Cardiovascular, Vitamins
Why Wouldn’t You Take Care of Your Heart?
Diana Gifford-Jones: You are starting your 99th year. To what do you attribute your good health? Gifford-Jones, MD: I’ve been fortunate, but it nearly didn’t happen. I suffered a major heart attack when I was 74. My cardiologists insisted on cholesterol-lowering drugs to fight heart disease. But I knew of two-time Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling’s research on high-dose vitamin C. I opted for a regimen of 10,000 mg daily which I still continue. Diana: Why not take cholesterol-lowering drugs? Giff: There are side-effects I preferred to avoid. Everyone needs to make their own decisions with their doctors, but mine was anchored in the belief Dr. Pauling was right. He knew that animals produce vitamin C and humans do not. This is...Read More
Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Nutrition
Do You Have an Inflammatory Lifestyle?
Chronic inflammation is unlike what happens with a cut or an invading germ when the immune system mounts a fight and then stands down. In such cases, inflammation is part of the healing response. But when lifestyle issues have the immune system active all the time, there may be no symptoms, but plenty of costs. Dr. Erin Michos, Director of Women’s Cardiovascular Health at Johns Hopkins Medicine, explains, “Sustained low levels of inflammation irritate your blood vessels. Inflammation may promote the growth of plaques, loosen plaque in your arteries and trigger blood clots — the primary cause of heart attacks and strokes.” Rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes involve chronic inflammation. Immune cells and the antibodies they produce create swelling to help isolate the...Read More
Cardiovascular
A Wave of Heart Disease Among Healthcare Workers?
There has always been a lot of heart in the practice of medicine – literally and figuratively. Typically, the focus is on the beating heart of the patient. But has the pandemic, unlike any challenge to the medical profession before, impacted the hearts of front-line healthcare workers themselves? Medicine is “a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.” These words of Sir William Osler, a founding figure of modern medicine, were a warning as much as a motivation. A contemporary of Osler, Dr. Maude Abbott, a cardiac pathologist, was one of Canada’s earliest women in medicine. Her calling was challenged by refusal of entry to medical school. (She was barred from entrance to McGill’s medical program...Read More
Medicine, Miscellaneous
Grandma Took the Wrong Pill
Unintentional poisonings are on the rise. Deaths from poisoning occur at double the rate of motor vehicle deaths. It’s a heartbreaking fact that many deaths and injuries are completely avoidable, especially when young children are the victims. Yet, it may be surprising to know this: while children under age 5 account for about 40% of poison exposures requiring contact with emergency services, preventable poisoning deaths are near entirely within the adult population. Many factors are contributing to these tragedies. The opioid crisis is one of the problems. But there are other issues arising from increased isolation and the impact this is having on overall well-being, including among older adults. Changes in age, health status, and many other considerations can make adjustments to prescriptions...Read More
Cancer, Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Gastroenterology, Lifestyle, Neurology
Stand Up To Read This Column
Get up on your feet. Seriously. It will be good for you. Sitting is something we have all become accustomed to doing a lot more of lately. Just prior to the pandemic, studies showed that the average adult spent about 6.5 hours a day sitting – an hour longer than had been the case a decade earlier. In 2019, teenagers were sitting for upwards of 8 hours a day, and for some much longer than that. During the pandemic, a study in the UK found that people were spending more than eight hours a day sitting. Canadians are reportedly sitting around for 10 hours a day! Dr. Jennifer Heisz, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University, surveyed over 1600 people to compare physical activity...Read More
Cardiovascular, Infection, Lungs, Neurology
Who Has Lost the Logic in the Vaccine Debate?
Why would any logical person choose to face severe medical complications of COVID if they could be avoided? Most of us have weighed the issues and decided to follow vaccine recommendations. But some flatly refuse. Why? No issue is crying out louder for resolution than this vaccine debate. Now governments are set to mandate COVID vaccines to force hesitant citizens to comply. It’s been done before time and again – for childhood immunizations, for example. That’s one way to go about it. But a look at the medical evidence should help compel sensible people to opt in. A growing stack of studies shows that vaccinated people are much less likely to die from COVID than the unvaccinated. Do not people desire to stay...Read More
Miscellaneous, Pediatrics, Philosophy
How Much Longer Can Parents Take It?
Remember the movie, “Network”? Howard Beale, the TV news anchor, encouraged viewers to go their windows and yell out, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” How many parents feel that way about school closings? Uncertainty about openings and closings is bad enough. But now schools face severe staffing shortages. Entire classes may be disrupted because teachers are falling sick or required to isolate. Substitute teachers are nothing new, but the scale of the problem is concerning. Just as hospitals can shut down due to insufficient workers, so too can schools. School boards are scrambling to figure out what options they can offer students for online learning. Some offer synchronous learning (in real-time). Others offer asynchronous learning...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Miscellaneous
Is Virtual Healthcare the New Normal?
The current pandemic is deeply affecting many aspects of society. Accelerated usage of virtual healthcare is a good example. While frontline healthcare workers serve patients needing essential in-person care, some doctors and patients are meeting up over the phone or on video calls. Virtual healthcare is well known to those living in remote communities. But during the pandemic, it has become an option for everyone. A debate has ensued about whether such care is good or bad. Proponents of either side are lining up evidence to prove the case. How can you argue with the fact that curable cancers in children have been missed in the absence of face-to-face consultations? But how many lives have been saved by “seeing” the doctor virtually,...Read More
Cardiovascular, Miscellaneous, Neurology, Sports
Ring in the New Year with Your Inner Mountaineer
It’s not what we were hoping for at this time of year. The doom and gloom of Omicron has many people feeling down. But casting your gaze upwards might be just the right move. For a New Year’s Resolution, this might be a good time to channel your inner mountaineer. Christmas and New Years should be the season for celebration, not hibernation. Families should be together, not torn apart by differing views on vaccination. Charitable giving should be the theme, not clamouring for rapid test kits. Yet so it goes. Even among those getting out for a would-be joyous wintertime walk, you can see, in the narrow space between their toques and their masks, the melancholy in their eyes. So, what’s the...Read More
Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat, Miscellaneous
What Could Go So Wrong at a Holiday Luncheon
The immortal Shakespeare wrote in the play Macbeth, “Each new morn new widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows strike heaven on the face.” He was not wrong. Readers may wonder how I am faring as I near the start of my 99th year. I am glad to report, while getting older is rarely much fun, my medical training remains useful! At a holiday luncheon with long-in-the-tooth friends, one started to cough. It was nothing to attract attention. But the situation suddenly changed. His coughing became intense and breathing more difficult. Food had become stuck in his throat, probably lethally so. I knew what I had to do. As a surgeon, I’ve faced many crises: heart attacks, strokes, and other life-or-death situations. But during my...Read More
Gynecology, Pediatrics, Philosophy, Surgery
The Changing Nature of Birth
We said goodbye to a beloved 17-year-old dog this week. She had rapidly lost quality of life. As sad as it was, few would have any qualms whatsoever with the vet’s provision of humane, painless, and sensible euthanasia. But what’s going on with medical interventions at the great miracle of birth? It’s no secret that humans commonly push the boundaries of scientific possibility – for better or for worse. Traditionally, interruptions in the natural birthing process have been overwhelmingly in the “for better” category. Caesarean sections may not have been a desirable option for women prior to the advent of modern surgical techniques – uterine suturing, for example – not to mention anesthesia. But in the modern era, there can be no...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous
Happy Hour with a Hedgehog?
These days, too many things are all wrong. But now and again, everything that’s right in the world comes together. We found such a place in a local neighbourhood restaurant recently, where good food, good music, and good company combined to make everybody happy. But was it healthy? Almost, but not quite. What would be the perfect conditions for a neighbourhood restaurant to score top marks in offering good times, good food, and good health? Start by thinking about the eating and socializing places within walking distance of your home. Not everyone is so lucky to have such options. But most do. And if you do, how often do you walk there? When it comes to dining out, it’s well said “health is...Read More
Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat
What’s Wrong with Hearing Aids
Peter Drucker, the management theorist, who wore hearing aids later in life, famously remarked, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” The hearing aid industry would be wise to listen in. For all the big noise about what can be heard when people with hearing impairment are fitted with aids, is an important message being missed? Hearing aids, in general, make life better for people with mild to severe hearing loss. But has the development of ever smaller technology made it needlessly difficult for people to enjoy the benefits? Does it seem as though the aids are designed to hide, for vanity’s sake, or worse, as if in shame, a hearing disability? The focus should be on ease...Read More
Lifestyle
Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Doctor, Whispering “Stop it!”
This column, over 45 years, has begged people to make the lifestyle changes that will help them avoid the development of type 2 diabetes. Failing that, there’s mounting scientific evidence that natural supplements supporting glycemic control can help mitigate dietary obstinance and lack of exercise. And in the event diabetes takes hold, then give thanks to Banting and Best for their discovery of insulin 100 years ago. But is there one more opportunity for Gifford-Jones to get the “prevention, prevention, prevention” message out? How about the publication of a Gifford-Jones timeless classic for children? A book as good as Goodnight Moon. A story as meaningful as Ferdinand the Bull. Perhaps, a variation on The Very Hungry Caterpillar? A story of “moderation...Read More
Cancer, Endocrine
You’ve Discovered a Thyroid Lump, What Does It Mean?
Waking in the morning, the last thing you want is a health shock before you begin the day. If you are like most people, feeling a lump for the first time at the Adam’s apple, the thyroid gland, you will immediately jump to one conclusion, “I have a cancer.” But is this the right conclusion? So, let’s report some good news that will decrease anxiety while you have your morning coffee. Fortunately, the majority of thyroid nodules are not cancers. Besides, the majority don’t even require removal. Thyroid nodules are common in elderly people. In fact, a report from the University of California states that if you’re over the age of 60, there’s a 25-to-50 percent chance of developing a thyroid lump. The...Read More
Gastroenterology
Celiac Disease: Has the Diagnosis Been Missed?
Some health problems can be hard to pinpoint. An accurate diagnosis of celiac disease can be easily missed. Among adults in particular, symptoms can be so subtle it can go undetected for years, causing other problems that further complicate a definitive diagnosis. Researchers at Duke University examined a randomized sample of 2,835 people over the age of 55, finding 2.13 percent had this disease but didn’t know it. Today, celiac disease affects one percent of the population in Western countries. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder. Sufferers encounter trouble when eating foods containing gluten, found in wheat and other grains. The immune system attacks small, finger-like protrusions, called villi, lining the small intestine, causing inflammation and scarring of the intestinal wall. As the...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Philosophy
The Ultimate Disease: Too Many Rats in a Cage
What catastrophic event could end all lives on this small planet? Some say nuclear war; others, another pandemic worse than the current one that’s caused over 700,000 deaths just in North America. Still others, the failure to tackle the problem of climate change. But here’s a surprise. The ultimate disease is a population time bomb that keeps ticking every second of the day – and we all ignore it. It took 123 years for the human population to grow from one to two billion people. Then, only 40 years to reach six billion, and now the population is 7.8 billion. This year, 82 million people will be added to an already packed planet. It’s like adding another city the size of...Read More
Infection, Medicine, Vitamins
The Case for Vaccination is Clear
What helped to shape my career? As a small child I became spell bound when I read Paul de Kruif’s book “Microbe Hunters”, published in 1926. It offers a sweeping history of the earliest microbiologists and immunologists, dating back to the discovery of microbes in the 17th century. Louis Pasteur features prominently as the researcher who discovered how to make the vaccine that neutralizes the microbe that causes rabies. Scientists were producing vaccines to treat many other viral diseases. It became my burning desire to be a doctor. Vaccines have saved countless lives. This is clear. Three years ago, my column discussed vaccination. I explained that, as a surgeon, I could never guarantee that operations were 100 percent free of complications. I...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Diabetes, Obesity
Challenge Yourself to Better Glycemic Health
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher and poet, wrote, “All life is an experiment.” So this week, to conclude our six-part series on the devastating and relentless pandemic of type 2 diabetes, we conclude with a challenge to readers to undertake an experiment. The premise of the experiment is that achieving the “perfect” diet and carving time for physically active lifestyles is not always feasible. The evidence is overwhelming that for too many people, losing excessive weight is not easy. In fact, society has become not only complacent about obesity, but accepting and even promotional of it. For “skinny fat people” too – the ones who may not present as overweight, but whose bodies harbour visceral fat around internal organs – there...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Diabetes, Nutrition, Obesity
Reversing Pre-Diabetes with Glycemic Control
The most important thing readers should have learned from last week’s column is that pre-diabetes is reversible. And fancy pharmaceuticals aren’t to thank. Rather, it’s glycemic control, achieved naturally, by managing blood sugar with the help of concentrated brown seaweed. But what’s glycemic control? And what’s so special about brown seaweed? For decades, this column has advocated for a change in lifestyle as a strategy for reversing the steady societal march towards higher and higher rates of type 2 diabetes – the consequence of complacency about obesity and other risk factors. But either people aren’t listening, or they are being overwhelmed by negative socioeconomic factors, such as the costs of healthy food choices, lack of time for the preparation of healthy...Read More
Diabetes
Prediabetes Is Common, and Importantly, Reversible
Prediabetes is like an alarm clock. You can hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. Or you can use it as a signal to get up and get active. But what exactly is prediabetes, and how do you know if you have it? The condition occurs when blood sugar levels are consistently higher than normal, but not yet to the level for diagnosis as type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar is caused when cells can’t respond normally to insulin, a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into cells for use as energy. Higher and higher demands to make more insulin overwhelm the pancreas, leading to prediabetes. A 2019 study showed that “among Canadians...Read More
Diabetes, Obesity
The Other Pandemic – A Challenge to News Media
Last week’s column claimed, “Wars are too important to be left to generals.” And “the type 2 diabetes pandemic is too important to be left to doctors.” We asked whether there was a difference between millions of North Americans dying quickly of COVID-19 and millions of people dying slowly of diabetes. In this week’s column, we challenge media outlets to help doctors fight this other pandemic that is having a disastrous effect on our health care system. Consider what’s happened for 20 months now. Broadcasters in North America could hardly wait to tell us night after night about the daily number of deaths from COVID-19. But what they have not mentioned is that 1 in 10 North Americans now have type 2...Read More
Diabetes, Obesity
The Other Pandemic That Keeps Killing
Want some good news about the current viral pandemic? Vaccines are taking effect across global populations and will eventually end this horrible nightmare. But we’ve yet to face, let alone resolve, the truly catastrophic health crisis plaguing humankind. It’s a disease for which there are no vaccines. Worse still, it is a completely unnecessary health tragedy that will continue unabated to kill millions of people worldwide year after year. It’s called type 2 diabetes and the coronavirus has made it deadlier. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S., one in ten North Americans has diabetes. And 40 percent or more of the people who died of COVID-19 had diabetes. According to an analysis of CDC data, people aged 25...Read More
Diabetes, Obesity
Healthy Conversations About Weight Should Not Be Taboo
This week launches a series of columns on the current crisis – not the COVID pandemic, which will eventually come to an end, but rather, the seemingly endless escalation of the type 2 diabetes pandemic. We begin this week with the greatest culprit: obesity. Worrisomely, changing attitudes about weight are making matters worse. We’ll continue next week with an article on the interplay between diabetes and COVID, followed the subsequent week by a challenge to powerful media houses to do better. Finally, as we know from your letters that this column helps prevent many from falling victim to avoidable health problems, we’ll do a three-part series on the signs of pre-diabetes and where you can turn for help. So, let’s turn to obesity,...Read More
Sex
Teenage Sex Pushing Boundaries in the Pandemic
If you are a parent or grandparent to teenagers, chances are you think the pandemic has them safely secluded at home – having inoculated them, you might say, from sexual encounters. But that might be wishful thinking. It’s been said “It’s hard to prepare teenagers for life when they already know everything.” But even if they do have all knowledge at their fingertips, their bodies are way ahead of their brains. The wiring of the teenage brain develops just the same, no matter the era. The pandemic’s “quaranteenagers” are programmed to test their boundaries, just like all who came before them. Until they reach their mid-20s, the prefrontal cortex that controls complex reasoning, impulse control, and planning is still developing. When it...Read More
