Lifestyle, Medicine
Act Like Animals To Save Your Kidneys
Who are the master chemists that control water balance in our bodies, keep the blood neither too acid nor alkaline, rid us of dangerous waste, filter every drop of blood in our bodies every 30 minutes and weigh a mere five ounces? They’re our kidneys. But millions of North Americans are so abusing this vital organ that their lives depend solely on renal dialysis. What lethal mistakes are they making? History provides much of the answer. Fifty years ago in Australia, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries, people developed a bad habit. They were using mixtures of Aspirin, codeine, phenacetin and caffeine, not only for pain relief, but also for their mood-altering qualities. In fact, at watch factories in Switzerland, workers were...Read More
Medicine
New Short Needle Removes Fear of Diabetes Injections
Why would a 200 pound, tough, football player suddenly turn pale and develop circulatory collapse from such a trivial event? I'll never forget this scene at the Montreal General Hospital many years ago. A football playing friend, whom I had known for years, was visiting Montreal and required a needle injection due to a serious infection. A few seconds after this event his huge, hulking frame suddenly collapsed and he was lying semi-conscious on the floor. The diagnosis was Belonephobia (Needle Phobia) and although it's a relatively rare condition many people have needle anxiety and find injections intimidating. This can have a profound effect on the treatment of those with diabetes. Today, 247 million people worldwide have diabetes. In North America, a...Read More
Medicine, Psychiatry
Fatigue – Is it the Prelude to Serious Disease?
Who isn't tired now and then? Ask any doctor and he will tell you not many people, as day after day patients complain of this common problem. But how often is the feeling of being tired associated with bona fide medical disease? A report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal helps to answer this question. So what should you know about the TATT syndrome? Dr. Henk de Vries and his colleagues in Holland studied 571 patients for two years who complained of fatigue, exhaustion or malaise. They report that 10 percent of patients consulting Dutch physicians complained of fatigue. Of this number 46.9 percent were given more than one diagnosis that could be associated with this complaint. The diseases were quite diverse,...Read More
Cardiovascular, Medicine
Rx For The Heart: Marry A Smart Woman
Thank God I married a smart woman. And one who majored in English. Commas, colons and semicolons are a puzzle to me. I'd still be, were it not for her, wondering whether to use "a" or "an", "affect" or "effect", "escapee" or "escaper". I'll die before I know the meaning of a compound noun. This column wouldn't have lasted one year if I'd married a not-so-literate wife. But, just as important, I might have died long ago from heart disease. A new study shows that marrying smart is good for the heart. Investigators from the Institute of Nutrition Research at the University of Oslo analyzed 20,000 married men over a 14 year period. The men, ages 35 to 56 years were...Read More
Medicine
Torture at @ 2:00 am
What's the worst torture of all? Ask Thomas Sydenham and he would quickly say "gout". Sydenham, often referred to as the English Hippocrates, died in 1698 of gout. To my knowledge, no one since that time, has better described the intense pain associated with this disease. He wrote, "The victim goes to bed and sleeps in good health. About 2:00 A.M. he is awakened by severe pain in the big toe. The pain becomes intense, violent, tearing and so exquisite the big toe cannot bear the weight of bedclothes or the jar of a person walking into the room. The night is passed in torture." Gout has often been referred to as the "blue-blooded disease". It's easy to see why since it's...Read More
Medicine
What I Learned From Sitting in a Bar? – Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Where do I get ideas for this column? It's usually from long hours of reading medical reports, talking to researchers, searching the net and various sources. It can be tedious and tiring. But this week I got lucky. I was having a drink at my favourite watering hole when a friend said to me, "You should write about a problem I know that kills people. It also makes them ill and they don't realize the cause of their poor health". He then told me some tragic stories. He said, "A child vomited and appeared to be having a seizure. No one knew why. In another case two women, swimming in a cluster of boats, suddenly lost consciousness and nearly drowned. Two...Read More
Medicine
Natural Ways To Treat Common Diseases
Years ago a speaker abruptly stopped his talk. He said, "I know you're bored with this topic and I'm bored, so let's quit and we'll all go out and have beer". This is how I felt writing this column and nearly tossed it in the basket several times. I know it's boring to tell you to exercise and lose pounds if you're overweight. Why bother to write about things you already know, so why don't we all go out and have a beer? Because so many people are taking pills when these two changes in lifestyle can help to prevent and treat several common problems. Today there's good reason to be concerned about the depressing economic news. However, at the moment,...Read More
Medicine
Dummy Pills, Guns and Doctors
Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime Prime Minister, remarked, "To almost every question there is an answer that is clear, concise, coherent and wrong"! For years we've been told that anti-depressant drugs were the be-all-and-end-all for depressed patients. Now, a recent report claims that placebos are just as effective for many patients. So should doctors use placebos (dummy pills)to trick patients? The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) helps to answer this dilemma. The opponents of placebo therapy say physicians should never resort to deception. They argue that placebos have no therapeutic value and should be consigned to the Dark Ages. After all, this is 2008 the age of scientific medicine. But how scientific have we been in the past? Henry Beecher, a former professor...Read More
Dermatology, Medicine
New Support Group For Psoriasis Patients
Sir William Osler, one of this country's greatest physicians, remarked that no doctor thoroughly understands a disease until he suffers from it. He could have added that this also applies to patients. The ones who find it hard to get information about their disease when doctor visits today are limited to 15 minutes or less. Now there's a way for patients with psoriasis to communicate with others who have this disease. It's a great way for patients to help each other. Psoriasis is a disease in which the patient's body literally shoots itself in the foot. What happens is the immune system that normally protects the body from disease, goes on a rampage and attacks the skin and other body organs....Read More
Medicine, Orthopedics
Prexige: A New Painkiller For Arthritis Pain
For three million Canadians, osteoarthritis can be a debilitating disease that can affect not only their ability to function in their day-to-day lives, but leaves many depressed and isolated. A few years ago a number of these drugs were removed from the market. But this has left many patients confused, frightened under-treated and living in pain. Some people had to give up their favourite sport, gardening, a daily walk, find it difficult to navigate the stairs or even open a bottle. The options available for these people just don't work, have intolerable side effects or pose more risk than benefit. During the last few years 34,000 patients around the world participated in a study to evaluate whether a new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug...Read More
Medicine
Where Was Oscar the Cat When I Needed Him?
"Why don't you go to lunch? I'll wait here until he dies," I suggested to the nurses. The patient was a 90 year old Baptist minister, and after days of futile treatment for cardiac problems, I was sure the end was imminent. At the time I was a young doctor at the Manoir Richelieu hotel in La Mal Baie, Quebec. But to my surprise several days later the minister left the hotel alive after I had decided to stop all medication! If only Oscar the cat had been present he could have told me we all could go to lunch! The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, not noted for publishing trivia, recently surprised doctors by publishing a photo of Oscar....Read More
Medicine
Rx- Suffer A Little Bit
Why would I want people to suffer pain when in the past I've criticized doctors for inadequate pain control? For years I've stressed it was inhuman allowing terminal cancer patients to die in agony. How some get insufficient amounts of painkillers. How others are denied medication for fear of addiction even though they have days or weeks to live. But suffering a little bit is the right prescription for million of other people. Today many North Americans take acetaminophen, better known as Tylenol, to ease a variety of pains. It's been known for years that too much Tylenol can cause liver failure and death. Now, a new study shows that even taking the recommended daily dose may cause liver problems. This...Read More
Medicine, Orthopedics
Helpless Without Epinephrine Kit – Anaphylaxis
Years ago Superman escaped from the explosion of the planet Krypton in the Superman movie. But few know that micro cinematography of an exploding human mast cell was used to depict the planet's end. Humans are not as lucky as Superman. Every year thousands of Canadians suffer anaphylactic reactions due to exploding mast cells and many die from the massive allergic eruption. Planning ahead can prevent this tragedy. This deadly reaction may result from the venom of a bee, yellow jacket, yellow hornet or wasp sting. Each year more North Americans die from insect bites than poisonous snakes. Others die from an antibiotic, or after eating shellfish, eggs, soy, or milk. All told 200 foods have been implicated in causing this...Read More
Medicine
Five Minute Wait Decreases Risk of Lead Poisoning
Civil wars and corruption helped to bring down the Roman Empire. But how much was due to mad emperors? Some authorities suspect that their brains had been so poisoned by lead that they could no longer govern wisely. Romans used cheap, easy to use lead pipes for their plumbing and wine processing. Some Romans even sprinkled lead on their food! Today lead still poses problems, but being patient when thirsty can decrease the risk. Lead is one of the deadliest of all pollutants. The good news is we've removed lead from gasoline, canned goods, paints and we no longer use lead pipes in our homes. But here's the bad news. If you're older than 45 you accumulated a lot of lead in...Read More
Medicine, Nutrition
How Much Water, Potassium and Salt Do We Need?
W.C. Fields the comedian joked, "No use for water, waters for flowing under bridges". Like Fields I've never enjoyed water unless it's with an occasional scotch. But for years authorities have said we must drink eight glasses of water daily to stay healthy. So who is right? And how much sodium and potassium do we need each day? The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine recently convened a meeting of distinguished scientists. They concluded it's a myth that we need eight glasses of water a day. Rather, all fluids must be included in calculating water intake. Fields, noted for his large, red nose would be ecstatic to hear this news. Another of his one-liners, "A woman drove me to drink and...Read More
Cardiovascular, Medicine
Why Diabetic Patients Need Aspirin
Why do diabetic patients die? Over 60 years ago, Joslin, the founder of the world famous Boston Diabetic Clinic, remarked, "With an excess of fat diabetes begins, and from an excess of fat diabetics die." Years ago diabetic patients died in coma due to a lack of insulin. Today, since the discovery of insulin, patients are dying from premature cardiovascular disease. Why does this happen and can Aspirin save many of these deaths? November is Diabetes Month in North America to promote awareness of this disease. And justly so. Every year I see diabetic patients making a potentially fatal mistake. They're usually prudent about maintaining normal blood sugar levels, but imprudent by not taking a daily Aspirin. Aspirin's job is the...Read More
Medicine
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) to Treat Chronic Conditions
What treatment would you choose, a leg amputation or increased amount of oxygen? Foolish question. But according to a recent report diabetes patients who develop diabetic leg ulcers are too often facing needless amputation because of a failure to use hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Today an epidemic of obesity in North America has triggered an epidemic of diabetes. And a major complication of diabetes is gangrene of the legs. I'll never forget seeing Ella Fitzgerald, the famous singer, being led on stage after losing her sight to this disease. Later, diabetes cost her both legs. For diabetes patients foot problems are the number one cause of hospital admissions. It's estimated that 25 percent of diabetes patients develop foot problems and one in...Read More
Medicine
Amevive – A New Biologics Drug to Treat Psoriasis
It's been a long time coming. But finally there's a new revolutionary treatment to ease the suffering of those afflicted with psoriasis. This infuriating skin disease plagues one million Canadians and treatment has never been easy. But recently at the annual meeting of the Canadian Dermatology Association, doctors reported that a new drug Amevive would help subdue this physically and emotionally taxing disease. What causes psoriasis has been debated for years. In normal skin it takes 30 days for the deepest layer of skin cells to reach the surface where they are eventually cast off. But for patients with psoriasis these cells reach the surface in a mere seven days. This accelerated growth results in the typical raised, thickened, circular, red plaques...Read More
Medicine
A New Treatment For Difficult Rheumatoid Arthritis
For people free of pain it's hard to envision the problems suffered by those who have severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Those with joints so swollen and tender they're unable to do simple things like buttoning up a shirt, unable to walk down stairs unless they do so backwards holding railings with both hands. The psychological trauma when the condition gets steadily worse is also crippling. Now, a new drug, Humira, is restoring these patients to a normal life. Many famous people have suffered from RA. Pierre-Auguste Renoir the famous 19th century painter developed RA in mid life. His hands became so crippled that his paint brush had to be wedged between his fingers. But he kept his sense of humour. He...Read More
Medicine
Psoriasis – Osler Advised Sending them to Egypt
Sir William Osler, was not only one of Canada's most famous physicians, but also realistic enough to know when even he could not help patients. On one occasion a colleague questioned him on how to treat patients suffering from emphysema. He quickly replied, "Send them to Egypt." His startled colleague questioned, "For the arid climate and low altitude?" "No" Osler smiled, "Egypt is just the farthest place I can think of to send them". Today, psoriasis is a similar disease in that it also frustrates doctors and patients alike. Much confusion also surrounds this infuriating disease. Some people believe that psoriasis merely affects a few areas on the scalp or skin and look on psoriasis is as a minor problem like dandruff....Read More
Medicine
You Have One Chance In Four Of Having (non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
I'd bet a thousand to one that 99.9 per cent of readers have never heard of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Yet a recent report from Johns Hopkins University claims that 25 per cent of North Americans suffer from this disorder. What is it and how can it be prevented and treated? Today you would have to be living on Mars not to know that obesity is often related to heart disease and diabetes. Now excessive pounds are also causing liver disease. We all tend to forget that whether we're dealing with war, love or medicine one problem often leads to a greater one. In 1640 George Herbert hit the nail on the head when he wrote, "For want of a nail...Read More
Medicine
New Help For Diabetic Patients But What About Bears?
"My god", I thought, "why are we doing this to bears?" For the human population the statistics of diabetes are staggering and they will eventually destroy our health care system. Every 45 seconds a new diabetic is diagnosed in North America. But it's only those who have to take insulin day after day who know the magnitude of this disease. Now a unique device is available that won't cure diabetes, but it will make life easier and safer for patients. Unfortunately, it won't help bears. A recent report in the Journal of Zoology states that black bears are becoming obese. Like humans they've developed slothful habits. Jon Beckman, a bear expert, says urban bears are one-third less active and 30 per cent heavier...Read More
Medicine
How Hypoglycemia Can End a Tennis Game
Moments before meeting a friend for a tennis game, all hell suddenly broke out. Firemen began arriving at my friend's home, and police sirens were getting closer and closer. To my dismay they were racing to my friend's side. A sad way to put an abrupt end to our game. I arrived to find my friend pale, perspiring and incoherent. The police and firemen questioned whether he had suffered a heart attack. I suspected another possibility, but it wasn't due to any diagnostic brilliance on my part. I had the advantage of knowing that my friend had type 2 diabetes. Like many others with this disease he was experiencing a severe attack of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Low blood sugar can result...Read More
Medicine
How Chickens Decrease the Risk of Macular Degeneration
Today seven million North Americans suffer from a devastating disease, macular degeneration. No longer can they enjoy the simple pleasures of reading or watching TV. These unfortunate people have lost their central vision. And although there's no cure for macular degeneration there are ways to reduce the risk of developing this disabling problem. The retina acts like the film of a camera conveying images to the brain. The big picture is sent by detectors present throughout the retina. The small picture, central vision, is sent by the macula. It's situated directly behind the lens, about the size of this "o". Stare someone in the eye at a distance of 20 feet and your looking at the macula. All the rest is peripheral...Read More
Medicine
Do Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Cause Heart Failure? – Coenzyme Q10
What is causing the epidemic of heart failure in North America? The usual answer is an aging population. Old hearts eventually get tired and stop beating. But at a meeting in London, England, several researchers suggested a surprising new reason for heart failure, cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs). Ironically, the very medication prescribed to prevent heart disease may in fact be causing it! And 12 million Japanese may have the answer to this dilemma, coenzyme Q10 (Co-Q10). There's no doubt that high blood cholesterol is a proven risk factor for heart disease. It's also known that CLDs such as Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Mevacor and others are effective in lowering cholesterol. But, as always, there's a price to pay for medication. CLDs work by inhibiting...Read More
