Monday, June 29, 2009

Michael Jackson -- Death by Medicine, How to Avoid this?

Michael Jackson, dead at age 50. Probable Cause of death: medicine. Celebrities in the U.S. are killer drugs faster than their sometimes wild lifestyle. The list of great men are killed by medication only in the last year: Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith. Michael Jackson is the most recent celebrity to be killed by drugs.

Taking drugs can kill

Michael Jackson was the pain and possibly other benzodiazepine drugs. Both drugs produce physical and mental depression. Drugs produce adverse effects.

The right question to ask before he or she have any drugs for any situation is: "How much damage am I willing to live or die with the desired effects I'm looking for?" Remember that the impact on the upper edge of the former drug-action and creates a deteriorating condition, even if you do not immediately perceive.

Each individual will react differently to medications. There is no such thing as a drug, according to the laws of nature, like gravity or liability. Every drug, even over the counter medications such as aspirin or Tylenol, kill more people each year than the flu.

Who's Making A Killing the sale of drugs

Who benefits by the people, drugs and the effects of damage? The people and companies that produce, market, sell and make a living with drug sales.

Many people in the industry want to sell drugs to help others be healthier and happier. Few want people to suffer or experience loss. But why are people not better than drug effects, before they begin looking for them?

The doctors have told patients not taking drugs, when all the bad effects were well publicized. Therefore, doctors are not their Hippocratic oath. Part of that oath is to warn and full disclosure to patients on the effects of drug therapy.

Drug sales fueled by effective marketing popular for the general population and physicians, medical students and organizations such as the FDA and Health Canada on this side of the border.

Currently, pharmaceutical sales representative, the so-called "Drug Details", at the doctors and government leaders about the risks and benefits of drug therapy. Most drugs are details rented for their appearance, communication and seller of drugs.

Get the full disclosure of all drug offenses effects from your doctor or pharmacist

Where does this leave the consumer? A victim of drug or innocent spectators of the damage caused by ignorance. Doctors have a duty to their patients. Physicians should inform their patients fully informed of all medicines impacts suggest drug use.

Alternative Recommendation First, either by an integrative physician or alternative medicine doctor, you can prevent further suffering, your doctor ignorance.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

America's cancer capitals for men

The Mormons may be onto something. (No, not polygamy—that ended in 1890.) Salt Lake City is our pick for the most cancer-free zone in the nation. Credit the Mormons' no-smoking and no-drinking policy, plus the fact that the city is religious about outdoor sports. See, lung cancer causes nearly 30 percent of deaths from untamed tumors, and a report from the World Cancer Research Fund shows that lifestyle changes, such as limiting alcohol and exercising regularly, can help prevent a third of cancers.

First, we analyzed data on smoking, exercise, obesity, drinking, and fruit and vegetable consumption (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Then we factored in cities' UV indexes (Accuweather.com) and cancer incidence (National Cancer Institute). Last, we went to the CDC to see who's being tested for colon and breast cancer, plus how many people have fallen to the big C.

10 Least Cancerous Cities 10 Most Cancerous Cities
Salt Lake City Jacksonville, Fla.
Burlington, Vt. Philadelphia
Seattle Oklahoma City
Aurora, Colo. Las Vegas
Atlanta Indianapolis
Yonkers, N.Y. Columbus, Ohio
Oakland, Calif. Birmingham, Ala.
New York City Memphis, Tenn.
Fremont, Calif. Baltimore
Minneapolis St. Louis

Invest in Your Life

We already have a powerful weapon in the war against cancer: cash. No, money can't tame a prostate tumor, but it can help address the imbalance in federal funding for cancer research. In 2007, only 8 percent of funds in the National Cancer Institute's budget were spent on detection and diagnosis. While it's critical that scientists find a cure, we also need better ways to spot cancer in its earliest stages. Give to the Canary Foundation, a group that donates all proceeds to detection research.

Dye, Cancer!


Doctors can't defeat colon cancer if they can't find it. Enter chromoendoscopy, a procedure in which a person's colon walls are dyed before a colonoscopy. Harvard scientists found that this method revealed precancerous polyps in a third of people who'd been cleared after a regular screening. Ask your doctor about the test.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Why does my ear feel plugged?

Q: I have a plugged left ear problem. It usually starts about 4 p.m. and last about three to four hours. I cough, clear my throat, yawn, close my nostrils and blow-nothing seems to help.

A: It seems like you have had this problem for a while, so my first suggestion is to see a doctor and start the process that would lead to a diagnosis and proper treatment.

The diagnosis of almost any ear problem starts with a few basic questions. One of the most obvious is also one of the most important: have you lost any hearing? Sometimes people experience hearing loss as a plugged-up feeling, so some tests may be necessary to sort that issue out. Doctors then ask patients with ear complaints about Dizziness, pain, ringing in the ears, or fluid discharge. The answers help steer diagnostic testing and other detective work. Ear Dizziness, problems with the room-spinning kind that's the main feature of true vertigo, might merit investigation into whether someone has Meniere's disease, a rare condition caused by an imbalance of fluid in the inner ear. Ear pain is a good clue that the problem is a middle ear infection. Ear pain with a moist discharge is a common symptom of Swimmer's ear.

Other important questions: Are both ears affected or just one? Did the symptoms come on suddenly or gradually? Do they persist or come and go?

Your ear may feel plugged up simply because it is - with earwax. I can not explain the regular late-afternoon onset, but earwax blockage can wax and wane (forgive the pun!). They can get worse after a shower, for example, because the wax Soak up water. As Tempting as it might be, do not try to remove earwax yourself. Cotton swabs and pencil Erasers can break off in the ear canal, which is not the straight passageway that it appears to be from the outside but one that bends and Narrows. Let a doctor take a look.

Another possibility is that you have eustachian tube dysfunction. You can not see the eustachian (pronounced you-STAY-shun) tube. It's entirely inside your head, connecting the middle ear to the nasopharynx, the area at the very back of the nasal cavity near where it joins the throat. In adults, the eustachian tube is a little over to inch long and runs forward and downward from the middle ear to the nasopharynx. It's made of Cartilage and bone and is lined with a moist, mucous membrane.

Normally, the eustachian tube helps Equalize air pressure on either side of the eardrum by allowing air to flow in and out of the middle ear. If it gets blocked, then there's less pressure in the middle ear, which creates a little suction, so the eardrum gets pulled inward. This causes a full, plugged feeling in the ear and makes the eardrum thus less able to Vibrate, then hearing will seem a little off If the blockage is severe and last awhile, the low pressure in the middle ear can pull fluids out of the surrounding tissue and blood vessels, so the middle ear fills up with fluid.

A cold or allergies can cause the lining of the eustachian tube to swell shut. And in situations when the air pressure is changing rapidly, as it does when you're in an ascending or descending airplane, your eustachian tubes must function well to keep the air pressure on either side of the eardrums the same. When you blow out with your mouth closed and your nostrils squeezed shut to "pop" your ears, you're Forcing air up the eustachian tubes and bringing the air pressure back into equilibrium.

Some people have eustachian tubes that do not function very well, so they get the plugged-up ear sensational rather easily from a cold or during airplane travel or without any apparent precipitating event. This may be your problem.

Bad cases of eustachian tube dysfunction can be treated by inserting little plastic tubes into the eardrum to aerate the middle ear from the external ear canal, rather than depending on the eustachian tube to do the job.

If the plugged-up feeling is constant and is affecting only one ear, then a doctor needs to check the opening of the tube in the nasopharynx to make sure it is not blocked by a cancerous growth of some kind.

If the plugged-up feeling comes and goes, then what can you do? While there's no real proof that anti-histamines or decongestants help, I tell patients to feel free to try them if they wish.

- Jo Shapiro, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital