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Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Harry Smith of CBS News had a colonoscopy done live on his show this morning. Katie Couric, whose husband died of colorectal cancer, observed. She also had a colonoscopy done several years ago when she was on the Today show.

It’s important that we get this done to make sure anything that could become cancer is removed then. When I had mine done they found 3 polyps which were snipped off at the time. I felt a pinch, but apparently the anesthetic was wearing off since I had also had an endoscopy done before that.

What I see that’s different is that Harry was allowed to keep his dignity. I was turned over on my left side and the open part of the hospital gown was wide open.

The prep for a colonoscopy is not fun because you have to empty out the colon the night before the procedure, and you go to the bathroom a lot of times.

I encourage all people over 40 to get a colonoscopy done and then do the follow-up procedures when the doctor says you need to have it done again.

Here’s Harry’s colonoscopy:

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Good news.

NEW YORK — Former President Bill Clinton was recovering at his suburban home with his wife on Friday after leaving a Manhattan hospital where he underwent a heart procedure.

Three black SUVs with tinted windows arrived around 7:45 a.m. Friday and pulled through the high gates at the house. The Westchester County hamlet of Chappaqua is about 35 miles north of New York City.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was also at the family’s home.

Clinton adviser Douglas Band said in a statement that Clinton left New York Presbyterian Hospital “in excellent health.”

“He looks forward in the days ahead to getting back to the work of his Foundation, and to Haiti relief and recovery efforts,” it said.

We wish the former President well as he recuperates from his recent medical procedure.

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Watch this and see what I mean:

“Why should I take a cab and fill out all that paperwork and wait in the emergency room” (paraphrased) Why, indeed.

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Wednesday I went to the dentist for my six month cleaning and check-up. While there I noticed a brochure talking about an oral cancer test that was non-invasive and painless so I asked about it when I saw the hygienist.

The dentist had mentioned the test in passing six months ago, but that was it. I was told the procedure consisted of swishing a solution in the mouth for 45 seconds, the blinds being closed, the lights turned off and the dentist taking an ultraviolet light to check the inside of my mouth.

She checks the inside of my mouth anyway, including a good look under the tongue so I decided to take the solution and go for it.

The solution tastes like raspberry vinaigrette dressing and causes one to have lots of saliva afterward. I’m happy to say no signs of pre-cancer or cancer were found in my mouth after a thorough exam, including a panoramic x-ray of my entire face.

If someone smokes (and I do) it is something that is smart to do at least once a year to detect early stages of oral cancer.

I was offered the original Listerine mouthwash after but declined as I think it tastes worse than the solution. Most insurance companies will not pay for this test so I gladly paid the $65 fee, which would probably go lower if more people took advantage of this little-known test.

That’s my health tip for awhile. Have a great week-end and say a prayer for Sue, who is down with a bad summer cold.

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(Update): Usually our updates are placed at the bottom of a post but in this instance and on this topic, the following link provides information so important I placed it here.

For the latest including many updates on Congressional movement in regards to a health care package go here. If you are covered by a private health insurance plan at the moment,be sure to read all the way to the bottom of Ace’s post.

Our only hope of stopping Congress from usurping our individual right to choice may sit with the Senate if the House continues on the path pursued today. Pressure needs to be applied in order to be certain a bill is not legislated into law which will take over control over your well being.

Call, email and phone your elected representatives in both Houses, and politely offer your opinion on their enactment of another government controlled faction of our lives.
(end update)

The administration seems bent on getting this health care debacle through Congress in time for the August recess.

What’s the rush?

Let’s see.

Lawmakers pass another hurried, bad (unread) bill through Congress, and then retreat for a month on a much needed vacation , all the while ducking any negative questions which might be posed them by their constituents. After all, this is all in our best interest, or haven’t you gotten the message.

Now, while the mice (congress) are away, the cats (the press) will work tirelessly to inform us that Obama and the democratic Congress worked tirelessly to provide us with this much needed overhaul, all the while ignoring those insignificant facts like this:

The legislation unveiled yesterday would place additional taxes on households with more than $350,000 a year in income and calls for further increases if the measure doesn’t hit a target for cost savings. The provisions are intended to raise $544 billion over 10 years.

House leaders said the plan, which includes mandates to purchase coverage and a public health-insurance option, would cover 97 percent of Americans by 2019. President Barack Obama praised their work, saying it will “begin the process of fixing what’s broken” in the system. emphasis-admin

No sir. No personal choices for Americans.

There must be psychics among those writing legislation these days, as they appear to know just how much money one must earn to be able to afford a health care plan. Never mind everyone has bills and gee, there’s that thing called food we all must put on the table.

So if you’re poor and uninsured you get taxpayer subsidized government health care. If you’re rich, you can buy any health care you want. But if you’re not poor and not rich and don’t have insurance, you pay taxes.

What about our ever growing senior population?

Obama’s health care proposal is, in effect, the repeal of the Medicare program as we know it. The elderly will go from being the group with the most access to free medical care to the one with the least access. Indeed, the principal impact of the Obama health care program will be to reduce sharply the medical services the elderly can use. No longer will their every medical need be met, their every medication prescribed, their every need to improve their quality of life answered.

Wake up America or you will one day find that our government has its hand in every facet of your personal life. You will not be allowed vices of any sort with which they do not agree.

You will be forced to make choices about your personal finances based on the taxes which will be imposed upon you for being successful.

The style of our automobiles will be designed to accommodate what our lawmakers determine politically (global warming) correct. The only pleasure here would be to watch the plush riding politicians fit into those boxes they would have us drive, assuming of course that they would have to follow their own laws due to well, security concerns or something.

Small business may well become a thing of the past as the government certainly does not want to assume control of all the little guys across the United States. Besides, how will they afford the mounting cost of providing health care for employees else be penalized in the form of taxation?

There are those of us who are befuddled by all that is taking place in Washington these days but I will close with the words of Robert Gibbs when questioned on July 13th about the desired swift passage of the health care bill:

TAPPER: The president has said that health care reform, he’d like it on his desk by the August recess* and thinks that…

GIBBS: Well, I think — I think the president has talked about moving a bill forward. I don’t — I don’t think anybody was under the illusion that the whole process would be wrapped up by — by the beginning of August.

TAPPER: What does he want done by the beginning of August?

GIBBS: Well, I think we can get a bill through — bill through the House and bill through — hopefully a bill through the Senate. But I don’t think anybody’s under the illusion that all of it’s going to be wrapped up in just a couple of weeks, but that we can make a lot of progress towards that goal.

When they figure it all out, I’m sure they’ll let us know.

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You can’t define a government run health care system in any simpler terms than this:

Banana peels to heal warts? Who knew?

Bananas to banish veruccas, ginger to ease muscle pain and tea for mouth ulcers – before you visit the chemist, check out the many proven remedies in your own larder.

Contemplating a move? Do you live in Virginia? Give these guys a call:

One of those feel good stories worthy of sharing:

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Up for a good laugh?

The “New Alphabet” [no author noted] arrived in my email box yesterday and boy, could I relate.

Enjoy!

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Sure boss, I know you’re right. Gee, please tell me more about what I should believe:

Senator Schumer has it backwards. He is duly elected by his constituents to do what is right and just by them. Oh wait, that must have been in another dream.

Add to that, Senator Specter informing us he made a commitment to someone (it sure wasn’t the American people or the folks in Pennsylvania) to vote for this monstrosity of a stimulus bill (all the while admitting he did not know the health care provisions were written in):

HT: Ed Morrissey

and you have a serious recipe for eventual citizen revolt. That is unless the right to protest is also denied under this ugly legislation.

For more on the Health Care Provisions check out Texas Rainmaker:

Get that? Your medical care will be reviewed by the federal government to determine if it’s appropriate.

Next time you call in sick to work, your boss will ask if you have a note from your government. Doesn’t it make you feel all hopenchangy?

Ah. No!

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Via Kim Priestap at Wizbang:

Tom Daschle knew the reason why Clinton failed with his socialized medicine is because he actually let the American people in on what he wanted to do. Daschle advised Obama to sneak it in, which is what he’s done. Nationalization – and rationing – of health care is in the stimulus bill! Betsy McCaughy of Bloomberg has the details.

emphasis-mine

Please read the rest of Kim’s post and the article at Bloomberg.

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Now, light up the switchboards and flood the email boxes of those elected to serve you in Washington.Let them know you do not want your health care solely in the hands of the federal government.

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For the past week or two I have been almost unable to get up the energy to do anything. I am tired all the time and am beginning to get worried about it. No matter how much sleep I get it doesn’t seem like enough.

I have a regularly scheduled doctor’s appointment the first of December, and if I can go that long I will wait and ask him to check my iron and thyroid levels with my regular blood work. If I don’t feel better in a week or so I will make an appointment to see him and see if we can get to the bottom of the problem.

In the meantime, I covet your prayers. I apologize to Sue for making her carry the water on this blog.

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Sometimes the body just does not want to cooperate.

~J~ is down for a few days on doctors orders with a bad back.

I don’t know if she will be able to post over the short haul, but no matter as long as she recovers.

Feel better soon!

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Perhaps it’s not the tomatoes after all:

Investigators are seeing more signs that the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes might have been caused by tainted jalapeno peppers and have begun collecting samples from restaurants and from the homes of those who have been sickened, according to health officials involved in the probe.

While attempting to track such an outbreak is no doubt a difficult task, what a shame for all the farmers who have taken a loss early this season due to these investigations. The fact that tomatoes have not been completely ruled out will most certainly spell disaster for many more in the near future.

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Good news for all you golfers out there:

It is a well-known fact that exercise is good for the health, but the expected health gains of particular activities are still largely unknown. A team of researchers from Karolinska Institutet has now presented a study of the health effects of golf – a low-intensity form of exercise in which over 600,000 Swedes engage.

The study, which is published in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, is based on data from 300,000 Swedish golfers and shows that golf has beneficial health effects. The death rate amongst golfers is 40 per cent lower than the rest of the population, which equates to an increased life expectancy of five years.

Professor Anders Ahlbom, who has led the study with Bahman Farahmand is not surprised at the result, as he believes that there are several aspects of the game that are proved to be good for the health.

“A round of golf means being outside for four or five hours, walking at a fast pace for six to seven kilometres, something which is known to be good for the health,” he says. “People play golf into old age, and there are also positive social and psychological aspects to the game that can be of help.”

The study does not rule out that other factors than the actual playing, such as a generally healthy lifestyle, are also behind the lower death rate observed amongst golfers. However, the researchers believe it is likely that the playing of the game in itself has a significant impact on health.

Golf players have a lower death rate regardless of sex, age and social group. The effect is greater for golfers from blue-collar professions than for those from white-collar professions. The lowest rates are found in the group of players with the lowest handicap (i.e. the best golfers).

HT: The Evangelical Outpost

Photo courtesy of: Webshots

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From the AP:

Doctors say Sen. Edward Kennedy has brain tumor; condition discovered after he had seizure.

This is all the information available at this time. Updates will follow if further news on the Senator’s condition is released.

Major Update:

Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said.

His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

The 76-year-old senator has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.

Thoughts and prayers are offered to the Senator and his family.

Update:

As it should be. There are no politics here, just grief for an old, dear friend.

Senator Robert Byrd delivered these remarks upon hearing of the diagnosis received by Senator Kennedy:

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~o)There are football fans and then there is this young man:

~o)The most sensible and concise article I have read to date on “Operation Chaos” appeared in the Washington Post:

Those looking for evidence of Limbaugh’s influence pointed to Clinton’s edge among Republicans in Indiana and North Carolina. In Indiana, 10 percent of Democratic primary voters described themselves as Republicans, a higher rate than in any state but Mississippi, and they went for Clinton by eight percentage points, according to exit polls. In North Carolina, they were 5 percent of the electorate, and went for her by 29 points.

~o)Imagine being the parent of a child who goes from perfectly healthy to being confined to a wheelchair with an affliction which cannot be identified. That is precisely the case for the Searle family shown in the video below:

The insurance company this family is contracted with should be ashamed that they will not agree to any and all tests needed to identify what has invaded this child’s body.

Perhaps the more exposure this story receives, the more pressure they will feel to do what is right by this child and her family.

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Sue called me Wednesday morning to tell me her computer had died. I spoke to her later and she said her neighbor, who is a computer guru, had checked it out and it was half-way working, but resting at the time while she and her husband took advantage of the good weather and did some garden maintenance.

In the meantime, I’ve had a headache all week, and a sore gland in my neck which makes my ear hurt.

I saw the doctor for my regular check-up last Thursday and had blood taken as usual. I was in high hopes my triglycerides were coming down with the protocol I was on.

The doctor had increased my Niaspan ER from 500 mg at night to 1000 mg at night.

The problem with Niaspan is it causes flushing. This can make you itch, feel hot, get a rash or all three. If you take an aspirin before taking the Niaspan it’s supposed to help with these annoyances.

I did very well on the 500 mg tabs along with the over the counter fish oil capsules I have to take on doctor’s orders and the Tricor tablets that are supposed to control triglycerides.

The treatment started with fish oil capsules then went up to Tricor and then to Niaspan 500 mg. When that didn’t help get the levels down to a manageable number he increased the Niaspan to 1000 mg.

I would take the pill with the aspirin and soon added an atarax pill I use for allergic itching to help with that problem. A couple of hours after taking the larger dose I would look like a cooked lobster from my forehead to my feet and everything in between.

The itching was horrible and I was awake at night more than usual.

I called the doctor and told him of the problem and was told to discontinue the Niaspan and to take a prescription fish oil capsule along with the tricor and over the counter fish oil capsules.

With all this fish oil I was certain good things were happening. You can imagine my disappointment when I got the lab results back and the doctor informed me the triglycerides were even higher than before. The doctor put in a note to start taking 500 mg of niaspan again, but I didn’t have any on hand. All I had were 1000 mg, so I bit the bullet after I talked to Medco and explained why I needed to reactivate the 500 mg niaspan. I can’t cut the pill in half because it takes away the extended release action.

Medco agreed to send the 500 mg and I should receive it in 4-7 days. That is until I got the call yesterday telling me they can’t fill it because they have a later prescription for a higher dose. The problem with those calls is they never tell you what drug they are talking about and since I had sent six prescriptions to them last week I had to call to confirm what the message meant. It’s OK anyway, because I seem to be tolerating the higher dose now.

My blood sugar levels are excellent, my overall cholesterol is pretty good, my good cholesterol is about half what it should be and my bad cholesterol cannot be measured because my triglycerides are so high.

OK, I can’t do the treadmill anymore since I tore my knee up the last time. The Ritis brother Arthur is bothering my back and I’m on pain meds for Mr. Ritis.

The only thing I can do is control my diet, which I admit I hadn’t been doing.

Now, since we have two grandchildren at our house on a daily basis for an hour or so and at night every other week-end, we keep goodies on hand for them to snack on.

Most of the time I don’t snack and am not crazy about cookies, cakes, chips etc. But yesterday my husband and grandson went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of goodies and they keep staring me in the face.

I heard how wonderful the Pringles pickle flavored chips were and resisted them until a few minutes ago when I was starving and wanted something to eat. I didn’t particularly care for them so I tried the cheddar of some special name. What I didn’t know was the cheddar flavor has hot pepper flavor in it and burned my mouth, so that was put up quite quickly.

I went to the refrigerator to get a glass of 1% milk and decided against it because it isn’t organic. Now I’m not particular about what I eat but I like organic milk because it has a better flavor and seems more full-bodied. Instead I found regular 1% milk, which I will probably not use.

So here I sit, full of fat in my circulatory system, my stomach empty and nothing to eat even though the house is loaded with food.

I’m supposed to be a blogger and give you my take on the news, but the fact is I don’t care what’s in the news right now and will not cover the presidential campaign until September.

I don’t care who said what to whom. All I care about are the positions the various candidates are taking on issues I care about.

I won’t vote for Obama but it’s not because he’s black. It’s because he wants us to be in a more socialist society than we are in now and wouldn’t blink to raise our taxes to pay for it.

I won’t vote for Hillary and that’s all I need to say about that. Anything else I would have to say would violate my own rules of not speaking sarcastically about a national figure.

So I’m stuck with McCain whether I like it or not and it’s because he is more likely to hold the same beliefs on most of the issues I care about. I probably disagree with him more than I agree with him, but I disagree with less of him than I do the others.

When is the last time we have been in such a position in our country? Where is our modern day George Washington or Abraham Lincoln? I’m sure we have one but he just doesn’t want to drag himself and his family through all the mud necessary to serve his country. I use the generic male gender.

Anyway, if anyone has a cure for lowering triglycerides I’ll be glad to hear them.

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I’m one of those lucky people who gets a cold every five or ten years. It’s about time for me to get a cold. If you’re sick with one more than the usual sneezing time maybe you should go to your doctor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new and virulent strain of adenovirus, which frequently causes the common cold, has spread in parts of the United States, killing 10 people and putting dozens into hospitals, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report detailed cases of people ill since May 2006 with a strain of the virus called adenovirus 14 in New York, Oregon, Washington state and Texas.

“Whether you’re a healthy young adult, an infant or an elderly person, this virus can cause severe respiratory disease at any age,” said John Su, who investigates infectious diseases for the CDC and contributed to the report.

Two of the 10 people who have died from the new strain were infants, Su said. The CDC report said about 140 people have been sickened by the virus and more than 50 hospitalized, including 24 admitted to intensive care units.

Adenoviruses frequently cause acute upper respiratory tract infections like the common cold, but also can cause other illnesses including inflammation of the stomach and intestines, pink eye, bladder infection and rashes.

Colds caused by adenoviruses can be very severe in the very young and the very old as well as in certain other people, like those with compromised immune systems.

“For most everybody else, it causes a mild illnesses, you get over it, life goes on,” Su said in a telephone interview.

“What makes this particular adenovirus a little different is that it has the capability of making healthy young adults severely ill. And that’s unusual for an adenovirus, and that’s why it’s got our attention,” Su added.

It is possible people outside these four states have been sickened by the new strain of the virus, Su said.

Read the rest here.

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Since I can’t seem to get my triglycerides down to a normal level my doctor has put me on a niacin pill called Niaspan.

Here are the side effects:

Flushing, defined as redness, warmth, itching, and/or a tingling sensaton on the face, neck, chest, and back.

You can help that situation supposedly by taking one aspirin or one ibuprofen tablet 1/2 hour before taking the Niaspan, which is taken when you go to bed.

Let’s put it this way: I feel like I’m having hot flashes again along with itching etc. As long as I don’t have labored breathing or fast heartbeats I’ll be OK, but I can’t get out of bed suddenly or I may faint or get dizzy.

The miracles of modern medicine. 8-|

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Yesterday I had my regular 3 month check-up with the doctor.

Because I’m a diabetic I see him every 3 months to check my blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. We’ve had a bear of a time keeping my triglycerides under control, so I’m hoping for some better news in that department.

Since I was already there and didn’t want to pay another co-pay later in the month I told him I wanted my flu shot and it was time for another pneumonia shot.

Both shots were given and blood was drawn.

Most doctors are advising not to get the flu shot before the middle of October because the shot really lasts only 3 months.

Thankfully, the pneumonia shot is only once every 5 years because that little bugger hurts like heck once the vaccine starts going into the arm.

Be safe and put getting a flu shot on your schedule of things to do. You can usually get them at a pharmacy or grocery store once they start giving them in earnest and at a lower price.

Hopefully the medical researchers guessed right on the strain this year and we will be protected from a bad run of flu.

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Another ER visit for the Anchoress’ father in law and the mother in law isn’t doing so well either, although the Anchoress says things are looking up.

If you’re so inclined please pray for these fine folks.

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Some very interesting videos on the risk and prevention of breast cancer are in the New York Times.

Please check them out at:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Here’s the link to the entire story.

It seems radical, but when you know you are genetically predisposed to breast cancer it’s certainly an option.

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I wonder if it will taste as good.

Dunkin’ Donuts, the food-on-the-go chain whose name celebrates a treat that’s symbolic of unhealthy eating, is trying to refresh its image by largely eliminating trans fat across its menu, Homer Simpson be damned.

Dunkin’ planned to announce Monday that it has developed an alternative cooking oil and reformulated more than 50 menu items – doughnuts included. The Canton, Mass.-based chain says its menu will be “zero grams trans fat” by Oct. 15 across its 5,400 U.S. restaurants in 34 states.

About 400 locations nationwide that took part in a four-month test already have made the switch to a new blend of palm, soybean and cottonseed oils. That includes all restaurants in New York City and Philadelphia, which are forcing restaurants to phase out their use of artery-clogging trans fat.

The ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins, another unit of Dunkin’ Brands Inc., plans to be zero grams trans fat by Jan. 1.

Dunkin’ isn’t claiming it will become “trans fat free,” but does say any trans fat in foods including doughnuts, croissants, muffins and cookies will fall below half a gram per serving. Federal regulations allow food labels to say they’ve got zero grams of trans fat, provided levels fall below the half-gram threshold.

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If someone has an active case of tuberculosis he or she has to be isolated for the sake of the public’s health.

A young man in Georgia was told Friday he has tuberculosis and didn’t believe it, so he started to walk out to go back to his house and then to Mexico.

Friday evening the young man was put into a special isolation cell in the jail where he has a ventilation system that does not allow the air from his cell to circulate into the rest of the jail.

Good move, especially after the last case a couple of months ago.

When doctors told Francisco Santos he had tuberculosis Friday, health officials said the Gwinnett County 17-year-old refused to believe it.

Then the wiry, dark-haired youth refused to submit to any treatment. Worse, he said he was walking out of the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville and heading back to his home country of Mexico, officials said.

Francisco Santos lives in Norcross with at least one parent and several younger siblings, records show.

“I think he was scared,” said David Will, attorney for the Gwinnett County Board of Health.

Gwinnett health officials found themselves in a bind. They had a person with a case of active, contagious tuberculosis, refusing treatment and threatening to carry the disease to a foreign country.

They also were aware of the recent incident involving Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker, who also has tuberculosis. After Speaker left for his wedding in Greece, a national news conference set off an international health scare.

In this case, the Gwinnett officials acted decisively: They put Santos in jail Friday evening, in a rare act of a government agency confining a sick person. Santos is the only inmate in a special medical isolation cell designed for inmates with contagious conditions. The cell, which measures about 15 feet by 20 feet, has a special ventilation system that keeps the air from reaching other inmates.

The 5-foot-5 teenager has a toilet, sink, bed and a mirror made of polished metal. Two deputies guard him and the other medical inmates.

Will, the county health attorney, said Santos was detained because he is a public health threat.

“He has active, contagious TB,” Will said Saturday. “He is at risk of communicating that with anybody he comes in contact with.”

Will said Santos is being held under a court order for confinement. He’ll stay in that cell until either he starts cooperating and accepting treatment, or a judge makes some other decision at a Sept. 5 hearing. At that commitment hearing, the judge could decide to place him in a hospital with security.

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Well, here we go. Conservatives crying social medicine Democrats crying for the poor children and we will fall for the bull the way we always do. Screaming at each other for either being for socialism or being against the children. What a bunch of crap. I’m going to stay out of this one.

The Senate defied President Bush on Thursday and passed a bipartisan bill that would provide health insurance for millions of children in low-income families.

The vote was 68 to 31. The majority was more than enough to overcome the veto repeatedly threatened by Mr. Bush. The White House said the bill “goes too far in federalizing health care.”

But Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chief sponsor of the bill, said, “Millions of American children have hope for a healthier future tonight.”

The bill would increase spending on the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over the next five years.

“Covering these children is worth every cent,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, who helped create the program 10 years ago.

The House passed a much larger bill on Wednesday, presenting negotiators with a formidable challenge in trying to work out differences between the two measures.

Still, the strong commitment to the issue by Democratic leaders virtually guarantees that they can work out a compromise before Sept. 30, when the program is set to expire. But that compromise is likely to be unacceptable to Mr. Bush.

If Mr. Bush vetoes the bill, the future of the program would quickly become an issue in 2008 campaigns for Congress and the White House, in the context of a broader debate about universal coverage for health care.

The House bill, which passed on a vote of 225 to 204, would increase spending by $50 billion over the next five years. The Senate rejected a proposal by Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to match that increase — and to cover the extra cost by raising taxes on people with incomes exceeding $1 million a year.

Story

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I don’t know why he was shocked. I hate to say it but this administration doesn’t listen to anyone.
They have their own ideas on how things are supposed to be done and that’s the way it’s going to be. No discussion.
I also think that the do nothing Congress should not go on vacation . Vacation is something you earn from your employer. I employed these buggers and they haven’t done anything to deserve a vacation. Stay and do your damn job.

The entrepreneur who hosted President Bush last week for a roundtable discussion on health care and small business said yesterday that he could barely get a word in as Bush opined on children’s health insurance and other health topics.

If he had, Clifton Broumand would have told the president he disagreed with him on most of it, he said.

“He answered his own questions,” said Broumand, who gave Bush a tour of Man & Machine Inc., the Landover-based medical computer accessory company he founded 25 years ago. “I thought the whole concept was to ask us, so I was a little bit frustrated. I would have liked the opportunity to give him my viewpoint, rather than him knowing the answer.”
Bush used the occasion — a discussion with three small-business owners — to denounce efforts in Congress to expand the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $35 billion or more over the next five years.

Supporters, including some Republicans, say that would help provide health coverage to nearly 10 million low-income children. But Bush, who wants to add only $5 billion in funding over five years, warned that expanding the federal role in health care could hurt private insurance and ultimately lead to rationing of care. Both the House and Senate are expected to vote on expanding the program before the congressional recess begins in August

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Please read both this story

A recall of canned meat products and dog food made at a Georgia plant due to botulism fears could involve tens of millions of cans that pose an urgent public health threat, U.S. officials said on Monday.

U.S. food regulators appealed to consumers and retailers to find and dispose of the cans.

and check this website to be certain you do not have any of these products on your shelves at home and do not purchase them at the store.

The brands have been expanded from what was originally only Castleberry to include several others.

When the FDA issues a warning such as this:

“This is a very big recall,” David Elder of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s office of regulatory affairs told reporters, deeming it an “urgent public health matter.”

“These products can hurt people. And they have to be off the store shelves. And consumers have to discard any that they have at home,” Elder added.

it is probably time to take this matter seriously.

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President Bush reclaimed his presidential powers from Vice President Cheney after recovering from the sedative effects made necessary by having a colonoscopy.

Five polyps were found, but none seemed to be of any danger.

This is actually a simple procedure and is done under a sedative put into your hand by IV, which makes you a little loopy for a couple of hours.

Anyone over fifty should have this procedure done at least every five years and more if there seem to be problems that are not just regular polyps. I had one done three years ago and had three polyps removed. I’ll go back in two years and have the procedure done again.

The prep for it is no fun, but you shouldn’t feel anything in the procedure.

Since I also had an endoscopy done at the same time I did feel a pinch when the polyps were removed but I think that’s because they didn’t have me sedated enough and it was just a pinch and nothing I couldn’t stand.

This procedure can help detect colon cancer early, and I strongly urge you to get one done if you are 50 or older.

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Friday I received a note from my doctor giving me my blood test results from Wednesday.

Despite taking the fish oil tablets and the prescribed medication he had told me to take for my trigylcerides, my triglycerides were still almost three times what the top part of normal should be.

My good cholesterol was low while the triglyceride readings made it impossible to measure my bad cholesterol.

This is a new problem for me. I am a type 2 diabetic and know I should not eat as much starch as I would like, but I’ve done it anyway.

Friday night I asked the Lord to keep me alive so I could stay alive. What I meant was to let me hold on until I can get back on an exercise program and diet of mostly fish and chicken, lots of non-starchy vegetables and get some weight off that will bring the triglycerides and bad cholesterol down and the good cholesterol up.

My knees have made it impossible for me to use the treadmill any longer, but I can go to the local park and walk on a fairly level part of the walking trail, building up speed and distance as time goes on.

In the meantime, I can use my stationary bicycle, as a bicycle is supposed to be better on the knees. When you’ve had two operations to remove cartilage from one knee and you have bone on bone you have, by definition, arthritis in that knee. Therefore, you tend to use the other knee for climbing stairs etc. and before you know it you have two bad knees.

I talked to a friend from church and he told me he got his triglycerides down by using cinnamon. I asked where he had heard about it and he said he had read about it in a magazine or online.

I searched online and found that cinnamon is helpful to blood sugar and cholesterol, so I’ve purchased cinnamon capsules, which are nothing more than ground cinnamon in capsules. I take two a day and use cinnamon in tea and other things to flavor them.

Check here for the benefits of cinnamon.

I might add I had half my thyroid removed about four years ago and need to ask this doctor to do a test on my thyroid levels since he’s a new doctor for me. My throat specialist said I shouldn’t need thyroid medication and every test so far has shown he is right, but things change and I want to have it checked.

My sugar levels are good and my liver is good, so I’m not completely falling apart unless the grease in my blood vessels clogs up like unchanged oil in a car.

Please bear with me while I go through this change, as I may get grumpy sometimes because I’m hungry. I know I’ll be outside doing things to help keep the blood flowing, but that should be in the early morning (I’m not a morning person) or in the evening when the heat and humidity have lowered enough to be able to breathe outside.

If you’re a praying person I ask for your prayers, and if you’re at risk as I am I ask you to join me in trying to get healthier.

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If this drug holds up to it’s promise it’s wonderful news! This is one reason the drug companies need to make money: they use it for R&D on other drugs that can actually save lives.

A revolutionary drug that stops Alzheimer’s disease in its tracks could be available within a few years.

It could prevent people from reaching the devastating final stages of the illness, in which sufferers lose the ability to walk, talk and even swallow, and end up totally dependent on others.

The jab, which is now being tested on patients, could be in widespread use in as little as six years.

The most common cause of dementia, Alzheimer’s affects around 500,000 Britons, with about 500 new cases diagnosed every day as people live longer.

Treatment costs the NHS up to £14billion a year – more than it spends on strokes, heart disease and cancer combined.

Existing drugs can delay the progress of the symptoms, but their effect wears off relatively quickly, allowing the disease to take its devastating course. In contrast, the new vaccine may be able to hold the disease at bay indefinitely.

Professor Clive Ballard, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “A successful vaccine would be a groundbreaking treatment advance for the 25million people with Alzheimer’s disease worldwide.”

Vaccines are typically used to provide immunity to a disease as a preventive measure before it can develop, but this is an example of a therapeutic vaccine, used to treat a disease which has already developed.

Known as CAD106, it is the brainchild of scientists at Zurich-based biotechnology firm Cytos, which is also developing anti-smoking, obesity and flu vaccines.

Cytos chief executive Dr Wolfgang Renner said: “If it could prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s, it would be fantastic.”

Early tests showed the vaccine is highly effective at breaking up the sticky protein that clogs the brain in Alzheimer’s, destroying vital connections between brain cells.

When the jab was given to mice suffering from a disease similar to Alzheimer’s, 80 per cent of the patches of amyloid protein were broken up.

The vaccine is now being tried out on 60 elderly Swedish patients in the early and middle stages of Alzheimer’s. Half of the men and women are being given the vaccine while half are being given dummy jabs.

Although the year-long trial is designed to show that the treatment is safe, the researchers will also look at its effect on the patients’ symptoms.

While the results are not due until early next year, the initial findings are promising. Dr Renner told a Zurich conference earlier this week: “I am glad to report that the vaccine is very well tolerated.”

If the trial is successful, larger-scale trials will follow, in which researchers will work out the best dose to give and how often it should be given. The finished product is six to eight years from the market.

The vaccine uses a tiny section of the amyloid protein attached to an empty virus shell to trick the immune system into attacking and breaking up deposits of protein clogging the brain.

Scientists at Cytos, who have sold the rights to the vaccine to Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, say the vaccine is likely to be given to those in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, to stop the disease from progressing.

The development of tests capable of detecting the disease in its earliest stages would allow the jab to be given at the first possible opportunity.

It could also be used to keep the disease at bay in those with a strong family history of the illness, and even for the mass vaccination of people in late middle age.

However, while the jab may stop the disease in its tracks, it is not expected to repair dead tissue, and so will not be a cure. Nevertheless, preventing the disease’s progression would have an enormous impact on sufferers’ lives.

With the baby boomers getting older now we could expect more cases of Alzheimer’s, so you can see the potential for this drug if it turns out as well as expected.

Source.

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Ovarian cancer is a very deadly disease. This is what killed Gilda Radner.

Now doctors have determined a set of symptoms to watch for and check with your doctor if you meet the standards.

Thanks to the New York Times for reporting this today: [Free registration required.]

Cancer experts have identified a set of health problems that may be symptoms of ovarian cancer, and they are urging women who have the symptoms for more than a few weeks to see their doctors.

The new advice is the first official recognition that ovarian cancer, long believed to give no warning until it was far advanced, does cause symptoms at earlier stages in many women.

The symptoms to watch out for are bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and feeling a frequent or urgent need to urinate. A woman who has any of those problems nearly every day for more than two or three weeks is advised to see a gynecologist, especially if the symptoms are new and quite different from her usual state of health.

Doctors say they hope that the recommendations will make patients and doctors aware of early symptoms, lead to earlier diagnosis and, perhaps, save lives, or at least prolong survival.

But it is too soon to tell whether the new measures will work or whether they will lead to a flood of diagnostic tests or even unnecessary operations.

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