Cardiovascular
Think Real Estate When Losing Weight
"How much do you think this weighs?" I occasionally ask patients. What I've handed them is a large glob of fake fatty yellow tissue. But what surprises patients is that it feels quite heavy, yet only weighs one pound. Then they quickly realize the significance of the 20 pounds they've gained since their last checkup. But can you be overweight and fit at the same time? Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres of Hopital Laval Research Centre in Quebec City, reports in the Archives of Internal Medicine, what is good news for some men and what should be a wakeup call for others. Despres and his colleagues studied 169 healthy men, comparing their cardiovascular fitness to the amount of their belly fat using computerized tomography...Read More
Gastroenterology
Are You Damaging Your Liver?
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
Dermatology
Do You Expect Me To Stand There Naked? – Melanoma Check
Who is a big supporter of my column? I would like to think my children as I e-mail them copies each week. But a recent e-mail response was, "Dad, you always have such cheery thoughts, like colonoscopy! What other forms of poking must you subject us to? Will it be root canals? How about some good news and something that's more dignified? So here's one that needs removal of clothing but no poking. Recently my wife asked me to check her body for suspicious moles. I didn't see any but it's never prudent to be your wife's doctor. If I missed diagnosing a melanoma my children might suspect I was after her insurance money. So I suggested we should both arrange...Read More
Nutrition
Are Rare Steaks Good For Your Heart ?
"One of these days you're going to push your luck too far", my wife often says to me. She's not complaining that I'm spending too much money on horse races. Or betting the farm on a gold mine in Zimbabwe. Rather, for years I've told waiters I want my steak rare. Is this risky or can it fight heart failure? Friends often say to me, "We don't eat meat in our family anymore". But does this make sense? After all, humans have been enjoying meat since the caveman discovered it could keep him alive. And there are still sound reasons for not giving it up. Today, iron is the nutrient most often lacking in North American diets. Young children, teenagers, pregnant women,...Read More
Miscellaneous
Viagra For Climbing Mount Everest?
Hmm. I had the naive belief that Viagra was strictly for making amour. Now, I learn it may even help adventurers climb Mount Everest. On the other hand, if you decide to go down, rather than up, swim goggles may present a hazard. And handguns it seems are not the only things to shoot you these days. And is it really dangerous to eat nuts and seeds if you suffer from bowel problems? Dr. Michele Andreoli, an ophthalmologist at Loyola University In Chicago, reported to The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology that the nail gun, was a frequent cause of eye injury. During a five year period 648 patients with an average age of 34 suffered severe eye injuries due...Read More
Obesity
Famine: The Only Cure For Obesity
"How can the obesity problem be solved in our country?" a U.S. interviewer recently asked me. I hadn't had too many martinis or wasn't joking when I replied, "It would take a famine." Just look at the failures. The city of Calgary has just announced it's Number One. Not because the Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup. Rather, it's the first city in Canada to have a "bariatric response team". Not an elite anti-terror squad, but trained paramedics and a $30,000 mechanical system to lift morbidly obese patients onto a stretcher. In March of this year Florida paramedics required three hours, some plywood, two stretchers, and removal of a window to get a 500 pound man out of his home. Massachusetts paramedics...Read More
Sports
Sudden Sports Death in Young People
"How could this possibly happen?" is the usual soul-searching response. A young healthy athlete leaves home to play in a sporting event. Then in a matter of seconds, collapses and dies before anything can be done to save his or her life. The big question is why these premature deaths occur, and can they be prevented? Dr. Michael Ackerman, is head of the Mayo Clinic's Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory. He says that news of these unexpected deaths saddens parents and shocks the community. But when such sudden fatalities strike apparently invincible star athletes parents worry it could happen to a child involved in any recreational sports. Luckily these shocking deaths are rare in this case. Dr. Ackerman says that there are 300,000...Read More
Alcohol
What Way Are You Damaging Your Liver?
"What causes liver disease?" Ask anyone this question and 99 percent will say, "It's imbibing in too much Cabernet Sauvignon or other alcoholic drinks". But today the liver can be injured by a host of less known, but equally hazardous habits. So how are you doing unfriendly things to your liver? And what can we learn from the "Mayflower" that carried Pilgrims to this continent in 1620? The football-sized liver is an amazing organ. Every day it performs hundreds of functions. But today, as never before in history, its most important challenge is changing toxic substances we ingest into products that can be safely by removed from the body. And although the liver has great power to regenerate, never think it's...Read More
Gynecology, Women's Health
If Estrogen Causes Cancer Where is the Epidemic?
What would I do if I were a woman at the age of menopause and read the headline, "Breast cancer drop linked to decline in hormone therapy". I'd be scared as hell if I was already taking estrogen and consider flushing it down the toilet. But what should menopausal women do if they have an whelming desire to kick the cat or their husband? In 2002, a study of 16,000 women aged 50 to 79 showed that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increased the risk of breast cancer by 26 percent, stroke by 41 percent, heart attack by 29, the risk of cardiovascular disease by 22 percent and it doubled the rate of blood clots. These figures make your eyes pop out, but...Read More
Genitourinary
How To Correct Common Medical Errors
Talleyrand, the witty and cynical French diplomat, once remarked to Napoleon, "Sire, worse than a crime, you have committed an error." Today I often see lesser mortals than Napoleon committing medical errors that could be avoided. These are not life-threatening problems but cause needless daily annoyance. There are simple ways to treat these conditions. Thousands of people who suffer from rectal irritation are often given the wrong diagnosis and incorrect treatment. They've suffered discomfort for years using various hemorrhoid preparations and ointments and failed to obtain relief of embarrassing symptoms. There's a good chance these patients have "anusitis", a frequently overlooked condition. It's an inflammation just inside the anus. The best kept secret is Anurex, a reusable probe containing a gel. It's...Read More
Philosophy
Huge Response To Conjoined Twins Column
"I've never written before about a newspaper column, but I'm compelled to do so this time". This was the general response following my recent column questioning the birth of conjoined twins. These replies speak for themselves. "As a Christian it is wrong to end life. You do not know that these children are doomed. They may find peace, a bonding and friendship like no others. Your opinion on the rights of women and life in general frighten me." Brandi Polatty. "You will receive energetic objections from right-to-life groups. But in Canada where our health care system is funded by tax dollars we all have a stake in these decisions. These twins will be a constant drain on our health and social service...Read More
Vitamins
Vitamins: Too much or Too Little?
"Do you want Ford or Cadillac vitamins?", I asked readers in a previous column. It triggered many requests, revealing much confusion about vitamins. Some readers had stopped taking vitamin E due to scary headlines. Others had tossed out calcium as being ineffective. Still others wondered if it's possible to get too much of a good thing, and where to obtain more information on vitamins. An excess of anything can be poison to the human body. Too much vitamin A can cause fetal defects in pregnant women and in others, severe liver damage. Hunters who eat bear's liver which contains large amounts of vitamin A have suffered from liver failure. We need no more than 10,000 IU of A daily. You can also...Read More
Cardiovascular, Dermatology, Orthopedics
Low Intensity Light Therapy Heals Chronic Wounds
Do patients receive ineffective treatment when they could be cured by a lesser-known technique? The answer? Probably tens of thousands. I recently spent a day at a Meditech Conference in Toronto listening to experts discuss dermatological and wound ulcers that were resistant to treatment. There I saw startling photos showing how Low Intensity Laser Therapy (LILT) can often cure these conditions. Today, there is something new under the sun. An old joke in the medical fraternity is that dermatology is the best specialty as patients never die nor get better. But it's not so funny if you suffer from a chronic skin condition that refuses to improve. Year after year these patients are prescribed a variety of pills, creams and other treatment...Read More
Surgery
A Story of One Disaster After Another
Several weeks ago I wrote about needless, dangerous, delays due to flaws in our health care system that resulted in surgery after an appendix had ruptured. Since then I've received numerous letters from readers reporting similar happenings. This unbelievable story is a tribute to small town doctors, the backbone of our profession, who receive so little attention. How one helped to save the life of a desperately ill patient against great odds.. Charlie Godden, a 60 year old dairy farmer from Campbellford, Ontario suffered third degree burns to one third of his body, a life-threatening condition. His nightmare began when the 911 dispatcher could not determine the exact location of his farm. But finally the ambulance and fire department arrived at the...Read More
Philosophy
The Many Tragedies of Conjoined Twins
Six months ago Tatiana and Krista Hogan-Simms entered this world in British Columbia as conjoined twins. Now they and their parents have become international celebrities appearing on major television shows. In the press the conjoined twins are described as "little angels". But every time I see their pictures I wonder why anyone would allow this cruelty to happen. Do many readers agree with me? The tragedy of conjoined twins occurs in the early stages of pregnancy when the fertilized egg fails to divide completely. Few tragic newborns live long enough to be considered for surgery. Reports claim that Felicia Simms was advised by doctors that her pregnancy could be terminated, but she refused this option. I assume that she considers life of...Read More
Surgery
Unexpected Consequences of Joint Replacement Surgery
An English proverb cautions that "It is the unexpected that always happens". No doubt people looking back on their life can recall several of those unexpected and unpleasant events. But how often do these unexpected events happen in surgery? Today an increasing number of people face hip and knee replacement operations. They're often concerned about the pain following surgery and long sessions of physiotherapy to recover joint mobility. But how many consider a coronary attack after the operation? Dr. Justin de Beer is an orthopedic surgeon at the Henderson site of Hamilton Health Services in Hamilton, Ontario. He and his colleagues recently reported to the Canadian Orthopedic Association that a worrying number of hip and knee replacement patients suffered a heart attack following...Read More
Dental, Orthopedics
Are Osteoporosis Drugs Killing Your Jaw?
Several weeks ago I reported on a new revolutionary way to fight osteoporosis. This year astronauts will use it when they take to the space station the "Juvent Dynamic Motion Therapy Platform (DMT). It's a non-drug method of preventing astronauts from developing brittle bones in a weightless atmosphere. I didn't realize at the time it would also prevent osteonecrosis of the jaw which is now linked to current drugs for treatment of osteoporosis. Today millions of patients are taking drugs (bisphosphonates) to prevent osteoporosis. But it's ironic that bone drugs may cause harm to bones they're supposed to protect. As I've told readers often, "You never get anything for nothing". Reports of a possible link between the oral bisphosphonates (Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva)...Read More
Nutrition
Yellow Pickerel Will Cure My Depression
What would I order for my final meal on this planet? It would be a freshly caught Yellow Pickerel cooked over a roaring camp fire. Years ago I spent one magnificent summer doing fish research in northern Ontario. Since then no fancy white-tabled restaurant has provided me with a better fish meal. Besides, the fish were free of contamination in those long-ago days. So what should we know about the health benefits of eating fish today? We're often told we should eat fish as they're a great source of protein. But we're also warned of potential dangers. For instance, mercury accumulates in the lean tissue of some fish and it can cross the placental barrier so large doses can cause fetal...Read More
Orthopedics, Pain
Relieving Pain by Low Intensity Laser Therapy
What can you do if you've tried every conceivable way to relieve pain? You've been treated by anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone, pain killers, physiotherapy, massage and finally surgery. Yet the pain continues unabated. A technique, known as "Low Intensity Laser Therapy" (LILT) could be the answer. Dr. Fred Kahn is Director of the Meditech Laser and Rehabilitation Centre in Toronto, and a specialist in pain control. He believes in curing the pain by curing the cause. And I've talked to several of his patients about how LILT had eased their pain and changed their lives. PC, a 43 year old jogger, collided with a glass door on returning to her hotel. When the door shattered, a large fragment of glass penetrated her knee....Read More
Alcohol
Alcohol in Pregnancy – Suppose This Woman Had Been My Mother
It's an ideal way to write a column. I'm attending a medical conference while cruising the Caribbean sea. But don't think I'm goofing off. I'm spending long days listening to a variety of international speakers. But as a former ship's surgeon I also love being at sea. One speaker, Dr. George Carson, Director of Fetal Medicine at the University of Regina, reported on the use of alcohol in pregnancy. Some authorities have a simple solution for the tragic habit of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Dr. Christine Lock, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, says it's a myth that only irresponsible derelict mothers cause serious birth defects. Her blunt message, "If we drink in pregnancy we place our...Read More
Cancer
Cigars – Which Rattlesnake Would You Prefer To Step On?
What do former President Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many multi-millionaire sports celebrities have in common? They smoke cigars and for years they've sent the wrong message to teenagers. Now more teens are saying "Have a cigar". So what should we be telling them and others who decide to smoke a stogie? Some kids are getting smart. They've concluded that cigarette smoking is hazardous to health. A report in the Journal of Public Health says that cigarette consumption in the U.S. has decreased by 10 percent. But that cigar smoking has increased by 28 percent and some of this increase is due to teenagers. Today one in four college students smoke stogies and these are supposed to be enlightened individuals! Trying to...Read More
Vitamins
Do You Want Ford Or Cadillac Vitamins
"What brand of vitamins should I buy?" is a question readers often ask when I write about them. I've never been able to provide any good answer with so many brands available. But I recently read "A Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements" written by Lyle MacWilliam. I was shocked to learn that some well known brands I'd often purchased failed to make the grade. As a Scot, wanting to get value for the dollar, I interviewed MacWilliam who gave me course 101 on how to buy vitamins. MacWilliam, a biochemist, used the published recommendations of seven nutritional authorities to determine what vitamins, minerals and other nutrients should be present in a multivitamin pill considering our state of scientific knowledge. He then...Read More
Surgery
How Would You Like To Be This Patient?
If such inefficiency of this medical kind happened in a corporation it would not survive this competitive world. Any business executive consultant would look at these needless delays and fire those responsible. A 40 year old man noted the onset of upper abdominal discomfort early in the morning. By late afternoon his pain had shifted to the lower right side of his abdomen and he complained of nausea. Since he had no family physician, he arrived at 6:00 pm at the hospital's emergency department. Due to abdominal pain he was seen quickly by the emergency doctor. The diagnosis was possible appendicitis. But in spite of a quick assessment by the doctor, this patient's luck for speedy treatment began to run out. A surgeon...Read More
Infection
Course “101”: Treating and Preventing Colds
"How do you treat a cold?" Sir William Osler was once asked by a colleague. He was one of this country's greatest physicians. "I tell them to go to bed, hang their hat on the bedpost, start drinking whiskey and stop when they see two hats", he replied. This facetious remark had some merit years ago. But today there's less chance of a hangover and greater chance of relief if you use a more modern therapy. It's hard to escape the cold virus. Consider the number of times a friend blew his nose, then had no hesitation in shaking your hand. Every day we also touch door handles, telephones and other objects infected with the virus. And studies show the virus...Read More
Cancer
Dad, How About Some Good News? – Melanoma
Who is a big supporter of my column? I would like to think my children as I e-mail them copies each week. But a recent e-mail response was, "Dad, you always have such cheery thoughts, like colonoscopy! What other forms of poking must you subject us to? Will it be root canals? How about one that's more dignified? So here's one that needs removal of clothing but no poking. Recently my wife asked me to check her body for suspicious moles. I didn't see any but it's never prudent to be your wife's doctor. If I missed diagnosing a melanoma my children might suspect I was after her insurance money. So I suggested we should both arrange for a molar checkup. Several...Read More
