Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition, Vitamins
Can Six Million Readers Help Answer This Question?
Several weeks ago I reported that autopsies of the brains of people diagnosed with dementia reveal damage to small arteries, which may cause tiny strokes and brain injury. Researchers also discovered that mice with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), when treated with vitamin C, showed that typical amyloid plaques associated with this disease disappeared! And since high doses of vitamin C can decrease the risk of heart attack by providing oxygenated blood, could it also prevent AD? So I asked readers “Do you know anyone who has used high doses of vitamin C (4,000 to 6,000 milligrams) for several years, then developed Alzheimer’s Disease?” MM replied, “I believe Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize winner, was right that low amounts of C cause tiny cracks...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Miscellaneous
Fidgeting, And Magic Underwear
“Stop tapping your pencil!” my teacher called out. I didn’t. And one day he walked to my desk, threw me to the front of the class, then tossed me out of the classroom. Now, a study at the University of Missouri, shows that fidgeting has health benefits! And have you heard of “magic underwear”? Being immobile is unhealthy. For instance, sitting too long on a plane can result in a blood clot in the leg that travels to the lungs causing death. So walking 10,000 steps a day is sound preventive medicine. But what can you do if you have a physical or work condition that makes this impossible? Jaume Padilla, Assistant Professor of Physiology at The University of Missouri, conducted a study...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Pain
“Dying, I Don’t Want To Be There When It Happens.”
Woody Allen, when asked for his opinion about death, replied, “I don’t worry about dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens!” Unfortunately, Allen will be there and so will the rest of us. This week, why I have a personal interest in the end of life. And what can we all do to provide the best of care to loved ones near death? Years ago I conducted a five year battle to legalize heroin to ease the agony of dying cancer patients. Readers, at that time, sent me funds to help with costs. Finally, when heroin was legalized in 1998, $450,000 was left in the kitty which I donated to the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine,...Read More
Miscellaneous
Thank You for Being Our Voice
Last week, I wrote that unless we use Singapore’s solution to hang drug pushers, we will never defeat the opioid epidemic in North America. This week, a strong response from readers. A police officer in a major Canadian city writes, “Thank you for the temerity to write this column. I wonder why we have a law that says a drug is illegal, yet the law supervises injection sites to consume illegal drugs!” He adds, “Unfortunately our law makers do not have the gonads to protect citizens against flagrant abuses. Thanks for your valued columns.” A reader of the Victoria Colonist says, “I too have been in Singapore. I recently talked with a medical student who was horrified I supported hanging drug dealers....Read More
Miscellaneous
What Did You Learn in 2016?
Mahatma Gandhi counselled, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”. One never stops learning. So let’s see from this quiz how much you learned this past year. 20 studies show that moderate drinkers live longer than teetotalers or alcoholics. North Americans with low levels of potassium are more likely to suffer a stroke due to a blood clot. UTI E Drops is an effective natural remedy to treat common E.coli urinary infections without the side-effects of antibiotics. Bypass surgery is more technically more difficult in women since they have smaller coronary arteries than men. Colonoscopy is superior to preventing colon cancer than checking the stool for blood. Medical care is the main cause of death in North...Read More
Cardiovascular, Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat, Miscellaneous, Surgery
A Miner Will Save Millions from Blindness
Would I, as a doctor, ever expect to meet a miner? As Mark Twain remarked, “A mine is a hole in the ground with a liar at the top”. Luckily, I accepted an invitation to do just that, and discovered there is something new under the sun. This week, how “DIAGNOS”, a Canadian company in Montreal, has developed what’s called “computer assisted retinal analysis (CARA)”. This computer software will save millions of people around the world from blindness due to Type 2 diabetes. So, did a miner become a retinal expert? The slogan of DIAGNOS is “Beat it in a blink”. Patients simply look into a camera and a photo is taken of their retina, the back part of...Read More
Miscellaneous
Readers Response to Insulin Pill Discovery
Recently in a column I confessed to buying the penny stock of Eastgate Biotech Corp. After writing about Type 2 diabetes for 50 years, I was interested to see what would happen to the company’s momentous discovery, an oral insulin pill, instead of injections, to treat diabetes. Eastgate needs10 million dollars for a final study to satisfy Health Canada. I believed Sir Frederick Banting, who discovered insulin at the University of Toronto in 1922, would roll over in his grave as the company struggled to find financing. So, how did readers respond? R.F. from Toronto says, “It’s tragic that this company has to seek funds from U.S. venture capitalists. Banting would wonder why the U of T which has spent hundreds...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Miscellaneous, Pain
How Can Hospitals and Doctors Be So Cruel?
Years ago I wrote that “The problems of the world are caused by supposedly intelligent people who are largely fools.” I haven’t changed my mind as I look at the problems surrounding the new law that allows Medical Aid in Dying (MAID). I will never understand how some hospitals and doctors can be so cruel to those who cry out for mercy. Recently, an 84 year old man, a patient in a Vancouver hospital, was afflicted with failing kidneys, heart disease and spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal causing pressure on sensitive cord tissue. Aware of his agonizing future, he asked his doctor to apply for MAID. But Catholic hospitals and some non-Catholic facilities do not allow doctors or...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
Losing Weight the Asinine Way
Has the medical world gone completely insane? A new medical device called “AspireAssist” to treat obesity has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. Its approval is being studied by Health Canada. The British Medical Journal agrees with my reaction when it reported, “AspireAssist surely marks the end of civilization as we know it”. This remark sounds ominous, but it’s not about a nuclear threat. Rather, about obese people who thoroughly chow down a meal, then half an hour later physically remove one third of it! Not by inserting a tube down their throat. Instead, by an endoscopic surgical procedure in which doctors insert a pencil-sized tube into the stomach. Following the meal a pump...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Nutrition
Are Hens An Endangered Species?
Headlines fool a lot of people. In March 1984 the cover of Time Magazine caught everyone’s attention. It read “Cholesterol, Now the Bad News”. It reported that cholesterol had been proven deadly and our diet should never be the same again. Researchers have since found little or no correlation between cholesterol in our food and our blood cholesterol. But since eggs contain more cholesterol than most other foods, hens have taken a brutal beating. So why have North American Egg Associations failed to defend hens more vigorously? And why have they ignored scientific facts about heart attack? At one point it looked like the hens were getting a welcome break. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has since ruled that it...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
Keeping Well While Cruising
I should hate being at sea. In 1952, during my first trip as a young ship’s surgeon, I sailed to Germany to bring persons displaced by the war to Canada. I did not know that during the voyage I would have to remove the Captain of his command, for medical reasons. Nor did I realize how many medical problems I would encounter with 800 very ill passengers. Still, I’ve always loved being at sea. Now I’ve just returned from a cardiology seminar aboard a cruise to Alaska. During it I pondered how to keep well while cruising. First, get rid of misconceptions. Some people decide not to cruise for fear of Norovirus infection. But such infections are rare...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Pain
How Readers Would Treat 42,000 Addicts
Eureka! Last week I reported it was impossible to write this column. I had asked readers to respond to how I believe 42,000 addicts on methadone should be treated. Then my computer developed terminal cancer and I thought all your responses had been lost. Fortunately, the “Geek Squad” resurrected them. From a Times Colonist reader, “Your suggestion that sending addicts to northern Canada to chop wood caught my eye. I was impressed by your research. The addicts I have known have no interest in getting off methadone and improving themselves. I say, enough of this nonsense. Why not have them chop wood? We all do some form of work to eat.” This reader then added, “I initially believed that the practice of...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
Doctor Assisted Death
It’s been aptly said that “Wars are too important to be left to Generals. I would add that assisted death is too important to be left to politicians and doctors. One of the first columns that I wrote 41 years ago was titled, “Why cab drivers are smarter than doctors”. I was convinced then that on social issues taxicab drivers had more common sense than many in the medical profession. Now, looking at the unadulterated mess surrounding assisted death, I realize I was right 41 years ago. Now I would add bartenders, plumbers and those that pick up our garbage. I also wrote years ago that the problems of society are caused by so-called intelligent people who are largely...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous
How To Cure 42,000 Addicts Quickly
How could this medical and social disaster ever be allowed to happen? If authorities had told me that Ontario, just one Canadian province, was treating 400 addicts in methadone clinics, I’d believe them. But, the actual number is 42,000. But how many of these addicts need methadone? And what is the solution for this madness? Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, is not an arm-chair commentator on addiction. Rather, he’s an internationally renowned expert, a British psychiatrist, and prison doctor who has treated thousands of addicts over years. In his book, “Romancing Opiates”, he writes that heroin is not as highly addictive as claimed, and withdrawal not as difficult as treating an alcoholic. He claims, “It’s a myth that treating the heroin...Read More
Miscellaneous, Pediatrics
Guarding Against a Devastating Telephone Call
What should parents fear most when raising children? You could compile a list as long as your arm. But, while travelling in the U.S, I happened to read a column written by Bruce Feiler in The New York Times. The greatest fear, he claimed, should be that fateful call that a child has been killed while driving a car. So how can parents decrease this risk? Feiler’s article reminded me of a night I’ll never forget. I was working on a column in upper state New York. It was high school graduation time. Following one ceremony a few parents and graduates decided to celebrate. One teenage girl, a new driver, offered to drive four other girls to the event. A short...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous
Reading History Could Save a Child’s Life
What is a parent’s greatest tragedy? It‘s the loss of a child. Recently parents in Alberta were charged with failing to provide their 19 month old boy with the necessities of life after he died due to meningitis. So how can parents avoid such a horrendous loss? And what can doctors learn from history about this lethal disease? A loving couple believed their child had croup or the flu and treated him for two weeks with natural remedies such as garlic, onions, horseradish and smoothies with hot peppers. But he finally stopped breathing and died after being rushed to the hospital. Fifty percent of cases of meningitis occur in those under five years...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
No Government Should Own Your Life
Mao Zedong, the Chinese revolutionary leader, was right when he remarked, “The power of government comes out of the barrel of a gun”. The recent Canadian law of Doctor Assisted Death guarantees that some people must still suffer before they have the right to die peacefully. Politicians have fired a merciless gun at helpless patients. And what does the Canadian Medical Association say about this inhumane decision? I agree we need a government and laws. So I agree to stop at a red light, not to rob a bank, not to kill my neighbor, not to sexually assault children, and with great reluctance even pay unfair taxes. But I will never agree politicians own my life. The government’s decision states that...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Miscellaneous
Did I Get My Medical License Back?
Several weeks ago I wrote that something happened that I thought would never happen. And what was the reaction of readers? At 92 years of age I had asked the Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to reinstate my medical license which I had reluctantly given up at the age of 87. Why? Because of a shameful and despicable medical event in Alberta. A resident of Alberta was dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease, totally paralyzed and close to choking to death in her own mucous. It’s a malady as close to hell as you can ever get. She had requested doctor assisted death and was granted by a judge the legal right to die if she had the...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
FOR SHAME
Something happened today that I thought would never happen! At 92 years of age I have asked the Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to reinstate my medical license which I reluctantly gave up at the age of 87. Why? Because of a shameful and despicable event in Alberta this week. Ms S, a resident of Calgary was dying of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Totally paralyzed and close to choking to death in her own mucus, she requested doctor assisted death. Justice Sheilah Martin of the Alberta court decided that, with the consent of two doctors and no psychiatric assessment, Ms. S was granted the right to proceed. Justice Martin has...Read More
Alcohol, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Women's Health
Readers’ Response to Drinking Mothers and Brain-Injured Childre
I recently reported that in the U.S. every year 40,000 children are born suffering with fetal alcoholic syndrome disease (FASD). In Canada there are 300,000 living with this problem. I asked, “Why doesn’t this human tragedy get as much attention as drunk driving?” And “Should some of the women involved be sterilized?” I’ve received a ton of responses. SR writes, “I believe the Mothers against Drunk Driving lobby gets more attention because the media provides many dollars of free air time.” R0 responds, “Dr, you are so-o-o-o-o right. Women who drink during pregnancy need to be sterilized. Full stop. Thank you and keep up the good work”. NB wrote, “Your column should be made mandatory in every bar, liquor/beer store,...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
Just Say “NO” or Just Say “Yes”
Nancy Reagan, wife of Ronald Reagan, former President of the United States, sent a direct, simple message to those who were tempted to take illegal drugs. Her advice was “Just say ‘NO’”. So what has this message to do with the ongoing controversy about assisted death in Canada and the United States? Quebec, a Roman Catholic province, has always been ahead of the rest of Canada in social change. Now it appears that it won’t be too long before Quebec will be the first province to allow assisted death. But for the rest of Canada, those opposed to it will use every legal measure to defeat this procedure. So is there any way that the two opposing forces, for and...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous
How to Reverse Pre-Disease
Samuel Johnson once remarked, “Nothing sharpens the wit so much as the knowledge you’re going to be hanged in the morning.” So if a doctor says, “Your blood sugar is borderline for diabetes” or “your bones are getting fragile”, he’s giving you a pre-disease warning. But does it ring the bell of trouble ahead unless you do something about it? Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, Professor of Medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, is also the author of “Less Medicine, More Health.” Welch says we should keep in mind that, “Virtually everyone, as they get older, develops some sort of pre-disease”. The outward appearance of wrinkles and graying hair are for all to see. But kidneys, hearts...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Pain
Does Justin Trudeau Wear Short or Long Pants?
Congratulations to Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Elect of Canada. He’s young, handsome, carries a famous name, demonstrated he has an ear for what the public is clamoring for, and now has the most vital weapon of all, power. But will he deny democracy to the majority of Canadians who elected him? Or ignore the will of the Supreme Court of Canada? Soon we will know whether Justin Trudeau wears knickers or long pants. Trudeau, in his victory speech, fired a salvo when he uttered the words Abraham Lincoln delivered on the eve of the U.S. Civil War. Lincoln worried that leaders needed to appeal to the “better angels of our nature”. But will Trudeau, on the contrary, use devilish political tactics...Read More
Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Pain
Cutting Back On Drugs Cured a Retired Minister
What’s the response that shocks me most during my many speaking tours? It’s the huge combination of drugs swallowed by many North Americans. Equally amazing, most people have no idea why they’re taking them. Over-medication is dangerous. It also results in staggering costs for the health care system. So can North Americans cut back on drugs? And what non-medication cured an ailing retired minister? The first question to ask your doctor is why you are taking so many drugs. This seems so logical it hardly needs mentioning. After all, these same people wouldn’t think twice about asking the car mechanic what was done to correct the noise in their car’s engine. So never accept a drug without asking why the...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Pain
Supreme Court Beheaded By Boneheaded Politicians
How can you learn to become a hypocrite? It’s easy. Take a course in Politics 101, then get elected to parliament. This will make it easy to postpone matters that demand instant attention. There’s no better example of hypocrisy than parliament’s move to delay implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision on Assisted Death until after the election. The Harper government has added insult to injury by stacking the consultation panel with those opposed to assisted death. It’s like putting the fox in charge of the hens, an inhumane despicable act for those crying out for help to end their suffering. In February, The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that assisted death should be an option for those grievously and irremediably ill, and...Read More
