Neurology, Psychiatry
Another Pandemic We Don’t Understand
There are a lot of things we know about pandemics. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic is the result of widespread viral infection caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Last week, this column lamented the lifestyle-caused diseases of obesity and Type 2 diabetes and lamented the lack of concerted societal action on the pandemic proportions of these stealthy but determined killers. But there is yet another pandemic, the still-too-frequently hushed-up problem of poor mental health, sometimes resulting in its most devastating form, suicide. The fact is, for more than 100 years, there has been little progress in understanding the factors that result in a state of dismal mental health – the state that must be the precursor to suicide. Medicine has...Read More
Neurology
Stress Won’t Kill You, But Your Reaction To It Might
“Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing,” wrote one of the world’s foremost philosophers, Winnie-the-Pooh, “of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” Doing nothing is exactly what a lot of us are facing for an extended period of time. But “not bothering” is probably not how most of us are feeling. We’re worried about our families, our next meals, our jobs, the bills, the economy. For some, self-isolation, quarantine, or lockdown is a risk factor for domestic abuse. Many people are trapped in truly precarious situations, far away from home or from needed medication. Others are just alone, and it feels like solitary confinement with no prospect of human interaction for weeks to...Read More
Cardiovascular, Cholesterol, Neurology, Vitamins
The Perfect Omega-3
It’s been aptly said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that ain’t so.” For instance, most North Americans believe that when they eat fish twice weekly as recommended, or take omega-3 fish-oil supplements, that they have sufficient omega-3 essential fatty acids. But a Canadian study using the Omega-3 Index shows that ain’t so. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) including omega-3 are needed for growth, healthy cellular membranes, many reactions in the body, and are crucial for brain, mood, joint, and cardiovascular health. So EFAs have been called, “nutritional missing links”. Two of these essential acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) are key to the reduction of cellular inflammation and they...Read More
Neurology, Pain
Magnesium: A Natural Remedy to Treat Migraine
Migraine attacks have plagued humankind for centuries and they are still a major cause of disability worldwide. During a recent reunion at the Harvard Medical School, a professor told me of an interesting study. He said that Dr. Stephanie W. Goldberg, a neurologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, has reported that magnesium can be helpful in treating these debilitating headaches. Migraine attacks are not your typical headache. Rather, they’re associated with an intense throbbing pain, usually on one side of the head, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and an increased sensitivity to light and sound. Patients may also complain of visual disturbances, such as flashes of light, zigzag lines or stars. It’s not surprising that Statistics Canada finds 63% of those with...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Neurology
Coffee Boosts Protection Against Alzheimer’s Disease
I receive a lot of questionable mail. One says I can invest one thousand dollars and make an easy million. Another, that a simple lifestyle change will cure anything that ails me. Still another arrives that I initially believe is rubbish until I read on. It’s a report from The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. It states that researchers from the University of South Florida claim that coffee could decrease the risk of this mind-robbing disease. But is this possible? Or just another hoax? Previous studies in humans have suggested that daily coffee intake during middle and older years has decreased the risk of this frightening disease. They credit caffeine with lowering the production of beta amyloid, a protein that has been...Read More
Neurology
Alzheimer’s Disease: Is Sugar the Culprit?
Ask anyone what causes a heart attack and most will say it’s high blood cholesterol, too much dietary fat, excessive stress, obesity or a lack of exercise. But how many would answer, it’s sugar? And how many would reply excessive amounts of sugar are also responsible for Alzheimer’s disease (AD)? Dr John Yudkin, former professor of Nutrition at London University, made headlines years ago when his book, “Pure White and Deadly”, was published. He claimed that sugar, not fat, was causing the increase in heart disease. Yudkin showed that as sugar consumption increased in several countries so did the increase in heart disease. The sugar industry was not amused and made life difficult for Yudkin. Since then other studies have linked an...Read More
Neurology, Pain, Psychiatry
Why Did Anthony Bourdain Commit Suicide?
Albert Camus, the French humanist, wrote, “There is only one true philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” Pliny the Elder had said earlier, “Admit the miseries of our life on earth, suicide is God’s best gift to man.” But what prompted Anthony Bourdain of TV’s “Parts Unknown” to hang himself? And could medical care have prevented it? Suicide rates are rising in North America. For instance, among girls 10 to 19 the suicide rate has increased a shocking 70 percent. It’s easy to understand how elderly people, dying of metastatic cancer, who are in severe pain, decide to call it a day. Or, those who have lost a loving...Read More
Cancer, Cardiovascular, Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Neurology, Pain, Vitamins
What Did You Learn From Me in 2017?
I hope my columns during 2017 have helped readers live longer and healthier. So which of the following are true or false? There’s evidence that regular activity lowers the risk of dementia. Also a suggestion that high daily doses of vitamin C can decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at The Harvard Medical School report the magical ingredient in fish to decrease the risk of heart disease is omega-3 fatty acids, which like Aspirin, add oil to the blood making it less likely to clot. The survival rate of cancer of the prostate has little to do with the type of treatment. Rather, it’s related to the biological nature of the malignancy. Some cancers are pussy cats, others raging...Read More
Neurology
A Recipe for Alzheimer’s Disease
What causes Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)? I recently read an article written by Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. I know from my years at Harvard that MIT does not employ dummies. So it’s worthwhile reading her “Recipe for Developing AD.” # Danger One: Be skeptical about current drug therapy. Seneff says the general belief is that amyloid plaques in the brain are associated with AD. But although drugs can decrease the size of plaques, they also accelerate the rate of mental decline! So prevention is currently the only way to treat this dreaded disease. # Danger Two: Seneff reports, “Together with colleagues I published a paper this year on a theory...Read More
Medicine, Neurology, Vitamins
Concussion: What Surprised Me about Its Treatment
How should hockey star Sidney Crosby, or my own child, be treated if he suffered a brain concussion? To answer this question I interviewed Dr. Andrew Saul, Editor-in-Chief of the Orthomolecular Medical News Service, and a world authority on nutrition. Dr. Saul confirmed what I suspected, that bruised brains are not receiving the treatment they desperately need. Newton’s Law states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Unfortunately, our Maker didn’t use screws to anchor the human brain inside its skull. So, without this protection, sudden blows to the head toss the brain against a formidable hard skull, causing various degrees of injury. But there’s a problem. It’s easy to diagnose a fractured arm, but impossible to know the...Read More
Neurology
Suffer From Headaches, Blurred Vision and Tingling In Ear?
A friend recently asked, “Giff, what’s happened? You’ve lost weight!” He was wrong, as my weight has remained the same for years. But this is not the first time this has happened. It’s because I’ve never liked dress shirts with tight collars. Loose collars exposing the neck convey the impression of weight loss. But surprise! They also help to protect wearers from glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness in North America. While a student at the Harvard Medical School, I heard this story. A 55 year old businessman complained of headaches, blurred vision and a tingling sensation in the right ear. Harvard professors were not able to make a diagnosis. So he consulted doctors at The Mayo Clinic and famous...Read More
Neurology, Vitamins
Can Six Million Readers Answer This Question?
This week, would readers help me answer a perplexing question? Their answers could be helpful to millions of people. I’m sure that very few in Canada and the U.S. have not witnessed a friend or loved one develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD). First, some of the facts about this crippling malady. Then I’d appreciate my readers’ response. Fact # 1- Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center in Oakland, California, and the University of Kuopio in Finland, followed the health of 10,000 people for 40 years. They found that high blood cholesterol was associated with a 66 percent higher risk of AD. And even those with borderline levels of cholesterol, were 52 percent more likely to develop AD. Fact # 2 – The brains...Read More
Lifestyle, Neurology, Vitamins
Strokes; Not Just For the Elderly
How could it happen to Kris Letang, the Pittsburgh Penguin hockey player? He was young, in excellent physical condition, yet a victim of stroke. Today, stroke is not just a senior problem. So, why don’t learned professors know why this is happening? Professor Valery Feigin is Director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences at Auckland University, in New Zealand. He reports in the journal, The Lancet, that every year over 80,000 children and youth are affected by this sudden medical crisis. Strokes affect 50,000 people a year in Canada and of this number up to 10 percent occur in those under 45 years of age. In the U.S., strokes affect 800,000 people causing one in every 20 deaths. Worldwide...Read More
Neurology, Pain
Why I’ve Never Forgotten a Japanese Girl
58 years ago I made an unfortunate decision. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong Japanese girl. But the problem was not what you’re thinking! Rather, I was in Tokyo, travelling with my wife and her parents. My father-in-law and I decided to experience a Japanese massage at the Imperial Hotel. During the event a petite masseuse suddenly struck the side of my head with a hard blow. I swear to High Heaven I did not pinch her, and will never know why she acted this way. The following day I developed symptoms of injury to the ulnar nerve in my arm, and later neck pain. In recent years the neck pain has increased and...Read More
Neurology, Sports
What You Should Know about a Hit on the Head
Who doesn't remember Sidney Crosby's head concussion that kept him out of hockey for months? But how many know about the hazards of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI)? A report from Johns Hopkins University says it doesn't always take a hockey blow to trigger a brain concussion. The skull normally provides protection against brain injury. But there's a limit to this protection and at times just a bump or a jolt to the head can cause severe damage to brain nerve cells, called neurons. TBIs can be mild, moderate or severe depending on the degree of injury. It's estimated that 1.7 million occur each year in the U.S. and 75 percent are mild concussions. But there's a disturbing trend. The number of cases...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Neurology
Using the Marshmallow Test to Predict Jail Time
When was the last time you said, "Let's roast some marshmallows"? Since I'm not sweet sixteen it was a lot of moons ago for me. Now, a report from Stanford University shows marshmallows are good for more than enjoying them around a fire. It seems how you handle a marshmallow can tell how you handle other things later in life. In fact, it may even decide if you end up in jail. Walter Mischel, professor of Psychology at Stanford University, carried out a number of interesting experiments on marshmallows. He tested 653 young children four years of age who all loved marshmallows. The four year olds were placed one at a time in a single room containing only a desk and chair....Read More
Neurology
A Sick Brain and a Great Naval Disaster
It was June 27, 1942, during World War II and Russia was in desperate need of tanks, planes, ammunition, food and other war necessities. The Soviet army was involved in a fearsome battle against Hitler's panzer divisions that were advancing deeper and deeper into Russian territory and winning on all fronts. It appeared that without supplies the future course of World War II in the east was in doubt. And no one knew that a dreadful naval decision was about to be made to further the conquests of Nazi Germany. To aid the Russian army, allied commanders decided to assemble a huge convoy of British and American ships with the final destination, Archangel, in northern Russia. It was a perilous journey...Read More
Neurology
Brain Concussion; Like having Your Bell Rung
Do you know how much trauma the human brain sustains in contact sports? Unless you’re a concussion specialist, few parents, coaches, athletes or even doctors have much knowledge about the extent of this injury. Concussion is like sugar and salt. Few people are aware of the amount they’re receiving, and all three can be lethal. Recently, 28 million people watched as the Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Stewart Bradley collapsed on the field. Players frantically called for medical help. To everyone’s surprise Bradley, after a mere four minutes, was back in the game. At half-time, doctors diagnosed his condition as concussion. Later, critics asked why Bradley was not immediately removed from the game. The lame excuse was that a sideline examination showed...Read More
Neurology, Philosophy
What if I Get Alzheimer’s Disease?
Is it possible to suffer a worse tragedy? Lately I've had first-hand experience witnessing a friend struck by Alzheimer's Disease. A frightful malady, it's progress is as sure as night follows day. My friend has entered a mental state where he no longer knows me. Day after day he stares at blank walls, is incontinent of urine and feces. Since there's no cure for this disease, which has been labelled the "Grey Tsunami", it has huge implications for both families and our healt0h care system. Getting older is, of course, dangerous. Every 70 seconds a new case of Alzheimer's Disease is diagnosed in North America. T0his means that one in 11 seniors will develop this disease. Currently 5.3 Americans and 500,000...Read More
Neurology
What You Should Know About TBIs
What would I worry about if my children were playing hockey and football? In two words, brain injury. Earlier, this year actress Natasha Richardson fell and struck her head while skiing on a beginners slope at Mont Tremblant in Quebec. She walked away apparently without injury. But what shocked the world was the headline news 24 hours later. She had died following this accident. What had happened? Our brains arn't firmly attached by screws inside the head. So a sudden hit to the head throws the brain against the skull. But Richardson's death shows that, if we have an unlucky day, this impact may cause rupture of blood vessels that surround the brain. When bleeding begins, continues and is not diagnosed,...Read More
Neurology
Vitamin C and Alzheimer’s Disease
What causes Alzheimer's Disease? No one knows the answer. But a recent report in the journal, Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, claims there is an important link between heart disease and Alzheimer's Disease. The link is atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries). What amazes me is that since it's been shown that vitamin C can reverse atherosclerosis in coronary arteries, why isn't any one advocating its use in trying to prevent Alzheimer's Disease? Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center in Oakland, California, and the University of Kuopio in Finland, tracked 10,000 people for 40 years. They found that high blood cholesterol was associated with a 66 percent higher risk of Alzheimer's Disease. More worrying was that those with borderline levels of blood cholesterol...Read More
Neurology
When Is It Critical To Ask “Stick Out Your Tongue?”
Why did a 28 year friend of mine survive a stroke while stroke destines another to spend the rest of life disabled? The reason is that some people are "stroke smart". They know that speed often means the difference between walking again, or being confined to a wheelchair. And it's easy to be "stroke smart". You only need to remember the first three letters of stroke, STR. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in Canada and the U.S. But it's the # one cause of adult disability. Dying is not a good thing, but being severely disabled from stroke may be a worse fate. Unfortunately, only three percent of stroke victims are treated within the first crucial three hours...Read More
Neurology, Pain, Surgery
How The Horse’s Tail Can Paralyze You – Cauda Equina Syndrome
Why call 911 when it's the same old pain? After all, John X had suffered from occasional bouts of back pain for years and usually the discomfort subsided within a few days. However, two or three times he had been totally disabled from severe bouts of sciatica, requiring bed rest for several weeks. But, with the use of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs the severe pain that radiated down his leg gradually went away. One afternoon, after a sneeze, pain struck with a vengeance. This time the usual medication failed to numb the agony, but he refused to seek help. Three days later when he was unable to urinate, or have a bowel movement, his family finally called 911 and he was...Read More
Diabetes, Endocrine, Neurology
The Twin Epidemics – Diabetes & Alzheimer’s Disease
I experienced a terrible tragedy upon visiting an old friend. He failed to recognize me. All the past history of our years together vanished into the night. And as I drove home the question recurred; what had caused this mental disaster. Could he be victim to what's been called the "Twin Epidemic"? Had his long-standing diabetes played a factor in this condition? Marilyn Albert, an expert on Alzheimer's Disease at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says that "when it comes to keeping the brain healthy adding extra pounds may be a double-edged sword. That it's not only a risk factor for developing Type 2 diabetes, but also a trigger for Alzheimer's Disease." Dr Zoe Arvanitakis, a neurologist at Rush University Medical...Read More
Neurology
Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Caused Memory Loss in Astronaut
What had happened to Dr. Duane Graveline former astronaut, medical researcher and aerospace scientist? His wife found him walking aimlessly about their property. When she spoke to him he didn't recognize her. He was rushed to a neurologist and six hours later his senses returned. The diagnosis? Global transient amnesia (GLA). His only medication, Lipitor? But doctors refused to believe this cholesterol-lowering drug (CLD) was the cause of this incident. A year later Dr. Graveline was urged to retry half the dose of Lipitor. Six weeks later his entire life was eradicated from memory. He had no recall of his children, medical school, years as a flight surgeon or his time as an astronaut. This black pit of amnesia lasted 12...Read More
