Cardiovascular
Vioxx – Super Aspirin Not So Super
In 1673 J.B. Moliere wrote, " Nearly all men die of their medicines, not of their illness". And while imprisoned on the island of St. Helena Napoleon commented, "Take a dose of medicine once and in all probability you will be obliged to take an additional hundred afterward". So neither party would be surprised at the bombshell announcement that Vioxx, heralded as the "Super Aspirin" for arthritic pain, has been found to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, and removed from the market. It's the old story of "caveat empor", let the buyer beware. But think again if you naively believe Vioxx is the only problem. Remember that the new kid on the block is not necessarily a better...Read More
Cardiovascular
President Clinton And Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs
Former President Clinton has joined 400,000 Americans who required coronary bypass surgery in the last year. Clinton had high blood cholesterol and took cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs). But these drugs, along with superb medical care, neither prevented nor cured his disease. And nothing was said of the risk of taking CLDs? Today it's like attacking motherhood to question the value of CLDs. But there are scientists who believe it's a myth that cholesterol is the major risk factor for heart disease. They say there's blind addiction to these drugs and occasionally serious side effects. But with billions of dollars at stake studies questioning the benefits of CLD tend to be buried. A major study called Prosper showed you can exchange one devil for...Read More
Cardiovascular
The ‘”Sardine Syndrome” – Pul Embolism
I know how sardines feel when I'm crammed into an economy seat during an overseas flight. I'm also aware it can cause a lethal blood clot. So if my number is up and "The Sardine Syndrome" lands me at the Pearly Gate, should I blame my death on the airline which caused a deep vein thrombosis (DVT)? And how can you prevent DVT? Fifty-six people, some of them now dead, have taken legal action against airlines. The charge claims they failed to inform passengers, or their relatives, about the risk of DVT in flight. Flying, like many other things in life, carries a risk. For instance, it's reported that every month one death occurs at London's Heathrow airport due to DVT. These...Read More
Cardiovascular, Pediatrics
Grandchildren, The Long Visit Can Be Lethal
"Would you like to look after the grandchildren for us?" is an often heard request these days. Sometimes it's a request for a few hours of baby-sitting to allow parents a quiet evening on their own. But today with both parents working, caring for grandchildren can result in months or years of reliving earlier days. Some grandparents thrive on this routine. But a report in the American Journal of Public Health shows that caring for grandkids can trigger more than a headache. It can also cause increased risk of heart attack. Dr Sunmin Lee, of Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, studied 544,412 registered nurses ages 41 to 71 between 1992 and 1996 who cared for grandchildren at least nine hours...Read More
Cardiovascular
The Triple A Disease That Can Kill – Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
A healthy 60 year old man played two sets of tennis and later in the day developed low back pain. He surmised he had simply strained his back. But by evening he experienced severe abdominal pain, lost consciousness and was dead on arrival at the hospital. A 50 year old woman complained of chest pain after a heavy dinner and believed it was just heartburn. But when pain increased she paid a visit to the hospital emergency. Doctors there suspected coronary attack, but blood tests and an electrocardiogram were normal. Doctors then concluded that the pain was the result of severe indigestion and prescribed Pepcid and a painkiller. But as the patient was leaving the hospital she collapsed and became unconscious....Read More
Cardiovascular
Should You Fly Over That Big Gaping Hole? – Are Cholesterol Drugs Risky
A picture is often worth a thousand words. One recently caught my eye. The picture shows a small plane circling a huge active volcano. A passenger says, "Let's take a closer look at the volcanic crater". The pilot replies, "We can't, it's not worth the risk". And a recent report similarly questions whether the mass consumption of cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs) is worth the risk. Dr. Jim Wright is Director of The Therapeutic Initiative. It's a British Columbia organization that aids doctors in evaluating drugs. It concluded that cholesterol-lowering drugs may be doing more harm than good in the attempt o prevent heart attack. After studying five clinical trials of CLDs, Wright writes that they only decreased the risk of heart attack and...Read More
Cardiovascular, Genitourinary
Is Impotence An Alarm Bell For Heart Attack?
What caused the sudden heart attack? Ask anyone this question and many would accuse too much cholesterol, chronic stress, smoking, obesity or bad genetics. But what about the role of the male hormone testosterone in causing cardiovascular disease? Is erectile dysfunction (ED) an early warning sign of heart attack? And what can we learn about testosterone treatment from a London Harley Street specialist? Recently much has been written about the male menopause (Andropause). How decreasing amounts of testosterone in men contributes to the increasing number of impotent males. But it appears there's more to testosterone than sexual potency. To find out about this exciting aspect of testosterone I recently met with Dr. Peter Collins, Professor of Clinical Cardiology at the Imperial College...Read More
Cardiovascular, Nutrition
Joe Hudson, The Omega-3 Egg Man
Who is Joe Hudson? I hadn't heard of him either until I decided to do some grass routes research and visited Burnbrae Farms in Brockville, Ontario. Joe has been raising chickens for 40 years, and eight million chickens later he's the Number One producer of Omega-3 eggs in Canada. But what's so healthful and special about the super egg? For this city boy, it was quite a sight to see a single farm processing one million eggs a day. How chickens are tricked into thinking summer is winter by varying the intensity of light. But it's no trick that gets chickens to lay the egg-to-end-all-eggs. Dr. Steve Lesson and his colleagues at the University of Guelph first produced these enriched eggs by...Read More
Cardiovascular
A New Technique For Coronary Bypass Surgery
How would you like to stitch together two small vessels the size of a piece of spaghetti while riding a bucking bronco? And realize that if you failed the patient would die? This is a tedious task under the best of circumstances. That's why cardiovascular surgeons have shied away from performing coronary bypass operations on a beating heart. Now, a new technique is being used for some bypass cases without the heart skipping a beat. This year over 500,000 coronary artery bypass grafts (CABGs) will be performed in North America. The majority will be done by placing patients on a heart-lung machine during the operation. This allows surgeons to suture tiny vessels onto motionless hearts while the heart-lung machine pumps well...Read More
Cardiovascular
Eating Almonds To Lower Blood Cholesterol!
Would you like to lower blood cholesterol without having to use cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs)? In view of the millions of people taking this medication (I've been one of them) you may think this is a nutty suggestion. But if you were to be nuts about almond snacks every day, this would result in a significant drop in blood cholesterol. Dr. David Jenkins, director of clinical nutrition at St. Michael's hospital in Toronto, studied 27 men and women with high cholesterol for three months. During the first month each person was given a snack that consisted of a full dose of almonds averaging 74 grams a day (two handfuls of almonds). In the second month they received half the dose of almonds averaging...Read More
Cardiovascular, Philosophy
How About A Laugh This Week?
"Why do people instantly dislike to me when they find out I'm a lawyer?" a man asked. His friend replied, "It just saves time". Another story tells of the client who, on asking his lawyer what contingency fees meant, was told. "If I lose your law suit I don't get anything. If I win you don't get anything". Then there was the drunk in a cemetery who found himself in front of an impressive tomb. The inscription read, "here lies a lawyer and an honest man." My God" the drunk stammered. "Can you believe it? Now they're putting two men in the same grave". By this time you've probably decided I should stick to writing a medical column. Or you might have laughed...Read More
Cancer, Cardiovascular, Gynecology
Infection and The Nation’s Number one Killer
For centuries infection has been the number one killer. But several years ago it appeared that antibiotics and vaccines had largely eradicated this menace. Then unexpectedly the AIDS virus struck with a vengeance. Lately, to the surprise of everyone, scientists are now linking infection to, peptic ulcers, heart attack and cancer. So how can you protect yourself and your family from these problems? In 1984 an Australian physician, Barry Marshall, decided to prove that his theory was right. He drank a bacteria laced concoction to show that it was bacteria, not stress, that caused peptic ulcers. Subsequent studies confirmed that most ulcers are infected with a bacterium called H. pylori. But there's a problem. About half the people over 60 years of...Read More
Cardiovascular, Sex
Frequent Sex Good For The Heart
Thank God researchers finally have good news! No dire warnings about the dangers of cholesterol. No alarms bells that we're all headed for Alzheimer's Disease if we live too long. Rather, there's a pleasant way to decrease the risk of dying from the nation's number one killer, heart disease. The prescription, frequent sex. No longer can we say that Europeans pride themselves on active sex lives while the English just take their hot water bottles to bed. After all, this second research study on sex originated in Bristol, England. Shah Abraham, a professor of social medicine at the University of Bristol, is the author of this heartening news. He reports that men who have sexual intercourse at least twice a week...Read More
