Sex
Darling, A Prostitute Saved My Life
What a way to leave this planet! A recent report reveals that an elderly pensioner, having taken an erectile dysfunction drug (ED), died in a brothel in Lugano, Switzerland, after a night with a prostitute. This is great promotion for the makers of ED drugs. But not so good if their effectiveness puts your name in the obituary column! And the owner of a sex club remarked, "Having customers die on us isn't exactly good publicity." The answer was obvious. Lugano's 38 sex clubs and brothels will now install cardiac defibrillators. Defibrillators work by delivering a controlled electric shock to restore the normal heart beat. In this case the shock won't be delivered by paramedics, but by a "Lady of the Night."...Read More
Philosophy
Reader Response to Sterilization Of Mothers Who Have FAS Children
I recently posed this question, "Should women who repeatedly deliver fetal alcoholic syndrome (FAS) brain damaged babies be sterilized.? I received a ton of e-mails and readers requested a follow-up column. From Lethbridge, "What a tough topic to tackle. While human rights are important law makers have gone to the extreme allowing this injustice to continue. Thanks for raising awareness and brave enough to tell it like it is." ED in Sault Ste Marie says, "Totally agree, but it will be tough to legislate. Trudeau was only half right when he drafted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He should have added Responsibility." From Windsor, "It's hard to read your abusive column. Last year the Canadian Psychiatric Association had a campaign targeting the...Read More
Genitourinary, Philosophy, Women's Health
Should Women Who Deliver Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) Children Be Sterilized?
Destroying yourself with alcohol is one thing. Destroying an innocent fetus by excessive use of alcohol is maternal madness. Yet every year alcohol-riddled babies are born in this country suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS is the leading cause of mental retardation and birth defects in North America. In 1976 the Journal of the American Medical Association reported a study of 41 infants born with FAS, having both physical and mental defects. Since that time studies show that nine in every 1,000 babies born in this country have some form of FAS. One in three will have the severe form with wide-set eyes, thin upper lips, low birth weight and small head circumference. We now know that FAS occurs in about...Read More
Orthopedics
Natural Ways To Prevent And Treat Bone Loss
A reader asks, "Is it necessary to take drugs to prevent broken bones, or are there natural ways to treat this problem? Studies show I have osteopenia and I'm afraid this will lead to osteoporosis (brittle bones)" Today, with doctors ordering more tests to determine bone mineral density (BMD), it's prudent to know what it means when a doctor says, "You have osteopenia." One wise sage remarked, 'Getting older is invariably fatal". But one could also add that, getting older is invariably associated with wrinkles, fatigue, varicose veins, having difficulty reading fine print and osteopenia Some bone loss is as sure as night follows day as we age, much like getting gray hair. So there's no need to go into a major...Read More
Gynecology, Women's Health
The Doctors Didn’t Even Examine Me
"Time To End Pelvic Examinations Done Without Consent", was a recent headline in one of Canada's national newspapers. But there should be another headline, "Why Are So Many Tests Being Done Without An Examination?" Dr. Sara Wainberg reports in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that pelvic examinations being done by students without a patient's permission. They were performed after patients were anesthetized prior to hysterectomy or other pelvic procedures. This gynecological learning process has been utilized for years in teaching hospitals without newspaper headlines. The criticism is that the procedure is done without informed consent. This is a valid ethical complaint and is easily corrected by obtaining a patient's consent. But this teaching technique, to my knowledge, has never resulted in...Read More
Cardiovascular
Cardiologists Say This Research is “Hog Wash” – Vitamin C
What are the pleasures and frustrations of writing a medical column? The best reward is the response from readers whose health has been helped by a column. The greatest frustration is when a new medical topic triggers a negative response from doctors. But who provide no scientific explanation for their opinion. Several weeks ago I presented evidence that vitamin C in large doses, along with amino acids, could prevent heart attack. The response from one of the leading cardiologists in this country, "It's hog wash". And not one cardiologist has urged that a study be done to prove this theory right or wrong. The Canadian Medical Association Journal, having published previously my opinion on controversial matters, refused to publish this article. Their...Read More
Cardiovascular
CRP Predicts Heart Disease Better Than Cholesterol
How much trust would you put in a test when it's results are 50 percent wrong? It would do little to ease the psyche. Yet for years millions of people have shown blind faith in the cholesterol blood test as the prime predictor of heart disease. This year another one-and-a-half million North Americans will experience the crushing chest pain of coronary attack. But half of these patients will show normal blood cholesterol levels. Now a study from The Harvard Medical School may make another blood test a household word. Dr. Paul Ridker has followed the fate of 28,000 women for eight years. He found that women with high levels of C- Reactive Protein (CRP) were twice as likely to have a...Read More
Infection
They Said I Was Dreaming
"I'm sure something is flying around my room" I complained to my parents one night many years ago. But when bedroom nights went on, neither I nor my parents could find any flying monster. They told me I had been dreaming and to go back to sleep. Two nights later, my Mother switched on a lamp in the living room and screamed as a bat flew out of it. I felt vindicated. But now the task was to catch the bat, and it was not easy. How many people have the questionable privilege of sleeping with a bat? Dr's Bryna Warshawsky and Shalini Desai report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that such encounters occur to about 10 per 10,000 people each...Read More
Cardiovascular
Excess Salt: It’s Like a Commuter Jet Crashing Every Day
Suppose you were given this choice, early death from heart attack or stroke or decreasing the amount of salt in your diet. It would be an easy decision for most people. But decreasing the amount of salt is easier said than done. Today, most packaged foods are loaded with salt. This situation won't change as long as companies believe consumers are dumb bunnies and can't read labels. Why do North Americans consume so much salt? Food manufacturers recently told a government committee the public is to blame. They claim we crave salt and won't compromise on taste by accepting lesser amounts. But this is nonsense. In 2004 The English Standards Agency launched a major health campaign, called "Know Your Numbers". It was...Read More
Miscellaneous
Sorry Uncle Sam, I Refuse To Be Ionized
"Don't even think of agreeing to it", I recently said to a friend who is a frequent flyer to the U.S. I was referring to the recent announcement that Canadians travelling to the our friendly neighbour will be subjected to full body scans. It's the latest attempt to ensure aviation safety, but how safe is this ionizing procedure to the passenger? 30 years ago I reported in this column a shocking discovery. Some X-ray machines were exposing patients up to 60 X the amount of radiation needed for some procedures. X-ray equipment was often old, rarely calculated for radiation exposure, and some technologists were incompetent. The column resulted in a big crackdown by government health authorities. Now Transport Canada reports that over...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
Psychiatry
Suppose I Get Alzheimer’s Disease?
Is it possible to have a worse tragedy? Lately I've had first-hand experience of witnessing a friend struck by Alzheimer's Disease, a frightful malady. Just as sure as night follows day he has entered a mental state he no longer knows me. Day after day he stares at blank walls and is incontinence of urine and feces. Since there's no cure, this disease has huge implications for both families and our health care system. The statistics are staggering. The average 65 year old person is expected to live to 85 years of age or older. So it won't be long before the baby boomers enter what's been called the "Grey Tsunami". Statistics Canada reports there were 3.9 million seniors in 2001...Read More
Psychiatry
Buy A Cat To Treat Winter Blues
What happens when days get shorter, colder and summer holidays are over? Some people go into a slump, the "winter blues". But 11 million North Americans develop a severe nosedive called "seasonal affective disorder" (SAD). So if you've started to feel tired, don't want to get out of bed, or even see friends, here's Rx 101 to shake SAD? Dr. June Nicholas, a psychologist at Haywards Heath in England, carried out a five year study during each January and February to evaluate whether cats have a soothing effect on physical and mental health. Dr. Nicholas reported that cat lovers were less likely to get that down-in-the-dumps feeling than those who didn't have "Whiskers" sitting on their lap. Cat owners had 60 percent...Read More
Cardiovascular
Vitamin C Fights Heart Attack
Several years ago I interviewed Linus Pauling, two-time Noble Prize winner. He told me there was one major difference between humans and animals. Humans, in the process of evolution, had developed a genetic defect and lost the enzyme 1-gulonolactone oxidase required to manufacture vitamin C. This is why in earlier centuries the cat lived while sailors died of scurvy during long sea voyages. But it's ironic that doctors accept the fact that other genetic defects such as pernicious anemia can be controlled by diet and supplements, yet refuse to agree that Vitamin C is needed for this genetic loss. For years Pauling stressed that it was this lack of vitamin C that caused coronary attack. But why is vitamin C so...Read More
Gastroenterology
What You Should Know About Crohn’s Disease
How would you feel at 18 years of age if suddenly diagnosed with Crohn's Disease (CD)? It would be devastating news. Unlike other well-known diseases you would know nothing about this trouble and even the name sounds ominous. But you would not be alone. Crohn's Disease is not a household word and in spite of its importance receives little research dollars. Crohn's Disease affects 600,000 people in North America. Normally it strikes those between 20 to 35 years of age, with another peak in the 50s but no age is immune to this disorder. Smokers are three times more likely to develop this disease. There's no sex bias as it affects both equally. In about 20 percent of cases a blood relative...Read More
Miscellaneous
Keep Out Of These Traps in 2010
Year after year people get careless and tragedy strikes. So as we enter 2010 here are several tips to prevent some common hazards during this year. Trap # 1 It's amazing that every year about 6,000 people are admitted to hospital in North America due to snow-blower injuries to the hands. 600 will have fingers amputated for failing to turn off the motor when clearing a blockage in the discharge chute with their hands. A few will be strangled when a loose scarf gets caught in the moving parts. Others will die from carbon monoxide poisoning for starting a snow blower in an enclosed space. And you will have less chance of becoming a statistic, if you don't pour gas into a...Read More
Miscellaneous
Have I Been a Good Teacher?
Over the past year I've covered many medical topics in this column. Let's see how much you've learned. A quiz helps to keep the brain in shape for the coming year. One - Studies show that the more time teenagers spend watching sexually explicit TV increases the risk of pregnancy before age 20. Two - Zona Plus is a hand-held device that fights hypertension without pills. Three - Experts say that even if you eat junk food there's no need for regular colon irrigation with herbal supplements to cleanse the bowel. Four - The American Heart Association recommends that those with a faulty heart valve no longer require antibiotics before dental procedures. Five - A wallet full of cash and credit cards in a man's...Read More
Dermatology, Gynecology, Women's Health
The Lies And Truths Of Mammography
Never before have women been more confused about breast mammography. A U.S panel of experts now reports that women under 40 years of age do not need mammograms, and those over 50 require them only every two years. So here are eight points women should know about mammography. One - During this debate no expert has mentioned one vital fact. Mammography is a "lump" diagnosis. This means that years have gone by before a cancer lump is large enough to be detected by X-rays. This provides time for a malignancy to spread. I've stressed for years it's a lie to tell women mammography diagnoses early cancer. It does not. Rather it diagnoses breast cancer as early as it can be diagnosed....Read More
Infection, Vitamins
Why Has This Treatment (Vitamin C) For H1N1 Collected Dust?
A recent newspaper headline read, "Researchers look to common, cheap medications to help H1N1 patients". Viral experts are wondering whether cholesterol-lowering drugs and steroids could help to save the sickest H1N1patients. If these researchers studied history, they would learn how Dr. Frederick R. Klenner saved an important patient, and many others, from life-threatening viral infections. In, "The Clinical Guide to the use of Vitamin C", Dr. Lendon Smith details the clinical experiences of Frederick R. Klenner. Dr. Klenner had cured case after case of viral disease by massive doses of vitamin C. And when you read these cases, it boggles the mind why this research has collected so much dust. 56 years ago, a seven year old boy had been ill for...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, Vitamins
Vitamin C Prevents Hypertension?
"Is my blood pressure OK, doctor?" is a question asked day after day by patients. They worry their pressure is too high or too low. So this week, Course 101 in hypertension. And why is it that doctors do not prescribe vitamin C to prevent this silent killer? What is normal blood pressure? Normal is 120/80. The first number represents the force of the blood when the heart contracts. The second figure is the pressure between beats. What causes hypertension or high blood pressure? Often doctors are unable to pinpoint any specific cause for this condition. But high blood pressure is usually associated with patients who are obese with resulting Type 2 diabetes. This disease causes atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries) which increases...Read More
Women's Health
Oprah, Now She’s Become a Hormone Specialist!
Oprah is rich, immensely popular, internationally known, and very, very media smart. But is she a legitimate doctor dispensing hormonal advice to women? Two internationally known endocrinologists claim she gets an E for misinforming women on this important matter. Oprah stated publicly that menopause caught her "off guard" so she now takes natural bio-identical hormones. This is a hormone supplement identical to the ones produced by her own body. Oprah claims they've made a big difference in how she feels. But are natural hormones any better or safer than other hormone therapy? Dr. Robert Reid, an endocrinologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, posed this question at the annual meeting of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada in Halifax. Reid reported...Read More
Radiation
Can Radiated Patients Spread Radiation to Others?
How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests, or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in the body? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others around you? A report from Johns Hopkins University says that patients following radiation must be made aware that they can pass along radiation to others. But, unlike cholesterol, this subject is rarely, if ever, discussed at the dinner table. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away or decrease. Rather, unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead. During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles and cancer, radioactive...Read More
Cardiovascular
Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs and Muscle Damage
Today millions of people are taking cholesterol-lowering drugs (CLDs) known as statins. But how safe is this medication, particularly if patients are complaining of muscle pain? Doctors often reassure patients that if blood tests are normal there's no need to worry. But a recent report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows that blood tests cannot guarantee that muscle injury is not occurring. Dr. Annette Draeger of the University of Berne, Switzerland, and her colleagues obtained biopsy samples from 83 patients. Of the 44 patients complaining of muscle pain 29 were talking a CLD and 15 had discontinued it for at least three weeks before biopsies were done. The study also included 19 patients who were taking A CLD and were...Read More
Infection
Soap Off Poo or Eat It Later
Have you heard of the "Golden Poo Award"? It's not as prestigious as the Nobel Prize. But now that the virus season is here, it's time to think about influenza and the H1N1 virus. But remember there's more to infection than these two diseases. That's why the Golden Poo Award was recently presented to contestants who made outstanding contributions to hygiene and sanitation. But can you guess what winners of this peculiar contest won? The Golden Poo Award sponsored by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), had one main message. People often don't wash their hands after using the toilet. The goal of the contest was to find motivation for them to do so. LSHTM had good reason to...Read More
