar before you start writing.
Just kidding. I count pots rather than cups per day and sleep like a baby these days.
2. Return to exercise gradually. Anyone who has rushed it in the past knows the reasons for this. Be disciplined about it. Dieting (eating) is the easy part.
3. Read this book.
Pritikin Promise 28 Day Plan
You're welcome.
6873. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 1:35:46 PM
I drink a 4-cup pot in the morning and that's it. Thanks for the link!
6874. judithathome - 4/5/2007 1:40:54 PM
Don't eat too many. Or less couch time.
Look, I know you're trying to be helpful but for you to assume I spend time on the couch popping bon bons into my mouth is ludicrous. I walk almost an hour every morning, 5 days a week, and consider that to be pretty damned good considering I couldn't walk without great pain AND a cane 2 years ago. And I swim for an hour three times a week at an indoor pool...I do water exercises and swim laps and use weights for strength training in the pool. And during summer months, I do that 5 days a week at an outdoor pool.
I'm no couch potato, trust me.
6875. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 2:07:25 PM
I'm about to log off again, but what are the views among this bunch about male/female and age as factors in planning and succeeding at losing weight and getting healthier? There was quite a heated discussion about it at MSNBC when I looked yesterday, the basic on one side (men) being "consume less+burn more=weight loss" at the same rate for everyone, and the other being that middle-aged women with a different metabolism have effects which make success more difficult and that men don't experience. Which led to the accusations that women are whining and men don't understand women, yaddayaddayadda.
6876. clydefo - 4/5/2007 2:14:03 PM
Sorry for the flippancy, judithathome. No offense intended. Change the second remark to "more exercise" or drop it altogether. That is certainly a great exercise program; more than I do.
I will try to be mindful of your sensitivity about bon-bons.
6877. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 2:33:21 PM
Another question (I will be SO GLAD to get on satellite internet). Bob is wanting to add moderate strength/weights to his program. He's 55 with no major health issues (diabetes is controlled without meds) and walks 3 miles a day. Anyone have a routine, preference, suggestions? He has a nice weight machine--actual weights, not resistance. Not that one or the other is better, but suggestions may differ for each type.
I believe the exercise will do me in. I was good for less than ten minutes. Okay, closer to five minutes. That site I linked comes with a neat poster and I printed it off. I also have a neat little stepper and 2 lb weights and I have all that set up with a roll-up mat in the living room, which is where I'm most likely to use it but it's still out of the way. The treadmill is in the garage, and I'll tackle it later.
6878. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 3:07:27 PM
Clydefo, exactly 8% fat of lettuce does not make lettuce a fat. Pritikin is extremely low fat diet and is not sound nutrition. Maybe it's ok to follow in the short run, if you're healthy and if you don't mind being malnourished, but it is not a long run plan for good health.
Of course you will lose weight following pritikin. You can lose weight following any diet that limits calorie intake. Heck you can lose weight eating nothing but chocolate and hot fudge sundaes so long as the total calorie intake is resticted. But that does NOT mean you're losing weight in a healthy way or that you are providing your body with adequate nutrition. In fact, interesting to consider, many morbidly obese people, despite their size, are undernourished because of what they eat...not how much.
Consider that fat makes up every cell wall in the body. Consider that fat is essential for the body to build hormones...and not just sex hormones, but other important hormones like melatonin and seratonin and endorphins which help us feel well and happy.
In addition to needing fat, the body needs essential fatty acids such as those found in omega-3 rich foods like fish and flax seed and walnuts. The reason why they are called essential is because the body can't make them out of other parts but must ingest them. In addition fat is critical for storing key vitamins like A & D.
So for good nutrition, it is important to get a balance of fats including saturated fats. What happens if you don't? Well, if you don't eat cholesterol, your body makes it. It's that essential to good health.
Further fat is important element to satiety. If you eat a meal with fat, you will feel fuller faster than if you don't, thus feeling satisfied with lower calories than not.
See for the importance of all 3 macronutrients and why the are essential for good health.
If you want to avoid bad fats, avoid transfats...they do significant damage to the body.
6879. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 3:27:51 PM
clydefo, you assumed i meant complex carbohydrates. Well carbos are carbos the way the body sees them. It all gets converted to sugar which, as I said before, must be burned immediately or converted to fat.
The difference between complex and simple carbs are of course the amount of fiber that comes with them, which helps slow digestion and eases the 'sugar shock' that comes with carbs. And complex carbs like whole grains and starchy vegetables carry a boatload of nutrition over and above that of things like sugar and high fructose corn syrup. But the body reacts to grapes as it does to a snickers bar. In fact, grapes have a higher glycemic index of 66 vs. the snickers bar at 59. Both lead to insulin rush.
Further in terms of overall balance, excess carbs come at the expense of other essential macro and micro nutrients provided by fats and protein.
You and others may find this article interesting about the damaging effects of sugar on the body leading to diabetes and the echo effects. Seeing as it concludes with the effects of the final echo:
# Neuropathy
# Amputation
# Kidney failure
# Dialysis
# Heart disease
# Blindness
# Death
and seeing that diabetes is rising at epidemic rates, it's probably worthwhile reading for anyone interested in good health.
6880. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 3:36:22 PM
This is just gross.
I don't remember a time when we've had more issues with contamination in food. To think a roof leaked into peanutbutter that was sold to the public. Ugh.
6881. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 4:23:38 PM
This is a cute Slate piece on Green Tea
6882. clydefo - 4/5/2007 4:40:25 PM
...fat is important element to satiety. If you eat a meal with fat, you will feel fuller faster than if you don't, thus feeling satisfied with lower calories than not.
Satiety or sluggishness? Fatty meals cause the blood platelets to clump and reduces their efficiency. As with protein, fats are vital to body chemistry and "infrastructure", but create problems when any excess is consumed. Fat is a good fuel source only in a concentration camp.
The USDA recommendation of 20-35% fat calories, partially justified by their claim that "fat is the most concentrated source of energy" is due to meat industry lobbying. Fat is the worst source of energy, in part because of the caloric concentration.
A diet of minimally processed whole grains, vegetables and fruits provides all the essential fatty acids we need. Flax seeds and walnuts are unneeded and provide too many fat calories. The "more is better" attitude usually leads to bad ends.
...grapes have a higher glycemic index of 66 vs. the snickers bar at 59. Both lead to insulin rush.
Only if you've not eaten recently. If you have been grazing all along on various CC munchies, you've been maintaining a nice steady insulin level. Unlike the candy bar, the grapes are mostly water, and the fiber is very desirable.
6883. judithathome - 4/5/2007 4:48:06 PM
The Slate article was hysterical...Next in this progression will be an invisible ghost tea with the regenerative properties of fetal stem cells. Scientists may also one day discover that drinking hot water is good for you.
6884. arkymalarky - 4/5/2007 11:39:54 PM
Well, the first day went pretty easily except for the exercise. I did it for a short time, even the treadmill, but I'm very out of shape. I stayed under 1500 calories without feeling particularly hungry. I need to do two more things off the bat (besides going to the doctor tomorrow and getting my allergies back under control) and add more things as I go, especially healthier food and more exercise. The first is to pay closer attention to the water. I had four glasses or so, but I should have had more, and keeping it around all the time doesn't mean I don't forget about the glass sitting there. The other is sleep. Since "Huckabee spoke" I've been getting far less sleep than I used to. Rarely do I get over 6 hours a night, and it's usually around four or five. I'd love to get 8-9, and I hope I can start to do that. I'm just not sleepy at bedtime, and I'm usually sleeping like a rock when I have to get up on work mornings. Dad, healthy as he is, sleeps until 10-11AM, but he can do that now. I always thought of him as an early-bird, but he just had to be. I don't care so much about the bedtime/waking time, but until school's out I can't sleep in, so I have to figure out how to get sleepier earlier. I've read a number of places that sleeping more has benefits, one of which is weight loss, and that women tend not to get nearly enough.
6885. thoughtful - 4/6/2007 6:28:10 AM
I agree on the importance of sleep. In fact it is one of the essential steps in the schwarzbein principle. Her thinking is all about balance. Some things we do wear the body down, other things help restore it. Her thinking is that it's important to keep those in balance. Sleeping is an important element to rebuilding as is proper nutrition.
6886. wonkers2 - 4/6/2007 6:49:59 AM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "Sex at least oncet a day helps, too!"
6887. arkymalarky - 4/6/2007 2:20:19 PM
Day two has been a run-around day. We just got home. We ate breakfast out with Mose, and not lunch. We ate at Cracker Barrel and I didn't worry too much about what I chose (2 eggs w/bacon, one biscuit, and hash browns--AND OJ! AND IT WAS WONDERFUL! ;-)), but I didn't eat it all, I ate leftovers of it for lunch, and we got all our "town" business done, so I don't have to eat out Monday due to going from school to town for tax stuff and groceries, then to class. I can come home and eat and then go.
The most embarrassing thing for me to admit starting out is that as little as I did exercise-wise yesterday, my legs are sore and tight-feeling. I did do just a little (5 mins) on the treadmill after logging off last night.
Also, I forgot I need to do bloodwork, I am going to have to do a round of antibiotics before starting my allergy shots, and as a result I'm rescheduling my physical. I'll finish the meds and then get my bloodwork done and go in after that, sometime week after next, probably.
6888. arkymalarky - 4/6/2007 3:51:22 PM
A note about rural living:
We don't just zip to the store or to do anything in town. When we go to do "town business" we do everything that needs doing, hopefully for at least a week, and the drive there and back alone takes 40 minutes or so. Planning these trips carefully has a lot of impact on how I can manage the rest of my routine. For instance, I left my prescription at another store, didn't realize it until after I got done shopping, had frozen stuff that had to get home, unloaded the car, got the message on my machine which let me know I'd been wrong about where I'd left it, drove back to town and got it, and went ahead and did my taxes (they hadn't quite finished with them when we checked right after our Wal-Mart trip), then went home. The day began before 8 and ended around 2:30. We both got haircuts, though, so that's one less thing to worry about. I was glad we actually grabbed only one meal, and that it was breakfast.
I get the impression urban living is similar, but suburban and town living is easier. You need something, you run up to the strip mall and get it. Does taking care of seemingly endless errands drive other people crazy and wear them out? I know in this town, or even the one where I work, it's no issue to run grab anything you need and be back within 20 minutes. Of course repeatedly doing that is disruptive, so planning is still valuable, but it isn't such an ordeal for every errand.
6889. arkymalarky - 4/7/2007 11:39:26 AM
Judith,
Would you share what you're doing, routine-wise, with swimming? I'm going to be in class every weekday in June and I could swim as long as I wanted each day, but I wonder what a good water routine would consist of. I don't like to swim when my parents are home, but I'll either get over that, or try to time it when they're out running--which would mean before class, probably. I don't know when my class is yet.
6890. arkymalarky - 4/7/2007 11:49:17 AM
Day 3: This was the day I originally planned to start, after my visit with Judith and a doctor's appointment. I am starting my antibiotics today and will hopefully get bloodwork done in the next week or so (after a 10-day round of meds). After that it's back on allergy shots and to a full physical.
I'm still going to do the exercise--calisthenics and treadmill--which has been minimal for two days, but I feel I can do more today. After my doctor's appointment I hope to ratchet it up quite a bit, depending on whether I start hurting. By then I'll have been going one to two weeks.
I'm doing lots of liquids today, including prune juice, which is very high calorie, but has been the best option for me in the past when I needed to clear out my system, to be euphemistic. I won't be doing that tomorrow and I drank my last carton of oj today.
Question: If oj is squeezed, not from concentrate, aside from the added fiber of an orange, what's the difference? It says on the carton "two servings of fruit." I'm still dropping the oj. I just wanted to know why--besides the fiber--two oranges are better.
6891. arkymalarky - 4/7/2007 12:21:44 PM
What Bob lives on
Scroll down for ingredients and nutrition info. Just ordered him a case, because it's getting impossible to find. He just drove to Little Rock's Wild Oats and bought all nine boxes they had, turned around (90 minutes and 75 miles one-way) and came home.
6892. arkymalarky - 4/7/2007 12:22:59 PM
Online cost is cheaper than their other cereals, at 26.99 per case of 12, plus shipping of 11.35, which amounts to about $3.20 per box.
6893. arkymalarky - 4/7/2007 12:26:31 PM
At 70 calories for a cup, Bob mixes it with Lite85 yogurt and gets filled up. He varies yogurt flavors with it, though he has to read yogurt labels carefully. They're getting more variety with less desirable nutrition info and it makes it harder to get exactly what he wants.
6894. arkymalarky - 4/7/2007 12:28:32 PM
One more on swimming. I'm assuming my allergies would be less an issue with swimming than walking. If not, I'd have to do an indoor pool.
6895. judithathome - 4/7/2007 2:20:32 PM
I swim laps...swim two laps and then stop to do the water weights and stretching stuff. That includes arm exercises like you'd do with weights, different exercises to sort of cover all the muscle groups. I do sets of three with eight reps on each one.
Then I swim 2 more laps and stop for the leg stretches...same thing, 3 sets of eight each...front to back, side to side.
Then 2 more laps swimming. Some days I do more swimming and some days leass...whatever I can do in 45 minutes to an hour.
I had to work up to this, believe me...and I plan to increase the sets and reps as I gain more strength. Add more laps, too.
I do this and my morning walk...I do three days of swim, five days of walking.
6896. arkymalarky - 4/7/2007 5:32:08 PM
Sounds like a great routine. I don't really have a winter option, but it seems like I ought to use the free summer pool, but I wasn't sure what to do once I got in it besides swim laps.
6897. arkymalarky - 4/8/2007 9:53:58 AM
Yesterday's exercise was easier and I did about twice as much (not that that's much). I'm not sore this morning, either. Food and water both went well. I'm getting in about 4 16oz glasses of water, and I'll have to keep that up at work. I keep it and tea to drink anyway, because it keeps my voice going.
I LOVE the treadmill Bob brought back from his friend in NO. I love it being in the garage, as well. We're going to close in the garage and put a window unit AC in it and a television and make it our main lounging room. We'll put a portable carport out back for my car. Right now I'm doing the rest of my exercising in the living room, and with nothing but a poster, a mat, hand weights, and a little stepper, it's not in the way or hard to get out and put back. SO, bottom line is that I can increase my time and reps without any extra prep time or stuff being everywhere or needing to be by the tv.
Tomorrow starts back work after spring break, and my breakfast will be a Kashi bar, yogurt smoothie, and fruit--probably an orange. No cereal...and no juice....
Another thing I love about where I work compared to other schools I've worked in is that we have a breakfast period of 20 minutes in the high school, so after first period is when I have breakfast every day, rather than at home. This is great for high school kids who tend to skip breakfast, even if it's free at school, if it means moving more and earlier in the morning. I'm a strong advocate of later school starts for adolescents. For a non-morning person this breakfast period is a huge plus to getting a good breakfast in. Also, since it's now officially past the holiday season, people won't be leaving goodies for us in the teachers' lounge. The best strawberry pie maker south of the Mason-Dixon retired last year.
I was looking at the Health part of Yahoo, and it's fairly good as a central location for a lot of stuff, as is MSNBC's Health section, but I get sick to death of the obsession with sex. I think it's time people start doing more--or not--and talking WAY less. It's a relevant part of health and fitness, but it's not the be-all end-all of it. Maybe I'm making too much of it and it says more about me, or maybe it's just hitting me wrong this morning. Whatever the case, it's bugging me.
6898. Wombat - 4/8/2007 7:34:48 PM
I can get Kashi at my local supermarket. My problem with it, is in order to eat enough to feel remotely content, and not to feel famished within an hour or two, I have at least two cups with milk (1%) and sugar. That all adds up.
My problem with breakfast is that I am a slave to routine, but get bored after a while.
I might go for months on 2-3 rye krisps and peanut butter, wheetena or oatmeal with maple syrup and a small pat of butter, or drinkable yogurt and a small bag of pretzels, or a toasted slice of whole-grain pumpernickel with an ounce of cheese or smear of peanut butter (each of which adds up to around 200 calories), and then get tired of it. They are all reasonably filling, as long as I have an early lunch. There were even several months of Mr. Salty cheeze 'n' pretzel snack packs (100 calories each) and a tangerine.
6899. arkymalarky - 4/8/2007 7:50:41 PM
You might try Bob's method--the plain seven grains Kashi (no other Kashi cereal is as pure as that one, though they make good cereals. It's the only one that's low carb enough for his diabetes) mixed with light yogurt (Bob likes the vanilla flavored yogurt) as a snack, rather than for breakfast. You're getting 150 calories and a lot of pure, whole grains plus the yogurt. It also smells wonderful. For breakfast, Bob eats oatmeal with prunes and cinnamon. Our stores here have several types of Kashi, including that one sweetened, but the one that carried that particular kind with no sweetener quit carrying it.
6900. arkymalarky - 4/8/2007 8:16:31 PM
Wombat,
Off the subject, but do you have a public email you can post here, or can you drop me a line at amalarky@yahoo.com? I have a question related to a course I'm teaching next year--I'd like your input if you wouldn't mind giving it.
6901. alistairConnor - 4/9/2007 3:02:33 AM
I'm now 75 kg, which is above my historic range of 68 to 73. A little bit flabby. Mostly, I'd like to reassure myself that I'm not going to continue putting on fat, so I should really examine my diet a bit. It's pretty unplanned mostly.
6902. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 8:20:32 AM
arky, the reason to switch from juice to real oranges is about satiety and slowing down the digestion (read sugar shock). The natural fibers in fruit take longer to digest than the pure liquid form. Further, it's always best to opt for the more natural state of food than the more processed state because in processing bad things can be added and good things can be lost. In fact, schwarzbein recommends not drinking any calories, but instead eating them and drinking noncaloric beverages for satiety. I generally follow that, with the exception of my 1/2 c of v8 juice in the a.m. which i need to wash down my vitamins and my morning coffee (decaf of course) to which I add about 1/3c. whole organic milk.
As far as breakfast, weekdays we each have 2 eggs. Usually they're scrambled. We will mix in sauteed mushrooms, green pepper and onion or we mix in sauteed 'oriental stir fry' which is a frozen blend of green beans, broccoli, onions, mushroom, carrots, red pepper. Otherwise if we have just fried or plain scrambles, I'll have a veggie on the side be it some cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, or whatever else might be around. In addition to that we have a bread of some sort...either whole grain bread toasted with butter or some of hubby's home made baked goods like whole wheat blueberry muffins or whole wheat blueberry scones or whole wheat apple muffins and so on. Trader joe's also has whole grain rye bread and whole grain english muffins which work for us as well. In addition to avoiding transfats and knowing that whole grain is really in there, he bakes for us because it yields normal sized portions. Our homemade muffin is about 1/3 the size of the store-bought ones.
The above breakfast is a balanced meal that provides protein, fat, carbs and nonstarchy vegetables. Further, it contains about 9 tsp of sugar vs. the 21 teaspoons of sugar in the typical 'healthy' american diet. And I guarantee you, after that brkfst, though I eat it at about 5:30 a.m., I'm not hungry again until 11:30 or 12:00.
Another important feature of the breakfast is that it's large. In addition to all the usual stuff about the importance of a good breakfast for brain function, etc., studies have shown that calories consumed in the a.m. are more likely to be burned off as heat than calories consumed at night. So it's best to either balance or even front-load your meals...breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper...just the opposite of the typical american way of doing things.
6903. Magoseph - 4/9/2007 8:25:21 AM
Ali, how tall are you?
6904. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 8:34:01 AM
clydefo,
If you haven't, I'd suggest you scroll back to my #6764 and #6777 ff. rather than me repost it all here again.
I don't think we're going to solve this argument here any more than ornish v. atkins solved it over the years they were fighting about diet too.
Instead, let me tell you about me.
I was doing the 'right' thing by following a high carb low fat diet for quite a few years and, in addition to finding more and more cellulite in places women are apt to get it despite my controlled weight level. Further I was finding myself increasing plagued with muscle aches and stiffness. If I squatted down to get something, I would ache like mad and barely be able to lift myself up again. If I sat in a chair too long, getting up was extremely painful and only after awhile I was able to loosen up and walk normally. I went to doctor after doctor, rheumatologists, chiropractors, you name it. No one was able to help me. I tried many Rx meds, some with not so nice side effects. The only thing that took away my pain was steroids, but they are too dangerous to stay on for any length of time. Then my hubby was finding himself in the same boat with increased stiffness and difficulty getting up after sitting for awhile and so on.
Then my old girlfriend showed up whose mother was a nutrition expert from way way back, doing organics before anyone even knew what they were. And I mentioned to her about my problems, and she pointed me to schwarzbein who was saying fundamentally exactly what her mother did years ago. Eat balanced meals, control carbs for weight control, avoid toxic chemicals and processed foods, eat more vegetables. Once we switched to schwarzbein and added flax seed oil to the diet, the pain and the stiffness have disappeared.
6905. betty - 4/9/2007 11:22:03 AM
Arky,
I just want to share my excercise story with you. When I left the Mr. I weighed, well, so much I'm ashamed to publicly admit it even after I've lost a lot of weight. anyway, I was depressed and needed to do something so one night I decided I was going to run. I had never run in my entire life without someone chasing me. So on a very cold November night I put on a bunch of clothes and ran...less than a block. By the end of the month I was up to one and a half miles. Now I'm running 3-4 miles any chance I get. My goal for May 2008 is to run a marathon (one of the reasons I'm taking a year off before grad school). Sometimes i have taken months off running, but I have made one of the things i do, and I set small accomplishable goals (like, run one extra block today) and so there are immediate victories. And anytime I start to get down on myself for not getting my run in I remember, a few years ago, I couldn't run a block. I've maintained my interest and have even had month long breaks when things were too crazy to keep my routine but I know that it is something I have to come back to because it is part of who I am. I think that in order to be successful in the long-long term with excercise you have to forgive yourself often and find something that you can be passionately involved with.
6906. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 11:46:02 AM
Here here, betty.
I did the same thing...i started running and lasted about a couple of hundred yards, and then I walked the rest of the trip. Gradually, and I mean very gradually, I would run a little further each day. Some days, the little further meant an additional 10 feet. Eventually I was running 3 miles a day. But then I broke my ankle and then I got 2 herniated disks in my neck, so I'm off the running, but I am still walking.
You're right about finding something that clicks with you. I find i need to get outside each day just to reconnect with nature and get my mind off of work and everything. My walk is more a mental thing now with the exercise a nice side benefit.
6907. judithathome - 4/9/2007 12:17:14 PM
I'm going to up my walking each day by going out 2 or 3 times a day...I'm doing so much better with the morning walk but need to do it more than just mornings.
Okay, I'm about to admit something that is shameful...knowing all I do about my bones and what is good for them and what is bad, I became addicted to Diet Lime Coke...I'd drink a 12 pack a week and have been doing this for more than a year.
I quit cold turkey a week and a half ago because I was having muscle pains and low energy and all sorts of other unpleasant side effects...all that has completely stopped since stopping the evil Diet Coke. I am so energetic and wake up without pains in my muscles and I feel very GOOD. I have decided if I want a coke, I will drink a real one, nothing diet...I am never going to ingest artificial sweetener again.
I'm not a sweet tooth at all...can live without desserts, chocolate, sugar...that's not my weakness. My weakness is salty stuff like chips and crackers and breads and pastas. I don't keep that stuff around so it's not a problem except occasionally at parties or dining out. I don't understand why I started with this Diet Coke crap but it's over now and I am feeling much, much better.
Okay, that's not true...I do understand it. It was because during the summer, I'd have Captain Morgan rum with the diet lime coke with my friends after a swim. But then, I started just drinking the diet cokes (plain) throughout the day...thankfully, I decided to quit both. It's decaf teas over ice for me from now on....
6908. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 12:21:16 PM
J@h, my grandmother was very sensitive to any kind of artificial sweetener too. The only ones that aren't supposed to be a problem are a) xylitol, with the caveat that it does have calories and is a sugar alcohol so it can give you the trots if you have too much and b) steevia which is an herbal sweetener.
If you like something bubbly to drink without sweeteners, you might try the flavored seltzer waters. I like the wild berry and the black cherry especially, but there are lots of flavors...no calories, no sweeteners.
6909. betty - 4/9/2007 12:33:39 PM
thoughtful,
that has been the thing that keeps me running...the mental. Running manages my depression better than anything else I've ever tried. Honestly, my life is almost entirely out of control but at the end of the run, well, at least I've accomplished one thing that day. And it's funny but I have absolutely no desire to run on a treadmill, being outside and seeing my community is so much more appealing, although I'm probably going to have to get a treadmill in order to keep my training level up this next year.
6910. betty - 4/9/2007 12:37:42 PM
I have thankfully, never had a Soda problem so I can't even imagine what that does to a body but I'm glad you are over it J.
6911. judithathome - 4/9/2007 12:40:54 PM
If you like something bubbly to drink without sweeteners,
That's just it...I don't really like bubbly stuff except for champagne. It had to be the delivery system for the rum that got me hooked...because I was definitely hooked. Not on the rum but on the coke!
6912. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 12:53:32 PM
betty, i agree. when the weather was really bad, I'd try using the treadmill indoors but even with the tv on, I'd get bored to tears...outside there's so much to see and watch and smell and feel...it's very mentally stimulating.
So now, unless it pouring rain, I go out.
6913. clydefo - 4/9/2007 1:14:04 PM
I don't think we're going to solve this argument here any more than ornish v. atkins solved it over the years they were fighting about diet too.
Thoughtful,to the extent that it's a matter of preference, mine is a low-fat diet because it seems to work best at facilitating the beneficial effects of exercise. High fat content blood is less efficient at doing what blood is supposed to do. In addition, whether it's weight maintenance or a weight loss program, the Pritikin or Ornish approach gets rid of excess body fat without inducing ketosis. The body prefers clean burning glucose as fuel and a complex carb diet delivers a steady supply without insulin spikes. Pritikin pointed out that in the 10/9/82 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, of 850 contestants, "first, second and fourth places were won by men on the Pritikin diet."
6914. alistairConnor - 4/9/2007 3:32:29 PM
Wow, great story Judith...
Beware of rum, boys and girls... it seems harmless enough, but it can lead onto harder stuff... like Diet Lime Coke!
6915. alistairConnor - 4/9/2007 3:37:49 PM
Mago : I'm 180 cm, so it's not an excessive weight for my height, just a matter of what feels right.
I'm reducing the carbs at the moment : I'll cook meat or fish and not do potatoes or rice. I don't need to eat a lot to feel satisfied, so it should be easy enough to control.
I'm a little bit light on fruit and veg at the moment. Mostly because I buy what's grown locally, and there isn't much variety at the moment. But otherwise I'm not too far off a Tful diet.
6916. judithathome - 4/9/2007 4:32:48 PM
Beware of rum, boys and girls... it seems harmless enough, but it can lead onto harder stuff... like Diet Lime Coke!
Trust me, the Diet Lime Coke is far worse for me than the rum!
6917. clydefo - 4/9/2007 8:01:44 PM
6780. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 9:30:05 AM
Consider your typical 'healthy' american breakfast. It is nothing but a total sugar load, so everyone starts their day with a sugar high and insulin rush.
orange juice
Raisin bran
Skim milk
banana
coffee
You're looking at about 85 grams of sugar or about 21 teaspoons, depending on if you add milk and sugar to your coffee.
6879. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 5:27:51 PM
clydefo, you assumed i meant complex carbohydrates. Well carbos are carbos the way the body sees them. It all gets converted to sugar which, as I said before, must be burned immediately or converted to fat.
The difference between complex and simple carbs are of course the amount of fiber that comes with them, which helps slow digestion and eases the 'sugar shock' that comes with carbs. And complex carbs like whole grains and starchy vegetables carry a boatload of nutrition...
How do you reconcile the two highlighted statements?
An orange, banana, 1C raisin bran and 1/2 C skim milk works out to be 15g fiber, 5% fat calories, 11%protein calories and 84% complex carb calories. The "sugar" is fuel and it is a slow feed. The 12 grams of protein provides all the amino acids the body can't produce on it's own to get off to a good start on tissue repair. Same idea with two and one-half grams of fat. The body neither needs or wants protein and fat as fuel. They create more work for the body when used for that purpose. This breakfast is ideal and will easily get one through to the mid-morning meal.
6918. arkymalarky - 4/9/2007 9:52:47 PM
Thanks for the info and the personal stories, y'all! I read through and will read and commment more tomorrow.
Food-wise was fine today, and otherwise the day sucked. Not much to do about that, but I felt physically a lot better today, which helped me with the sucky aspect. I think I will sleep well too, (though I wish I were already asleep) whereas a day like this often really takes a toll on my sleep.
I think this whole thing and the way the thread is going is great.
6919. arkymalarky - 4/10/2007 4:32:45 PM
Great experience wrt the running, Betty.
My exercise is going better more quickly than I thought, even though outside exercise is out. Since I'm doing several different things, it's fun, and when I go back to the Ada Basic Training tapes, they are very varied and balanced and I've never gotten bored with them.
6920. arkymalarky - 4/10/2007 4:33:17 PM
And having a (very) sucky day yesterday didn't affect today at all.
6921. judithathome - 4/10/2007 5:20:44 PM
I drink V8 juice every day and finally checked the sodium content and nearly fainted. Today I bought the Low Sodium and discovered it tastes just as good with 70% less sodium. Gah!
6922. arkymalarky - 4/10/2007 5:26:54 PM
I do the low sodium, and it tastes salty to me--not bad, at all, just right.
6923. judithathome - 4/10/2007 5:30:05 PM
Yeah...I can't believe I could drink it the other way! You know how we never add salt to anything and this V8 stuff is FINE without it.
6924. thoughtful - 4/11/2007 7:11:17 AM
We only drink the low sodium V8 too.
6925. thoughtful - 4/11/2007 8:14:45 AM
clydefo, I should've been more specific. Though technically not correct, when I think complex carbs, I think carbs that come with more fiber to slow down digestion, though clearly not all complex carbs are high fiber. And that's the difference.
See this article which does a good job of explaining the difference between simple sugars, complex sugars and dietary fiber and the impact on insulin levels.
Including:
Excess carbohydrates also causes generalized vascular disease. The high-carbohydrate diet which is now so popular causes the pancreas to produce large amounts of insulin, and if this happens for many years in a genetically predisposed person, the insulin receptors throughout the body become resistant to insulin. Because insulin's action is to drive glucose into the cells, this results in chronic hyperglycemia, also called "high blood sugar." A large portion of this sugar is stored as fat resulting in obesity. Excess insulin also causes hypertension and helps initiate the sequence of events in the arterial wall which leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease.
Adult onset diabetes is known to be greatly benefited by the adoption of a low carbohydrate diet, moderate in fat, which stresses the importance of a regular intake of sufficient protein. You will not hear this advice from the American Diabetes Association, (or from most doctors) since they are still operating on the research as it was twenty years ago.
You might ask yourself why pritikin has to go back to 1982 to find ironmen following his diet....they've learned a lot in the last 25 years.
Further, you keep talking about protein and fat as "bad" sources of energy. The fact that the body has to do more work means the energy gotten out of those foods is acquired more slowly, thus reducing insulin rush. But the nutrition story is not only about energy. It is also about necessary amino acids and essential fatty acids and other nutrients that are required for body function. Yes a body can live on a lot of different diets ... it does a terrific job of accommodating whatever deprivations it can, including leaching calcium from bones and teeth if it's not getting enough of it in the diet. But that is not the same as feeding it well. Consider, (from the same article linked above):
While it is true that fiber is an important part of your diet, even necessary to protect you from some diseases, carbohydrates themselves are not necessary. There are "essential" fatty acids and "essential" amino acids (from protein), however there are no known essential carbohydrates.
I'm far from recommending a low to no carb diet. I am however recommending a balanced diet. Pritikin, as by your own admissions, is not balanced...it is significantly biased to carbs, with the consequent damage to the body.
6926. clydefo - 4/11/2007 11:57:41 AM
Pritikin died in 1985. Show me a modern marathon runner on a high fat diet and I'll show you a Jim Fixx waiting to happen. He proved you can't "outrun" a bad diet.
Dr. Kennedy at your link is sadly misinformed. (ask to see his diploma) He said:
...There are two groups of complex carbs: high fiber and low fiber. High-fiber, complex carbs are not digestible, at least not by human beings...
This foolish statement is contradicted at the start of his next paragraph; to wit:
"High-fiber (high-cellulose) vegetable foods are the healthiest choices for human nutrition, and intake of these foods is associated with lowered incidences of hypertension, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, etc. Examples are lettuce and broccoli. Examples of low-fiber, complex carbs are banana, tomato, squash and all cereals and grains (therefore bread and pasta), potatoes and rice...
He obviously is unaware of the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber and their sources. The banana he calls low-fiber has the same amount as his "high fiber" broccoli. He seems not to recognize that it is the soluble fiber that plays the greater role in regulating sugar digestion. His cellulose, or roughage, mostly serves to keep things moving along through the gut.
...Most of our carbohydrates come from cereals and grains, both products of the agricultural revolution. Our bodies are not genetically designed to thrive on large amounts of these fiberless complex carbs..."
Fiberless? This is incorrect even using his erroneous definition. Grains are an excellent source of "high fiber cellulose". (I would also ask to see his credentials in Anthropology and Genetics)
...While it is true that fiber is an important part of your diet, even necessary to protect you from some diseases, carbohydrates themselves are not necessary. There are "essential" fatty acids and "essential" amino acids (from protein), however there are no known essential carbohydrates.
Why this disingenuous nonsense? "Essential" means that it is not synthesized in the body. What part produces the "necessary", essential anti-disease fiber? Fiber comes with carbohydrates and so is in fact "essential" by his own fractured logic.
Frankly, "balanced diet" is a meaningless phrase because it has so many meanings. A little of everything on the smorgasbord? Moderation in all things? To look at them, most Americans seem to think it means a third each of calories from fat, protein and carbs. I prefer a weighted diet. Enough of all that's needed with more of the good and less of the bad.
6927. judithathome - 4/11/2007 1:27:28 PM
helps initiate the sequence of events in the arterial wall which leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease.
This is what my son's vascular surgeon told him was one of the contributing factors of his almost losing his leg...too many carbs in his junk food diet. He told him to eat lower fat protein, vegetables, fruits, high fiber cereals and whole grain bread products.
To me, what he recommended is a fairly balanced diet.
6928. thoughtful - 4/11/2007 3:45:10 PM
clydefo, I had a long response and my browser crashed. Let me try again.
Yes kennedy has issues...my fault for posting quickly after a search looking for someone who seems to make my point, but not vetting the source carefully enough.
Clearly the point he was making is that cows can eat corn stalks, humans can't. He was making the point that processed grains such as found in white bread provide less dietary fiber than whole grain bread. E.g., white bread is 1g dietary fiber, but the whole grain stuff I buy is 3-4g. But i don't think we're disagreeing that whole grains and nonstarchy vegetables are better than refined grains or sugars. At least I think we agree on that point.
The more important point and why i selected his piece was that just because a carb is complex, meaning it is made up of more than 2 monosaccharides, does not necessarily mean it is slow to digest or provides dietary fiber. So for example, white potatoes are a starch, a complex carbohydrate, but the starch is rapidly absorbed and it has a higher glycemic index than does the simple carb, table sugar. Not that potatoes don't provide more nutrients than table sugar, but that they do encourage a greater insulin rush than simple sugar.
Let me try again with another more mainstream source that discusses the latest thinking on carbs.
I guess I can't fault pritikin for being out of date seeing he died a long time ago. I wonder if he would have changed his mind by now with the new research and evidence on heart health and diabetes. I guess we'll never know.
IAC, I don't think our disagreement is about the benefits of dietary fiber or the importance of carbohydrates in the diet. (As you know, I am NOT a proponent of low carb dieting like Atkins.) What I'm suggesting is that a high carb diet is not capable of providing "enough of all that's needed" because it shortchanges proteins and fats and it isn't necessarily "more of the good and less of the bad" given the impact carbohydrates have on insulin and the damage insulin does to the body.
From the same source as above, I'll include this tidbit:
What happens when we get too much fructose?
Most of the carbohydrate we eat is made up of chains of glucose. When glucose enters the bloodstream, insulin release is stimulated, which is the key mechanism regulating glucose in the body. Fructose, on the other hand, is processed in the liver. To greatly simplify the situation: when too much fructose enters the liver, the liver can't process it all fast enough for the body to use as sugar. Instead, it starts making fats from the fructose, and sends them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides.
Why is this bad?
This is potentially bad for at least three reasons:
1. High blood triglycerides are a risk factor for heart disease.
2. The fructose ends up circumventing the normal appetite signaling system. Instead of triggering hormones that regulate appetite (such as leptin, ghrelin, and insulin), this doesn't happen with fructose, so the calories from fructose don't make us feel satisfied. This is probably at least part of the reason why excess fructose consumption is associated with weight gain.
3. There is growing evidence that excess fructose consumption may facilitate insulin resistance, and eventually Type 2 diabetes.
6929. clydefo - 4/11/2007 5:37:00 PM
Yes thoughtful, I hope we're way past white bread.
...given the impact carbohydrates have on insulin and the damage insulin does to the body.
Insulin is a natural digestive hormone, not a poison. It prevents damage to the body by facilitating the production of a steady supply of clean fuel. A normal daily caloric intake on the Pritikin regimen never comes close to producing any "excess" insulin, no surges or spikes.
...What happens when we get too much fructose?
Pritikin advises that we avoid "too much" of anything, including water. Eating fruit and other CC food to satiety throughout the day is perfectly safe.
I suppose our main disagreement is over the desirable percentage of fat and protein calories. Looking at the nutrition chart recommendations for fatty acids and amino acids I'm confident I eat enough for my body's needs with little excess to get rid of.
6930. clydefo - 4/11/2007 10:38:14 PM
Typical daily Pritikin fare: Protein grams.
One cup broccoli................4
One 6 inch ww pita bread...6
One cup oatmeal (dry).......13
Banana................................1
Two cups skim milk...........16
One cup pinto beans .........16
One cup sweet potato..........4
Total..................................60 grams
The RDA for protein for men is 60 grams. The other fruits and vegetables eaten through the day also contain some protein, so the beans can be every other day. Up to one pound of lean animal protein per week is o.k. but not needed as a source.
It's very easy to eat more than is needed because it's found in most all foods.
It's basically the same with fatty acids. Easy to get what we need for cell maintenance, metabolic chemistry, etc., from a variety of whole grains and vegetables.
6931. thoughtful - 4/12/2007 11:16:40 AM
My comments:
1) clearly I think 60 g per day, especially for a man, is too low...double or triple that for my likes. Schwarzbein recommend 6-8 ozs protein a day for women, 8-12 for men
2) i don't know enough about all the required amino acids to know if you're hitting all of them in the diet as listed. I know only that rice and beans together and soy are complete proteins.
3) more power to you if you can stick to such a diet and find it satisfying. I never could. In order for any diet to be successful, it has to be one you can live with for the long term. That diet would leave me feeling hungry and deprived and my ability to stick with it would quickly drain.
In fact, the study that was posted way above that compared the success of the various diets found that none of the participants were faithful to the diet over the test period. So any diet that is too restrictive is likely to fail.
Let me share with you a typical day (for a man, portions of protein and carbs would be increased):
Bkfst: V8 juice, 2 eggs scrambled with sauteed peppers, onions, mushrooms, (using canola oil), whole grain english muffin with butter
Am Snack: handful of walnuts
Lunch: 2 ozs turkey on a slice of whole grain (reduced carb) bread with a slather of mayo, lettuce, and a carrot
Pm snack: 1 oz cheese with an apple
Dinner: Grilled pork chop, sweet potatoes, zucchini sauteed in olive oil with garlic and parmesan cheese and a tossed salad with vinagrette dressing
Approx total calories is about 1400 calories with a balance of protein, fats, carbs, nonstarchy vegetables and a balance of fats. This would be sufficient to lose weight. To maintain one's weight, carbs would be added.
6932. judithathome - 4/12/2007 11:49:12 AM
Sounds like a plan to me!
I eat a handful of walnuts every day...very satisfying.
6933. clydefo - 4/12/2007 1:19:04 PM
The RDA for protein has been established for years. Why haven't Nutritionists who challenge it been able to present enough evidence to get it changed? They would certainly have the meat and dairy lobbies behind them. The RDA was set at about twice what science shows is actually needed as as arbitrary "margin of error".
The acidity associated with excess protein consumption may cause calcium to leech from bone and contribute to osteoporosis. The nutritional jury isn't in on this, but why risk it if the extra amino acids aren't needed?
There are only so many "essential" fatty acids and all are provided by a Pritikin diet. Any more is "gravy". Nutritionists who recommend more from a variety of high-fat sources are not basing it on any scientific evidence. They only offer generalizations about "balance" and the "value of anti-oxidants", etc. You can OD on that stuff and upset the normal body chemistry. Fat is seductive. It adds richer taste, mouth-feel, etc. But one only needs what's in the whole wheat toast, not in the butter.
Low sodium V8 tastes as briny as seawater to me.
6934. thoughtful - 4/12/2007 2:14:02 PM
Well, there is this article suggesting that extremely low fat diets (less than 25% fat) can put you at risk for heart disease if you are of a certain genetic type.
As I mentioned from personal experience, I did not do well on a low fat high carb diet and neither did my hubby. We both feel and do much better on our current diet. Interestingly, my cholesterol levels remain unchanged despite the diet change. Total is 208, but that's because my HDL, the good stuff is very high. My triglycerides are very low.
So I think an important element to keep in mind is individualized medicine. The main question is, in following this pritikin thing, how do you feel? how do you look? how do you sleep? and so on.
I think it's really important to listen to your body. It will let you know if what your doing is working, just like mine did with my low fat issues.
BTW, do you take any vitamin or other supplements?
6935. thoughtful - 4/12/2007 2:36:59 PM
The jury is out on the impact of protein on bone. See this article which reviews several recently done studies and how contradictory their results are. Further this study suggests that with adequate calcium consumption, protein does not impact the bones.
6936. arkymalarky - 4/12/2007 5:12:37 PM
Well, back from my doctor's appt, and I have hypothyroidism. Explains a lot, and it's apparently something that sometimes happens to women after menopause.
6937. arkymalarky - 4/12/2007 5:14:19 PM
My mother has it as well, and my dad's doesn't work any more at all, so it's not all that surprising, though I wasn't thinking about it being a possibility.
And I'm typing this on my WildBlue internet using my new router.
When I get my meds, I should become as zippy as my computer. They have to do more bloodwork first.
6938. judithathome - 4/12/2007 5:17:41 PM
Low sodium V8 tastes as briny as seawater to me.
Well, fresh tomatoes taste salty to me...do you think it's better to get 880mgs in the regulare V8 or to get 80mgs in the low salt V8? And I know you abhor juices but sometimes, people want the juice and I'd rather have the low salt V8 than the regular.
I'd be willing to put my numbers with regard to cholesterol, HDL, LDL, blood sugar, and my blood pressure up against yours anyday...and I will be 64 next month.
6939. arkymalarky - 4/12/2007 8:57:45 PM
I meant to mention that I also started my allergy shots back today. Now I get two (divided dose according to the allergy), one in each arm, and it's MUCH better. No more sore punk-knots and bruises. At least not until they start going up on the dosage. Between that and treating the thyroid issue, I'm hoping to feel LOTS better by the time I finish school at the end of June. I was on allergy shots for a year, and though they take a long time to work, they made my sinuses better than they've been since I moved to AR when I was 12. Now they're pretty much back like they were before I started the shots, which were the worst they'd been since I'd moved here. I also brought an air purifier to work and put one in my bedroom along with my dehumidifier, and that's helped a whole lot more than I thought it would.
If anyone has any personal knowledge or experience with hypothyroidism, I'm very interested. The rest of what I've been doing, especially diet-wise, is going well. I also understand why I could hardly do anything the first exercise day, though after my surgery (just two years ago today, which I wouldn't remember, but Mazie was born the day I had my hysterectomy) once I was able I could fairly easily do 30 minutes of exercise with the Basic Training tapes. And I did lose a pound. My doctor--who's great--said go ahead and exercise and change my diet, but I won't feel very good until I get the right dosage of meds. Bottom line, I'm going to keep plugging on the program without expecting to up my exercise until I get my thyroid under control, and look forward to feeling better than I have in years. The hysterectomy began that, the allergy shots continued it, and this will top it all off. I'm glad to finally know what's been causing me to not want to move for the last year or so, at least. I've always been something of a slug, but this past year has been very noticeably different, which I attributed to too heavy a school/work load.
Thoughtful, I know you have Graves disease, which causes the opposite (right?) wrt thyroid. Any other issues with that or ways of dealing with it?
6940. arkymalarky - 4/12/2007 9:00:09 PM
I meant I did lose a pound this week, not two years ago. Then I lost around 10 with surgery alone, and now I'm back to that pre-surgery weight (and look).
6941. betty - 4/12/2007 9:03:36 PM
I have a friend who developed hypothyroid in her late 30's. Once it got treated things got better for her. This is probably good news. best with this.
6942. arkymalarky - 4/12/2007 9:10:49 PM
That's what my doctor said. Did I mention she's great?
You weren't posting when I posted here that my doctor, whom I'd gone to off and on since we moved to AR when I was 12, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 75 early this fall. This woman, a former math student of my husband's, was scheduled to work with him, and now she's the only doctor in the office. My doctor was fantastic, old-school, and knew me and all my fears and idiosyncracies so well. He agreed to deliver my daughter long after he'd quit delivering babies. I went into panic mode when he died, because I was under huge stress from graduate school and a full load at work, among other things. Now Mose and virtually all of Bob's family who lives here--including his mother, whose previous doctor sucked--goes to her.
6943. arkymalarky - 4/12/2007 9:12:42 PM
Not to sound like a selfish clod, I cried when he died, too. Still do when I think about it. The first time I called for an appointment, several weeks later, I choked up on the phone, but so did his receptionist.
6944. concerned - 4/12/2007 10:57:18 PM
I just took my first pill to control hypertension today (20mg lisinopril). In the doctor's office before it was prescribed, I measured 180/112. Several hours after I took it and ran 3 1/2 miles, I measured myself at 122/63. One pill, seven hours.
6945. clydefo - 4/13/2007 12:05:38 AM
judithathome, I'm too smart to bet my fitness numbers against a swimmer. Average BP this evening, 117 / 70. Resting heart rate high 40's to low 50's. No cholesterol test in several years but last time the Doctor said it was just fine. 65 years old this Fall.
A few times a month I might mix a small glass of soda water/concord grape juice, or OJ, 50/50, to drink with a sandwich or salad, very rarely by itself. I would enjoy unsalted V8. Except for small amounts when cooking cornbread and beans, I avoid salt. I like the lighter stride and the leaner look now that I have acquired it in the past year.
thoughtful, I still have a shelf full of supplements but I've stopped buying them. I occasionally pop a D or folic acid or calcium tab on impulse "just in case", but also out of superstition. No more E and I've never taken A. I'm convinced they are needed only by people with diagnosed deficiencies.
With the daily exercise, low-fat blood and carrying 30 fewer pounds of fat and water I've never felt better and more energetic. I quit the beer and don't miss it. Insomnia totally gone.
My diet a year ago was similar to that in 6931, just a little too much of it.
6946. Ulgine Barrows - 4/13/2007 1:46:52 AM
I am really liking the Isagenix grape flavor energy drink.
Tried a few brands... does anybody want to buy my leftover Advocare Spark?
Feeling fat & ugly, I dragged my sorry ass to the gym today. The steam room at the end of it all, felt great.
6947. Ulgine Barrows - 4/13/2007 2:02:07 AM
ooopsie....6945. clydefo.........'too smart to bet my fitness numbers against a swimmer'
Almost forgot why I wanted to post here.
We made the kid take swimming Tues/Thurs because he was getting the man titties, at twelve. Ick, icky poo. That was back in January.
Well, that is all behind us. Tuesday there was bad weather and the 6th graders had to stay inside for recess. The boys did arm wrestling, and MY SON WON! Hee hee, they were chanting his name so loud the teacher made them all stop.
Also he has an uncle that was on a wrestling team who gave him tips on arm wrestling, but still....he is learning the benefits of regular exercise.
And yeah, I know it, too.
Just been lazy lately, but summertime pool time is approaching.
My son delights in lifting me up, now. He is almost taller than me. He looks so grown up, but he is only 12. Eight hairs on his chin - he was in a charitable mood when he let me count them.
We had a nap together with the cat a few days ago on the floor, these sort of days are numbered. I treasure them.
6948. Ulgine Barrows - 4/13/2007 2:20:55 AM
I highly recommend a siesta/nap as part of any health routine.
6949. thoughtful - 4/13/2007 7:35:08 AM
clydefo,
There's been lots of new stuff on the benefits of vit d and the difficulty in getting adequate amounts, though if you drink as much milk with supplements, you're probably ok.
If you're feeling well, that's good. My only suggestion would be to do a fasting cholesterol/blood sugar check. Those are important numbers to watch, especially annually at your age. Probably should get a regular blood test at the same time where they can check liver, kidney function, white blood and red blood cells and signs of inflammation. Throwing in a psa couldn't hurt.
6950. wonkers2 - 4/13/2007 7:39:40 AM
The Cap'n sez, "Ulgine's right about the nap, and try to have sex at least once a day."
6951. thoughtful - 4/13/2007 7:52:10 AM
arky, so sorry you've joined the ranks of the thyroid patients, but so glad you found it and can now fix it. The important thing to understand about the thyroid is that it is the body clock. It controls the speed of everything in the body. It affects every body system from hair growth to digestion to reproduction to heart rate. When you are hypothyroid, you are prone to gaining weight, feeling sluggish with low energy levels. You can have slow pulse, low blood pressure and high cholesterol. You can have dry hair and even significant hair loss. You can have edema. Post hysterectomy it won't matter, but if you were still menstruating, it can cause your periods to be frequent, long and heavy.
The important blood tests to get are the Free T3, Free T4 and the TSH. The TSH is the thyroid stimulating hormone which will tell you how much thyroid hormone your body is requesting. The T3 and T4 are the key thyroid hormones at work in your body. The reason why you want the 'free' test is that it measure how much is available for your body to actually use. These tests are key indicators for how you feel. Many people find it useful to keep a diary of sorts on how they feel when they get their blood tested so they learn their personal set points...what t levels make them feel their best. You also want to keep a record of the actual numbers and reference ranges of your blood work. Never accept the answer "your results are normal". Normal for a very wide reference range may not be normal for you. You should learn the symptoms of hyperthyroid too as, if you are oversupplemented, you will become hyperthyroid: tremors, rapid heart rate and palpitations, high blood pressure, nervousness, sleeplessness, and so on.
Be aware that the synthetic thyroid supplements only supplement the T4. It is believed that the body is able to make the other thyroid hormones out of this in sufficient quantities. Some have found that they do better on something like armour thyroid which is made from pigs and is a supplement for the T3 and T4.
There's a book by Dr. Rueben called 'thyroid for dummies' that is supposed to be very good. I would recommend the mediboard that I belong to, but unfortunately they are switching servers and have been out of commission for awhile now. If they get up and running again, I'll let you know. It's mostly of people who were hyperthyroid. But people who are hyper and have received radiation will be forced into being permanently hypothyroid so they are very familiar with supplementation and blood testing.
Like any chronic illness, the more you know and the closer you monitor your situation, the better outcome you will have.
The other place i'd suggest is to do a search on mary shomon. She runs a newsletter and has a website with lots of info the latest thinking on thyroid issues and she does a lot with weight loss when you're hypo and so on. You might find that helpful as well.
6952. thoughtful - 4/13/2007 7:52:54 AM
ulgine (you finally posted something I can understand!) I agree wholeheartedly with the importance of sleep and napping.
6953. thoughtful - 4/13/2007 9:33:11 AM
conc'd, so glad you found out about your bp and are treating it. High bp does a lot of damage and can't be caught and treated soon enough.
6954. thoughtful - 4/13/2007 1:01:39 PM
Saw this:
A recent report linked high blood sugar levels with cancer in women. This highlighted again the problem of high blood sugar levels, even below the level found in diabetes, as they also increase people¹s chances of getting heart disease and full-blown diabetes.
But how do we go about making sure we maintain healthy blood sugar levels?
Professor Martin Wiseman, Medical and Scientific Advisor for World Cancer Research Fund, gives his top five tips:
1. The most important thing is not to become overweight. If you are overweight, then you should lose weight. This can be done through having a general healthy diet and be regularly physically active.
2. Always go for the wholegrain option. Replace white rice with brown rice, and make sure your pasta is whole wheat.
3. Cut down or completely stop having sugary snacks like sugary fizzy drinks and cakes. Temptation can be hard to resist, but cutting these out of your diet is a great step towards maintaining healthy sugar levels.
4. Make sure you get as many vegetables into your diet as you can. It¹s particularly easy to get your vegetable quota by chopping vegetables up and putting them into sauces.
5. Be as physically active as possible - it doesn't have to be exercise at the gym, but even walking instead of driving, or taking the stairs instead of the lift, can really help."
6955. arkymalarky - 4/13/2007 3:21:13 PM
Thanks for all the info, Thoughtful! I'm very glad to get diagnosed rather than be frustrated that I'm trying to diet and exercise and nothing seems to be working, which is where I'd be a month from now if I hadn't gone in for a physical. Thyroid wouldn't have been on my radar. I will be very meticulous about medicine adjustment, because I have too much to do in the next month or so to feel too crappy either direction. I just hope I can get it adjusted fairly quickly.
My dr has ordered several other blood tests, and I will probably get the results on Monday. She will start my meds from there. Like I said, both my parents have thyroid problems--my mother's due to Lupus was hypo- at one time, and my dad's, once hyper-, doesn't work at all now.
6956. arkymalarky - 4/13/2007 3:22:28 PM
I have a feeling I was getting a problem with my thyroid which led to me needing the hysterectomy in the first place.
6957. clydefo - 4/13/2007 3:53:56 PM
But how do we go about making sure we maintain healthy blood sugar levels?
A high complex carb diet delivers just the right steady feed of fuel to the furnace, a clean burn to energy, water and carbon dioxide.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Dr. Wiseman learned at Pritikin's knee.
Following the KISS principle, I think the minimalist best health advice is:
Work and play hard enough to sweat for at least 100 minutes a day.
Throughout the day maintain a belly sated with plants and moderate amounts of other food.
Don't eat it if it has a face. (Optional)
Minimize salt and toxins.
6958. judithathome - 4/13/2007 3:59:21 PM
I'm happy for you that this diet works for you, Clyde...but I just have to say that I run like hell from anyone who uses the line "I don't eat anything that has had a face". I think it's a ridiculous statement and puts people like me who eat meat, poultry, and fish on an immediate "lower plane" than the sanctimonious vegans who feel so morally superior seem to smirk while delivering that remark.
"I'm not a meat eater" gets the point across without the smugness, thank you very much! ;-)
6959. judithathome - 4/13/2007 4:00:08 PM
AND seem to smirk...
6960. robertjayb - 4/13/2007 4:23:43 PM
For a real keep it simple program look into Dr. Peter Gott's no flour, no sugar diet.
The Skinny on Diets
6961. concerned - 4/13/2007 4:25:43 PM
Re. 6957 -
Clydefo -
Do insects have faces?
6962. concerned - 4/13/2007 4:32:06 PM
Why do producers of vegetarian replacements for meat, milk or egg foods feel it is necessary to price their products anywhere from 50% to 300% higher than the real thing? If they weren't more expensive, I'd buy them (at least much of the time). They're clearly cheaper to produce.
6963. clydefo - 4/13/2007 5:15:34 PM
I disavow any claim to moral superiority because I don't eat animals. It's just a health tip about avoiding unnecessary sources of protein and fat, mercury, animal hormones and antibiotics (things that cause our little girls to need more than training bras). I acknowledge it's optional and say it not with smugness but with a "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.
Nonetheless, and realizing that it may just be weak-minded sentimentality, I do sort of feel sorry for the whales and dolphins and seals. Imagine their anguish and disillusionment and terror at witnessing what their friends from Cozy Cove Marine Encounter Sanctuary are doing to all sea creatures. For sport as well as food; they don't bother to eat the Tarpon. I can't help feeling compassion for the plight of veal calves, foie gras geese, tenter hooked hogs listening to the screams of their litter mates as they advance to the slaughter. Restrictive poultry cages. All an unnecessary inefficient way to reprocess protein. We should just eat the grain ourselves rather than feed it to animals. Far cheaper and healthier.
But I know what you mean about those sanctimonious Vegans. They are menacing, aren't they, with all those smirks, tattoos and motorcycles?
6964. clydefo - 4/13/2007 5:34:00 PM
Do insects have faces?
O.K., I'll bite. Yes.
Maybe reprocessing protein to make fake meat actually costs more. And they are probably advocates of P.T. Barnum's marketing strategies.
6965. concerned - 4/13/2007 7:22:06 PM
Do insects have faces?
O.K., I'll bite. Yes.
Rather ambiguous sounding answer there. I wonder if anyone has ever come up with chocolate covered centipedes.
6966. Wombat - 4/13/2007 7:39:24 PM
Chocolate-covered ants, yes. Ditto fried grasshopers.
6967. clydefo - 4/13/2007 8:06:05 PM
Chocolate covered insects? Far too much fat and protein.
Only baked or grilled grasshoppers. No fried foods.
6968. judithathome - 4/14/2007 11:55:52 AM
Clyde, I wasn't picking on you or making fun...just posting my opinion about personal experience with some obnoxious vegans.
I will admit I feel guilty about eating meat at times; I don't eat veal, at least. But it chaps me when people decked out in leather pumps and carrying leather handbags nag at ME for eating meat. Again, don't mean you personally...though I've no idea what sort of handbag you carry. ;-)
6969. clydefo - 4/14/2007 2:27:21 PM
Handbags. Hummm. I'll pass. I'm "accessories challenged" and I lose things. But be assured, the bag I'm not going to carry is devoid of animal products. I certainly don't begrudge the Inuit and others their "leathers", especially since I am the owner of a genuine replica WWII leather bomber jacket. It's got a three mission "crush" so far.
6970. clydefo - 4/14/2007 2:52:35 PM
Hahaha...bless the straight-faced pun.
...chaps me when people decked out in leather...
6971. thoughtful - 4/14/2007 3:56:11 PM
There is some evidence that vegetarians live longer than meat eaters, but I always wonder if it isn't a function of overall health consciousness or correlations with nonsmoking and such. A linkage that does make sense is dioxin. It is a very toxic carcinogen that is everywhere. It is in grasses and grains but gets concentrated in the bodies of animals that eat them, and thus more concentrated in the bodies of human meat eaters.
But for those who prefer to avoid meat, schwarzbein has also put together a meatless program that provides adequate fats and proteins.
6972. thoughtful - 4/14/2007 3:57:08 PM
clydefo, I've heard others remark on the hormones in animals leading to premature adolescence in children. Mind you one of the key carriers is milk which appears generously in your listed typical diet.
6973. thoughtful - 4/14/2007 4:09:18 PM
arky,
the thyroid board is up and running again.
go to http://www.mediboard.com/forum
They have a thyroid 101 thread that is full of good info.
6974. jexster - 4/14/2007 4:20:00 PM
My cat has hyperthyroidism...just diagnosed...another story
The Bush administration following an old Cheney/Rumsfeld practice from the Nixon years has gutted the Consumer Products Safety Commission - staff cut 50% and the Commission stocked with lobbyist and regulated industry hacks
Number of consumer goods up 50%...
The program then as now - destroy mission effectiveness, diminish stakeholder support, then close agency
6975. clydefo - 4/14/2007 5:35:16 PM
I use the organic non-fat milk. It's uncontaminated and tastes better anyway. Because of the high protein content, Pritikin sez keep total dairy under two cups a day.
6976. clydefo - 4/14/2007 5:53:29 PM
The dioxin thing makes sense. Saturated fat is one of the biggest killers. (I know, I know, a little is needed and normal). Unless eaten sparingly, metabolizing the extra protein and fat in meat for stored or burned energy burdens the system with a toxic waste ash to be removed. Hard on the liver, kidneys and the blood itself, it takes it's toll over the years.
6977. prolph - 4/14/2007 6:55:07 PM
i have long wondered if vegans reach the pearly gates to be greated by
s great green diety surrounded by maiden hair fernlike angels,
weeds, patsy
6978. judithathome - 4/15/2007 12:11:04 PM
Just saw this new gizmo on HGTV...a juicer that makes excellent juice. It looked really snazzy until they said "and for easy cleanup, the pulp container for what's left over comes with disposable bags...just pick up the bag and throw all the pulp away in one easy move!"
Which brings me to a gripe I have about juicers: you get rid of all the fiber from fresh fruits! That's why I love my VitaMixer...it makes juice, too, but it makes juice out of the entire fruit so the fiber is still ingested...pulverized into juice but still there, nonetheless. I can't say enough about how wonderful a VitaMixer is...it's pricey but I feel it has paid for itself many times over in the healthy things we get from it.
Vita Mix
6979. clydefo - 4/15/2007 12:55:23 PM
I want one, but $399 will buy a lot of vegetables. Although, maybe I've seen to many sci-fi films, but I'm getting leery of bringing "do it all" machines into the house.
6980. judithathome - 4/15/2007 12:58:01 PM
Mine was only $300...years ago. I know it's a lot but it's a fanatastic machine and thus far, hasn't come to life and attacked us after the sun goes down.
6981. wabbit - 4/15/2007 1:12:05 PM
Has anyone else had the lingering cold/cough that has afflicted my family this Spring? Almost all of us have had a very bad cold and subsequently a cough that lasts for a few weeks. Mine morphed into pneumonia and put me in the hospital two weeks ago, so my lingering cough is to be expected, but my parents, brother and sister-in-law are all still coughing some three weeks later.
6982. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 1:25:19 PM
Wabbit! I had no idea you'd been so sick! I hope you're managing okay now? Are you back up and around?
Here it's been flu morphing into pneumonia and/or bronchitis and sinus infections that stay and stay. I haven't noticed much coughing, though there was a round of whooping cough with it in this area, and my niece got scarlet fever with it. We took off two days of school because of flu et al, which is VERY rare. I had one student out for two weeks who's strong as a horse and never misses a day. He got pneumonia with it. But this was some weeks ago, and another small flu round hit about three weeks ago. Now it's hard for people to tell whether what they've got is a lingering cold/bronchitis or bad allergies and resulting sinus infections, since we're having one of the worst seasons in history for them, according to the news.
6983. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 1:27:42 PM
All I ever had was a sinus infection, which I get at least once a year, regardless, and plain old allergies--which caused the infection because I haven't been keeping them under control. I didn't get anything contagious. Twenty-six years of teaching finally paid off in enough immunity, I guess.
A nasty stomach virus and a stomach flu made rounds, as well. Mose got the virus and then the regular flu a few weeks later--over her spring break.
6984. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 1:28:39 PM
Your fam might look into the possibility of a sinus infection or even strep. Have they been checked out for those?
6985. wabbit - 4/15/2007 2:17:29 PM
I'm doing much better now, thanks, I just have to go to the hospital every time I spike a fever (this time I hit 104). It's all about the drugs I take. But I'm coughing and clearing my lungs and feeling ok. I'll have more x-rays in another 3 weeks, just to be sure. This was the first time I've ever had pneumonia (and yes, I had my pneumonia vaccine). The upside is I was very impressed with our local hospital. Until now, I've always gone into Boston. It's good to know the nearest hospital is actually very good.
The rest of the family is actually feeling fine in spite of the lingering cough. No fevers, no aches and pains (so no flu), no evident infections, just a long-lasting cold.
We have had that stomach bug, too. I had it about 10 weeks ago, when it was still a 24-hour thing, but now people are sick with it for 3-4 days.
I hope everyone is staying healthy. Thoughtful, I've been thinking a lot about your mom, I hope she's doing as well as possible.
6986. wonkers2 - 4/15/2007 2:31:51 PM
Wabbit, I get a bad cough nearly every winter which usually subsides in the spring. This year I'm still coughing up a storm despite one course of Zithromax. I've been to ear/nose and throat doctors a few times to no avail. I suspect it's a combination of sinus infections and allergies, possibly to our long-haired cat, Sparky or to something else trapped in the air in our house in the winter. Fortunately mine problem has never developed into pneumonia although I've felt pretty bad on occasion. And I make myself obnoxious coughing and spitting. Claritin sometimes seems to help. But I don't like to take medicines unless I'm really sick. I wish I had some good suggestions. You have my sympathy and wishes for a quick recovery.
6987. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 3:49:27 PM
If you develop allergies, Wonk, the only thing you can do is treat the symptoms and go on daily medication to keep from reacting to whatever's bugging you. Assuming you're being exposed to it every day.
6988. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 3:51:38 PM
I used to have that drainage/coughing mess a lot more, to the point that (years ago) one of my kids--I was still teaching junior high, back then, those little dears--said if I "harked" one more time he was leaving. We had an ongoing friendly back-and-forth for two or three years at the time, and he said it in jest, but it was true. I was awful.
6989. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 3:59:47 PM
Oh, and go to an allergist.
6990. betty - 4/15/2007 5:08:33 PM
you don't always have to throw away the veggie pulps. some smug vegans I know use the carrot pulp to make "carrot tuna" with their pricey vegan mayonaise. You can also add veggie remnants to things like whole wheat cous cous or put in your vegetable stock when making soup.
As someone who has been vegan and vegetarian for most of her life I have recently chosen to go with leather products because I think it is more environmentally sound than "vegan" shoes. Even though the process of leather production can be just as toxic as plastic production the life span of leather tends to be much longer (though I'm not sure this continues to be true in the case of cheaply produced low-grade Brazilian and Chinese lether). So I pay more, buy "classic" shoes and handbags hoping to minimize the environmental impact of my fashion forward living.
However, I promise that I have never, ever said something so corny as "I don't eat anything with a face." As John Lovitz said, "I'm a vegetarian because I really, really hate plants."
6991. wonkers2 - 4/15/2007 6:03:54 PM
I've heard a lot of skepticism about allergists--the length and cost and results. So, I've never gone to one. Maybe I should. I was always akeptical of chiropractors. But I went to one several times last year for back pain and got great results.
6992. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:11:37 PM
wabbit, thanks for the kind thoughts. Mom is getting herself back to normal, though it's taking her quite awhile to get her old stamina back.
So sorry to hear how ill you've been. It's not like you don't have enough to deal with as it is, let alone adding pneumonia and high fever to the mix. Hope you're feeling much better now.
There have been a number of people at work who have been sick, but knock wood, we've been fine.
6993. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:12:54 PM
wonks,there's a big difference between chiropractors who can actually do something for you and allergists who don't even promise they will.
I always thought that, if you're going to be a doctor, be an allergist. You're patients keep coming back as they don't expect to get well, and most of the time, you collect the fee but don't even see the patient...just send them to the nurse for shots. What a racket!
6994. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:14:38 PM
jex, there are so many cats i've heard now have hypert including my last cat. I don't know what's causing it but it's really something. I wonder if it isn't something to do with these vaccines cats get these days. Hypert is an autoimmune disorder and these vaccines can wreak havoc on the immune system...
Just like so many cats dying of kidney failure. Is it just that in the old days, they never made it that far for their kidneys to fail?
Beats me.
6995. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:15:04 PM
I
6996. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:15:14 PM
just
6997. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:15:24 PM
wanted
6998. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:15:31 PM
the
6999. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:15:41 PM
millennial
7000. thoughtful - 4/15/2007 6:15:52 PM
yeah!
7001. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 7:53:49 PM
Wrongwrongwrong on allergists. They work, but you have to be patient. It takes around a year of shots to get full effects, and I was reading on MSNBC or Yahoo one just the other day that shots are 85-90% effective. They certainly were with me, and I have paid a dear price for stopping them because I was so busy. I also suffered needlessly for literally decades after moving from west Texas to AR and suffering allergies until my infections were chronic. My brother got pneumonia over his and that's when he finally did something, including the nasal surgery, which is and ENT thing. Mine haven't gotten that far, but I may get the surgery one of these days. I think if I will get back on my shot regimen and stay I won't need it. The shots go about 3-4 years. They aren't a lifetime treatment.
Congrats on the millennial, Thoughtful!
7002. arkymalarky - 4/15/2007 7:56:42 PM
The problem with most people and allergists is as with most people and other doctors and specialists. They don't do what they're told and then bitch about their treatment.
7003. wonkers2 - 4/15/2007 9:30:22 PM
An ENT doctor told me surgery might help, but I didn't go for it. Sometimes those guys are like asking the people at a transmission shop whether your car needs a new transmission.
7004. thoughtful - 4/16/2007 6:30:53 AM
This article reviews a number of meta analyses on allergy shots. Overall there does seem to be some improvement for some and it would seem to be cost effective for those who experience improvement.
From the summary of international studies:
The mean reduction in disease severity was 40%. Patients with allergies to grass pollen or cats were most likely to respond to specific immunotherapy.
But the article also says:
As these results suggest, successful outcome with specific immunotherapy requires careful patient selection.
So it is not a slam dunk. Especially since it depends on correct test results to target the specific allergens. And that would seem to be a problem. So many people I know find they're allergic to *everything*. And you don't know if the shots will help until you are well into treatment.
But hey, if it feels good, do it. My point was that, from the doc's point of view, it is a very lucrative business that keeps patients coming back again and again, with no permanent cure, and no chance of late night emergency calls that other docs experience.
7005. wabbit - 4/16/2007 7:29:22 AM
Speaking of coughs...
7006. thoughtful - 4/16/2007 10:19:01 AM
I went for my first colonoscopy. Nothing wrong but just at that age where it is advised.
The only thing that really freaked me out was the fentanyl. It blew my short term memory. I have no memory at all of the recovery room or getting dressed or talking to the doctor about my test results, or the drive home. Hubby tells me I was quite lucid and quite myself, but I have no memory of anything. He also told me I went home, called the other dr office for more test results and got them, but I have no memory of ANY of it. I don't remember anything until after I ate my lunch.
That is just tooo weeeird!
7007. concerned - 4/16/2007 10:27:04 AM
Turns out that the BPM I have started taking is only responsible for less than half the drop in BP I mentioned previously. I guess the moral of the story is that I should get more aerobic exercise.
7008. thoughtful - 4/16/2007 11:38:02 AM
How can you know that?
7009. arkymalarky - 4/16/2007 3:55:49 PM
Wonk,
I'm like you wrt the surgery. The thing about the surgery is that if you have allergies it works for a while and then your sinuses will go back as bad as before eventually. A colleague is a perfect candidate because he has obstruction but has been tested for allergies and isn't allergic to anything. Another friend had the surgery but let her allergies get out of control and is now considering doing the surgery again. Bro controls his allergies with an antihistimine and no shots, and has had the surgery once, but he also had a deviated septum, so it worked for him. For me, the only thing that has worked has been allergy shots plus a DAILY antihistimine. You can't skip doses. It's not for symptoms, it's to prevent them. I really really really hope not to have the surgery, but Robert's the one to ask about it here. He had it not terribly long ago.
Hey Robert! How was that? Is it still working for you?
Allergy shots work, BUT along with taking the right measures, which for me means some home and classroom adjustments, some of which are a pain, but all of which have helped tremendously, and a daily antihistimine. If you do get clogged or start with the crud, take something like Mucinex as opposed to a decongestant, ALONG WITH the antihistimine. I'm also on a nasal steroid.
Especially since it depends on correct test results to target the specific allergens. And that would seem to be a problem.
Allergy testing for severe allergies, which is where most people are going to be miserable enough to finally go to an allergist, are very clear. Either you react or you don't. Once they know, the treatment is designed specifically for your allegeries and the degree of severity. You take the shots 3-5 years, not permanently. A daily antihistimine can handle mild stuff, and even major stuff for a while. It also may do well for seasonal allergies, if you take them DAILY during that season.
My brother told me when I felt bad enough I would deal with my allergies, and he was right. You finally get where you can't stand it any more, especially here in such a high-humidity environment, then you go and get the treatment, get impatient, finally start feeling human, and kick yourself repeatedly for the years of misery, weeks of antibiotics at a stretch (I wouldn't ever do that--Bro did four months' worth once, which was ridiculous), OTC meds, etc etc. For me, the breaking point was waking up gushing blood from my nose after it had been bleeding daily for months, and when my GP did an exray and saw how bad it was in my sinuses, that's when he sent me to an allergist. That's the same GP who died last fall who'd been treating me since I was a young teen. Enough was enough.
So the first step is a DAILY antihistimine that works and Mucinex, then go from there.
7010. arkymalarky - 4/17/2007 6:00:45 PM
Took my first dose of thyroid meds today, and I know it's most likely my imagination, but I seem to feel a little less like crap already.
7011. wonkers2 - 4/17/2007 6:14:11 PM
I think I was told I have a slightly deviated septum which could be improved by surgery. I've probably had it forever because I've never broken my nose. I've had it for a long time as well as my yellow teeth which were pointed out to me not long ago by my dentist who offered whitening. I told him I have no plans to audition for a Hollywood movie role. I'm comfortable dying with my yellow teeth and slightly deviated septum.
7012. thoughtful - 4/17/2007 6:17:33 PM
interesting that you have both allergies and hypothyroidism. Both relate to the immune system and it is very common for people with thyroid problems to have other immune disorders.
You could feel better from the hormones pretty quickly, so you probably are feeling better.
7013. robertjayb - 4/17/2007 6:27:05 PM
The septoplasty to correct my deviated septum was nine years ago. Apart from the bypass operation it was the best medical money I've ever spent. Only one bout of bronchitis since. Before I regularly had sniffles turning into head colds turning into bronchitis and near pneumonia. Some really miserable episodes.
7014. arkymalarky - 4/17/2007 9:43:12 PM
That's what Bro said about his, and his was the same main problem. He had allergies, but the deviated septum was the culprit of his chronic misery. It kept anything from draining properly and he just got repeated infections. It's definitely worth looking into.
7015. arkymalarky - 4/17/2007 9:45:27 PM
You're right, Thoughtful, and auto-immune stuff does run in my family, with Mom's lupus, and Bro has vitaliago (sp), as did my granddad. Bro's also had Reiter's Syndrome.
7016. arkymalarky - 4/19/2007 5:45:10 PM
7017. Wombat - 4/19/2007 7:28:08 PM
Before my wife's septoplasty, she would get several sinus infections a year, and she snored like the Queen Mary's foghorn. Afterwards, sinus infections are rare, and now she snores like Tommy the Tugboat's foghorn.
7018. arkymalarky - 4/19/2007 9:16:11 PM
Awwww. I'm not going to let Bob read that post. He complains about my snoring.
7019. clydefo - 4/20/2007 11:17:31 AM
Re: 7016. The Glycemic Load load.
Because of it's high fiber and water content with a moderate calorie count, Pritikin has always said that a baked potato sans skin makes a perfect between-meal snack.
7020. thoughtful - 4/20/2007 12:26:20 PM
Key point at end of the article posted: And in their own research, Roberts said she and her colleagues have found that low-glycemic index diets do seem more effective for overweight people who naturally secrete high levels of the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar.
Further, it's not just about losing weight but being healthy. As I said before, you can lose weight eating nothing but chocolate and ice cream cones so long as you limit the total calorie intake, but that doesn't mean you'll be getting adequate nutrition doing it that way.
The point is the damage done by excess insulin is what is to be avoided.
And I'm sorry, clydefo but a baked potato without skin is a very high glycemic load and will definitely cause insulin rush.
See, for example, association between potatoes and type 2 diabetes.
And why without skin since it contains a lot of nutrients?
7021. clydefo - 4/20/2007 12:54:54 PM
Insulin rush from a potato. Somewhere there must be a minute by minute graph showing the changes in blood sugar and insulin after eating a potato. On an empty stomach in the lab. I don't know how a "rush" is defined, but it would be interesting to observe.
A snack potato would normally be eaten before the stomach has emptied from the previous snack or meal and it's sugars would simply become part of the steady feed to the furnace. Part of the deal is to eat filling, low calorie foods right along so that one is always at least partially full. Eat to prevent hunger, not to remedy it. Pritikin is being overcautious about the solanine in any greenish skin.
7022. thoughtful - 4/20/2007 1:50:23 PM
Clydefo, here's an article about the glycemic index and how they calculate it. They do test people's blood sugar over time after consuming the food vs. a control substance. The result is the starch in white potatoes yields a higher glycemic response than does table sugar.
For the most part, people don't eat a potato on an empty stomach, but as part of a full meal. Despite that, the nurses' study shows that white potatoes in particular are correlated with diabetes. I know my father had it as did his mother and brother and they were all 'meat and potatoes' people. In fact, my dad always said it wasn't a meal without potatoes.
7023. clydefo - 4/20/2007 2:39:27 PM
Pritikin Longevity Center:
Nearly 40% of Type 2 diabetics on insulin injections became insulin-free.
70% of diabetics on oral drugs eliminated the need for these drugs.
7024. arkymalarky - 4/20/2007 11:15:05 PM
Speaking of that, Bob's latest bloodwork was excellent, and his doctor said she didn't consider him diabetic any more. His program and maintenance have really paid off for him, and he's actually more enthusiastic about it since his readings, as opposed to taking an "as you were" attitude. Mainly, I think, because he feels so much better all the way around. The difference (and this has only been since the blood results a couple of weeks ago) is that he doesn't have apoplexy considering a bite of cobbler and ice cream and we shared a dessert today for the first time in over three years.
My program is going better, and though we ate out today (a monthly payday tradition as Arky school teachers who are paid on the same day of the month), I have had more water and fruit and more vegetables than I was having (still not a lot of veggies, but better than none), and I can exercise more since the thyroid medicine, without being sore or worn out in five minutes. I think they're going to have to adjust the meds upward based on other symptoms, but who knows until she does another blood test in about three weeks. She started out low, of course.
Work stress is continuing, unfortunately, and evidently it will be the second week in May before things settle down for me--after I get through these two grad classes and a school year that has been one of the worst of my 26 year career (nothing to do with my students or classes at all, but very unpleasant and stressful). That's not unique to me, though. We're all having a rough time, and I'm seeing no evidence that misery loves company. Years like this happen, and in some schools it's an every year thing, but we're not used to it.
7025. arkymalarky - 4/22/2007 3:39:13 PM
I'm not going to do a daily diary in here or anything, but I am back on track and feeling better. The main thing I have noticed with the thyroid medicine is that I seem to be sleeping better than I have in years. It's still been less than a week, though, so it may be a coincidence. I definitely feel better, my hoarseness, which I'd attributed to allergies is getting better, and I've lost a couple of pounds (a significant cut in calories). I can also exercise more without feeling like crap.
I'm getting a routine going, and that's my best bet for everything. I just do better with one, and my routine for about four years now has been chaos, due mostly to circumstances beyond my control, or at least circumstances that have made establishing a routine around them almost impossible.
7026. arkymalarky - 4/22/2007 3:40:15 PM
I've lost a couple of pounds WITHOUT a significant cut in calories.
7027. Wombat - 4/22/2007 3:48:47 PM
Arky:
I would urge you to keep a food diary. It seems a little weird at first, but once it becomes part of your routine, it takes a few minutes a day. After about a month, unless you have an incredibly varied diet, with lots of new foods, you will have amounts and caloric values down to almost shorthand. According to my dietician, the act of starting and keeping a food diary itself will cause you to lose weight. It makes you very aware of what you are eating, and offers relatively easy ways to make minor changes in your diet. These changes have an incremental effect; if you make enough of them, it will really help with weight loss.
7028. arkymalarky - 4/22/2007 4:23:28 PM
Oh I definitely am doing that--just not in the Mote, which I thought I might share as a daily diary/blog-type thing. I will still hopefully post regularly if not daily, but the rest of y'all would get pretty bored pretty fast with it. Instead I'll do an update/blog-type thing and keep my daily diary (I have a neat notebook just for it). It does help me, as well as having an eating routine. Bob did it when he started out and continued for probably a year or so, and it helped him a whole lot.
And nothing helps me more than being able to be home a lot, which has been a real issue for the last few years. Since I'm only taking one class this summer and it starts at noon and goes three hours, five days a week, I'm thinking I can eat an early lunch and not eat "in town" right after class, but instead come home and have a snack and then supper later.
7029. clydefo - 4/23/2007 9:06:39 AM
Another reason to avoid processed food.
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD
The Associated Press
Monday, April 23, 2007; 8:57 AM
LOS ANGELES -- The same food safety net that couldn't catch poisoned pet food ingredients from China has a much bigger hole.
Billions of dollars' worth of foreign ingredients that Americans eat in everything from salad dressing to ice cream get a pass from overwhelmed inspectors, despite a rising tide of imports from countries with spotty records, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal trade and food data....
...When U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors at ports and border checkpoints look, they find shipments that are filthy or otherwise contaminated. They rarely bother, however, in part because ingredients aren't a priority...
...Meanwhile, the ingredient trade is booming _ particularly since 2001, when the Sept. 11 attacks focused attention on the security of the nation's food supply.
Over the past five years, the AP found, U.S. food makers prospecting for bargains more than doubled their business with low-cost countries such as Mexico, China and India. Those nations also have the most shipments fail the limited number of checks the FDA makes....
...By its own latest accounting, the FDA only had enough inspectors to check about 1 percent of the 8.9 million imported food shipments in fiscal year 2006. Topping the list were products with past problems, such as seafood and produce.
"I don't ever remember working on ingredients," said Carl R. Nielsen, a former FDA official whose job until he left in 2005 was to make sure field inspectors were checking the right imports. "That was the lowest priority, a low priority."
There are other reasons ingredients aren't thoroughly examined. Unlike rotting fish or moldy vegetables, ingredient testing often requires a laboratory. Analyzing samples takes days and can irk importers who don't like the choice of holding their product or risking a costly recall if they go ahead with distribution...
7030. alistairconnor - 4/23/2007 9:30:16 AM
That's yet another reason why I prefer short food supply chains. I estimate that 60% of what I eat is grown within 50 miles of where I live.
I like to know what I'm eating, so I buy very little in the way of processed foods. If I ever get sick from eating something, I'll have a pretty good chance of tracking down where the problem came from.
7031. thoughtful - 4/23/2007 11:06:51 AM
One area that always makes me suspicious is organic foods that come from places like mexico. How on earth would someone be able to prove that? And with the demand for organics going up and the US being short of supply, there are more and more imported products in that regard.
But even beyond that, the food inspection rigor has deteriorated be it imported or domestic.
Scary stuff.
7032. alistairConnor - 4/23/2007 11:41:09 AM
I don't know how organic certification works in the US, but I have complete confidence in certified organic food which is available in France. The companies that do the certification are thorough and require complete traceability, and are strictly audited themselves. A lot of organic stuff in France comes from North Africa, so there are similar political and economic issues to Mexico. The organic producers have a major incentive to ensure there is no fraud, because they get a good price premium.
7033. thoughtful - 4/23/2007 11:41:25 AM
clydefo, you know and i know that self reported results from pritikin do not make a controlled study. Further, the aspects of the diet over which we have no disagreement could certainly on their own account for the benefits to diabetes patients...losing weight, avoiding refined carbs and sweets, eating smaller more frequent meals.
I looked up the noted reference in diabetes care and can't find anything other than this reference which discusses frequency of meals, but nothing about the % of carbs vs fats vs protein in the diet.
I was unable to find anything based on the other 2 references which were light on details indeed.
7034. thoughtful - 4/23/2007 11:56:47 AM
But that led me to search and find A Low-Fat Vegan Diet Improves Glycemic
Control and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in
a Randomized Clinical Trial in Individuals
With Type 2 Diabetes.
Very interesting study, except of course it was done only on 99 people and its was only carried out for 22 weeks. Many people can see improvements in lipid readings for a short period of time until their livers kick in and generate the cholesterol their body needs. I would like to see this study followed for a longer period of time for both lipid levels and ability to maintain the restrictions of a vegan diet.
Further, there was this interesting little detail buried in the study:
To test whether the effect of diet on
A1C was mediated by body weight
changes, a regression model was constructed,
including baseline A1C, weight
change, and diet group as predictors of
A1C change, among those whose hypoglycemic
medications remained constant.
In this model, the effect of diet group was
no longer significant (P0.23)..
So in other words, for some the weightloss led to the improvement in the diabetes, not so much the diet.
They also made the point that the vegan diet was easier to follow, which I found very surprising. But they weren't requiring the vegan dieters to limit calories at all...only food types. They do make the point that the point of failure for those following the ada diet was due to higher saturated fat intake which is easy to do when eating meat and such. Following a vegan diet, it's easy to eat a lot of volume and still keep overall calorie count low.
Of course schwarzbein has a vegetarian option as part of her plan, but includes a larger share of protein than pritikin, though from plant based sources. Further, note that even this vegan diet had 15% protein vs. pritikin's 10%.
So the important question of how much protein in the diet is required remains. Further I would like to see a comparison of a vegan diet vs a carb controlled diet that doesn't take into account the level of fat or saturated fat. Because they were counting both, it really wasn't a controlled study....and definitely not double-blind.
7035. thoughtful - 4/23/2007 12:16:25 PM
Then again, there are studies like this one: that suggest deteriorating conditions for diabetics who follow a higher carb diet.
RESULTS--The site of study as well as the diet order did not affect the results. Compared with the high-monounsaturated-fat diet, the high-carbohydrate diet increased fasting plasma triglyceride levels and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels by 24% (P < .0001) and 23% (P = .0001), respectively, and increased daylong plasma triglyceride, glucose, and insulin values by 10% (P = .03), 12% (P < .0001), and 9% (P = .02), respectively. Plasma total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels remained unchanged. The effects of both diets on plasma glucose, insulin, and triglyceride levels persisted for 14 weeks. CONCLUSIONS--In NIDDM patients, high-carbohydrate diets compared with high-monounsaturated-fat diets caused persistent deterioration of glycemic control and accentuation of hyperinsulinemia, as well as increased plasma triglyceride and very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, which may not be desirable.
7036. clydefo - 4/23/2007 3:04:19 PM
I certainly agree that results claimed by the Pritikin Center can't be compared to a controlled study. Probably though, their accumulated data over the years has been used for such.
I expect they would agree that there are other ways to treat diabetes, including other exercise/diet regimens. Although the nutrition debate rages, I don't think the integrity of the Center's numbers has ever been impugned. I really don't know much about the diabetes side of it. I can only vouch for the other benefits of their exercise and eating strategy.
The JAMA study cited in 7035 was studying ...a high-carbohydrate diet containing 55% of the total energy as carbohydrates and 30% as fats was compared with a high-monounsaturated-fat diet containing 40% carbohydrates and 45% fats. The amounts of saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, cholesterol, sucrose, and protein were similar...
Pritikin would not call 55/30/15 a high carb diet. He might call it a "doomsday" diet. His is 80/10/10. Is the 40/45/15 control diet some special diet normally used for diabetics? The subjects were taking glipizide. The study may be entirely valid, but I'd like to know who funded it.
Pritikin's case for eating only enough protein and fat to meet the body's repair and mainenance needs and to provide for needed body chemistry makes sense to me. More than that is excess and must be treated as such. Cleaner, more efficient blood with less platelet clumping and metabolic "ash" to eliminate. He differs from strictly Vegan diets in that limited lean meat is o.k. Whether a plant or animal source, pay attention to the protein and fat content. He limits beans, non-fat dairy and soy because of high protein. Nuts are concentrated fat calories to be avoided.
A very basic and low-prep version of the regimen is easy and convenient for me to stick to. With herbs, spices and fancy recipes, it can be made to satisfy the epicure.
7037. arkymalarky - 4/23/2007 7:49:57 PM
Well, the weight seems to be dropping fairly fast with this thyroid medicine. I know that will plane off and I'm fine with that. I just feel like when my thyroid reading is "normal" I will have a good idea of where I really am wrt weight for my long-term goals.
I had class tonight and ate out, as usual, but got full on half what I'd been eating. I gave Mose the rest rather than taking it home.
7038. thoughtful - 4/24/2007 7:26:06 AM
Arky, what is the doc having you do for follow up now that you are on the meds...are you monitoring your pulse, blood pressure? Did you get copies of your blood test results that said you needed supplementation? When are you to go back for your next visit.
Also, are you increasing the amount of iodine in your diet? (Seafood, iodized salt, vitamins with iodine are key sources as is milk.)
7039. thoughtful - 4/24/2007 7:43:14 AM
Clydefo, yes, that's the issue...what and how is it determined is an adequate level of protein.
And of course, I'm sure there is individual variation be it from evolutionary background or genetic makeup. By that I mean, if you were innuit, chances are the ones who survived over the millennia were the ones who fared best on a high protein and fat diet (fish, whale, seal, walrus) vs. say someone of mediterranean descent whose evolutionary history allowed survival of those who fared best on a lower protein higher plant based diet.
7040. clydefo - 4/24/2007 11:10:59 AM
Meat Protein Food For Thought.
On Cancer and a Vegetarian Diet - Kathy Freston
Once you start paying attention, you just can't avoid the bad news about meat consumption. From Reuters comes the news that "Women who received the most calories from animal protein had twice the risk of [endometrial cancer] compared to those who took in the fewest calories from animal sources." ...
Arsenic In Chicken Production
FOR ENVIRONMENTALISTS and some public health experts, one of the most puzzling practices of modern agriculture is the addition of arsenic-based compounds to most chicken feed. The point of the practice is to promote growth, kill parasites that cause diarrhea, and improve pigmentation of chicken meat. But Tyson Foods, the U.S.'s largest poultry producer, stopped using arsenic compounds in 2004, and many high-end and organic growers raise chickens quite successfully without them. What's more, McDonald's has asked its suppliers not to use arsenic additives, and the European Union banned them in 1999...
7041. arkymalarky - 4/24/2007 5:46:10 PM
Thoughtful,
I will have my blood tested once a month until it is at "normal" and go from there. All my other readings were good.
7042. arkymalarky - 4/24/2007 5:47:57 PM
And she started me on a very low dose of hormone, so I haven't had any changes in pulse or bp. It's been a week today, so all that will be revisited when I go in in three weeks, unless I have a problem before then.
7043. arkymalarky - 4/24/2007 5:56:43 PM
Oh, except my cholesterol was a little high and she wants to give me a stress test and look at all that again after I've gotten the thyroid issue under control. I was having chest pains, but since that's a symptom of hypothyroidism (and I haven't had them in a few days) she wants to make sure my thyroid doesn't affect any test results.
Right now I'm trying desperately to finish my coursework for my May graduation and get my own work done and grades finished for my kids. By the time I go back in to the doctor, all that will be behind me except reviewing and giving my classes their finals, getting a mammogram, and taking a June class to finish up my MSE. I don't really expect the May test to show "normal," but I hope the June one does. That's just a blind guess, though.
7044. thoughtful - 4/25/2007 8:25:14 AM
I want to strongly encourage you, arky, to get a hold of the copies of your blood work. It's really best to get familiar with where your readings are as well as what the reference or normal range is. Many people find they do well only within a much narrower range than what the blood testing labs consider to be 'normal' for average people.
It is also very important to make sure the right tests are being run....the TSH, the Free T3 and the Free T4. Many doctors will incorrectly dose patients based on the TSH, but the TSH can lag the readings in the other 2 tests leading to over or under treatment. It's really important to dose based on the free t3 and free t4 as well as by how you feel.
I only emphasize this as, through the mediboard, I've heard so many horror stories from patients who are being mistreated and are miserable as a result, when it's not necessary.
So many endos today make their money off of diabetes that they know little about managing thyroid disease. I've seen many of our participants go through 3 or 4 endos before they find one who will treat the patient and not the thyroid.
7045. thoughtful - 4/25/2007 8:26:02 AM
BTW, the cholesterol will be higher if you are hypo. Fixing the thyroid will improve your cholesterol readings.
I remember when I had the kidney disease, my cholesterol hit 499!
7046. arkymalarky - 4/25/2007 6:05:43 PM
Yeow!
BTW, the cholesterol will be higher if you are hypo. Fixing the thyroid will improve your cholesterol readings
She told me that. I have ready access to all my bloodwork and have the numbers (though I didn't remember them or copy them the first visit), she's taking them again after I hit "normal" and at that point I hope to see the cholesterol down. I've got an appointment May 15 and I'll get a copy then.
It is also very important to make sure the right tests are being run....the TSH, the Free T3 and the Free T4. Many doctors will incorrectly dose patients based on the TSH, but the TSH can lag the readings in the other 2 tests leading to over or under treatment. It's really important to dose based on the free t3 and free t4 as well as by how you feel.
That's what she did, which is why she did the second test before prescribing anything. I remembered they were "t's" and numbers, but didn't remember which ones, but those are the ones. She's very good to explain what's what, and I'll get her to go back through that again with me when I go back. I also emphasized with her all the personal/work stuff I have to go through in the next two to three weeks and how important it is that I not get jerked around, feelings-wise, on this medicine.
7047. wonkers2 - 4/26/2007 6:39:26 AM
U.S. doctors are wined and dined by drug sales repsBig Pharma Bribes our Doctors and our Legislators
7048. wonkers2 - 4/26/2007 8:45:24 AM
Anybody know anything aboutEDTA? Sounds too good to be true.
7049. thoughtful - 4/26/2007 11:07:26 AM
Never heard of it, but just by the way the page is printed up it would seem to be more hype than anything else, at best. At worst, it could be harmful. If I were you, I'd do an internet search to see if any reliable medical journals mention the stuff and judge accordingly.
7050. thoughtful - 4/27/2007 7:24:50 AM
This is just getting downright unfair. Why is it all the things that taste so good are so bad for us???
New processing toxins linked with aging diseases
Scientific studies have linked the toxins, called advanced glycation end products (AGEs), with inflammation, insulin resistance, diabetes, vascular and kidney disease, and Alzheimer's....
"AGEs are quite deceptive, since they also give our food desirable tastes and smells," he said. "So, consuming high amounts of grilled, broiled, or fried food means consuming significant amounts of AGEs, and AGEs in excess are toxic."
New methods of cooking to reduce AGE intake, particularly steaming, boiling or making stews, can make a difference, he said. Keeping the heat down and maintaining the water content in food reduces AGE levels.
Can I spend the rest of my days living on soup???
7051. wonkers2 - 4/29/2007 3:48:10 PM
The April 30 New Yorker has a quite good, long article by Atul Gawande entitled "The Way We Age Now." One of his observations is that despite it's usefulness and despite the growing number of old people in this country, the number of geriatric physicians is declining. This is happening apparently because they don't produce as much revenue as do cardiologists, et al. For anybody looking forward to old age the article is well worth reading. I'll try to link it although it would be pretty long to read on line.
7052. wonkers2 - 4/29/2007 3:49:58 PM
7053. robertjayb - 5/4/2007 1:54:39 AM
Treating the dead... A startling article in Newsweek.
The new science of resuscitation is changing the way doctors think about heart attacks—and death itself.
7054. alistairconnor - 5/4/2007 2:32:37 AM
This AGE stuff... it doesn't worry me with respect to processed foods since I eat very little, but fried and barbecued meats, grilled cheese, these are things I eat a fair amount of. Especially living alone, the frying pan is my best friend.
I may have to rethink diet a bit. I was reading an article the other day about Paul McCartney in which his vegetarianism is a big theme, and the journalist notes that he looks at least 10 years younger than his age (65), and that this is true of most of the vegetarians he knows.
It's also true of me (in all modesty). I have been a non-practising (lapsed?) vegetarian these last couple of years. I'm coming round to reconsidering this on health grounds, I'll have to do a bit more reading.
I wonder if having a diet rich in antioxidants counteracts the AGE stuff.
7055. wonkers2 - 5/4/2007 5:29:12 AM
That is a startling Newsweek article. Apparently we still have a lot to learn in medicine. (And about diet as well. I wonder whether McCartney's youthful appearance is due to his diet or his genes. I wonder if he smokes or drinks a lot. Those two habits are guaranteed to age one prematurely.)
7056. judithathome - 5/4/2007 8:39:10 AM
I'm wondering if he's had "work" done, too. Though people with youthful appearences seem to show the ravages of age less than those who look mature even when young...and he definitley qualifies in that regard. Dick Clark is another one who didn't show his age.
I have a friend who is very youthful looking at 45...people think he's in his late 20s but that's because he has a "baby face" and just doesn't look his age at all.
Most of my vegetarian friends don't look younger, they just look tired and have unhealthy palors...plus their low fat diets make their faces look drawn. They get what I call "parentheticals", etched lines on both sides of the mouth that run from the nose area to the chin area. I can spot a woman who's been eating a low fat diet from a mile away. Plus my veggie friends have dull hair.
And it's not because they don't eat the proper way...this might be true of one or two but the two most avid vegetarians, who eat strictly organic and never drink sodas or eat white sugar or fry anything look sickly and seem to have far less energy than the rest of the group. They do eat fish, however, but not much because of the lack of availablity of really fresh stuff this far inland.
I could probably do a better job as far as my diet is concerned but I eat a variety of things and try to keep my calories within reason...but if I have to live the rest of my life eating the stuff my veggie pals live on just to add a few years, no thanks.
7057. arkymalarky - 5/4/2007 6:28:51 PM
A lot of it is genetics, imo. My dad takes great care of himself, but so does my mom, and since I was a teenager people have mistaken him for her son rather than her husband, which needless to say did not go over well with her (ann neither did it with me when for a while people mistook him for my husband, which was creepy). At age 75 people still act amazed at how he looks, though he seems to have really shown more age in the last ten years to me.
My brother always looked like a kid, up until he was around 40. Once we were in a bar, when he was over 30, and the waitress--trying to be all casual when he ordered a drink--said simply, "21?" Without missing a beat, he said "No, just one." She just waved a hand and said, "Oh, you're 21" and got him his drink without insisting on seeing his card.
7058. arkymalarky - 5/4/2007 6:33:04 PM
I never have worried much about any of that stuff, first because I was too thin and then because I was too busy; but now that I have a weight problem and time to think about it I want to make some changes, which (what I outlined earlier) aren't that drastic, but are very different from what I was doing. But I mainly want to make the changes because I'm sick of feeling like crap all the time. As it turns out, I'm hoping this thyroid medicine will help. I haven't noticed much difference since the first few days, which I guess were the "placebo effect," but I'll go in for an adjustment on the 14th. The doc told Bob when he went to see her last week that I probably wouldn't notice much difference with the first dosage.
7059. alistairConnor - 5/6/2007 4:54:57 AM
Most of my vegetarian friends don't look younger, they just look tired and have unhealthy palors...plus their low fat diets make their faces look drawn.
Well, you're confusing vegetarianism with a dietary fad. Or rather, small sample size will lead to inaccurate conclusions. I certainly have never had a low-fat diet.
Heredity undoubtedly plays an important role in aging. Smoking and drinking too, though I persist in thinking that regular and reasonable quantities of wine is a plus, not a minus (and I can't get my head around the idea that an occasional nip of single malt whisky could possibly be bad for me).
Quite likely, this AGE stuff is more important than actual meat. Certainly, the stuff about the health benefits of cooking things at low temperatures and high moisture content is very well-known and I implicitly recognise the truth of it. I didn't know the scientific justification until now.
So : less fried liver, more steak & kidney pie? I can live with that.
7060. thoughtful - 5/6/2007 3:03:01 PM
I wouldn't overdo the AGE stuff only because I've seen so many fads come and go in nutrition. My polish grandmother boiled almost everything and never grilled or blackened anything, but she died in her early 80s like many other women and suffered the last decade+ of her life as an insulin-dependent diabetic...no doubt related to her insistance on "a meal is not a meal without potatoes" lifestyle.
I agree with judithah that vegetarians i know are generally pallid in color and look 'weak'. They don't tend to look strong and muscular but thin and almost sickly. Of course, I need to qualify that by race. The Indians I know...our workplace has lots of them...who are vegetarian seem to do very well. They tend to look healthy and fit. That's one reason I think genetic/ethnic background has a lot to do with it.
7061. thoughtful - 5/6/2007 3:05:09 PM
The other factor that we haven't brought up for which there is some new and exciting evidence, but for which there is nothing we can do now, has to do with the importance of good nutrition prenatal and early years of life. They attribute this to the stark differences, eg, in the size and health of people in their 20s during the civil war who suffered many of the diseases that now our common in people in their 80s. There was a NYT article about it several months back...i'll see if i can find it when I get a chance.
7062. judithathome - 5/7/2007 11:15:07 PM
Well, you're confusing vegetarianism with a dietary fad.
No, I am not...these people have heen vegetarians for decades and they brought their children (all grown now) up that way, too. It isn't a fad with them.
And yes, I am judging this on a small sample of the several vegetarians I personally know but of that group, many have been doing this for years and some are more of the faddish bent. But they mostly all look unhealthy to me.
7063. wonkers2 - 5/9/2007 6:19:42 AM
Johnson & Johnson and Amgen bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs
7064. clydefo - 5/9/2007 7:30:55 AM
Apologies to fat folks
...The scientists summarized it in their paper: “The two major findings of this study were that there was a clear relation between the body-mass index of biologic parents and the weight class of adoptees, suggesting that genetic influences are important determinants of body fatness; and that there was no relation between the body-mass index of adoptive parents and the weight class of adoptees, suggesting that childhood family environment alone has little or no effect.”
In other words, being fat was an inherited condition...
7065. clydefo - 5/9/2007 7:34:52 AM
Re: Vegetarian pallor.
They should spend a little bit more time in the sunshine.
7066. thoughtful - 5/9/2007 7:50:33 AM
Clydefo, I saw that article. No doubt there is a genetic connection, but it's much more than that too. See statistics on obesity rates among children. Genetics don't morph in a generation.
% obese children ages 6-11 1960s-70s: 4%; 2001-04: 17.5%
And when you consider the number of overweight adults, many of which are still in the same cohort so there is no genetic difference:
% overweight ages 20-74: 1976-80: 47%; 2001-04: 66%
The lifestyle differences are easy to spot: amount of added sugars to food has skyrocketed; the portion sizes have skyrocketed.
Mean kilocalorie intake:
Men 1976-80=2439; 1999-02=2634
Women 1976-80=1542; 1999-02=1874
%kilocalories from carbohydrates:
Men 1976-80=42.6; 1999-02=48.9
Women 1976-80=45.4; 1999-02=51.5
7067. thoughtful - 5/9/2007 7:51:19 AM
sorry i screwed up the link Let me try again
link
7068. judithathome - 5/9/2007 8:18:56 AM
Clyde, one of them works in a nursery...she is in the sun, the brutal Texas sun, for much of the day.
7069. judithathome - 5/9/2007 8:27:54 AM
Since my last colonoscopy (about 4 months ago), I have been eating oatmeal every moring and have gained 8 pounds. I have given up diet Coke totally and the rest of my diet was what I had been eating for the past few years. The oatmeal is the only change I have made in my diet, along with the lack of diet soda (which I quit three weeks ago).
So yesterday, I decided to try the Atkin's Diet...lean meats and a big salad last night for dinner.
My weight difference is 2 1/2 pounds down from the day before. I think I'm going to stay on this for a week or two and see if that 8 pounds goes away.
I know people are supposed to be able to lose with fewer calories and a balanced diet of a range of foods but I really DO gain when I have more than 30 grams of carbs...I've proven it time after time.
So I'm going to incorporate more fiber-full veggies in my diet and what grains I do have will be few and far between...After I lose some weight, I might have oatmeal and very grainy bread once or twice a week but this everyday thing is not for me.
7070. thoughtful - 5/9/2007 8:37:20 AM
J@h, are you putting anything on the oatmeal? Are you buying the packets of preflavored stuff or making it out of the can?
7071. judithathome - 5/9/2007 9:35:13 AM
I'm making it from scratch... Silver Pallette brand plain oats that you cook. I like it chewy and don't cook it to death...and I put nothing on it but a little, very little, sea salt.
I can't bear sweet oatmeal...that stuff in packets is mainly sugar.
I could see gaining weight if I'd loaded it with sugar and cream or dried berries or whipped cream or maple syrup...but I ate it PLAIN. No frills at all.
7072. alistairconnor - 5/9/2007 9:41:39 AM
Strange. Are oats really that full of carbs?
The answer is obvious really. What do you give a horse to give him an energy boost?
But surely no diet makes you lose 1 kg in 24 hours... that would have to be a pretty big serving of porridge!
7073. arkymalarky - 5/9/2007 3:20:11 PM
Bob eats oatmeal usually twice a day, but he counted his overall carbs for at least a year after getting diabetes, and the oatmeal doesn't put him over their suggested limit. I guess different people are affected by different foods, but the oatmeal was a big key in his weight loss because he ate it for breakfast and a snack. Maybe it's causing you to retain water somehow.
I go in Monday to have my thyroid level checked. I'm hoping the next adjustment shows a difference, because after the first couple of days I feel basically like I did before. The doctor told me I wouldn't likely notice much difference in the first round, so I guess we'll see with the next one.
7074. clydefo - 5/9/2007 5:53:48 PM
Consumer Reports Rates Popular Diet Plans
New diet winners
We rate the diet books and plans. Plus: 8 strategies that work
Americans don’t give up easily. Those hoping to lose weight have put a whole new crop of diet books on the best-seller list. The science-laden “You on a Diet,” the wine lover’s “Sonoma Diet,” the manly “Abs Diet,” and the kinder, gentler, Oprah Winfrey-endorsed “Best Life Diet” are just some of the recent titles.
We have rated those four and other popular diet books, based on our nutritional analysis and the critiques of a panel of diet experts. None of these books has yet been put to the acid test of a large clinical trial. Our analysis found that most provided good nutrition advice, but the panel perceived real differences in their quality of information. Some of the experts, for instance, thought that some nutritional theories in “UltraMetabolism” didn’t have solid science behind them.
We also have some new winners among diet plans that have been studied in clinical trials, reflecting data published since our 2005 diet Ratings. Our top-rated diet is “The Volumetrics Eating Plan” by Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., a professor in the department of nutritional sciences at The Pennsylvania State University.
Weight Watchers came in second, with Jenny Craig a very close third (see Diet plans, available to
subscribers)...
7075. thoughtful - 5/10/2007 7:36:51 AM
The oatmeal must have to do with water retention. It takes 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. Rapid weight loss is really water weight loss. Oatmeal being bulky may have to do with the weight of the food in the gut, food transfer time and so on.
Hubby is very sensitive to salt. His weight will rise by 2-3 lbs if we've eaten ham or pizza. His weight will also rise by that much if we've eaten out. Of course, he's able to lose that in a couple of days by stopping the salty food and drinking lots of water. Me, I eat the same foods and my weight doesn't budge.
I know that when I was eating a lot of yogurt it seemed to make me bloat for some reason and when I stopped eating it, my belly went down noticeably.
7076. thoughtful - 5/10/2007 7:50:52 AM
Arky, please be sure to get your numbers and the reference ranges on your blood work. Don't settle for "normal".
Reference ranges will vary by lab, but for instance, my latest were:
TSH 1.79 (0.4-5.5)
FT4 1.0 (0.8-1.8)
T3 120 (60-181)
I can see exactly where I am and what's normal for me. Not everyone is the same and the levels that are best for you are very individual. Knowing this will help you judge how your body is reacting to the supplements and help you adjust them to get you feeling your optimum.
Also, note that this lab is out of date on the TSH. Many labs have shifted the upper range lower as it is more in line with the general population. They are finding people with TSH over 4 are actually hypothyroid and often have symptoms related to it. Others go by the lab ranges but refer to the upper range as "subclinical hypothyroidism". Docs argue whether it should be treated or not. My take is go by how the patient feels.
7077. judithathome - 5/10/2007 9:04:06 AM
I always drink a lot of water and possibly that was water weight...I weighed the same this morning so I'm almost sure it was. And since I don't add salt to anything except the oatmeal, it was probably just the change from that...although a few grains of salt is hardly overdoing it. I see people put so much salt on their food it looks like it's snowed on their plate.
Anyhow, yesterday for lunch I had grilled trout, a medly of broccoli, yellow squash, and baby zucchini and a side of steamed green beans, very skinny ones that were delicious. (I ordered them in place of rice pilaf.) I dont think a diet like that is going to kill me. ;-)
7078. judithathome - 5/10/2007 9:10:55 AM
Clyde, that link to the diet study showed an error. I couldn't read the article.
I'm not surprised Jenny Craig scored so highly, though...NutriSystem probably did, too. Those "diets" are all done for you. If you can afford the food, it's a painless way to lose. I, for one, can't justify paying $300+ a month for pre-made food just for me. I have to eat in such a way that Keoni can, too. He doesn't need to diet so I make things that are healthy and that he can jazz up with a sauce or pasta and I just leave those off for me.
Tonight we're having grilled salmon...he'll have his with rice and a salad and mine will be sans rice.
7079. thoughtful - 5/10/2007 9:33:34 AM
J@h, your plan sounds sensible.
I don't like the nutrisys and jenny craig stuff for 2 key reasons: 1) you can't control the junk they add to the food...who the heck knows what's in there; 2) you don't learn how to feed yourself. So as soon as you quit their food, you go back to eating the old stuff and the weight returns.
7080. clydefo - 5/10/2007 12:31:20 PM
Sorry for the bad link. It is a subscription site but I thought the intro page could be accessed. Maybe this will work.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/health-fitness/diets-6-07/overview/0607_diets_ov.htm
7081. arkymalarky - 5/10/2007 3:19:15 PM
I got the basics of it on MSNBC the other day, and meant to link it, but I guess I forgot.
7082. clydefo - 5/11/2007 12:47:16 PM
MSNBC is running a story about the negative effects caused by movies that contain scenes depicting smoking. They may be required to carry an "R" rating in the future. Meanwhile, as Barbie is prattling on, we're seeing an ongoing video montage of movie smoking scenes. Bogart and all our other heroes puffing away. Probably more smoking than the kids would see in ten films. Let's hope the little darlings are in school and not watching TV.
7083. judithathome - 5/13/2007 11:08:25 AM
Well, let's also hope that the people claiming this are not morons...because after all, the VIOLENCE in movies and video games these kids are exposed to is not supposed to influence them one whit...even though you see 5 year olds doing karate chops and using play swords to try and decapitate everything in sight after "being exposed" to movies. But heaven forfend a man light up a cigarette on screen because then, we'll have little nicotine addicts running around.
You can't have it both ways...either everything in movies influences kids or nothing does. You can't say they will start smoking but WON'T use violence for conflict resolution after viewing it all for hours and hours on screen.
7084. thoughtful - 5/14/2007 12:27:40 PM
a buddy at work was telling me he and his wife were very careful not to give toy guns to their small son. they realized it wasn't working when one day they saw him grab his sister's barbie doll, bend her legs forward to hold her like a gun and started running around the house "shooting" things with her...
7085. judithathome - 5/14/2007 12:33:40 PM
I adore the little five year old next door; he runs around in a Spiderman costume and he does karate chops and leaps all the time. The other day, he came over right before his little league game and asked me if I would protect his house while he was gone. I asked him "Protect it from what?" and said "Bad guys!" I asked him what I was supposed to do them if they showed up and he said "Tie them up and I'll karate them when I get home from the game!" He carries a jewelled sword around with him and for two weeks straight, he wore a black cape everywhere he went.
He is definitely influenced by movies and TV.
7086. clydefo - 5/14/2007 2:26:00 PM
If we stop little boys from playing with guns and other pretended violent games, where will we get the conditioned pool of teenagers to use as cannon fodder when we need them?
7087. robertjayb - 5/14/2007 3:56:27 PM
Canadian Ian Welsh offers simple, but hard, solutions to U.S. problems: Hard and complicated aren't synonyms...(firedoglake)
...it's not complicated to fix US healthcare – just go to single payor, probably modeled after France or Germany (who do as well or better on practically every metric), and voila – no more uninsured, much fewer bankruptcies, improved competitiveness and 650 billion dollars in profit and administrative costs that could actually be used for productive enterprise. Hard, because a lot of people make a lot of money from the status quo. But not complicated.
7088. wonkers2 - 5/14/2007 4:58:04 PM
He's right. And we already have a quite good single payer universal (for 65 and older)single payer plan that works very well for the most part. (Except for the prescription drug portion.)This plan could be extended incrementally in steps to other groups such as all children, all pregnant women, all unemployed, and so forth until everbody was covered.
7089. arkymalarky - 5/14/2007 8:31:43 PM
And he's right that it would save money over the current system. Exchange students are always appalled at our health care system here, especially in light of the fact that we have such excellent resources.
7090. arkymalarky - 5/15/2007 3:39:14 PM
Well, got my results back and she doubled my dosage of thyroid medicine.
7091. judithathome - 5/16/2007 12:57:05 PM
So today I got my eyes examined and though my prescription changed very little, I mentioned to the doctor that I have a weird little light flashing "parenthesis" on the left side of my right eye. Not constant but enough to scare me when it happens.
So he said I might have a slight separation or tearing of my retina...he referred me to a retinolgist...anyone ever had any dealings with one of those?
7092. judithathome - 5/16/2007 12:57:47 PM
On the diet front, I've lost 5 pounds thus far.
7093. wonkers2 - 5/16/2007 3:19:43 PM
Judith, here's a poem about retinal tears. I suspect the author could tell you about his experience. Eyeballs
7094. judithathome - 5/16/2007 3:40:41 PM
Arrrgh.
7095. robertjayb - 5/16/2007 3:45:05 PM
I am intrigued by this article in the Houston Chronicle sports section. Had I read it in the health or lifestyle pages I would have dismissed it as hype. It seems authentic. As a geezer with gait, balance, and back pain problems, I am wondering if Dr. Patterson accepts civilian patients as well as athletes. Wizard therapist and "Synergy Release"
Anyone heard of such healers?
7096. arkymalarky - 5/16/2007 4:25:27 PM
I've heard of that type of thing, but I don't remember where. It does sound like at least it couldn't hurt (though I imagine it costs plenty).
7097. arkymalarky - 5/16/2007 4:29:34 PM
Judith, I have similar visual incidents occur before migraines. I also had one eye dilate once, which can indicate a retina issue and I was sent to an opthamologist and a neurologist. An opthamologist should be able to tell you if you have a retina problem.
7098. judithathome - 5/16/2007 4:58:16 PM
The guys he recommended are opthamologists that specialize in retinal problems. I'm going to talk to my regular doc tomorrow (he has to give me the referral) and see what he says.
Tis is different from the migrane flares. It's a constant, lasting for days with no head pain at all.
7099. wonkers2 - 5/16/2007 5:11:07 PM
Judith, the poem was written by my brother who had a detached retina which was successfully re-attached, as I recall, with laser surgery. A modern medical miracle.
7100. arkymalarky - 5/16/2007 6:10:39 PM
My neighbor at work (the math teacher next door) had two detached retinae that he's had surgeries for, but he still has a lot of eye problems. He's not very healthy in general, though.
7101. arkymalarky - 5/16/2007 6:43:37 PM
In the Cafe, and maybe here, a while back, we were talking about doctors' names. This was on MSNBC's site:
The herpes family of viruses can have a surprising upside — it can protect against the bubonic plague and other bacterial contagions, at least in mice.
Research into whether a similar mechanism applies to humans and other mammalian hosts should be conducted, said viral immunologist Skip Virgin at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "There may be symbiotic advantages to chronic infections with these viruses."
7102. judithathome - 5/16/2007 9:25:47 PM
Wonkers, the poem was great and good on your bother for coming out fine...it just scared me a bit.
7103. wonkers2 - 5/17/2007 5:40:29 AM
Scary topic. He said he'd be happy to talk to you about his experience if you have any questions after seeing the specialists. 860-651-3054 (Tom)
7104. thoughtful - 5/17/2007 6:39:46 AM
I never complain about posts, but I strongly suggest the phone number be removed. Better sent in a private e-mail to judithah, or if she's already got it, the post should be removed...just not a safe practice, even in our corner of the internet.
7105. thoughtful - 5/17/2007 8:00:15 AM
Judithah, detached retinas ain't fun. I hope it's not serious and that the doc can fix you up.
Hubby had a different retinal issue...fluid built up behind it making the surface 'wrinkled'. There was nothing to be done and fortunately it went away by itself.
I hope yours is as benign an issue as his was.
7106. judithathome - 5/17/2007 9:59:01 AM
Wonk, got the number and suggest Magos delete the post now...thanks! I can't get a referral until Monday when my doc returns from a trip. Will keep you posted. (And thank your brother for me...I just might give him a call!)
Thoughtful, I'm thinking it's going to be a big nothing...I have no symptoms, no pain, no blurred vision...he showed me a lot of examples of what it might turn into but didn't seem overly concerned. (Didn't send me straight to the specialist, rather.)
He did show me that particular problem your hubs had, though...said it actually looks like over-stretched SaranWrap.
7107. judithathome - 5/17/2007 9:59:55 AM
Sorry, I thought this was the Cafe...maybe Wabbit could delete it.
7108. judithathome - 5/17/2007 3:19:24 PM
Well, my doctor just got all in a swit and referred me to another eye doc and I will be going in tomorrow...he was quite miffed at me that I thought it could wait til next week.
7109. arkymalarky - 5/17/2007 3:58:06 PM
This site is very neat for monitoring diet and fitness.
7110. wonkers2 - 5/18/2007 3:33:43 PM
7111. judithathome - 5/19/2007 1:41:58 PM
My eye is fine and that was 3 hours and 15 minutes out of my life that I'll never get back...the specialist's office is a hotbed of inefficency and there were about 20 of us sitting there with dilated eyes, trapped in a room waiting to see the doctor.
Only funny thing was that his name was Dr. Hu and the girl at the desk said "You're here to see Dr. Hu?" and I said "Ranalle" and she said "No, Dr. Hu" and I repeated "Ranalle" and finally I glanced down at the card and saw DR. (whatever) HU printed on it and told her I got it...but that I felt like I was trapped inside an Abbott & Costello routine. Unfortunately, she was too young to get that particular joke...
Anyhow, I'm supposed to watch for any changes in my "floaters" and "flashes" and if I see a change, to come back...otherwise, just keep getting older.
7112. wonkers2 - 5/19/2007 2:50:32 PM
That's good news!
7113. betty - 5/19/2007 8:11:36 PM
arky,
I was out running yesterday and my eyes started filling up with goo. Of course I thought of you...How is the fitness routine going?
7114. arkymalarky - 5/19/2007 8:56:09 PM
I've been just maintaining a little exercise and eating out a lot less, and otherwise I haven't able to do a lot without getting worn out, but since my doctor doubled my thyroid medicine the other day I feel better. Today is the first day I really felt like I could tell a difference. I bought a basketball goal and Bob and I worked on assembling it quite a while without me getting exhausted. I don't know if I'll be up to "normal" next time my thyroid is checked in about three weeks, but I see I can function better with this upped dose and I haven't gained any more weight--I lost a pound or two from where I was originally and then planed off, and I'm thinking I'll be able to exercise longer now and eat less.
7115. arkymalarky - 5/20/2007 8:29:42 AM
I'm also trying to figure out how long I may have had this; if I had it before my hysterectomy and then it went lower this year, when I gained ten or fifteen pounds and felt like crap but attributed it to being way overloaded (which I was). Or when I gained about 20 before that and got the symptoms that required a hysterectomy, which I attributed to extreme stress and overload while I was in a mad fight to keep our rural school from closing. I'm just trying to sort out what's what and trace things back so I can see where I'll be wrt health, weight, etc, once my thyroid is correctly adjusted and my allergies are back under control, which I hope will happen within the next few weeks. If "normal" is before all that, then my weight should be about 20 lbs less, and I'd like to lose another 20 eventually, to get to where my weight was in my 30s.
I'm focusing on feeling good, though, at the moment, and won't concern myself with weight per se until I'm at what I think would be my "normal" health level through eating a balanced diet and exercising.
Speaking of which, anyone have opinions (HA!) on the detox rage? I read an article in MSNBC about it that really warned about it, but I know a few health-food store frequenters (not health nuts--they seem to use health-product resources like a Chinese menu) who think it's great for cleaning their systems, not weight loss.
7116. arkymalarky - 5/20/2007 8:31:47 AM
And wrt eating right, I am eating at least one piece of fruit and some vegetables every day and drinking a low-sodium V-8. And I'm drinking 4-6 glasses of water a day at a minimum and getting in physical activity most days, but--as I said--very little of it.
7117. arkymalarky - 5/20/2007 3:14:31 PM
It took two days to put up that basketball goal. The instructions were awful, even by assembly instructions standards. But I got a lot of physical activity out of putting it together and was able to do it. Last week, no way. And I LOVE IT. I shot baskets while Bob cleaned off the old concrete slab I'm playing on (from the carport of our old house), and I just love it, chasing the ball around and everything. It's all fun.
7118. thoughtful - 5/22/2007 7:41:34 AM
On the importance of adequate protein and other nutrients in the diet.
Death by veganism
WHEN Crown Shakur died of starvation, he was 6 weeks old and weighed 3.5 pounds. His vegan parents, who fed him mainly soy milk and apple juice, were convicted in Atlanta recently of murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty....
Protein deficiency is one danger of a vegan diet for babies. Nutritionists used to speak of proteins as “first class” (from meat, fish, eggs and milk) and “second class” (from plants), but today this is considered denigrating to vegetarians.
The fact remains, though, that humans prefer animal proteins and fats to cereals and tubers, because they contain all the essential amino acids needed for life in the right ratio. This is not true of plant proteins, which are inferior in quantity and quality — even soy.
A vegan diet may lack vitamin B12, found only in animal foods; usable vitamins A and D, found in meat, fish, eggs and butter; and necessary minerals like calcium and zinc. When babies are deprived of all these nutrients, they will suffer from retarded growth, rickets and nerve damage.
and
There are no vegan societies for a simple reason: a vegan diet is not adequate in the long run.
7119. wonkers2 - 5/22/2007 9:03:18 AM
I saw that article yesterday. It confirmed my previous opinions about veganism. It also validates my occaisonal two slider and fries lunches. My new daughter-in-law is a vegetarian. But she drinks milk, and eats eggs and cheese, etc. I hope that will be enough for a pre-natal diet if she were to get pregnant. She grew up a vegetarian and is a graduate of MIT and has a PhD from U of Washington. So, I guess she didn't lose any brain cells as a result of her diet.
7120. thoughtful - 5/22/2007 9:59:42 AM
what's a slider?
7121. robertjayb - 5/22/2007 10:35:38 AM
(baseball) A pitch thrown with added pressure by middle and ring fingers yielding a combination of backspin and sidespin, resulting in a motion to the left when thrown by a right handed pitcher
The closer had a wicked slider that was almost unhittable.
A small greasy hamburger
We ordered five sliders.
(curling) A piece of teflon or similar material attached to a curling shoe that allows the player to slide along the ice
(Wiktionary)
7122. thoughtful - 5/22/2007 11:02:02 AM
hmmm...you learn something new every day!
7123. wonkers2 - 5/22/2007 2:22:50 PM
A slider is a very small hamburger cooked with onions. Sometimes they are a bit greasy, hence the name slider. The kind they sell at White Towers.
7124. thoughtful - 5/24/2007 7:39:53 AM
The two go hand in hand...the diabetes drug Avandia substantially increases the risk of heart attack.
Diet and Exercise can stave off type 2 diabetes
Participants randomly assigned to intensive lifestyle intervention reduced their risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. On average, this group maintained their physical activity at 30 minutes per day, usually with walking or other moderate intensity exercise, and lost 5-7 percent of their body weight. Participants randomized to treatment with metformin reduced their risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 31 percent.
So which is it...expensive drugs that are less effective with potentially deadly side effects?
Or diet and exercise that is more effective and will make you look and feel better?
I report...you decide.
7125. wonkers2 - 5/24/2007 8:06:56 AM
Opinion All NYT
Opinion
Rethinking Old Age
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By ATUL GAWANDE
Published: May 24, 2007
At some point in life, you can’t live on your own anymore. We don’t like thinking about it, but after retirement age, about half of us eventually move into a nursing home, usually around age 80. It remains your most likely final address outside of a hospital.
To the extent that there is much public discussion about this phase of life, it’s about getting more control over our deaths (with living wills and the like). But we don’t much talk about getting more control over our lives in such places. It’s as if we’ve given up on the idea. And that’s a problem.
This week, I visited a woman who just moved into a nursing home. She is 89 years old with congestive heart failure, disabling arthritis, and after a series of falls, little choice but to leave her condominium. Usually, it’s the children who push for a change, but in this case, she was the one who did. “I fell twice in one week, and I told my daughter I don’t belong at home anymore,” she said.
She moved in a month ago. She picked the facility herself. It has excellent ratings, friendly staff, and her daughter lives nearby. She’s glad to be in a safe place — if there’s anything a decent nursing home is built for, it is safety. But she is struggling.
The trouble is — and it’s a possibility we’ve mostly ignored for the very old — she expects more from life than safety. “I know I can’t do what I used to,” she said, “but this feels like a hospital, not a home.” And that is in fact the near-universal reality.
Nursing home priorities are matters like avoiding bedsores and maintaining weight — important goals, but they are means, not ends. She left an airy apartment she furnished herself for a small beige hospital-like room with a stranger for a roommate. Her belongings were stripped down to what she could fit into the one cupboard and shelf they gave her. Basic matters, like when she goes to bed, wakes up, dresses, and eats were put under the rigid schedule of institutional life. Her main activities have become bingo, movies, and other forms of group entertainment. Is it any wonder most people dread nursing homes?
The things she misses most, she told me, are her friendships, her privacy, and the purpose in her days. She’s not alone. Surveys of nursing home residents reveal chronic boredom, loneliness, and lack of meaning — results not fundamentally different from prisoners, actually.
Certainly, nursing homes have come a long way from the fire-trap warehouses they used to be. But it seems we’ve settled on a belief that a life of worth and engagement is not possible once you lose independence.
There has been, however, a small band of renegades who disagree. They’ve created alternatives with names like the Green House Project, the Pioneer Network, and the Eden Alternative — all aiming to replace institutions for the disabled elderly with genuine homes. Bill Thomas, for example, is a geriatrician who calls himself a “nursing home abolitionist” and built the first Green Houses in Tupelo, Miss. These are houses for no more than 10 residents, equipped with a kitchen and living room at its center, not a nurse’s station, and personal furnishings. The bedrooms are private. Residents help one another with cooking and other work as they are able. Staff members provide not just nursing care but also mentoring for engaging in daily life, even for Alzheimer’s patients. And the homes meet all federal safety guidelines and work within state-reimbursement levels.
They have been a great success. Dr. Thomas is now building Green Houses in every state in the country with funds from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Such experiments, however, represent only a tiny fraction of the 18,000 nursing homes nationwide.
“The No. 1 problem I see,” Dr. Thomas told me, “is that people believe what we have in old age is as good as we can expect.” As a result, families don’t press nursing homes with hard questions like, “How do you plan to change in the next year?” But we should, if we want to hope for something more than safety in our old age.
“This is my last hurrah,” the woman I met said. “This room is where I’ll die. But it won’t be anytime soon.” And indeed, physically she’s done well. All she needs now is a life worth living for.
Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a New Yorker staff writer, is the author of the new book “Better.” He is a guest columnist this month.
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Past Coverage
National Briefing | South: Louisiana: Post-Hurricane Charges Dropped (April 26, 2007)
Oversight of Nursing Homes Is Criticized (April 22, 2007)
FITNESS; Shuffleboard Gets Pushed to the Closet (April 10, 2007)
Elder-Care Costs Deplete Savings Of a Generation (December 30, 2006)
7126. thoughtful - 5/24/2007 10:34:38 AM
The situation has changed quite a bit with differing levels of care including assisted living which is much more home-like. Now there are places that offer a full range of living options that you can take advantage of as you need to. My MIL was in one such place that had private cottages, congregate living, assisted living and full nursing home care.
The level of care required by many of the people I know in nursing homes is appropriate to being like a hospital room. My MIL was in one for 11 years and it was the environment she needed. She was blind, very hard of hearing and unable to get around on her own. She had no sense of time and often didn't know her own son. Her roommate was a woman who was 100% bed ridden, didn't communicate or respond at all. For people like this, this is an appropriate level of care.
For people who have trouble living on their own but are still 'with it' there are assisted living places that provide apartment style living, lots of social activities for residents, communal dining to encourage social interaction and social activities scheduled. You can still maintain privacy and bring more personal belongings including furnishings.
Before MIL was in the nursing home, she was in a 'congregate living' place where she had her own apartment but went to the dining room for meals and enjoyed social events and exercise classes and so on with others. It provided no nursing care at all. She made friends and it was a great environment for her so long as she was able.
The beauty of these differing levels of care is that the less care you get the more affordable the living.
And as us baby boomers age, there will be plenty of businesses stepping up to fulfill our living needs, just like they did with giving us our beatles albums and our 1st homes.
7127. thoughtful - 5/27/2007 6:44:53 AM
Trying to roll more legumes and beans into our diet, i made a 'mexican lasagne' last night that was delish and very easy. use 6 tortillas instead of noodles (i bought the multigrain) and spread a little tomato sauce in bottom of pan, then mix rest of tomato sauce (3 8oz cans in total) with 1 can of red kidney beans rinsed & drained, 1/2 green pepper finely chopped, 1/4c onion finely chopped, 1/4c sliced pitted black olives, 1t vinegar, 1/4t garlic powder, 1/2t oregano, 1/2t cumin, salt, pepper and mix well. Then layer in pan toritillas, sauce mix and shredded cheddar. Repeat 2 more times. Bake covered 20 min at 375 then uncover and bake 15 min more. Let sit 5 min before digging in. Yummy.
7128. thoughtful - 5/27/2007 6:49:05 AM
My dear doc is retiring. I hope not for good. He's 55 and just had a baby. His wife is 50. I think she must have told him that she raised the first 4 kids...now it's his turn. So he's staying home to be a full-time dad.
Now i'm going to have to go dr. shopping. I hate that. It's so hard to find a doc who is willing to teach me, argue with me, and explain to me as well as put up with my strong dislike of medicine in general and my frequent use of unorthodox but natural cures if they do the trick. I've also been extremely spoiled as dear doc always gave us his e-mail and cell number so he was always at hand. How am I going to find a doc to do that?
Most frustrating. Maybe I can offer to baby sit while he tends to my family members???
7129. arkymalarky - 5/27/2007 7:55:58 AM
I don't envy you the search. We got SO lucky when our doctor died this fall, but had his replacement not been so fantastic, we know from experience with Bob's dying father that there simply isn't a good choice where we live. The one I recommended to Bob's family, who seemed to do well with my grandparents, was absolutely awful--though better than what they had.
If things hadn't worked out for us, I'd be driving however far I had to go to get someone outside that town. If you have to drive, it would be worth it. Is it possible he could recommend someone to you who would suit your personality as a patient?
7130. arkymalarky - 5/27/2007 8:00:18 AM
Um, we weren't lucky our doctor died, we were lucky his replacement was so great.
7131. alistairConnor - 5/27/2007 3:31:37 PM
I'm facing the same problem too. Our family doctor for the past 18 years is taking more and more time off, as a prelude to retirement, i.e. she's not always there when we need her. She's been so good that I'm really perplexed at how to replace her.
All the more so because younger doctors are not willing to set up shop in country areas. They are not willing to do the irregular hours and the housecalls, they prefer comfortable suburban or city clienteles.
7132. wonkers2 - 5/28/2007 5:36:38 AM
There is a long, excellent article in today's NYT on the causes, symptoms and treatment of strokes. It emphasizes the importance of quick diagnosis and proper treatment (within 3 hours for ischemic strokes) which most hospitals aren't equipped to provide and the importance of controlling high blood pressure to prevent strokes.
Lost Chances for Survival Before and After Strokes
7133. robertjayb - 5/28/2007 4:02:41 PM
Kiwi cow gives low-fat milk. Chocolate next?
WELLINGTON, New Zealand: New Zealand scientists are breeding a herd of cows that produce lower-fat milk after the chance discovery of a natural gene mutation in one animal.
Milk from the cows is also high in health-boosting omega-3 fatty acids and makes butter that spreads as easily as margarine even when chilled, biotechnology company Vialactia said Monday.
.................................................
While she looked like any other Friesian cow, testing revealed that Marge's milk contained about 1 percent fat, compared with about 3.5 percent for whole milk.
Offspring from the cow also produce low-fat milk, showing the genetic trait is dominant, Snell said.
7134. robertjayb - 5/28/2007 10:37:51 PM
Doctors group posts prices...(AP)
TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) - Breaking with long-held medical tradition, a Southern California physicians group has become one of the first and largest health organizations in the nation to make prices for procedures easily available to the public.
HealthCare Partners put an itemized price list on its Web site last week, with little fanfare.
.................................................
The Torrance-based company serves more than 500,000 patients, who can now learn without asking that a flu vaccine runs $15, a chest X-ray goes for $61, and a colonoscopy costs $424.
7135. thoughtful - 5/29/2007 10:57:14 AM
wow! what a great innovation! bringing competition to the medical field.
All you'd need is catastrophic insurance for the biggies and then the price list for the regular procedures. Considering that I'd be looking at something in the neighborhood of $12-14,000 per year for health coverage for me and hubby for secondary, that would indeed buy us a lot of chest xrays, cholesterol tests and colonoscopies.
7136. wonkers2 - 5/30/2007 9:07:37 AM
Health care pricing is a bit strange. The prices allowed by Medicare or Blue Cross are a small fraction of those for the uninsured man on the street. A friend of mine was able to buy a prescription item at Costco for $15 dollars that his Blue-Cross Blue Shield/Medco was charging, as I recall, something like $160 against his minimum/co-pay. He had the prescription filled at Costco and paid cash. He called Medco to find out what they were charging and got the run-around. They told him to call BC-BC where he also got the run-around. Finally, somebody at BC-BS told him what the price would be--ten times more than Costco's price.
7137. thoughtful - 5/30/2007 12:05:56 PM
For those of you with pets...do the same thing with the vets.
I've gotten Rx slips from my vet instead of the drugs they like to dispense and have saved big bucks by going to cvs or walgreens with it.
7138. judithathome - 5/30/2007 4:42:49 PM
Yeah, except my vet won't erite scripts. He fills them himself so he "knows what they're getting." Riiiight.
7139. wonkers2 - 5/30/2007 6:09:16 PM
Seems to me that's unethical. I have to pry the prescription for eyeglasses out of the optometrist who checks my prescription, but he does give me a copy. Of course he wants me to buy new glasses from the selection in the store where he does the exams.
7140. thoughtful - 5/31/2007 6:39:42 AM
I'm very open with my vets about what they charge. When the cat needed surgery, i price shopped it with other vets in the neighborhood, came back to them and asked them to justify their cost....which they did. But it was a wake-up call to them that there is competition out there and they need to charge accordingly.
7141. wonkers2 - 5/31/2007 8:12:04 AM
Opinion All NYT
Opinion
The Obama Health Plan
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By ATUL GAWANDE
Published: May 31, 2007
As a surgeon, I’ve worked with the veterans’ health system, Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies. I’ve seen health care in Canada, Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands. And I was in the Clinton administration when our plan for universal coverage failed. So, with a new health reform debate under way, what I want to tell you in my last guest column is this:
First, there is not a place in this world that is not struggling to control health costs while providing high-quality, easily accessible care. No one — no one — has a great solution.
But second, whether as a doctor or as a citizen, I would take almost any system — from Medicare-for-all to a private insurance voucher system — over the one we now have. Job-based insurance is bleeding away the viability of American businesses — even doctors complain about the cost of insuring employees. And it has left large numbers of patients without adequate coverage when they need it. In the last two years, for example, 51 percent of Americans surveyed did not fill a prescription or visit a doctor for a known medical issue because of cost.
My worry is less about what happens if we change than what happens if we don’t.
This week, Barack Obama released his health reform plan. It’s a puzzle how you are supposed to regard presidential candidates’ proposals. They are treated, by campaigns and media alike, as some kind of political G.P.S. device — gadgets primarily for political positioning. So this was how Mr. Obama’s plan was reported: it is a lot like John Edwards’s plan and the Massachusetts plan signed into law by Mitt Romney last year; and it has elements of John Kerry’s proposal from four years ago. In other words — ho hum — another centrist plan. No one except policy wonks will tell the proposals apart from one another.
Well, all this may be true. And if what you care about is which candidate can one-up the others, it is rather disappointing. But if what you care about is whether, after the 2008 election, we’ll be in a position to finally stop the health systems’ downward spiral, the similarity of the emerging proposals is exactly what’s interesting. I don’t think you can call it a consensus, but there is nonetheless a road forward being paved and a growing number of people from across the political spectrum are on it — not just presidential candidates, but governors from California to Pennsylvania, unions and businesses like Safeway, ATT and Pepsi.
This is what that road looks like. It is not single-payer. It instead follows the lead of European countries ranging from the Netherlands to Switzerland to Germany that provide universal coverage (and more doctors, hospitals and access to primary care) through multiple private insurers while spending less money than we do. The proposals all define basic benefits that insurers must offer without penalty for pre-existing conditions. They cover not just expensive sickness care, but also preventive care and cost-saving programs to give patients better control of chronic illnesses like diabetes and asthma.
We’d have a choice of competing private plans, and, with Edwards and Obama, a Medicare-like public option, too. An income-related federal subsidy or voucher would help individuals pay for that coverage. And the proposals also embrace what’s been called shared responsibility — requiring that individuals buy health insurance (at minimum for their children) and that employers bigger than 10 or 15 employees either provide health benefits or pay into a subsidy fund.
It is a coherent approach. And it seems to be our one politically viable approach, too. No question, proponents have crucial differences — like what the individual versus employer payments should be. And attacks are certain to label this as tax-and-spend liberalism and government-controlled health care. But these are not what will sabotage success.
Instead, the crucial matter is our reaction as a country when the attacks come. If we as consumers, health professionals and business leaders sit on our hands, unwilling to compromise and defend change, we will be doomed to our sliding global competitiveness and self-defeating system. Avoiding this will take extraordinary political leadership. So we should not even consider a candidate without a plan capable of producing agreement.
The ultimate measure of leadership, however, is not the plan. It is the capacity to take that plan and persuade people to find common ground in it. The politician who can is the one we want.
Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a New Yorker staff writer, is the author of the new book “Better.” He has been a guest columnist this month
7142. thoughtful - 6/1/2007 7:20:30 AM
Arky, on the thyroid board, someone posted an article suggesting that T4 supplement is more effective when taken at night than in the morning, in case that helps you at all.
7143. arkymalarky - 6/1/2007 11:16:58 AM
Thanks! I'll ask my doctor about it when I go in the 11th. I wondered why they have you take it in the morning--whether they think it might affect sleep, or what. My parents take theirs once a day whenever they think about it, without regard to whether they have eaten recently or not (their doses are very different from each other).
While I'm here, an update (I know everyone's been dying of curiosity wrt my "program progress"):
I'm able to do a lot more already than I was, and I'm wrapping up the last project of a hellacious school year today (as I lurk in here), so I'll be focusing much better on my diet/exercise, with a lot more fruit and veggies than I eat during the school year. I'm also eating out way less and keeping better tabs on a food journal.
The basketball goal has been great, along with the other exercise I'm doing--more regularly now. With the allergy shots back on and being very careful about my antihistimine and controlling exposure, I hope to enjoy more outside stuff than I have in the past. If it bothers me too much I have plenty of stuff to work out with inside, including a nice treadmill and a stepper. I can also swim in my parents' pool. The town has a great paved walking/biking trail, too, and a nice recreation center with an inside walking track and exercise equipment. Since I have a class in town five days a week during June I can do any of those things before or after class whenever I want.
I'm sort of eyeing the end of June to see where I am in relation to where I was when I posted a few weeks ago, which was before I knew I had a thyroid problem, but at a point where I knew I had to do something to lose some weight and get some energy. At the end of June I'll post where I am healthwise. July 1 we're leaving for CO for at least two weeks (YEAH!!!).
7144. wonkers2 - 6/11/2007 6:36:29 AM
7145. jexster - 6/14/2007 8:48:15 AM
Do Not Get Sick in Los Angeles
Tragic Catch-911 for dying woman
June 13, 2007
In the 40 minutes before a woman's death last month at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, two separate callers pleaded with 911 dispatchers to send help because the hospital staff was ignoring her as she writhed on the floor, according to audio recordings of the calls.
...
An LA Supe says the janitors did a fine job of cleaning up the vomit of the woman dying on the floor
7146. thoughtful - 6/14/2007 9:51:58 AM
and to think we're spending 16% of our GDP for this top notch health care system!
7147. arkymalarky - 7/13/2007 8:28:07 PM
Well, I did 2 miles of mt. Walking at 8800ft, and now we're walking in Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. I'll post more at home, but since getting my thyroid straightened out I've lost 11 lbs and I'm getting more able to exercise. I've taken a lot of the advice here, especially keeping an eating journal. I'm trying to stay at 1500-1600 calories a day and staying out of restaurants. I'd like to lose 25-30 more, but mostly I'm ready to stop feeling like crap all the time. It's pretty bad when both your 70+ parents can run circles around you, to say nothing of Bob, who's 8 years older.
7148. thoughtful - 7/16/2007 10:30:12 AM
good news on the 11 lbs. Keep up the good work.
7149. arkymalarky - 7/16/2007 3:10:01 PM
Thanks!
We're on our way home now and I'm going to the doc Wed to talk about thyroid, hormones, etc, and I hope to have a diet/exercise/supplement regimen in full swing by the time school starts. The isolation of the cabin makes it easier to establish a routine and I'm hopeful I will stick with it.
I have another question for y'all along that line. I'm trying to decide what supplements to take besides a multivitamin. I'm thinking ginseng and flaxseed, and maybe D. I'm probably about to go back on hormones, at least for a while. Any suggestions would be very helpful.
7150. thoughtful - 7/17/2007 7:12:31 AM
IMO ginseng is not worth it. Flaxseed oil definitely is but make sure the oil is refrigerated when you buy it and keep it refrigerated. The good omega-3s deteriorate rapidly when heated, thus you can't cook with it and expect it to stay beneficial. Vit D would be ok, depending on how much sun you get as your body will make its own. Also check how much is in your multivit. You should also consider adding a calcium supplement and most of those have added vit d as it's necessary to properly utilize the calcium. Along with calcium, it doesn't hurt to supplement magnesium.
7151. arkymalarky - 7/17/2007 8:47:24 AM
Thanks! Bob takes ginseng and I have noted positive effects from drinking ginseng tea in the past wrt feeling. As a daily supplement, you're probably right, tho Bob's best friend swears by it and it's had good results in some major study, I think I read about in Newsweek. I'd as soon drink the tea, but it's hard to find here. Bob got a huge box of ginseng tea from a Korean exchange student, but that was a few years ago; he takes a supplement or the real root, which grows in parts of AR, when he can get it.
7152. judithathome - 7/17/2007 4:28:46 PM
Arky, I'll bring you a box of the tea...Keoni drinks it and gets a good brand from Korea. It keeps really well, too.
7153. arkymalarky - 7/17/2007 5:33:53 PM
Oh cool! Thanks Judith!
7154. arkymalarky - 7/18/2007 12:48:13 PM
Well, went to the doctor, have meds in order and a plan lined out, and I'm done. I will check back with her wrt meds in 2 months and with my allergist at the end of Sept. I'll either stick with my plan or not, but my meds, supplements, diet, and exercise are all in place. Thanks for all the good advice and support! I feel I can take control of my routine for the first time in several years, and if it doesn't work it's all on me.
7155. thoughtful - 7/18/2007 1:07:42 PM
Or, if it doesn't work, there's always more adjustments.
I've found I do much better with gradual adjustments than drastic changes.
I'm amazed at how I used to never drink coffee without sweetener/sugar, and now just the smell of is such a turnoff.
I'm amazed at how I used to mainline diet soda and now regular soda smells like sugar syrup and the diet smells flat. BLECCH!
But if someone told me I had to give them up all up at once, I'd've never done it. I would've felt deprived and craved it, and gone back.
And just as bad habits can be a problem, good habits can also be your friend. I miss veggies if I don't have them at breakfast and I go nuts if I miss more than a day or two of my walk. A few years ago, if you asked me if i'd ever eat broccoli at breakfast, I'd have told you you were nuts!
7156. wonkers2 - 7/20/2007 8:17:57 AM
2008 brings big stakes for health care
7157. concerned - 7/20/2007 10:59:10 AM
Re. 7155 -
Broccoli for breakfast? Isn't that taking things a bit far? Unless you're talking broccoli filled doughnuts, of course.
7158. concerned - 7/20/2007 11:02:02 AM
Can you become 'addicted' to supplements? One weekend, I tried not taking mine and by Monday morning, I felt like I used to when I had a hangover, even though I had almost nothing to drink during the weekend.
7159. judithathome - 7/20/2007 1:51:43 PM
Keoni is on week 4 of his Chantix (to stop smoking) and not only is he off ciggies, he isn't as enthusiastic about coffee, either. Bizarre, because he drinks coffee almost every waking hour.
7160. robertjayb - 7/25/2007 9:55:34 PM
Scat! Get that cat outta here!
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours.
His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.
"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," said Dr. David Dosa in an interview.
7161. wonkers2 - 7/26/2007 6:38:15 AM
There must be a scientific explanation?? Maybe the cat is somehow speeding up the process!
7162. arkymalarky - 7/26/2007 6:42:03 AM
Maybe when he curls up on their beds he's pinching an oxygen tube.
7163. Wombat - 7/26/2007 7:51:20 AM
More likely, he doesn't get petted or otherwise fussed over, so he can get some rest.
7164. arkymalarky - 7/26/2007 10:34:24 AM
OOoooh.
BTW, Wombat, did you get my email a while back? My syllabus was approved, so now all I have to do is implement it. ;-)
7165. Wombat - 7/26/2007 1:04:11 PM
Arky:
Yes I did. I looked it over. I did have some comments, but obviously did not get around to sending them to you. I will do so today. I am glad that it was accepted.
7166. arkymalarky - 7/26/2007 2:10:42 PM
Thanks so much!
7167. robertjayb - 7/27/2007 9:31:48 PM
After Oscar, more on pets as health monitors...
7168. wonkers2 - 7/29/2007 8:19:30 AM
7169. robertjayb - 8/7/2007 1:33:21 PM
The case for single payer...
The American Prospect talks to the co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program about why a single-payer system remains not only the most desirable reform goal in the United States, but an achievable one.
7170. wonkers2 - 8/8/2007 6:45:59 AM
The current health care system doesn't pay hospitals, doctors and nurses to keep peole healthy; it pays for tests, surgeries and drugs. So Americans often get expensive invasive care of dubious medical benefit while missing out on sensible basic care. Millions of other people go without any care for chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. If Medicare and private insurers paid for more preventive care, Americans would be healthier than they are today and live longer. No Free Lunch on Health
7171. robertjayb - 8/16/2007 11:39:19 AM
He should have gone to an emergency room as * said.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- A man threw his seriously ill wife four stories to her death because he could no longer afford to pay for her medical care, prosecutors said in charging him with second-degree murder.
According to court documents filed Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, Stanley Reimer walked his wife to the balcony of their apartment and kissed her before throwing her over.
No emergency rooms charge, too.
7172. robertjayb - 9/13/2007 9:22:54 AM
Women and heart attacks...a personal account...
Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms
that men have when experiencing heart attack...you know, the sudden
stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest &
dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of
one woman's experience with a heart attack.
(democratic underground)
7173. jexster - 9/13/2007 6:29:59 PM
San Francisco Maps Unique Course to Universal Care
7174. thoughtful - 9/17/2007 10:38:41 AM
Very interesting article in this week's nyt about what really makes us healthy and why so often the data is conflicting or the scientists seem to change their mind so frequently. I found this list amazingly short. Note to that high fat and cholesterol/heart attack link is NOT on the list.
Indeed, if you ask the more skeptical epidemiologists in the field what diet and lifestyle factors have been convincingly established as causes of common chronic diseases based on observational studies without clinical trials, you’ll get a very short list: smoking as a cause of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease, sun exposure for skin cancer, sexual activity to spread the papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer and perhaps alcohol for a few different cancers as well.
7175. thoughtful - 9/17/2007 10:41:44 AM
The author of the above article, gary taube, has a new book coming out which is described as follows:
Starred Review. Taubes's eye-opening challenge to widely accepted ideas on nutrition and weight loss is as provocative as was his 2001 NewYork Times Magazine article, What if It's All a Big Fat Lie? Taubes (Bad Science), a writer for Science magazine, begins by showing how public health data has been misinterpreted to mark dietary fat and cholesterol as the primary causes of coronary heart disease. Deeper examination, he says, shows that heart disease and other diseases of civilization appear to result from increased consumption of refined carbohydrates: sugar, white flour and white rice. When researcher John Yudkin announced these results in the 1950s, however, he was drowned out by the conventional wisdom. Taubes cites clinical evidence showing that elevated triglyceride levels, rather than high total cholesterol, are associated with increased risk of heart disease-but measuring triglycerides is more difficult than measuring cholesterol. Taubes says that the current U.S. obesity epidemic actually consists of a very small increase in the average body mass index. Taube's arguments are lucid and well supported by lengthy notes and bibliography. His call for dietary advice that is based on rigorous science, not century-old preconceptions about the penalties of gluttony and sloth is bound to be echoed loudly by many readers. Illus. (Oct. 2)
7176. Magoseph - 9/17/2007 12:18:51 PM
Very interesting article, thoughtful--thanks much!
7177. arkymalarky - 9/19/2007 8:37:38 PM
Brief update: I'm still on my program and I've lost ten pounds since school started. Considering I'd gained back most of what I lost in CO, it's not as great as it sounds, but I'm walking 2 miles a day on the treadmill, shooting for at least five days a week. We set up our bay room for exercise and tv and so far it's working well. I had a cold/bronchitis last week and that slowed me down, but I'm back on track now.
7178. thoughtful - 10/9/2007 7:44:17 AM
I've started jogging again. Finally. I had to quit many years ago because of the 2 herniated disks in my neck. I had surgery and walking was no problem after that, but jogging still caused pain down my left arm. I've been taking glucosamine for months which is supposed to help rebuild cartilage and perhaps it's working. Now when I jog, no pain. So I'm up to jogging about half of my walking route and the rest I still walk. I'm gradually adding more running and less walking. Once I start running the route, I'll start extending it. I want to keep my exercise time in the a.m. to about 30 min.
7179. thoughtful - 10/9/2007 7:57:16 AM
Gary Taubes' new book, good calories, bad calories is out challenging the role of cholesterol and fat in the diet. The big beast for heart disease and stroke is triglycerides which are impacted by sugar/carb intake, not fat intake. There's more information about this coming out all the time. It will take years for the medical establishment to catch up. In the meantime, pay more attention to carb and sugar intake, avoid refined carbs and eat whole grains. Avoid eating just sweets, fruits alone...instead balance them with protein and fats. Try for a balance of fats in the diet. Do not eat low or no fat diet foods...most often, to make up for the lost flavor of fat, they add more sugar. Do not eat artificially sweetened foods. Avoid processed foods which are loaded with fat and sugar. Instead eat real food. You'll feel more satisfied and be healthier for it.
Drink water. Don't drink your calories as your body doesn't register them for satiety. Instead eat your calories. Skip the orange juice and have an orange. Skip the apple juice and eat an apple. More nutrition, more fiber, more filling.
And please, please, please, don't smoke.
7180. thoughtful - 10/9/2007 8:05:46 AM
some sweet stats:
The average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week
In the last 20 years, we have increased sugar consumption in the U.S. 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year
Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) surveys show that sugar consumption has increased almost every year since 1982. Most of that sugar came from cane and beet sugar and corn syrup and corn sugar. Much of the increase was due to the consumption of soft drinks.
7181. thoughtful - 10/10/2007 8:22:23 AM
More on the flaky evidence upon which the push to low-fat diets was based.
And this counterintuitive study that shows a key to good health is don't eat too much and exercise.
Cuba’s economic crisis in the 1990s had a silver lining, scientists are reporting: a decrease in the rates of obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke.
And no wonder. Average calorie consumption dropped more than a third, to 1,863 calories a day in 2002 from 2,899 in 1989. Cubans also exercised more, giving up cars for walking and bicycling.
Using national vital statistics and other sources, the researchers gathered data on energy intake, body weight and physical activity in Cuba from 1980 to 2005. In Cienfuegos, a large city on the southern coast, obesity rates decreased to less than 7 percent in 1995 from more than 14 percent in 1991. As more food became available, obesity increased to about 12 percent again by 2002.
Nationwide, coronary heart disease mortality declined 35 percent from 1997 to 2002. Diabetes mortality was down to less than 10 per 100,000 in 2003 from 19 per 100,000 in 1988. The death rate from all causes declined to 4.7 per thousand in 2002 from 5.9 per thousand in 1982.
7182. wonkers2 - 10/27/2007 2:08:44 PM
7183. judithathome - 11/5/2007 11:40:42 AM
Well, my son has been keeping in touch really well, calling a lot and coming over once in awhile...which he shouldn't be doing since he's not been cleared to drive. But his mood has been excellent and he's doing exceptionally well with his PT. He's just bored...wants to go back to work and get on with his life.
He just called from the therapy place and said he'd talked to the neurosurgeon's assistant...evidently the tests they ran last week have shown more involvement than they first thought and he said she gave him a list of almost 10 different things,rather than the three they knew of before the test, then said he could probably have the surgery on the 20th. He nearly lost it and asked if there was any possible way it could be scheduled sooner...he's going crazy waiting for this to be over. She said she MAY be able to get him in this week.
I hope they CAN do it earlier because he will go mad if he has to wait that long...two more weeks of worrying about it. He's done really well but I can see how he might get depressed if he has to brood about this for weeks.
I knew this would happen, though...that his surgery would be scheduled for while Keoni is in Hawaii.
7184. arkymalarky - 11/5/2007 7:59:08 PM
Oh man. I hope all goes well.
7185. wonkers2 - 11/5/2007 9:25:05 PM
We're keeping our fingers crossed, Judith.
7186. robertjayb - 11/27/2007 11:33:48 PM
Cancer-resistant mice?
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2007) — A mouse resistant to cancer, even highly-aggressive types, has been created by researchers at the University of Kentucky. The breakthrough stems from a discovery by UK College of Medicine professor of radiation medicine Vivek Rangnekar and a team of researchers who found a tumor-suppressor gene called "Par-4" in the prostate.
The researchers discovered that the Par-4 gene kills cancer cells, but not normal cells. There are very few molecules that specifically fight against cancer cells, giving it a potentially therapeutic application.
Lab mice will inherit the earth.
7187. judithathome - 11/28/2007 6:22:28 PM
And share it with cockroaches.
7188. arkymalarky - 12/7/2007 7:11:31 PM
I simply must preen a little. My doctor now sends numbers home when we have bloodwork. Bob put mine on the fridge. Last April my cholesterol was 239. Now it's 148. My "bad cholesterol" was 147. Now it is 76. My triglycerides were 107. Now they're 81. I did this with a significant diet change and inconsistent (about to get more consistent) exercise, and losing about 17 lbs since school started. I'm plateaued on that and want to start dropping some more, but I haven't gained any back, and my BMI is now in the "normal" range, if you put much stock in that.
Now if I can straighten out the insurance company and get this artery thing worked out before Jan 1, I hope to really feel good and enjoy 2008--the presidential possibilities notwithstanding.
7189. arkymalarky - 12/7/2007 7:12:59 PM
And my blood sugar was 79, but it's always been on the low side of normal.
7190. arkymalarky - 12/7/2007 7:15:39 PM
One more factor: Dramatic reduction in stress.
7191. judithathome - 12/9/2007 8:42:06 AM
What artery thing? If you don't want to say anything publicly, write or call...I've been meaning to ask in email since you mentioned de-stressing in the Cafe last week.
7192. arkymalarky - 12/9/2007 10:31:24 AM
Nonono, no problem. I had a stress test that indicated blockage at the bottom of my heart and they suggested an angiogram and I wanted the less invasive CTA (CT scan inside the artery). My angry insurance story is in politics. I'm getting the CTA and paying for it myself tomorrow, and if I need a stent I'll have to have the angiogram to put it in. But if I don't, I've had a much less invasive and stressful procedure. I had a hope the company turned down the procedure because they didn't think I needed it, but NOOOO. They call it "experimental" which is idiotic for a procedure that looks at images. Images are images. This procedure takes about 20 minutes and I leave. An angiogram is an out-patient procedure that will require an iv of pain medication and sedative and four hours of bedrest.
So I will repeat what I said in Politics: Insurance companies are EVIL.
7193. arkymalarky - 12/9/2007 10:42:47 AM
And it occurs to me, everyone makes money with the angiogram--the hospital, an anesthesiologist, etc. So they want me to have a more expensive, more invasive procedure--it's not a money-saving issue with them. They will be out an extra $650 if I have to have both, they would be out much more if I chose only the angiogram and didn't need a stent.
7194. wonkers2 - 12/9/2007 11:07:22 AM
Arky, your suggestion that hospitals and doctors are motivated by money is most unkind. Corporate Leeches
7195. arkymalarky - 12/9/2007 11:13:34 AM
Haha! Don't quote me until after they're through poking on me.
I'm still mad about the clinic not bothering to make sure I knew I wasn't supposed to go Friday. So I've expended two sick days and a lot of grief over a 20 minute procedure. But most of us choose to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous medical systems than fly to others we know not of.
7196. wonkers2 - 12/9/2007 11:21:55 AM
My doctor tends to order CT scans at the slightest provocation. And, until recently, whenever I was in his waiting room around lunch time, the drug reps arrived with box lunches for all. I've gigged him about being bribed by Big Pharm and when I saw him last week he said he'd put a stop to it. He said the huge Christmas goody basket was from a patient.
7197. arkymalarky - 12/9/2007 12:52:28 PM
Who happens to be a drug rep? ;->
That's one thing I really like about my GP and the one before her who died in Sept. Wish I could say the same about my gynecologist, but he made himself obsolete after giving me a full hysterectomy, and then I just wouldn't cooperate on the high doses of hormones he was trying to force on me. Wonder how he's doing these days.
7198. judithathome - 12/9/2007 6:08:32 PM
Last time I went to the doctor, two weeks ago, I was kept waiting for 45 minutes while FOUR drug reps swanned in and out like they were at a luxurious retreat.
7199. judithathome - 12/9/2007 6:09:21 PM
Glad you're doing the less invasive procedure, Arky. Keep us posted!
7200. arkymalarky - 12/9/2007 8:09:40 PM
Oh that would really make me mad.
I'll let y'all know as soon as I find out!
7201. judithathome - 12/19/2007 11:56:02 AM
7202. wonkers2 - 12/19/2007 12:48:00 PM
I watched the entire video hoping I'd get the point. Precocious pre-teen girl whose mother is drugged out? Alcoholic? Early Alzheimers? Mentally ill? All the above?
7203. judithathome - 12/19/2007 2:46:17 PM
Not an alky...my guess is, Azheimers.
It's something to think about. Lots of older women having babies these days...certainly lots of older men are doing so with younger women. A grown child of parents afflicted with that disease is somewhat prepared for it but a kid? Say that woman had that girl at age 43...the girl looked about 13. How can a 13 year old cope with early onset of Alzheimers in a mother of 56? That aged woman ought to be closer to her grandmother than her mother in age. And she looked like a single mother, too.
I just posted it because it was thought-provoking and the people on the forum from whence I cadged it were impressed with it.
7204. wonkers2 - 12/19/2007 5:32:02 PM
Well, it held my attention to the end.
7205. wonkers2 - 12/19/2007 5:58:53 PM
It's frightening to think of a woman that young having Alzheimer's. I know it does happen, but I've been under the impression that onset is more often in the 70s and 80s. My mother died at 87 having had increasing dementia or Alzheimers for about three years. Pretty much the same for my wife's mother who died at 89 as I recall. They both became difficult to deal with toward the end.
7206. judithathome - 12/20/2007 9:30:55 AM
Have you seen "Away From Her"?
7207. arkymalarky - 12/22/2007 7:50:19 PM
The hardest part of everything I'm doing is exercising. I hate it. I walked two miles on the treadmill today and I'm determined to do it every day, then add stuff I like to do but don't have the built up energy for right now, like aerobics.
7208. arkymalarky - 12/22/2007 7:52:50 PM
I don't know if I told about this before, but we now have an exercise room. We have a very nice weight machine with a stepper, an exercise bicycle, a treadmill, a mini-tramp, and a tv with a dvd player for exercise videos. We have less than $100 in the whole thing.
7209. arkymalarky - 12/22/2007 7:54:26 PM
I told a friend at work I'm waiting for Bob's sister to give up her elliptical/clothes rack.
7210. thoughtful - 12/24/2007 9:26:11 AM
Glad you're sticking with it Arky. I know treadmill inside even with tv is extremely tedious for me. Fortunately I'm able to walk outside and dealing with the ever-changing sky and the temperature and the wind and the sounds while listening to a book on tape is sufficient distraction for me to actually find the walks enjoyable.
The video of Lisa above is really amazing. I think the mother clearly has some kind of dementia, most likely alzheimers with the inability to keep track of time, identify people who are close to them, forgetting common names of words and so on. There are many children who for various reasons are forced to be more responsible than the parents who brought them into the world. A sad situation. I can only imagine being in Lisa's shoes, scared to death to ask for help for her mother lest she be forced into some awful foster care situation...yet terrified of what she'll find someday coming home from school...that her mom's accidentally burned the house down or something. Very sad.
7211. arkymalarky - 12/24/2007 11:33:49 AM
Thanks, Thoughtful. We have a beautiful one mile loop on our property that Bob has really made into a great, even, clean trail--he walks three miles a day. When I get my allergies back under control I will do it some except when it's too hot. For now, with it getting dark so early and me not being a morning person, the treadmill works well and I walk with varieties of steps to peppy music videos. That stops the boredom and gets me moving more in the same amount of time and miles than plain walking would.
7212. Magoseph - 12/24/2007 2:41:55 PM
The actresses in the video "My Name Is Lisa" are excellent.
7213. robertjayb - 1/9/2008 2:34:41 PM
U.S. dead last in health survey...(AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) - France is tops, and the United States dead last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries.
.................................................
....researchers found that while most countries surveyed saw preventable deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United States saw only a four percent dip.
The non-profit Commonwealth Fund, which financed the study, expressed alarm at the findings.
"It is startling to see the US falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance," said Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, who noted that "other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less."
The 19 countries, in order of best to worst, were: France, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Sure glad we don't have that bad old socialized medicine...
7214. wonkers2 - 1/9/2008 3:12:58 PM
Thanks, RJB, I sent the article to my brother-in-law who works in Big Pharma.
7215. robertjayb - 1/9/2008 4:20:38 PM
Reversal of Alzheimer's symptoms claimed...
ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
7216. judithathome - 1/9/2008 5:36:24 PM
And how long before it's used on the general public? Probably not before I'm past help.....
7217. wonkers2 - 1/9/2008 5:56:00 PM
Wow! That could be dynamite!
7218. thoughtful - 1/10/2008 12:48:57 PM
Very exciting for those suffering with alzheimers, and especially for their care givers. Also very exciting in that the drug is already in the market place and is sold.
Unfortunately though, not all dementia is caused by alzheimers. Would not have helped my MIL, for example, who had plain old hardening of the arteries as we used to call it.
7219. robertjayb - 1/10/2008 4:45:28 PM
Big Pharma Front Group Launches Anonymous Blog To Publish An ‘Enemies List’
Washington DC Councilmember David Catania has been pushing a bill to require the licensing of pharmaceutical representatives and to prohibit them from providing knowingly false information to doctors. Many pharmaceutical sales reps try to “influence doctors’ prescribing decisions in ways that have little to do with the best interest of the patient” by resorting to “questionable methods, including providing gifts and meals to doctors” in order to promote their drugs.
Advocates of the pharmaceutical industry responded by launching an anonymous blog site devoted to defending the industry’s practices. The site — BigPharmaRealPeople — “grabbed attention with an enemies list” which included Catania, whom it called “public enemy #1.”
The site’s editors had refused to disclose their names and instead adopted the identities from characters in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. Recently, a poster named “John Galt” revealed himself to be Scott McTavish, a sales rep, sales manager and director for three Big Pharma Companies over the past 30 years. Blogging over at Pharmalot, Ed Silverman challenges the front group to disclose its sponsorship and backing:
One other thing, Scott. Since you chose not to answer any of our messages directly, we are still curious to know more about your background and those of your ’staff.’ We would also like to know what, if any, sponsorship or backing you may have. If you really do enjoy an open debate about all the facts, more disclosure would be helpful - unless your site is merely an example of astroturfing dressed up as a social networking experiment.
The avowed mission of the Big Pharma front group’s website is to “remind the American public who is actually on their side” and to “fight ridiculous government rules and regulation that hamper Big Pharma.” The site’s authors write:
The purpose of BigPharmaRealPeople.org is the following: … To point out that corporations are not faceless, evil giants that take advantage of the individual.
The Washington City Paper responds, “Have to say, guys — this anonymous Web site isn’t doing much to combat that whole ‘faceless’ thing.” And the site isn’t having much success thus far. Catania’s bill passed the D.C. City Council on Tuesday.
(Think Progress)
7220. wabbit - 1/10/2008 5:11:37 PM
Message # 7215 - That's good news about Enbrel. I've been using it for 5-6 years now, though my injections are subcutaneous, not perispinal. Maybe the price will start to come down if they continue to find other uses for the drug. Right now it runs about $1700/month (for four injections).
7221. arkymalarky - 1/10/2008 5:57:19 PM
Damn.
7222. wonkers2 - 1/10/2008 7:02:59 PM
Wow, bottled gold.
7223. robertjayb - 1/11/2008 12:28:57 PM
Saliva test for breast cancer...(HouChron)
Houston researchers are developing a test to diagnose breast cancer from saliva, an advance that eventually should enable dentists and physicians to alert patients during routine office visits.
In a study published Thursday, a team at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, led by a dentist, reported that specific protein markers in saliva can easily identify people with breast cancer cells, benign tumor cells and healthy cells.
"This will be a noninvasive, quick means of detection," said Dr. Charles Streckfus, a UT-Houston Dental Branch professor of diagnostic sciences who has expertise in molecular epidemiology and salivary function. "With it, dentists will be able to catch cancers before a woman can feel a lump."
7224. robertjayb - 1/11/2008 12:58:30 PM
A Chronicle reader comments on the breast cancer saliva test...
The work has already been done and published by researchers at UCLA under Dr. David Wong. It has been in the news for at least five years since they first mapped the proteins and RNA to find squamous cell carcinoma, (oral cancer) and later to find breast cancer, diabetes, and now they are looking at Alsheimer's. If find it disturbing that theses doctors in their press releases (appearing all over the US today) are making it sound like they are the ones that made a break through. The NIH via the NIDCR has thrown about 60 million dollars at this technology and idea. Most of the money has gone to the UCLA/Wong team. This is the worst part of the publish or perish behavior...GRANDSTANDING by researchers or doctors on data that only replicates something that has already been done. More than that, if something is going to get commercialized it will be the longer term, bigger studies, work out of UCLA. These guys have done nothing more than validate again what already is known. Anyone who doubts this post should just do a Goggle fo salivary diagnostics, UCLAS, and Wong.
What they haven't explained is the epiphany that took Wong to this place. How do breast cancer markers end up in saliva? The parotid glands which produce about 85% of all your saliva are fed by thousands of capillaries carrying blood. The liquid part of that blood, the serum in absorbed by the Parotids that add enzymes and turn it into saliva. But the biomarkers that were in blood in the first place are not filtered out and exist intact in the saliva. You can't find these easily in blood because of all the other detritus that is circulating around in it, cells, etc. Wong is the guy with that insight.
This is likely the best candidate assay system for mass screening using a simple, non labor intensive, programmed computer chip to look for the markers ever. We will be able by just spitting into a test tube determine much about our systemic health. The real work now is to map as many disease biomarkers as possible to find if other disease can also be found in saliva.
1/11/2008 10:30 AM CST
7225. wonkers2 - 1/11/2008 1:10:59 PM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "I've been applyin' the breast saliva test fer years with hardly a positive result!"
7226. robertjayb - 1/11/2008 1:45:17 PM
Don't give up...
7227. judithathome - 1/11/2008 2:44:40 PM
Oh my god...just heard from my broker that he has gone blind in one eye and is developing a cataract on the other!
7228. wonkers2 - 1/11/2008 2:53:46 PM
A lot of Wall Streeters apparently are blind in one eye and can't see out of the other, as my grandfather used to say.
7229. thoughtful - 1/11/2008 3:22:46 PM
I've decided I'm insane.
Is it just me, or does everyone find themselves obsessing over the slightest incident of which you're sure was totally meaningless and is completely forgotten by the other person and yet seems to dwell inexorably on your mind?
And if so, how does one go about extricating oneself from it.
I remember reading a hint one time about getting a song stuck in one's head...the way to eliminate it is to play the song in your mind all the way through to the end and wrapping it up with a most elaborate and flourishing ending. I've found that to work swimmingly.
7230. judithathome - 1/11/2008 4:27:03 PM
Is it just me, or does everyone find themselves obsessing over the slightest incident of which you're sure was totally meaningless and is completely forgotten by the other person and yet seems to dwell inexorably on your mind?
I used to do this and invent all sorts of reactions from the other person until one day, I confronted an old boyfriend about what he MUST be thinking about some insignificant thing that was said and he MUST have interpreted it this certain way. He looked at me as though I were insane and said "Never in a million years would I have thought that...it just never would have occurred to me to think something like that!" and I realized my mind worked on a much more complex plane that did his...
So I started to apply this to everything and I'm a much more relaxed person today as a result of this particular enlightenment.
7231. alistairConnor - 1/11/2008 4:34:27 PM
Yeah just enjoy your superiority... I'm of the oblivious persuasion.
7232. arkymalarky - 1/11/2008 5:00:04 PM
I sometimes do that, Thoughtful, partly because I'm such a mouth. Before Christmas I was getting ready for the kids' finals, seeing who was missing what work, talking to kids individually, etc, in a fairly large class. I looked up and there was my principal at the back of the room. I had no idea how long she'd been there. I wasn't worried about kids all over the place or what was going on--all I could think about was what I'd been saying, and I couldn't remember. I'm always making remarke that have a little bite to them in ways that invoke the things the principal says. I like her, but it's just my way. So as soon as she left I asked the kids what I said, and they told me I didn't say anything or imitate her or anything mortifying. I still worry about it a bit and wonder if she's acting the same way with me.
One of my good friends at work thought this was hilarious, because I always make fun of her over how jumpy she is about the principal. I'm not jumpy about her, but that doesn't mean I feel good about making snarky humor echoing stuff she always says when she's sitting right there.
7233. judithathome - 1/11/2008 9:59:58 PM
I realized my mind worked on a much more complex plane that did his...
Alistair, I realize that might have come off as sounding "superior" but trust me, I didn't date this dude for his intellect. He looked like a marble statue of David and was about as smart.
7234. thoughtful - 1/14/2008 8:05:55 AM
Thanks, ladies. Great comfort in knowing at least i'm not beyond the norm...of course that means nothing about whether or not the norm is insane.
:)
Thanks for the advice, J@h, I'm sure you're right.
7235. robertjayb - 1/15/2008 3:26:58 PM
Majority favors mandatory medical coverage...
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - As health care generates debate in this year's presidential campaign, about 68 percent of Americans say individuals should be required to have medical insurance, with government help for those who cannot afford it, a survey released on Tuesday found.
According to the survey by The Commonwealth Fund, an independent foundation working toward health policy reform, health insurance mandates were supported by 80 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of Independents...
7236. concerned - 1/16/2008 1:31:53 AM
Gay sex is now being blamed for the spread of the flesh eating bacteria MRSA, as well as AIDS.
Just another reason that the average gay life span is something like 43 years.
7237. concerned - 1/16/2008 1:36:02 AM
Getting tens of millions of people killed for no good reason does not fall under the purview of 'tolerance' in my book.
7238. concerned - 1/16/2008 1:39:53 AM
OTOH, as long as gays keep their diseases in their bedrooms, I'm more than eager to stay out of their boudoirs. But the problem is that they are not keeping their diseases in their bedrooms.
They have a nasty way of killing many millions of non consenting adults.
7239. concerned - 1/16/2008 2:15:29 AM
"SF" "gay" "epicenter" "virulent staphylococcus"
Any of this mean anything to anybody here?
Of course this is all the Republicans' fault.
7240. judithathome - 1/16/2008 8:39:31 AM
Gay sex is now being blamed for the spread of the flesh eating bacteria MRSA, as well as AIDS.
They have a nasty way of killing many millions of non consenting adults.
Of course this is all the Republicans' fault.
I'd like a cite for the first statement.
And I love how you skip from "they" to "Republicans" in such a short leap...yoy should join the ballet with jumps like those!
Of course, the Republicans sent our troops off to die by the thousands in Iraq and THAT'S okay...no fault there. At least from you. I guess because all those tropps were consenting? The old "we who are about to die salute you" canard....
7241. wonkers2 - 1/16/2008 11:30:21 AM
Concerned, the spread of MRSA, STDs and HIVs, in case you haven't noticed, are not confined to gay sex. I seem to recall reading somewhere that heterosexual activity is a major source of the transmission of HIV.
7242. wonkers2 - 1/16/2008 11:31:50 AM
Next, you'll probably be blaming Katrina and global warming on gay sex. Oh, I forgot--your're a global warming denier. Sorry!
7243. concerned - 1/16/2008 12:57:10 PM
No, you didn't 'forget'. You're deluded. I in no way deny global climate change.
7244. wonkers2 - 1/16/2008 2:15:05 PM
Okay, sorry.
7245. wonkers2 - 1/16/2008 3:57:17 PM
Also, I mostly retract my post about MRSA and gays. I just heard a report on NPR about concern over MRSA spreading in San Francisco and other big cities in the gay community and others.
7246. wonkers2 - 1/16/2008 4:18:46 PM
However, I wonder why you and so many in the lunatic conservative community are so preoccupied with gay health issues. You don't seem to be sincerely "concerned" about it as you might be about Alzheimer's or whooping cough among children or some other epidemic? You and others of your ilk hardly miss an opportunity to take a poke at gays and lesbians. Your carping is about gays is quite unbecoming and casts doubt on your status as an educated, rational and tolerant indivudual.
7247. concerned - 1/16/2008 7:00:24 PM
However, I wonder why you and so many in the (unwarranted insult) conservative community are so preoccupied with gay health issues.
Since you're a purportedly rational, thinking individual, I wonder at your apparent ingenuousness here.
The concern here is that sound medical practices are being completely disregarded, or treated as a poor second in importance to frivolous narrowly defined social agendas.
Either you give a fuck about the general well being of society's health or you don't. People who avert their heads regarding STDs when gays are involved because of PC considerations don't, AFAIC.
The gay part of the equation is only a relatively minor part of the whole picture, but should not be selectively ignored.
7248. wonkers2 - 1/16/2008 9:24:33 PM
Let's be honest here. You were'nt expressing concern about the "general well being of society's health." You were just being a right wing gay baiter in the manner of Jerry Falwell, et al. You would be more credible if you had ever expressed concern about a non-gay-related health concern. Your concern for gay health is really impressive.
7249. concerned - 1/16/2008 11:00:52 PM
I'm being more honest than you can probably handle, wonkers. The problem wrt gay health pales in comparison to that of the rights of unborn persons which your side unanimously rejects.
Your only chance to regain credibility with me on this matter is to concede the above forthwith.
7250. concerned - 1/16/2008 11:09:34 PM
The attitude of the Left regarding gay health and the rights of the unborn is completely explicable by the political rubric of "the squeaky wheel gets the grease".
Thusly this alone gives me the moral high ground.
7251. concerned - 1/16/2008 11:17:12 PM
and I realized my mind worked on a much more complex plane that did his...
No, it just means that you're interested in analyzing others' behavior patterns. It would be an egregious mistake to jump to the assumption that you've mastered anything because of this interest or that it lends you an aura of 'superiority'.
7252. concerned - 1/16/2008 11:24:31 PM
Any rational analysis of others' behavior driven by the motivation of wanting to be noticed and liked is one of the things that makes the female sex lovable to me.
7253. concerned - 1/16/2008 11:27:24 PM
Any rational analysis of others' behavior driven by the motivation of wanting to be noticed and liked is one of the things that makes the female sex lovable to me.
7254. wonkers2 - 1/17/2008 10:12:16 AM
Selectively ignored? Your selective focusing on gay health issues reveals you for what you are. A bigoted right wing jerk-off. I would worry a lot if I "regained credibility" with you.
7255. concerned - 1/17/2008 11:36:31 AM
Wonkers -
Don't try laying your guilt on me because your LW policies have gotten tens of millions of people needlessly killed.
7256. thoughtful - 1/17/2008 11:37:42 AM
Seems to me there are a lot of very homophobic folks who turn out to be gay. Their homophobia comes from fighting their own internal wars against their own feelings. Denial runs high. Larry Craig anyone?
As Dirty Harry said, "It's what people know about themselves that makes them afraid."
7257. concerned - 1/17/2008 12:27:11 PM
Looks like I stirred up a hornets' nest here.
Well, back to the Lefties' regularly scheduled suppression of rational public health policy discussion, I guess. Millions of people die because of their policies - naturally they don't want to talk about it. IAC, I'm bored with their knee jerk accusations and name calling.
7258. wonkers2 - 1/17/2008 12:59:17 PM
You would be well advised to let gay Americans and the medical profession worry about their health issues. Your motivation has nothing to do with concern about health issues and plenty to do with your right wing politics. Or you might consider focusing on prenatal care or the lack of medical care for poor children.
7259. concerned - 1/17/2008 1:09:24 PM
Wonkers -
I think gay americans and the medical profession have done an egregiously negligent and completely reprehensible job wrt their health issues (basically nothing proactive at all) and tens of millions of people have needlessly died as a result. That's all there is to that, whether you personally like it or not.
Your attempt to try to dictate to me what you believe my motivation is completely uninformed, and furthermore, you are completely wrong in your assumption. However, it is entirely possible you are describing your own attitude here.
7260. wonkers2 - 1/17/2008 2:09:08 PM
I'm not dictating anything to you. I'm simply stating the what is obvious to anyone familiar with you and your usual crap.
7261. judithathome - 1/17/2008 6:39:04 PM
The problem wrt gay health pales in comparison to that of the rights of unborn persons which your side unanimously rejects.
Oh give me an effin' break...you and your ilk only care about the "unborn" in utero...after they are born, you couldn't care less. Especially if they turn out to be "gay".
It would be an egregious mistake to jump to the assumption that you've mastered anything because of this interest or that it lends you an aura of 'superiority'.
Oh please...I was well-read and experienced woman of 40 and he was 23 years old and a steel worker who barely finished high school. Do you honestly think I was less intelligent than he? The only thing lending me an aura of superiority was the fact I did possess a superior intelligence to this young man...which mattered not one whit to me (or him!) at the time.
You may not understand this and it doesn't surprise me in the least that you don't, never having experienced anything remotely like it, I'm sure.
7262. concerned - 1/18/2008 11:24:47 AM
You may very well be more intelligent in fact than this person you mention.
Along with my great intelligence goes the great modesty to admit that I don't always have the 'answer' to everything:)
7263. concerned - 1/18/2008 11:26:00 AM
I'm not accusing you of assuming you have the 'answer', btw. I'm admitting I maybe was a bit hasty in posting.
7264. alistairconnor - 1/18/2008 11:29:53 AM
I think you're getting old, Con... that was the closest thing to an apology I've ever seen you post.
7265. concerned - 1/20/2008 4:41:16 PM
Why are people getting so upset over this? It's just a LUMP OF PLASTIC.
7266. judithathome - 1/21/2008 10:31:47 AM
I'd like to know the story behind your remarks...who is getting upset and why? What is the purpose of that plastic baby?
And thank you for the remarks upthread. I think. ;-)
7267. thoughtful - 2/26/2008 3:34:10 PM
Cough, cough, cough.
Hubby and I are both still coughing. He came down with the flu first and I followed on about 5 days later. We spent 2 days with fever of 102 and another 2 days with fever of 100 and finally the fever broke, but the cough lingers on for both of us.
Actually, he's been coughing since he got a cold before xmas which never really went away. My cough from my xmas cold (which I also got from him) ended in early Feb only to be followed on a week later with this flu thing.
cough cough cough
He had his lungs x-rayed and they're clear but this cough lingers on. So annoying. Not enough to keep us up all night long, not enough to cause worry or warrant dr visit, but enough to just be annoying.
cough cough cough
Hurry spring!
7268. wonkers2 - 2/26/2008 6:05:24 PM
I have the same problem every winter when I spend most of my time inside. A couple of years ago I saw an ear-nose-throat doctor who gave me a bunch of tests but was unable to help my problem or even give me a credible diagnosis. And he tried to talk me into surgery for a deviated septum which I rejected on the spot.
7269. arkymalarky - 2/26/2008 6:30:04 PM
If you have a deviated septum, Wonk, you'll probably have problems until you correct it. Bro had it, and finally got pneumonia, which is when he decided on the surgery.
7270. arkymalarky - 2/26/2008 6:33:14 PM
Also, you might try an allergist rather than an ENT doctor, or even try a daily antihistimine, at least during the winter months.
7271. robertjayb - 2/26/2008 8:21:30 PM
As I've said here before, having my deviated septum repaired was the best doctor money ever spent.
7272. wonkers2 - 2/26/2008 8:32:07 PM
Thanks for the comments. I guess I'll have to do some Internet research on deviated septum. I think I can breath normally through both nostrils at the same time and separately, most of the time, except during the winter when I have nasal congestion and bronchitis occasionally. What harm is my deviated septum causing me. The doctor brought it up but didn't really explain it. And he didn't press hard for me to have the surgery. ???
7273. arkymalarky - 2/26/2008 10:20:23 PM
Bro's problem was that, way back in his nose, drainage wasn't flowing, and his sinuses were draining into his bronchial tubes and lungs and staying chronically infected. I imagine it's a manner of degrees, and Robert sounds more like Bro was. I know doctors sometimes press for surgery when it may not be needed.
I've been sick much less since treating my allergies, but I've never been to an ear nose and throat doctor. I was always afraid they'd try to get me to have that surgery, but if I felt bad enough, I'm sure I'd go for it. Ugh.
7274. wonkers2 - 2/26/2008 11:07:28 PM
I considered seeing an allergist, but I've heard mixed reports about them, too. The older I get the more skeptical I'm getting about doctors and hospitals who strike me as being similar in certain respects to transmission repair shops.
7275. arkymalarky - 2/26/2008 11:34:04 PM
Me too, but if you truly have allergies, there's nothing experimental about antihistimines, which are some of the oldest medicines around. As for my allergy shots, they do work over time, and insurance does pay for them. I've noticed a huge difference with and without them, but only after months of regular shots. My allergies had really gotten debilitating without treatment, with constant bad headaches, nose bleeds, chronic infections, and respiratory problems. I was miserable 24/7 by the time I went to an allergist at the suggestion of my regular doctor, who'd been treating me with antihistimines and antibiotics for literally decades.
7276. wonkers2 - 2/27/2008 8:12:07 AM
My symptoms are nowhere near that severe--nasal congestion, coughing and spitting for three months or so in winter. Not enough for surgery or allergy shots.
7277. Wombat - 2/27/2008 10:46:43 AM
My wife had frequent sinus infections (and her snoring was like the Queen Mary's foghorn) until she had her deviated septum repaired. No more sinus infections (and the snoring now is more like a train passing in the distance--she claims my snoring is worse, but I have never heard myself snore!)
7278. judithathome - 2/27/2008 11:44:20 AM
That's the problem with snoring...just as a skunk can't smell himself, we can't hear our own snores. My mother swore on a Bible that she did not snore.
That is, until my son tape-recorded her one evening after she fell asleep on a camping trip. Was she ever embarrassed! I rememberd that and never claim that I don't snore...because I know I do. I wake myself up at times doing it.
7279. thoughtful - 2/27/2008 11:48:55 AM
Even our cat snores...and he can be loud!
7280. wonkers2 - 2/27/2008 12:30:49 PM
How complicated is surgery for a deviated septum? Out patient or in patient. Painful recovery? Maybe I should check into it.
7281. robertjayb - 2/27/2008 2:42:18 PM
In-patient. The procedure and the recovery were not particularly painful but uncomfortable. The discomfort was due mostly to the splints (plastic tubes) inserted in each nostril. I did a lot of whining, I recall. Mostly I was pissed at myself for not having the operation years earlier.
7282. arkymalarky - 2/27/2008 3:21:04 PM
I would whine a lot. Bro thought he was going to suffocate. But he was very glad he did it.
If you have problems certain months of the year, Wonk, you could probably try Claritin or some other OTC antihistimine (I prefer Zyrtec, which has just gone OTC but makes you very drowsy until you get used to it), but you have to take it every day during the season for it to work on symptoms. That keeps the reactions and thus the symptoms and infections under control. It's the cheapest, easiest first step.
7283. arkymalarky - 2/27/2008 3:22:33 PM
I would whine a lot. Bro thought he was going to suffocate. But he was very glad he did it.
If you have problems certain months of the year, Wonk, you could probably try Claritin or some other OTC antihistimine (I prefer Zyrtec, which has just gone OTC but makes you very drowsy until you get used to it), but you have to take it every day during the season for it to work on symptoms. That keeps the reactions and thus the symptoms and infections under control. It's the cheapest, easiest first step.
7284. arkymalarky - 2/27/2008 3:23:01 PM
Sorry I keep hitting doubles, but my connection's acting up.
7285. alistairconnor - 2/28/2008 12:17:43 PM
At our favourite Vietnamese restaurant the other weekend, my (Judaeo-Muslim) girlfriend was munching on a pigfoot when she broke a tooth.
Divine retribution? Anyway, she said it was no big deal because the tooth was already dead, but I made her go to see a dentist. And it turns out her jaw is rotten with abcesses, which probably explains a few things like migraines, and rheumatic type joint pain in the last couple of months.
Anyway, on Saturday she gets to spend some quality time in the dentist's chair : a six-hour operation to clean her up, under local anaesthetic. And she'll apparently come out looking like a pumpkin.
I've promised I'll make soup for her.
7286. arkymalarky - 2/28/2008 5:48:59 PM
Abcesses are nothing to play with, since they can spread dangerous infection. Glad she's getting it dealt with. She'll feel much better, I bet. The worst pain Bob ever suffered was from an abcess he didn't know he had which had caused a horrible headache. When we took him to the emergency room with it he had no idea his tooth was a problem until the ER doctor got the idea--after looking him over for several minutes--to start tapping teeth. He almost hit the ceiling when she found the right one.
7287. thoughtful - 2/29/2008 9:21:18 AM
Guy goes to the doctor complaining that every time he passed gas, it made the sound of "Honda" "Honda".
The doctor examined him and told him his tooth was abscessed and he needed to see a dentist.
The patient, very surprised, asked how on earth the doctor connected a digestive issue with a dental one.
Doc replied, "Haven't you ever heard the expression, abscess makes the fart go Honda?"
7288. robertjayb - 2/29/2008 11:20:32 AM
Go to your room!
7289. thoughtful - 2/29/2008 11:35:42 AM
Guy goes to the doctor complaining that there's a piece of lettuce hanging out of his rectum. The doctor takes a look and says, "This is just the tip of the iceberg."
7290. thoughtful - 2/29/2008 11:43:09 AM
Guy goes to the dentist and complains, "My teeth are all yellow...what should I do?"
Dentist replies, "Wear a brown tie!"
7291. thoughtful - 2/29/2008 12:00:34 PM
Woman goes to the doctor complaining that every time she uses the toilet, she finds nickels, dimes and quarters in the bowl.
Doc says, "Nothing to worry about...you're just going through the change."
7292. thoughtful - 2/29/2008 4:02:36 PM
Man walks into a doctor's office with a pelican on his head. Doc says, "My you DO have a problem."
Pelican replies, "Yeah...get this guy out from under me!"
7293. arkymalarky - 3/9/2008 6:18:52 PM
I know some other doctor jokes, but my mind went blank reading yours.
Robert:
Give me the skinny on the nose surgery. I'm asking Bro as well. He tried to get me to get it in the past and I wasn't getting it, so I forgot what he said. I left him a voice mail and he's supposed to call me back.
My problem is that way back when I started dealing with all this mess my exrays showed "problems" in my sinuses and I never asked what. Everything is way better--drainage, infections, allergy symptoms, etc--except breathing through my nose toward the back of it, if that makes sense. So I breathe too much through my mouth, so I hyperventilate, so I get extremely miserable. It's worse in spring and I've noticed it more this last week. I'm getting an appointment with an ENT guy, but I want a rundown (I think you've done that before as well, too), because, frankly and embarrassingly, I'm very scared of the surgery. It just sounds horrible to me, and I'm afraid they'll scrape around up there and slip, and I won't be able to breathe through my nose which is already driving me crazy just not breathing well enough through it.
So if you get a chance, I'd like all the details from people who've been there, not just the guy who has a vested interest in doing it.
7294. arkymalarky - 3/9/2008 7:01:58 PM
This isn't about to do or not to do, btw, since I know you and Bro and the handful of other people I know who did it absolutely loved the results. I just need the gory details. I don't like surprises. When I was pregnant all my friends who were moms assured me labor wasn't that bad. If they'd been there at the time I went through it, I think I could have murdered every one of them with my bare hands.
7295. robertjayb - 3/10/2008 3:53:51 PM
Yeah, they're apt to scrape around, reshaping turbinates (whatever they are)and staightening the septum. There may be blood. At least there was in my case, but I'm a bleeder. I'd say lay off aspirin and maybe get a vitamin K shot in advance of the procedure. Ask your ENT person.
I rate the discomfort as slightly worse than a root canal.
The splints, little tubes that are inserted in the nostrils to keep all the parts aligned, are bothersome but bearable. I think I had them about three days. One became dislodged in a fierce sneezing attack and had to be fished out from some strange recess in my head. No harm and funny in retrospect but scary at the time.
Go for it.
7296. arkymalarky - 3/10/2008 4:27:41 PM
Thanks! I'm leaning that way, because it's the only one of my health problems of the last few years that I haven't improved or fixed, and I'm feeling so much better than I have in years. I could deal with it okay if I felt like I was getting enough air though my nose and wasn't prone to hyperventilating when I breathe too much through my mouth--if that's what's causing it. I'll at least talk to an ENT doctor.
7297. robertjayb - 4/7/2008 9:20:19 PM
Alligator blood studied for antibiotic effects...(HouChron)
Researchers in Louisiana say they've discovered unique antibiotic proteins in the blood of American alligators that can kill a wide range of deadly bacteria, halt the spread of common infections, and perhaps even stop the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
If they're right, and they're able to sequence the genetics of alligator blood, the researchers say superdrugs based on their findings might be available within 10 years.
................................................
Researcher Lancia Darville explained that alligators have developed unique immune systems during the course of their long evolution.
"If you think about alligators, they usually get into a lot of fights and get cuts and bruises and torn limbs, and they live in swamps that have a whole lot of bacteria," she said. "But even in the presence of all that bacteria, they (almost) never get any infections."
The reason, Darville explained, is that alligators have unusually strong immune systems. Unlike humans, their immune systems can fight off different types of bacteria, viruses and fungi without having been previously exposed to them.
7298. robertjayb - 4/14/2008 1:58:48 PM
Watch out for soaring co-payments...(NYTimes)
Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases.
With the new pricing system, insurers abandoned the traditional arrangement that has patients pay a fixed amount, like $10, $20 or $30 for a prescription, no matter what the drug’s actual cost. Instead, they are charging patients a percentage of the cost of certain high-priced drugs, usually 20 to 33 percent, which can amount to thousands of dollars a month.
7299. wonkers2 - 4/14/2008 3:53:51 PM
I just paid a $20 copay for a tiny bottle of eye drops. When I complained, the pharmacist said the insurer paid $50 for a total of $70.
7300. Ms. No - 4/14/2008 4:03:43 PM
Did you ask what the price was for the uninsured?
7301. wonkers2 - 4/14/2008 4:31:23 PM
No. I didn't but I know that hospitals bill uninsured patients at ridiculously higher rates than they charge BC-BS which is the biggest insurer in Michigan.
7302. Ms. No - 4/14/2008 4:40:57 PM
Yeah, but sometimes your co-pay for drugs at the pharmacy is actually higher than what they charge normally. It has something to do with the bulk manner in which they negotiate the prices with the insurance companies.
7303. wonkers2 - 4/14/2008 6:01:24 PM
I think my friendly pharmacist would have told me if I could have gotten the prescription filled cheaper by paying for it entirely myself. I'll check next time I'm in the store. A friend of mind told me about an experience where he was able to fill a prescription at Costco cheaper by paying for it himself than at a regular pharmacy. I don't remember the details. As I recall the drugstore wouldn't even tell him what the insurance company was paying.
7304. wonkers2 - 4/14/2008 6:01:53 PM
This is our great "free" market system.
7305. judithathome - 4/16/2008 7:33:37 AM
Heck, the other day I had a pharmacy claim they couldn't quote me a price on a drug unless I brought in a prescription for it!
7306. magoseph - 4/22/2008 1:24:57 PM
7307. robertjayb - 4/22/2008 3:09:38 PM
Ezra Klein on the curious case of dental insurance...
Imagine if your health insurance -- and for the purposes of this thought experiment, you have health insurance, and it's decent -- covered everything save your liver. For that, you need liver insurance. Or maybe it does cover your liver, but not your right foot. That requires right foot insurance. Or maybe it covers everything but your brain. Got some brain insurance?
That's the odd space dental insurance occupies...
7308. thoughtful - 4/23/2008 9:54:33 AM
Yes very curious, esp since they now recognize a correlation between dental health and heart health. In fact in our area is a dentist who works on overall physical health based on what he finds from your oral health.
7309. thoughtful - 4/23/2008 9:58:25 AM
Have any of you heard of or tried this foot ionization therapy? I see now they're even selling overnight pads that you attach to your feet overnight and in the am the pads are dark supposedly from the ions pulling toxins and such from your body. The foot ionization bath is offered by the same lady who does my facials. It looks like so much voodoo to me, but then again, why does the water turn so dark? Is it just a chemical reaction?
7310. thoughtful - 4/25/2008 7:06:39 AM
Well apparently, after a little more research, the feet have nothing to do with the water color change...that's a result of the metals used in the process. All bunk, as I suspected.
7311. thoughtful - 4/25/2008 7:24:49 AM
Check out www.bluezones.com
Based on studies of long-lived peoples around the world, they have come up with common factors that they believe are associated with the longer life. The intersection of those factors among the various groups is called the blue zone.
You can sign up and take a survey that asks you lifestyle questions (diet, exercise, outlook, social life) to determine if you are in the blue zone.
My survey results tell me that I am biologically 7 years younger than my physical age, that my life expectancy is 96.5 years with a healthy life expectancy of 87.5 years (life without heart disease, diabetes, or cancer), that I have accrued 13.3 years due to my lifestyle and that if i optimized my lifestyle, I could add an additional 2 years.
How about that! I'm in the blue zone!
7312. robertjayb - 4/27/2008 9:24:31 PM
Doctors' group wants single-payer healthcare...(HouChron)
By LEONARD A. ZWELLING and ANA MALINOW
We have all heard it before. The health care system in the United States is broken. We have all heard it, but when is someone going to do something about it?
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) is a group of 15,000 physicians who believe that there is a solution and it is currently working for Americans — if they are over 65. It is, of course, Medicare, part of the 60 percent of our current health care system that is paid for and administered by the government.
We believe a single-payer system (Medicare for everyone) would be less costly, more efficient and provide all Americans with the health care they need without an increase in overall dollars spent (an amount that is increasing at a rate of 7 percent per year). This would include the 47 million who are currently uninsured and the estimated 50.3 million who are "underinsured" (spending 10 percent or more of their pretax income on health care).
7313. alistairConnor - 4/30/2008 2:05:38 PM
I always thought we'd see this sort of technology in my lifetime. (which proves I mis-spent my adolescence reading science fiction)
Pixie dust will make your finger grow back
7314. robertjayb - 4/30/2008 5:42:23 PM
Amazing...
7315. arkymalarky - 5/2/2008 8:21:39 PM
Got my ENT appt. It's all I can do to keep from calling and canceling.
7316. jexster - 5/4/2008 7:39:41 PM
More Needing Major Surgery in US Going Overseas
Bet they aren't going to Baghdad
7317. alistairconnor - 5/5/2008 2:45:49 AM
Yup. Dental care, which is poorly covered in France, is a motivator for package tours to Hungary and other interesting destinations in central Europe.
At the same time, there's lots of English people coming to France for operations, not for cost reasons but to get around waiting lists.
7318. anomie - 5/5/2008 6:32:22 PM
I just tried my first ever Ambien pill. I slept for about 6 hours and woke up feeling surprisingly normal...maybe better. Unless I'm typing this and having a great couple of cups of coffee in a hypnotic sleepwalking state, all is well. I'm trying to get a step ahead on jet lag before a trip this week. I'm hoping this works.
7319. arkymalarky - 5/5/2008 7:45:58 PM
For an occasional need like that, Benadryl works well and it's cheap.
7320. anomie - 5/5/2008 7:54:49 PM
A couple people have told me that. But I think I'm a victim of viral marketing. Years ago, I heard at least two people on different flights talking - singing praises - about Ambien, mentioning the brand name several times. I hadn't even heard of viral marketing then, but it seems clear now that's what it was.
But what may be more unusual is the prescription I got. I told my doc I wanted to try it, so I assumed she'd write up maybe 10 to 15 pills. I got 30 pills with 5 refills! That's some jet lag!
7321. arkymalarky - 5/5/2008 8:06:34 PM
Damn.
But really, you can get a bottle of off-brand Benadryl for a couple of bucks if the Ambien is expensive. It doesn't work for me, though, because I'm used to antihistimines.
7322. alistairconnor - 5/6/2008 2:01:49 AM
My girlfriend quite often takes sleeping pills or tranquilizers, either because of shift work or travelling or from other issues which prevent her sleeping. I confess it freaks me out completely because I've never done any of that stuff, and I have a violent aversion to it. I suppose I need to educate myself about them, and either learn to live with them or wean her off the (non-recreational) drugs.
7323. thoughtful - 5/6/2008 7:25:03 AM
Many people have had success treating jet lag using melatonin which is a naturally occurring hormone in the body that regulates the circadian rhythym.
7324. arkymalarky - 5/6/2008 12:18:12 PM
Bob swears by melatonin.
7325. judithathome - 5/6/2008 4:33:13 PM
I tried it and it gave me violent nightmares.
But my sister, like Bob, swears by it.
7326. anomie - 5/7/2008 3:26:17 AM
I've heard conflicting reports on melatonin, but I see a newer study says that samll amounts can be helpful.
I'm convinced that staying up all night is NOT a good way to do it. I have been miserable for two days. I'll stick with gradually getting up earlier and earlier (for going East). That way at least I won't leave feeling exhausted.
But now that I've tried the Ambien and I know it doesn't leave me feeling groggy for hours, I think I'll try it on the plane.
7327. robertjayb - 5/9/2008 7:28:25 AM
Bill Moyers' Journal
Friday, May 9,
The California Nurses Association's fight for universal health care; journalist Melody Petersen ("Our Daily Meds") on the pharmaceutical industry; British law professor Philippe Sands ("Torture Team").
7328. thoughtful - 5/14/2008 7:16:10 AM
For other research I'm doing, I came across a couple of interesting charts from the CDC and the Health US document. I don't know how to post them here as they are power point slides.
Anyway, one showed the absolute dearth of ob-gyns in many regions of the country, especially in the midwest area. Just shocking.
The other showed rates of adult obesity and overweight. What I found interesting is over the past decades, the rate of overweight adults has been largely the same...its the rate of obesity that has shot up.
7329. judithathome - 5/14/2008 7:26:21 AM
Is it possible to get pneumonia from stress? Ha! I started getting a tingly throat last Thursday on my way to the dentist and over the next few days, developed a deep cough. I chalked it up to allergies...lotsa pollen still around....and sinus drainage.
The cough has become so bad I have slept in the den the past two nights to avoid waking Keoni. This morning, when I woke up, I thought my lungs were going to explode from coughing so hard...productive cough but so violent, I got dry heaves.
I saw the doctor's assistant Monday about another matter and asked her about it...she agreed with my diagnosis and told me to take Zyrtec and Mucinex. I'm taking the latter but using a generic allergy concoction. But man, I felt wretched when I woke up.
I was also at the hospital a few days before the tingly throat...at the ER all day with my son. Maybe I picked up an exotic bug there...
7330. thoughtful - 5/14/2008 8:02:23 AM
That doesn't sound good J@H. I'd get yourself checked out. While you can't catch pneumonia from stress, you can weaken your immune system which will make you and your lungs and sinuses more susceptible to pneumonia. And you can pick up all kinds of things in a hospital.
I always remember my SIL who went to PAs who told her to take all kinds of over the counter stuff for her "allergies". It wasn't until she went to a real doc that he ordered xrays right away and found her pleural effusion due to her lung cancer.
So naturally I'm more aware and sensitive to such things, so from my POV, no point screwing around.
7331. arkymalarky - 5/14/2008 8:25:35 AM
Thoughtful is right about the stress/pneumonia thing, and you can get pneumonia from allergies that turn into infections that drain into your lungs, which happened to Bro. Zyrtec and Mucinex are my regular meds, plus Nasonex. The first two are otc now.
7332. judithathome - 5/14/2008 9:11:49 AM
Well, if I feel like this tomorrow, I will go see the regular doc tomorrow afternoon or Friday. Since MediCare is paying for everything....ha!
7333. magoseph - 6/2/2008 7:29:19 PM
7334. wonkers2 - 6/2/2008 9:05:09 PM
Touching. Thanks. How did the story end?
7335. magoseph - 6/3/2008 8:22:13 AM
Here's Randy Pausch's Update page, Wonks
7336. David Ehrenstein - 6/9/2008 8:29:29 AM
7337. jexster - 6/10/2008 7:52:28 AM
Adam and Steve Happier than Adam and Eve?
7338. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/20/2008 7:52:37 AM
"I Speak Insurance . . ."
7339. David Ehrenstein - 6/25/2008 4:50:40 PM
Hey guess what? The Lancet says not only is AIDS far from "over,"it hasn't even stabilized!
"Last week, at a press conference at the UN High-Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said that the number of new HIV infections per year in the USA was closer to 50000 than 40000. He told reporters: “In the United States we still have a significant problem…we have over 750000 AIDS cases…and over half a million deaths. The very disturbing aspect of the situation in the United States is that we have about 40 to 52000 new infections each year.” He said that this level of new infections had stayed the same for the past 14 years and that the USA had hit a wall in not being able to get any lower.
Fauci's statements, reported by Reuters have caused uproar, because the 52000 figure he refers to has not yet been publicly released. AIDS campaigners have been calling for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to release the latest (2005) data for HIV incidence since last year. On Nov 26, 2007, the CDC issued a letter to advocacy groups, which stated that the information would be released in the “coming months”. The letter also stated that the data had been submitted to an academic journal for peer review and that the CDC anticipates publishing the new data in early 2008. Yet, as The Lancet went to press, nothing had been released.
What is more, when we contacted the NIAID and CDC, both said that Fauci had been talking about published data on the number of people diagnosed with HIV in 2006 but not necessarily infected that year. However, as the UN's webcast of the press conference shows, Fauci does not talk about diagnoses but new infections. He says that 52000 is a new number that will soon become an official statistic. He explains that the number does not mean that HIV incidence has increased but that new methodology being used by the CDC is producing a more accurate estimate.
Either way, the figure shows that US efforts to prevent HIV have failed dismally. The CDC must not fail US citizens further by delaying the release of the data behind this fact."
7340. wonkers2 - 6/29/2008 8:14:40 PM
7341. thoughtful - 7/2/2008 7:16:29 AM
Hey Arky! Maybe all you need is some worms!
After Dr. Pritchard’s self-infection experiment, the National Health Services ethics committee let him conduct a study in 2006 with 30 participants, 15 of whom received 10 hookworms each. Tests showed that after six weeks, the T-cells of the 15 worm recipients began to produce lower levels of chemicals associated with inflammatory response, indicating that their immune systems were more suppressed than those of the 15 placebo recipients. Despite playing host to small numbers of parasites, worm recipients reported little discomfort.
Trial participants raved about their allergy symptoms disappearing. Word about the study soon appeared online among chronic allergy sufferers, and a Yahoo group on “helminthic therapy” sprung up.
7342. alistairconnor - 7/2/2008 8:22:36 AM
And a tapeworm for weight loss?
7343. arkymalarky - 7/2/2008 2:46:52 PM
Hey, and I can get that free around here--just stay barefoot outside!
I wonder if you could just eat anything you wanted if you had a tapeworm. Might cure bulemia.
7344. wonkers2 - 7/2/2008 3:11:58 PM
I lost my virginity today without even being awake to enjoy it--my first and I hopw last colonoscopy. Fortunately no problems other than one small polyp.
7345. arkymalarky - 7/2/2008 3:38:03 PM
Congrats, Wonk! Bob and his two best friends went through that for the first time this year (not together--they're not THAT close) and they all had good reports and no problems.
7346. Wombat - 7/2/2008 8:32:50 PM
Preparing for a colonoscopy is much worse than the colonoscopy itself.
7347. wonkers2 - 7/3/2008 8:42:24 AM
Very true!
7348. thoughtful - 7/3/2008 10:25:38 AM
Doing a lot of reading lately about importance of waist as a sign of health. For women health risks start to rise at waists over 31.5 inches and rise substantially at over 35 inches.
For men it's 37 inches and 40 inches. Guess what really loads on the middle fat...carbs!
I think I need some chocolate about now....
:)
7349. thoughtful - 7/7/2008 6:43:06 PM
7350. robertjayb - 7/8/2008 9:52:21 AM
Elizabeth Edwards to front health care effort...
(HuffPost)- A consortium of progressive groups, think tanks, trade unions and activists are set to launch a $40 million health care campaign to prepare the ground for the next president to sign expanded care early in 2009.
The work of Health Care For America Now was first made public late last week. But the group, with Elizabeth Edwards as a figurehead, offered expanded insight into the details of its campaign during a meeting on Monday. In addition to spending $40 million -- $1.5 million of which will be put behind an initial ad buy (national TV, print, and online) -- the group will be sending organizers to 52 cities, blasting out emails to 5 million households, airing spots on MSNBC and CNN and submitting op-eds to major papers (officials hinted at the New York Times piece to come).
.................................................
"The focus of the campaign is on national legislation. "This year, however, it is also a referendum: do you support quality, affordable, health care for all, or an alliance with the private insurance industry?"
Perhaps the effort will wean O away from his apparent affection for insurance companies.
7351. arkymalarky - 7/8/2008 1:30:27 PM
Wombat, I think it was, mentioned this when we were talking about weight loss a while back, and it's worked best for both Bob and me:
Keeping a food diary doubled weight loss in a study
7352. thoughtful - 7/8/2008 2:12:45 PM
It is an important part of weight watchers, as well as weighing and measuring to maintain portion control.
7353. judithathome - 7/9/2008 6:52:00 AM
I've hit a plateau at 28 pounds lost. I'm just going to wait it out like I did the others...ha! So long as I don't "weight" it out, I should start to lose again.
7354. arkymalarky - 7/9/2008 9:04:20 AM
28lbs is great! That's what I did after losing during school. I'm trying to jump on down during the summer about another 15lbs or so, but right now I'm nursing a sinus infection. At least I'm not eating much, but exercising is out until at least tomorrow. That's my worst thing. Getting into an exercise routine. I'm of the Martin Mull school of exercise. He said he took up jogging, but he kept spilling his martini and his cigarette kept going out.
7355. thoughtful - 7/9/2008 9:38:50 AM
28lbs is great!
Wasn't it phyllis diller who said her idea of exercise was a good, brisk sit?
7356. thoughtful - 7/16/2008 10:09:17 AM
Concerning news about drugs to prevent osteoporosis:
The concern rises mainly from a series of case reports showing a rare type of leg fracture that shears straight across the upper thighbone after little or no trauma. Fractures in this sturdy part of the bone typically result from car accidents, or in the elderly and frail. But the case reports show the unusual fracture pattern in people who have used bone-building drugs called bisphosphonates for five years or more.
I'm telling you, stay away from doctors...it's the only way to stay healthy!
7357. judithathome - 7/17/2008 8:14:49 AM
Two year study shows Atkin's diet superior to Low Fat or Mediterranian diet.
I could have told you that...down 30 pounds thus far. I'm not eating huge amounts of fatty meats but lean meats and fish and am getting my carb intake from fruits and veggies. On occasion, I'll have a bowl of oatmeal...the real stuff, not that 2 minute junk.
7358. thoughtful - 7/17/2008 9:37:21 AM
Good for you J. It'll be interesting to see what the impact is on your cholesterol readings.
According to the stuff in Taubes book, he said the 2 numbers to watch for are a high HDL and a low triglycerides. The LDL is useless as there are good and bad LDLs and the bloodwork we get doesn't distinguish between them.
7359. thoughtful - 7/17/2008 11:38:04 AM
I hate it when I know more than the doctors.
Just talking to an internist and an ob/gyn about the lung cancer/hormone replacement therapy connection. They both said there was none...I just forwarded them an article about how estrogen blockers improve survival rates and other studies suggesting as strong a link between estrogen and lung cancer as there is with estrogen and breast cancer.
7360. arkymalarky - 7/18/2008 6:51:51 PM
Estrogen/progestin is the breast cancer connection, but even women who aren't in menopause who get breast cancer have to address their hormones, sometimes with hysterectomies. My SIL hasn't gone there yet, and thankfully her cancer has not returned, but they did try to force her through menopause medically, without surgery. It didn't work.
I've been off and on estrogen since my hysterectomy and am weaning off it permanently now, though I will probably go to a non-systemic cream if I have to. I really was not at all prepared for the effects of a full hysterectomy, and the hrt decision is a much harder one for some women to make because of the effects of menopause. I told a friend whose wife is going through menopause now that everything you put in your mouth has a cost/benefit issue. But I've never done an estrogen pill. I tried one for a few days and had a migraine every day I took it.
I'm coming off a two-day migraine right now, but it's not hormone-related. I just hope the problems I've had in the past without estrogen are better now. I don't like getting personal, but for one thing I'm not ready to go platonic with my husband. Another was the profuse sweating. Being inconveniently hot is one thing--your hair literally dripping sweat in a public place that's air conditioned is another. If jerry curls would come back maybe I could pass it off as that, but otherwise I'm sol.
7361. arkymalarky - 7/18/2008 6:55:06 PM
Losing weight, especially after getting my thyroid under control, helped with some of my discomfort, but I was miserable on or off hormones. When I had the thyroid issue I quit sweating completely. Which was the one upside of it.
7362. robertjayb - 7/19/2008 3:24:56 PM
Americans stiffed on health care...HouChron editorial
A trio of scathing reports in the last week has trumpeted first, second and third opinions on the miserable value Americans get for what we spend on health care.
................................................
To be blunt, our health care system is a racket. We spend $230 million every hour on it — more per capita than any other country. Yet the rewards for this huge outlay are shabby.
Eleven other countries score better on health indices established by the United Nations Development Program. Especially damning is our infant mortality rate, the measure of life expectancy for children 1 year old and younger.
.................................................
Though Americans spend more than twice as much money on health care as any other industrialized nation, we are among the most likely to die of ailments that could have been successfully treated with prompt or more effective care.
.................................................
....the current administration has had nearly eight years to prove its disinterest in making Americans a better deal. But as the presidential election nears, the closely linked findings from the studies should be addressed concretely by each candidate.
7363. thoughtful - 7/21/2008 7:59:56 AM
Arky, you have to do what's best for you and your individual situation. But you can't make the best choice without being fully informed. What irritates me is how ill-informed so many docs are so the patients aren't getting the straight story with which to make the right decision...or docs are swaying their patients to their point of view, without taking the individual patient's needs into account.
I've been through this in spades with my thyroid disease.
I find it very frustrating as to why certain aspects of health get all the headlines and other important aspects slip by the wayside. For example, my old secy who ended up with a double mastectomy never knew that the discharge she was having was a sign of cancer. It is an important indicator but is rarely in the literature.
Another example is the number of women who die of heart disease and yet breast cancer seems to get the lion's share of the headlines. Go figure.
And then with thyroid disease, even endos who are supposed to know this stuff, seem to be ill-informed...then they get defensive and act like know-it-alls and refuse to learn anything because it's coming from, god-forbid, the patient!
They all ought to go pound sand!
7364. arkymalarky - 7/21/2008 8:36:49 AM
I absolutely agree. It's why I quit my gynecologist after my surgery. He did great with that, but when it came to hormones, he was a wall. I don't want to sound biased, but I went to a woman after that--one who was post-menopause herself--and it made a difference. I now just go to my regular doctor, who's also a (young) woman, but who has dealt with all of that very well. I also liked the fact about my doctor that when I was having chest pains, etc, she went ahead with a stress test, which was abnormal, and proceeded from there to check it out, rather than just assuming that I wasn't old enough to have problems, etc. My main concern about her is that she's getting so popular that she's getting busy, and I worry she won't be as thorough. She has two small kids and it seems like everyone in town wants to go to her--it doesn't hurt that she's very pretty.
7365. arkymalarky - 7/21/2008 8:47:17 AM
I told my first gyno that I wanted to try without hormones and he was very much against it. I did have significant menopausal issues, so I tried to work with him on what to take, and he wasn't at all helpful. He started me with a patch right after surgery which burned me like fire. Then he put me on Premarin, which gave me migraines every day I took it, and he didn't seem to take that seriously at all. When I asked him how long I'd have to be on hormones, he said "ten or fifteen years." The woman I went to put me on a lotion, which I LOVE. You just put it on your legs in the mornings. But I don't intend to stay on it, and now that I'm out of graduate school and have gotten through a year of teaching and some significant transitions at work, it's a good time to try to wean off it again and see how I do. I've gone on and off it several times in the last three years, and I've reduced it to half the dosage several times. There's no way I could have done that with my other doctor without an argument every time I went in for a yearly exam. And of course his biggest sin was not informing me of exactly what I'd be looking at after a full hysterectomy. I would have gotten it anyway, but it would have been nice to have been more prepared going in.
7366. thoughtful - 7/21/2008 8:59:17 AM
The lotion sounds great as it offers the opportunity to wean yourself off of it with infinitely variable dosage...something you can't do with pills or patches.
I hate it when docs dismiss your symptoms. Migraines are incredible, not something to ignore. I wish there were a way to give the symptom to the doc and say, see? how do you like it? now maybe you'll pay some attention!
7367. thoughtful - 7/29/2008 11:20:50 AM
They're coming around, however slowly. Now Prevention mag has picked up on it: Flat Belly Diet
Their approach...include monounsaturated fats in each of 4 meals a day. Of course imo it's the fat offsetting the carbs that's the critical element tho getting a balance of fats in the diet is also a good thing.
Also a nice diet for chocolate lovers!
7368. alistairConnor - 7/29/2008 12:32:24 PM
Hmm yes I can relate to all that... nuts, olive oil etc.
Last night I had a steak and steamed green beans, thought I was pretty clever leaving the carbs out, but felt a bit unsatisfied. Not enough fat?
Course, I'm having a beer, which negates my good intentions... My girlfriend lost four kilos recently, mostly, it seems, by giving up alcohol. We would typically share three bottles of wine per week, and perhaps three beers each... very nutricious, unfortunately.
7369. thoughtful - 7/29/2008 4:15:43 PM
No need to eliminate carbs, but control them and opt for healthier ones than not...whole grain bread not white...starchy vegetable vs. cookies.
And beer is one of the worst! You can lose weight by cutting the alcohol. But rather than skip the wine, have a wine spritzer...less calories, less alcohol, but dog gone it if the bubbles don't make it hit you faster!
7370. wonkers2 - 7/29/2008 8:34:59 PM
Ten things to scratch from your worry list
7371. arkymalarky - 7/30/2008 6:04:28 PM
I was disappointed in some of the stuff that wasn't on that list that I evidently have to continue to worry about. ;-)
I did my Ear/Nose/Throat thing yesterday, and it was pretty uninspiring, though he did give me a couple of otc nose sprays for re-moisturizing and blocking irritants and easing some of my more unpleasant symptoms without being addictive. They don't clear your nose, they protect it from irritation. He said no saline spray, which I had thought was a good thing.
The good thing is my allergy test this morning: after four years, even though I quit the treatments during graduate school, my allergies are way down. I was highly allergic to 37 common things when I was first tested. This time it was four. And a lot of things, like dust and cats, I'm no longer allergic to at all. I also talked to my superintendent the other day and he said he was on shots for several years and they helped a lot. I'm thinking by the next time I'm tested three years from now I will be off the program. I hate that I wasn't able to maintain it and I might be off now, but that's just the way it goes. So no nasal surgery, at least not now, but the allergies are getting under control.
If my nasal issues continue to bother me after trying all the recommendations, I'll ask to see a different ENT. This guy was really pretty lame. If he had suggested surgery I'd have had to excuse myself and fun for another clinic. No way I'd let that guy shove sharp implements up my nose.
7372. robertjayb - 7/31/2008 1:50:22 PM
An exercise pill...
NEW YORK — (AP) -- Here's a couch potato's dream: What if a drug could help you gain some of the benefits of exercise without working up a sweat?
Scientists reported today that there is such a drug — if you happen to be a mouse.
Sedentary mice that took the drug for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice. And when tested on a treadmill, they could run about 44 percent farther and 23 percent longer than untreated mice.
Just how well those results might translate to people is an open question. But someday, researchers say, such a drug might help treat obesity, diabetes and people with medical conditions that keep them from exercising.
7373. robertjayb - 7/31/2008 1:50:49 PM
toys
7374. thoughtful - 8/19/2008 8:44:59 AM
Anyone have any advice for tmj?
I woke up about a week ago and started yawning and while I was opening my mouth heard this odd sound from my left tmj. I spent a week not being able to clench my teeth, though I had no pain. I finally forced the jaw back shut, but it's very odd. It hurts to snap the joint back into place and it will stay there so long as I keep my mouth almost completely shut. As soon as I open it, it slips out of joint again, but with absolutely no sound or pain. But putting it back in again is yow! Leaving it out feels fine, but if I keep putting it back it gets painful and stays that way.
Who does one see for this kind of thing? A dentist? A chiropractor?
7375. thoughtful - 8/19/2008 8:50:26 AM
Anyone ever watch "you are what you eat" on bbc america? Jillian McKeith is a macrobiotic nutritionist and she invades the homes of people who are obese and gets them to drastically change their diets. I have to admit that after 8 weeks, these people do look incredibly better...not just less weight, but their skin looks better, their energy levels are better, their confidence and happiness is way up there.
One of the things she does is gets them to keep a food diary for a week and then lays out everything they've eaten on a single table. No surprise when you see nothing green or nothing raw and very little that's home cooked.
But one show, the woman ate the most disgusting snack I've ever seen...white bread slathered with margarine and then folded over a bunch of steak fries. Ugh!!!
7376. judithathome - 8/19/2008 11:32:32 PM
I watch that show a lot...it's amazing what those people eat in a week! I doubt I eat as much in a month or two and certainly not the same sorts of things.
I'm at a plateau now and have been for a few weeks...32 pounds down. Isn't worrying me at all...I'll eventually drop another pound or two. And then some more...I'm in no hurry.
7377. thoughtful - 8/20/2008 7:14:06 AM
Good attitude!
There was an interesting piece in yesterday's health section in the NYT about how weight is one thing, but fitness is really more important in determining how healthy you are. So slim people who are not fit are worse off than those who are fit but carrying extra pounds. Fitness they judged by the length of time you could stay on a treadmill while they gradually increased the speed and elevation.
I really think my father's body lasted as long as it did despite his years of severe body abuse due to smoking and alcohol and later diabetes was due to the fact that he was incredibly hard working and was always incredibly strong due to all the physical labor he did.
7378. Wombat - 8/20/2008 2:15:38 PM
Thoughtful:
My daughter did a header off her bicycle several years ago and landed on her chin, which brought on TMJ. You need to look for a cranio-facial pain specialist. Her treatment included heat, electric stimulation, perfusion of anti-inflammatories, exercises, and day and night appliances to bring her jaw back into alignment. She is pain-free now, but it was an expensive and drawn-out process. Our insurance is kicking our claims back and forth because they are unable to figure out that it is a medical, not a dental, condition.
Good luck!
7379. thoughtful - 8/20/2008 3:04:41 PM
Thanks for the input wombat. Wow! that sounds incredibly painful and a real annoyance to go through (pain both from the injury and the insurance cos!) ...maybe I'd just better 'walk it off' or in this case, 'talk it off'!
7380. anomie - 8/20/2008 6:30:55 PM
Thoughtfull, you gave me a chuckle and nudged a memory of a lesson I learned when I first went to England. Fries on bread is called a "chip butty". I once tried to order an order of chips in pub and couldn't do it unless I got the "chip butty". I even tried the Jack Nicholson thing..."bring me a chip butty and hold the butty", to no avail. I got a french fry sandwich.
7381. anomie - 8/20/2008 6:45:48 PM
Chip Butty:
img =src"http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1434/810314406_af73415740.jpg">
7382. anomie - 8/20/2008 6:46:39 PM
Oh nevermind!
7383. anomie - 8/20/2008 7:30:12 PM
7384. anomie - 8/20/2008 7:30:46 PM
Hey! Hey! A chip butty!
7385. thoughtful - 8/21/2008 6:28:52 AM
Somehow, anomie, naming it doesn't make it any more appealing...a heart attack in the making!
7386. thoughtful - 8/21/2008 6:30:49 AM
Piece on npr health this am remarked on study showing TM is effective in reducing blood pressure.
What bothered me the most about it was that this was done at UMass, the home of Jon Kabat Zin who spends a lot of time working on pain management and the mind/body connection and has been teaching tm for years...why this cardiologist seemingly took an independent route to the subject is beyond me. Don't academics talk to each other?
7387. thoughtful - 8/21/2008 7:11:41 AM
I've tried it and it works pretty well. Homemade sorbet from canned fruit.
Take a can of canned fruit (peach slices, pear slices) and freeze it. Once frozen, put the contents into a food processor. (This takes work..I've tried running hot water over it, cutting out both ends, and pushing, but I seem to end up with a fork and digging it out.) Then puree. You can add whatever strikes your fancy. I've tried frangelico which is good, but you could add whatever strikes your fancy...fresh mint, almond extract, other liquors. It makes a cold slurry that's very tasty. For company I'd serve right away. For myself, I then divide into single portions and refreeze. The refreeze stuff is not so smooth and sorbet like, but it still eases my craving for cold and wet like ice cream but at minimal calories and maximal nutrition.
I've since bought some canned mangoes and mandarin oranges to experiment with.
7388. judithathome - 8/21/2008 7:33:47 AM
Instead of freezing it in the can, empty contents into a plastic baggie...easy to empty, that way.
7389. thoughtful - 8/21/2008 9:09:26 AM
Duh! Why didn't I think of that! Great suggestion...I'll try it!
7390. anomie - 9/3/2008 2:01:32 PM
Anyone ever had food poisoning? Sat morning about 9AM I went from feeling okay to being deathly ill in about 15 minutes. It felt like the worst hangover of my life mixed with flu and nausea. No actual vomiting, but I was in bed for two days. the first day I considered going to the ER, but I just tried to sleep. I had eaten an over-easy egg the night before, and I think maybe that was it. It amazed me at how quickly the body can get so sick. I couldn't even drive my guests to the airport and I felt bad about that, but that's how horrible it was. I could barely stand up, much less drive.
7391. robertjayb - 9/3/2008 2:19:11 PM
Probably came from Sam and Ella's egg farm.
7392. judithathome - 9/3/2008 2:32:00 PM
Yep...sounds like food poisoning. I've had it from bad lettuce, a bad oyster...that was the worst case ever...and from various other things over the years. It's very easy to get it...surprised you've never had a bout of it before.
Keoni got it from bad sushi when we took some in the car on the way to see the Arky's last summer. He was sick as a dog at the annual party; missed half of it altogether.
I had it in a little cooler but evidently it was "off" before I even packed our road trip snacks. We got there and went out to eat that night and he didn't eat anything, was already starting to feel bad. Next day he was in bed until about 10pm...sick as hell.
Naturally, I was fine...hadn't eaten any of it.
7393. anomie - 9/3/2008 3:15:10 PM
I'm being careful not to get too paranoid about eating things. I threw away a bunch of probably-perfectly good items, lettuce included, from the fridge. I'm gonna eat an egg soon just to do it.
I must have had an iron stomach most of my life. I've never felt so bad.
7394. judithathome - 9/3/2008 4:41:44 PM
You have my utmost sympathy over it...and lucky you, to have escaped it this long!
That's like me having my first broken bone after age 60...I coulda been a contenda in the non-broken bones Olympics!
7395. judithathome - 9/4/2008 9:14:48 AM
Thank god I take blood pressure pills! Have been on hold with the health insurance company all morning.
Seems my doctor's billing clerk typed in the wrong code and I'm being billed some outrageous amount due to "diagnosis inconsistent with tests"...on Keoni. He goes to the doctor every year for a PSA reading...it has always been paid by the insurance company...for the past 12 years! Suddenly it's not.
We do not run to the doctor every 5 minutes...it's a rare year that we go in more than twice and he doesn't even take meds...for anything! We are not costing this insurance anything in comparison to most couples who have medical problems. It fries me that we're getting hit with this due to some jerk-wad's incompetence.
I can't believe the amount of bone-headed screw-ups people make in their jobs. This is something that will tie up the billing group, the insurance group, and ME for weeks to come.
7396. Jenerator - 9/4/2008 7:06:58 PM
Anomie,
If you didn't throw up or have diarrhea, you probably had something other than food poisoning.
7397. Jenerator - 9/4/2008 7:09:04 PM
Judith,
I hate insurance!!!
7398. anomie - 9/5/2008 8:55:19 AM
Jen, I thought that too for a while, but the consensus is against us. I'm just glad it's over.
7399. judithathome - 10/7/2008 11:01:00 PM
Hurrah for my bones! Had a full body bone scan Friday and the doctor called today with what I was just certain was dreadful news....been having bad pain in my back for 3 weeks, along my spine.
My bone density has improved in my spine and everywhere but my hips...it's a 13% improvement since the last scan, almost 2 years ago. The doctor was most impressed!
We discussed why my back might be hurting and finally settled on something I was beginning to suspect: no swimming the last month. I'm starting back this week at LA Fitness for my swimming.
He said to keep taking the calcium citrate and vitamin D and walking as much as I can. And to use the Miacalcin nose spray religiously...I have to use it because the other "bone helping stuff" (Fosamax) gave me ulcers.
Anyhow, I'm thrilled I'm not diagnosed as having "osteoporosis" but instead, have improvement in my bone density.
7400. thoughtful - 10/8/2008 7:44:39 AM
Great news! Bones are nothing to fool with.
Cas, the cat, is now hyperthyroid, while his mom (me) is going hypothyroid. Go figure. Must be something in the water as I've dealt with hyperthyroidism myself for 30 years and our old dear cat Emily was also hyperthyroid.
I had a physical done and other than my thyroid, everything is great. My cholesterol is a little high (208) but it's because my HDL, the good stuff is so high. My triglycerides are also very low. So it looks like my shift in diet to more fat and more balanced fat intake has done me no harm at all. Adding butter, sour cream, mayo, eggs, and meats while cutting out trans fats and limiting carbs has been a good thing...as expected.
7401. judithathome - 10/8/2008 9:59:44 AM
Same for me, Thoughtful...my cholesterol readings were excellent. And my weight loss continues slowly...I'm down 36 pounds now.
7402. thoughtful - 10/8/2008 10:06:15 AM
Wahoo! Congratulations!
We had a health & safety fair at work awhile ago and I did a thing on waist measurement being the best indicator of risk of heart disease stroke and cancer. The good news is that even a small reduction in waist size has a huge benefit on health risks, so your weight reduction is doing wonderful things for your health. I'm betting you feel a lot better too.
Great job!
7403. thoughtful - 10/8/2008 10:09:17 AM
My bloodwork shows that I am now underactive thyroid. I guess after all these years of being overactive, it's finally giving up the ghost.
I'll go for a recheck in 3 months and in the meantime, I'll add fish oil pills back to my diet and switch to vitamins that contain iodine. I'm hoping that alone will be enough to get me back in balance.
7404. judithathome - 10/9/2008 11:42:38 AM
yesterday my son had an xray done of his head, neck, and upper part of his spine...he is experiencing numbness in his left arm and last three fingers of his left hand. His neurosurgeon told him that it was classie pinching of vertebrae number 5 and 6 and said if it got worse to have the xray.
They found 2 objects that look like the bottom parts of paper clips at the base of his his skull! Metal ones! They are at the bottom of the incisions on his head...and no, he didn't have staples in the incisions...they used thread to "sew" him up and he counted each stitch when they were removed.
He called the neurosurgeon's office and they are freaking out...he's waiting to hear back.
7405. thoughtful - 10/10/2008 7:01:02 AM
oh for heaven's sake! what's next for that poor fellow!
7406. judithathome - 10/10/2008 11:19:01 PM
I saw the x-ray today and was shocked beyond belief...it really DOES look like a paperclip!
Also got a call from my doctor and he told me there is a suspicious spot on the mammogram I had done on Wednesday...have to go in for a more detailed one. Naturally, when a woman hears that, it's panic city.
So here I am...in panic city. Intellectually, I know it's probably nothing.
7407. arkymalarky - 10/11/2008 11:06:47 AM
Man, Judith, you've had more than your share of stress lately. Good you're going back Wednesday and don't have to wait long. Did the doctor elaborate in any way? I'm a basket case after an abnormal mammogram, but my SIL who had breast cancer was pulled right when she had hers. They didn't have her come back another day for "mag views," but took her right from her first mammogram to a biopsy that day. They always look at mine carefully before they let me go, and knowing how they did her gives me less to worry about as I wait on results.
7408. judithathome - 10/11/2008 11:42:25 AM
Well, it must not be THAT bad because no one called with a new appointment for me and they certainly won't be calling over the weekend.
I'm almost certain it's a benign fibroadenoma...but since my mother had breast cancer, it's still nagging at me.
I'm not getting morbid or anything but even if it IS bad news, my mom survived it and I knows tons of other women who have, too. If I were younger, I'd be more frantic but I know enough about this stuff that I'm a little more calm than I might be were I younger and dumber....ha!
7409. arkymalarky - 10/11/2008 11:48:48 AM
True. In fact, SIL was in her mid-30s and she survived hers and is thriving now.
7410. Jenerator - 10/11/2008 11:50:56 AM
Judith,
Will they be going in to see what the mysterious item is in your son's neck? I'm thinking that a video recording of that operation is in order; that, or an attorney that specializes in malpractice serves as a witness.
7411. Jenerator - 10/11/2008 11:51:44 AM
AND, I feel for you for this dreadful news and the anxiety producting results of the mammogram. That has been a tough year for you and your family.
7412. judithathome - 10/11/2008 12:27:28 PM
Well, there is definitely a video of this operation because the doctor was presenting the case at conference in Vienna the next week...it was an extremely unusual solution to a complicated problem that doesn't happen all that often. So I know it was taped...in fact, Leslie asked for a copy of it...ha!
Leslie has mentioned malpractice but he is so grateful to that doctor for saving his life...he doesn't want to cause problems for him. And really, it was the two guys who sewed him up that might be at fault. They came to the room the next day and told him they had "closed" him up. Or, it could simply be an anomoly on the film...it could be something on the clothing he had on but he swore the x-ray tech checked every possible thing it could have been.
The reason we think it is something left in his head is that the nurse who takes care of all his meds, MRIs, and other stuff said "I can't tell you anything but I think I know what this is...and you need to call your neurosurgeon right away."
Leslie thinks it's a clip that held the artery in place while they were "fusing" the two veins...and he is afraid it is cutting blood flow to his brain a bit.
We'll know more on the 21st...we're seeing the surgeon in Dallas that day.
7413. judithathome - 10/11/2008 12:28:04 PM
I'm hoping it's nothing...he really doesn't want another surgery!
7414. judithathome - 10/13/2008 3:37:58 PM
Well, my doctor's office finally called me back and they have scheduled a "diagnostic mammogram" for November 21st!!
That tells me I have nothing to worry about at all.
7415. thoughtful - 10/13/2008 3:38:50 PM
mother went for an mri fearing her lung cancer had spread to her bones....good news was she's fine...only signs of arthritis. Phew! Til the next test.
7416. arkymalarky - 10/13/2008 4:33:53 PM
Wow, that is good news!
7417. judithathome - 10/13/2008 4:53:17 PM
Well, just as I relaxed, I get another call from the doctor and they have decided not to wait 6 weeks and they're sending me to another radiology place next week. Grrrr....
7418. thoughtful - 10/14/2008 7:36:11 AM
better to know sooner rather than later...fingers crossed for you.
7419. wonkers2 - 10/25/2008 11:14:14 AM
Any thoughts on the best health insurance to supplement Medicare. My former employer is canceling my Blue Cross-Blue Shield policy, my Medco drug coverage, my Delta Dental policy and my eye and hearing care coverage effective January 1. I've decided not to continue any hearing, eye or dental coverage and just pay my own bills. But I'm trying to figure out whether prescription drug coverage is worth the cost and what to do about supplemental hospital-medical coverage. I'm told that Michigan BC-BS has applied for a 100% rate increase which will make the premiums quite high. Two alternatives recommended by an outfit that's supposedly helping us choose coverage are Mutual of Omaha and AARP's United Health Care. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
[One factor on prescription drug coverage--if I don't sign up for it now, I can enroll later, but the price goes up 1% per month for each month.] after January 1, 2009.
7420. judithathome - 10/25/2008 11:37:15 AM
A group of ladies I know have been very satisfied with Secure Horizons as their secondary.
I don't have a personl offering because we are using the retired military insurance, TriCare For Life. Thus far, it has been smooth sailing...
7421. wonkers2 - 10/25/2008 12:18:01 PM
TNX, Judity.
7422. thoughtful - 10/26/2008 10:58:38 AM
I always worry with any plan managed by united health care as they seem to be masters at avoiding paying for anything. My mother went through all kinds of hell with them just when they were managing her health insurance, including getting the insurance sponsors on the phone with her and united health and it still taking months and months before she received payment.
They also managed my MILs secondary insurance and I had issues with them there too.
But then again, these days, I suppose you can have issues with any firm.
What you want to make sure you do is go with the big guys tho. A neighbor of friend of mine went with a smaller firm, was in the middle of chemo treatments when the firm went belly up and he was responsible for literally tens of thousands of dollars worth of treatment. Yikes!
7423. wonkers2 - 10/26/2008 11:42:51 AM
I'm not a fan of United Health Care either. As I recall their CEO narrowly escaped the slammer a couple of years ago for plundering the company.
7424. thoughtful - 11/3/2008 12:38:24 PM
Researchers are finding genes that seem to be related to lung cancer. Considering both my father and mother had it, I've got to be extra diligent. It is the leading cancer killer in men and the 2nd cancer killer in women.
Amazing that so little seems to be known or done about it....
7425. anomie - 11/3/2008 6:51:07 PM
Does it tend to hit people late in life? Maybe that's why.
7426. thoughtful - 11/4/2008 11:12:58 AM
Average age of onset is 60, though my SIL died from it at 39.
I think the problem is people assume it's from smoking, blame the victim and figure if they don't smoke, they're safe. But mother was not a smoker but exposed to 2nd hand smoke all her life.
Asbestos, radon, some pollution can also play a role in getting the disease.
There also seems to be an estrogen connection. They are finding the chemo that works well on breast cancer that blocks estrogen also helps with lung cancer.
7427. thoughtful - 11/4/2008 11:15:38 AM
Studies comparing rates of lung cancer among american men vs. japanese men (who have higher rates of smoking but lower incidence of lung cancer) suggest there may be something in the cigarettes themselves or a role for genetic predisposition. I don't know if they've studied the incidence of say Japanese american men...
7428. judithathome - 11/12/2008 11:07:08 AM
I heard a study about tart cherries reducing joint pain and I'm always up for being a lab rat so I ordered some this morning. I will let everyone know if I see results!
It seems cheaper to take it in concentrated form rather than try to eat...and pay for!...enough cherries to get the same amount as found in the fruit or the juice.
I'd heard about this before but this doctor I listened to last night had done an actual trial on his patients (with the soft gels versus the whole fruit) and he said he felt the results were good enough to recommend it to people as an alternative to pain meds.
Tart cherry juice is not only hard to find and expensive but it's loaded with carbs and I don't want to ruin my modified low carb diet by adding so many carbs wach day so I went for the pills.
Bt the way, 41 pounds down and still going...slow and steady wins the new pair of skinny jeans!
7429. thoughtful - 11/12/2008 11:38:18 AM
Excellent news on the weight loss and good luck with the cherries.
For knee pain, I understand leeches work wonders...if you can get past the fact they're leeches! Ugh!
7430. judithathome - 11/12/2008 1:41:39 PM
My knees are about the only thing not hurting right now, thankfully.
7431. thoughtful - 11/12/2008 2:26:52 PM
do you take flax seed oil?
7432. judithathome - 11/12/2008 3:34:42 PM
Yes....and glucosimine.
7433. thoughtful - 11/12/2008 5:07:55 PM
that's all to the good. I found flax seed oil really took away my joint pain and stiffness...
7434. robertjayb - 11/12/2008 6:31:34 PM
My annual visit to the cardiologist revealed things ticking along smoothly thirteen years after the bypass operation. The PA touted me strongly on fish oil. He practically guaranteed a boost in HDL, the 'good' cholesterol. I've been taking niaspan, which I dread because at least once a week it results in a flushing/itching episode which is really unpleasant.
So I'm adding fish oil capsules to my bag of meds. At least they are cheap.
7435. thoughtful - 11/13/2008 8:51:16 AM
rjb, are you on statins?
7436. judithathome - 11/13/2008 10:08:45 AM
Robert, I take two capsules of Red Yeast Rice every day and my good cholesterol is out the roof...the doctor knows I take the stuff and he thinks I might be on to something with it. If you want a link to where you can order it cheaply, I'll be glad to post it.
It's a Japanese thing...
7437. wonkers2 - 11/13/2008 12:25:01 PM
The Cap'n sez "Try sex oncet a day!"
7438. wonkers2 - 11/13/2008 12:25:59 PM
Seriously, I recently switched from Lipitor to another statin. Much cheaper but it seems to do the job.
7439. thoughtful - 11/13/2008 1:12:02 PM
the active ingredient in red yeast rice is a statin
7440. robertjayb - 11/13/2008 5:27:15 PM
My meds include Lipitor for cholesterol, Lisinopril for blood pressure, and Niaspan specifically for HDL. I take two 81mg aspirin to mitigate the flushing effect of the Niaspan.
7441. thoughtful - 11/13/2008 5:40:27 PM
beware of statins...some evidence emerging that it can lead to transient joint pains and memory loss.
7442. anomie - 11/13/2008 5:57:54 PM
The BP meds are no picnic either. They have caused me fatigue and rashs, and sinus problems. I've been through about 4 types trying to find a good one.
7443. wonkers2 - 11/17/2008 8:46:33 AM
7444. thoughtful - 11/17/2008 9:10:47 AM
From wonkers' article:
Given that half of all heart attacks and strokes occur in people whose cholesterol is not considered high...
Thus my belief that there is a huge misunderstanding between cholesterol, diet and heart disease.
They know about metabolic syndrome, they know about waist measurement being the best predictor, they know about diabetes and heart disease risk, they know about studies showing better results from low cab diets, yet they continue to push BMI, high fat diets, and LDL cholesterol as primary hallmarks of heart disease.
Tim Russert is a perfect example...despite his girth, he was considered at lower risk for heart disease because his cholesterol profile was fine.
What will it take for the medical establishment to wake up???
7445. judithathome - 11/17/2008 1:24:43 PM
Frankly, I am doing well not taking cabs AT ALL. ;-)
(Sorry, couldn't resist....)
7446. thoughtful - 11/17/2008 1:44:06 PM
Hah! Unless you take the cash cab!
7447. wonkers2 - 11/18/2008 11:57:13 AM
7448. wonkers2 - 11/24/2008 11:40:09 AM
Medicare Advantange plans are costing more. Health Insurance Parasites
7449. thoughtful - 11/26/2008 8:59:07 AM
My nutrition action letter had an interesting article about the role of mitochondria in long-term health and various things that seem to enhance mitochondrial performance. The mitochondria is like the factory that processes energy intake, waste output on a cellular level so very related to free radical generation.
One I've not heard of, but sounds very promising, is quercetin. It's a naturally occurring flavonoid with anti-oxidant properties found in tea, dark greens and apples. Apparently it's also in Lance Armstrong's anti-free radical drink he sells, but it's available as a supplement. There are some early studies suggesting that it can help improve things such as chemotherapy treatments for non-small cell lung cancer too. Seems to be very helpful in treatment of prostatitis. It seems to reduce inflammation as it acts on histamines and help with cardiovascular health esp small arteries where a lot of women have issues.
I think it's time for the thoughtful's to add a new supplement....thought I'd pass it along.
7450. judithathome - 11/26/2008 9:23:23 AM
I've heard of quercetin and may add it to my supplements, too.
7451. thoughtful - 12/1/2008 9:03:15 AM
Talked to mom this weekend and she said she only started taking quercetin 2 days ago and has a bundle of energy...says she feels great and thinks it's working.
7452. thoughtful - 12/3/2008 9:09:05 AM
2nd day on quercetin...i do feel more energetic, but I also have a bad headache today...i think it may be related to my neck/shoulder issues i'm having tho...
i'll keep trying, time will tell.
7453. thoughtful - 12/5/2008 10:43:28 AM
So far I can't say one way or the other for me and quercetin.
However hubby has commented that he's been able to do a lot more physical work and has been surprised at how it hasn't tired him as much as in the past and it seems to be just in the last few days.
So perhaps it's like most nutritional things...if it's something you're lacking and you take it, you'll feel a lot better. If it's something your body is getting in adequate amounts anyway, taking it won't help you further.
7454. thoughtful - 12/10/2008 8:42:28 AM
Has anyone joined the national marrow donor program? They're having a drive here and i was considering it...just wondering if anyone has had any experience with it....
I'm a regular blood donor, but donating marrow is a little more involved including needing to be under anesthesia while they extract the marrow.
7455. wabbit - 12/10/2008 10:10:25 AM
I signed up with Children's Hospital in Boston when my cousin had leukemia (she died when she was seven). That was over thirty years ago, before the national group was formed. I doubt they'd take anything from me now, though.
7456. thoughtful - 12/10/2008 10:16:05 AM
yes I'm sure...not sure if my graves' disease will preclude me from being a donor or not, though I'm sure they'll tell me.
7457. robertjayb - 12/17/2008 8:16:11 PM
Ovarian cancer breakthrough reported***(HouChron)
Scientists have identified two proteins in patients with ovarian cancer that, when prevalent, dramatically increase their chance for survival.
Led by researchers at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the discovery marks a significant advance for an emerging area of basic science called RNA interference, which one day may transform medicine.
***back in the dark ages when I was studying newspapering I was warned about using the term breakthrough in such matters. Probably still good advice.
7458. robertjayb - 1/9/2009 4:33:01 PM
Whaddya know... another breakthrough (I hope)
Alzheimer's disease vaccine reported...
Dr. Debra Cherry is the executive vice president of the Alzheimer's Association.
"What this vaccine does is it enters the brain and it picks up the plaques and cleans them from the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease," says Dr. Cherry. "What we maybe able to do is stop the progression of the disease in those who are already effected, and perhaps if we find people early enough, prevent them from developing the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease."
7459. thoughtful - 1/9/2009 4:44:03 PM
Wow! if true this is significant!
7460. judithathome - 1/9/2009 5:49:16 PM
Great hope for all of us who are older, for sure!
7461. wabbit - 1/28/2009 5:12:54 PM
omg, talk about pigging out. Bacon Explosion is sweeping the nation, according to the NY Times. I would think the person wearing gloves would be better off letting the grease lube their skin rather than their belly, but that's me.
My brother is going to be making this soon, I'm sure.
7462. judithathome - 1/29/2009 8:16:14 AM
Heresy to go to all that trouble and then put it on canned biscuits!!
7463. Wombat - 1/29/2009 11:03:46 AM
A strip of bacon (cooked) is about 35 calories. Would you rather have a glass of fruit juice or four strips of bacon?
7464. wabbit - 1/29/2009 12:03:42 PM
I'm not much for counting calories, but my arteries clog just reading the recipe.
JaH, how about a nice loaf of French bread? I could see this being something that would go down easily at a July 4 cookout. Bacon Explosion, a slice of bread, an ear of corn and a bottle of Guinness.
7465. alistairconnor - 1/29/2009 12:07:55 PM
Jeez... I could do that!
Bacon explosion indeed. Obscenely, heretically gross. I want one.
7466. anomie - 1/29/2009 1:07:53 PM
Yeah, that bacon thing is pretty disgusting. Where can I get one? Ha!
7467. alistairconnor - 1/30/2009 6:04:54 AM
I think I really need to get a smoker.
But to justify that ethically, I would have to take up fishing.
7468. thoughtful - 1/30/2009 9:22:27 AM
This peanut butter recall is huge. Apparently there are like 3 makers of peanut butter and they sell the stuff in these gigantic drums that go into all sorts of products including some labeled "organic" and "natural"
Just take a look at all the products including brownies, cakes, cookies, crackers, candy, pet food, snack bars, ice cream and fruit and vegetable products. Un freakin believable!
Health pt. 3
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