my physical (blog)

The Lap-Band debate

FDA's Lap-Band decision is a boon for Allergan

“Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington— Pharmaceutical giant Allergan Inc. stands to win big from the federal government's decision to make Lap-Band weight-loss surgery available to more overweight Americans.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday cleared the way for marketing the procedure to patients who are significantly less obese than those who qualify now — a decision that would make an estimated 26.4 million more Americans eligible to consider the Irvine company's device. The approval also means that, according to company officials, 45.6 million Americans meet the criteria for Lap-Band surgery. That's more than 1 in 7.”

Vitamin D and You

Long and Short of Calcium and Vitamin D

"The new daily recommendations for calcium and vitamin D, issued in November by the Institute of Medicine, have left many people wondering whether they are getting enough, or perhaps too much, in their diets and supplements.

The institute’s expert committee, which included bone specialists, concluded that most people don’t need supplements of these critical nutrients and warned of serious health risks from the high doses some now take — including kidney stones and heart disease linked to calcium supplements, and the very falls and fractures that vitamin D is meant to protect against."

Keeping hair during chemo - a video

Keeping hair during chemotherapy

"Breast cancer patient Katherine Klein brings a team of people to her oncologist's office, including her husband, to assist her in the cumbersome process of putting cold caps on her head during chemotherapy treatment. The caps are worn in an effort to prevent Klein's hair from falling out."

The art of open communication with your physician

A Talk With the Doctor May Help Patients Afford Care

"READERS of this column have been advised more than once to negotiate prices with health care providers for things like an M.R.I. scan, surgery and office visits. With patients paying more out of pocket for their health care than ever before — in the form of higher co-payments and co-insurance, high deductibles and uncovered and out-of-network treatments — negotiating with doctors and other providers has become commonplace."

Fluoride for your teeth

Government Advises Less Fluoride in Water

"The federal government lowered its recommended limit on the amount of fluoride in drinking water for the first time in nearly 50 years, saying that spots on some children's teeth show they are getting too much of the mineral.

Fluoride has been added to U.S. water supplies since 1945 to prevent tooth decay. Since 1962, the government has recommended adding a range of 0.7 milligrams to 1.2 milligrams per liter."

Not a charley horse

When Achy Legs Are a Warning

“When Linda Molnar developed pain in her legs that got worse when she walked even a short distance, doctors initially attributed it to an old back injury. But three years and many doctor visits later, a vascular specialist finally gave her the correct diagnosis last fall: peripheral artery disease.”

Excess sorbitol can have side effects

Chewing gum weight loss warning

“Too much ‘sugar-free’ chewing gum can lead to severe weight loss and diarrhoea, doctors warn.

The cause is sorbitol, a widely used sweetener in chewing gum and sweets, which acts as a laxative. Writing in the British Medical Journal, experts gave the example of two patients who had become ill after chewing around 20 sticks of gum a day.”

Not all sports are created equally

Suicide Reveals Signs of a Disease Seen in N.F.L.

“A brain autopsy of a University of Pennsylvania football player who killed himself in April has revealed the same trauma-induced disease found in more than 20 deceased National Football League players, raising questions of how young football players may be at risk for the disease.

Owen Thomas, a popular 6-foot-2, 240-pound junior lineman for Penn with no previous history of depression, hanged himself in his off-campus apartment after what friends and family have described as a sudden and uncharacteristic emotional collapse.”

Cellphone warning

Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cellphone?

WARNING: Holding a cellphone against your ear may be hazardous to your health. So may stuffing it in a pocket against your body.

I'm paraphrasing here. But the legal departments of cellphone manufacturers slip a warning about holding the phone against your head or body into the fine print of the little slip that you toss aside when unpacking your phone. Apple, for example, doesn't want iPhones to come closer than 5/8 of an inch; Research In Motion, BlackBerry's manufacturer, is still more cautious: keep a distance of about an inch.

Laparoscopic Gall Bladder Removal

Laparoscopic Gall Bladder Removal
Uploaded by evilpunk1333. - Check out other Film & TV videos.

It's all about prevention

What to Do Now to Feel Better at 100

“Many changes take place in physical abilities as we age. Try as I may, I simply can’t swim as fast at 69 as I did at 39, 49 or even 59. Nor am I as steady on my feet. I can only assume my strength has waned as well — I’m finding bottles and jars harder to open and heavy packages harder to lift and carry.

But in August, I hiked in the Grand Canyon, prompting my 10-year-old grandson Stefan to ask, ‘Grandma, how many 69-year-olds do you think could do this?’”

Vitamin B offers promising results

Daily vitamin B could slow Alzheimer's onset, study finds

“Daily doses of vitamin B can halve the rate of brain shrinkage in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which can be a precursor to Alzheimer's, researchers at Oxford University said Thursday.

The two-year clinical trial is the largest to study the effect of vitamin B on MCI and one of the first disease-modifying trials in the Alzheimer's field to show positive results, the researchers said.”

Cancer fighting foods

5 of nature's best cancer-preventing foods

"As a veteran faculty member at the Stanford University Medical School, Dr. John Farquhar has seen thousands of patients try to beat cancer with aggressive chemotherapy treatments that "blast them with terrible side effects." But, as the founder of Stanford's Prevention Research Center, he believes he has helped other patients beat cancer before it starts using nature's medicine: vegetables and fruits.

Farquhar has worked at the university for 30 years as a professor, a cardiologist and the co-founder of the Stanford Prevention Research Center. He co-teaches a popular course called "The Best Diet Ever," (see box) in which he preaches the merits of five foods with strong anti-cancer agents: soy, onions, broccoli, tomatoes and blueberries."

CPR skills put to good use

Creedmoor grocery workers help administer CPR

"On June 16, employees at the Food Lion in Creedmoor found Nancy Castle, 56, unconscious on the dairy aisle.

Employee Doreen Sexton's CPR training from 16 years with the Girl Scouts kicked in. While someone called 911, she started with 'A.B.C.'"

New rules for CPR

CPR studies find no benefit to mouth-to-mouth over chest compressions alone

"For anyone trying to save a victim of cardiac arrest, the questions used to be: How many breaths do I give? How many chest compressions? And do I really want to do this in the first place?

New research published Thursday, however, adds to growing evidence that cardiopulmonary resuscitation could be far simpler and less off-putting. For adults in cardiac arrest, mouth-to-mouth breathing might not be needed -- or even helpful."

Food dangers for children

Labels Urged for Food That Can Choke

"On a July afternoon in 2006, Patrick Hale microwaved a bag of popcorn for his two young children and sat down with them to watch television. When he got up to change the channel, he heard a strange noise behind him, and turned to see his 23-month-old daughter, Allison, turning purple and unable to breathe.

As a Marine, he was certified in CPR, but he could not dislodge the popcorn with blows to her back and finger swipes down her throat. He called 911, but it was too late: by the time Allison arrived at the hospital, her heart had stopped beating. An autopsy found that she had inhaled pieces of popcorn into her vocal cords, her bronchial tubes and a lung."

20 Worst Drinks in America 2010

20 Worst Drinks in America 2010

Eat This, Not That by Men’s Health

Hepatitis C update

Hope Against Hepatitis C

"New medicines are being developed that are expected to transform the care of patients with hepatitis C, making treatment far more effective and far less grueling.

The new drugs, which could start reaching the market as early as next year, could help subdue a virus that infects roughly four million Americans, most of them baby boomers, and 170 million people worldwide."

Batteries and children don't mix

For Very Young, Peril Lurks in Lithium Cell Batteries

"Last fall, 13-month-old Aidan Truett of Hamilton, Ohio, developed what seemed like an upper respiratory infection. He lost interest in food and vomited a few times, but doctors attributed it to a virus. After nine days of severe symptoms and more doctor visits, the hospital finally ordered an X-ray to look for pneumonia.

What they found instead was totally unexpected. The child had ingested a “button” battery, one of those flat silver discs used to power remote controls, toys, musical greeting cards, bathroom scales and other home electronics."

Good microbes

How Microbes Defend and Define Us

"In 2008, Dr. Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota, took on a patient suffering from a vicious gut infection of Clostridium difficile. She was crippled by constant diarrhea, which had left her in a wheelchair wearing diapers. Dr. Khoruts treated her with an assortment of antibiotics, but nothing could stop the bacteria. His patient was wasting away, losing 60 pounds over the course of eight months. 'She was just dwindling down the drain, and she probably would have died,' Dr. Khoruts said."

Cover coughs and sneezes correctly

Yuck: Few People Correctly Cover Coughs, Sneezes

"Alas, here's more proof that most people have habits that aren't very sanitary -- and sometimes can be plain disgusting.

For a study, medical students secretly watched hundreds of people cough or sneeze at a train station, a shopping mall and a hospital in New Zealand. What they saw wasn't pretty, with most people failing to properly prevent an airborne explosion of infectious germs."

The link between gut bacteria and weight

Gut bacteria may affect your weight

"Something in your gut could be making you fat — and it isn't just last night's pizza. The vast, diverse community of microbes inhabiting the intestines, scientists are finding, can influence metabolism and weight.

Between 10 trillion and 100 trillion microbes, mainly bacteria, dwell in a person's colon and small intestine. They function together almost like another of the body's organs, influencing, among other things, how many calories we extract from our food and whether we make or burn fat. Researchers have discovered significant links between gut bacteria and weight and metabolism in mice — and are starting to find similar associations in people."

A closer look at Thyroid disease

Patient Voices: Thyroid Disease

“The thyroid is a tiny gland in the neck whose overproduction or underproduction of hormones can cause a host of problems — including Graves’ disease, hyperthyroidism and the little-known Hashimoto’s syndrome. Here, six men and women speak about thyroid disease and its impact on their lives.”

Allergies? Think again...

Doubt Is Cast on Many Reports of Food Allergies

“Many who think they have food allergies actually do not.

A new report, commissioned by the federal government, finds the field is rife with poorly done studies, misdiagnoses and tests that can give misleading results.

While there is no doubt that people can be allergic to certain foods, with reproducible responses ranging from a rash to a severe life-threatening reaction, the true incidence of food allergies is only about 8 percent for children and less than 5 percent for adults, said Dr. Marc Riedl, an author of the new paper and an allergist and immunologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.”

Bill Clinton's stents

Bill Clinton gets stents in artery after having chest discomfort

“Reporting from Los Angeles and New York - Former President Clinton, who underwent major surgery to clear blocked arteries six years ago, suffered chest discomfort Thursday and was taken to a New York hospital, where doctors gave him an excellent prognosis after inserting stents in one of his coronary arteries.

Clinton's cardiologist, Dr. Allan Schwartz, who oversaw the roughly hourlong procedure, said Clinton, 63, had been up and about and was expected to go home Friday. He could be back at work within days.”