Proton pump inhibitors such as Prilosec and Prevacid do a great job of preventing irritating reflux and heartburn by suppressing stomach acid. But since that acid was put there for a reason, doesn’t this affect digestion, nutrient assimilation, and germ resistance? Clinical trials say no, but it surely can’t hurt to raise your food safety standards anyway if on anti-acids. Watch picnic foods closely this summer.
A large, peer-reviewed study has defined a set of criteria which help determine in advance whether spinal manipulation may help your lower back pain. It should be very effective if you meet four out of five of these criteria, whether you have it performed by a chiropractor, a PT, or a physician. With any luck, your provider may be able to train you in a safe and effective way to treat it yourself if it occurs again.
Pain less than 16 days old.
Pain not going below the knee.
Desire or willingness to get back to normal activities.
Lower spine stiffness.
Adequate hip rotation (lie on your back and rotate your foot/knee right and left).
Can Do-It-Yourself home Alzheimer’s Disease tests tell you whether you have AD? No, not really. They may detect a change in your sense of smell, but can’t tell which of many causes are behind it, and provide no means of following up a positive test. You may get your twenty bucks’ worth ... or not. Your doctor is the best place to start if reliable internet sites don’t alleviate your concern.
Here’s another tough one: terminally ill patients, whether the threat is immediate and extremely painful (e.g., a dying cancer patient) or long-term total dysfunction (e.g., Terry Schiavo). If the threat cannot be reversed, options include ever-increasing morphine for pain and/or refusal of food and water. The secular issue is whether extra morphine accelerates death and whether death by starvation is cruel. Both answers are, “No.” Morphine and related opiates are unique in that the more patients get, the less their pain, and increasing doses neither hasten death (short of deliberate overdoses, of course) nor render patients insensitive to it. Many doctors underdose patients, letting them suffer needlessly. A formal study involving nurses who have witnessed more than a hundred patients voluntarily die by refusing food and water described those deaths as peaceful and non-suffering. The next step is to conduct rigorous lab tests to determine the clinical nature of death by starvation – something many dying people and their families are desperate to learn. Ghandi described death by starvation as a semi-conscious, pain-free, passage. My aunt chose this path after years of throat cancer, and seemed at great peace once she was able to communicate her desire that we remove the tubes feeding and hydrating her.
Attention, natural redheads: Getting anesthesia for surgery or a test? Better tell the anesthetist that redheads need much more anesthesia. The same gene that makes your hair red also seems to render you significantly more resistant to anesthesia. You’re much more likely to feel pain, remember the surgery, or even wake up too soon, especially if you also have the classic redhead’s light skin.
When you cut or scrape your skin, do you put on some antibiotic cream and slap on a Bandaid? Oops; Bandaid right, antibiotic wrong. Only if the cut or scrape contains visible dirt or grime should we add the antibiotic. More people get allergic reactions to the salve than get infections with clean cuts and scrapes, and overuse promotes the development of bacteria immune to that antibiotic.
1/3 of cancer deaths in the U.S. are attributed to adult diet, including the obesity it often causes ... one more reason to eat right, which does not include the Atkins emphasis on animal fats.
