We have accepted the suggestion from a BU family member to facilitate discussion on medical matters which is a topic area that should interest us all. Based on exchanges with and between BU family members posted over time, many of you work in the medical field or possess information on various medical issues acquired based on personal circumstance or otherwise. Medical Corner seeks to encourage ANYONE to submit views on medical experiences, new developments in the industry or any related matter which readers feel can serve to educate the BU family.
You very sure, gotta mek sure I ketch u in the right mood huh
@BAFBFP
fuh yu always in the right mood.
I came across this story and thought it was worth sharing
“My Experience with Kidney Transplant — 8 Great Learnings”
By: Cyrus Bagwadia
With kidneys failing, I was confronted with the most common of what is next – dialysis. I began to visit dialysis centres and talk to patients hooked on to their blood cleaning machines. They were all bearing their condition bravely and facing the reality. I realised I was facing my first moment of truth.
Dialysis is not a full replacement of all function of kidneys. At best it does the cleaning of the blood. It does not balance the fluid level nor balance the blood chemistry nor improve production of vital chemicals.
Transplant is the most preferred option. This was the unanimous medical advise.
I decided to write to members of my family and got positive response from so many willing to donate that it simply swept me off my feet. I felt being loved, a feeling which I cannot describe in words.
I decided to drop dialysis as an option and focused only on transplant. I changed my Nephrologist to one who was willing to involve me as a patient, who wishes to fully understand the emotional, physical and medical procedures and processes. I did what the medical fraternity say “doctor shopping”. I continued to do so till I found one who best met my needs and not necessarily the most famous or the most expensive! I think this is perhaps the most important step I took. The doctor must partner with you to get to the best solution.
So my Learning #1 – Be most careful to select your Nephrologist as he is going to be your partner for a long, long time.
Learning #2 – recovery period of the donor — surgery on donor is done through laparoscopy method..The older method is making a cut of 8″ at the hip area for easy access to the kidney. This method, although makes kidney removal more easy, is more painful and recovery is a lot longer.
The world’s first kidney transplant was done in Brigham Hospital in Boston. Brigham does over 100 transplants a year.
Learning #3 – the handling of the kidney on removal and before transfer to the recipient are crucial skills developed over time and experiences, which only comes from number of transplants done by the surgeons.
Learning #4 – post transplant monitoring to prevent rejection requires skills that would come with Nephrologists with more years of experience and one who is involved in active research.
The full body health check indicated that the youngest of my three sister (although older to me by six years) would be the best choice.
Learning #5 – it is preferable to have separate Nephrologist for the donor and the one treating recipient. This makes the donor more comfortable as he or she can interact with the doctor with complete openness.
Learning #6 – the donor and the family must be fully and completely involved. It is best to share with them the knowledge that the recipient may have gained from his/her own reading or from doctors. I shared all the articles I could download from the net. Knowledge eliminates imaginary fears and brings these fears into an open forum for discussions with the doctor. The donor and family members should ideally become completely comfortable and every member of family must be supportive of the donor’s decision. The act of donating ones kidney is the ultimate expression of love towards the recipient.
Time is so important in this process. Haste and hurry will create more fears. Let the donor family settle down with comfort on the whole process. The three month period of donor evaluation was most helpful from the stand point of getting answers to all the questions answered and making certain that the donor became emotionally a most willing and happy donor. Any rush towards surgery would not be a sensible thing to do even though the recipient may be on extended dialysis and wishes to bring an end to his or her misery.
At the hospital now. The two operating rooms had a connecting door. The surgeon attending on the donor hands over the removed kidney to my surgeon, who washes the kidney and trims off the fat which generally gets built around the kidney over time. The kidney is ready to be transplanted into me. An incision of about 7 inches is made vertically, in a slight hockey stick shape towards the right of belly button. Hospital stay for the donor was 3 days and I was home by 5th day. I was able to walk and take care of my needs.
Learning #7 – do not underestimate the importance of team work between surgeons, nephrologists, nursing and resident/fellow doctors, as each case is unique and collective wisdom matters. Chose your hospital most carefully.
At home, I was made to measure each day blood pressure, weight, sugar level, temperature and fluid intake and outflow. I would record these on a spread sheet and take it with me to the Nephro on each hospital visit. This went on for the first 2 months.
Learning #8 – the doctors looks at the trend of these. It would be useful for the patient to keep record of these details in a spread sheet format.
Life’s another fantastic journey of a different kind.
Rising Threat of Infections Unfazed by Antibiotics
by Andrew Pollack
Monday, March 1, 2010
provided by
A minor-league pitcher in his younger days, Richard Armbruster kept playing baseball recreationally into his 70s, until his right hip started bothering him. Last February he went to a St. Louis hospital for what was to be a routine hip replacement.
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By late March, Mr. Armbruster, then 78, was dead. After a series of postsurgical complications, the final blow was a bloodstream infection that sent him into shock and resisted treatment with antibiotics.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think my dad would walk in for a hip replacement and be dead two months later,” said Amy Fix, one of his daughters.
Not until the day Mr. Armbruster died did a laboratory culture identify the organism that had infected him: Acinetobacter baumannii.
The germ is one of a category of bacteria that by some estimates are already killing tens of thousands of hospital patients each year. While the organisms do not receive as much attention as the one known as MRSA — for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — some infectious-disease specialists say they could emerge as a bigger threat.
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That is because there are several drugs, including some approved in the last few years, that can treat MRSA. But for a combination of business reasons and scientific challenges, the pharmaceuticals industry is pursuing very few drugs for Acinetobacter and other organisms of its type, known as Gram-negative bacteria. Meanwhile, the germs are evolving and becoming ever more immune to existing antibiotics.
“In many respects it’s far worse than MRSA,” said Dr. Louis B. Rice, an infectious-disease specialist at the Louis Stokes Cleveland V.A. Medical Center and at Case Western Reserve University. “There are strains out there, and they are becoming more and more common, that are resistant to virtually every antibiotic we have.”
The bacteria, classified as Gram-negative because of their reaction to the so-called Gram stain test, can cause severe pneumonia and infections of the urinary tract, bloodstream and other parts of the body. Their cell structure makes them more difficult to attack with antibiotics than Gram-positive organisms like MRSA.
Acinetobacter, which killed Mr. Armbruster, came to wide attention a few years ago in infections of soldiers wounded in Iraq.
Meanwhile, New York City hospitals, perhaps because of the large numbers of patients they treat, have become the global breeding ground for another drug-resistant Gram-negative germ, Klebsiella pneumoniae.
According to researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, more than 20 percent of the Klebsiella infections in Brooklyn hospitals are now resistant to virtually all modern antibiotics. And those supergerms are now spreading worldwide.
Health authorities do not have good figures on how many infections and deaths in the United States are caused by Gram-negative bacteria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly 1.7 million hospital-associated infections, from all types of bacteria combined, cause or contribute to 99,000 deaths each year.
But in Europe, where hospital surveys have been conducted, Gram-negative infections are estimated to account for two-thirds of the 25,000 deaths each year caused by some of the most troublesome hospital-acquired infections, according to a report released in September by health authorities there.
To be sure, MRSA remains the single most common source of hospital infections. And it is especially feared because it can also infect people outside the hospital. There have been serious, even deadly, infections of otherwise healthy athletes and school children.
By comparison, the drug-resistant Gram-negative germs for the most part threaten only hospitalized patients whose immune systems are weak. The germs can survive for a long time on surfaces in the hospital and enter the body through wounds, catheters and ventilators.
What is most worrisome about the Gram-negatives is not their frequency but their drug resistance.
“For Gram-positives we need better drugs; for Gram-negatives we need any drugs,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious-disease specialist at Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., and the author of Rising Plague, a book about drug-resistant pathogens. Dr. Spellberg is a consultant to some antibiotics companies and has co-founded two companies working on other anti-infective approaches. Dr. Rice of Cleveland has also been a consultant to some pharmaceutical companies.
Doctors treating resistant strains of Gram-negative bacteria are often forced to rely on two similar antibiotics developed in the 1940s — colistin and polymyxin B. These drugs were largely abandoned decades ago because they can cause kidney and nerve damage, but because they have not been used much, bacteria have not had much chance to evolve resistance to them yet.
“You don’t really have much choice,” said Dr. Azza Elemam, an infectious-disease specialist in Louisville, Ky. “If a person has a life-threatening infection, you have to take a risk of causing damage to the kidney.”
Such a tradeoff confronted Kimberly Dozier, a CBS News correspondent who developed an Acinetobacter infection after being injured by a car bomb in 2006 while on assignment in Iraq. After two weeks on colistin, Ms. Dozier’s kidneys began to fail, she recounted in her book, Breathing the Fire.
Rejecting one doctor’s advice to go on dialysis and seek a kidney transplant, Ms. Dozier stopped taking the antibiotic to save her kidneys. She eventually recovered from the infection.
Even that dire tradeoff might not be available to some patients. Last year doctors at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan published a paper describing two cases of “pan-resistant” Klebsiella, untreatable by even the kidney-damaging older antibiotics. One of the patients died and the other eventually recovered on her own, after the antibiotics were stopped.
“It is a rarity for a physician in the developed world to have a patient die of an overwhelming infection for which there are no therapeutic options,” the authors wrote in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
In some cases, antibiotic resistance is spreading to Gram-negative bacteria that can infect people outside the hospital.
Sabiha Khan, 66, went to the emergency room of a Chicago hospital on New Year’s Day suffering from a urinary tract and kidney infection caused by E. coli resistant to the usual oral antibiotics. Instead of being sent home to take pills, Ms. Khan had to stay in the hospital 11 days to receive powerful intravenous antibiotics.
This month, the infection returned, sending her back to the hospital for an additional two weeks.
Some patient advocacy groups say hospitals need to take better steps to prevent such infections, like making sure that health care workers frequently wash their hands and that surfaces and instruments are disinfected. And antibiotics should not be overused, they say, because that contributes to the evolution of resistance.
To encourage prevention, an Atlanta couple, Armando and Victoria Nahum, started the Safe Care Campaign after their 27-year-old son, Joshua, died from a hospital-acquired infection in October 2006.
Joshua, a skydiving instructor in Colorado, had fractured his skull and thigh bone on a hard landing. During his treatment, he twice acquired MRSA and then was infected by Enterobacter aerogenes, a Gram-negative bacterium.
“The MRSA they got rid of with antibiotics,” Mr. Nahum said. “But this one they just couldn’t do anything about.”
Top 5 Kidney-Related Myths and Misconceptions
Overlooked, overworked and misunderstood. Your wife? No, actually, it’s your kidneys we’re talking about. They’re on call 24/7 filtering toxins from your body, regulating fluids and blood pressure. Yet, most people don’t know where they are, let alone what they or what the warnings signs and risk factors are for kidney disease. Dr. Leslie Spry, National Kidney Foundation spokesperson, sets the record straight on some common kidney-related misconceptions
1. I have back pain so it must be my kidneys. Pain in the back may come from kidney disease if you have infection or blockage of the kidneys. Other forms of kidney disease rarely cause pain in the back. The most common cause of back pain is disease of the muscles or spine and not kidney disease. The kidney can only feel pain if the covering of the kidney (called the capsule) is stretched. This means swelling of the kidney from either infection or blockage of urine flow (such as a kidney stone) will result in pain that typically radiates from the flank and may come around the side to cause pain down into the groin area.
2. I don’t have any trouble passing my urine so my kidneys must be fine. Even patients who are on dialysis make urine most every day. Damaged kidneys will continue to make urine even if they no longer properly clean your blood. Kidney disease can be completely without symptoms. The only way you can tell if you have kidney disease is to have blood and urine testing.
3. As I age, it is normal for my blood pressure to be higher. While it is true that blood pressure gradually increases with age, many elderly patients still have a normal blood pressure. Normal blood pressure is still 120/80 at any age and if your blood pressure is elevated, you should be evaluated by your physician. Studies have continued to show a benefit of treating even very elderly patients for high blood pressure. High blood pressure is the second most common cause of kidney disease and is the most common cause of kidney disease in the elderly.
4. I can feel my blood sugar and regulate it on the basis of how I feel. Unfortunately, the longer you have diabetes the less likely this is true. Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney disease and patients with chronic kidney disease develop two complications related to diabetes. They are less likely to notice changes in blood sugar the way they used to. This is because diabetes gradually injures the body nerves in exactly the same way as it does the kidney. Hence your ability to “feel” your blood sugar is lost as one develops progressive kidney disease. Second, the kidney helps to break down insulin in the body. As kidney function is lost, insulin tends to last longer in the body. Loss of kidney function can result in very low blood sugars for prolonged periods of time as the insulin lasts longer and longer in the body.
5. If my blood pressure is normal, I don’t need to take my blood pressure pills. Patients with kidney disease need to maintain a normal blood pressure and the use of specific blood pressure agents such as ACE-inhibitors and ARB agents help to protect the kidney against damage. So, in addition to maintaining control of the blood pressure, these agents are kidney-protective and should be taken as prescribed by your doctor.
With World Kidney Day quickly approaching, what is our Country and the Barbados Kidney Association has planned to promote and/or celebrate this day?
“This day was meant to build kidney disease awareness, educate those at risk about the importance of early detection and the critical role the kidneys play in maintaining our overall health.”
One of the things that could be of much benefit to us as a people would be to offer screening tests for the purpose of “early detection of the disease, especially those who might be at risk with diabetes, high blood pressure or family history. Keeping in mind that the disease can also lead to the risk for heart disease and stroke.”
Our citizens need to be kept alert and that day would be a great opportunity to promote awareness so people know that kidney disease is harmful but treatable.
Even if it’s only once a year, the Government needs to take more interest to be proactive in people’s health, sponsoring a Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP).
WOMEN IN CHINA DO NOT GET BREAST CANCER NOR MEN, PROSTATE CANCER!
By Prof. Jane Plant, PhD, CBE ¡ ” Why I believe that giving up milk is the key to beating breast cancer…”
Extracted from the book “Your Life in Your Hands” by Professor Jane Plant
I had no alternative but to die or to try to find a cure for myself. I am a scientist – surely there was a rational explanation for this cruel illness that affects one in 12 women in the UK ?
I had suffered the loss of one breast, and undergone radiotherapy. I was now receiving painful chemotherapy, and had been seen by some of the country’s most eminent specialists. But, deep
down, I felt certain I was facing death. I had a loving husband, a beautiful home and two young children to care for. I desperately wanted to live.
Fortunately, this desire drove me to unearth the facts, some of which were known only to a handful of
scientists at the time.
Anyone who has come into contact with breast cancer will know that certain risk factors – such as increasing
age, early onset of womanhood, late onset of menopause and a family history of breast cancer – are completely out of our control. But there are many risk factors, which we can control easily.
These “controllable” risk factors readily translate into simple changes that we can all make in our day-to-day lives to help prevent or treat breast cancer. My message is that even advanced breast cancer can be overcome because I have done it.
The first clue to understanding what was promoting my breast cancer came when my husband Peter, who was also a scientist, arrived back from working in China while I was being plugged in for a chemotherapy session.
He had brought with him cards and letters, as well as some amazing herbal suppositories, sent by my
friends and science colleagues in China .
The suppositories were sent to me as a cure for breast cancer. Despite the awfulness of the situation, we both had a good belly laugh, and I remember saying that this was the treatment for breast cancer in China , then it was little wonder that Chinese women avoided getting the disease.
Those words echoed in my mind. Why didn’t Chinese women in China get breast cancer? I had collaborated once with Chinese colleagues on a study of links between soil chemistry and disease, and I remembered some of the statistics.
The disease was virtually non-existent throughout the whole country. Only one in 10,000 women in
China will die from it, compared to that terrible figure of one in 12 in Britain and the even grimmer average of one in 10 across most Western countries. It is not just a matter of China being a more rural country, with less urban pollution. In highly urbanized Hong Kong , the rate rises to 34 women in every 10,000 but still puts the West to shame.
The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have similar rates. And remember, both cities were attacked with nuclear weapons, so in addition to the usual pollution-related cancers, one would also expect to find some radiation-related cases, too.
The conclusion we can draw from these statistics strikes you with some force. If a Western woman were to move to industrialized, irradiated Hiroshima , she would slash her risk of contracting breast cancer by half.
Obviously this is absurd. It seemed obvious to me that some lifestyle factor not related to pollution, urbanization or the environment is seriously increasing the Western woman’s chance of contracting breast cancer.
I then discovered that whatever causes the huge differences in breast cancer rates between oriental and Western countries, it isn’t genetic.
Scientific research showed that when Chinese or Japanese people move to the West, within one or two generations their rates of breast cancer approach those of their host community.
The same thing happens when oriental people adopt a completely Western lifestyle in Hong Kong . In fact, the slang name for breast cancer in China translates as ‘Rich Woman’s Disease’. This is because, in China , only the better off can afford to eat what is termed ‘ Hong Kong food’.
The Chinese describe all Western food, including everything from ice cream and chocolate bars to spaghetti and feta cheese, as ” Hong Kong food”, because of its availability in the former British colony and its
scarcity, in the past, in mainland China .
So it made perfect sense to me that whatever was causing my breast cancer and the shockingly high incidence in this country generally, it was almost certainly something to do with our better-off, middle-class, Western lifestyle.
There is an important point for men here, too. I have observed in my research that much of the data about prostate cancer leads to similar conclusions.
According to figures from the World Health Organization, the number of men contracting prostate cancer in rural China is negligible, only 0.5 men in every 100,000. In England, Scotland and Wales , however, this figure is 70 times higher. Like breast cancer, it is a middle-class disease that primarily attacks the wealthier
and higher socio-economic groups ¨C those that can afford to eat rich foods.
I remember saying to my husband, “Come on Peter, you have just come back from China . What is it about the Chinese way of life that is so different?”
Why don’t they get breast cancer?’
We decided to utilize our joint scientific backgrounds and approach it logically.
We examined scientific data that pointed us in the general direction of fats in diets.
Researchers had discovered in the 1980s that only l4% of calories in the average Chinese diet were from fat, compared to almost 36% in the West.
But the diet I had been living on for years before I contracted breast cancer was very low in fat and high in fibre.
Besides, I knew as a scientist that fat intake in adults has not been shown to increase risk for breast cancer in most investigations that have followed large groups of women for up to a dozen years.
Then one day something rather special happened. Peter and I have worked together so closely over the years that I am not sure which one of us first said: “The Chinese don’t eat dairy produce!”
It is hard to explain to a non-scientist the sudden mental and emotional ‘buzz’ you get when you know you have had an important insight.. It’s as if you have had a lot of pieces of a jigsaw in your mind, and suddenly, in a few seconds, they all fall into place and the whole picture is clear.
Suddenly I recalled how many Chinese people were physically unable to tolerate milk, how the Chinese people I had worked with had always said that milk was only for babies, and how one of my close friends, who is of Chinese origin, always politely turned down the cheese course at dinner parties.
I knew of no Chinese people who lived a traditional Chinese life who ever used cow or other dairy food to feed their babies. The tradition was to use a wet nurse but never, ever, dairy products.
Culturally, the Chinese find our Western preoccupation with milk and milk products very strange. I remember entertaining a large delegation of Chinese scientists shortly after the ending of the Cultural Revolution in the 1980s.
On advice from the Foreign Office, we had asked the caterer to provide a pudding that contained a lot of ice cream. After inquiring what the pudding consisted of, all of the Chinese, including their interpreter,
politely but firmly refused to eat it, and they could not be persuaded to change their minds.
At the time we were all delighted and ate extra portions!
Milk, I discovered, is one of the most common causes of food allergies . Over 70% of the world’s population are unable to digest the milk sugar, lactose, which has led nutritionists to believe that this is the normal condition for adults, not some sort of deficiency.
Perhaps nature is trying to tell us that we are eating the wrong food.
Before I had breast cancer for the first time, I had eaten a lot of dairy produce, such as skimmed milk, low-fat cheese and yoghurt. I had used it as my main source of protein. I also ate cheap but lean minced beef, which I now realized was probably often ground-up dairy cow.
In order to cope with the chemotherapy I received for my fifth case of cancer, I had been eating organic yoghurts as a way of helping my digestive tract to recover and repopulate my gut with ‘good’ bacteria.
Recently, I discovered that way back in 1989 yoghurt had been implicated in ovarian cancer . Dr Daniel Cramer of Harvard University studied hundreds of women with ovarian cancer, and had them record in detail what they normally ate. wish I’d been made aware of his findings when he had first discovered them.
Following Peter’s and my insight into the Chinese diet, I decided to give up not just yoghurt but all dairy produce immediately. Cheese, butter, milk and yoghurt and anything else that contained dairy produce – it went down the sink or in the rubbish.
It is surprising how many products, including commercial soups, biscuits and cakes, contain some form of dairy produce. Even many proprietary brands of margarine marketed as soya, sunflower or olive oil spreads can contain dairy produce .
I therefore became an avid reader of the small print on food labels. Up to this point, I had been steadfastly measuring the progress of my fifth cancerous lump with callipers and plotting the results. Despite all
the encouraging comments and positive feedback from my doctors and nurses, my own precise observations told me the bitter truth.
My first chemotherapy sessions had produced no effect – the lump was still the same size.
Then I eliminated dairy products. Within days, the lump started to shrink .
About two weeks after my second chemotherapy session and one week after giving up dairy produce, the lump in my neck started to itch. Then it began to soften and to reduce in size. The line on the graph, which had shown no change, was now pointing downwards as the tumour got smaller and smaller.
And, very significantly, I noted that instead of declining exponentially (a graceful curve) as cancer is meant to do, the tumour’s decrease in size was plotted on a straight line heading off the bottom of the graph,
indicating a cure, not suppression (or remission) of the tumour.
One Saturday afternoon after about six weeks of excluding all dairy produce from my diet, I practised an hour of meditation then felt for what was left of the lump. I couldn’t find it. Yet I was very experienced at
detecting cancerous lumps – I had discovered all five cancers on my own. I went downstairs and asked my husband to feel my neck. He could not find any trace of the lump either.
On the following Thursday I was due to be seen by my cancer specialist at Charing Cross Hospital in London . He examined me thoroughly, especially my neck where the tumour had been. He was initially bemused and then delighted as he said, “I cannot find it.” None of my doctors, it appeared, had expected someone with my type and stage of cancer (which had clearly spread to the lymph system) to survive, let alone be so hale
and hearty.
My specialist was as overjoyed as I was. When I first discussed my ideas with him he was understandably skeptical. But I understand that he now uses maps showing cancer portality in China in his lectures, and
recommends a non-dairy diet to his cancer patients.
I now believe that the link between dairy produce and breast cancer is similar to the link between smoking and lung cancer. I believe that identifying the link between breast cancer and dairy produce, and then
developing a diet specifically targeted at maintaining the health of my breast and hormone system, cured me.
It was difficult for me, as it may be for you, to accept that a substance as ‘natural’ as milk might have such ominous health implications. But I am a living proof that it works and, starting from tomorrow, I shall reveal the secrets of my revolutionary action plan.
Extracted from “Your Life in Your Hands” by Professor Jane Plant
Weight loss
The way to shape up fast is no secret. Weight training will sculpt and build lean muscle, which (unlike fat) burns calories on its own; cardio (brisk walking, biking, jogging, etc.) will shed the fat hiding those defined muscles. I’m a cardio fan from way back (I love how it feels to get my heart rate up), but who wants to slog away on a treadmill in a dull gym, going nowhere fast (or slow, as the case may be)? Not me! Especially when you can spend less time and get better results.
The secret is intervals. Study subjects who spent just 20 minutes mixing sprints with jogging lost three times the fat off their legs and butt in 15 weeks, compared to those who jogged steadily for 40 minutes, research from the University of New South Wales in Sydney finds. Intervals may spark fat-mobilizing hormones, and they amp your cardio capacity so your future runs will actually feel easier.
I like relaxing runs, but if you do the same slog every day, you can suffer from what’s sometimes called “postman’s syndrome”—named for those who do the same walk every day and yet their bodies never change. Your muscles become so efficient at a movement over time that if you do it day after day and eat the same way, you never overtax your system and burn more calories to lose weight.
The answer is to mix up your cardio either by changing your workout around or adding speedy bursts—meaning intervals. Intervals can be fun if you approach them right. Each one represents a mini goal—finish the 1-minute sprint, complete the 2-minute cooldown, and so on. I feel more pumped up doing this and never get bored. Check out Self.com’s workout archives for tons of cool cardio plans.
Try some interval workouts and share your experience (and success) at SELF’s Swap Fitness Secrets forum.
Some one just sent me this.
I think it is interesting.
It would be nice to hear what results folk get with it.
VICKS VapoRub – INTERESTING
ALSO REMINDS AYURVEDIC TREATMENT FOR EYE PROBLEMS WHERE YOU HAVE TO RUB PURE GHEE ON YOUR SOLES OF THE FEET WITH THE HELP OF A BRASS CUP.THIS EXERCISE ALSO HELPS TO STRENGHTEN THE LOWER ABDOMINAL MUSCLES AND HELPS LIVER TOO.
During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils.
Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can ‘taste’ it.
Some of us have used Vicks Vapo Rub for years for everything from chapped lips
to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I’ve never heard of this. And
don’t laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it
aren’t sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out
personally), put Vicks Vapo Rub generously on the soles of your feet, cover with
socks, and the heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped
for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in
children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is
extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.
Just happened to tune in A..M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough
medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemicals in them. This
method of using Vicks Vapo Rub on the soles of the feet was found to be more
effective than prescribed medicines for children at bed time. In addition it seems
to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep
soundly.
My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough
a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had
enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes. So she went from every few
seconds uncontrollable coughing, she slept cough-free for hours every night she
used it.
If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you
will be amazed at how it works.
DON’T SHUN THIS ONE.. TRY IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BAD COLD.
THE ONLY THING YOU CAN LOSE IS YOUR COUGH.
I immediately thought of Barbados when I read an article by the NKF about a survey which focused on socioeconomic factors, perceptions, fears and concerns about living donor transplantation and barriers to learning about transplant as a treatment option.
I wonder could the results of a similar survey in Barbados show that those who are scheduled to or have received transplants before starting dialysis are those with higher incomes, a higher level of education, and therefore more likely to have learned about treatment options from a doctor.
In Barbados, it seems that barriers to early transplantation among patients with progressive kidney disease is due to either a lack of a TIMELY REFERRAL by a health professional, or the fact that patients ARE NOT informed that transplantation has better outcomes if and when pursued early. Other factors maybe financial circumstances and potential psychosocial barriers, such as anxiety and misunderstanding about the process, along with reservations about findings and approaching a potential living donor.
Interestingly, responses from the survey suggests if early transplantation is to become a reality the renal nurse should reinforce the importance of timely education, advocacy and facilitate patient-physician communication.
Some of you might not find this funny…
Christopher Halsall // March 12, 2010 at 12:37 PM
OMG!!
@Georgie Porgie,
My wife would like to know if Bajans should be warned of any dangers associated with the use of MSG.
It is sold in Barbados and usually located on the Spices section.
Tips for Parents of Children with Chronic Kidney Disease
Having a child diagnosed with a chronic disease is life-altering and can present emotional, financial and practical challenges for parents. Connecting with others who have experienced similar situations can be very helpful. This month, the National Kidney Foundation has compiled a list of tips from parents of children with chronic kidney disease (http://www.kidney.org/news/ekidney/october10/Top6Tips_October10.cfm)
Kidney Patient Takes Health Matters into Her Own Hands (and Fists)
Four years ago, 35-year old Aziza Myers of New York City received news from her doctor that should have changed her way of life. She had chronic kidney disease, resulting from untreated high blood pressure. But Aziza was in denial and she continued her unhealthy lifestyle until 18 months ago when she made the decision to take control of her health (http://www.kidney.org/news/ekidney/october10/AzizasStory_October10.cfm)
Daily Hemodialysis Improves Depression and Recovery Time
Hemodialysis patients who transitioned from in-center to daily home dialysis experienced significant improvements in symptoms of depression and post-dialysis recovery times, according to a new report (http://www.kidney.org/news/ekidney/october10/Hemodialysis_October10.cfm) published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation.
Source: National Kidney Foundation
Barbados is currently in the midst of a Dengue Epidemic.
But we hear nothing on the actions to address the issue. Regular and systematic fogging should be ongoing, together with heavy work from the Ministry of Health o n bushy areas and on water ponds.
Nothing comprehensive is being done.
With this spate of dengue, many many people have been hospitalised.
What gives?
I came across this article, “World’s 1st Artificial Kidney device by an Indian”
It sounds great and can’t come soon enough. I’m just hoping it comes to fruition soon and that Barbados which is so laid back, and all countries can take advantage of it to stop the suffering of those with kidney disease and save more lives.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/worlds-1st-artificial-kidney-device-by-an-indian/136510-17.html
This is quite interesting …
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/science/30conversation.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=seifter&st=cse
This month is designated as Kidney Month and wanted to share the Videos below.
**Please Note** Ads are played before the video on actual subject is presented.
Dialysis Videos – http://www.mdjunction.com/dialysis/videos
Kidney Transplant Videos – http://www.mdjunction.com/kidney-transplant/videos
Kidney Stones Videos – http://www.mdjunction.com/kidney-stones/videos
Diabetes Type 2 Videos – http://www.mdjunction.com/diabetes-type-2/videos
Organ Transplants Videos – http://www.mdjunction.com/organ-transplants/videos
David
What is one to make of the statement by BAMP President that Cuban trained doctors are not up to scratch? Manning had surgery there and Chavez also underwent a procedure there.The B’dos Gov’t is facilitating the travel arrangements of many Bajans to travel there to have eye surgery,
Perhaps Cuban trained doctors are like doctors trained in other places some are good and some not so good.
BTW are there any Cuban trained doctors practicing in B’dos? Is the Gov’t providing assistance to would be doctors to train in Cuba?
Interesting statement.
http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/doubts-over-cuban-trained-doctors/
Agreed, good point. You can pretty much guarantee that Manning would not come to Barbados for surgery.
Further than that, Chavez? Must be joking. This sounds like a fight for territory.
Of course, just as there are some excellent doctors here, there are those who are incompetent, so it must be in Cuba.
So, what is BAMP’s point? As I said, territory. Perhaps BAMP chairman will be happy to enlighten us as to why all of the bigups have surgery in New York, not here?
What did he say about Cuba?
Thanks Sargeant!
I tend to agree with BAMP. Not that all UWI doctors are up to scratch, but how can you be so good at a language you have only learnt for six months as to follow lectures clearly in a specialist subject? This is the first problem. Why is there a need to go to Cuba to study medicine anyway? Are all Cuban hospitals that well equipped? Having great doctors does not mean great teaching or learning.
Regarding to the medical treatment in the BJT (Barbados, Trinidad, Jamcia) triumverate, vs Cuba…here we have a case where 223 patients in T&T have received extensive doses of radiation, due to miscalibration of a machine.
You might blame this on technical issues, not the doctors, but is medicine not the ‘whole deal’ of treatment?
I doubt this would have happened in Cuba.
By the way, I am told by a patients family that a specialist here told them that the machine here is also miscalibrated. Dont know for sure, that is what the family member told me.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/CANCER_SHOCKER-125122789.html
I found the following site to be very informative…
http://www.patientslikeme.com/
Kidney disease is becoming more and more rampant because many of us are not as vigilant as we should be with our health.
When the doctor orders lab tests, there are a few things that you need to do to keep abreast:
a. request a copy of your results – do not accept any excuse from your doctor – the results are readily available
b. compare your results with the normal range shown on the paper
c. if outside the range – ask the doctor to explain what it means in layman English – it could be a warning – catch before it is too late.
Top 5 Most Important Kidney Health Numbers
The numbers that are especially important in predicting kidney health – and what’s in the normal range?
1. Estimated GFR number – Measures kidney function, over 60 is normal, under 60, talk to your doctor. GFR, or glomerular filtration rate, tells you how well your kidneys are doing their job of filtering the blood. More info on this test here (link to GFR page)
2. Blood Pressure Reading – High blood pressure leads to kidney disease. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. If the upper number is over 140 and the lower number is above 90, your blood pressure is too high.
3. Albumin to Creatinine Ratio – Estimates the amount of protein found in your urine in a day. Protein in the urine is one of the earliest signs of kidney disease. Less than 30 is normal, over 30, talk to your doctor.
4. Total Cholesterol – Over 200, you may be at risk for heart disease.
5. Blood Glucose Check – Checks for diabetes, the leading cause of kidney failure. While fasting: over 125 and after eating: over 200 indicates diabetes.
Source: National Kidney Foundation
@Dr. GP a friend sent this link to me. As a layman I can only comment on the presentation.
The “science” is above my pay grade.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/20/on-the-evils-of-wheat-why-it-is-so-addictive-and-how-shunning-it-will-make-you-skinny/
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20101202/lead/lead4.html#.T04KqXu63jQ.facebook
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17799053
Condolences to the family,friends and the music fraternity in Barbados on the passing of Clifton Glasgow.
He was one of the best guitarists in the Caribbean and a good person.
BU joins in extending condolences as well. Knocked down by an ignorant motorist.
Meet “Ms. Ernie,” the world’s oldest competitive bodybuilding grandma
By Tecca | Today in Tech – Fri, Jun 15, 2012
This 75-year-old weight-lifting granny could probably beat you in an arm-wrestling competition without even tr …
Are you struggling to stay in shape? If you need any inspiration, look no further than 75-year-old Ernestine Shepherd, the oldest female competitive bodybuilder in the world.
According to Shepherd, she wasn’t always athletic — in fact, just the opposite. It wasn’t until she turned 71 that she took up the sport. But she isn’t just doing it for her own health. She hopes to inspire others into starting a healthy lifestyle as well, ideally sooner than she did.
“If ever there were an anti-aging pill, I would call it exercise,” explains Shepherd, who teaches an exercise class at her Baltimore, Maryland church. “Age is nothing but a number.”
Be sure to watch the BBC’s interview with Shepherd. And if you want even more inspiration to get off the couch, check out this 104-year-old paragliding wonderwoman who won fame by one-upping her 101-year-old competition.
(Source)
This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/obesity-big-fat-problem-america-future-193852066.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18673220#
shocking these criminals should not be allowed to be in business imagine they have put people lives in jeopardy and on top of that allowed to go free with a slap on the wrist and a small guy gets convicted and goes to jail for selling an ounce of marijuana ,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7880583.stm
Scientists have pinpointed a likely source for many cases of autism and schizophrenia: Men who become fathers later in life pass on more brand-new genetic mutations to their offspring.
Although older mothers are more likely to have children with chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome because of problems with older eggs, the study found that practically all of the novel mutations detected in children came from the father’s sperm.
And the older the father, the more mutations he passed on.
I found the following to be quite interesting and thought I should share it here. “Low Income Linked to Higher Levels of Kidney Disease in African Americans.”
http://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/nr/Low-Income-Linked-to-Higher-Levels-of-Kidney-Disease.cfm
A link to a story I thought is worth sharing…
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/local/kidney-transplant-film-wins-children-s-bafta-1-4562992
Hello there! I know this is kind of off topic
but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a
captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one?
Thanks a lot!
I came across the link below after reading the blog by Georgie Porgie on Diabetes
https://www.bayercontour.com/Login.aspx
@David
Time to move the debate to other matters, Simon Fraser University is carrying out some research about Medical Tourism and one of the targeted countries is Barbados. Recently I heard a discussion about this topic and thought you might be interested in a synopsis.
http://www.sfu.ca/medicaltourism/One%20Page%20Reports/Barbados'%20Medical%20Tourism%20Sector.pdf
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/03/18/toronto-police-warning-illegal-buttock-enhancement.html?cmp=rss
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sugary-vs-diet-drinks/
http://www.citynews.ca/2013/04/03/cancer-patients-plan-lawsuit-over-diluted-chemo-drugs/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2303479/The-Ecuadorian-dwarf-community-immune-cancer-diabetes-hold-cure-diseases.html
@Colonel Buggy
This maybe fantastic news if the drug can be developed!
US Cardiologist Admits to Ordering $19 Million in Unnecessary Testing
Michael O’Riordan
Apr 11, 2013
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PATERSON, NJ — A New York area–based cardiologist has confessed to ordering unnecessary tests and procedures on patients to the tune of $19 million[1]. Dr Jose Katz, the owner and chief executive officer of Cardio-Med Services and Comprehensive Healthcare and Medical Services, admitted to ordering diagnostic tests regardless of patient symptoms and falsely diagnosing a majority of his patients with angina to justify
The Record, a New Jersey newspaper, reports that Katz also admitted that he allowed unlicensed practitioners to treat and diagnose patients, including Mario Roncal, who obtained a medical degree in Puerto Rico but was never licensed to practice any US state. Katz also kept his wife on the payroll to make her eligible for Social Security benefits even though she did little or no work.
Katz made the admissions to US District Judge Jose Linares during a federal court hearing in Newark, NJ, last week. The government accused Katz of operating a “medical mill,” where he ordered the same series of diagnostic tests on his patients, directed other employees or other physicians at his companies to perform the unnecessary tests, and falsely diagnosed a majority of his patients with angina. Katz even billed Medicare and Medicaid $15 million for enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) for the treatment of angina, something his attorney admitted was unnecessary.
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As part of his plea, Katz admitted that he bilked Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers out of $19 million between 2004 and 2012. This is the largest amount of healthcare fraud discovered in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the article states. Katz denied that the fraud put any of his patients at risk, insisting “the patients are more important than anything else.”
According to the Record, Katz was paid more than $70 million from Medicare and Medicaid between 2005 and 2012. His busy practices, which included offices in Paterson and Union City, NJ, and Manhattan and Queens, NY, treated hundreds of patients each day. Katz also advertised extensively, spending $6 million on Spanish-language TV and radio ads over several years.
Katz was released on a $200 000 bond and faces between 57 and 87 months in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 23, 2013. Roncal, the unlicensed physician, has already pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and is awaiting sentencing.
David
Don’t know how much attention is being paid to this pest in Bim but the latest concern out of the US is that it can cause illnesses in humans including meningitis.
The authorities in Florida are trying to get Gov’t permission to use another control agent (don’t know the name but it seems there are some environmental concerns) perhaps the B’dos Gov’t should ask the USA for help in eradicating his pest or increase the bounty for them so people would be tempted to go out and collect them.
Note Barbados is mentioned in the report.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/thousands-giant-snails-causing-problems-for-florida-homeowners/
@Sarge
Thanks!
The local news carried the story this evening.
Cancer is threatening to overwhelm Latin American countries, experts writing in Lancet Oncology warn.
There are far fewer cases of cancer in the region than in the US or Europe – but the proportion who die is far higher, they say.
Late diagnosis and poor access to treatment are the main reasons for the disparity, they add.
They said as life expectancy increased, cancer would become more common, and many countries would not cope.
The experts looked at cancer incidence and care in the Latin American and Caribbean region, including the following countries: Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Paraguay and El Salvador.
Risk factors
Writing in a Lancet Oncology report that is being officially launched at a specialist conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, they say as the economies of these countries grow, and standards of living increase, people are increasingly adopting the habits of more developed countries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22291576
Thanks for finally talking about >Medical Corner | Barbados Underground <Loved it!
And wunnah think wunnah got problems
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/man-surgery-134-pound-scrotum/story?id=19091787#.UYnCqblzaUk
@Sargeant…. That story sounds like a load of balls to me.
@Colonel Buggy
Five painful years, talk about testicular fortitude…….