TAKE YOUR MEDICINE

“My son, attend to My words; incline thine ear unto My sayings.  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.  For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.”  Proverbs 4:20-22

It is hard to believe that there is anyone who would not want to be healthy and live life to the fullest.  It is difficult to understand that if someone promised you health and wellness you would not take the opportunity of possessing it.  Well, I want you to know that this is just what is happening within the lives of countless of people in the day in which we live. 

God has promised life and health which we can believe, receive, and possess.  I do not believe it is difficult to attain this level of living; however, this life is contingent on one thing.  The Word of God!  You must be deliberate and diligent to give the time it will take to read His Word and believe the words you are taking in.  You have to prefer listening to His sayings found in His Word than to incline your ear to anything else.  You are to meditate on His Word and His sayings so that you do not let them go from your hearing and seeing.  And you are to keep them in your heart so your whole being is affected by them.  What is the result, what is the benefit that will come to you from this consistent pursuit in your life?  Life and health!

So today I encourage you to take your medicine.  The medicine of the Word of God!  This medicine comes with no adverse side effects.  This medicine promises to bring life and health to your whole body!  I encourage you to take your dosage of God’s Word daily!

ENCOURAGEMENT:   God has given us a prescription for life and health.  It is free.  He has prescribed His Word which will usher in restoration to your mind, body, soul, and spirit.  Begin taking doses of His Word daily and you will see life and health come to you!

“O taste and see that the Lord is good:  blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”  Psalm 34:8

Kourtney's Story 11

Kourt got up from the couch and stretched. Extending her arms in opposite directions and arching backward as if ready for a hug but with no one in front of her, to grasp her, hold her close, and share those feelings. She yawned. Brought her arms in to cover her her mouth and began the talk to the front stained-glass front door. She felt out of herself. She lost control. The walk to the door, the movement of her arms, the swing in her hips – she controlled none of it. Her hand reached out, the tendons stretching, pulling, contracting – not by her whim, someone else pulled the strings; she grabbed at the brushed gold door knob. Just before she made contract with the knob she heard her brother talking from the top of the stairwell behind her.

Tom was four years younger then his sister and he had just started his final year at Buffalo Ridge Middle School. Buffalo Middle, though not directly related to West Chester, usually fed it. They acted as theoretical sister schools and those with enough money that finished Buffalo ended up at West Chester. Kourt followed that path, and everyone expected the same for Tom. But oddly enough Tom lacked interest in West Chester. He lacked interest in a lot of things actually. He was a nerd for all the wrong reasons. In his words he refused West Chester because he, “like, couldn’t deal with all of like that, ya know?” Kourt recognized her little brother’s insanity and dismissed his mockery to that. Actually, Kourt found it easier to dismiss things regarding her brother because when he was nine years old his parents took him to the doctor. Both of her parents agreed that something about Tom seemed wrong; his concentration faltered, he failed to respect them — he came across as abnormal. The doctor found something wrong, actually, Tom lived with Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Or ADHD. He hated the title. He loathed all of it, but no one ever asked his opinion. He just took the medicine.

Anyway, from his perch on the top of the stairwell he asked his sister, “Headed to Paul’s?” Kourt recognized the opportunity in thrown her way and stopped reaching for the door. She spun to face her brother who stood above her, she replied, “Ya looks like it, he wants to see me.”

“Why him, he is kind of a dick if you ask me?” Tom looked at his sister, he rolled his eyes. “Then again, you don’t ask me. So, have a great time!”

Kourt felt rejected by her own little brother but for the wrong reasons. She wanted him to keep talking not because of their faltering relationship or any of that sappy stuff but simply because Tom’s point held validity. He said what he thought. By happenstance he also spoke the truth. But he was a hyper kid doing homework, alone – easily dismissed. And Kourt’s lack of self control, or control of her self as she wanted to call back for her brother but instead felt as if her chance had fled. As Tom walked back into his room, Kourtney felt hopeless. A puppet. She turned back to the door and grabbed the knob. She spun it. Pulled. And stepped out of her home.

Need Personalized Healthcare Advice? There's an App for That.

InformationWeek.com recently published an article on Keas, a startup company that syncs its subscribers’ electronic medical records with personalized healthcare advice. Through this service, patients are able to better understand their health data, set personal health goals and then make more informed decisions about their care. In the future, Keas even hopes for specialized applications for everything from exercise guidance to fertility monitoring. Will social media and online applications really play this big of a role in the future of health care? Dr. Clay Marsh, director of the OSU Center for Personalized Health Care, offers his comments on the new service below:

Clay Marsh, MD

The area of personalized health care is a disruptive innovation that will open up new commercial opportunities. Empowering the individual is a key element of personalized health care and this consumer-empowered medicine requires information technology, including internet-based information and social media-enabled resources, to put the right information in the right person’s hands at the right time. Integrated businesses like Keas meet an emerging need and opportunity by linking personal health records with the decision support tools to provide the information individuals need to make informed decisions about their health.

Click here to read the entire article online.

Toughen Up

So far this blog has been a lot about hopes and dreams, let’s make it about desillusions as well. Today I noticed a patient in the waiting room with a confirmed pneumothorax. Pneumothorax equals chest tube equals procedure I still need to do. So I stayed extra long and forgot all about dinner and guess what? I did not get to do the procedure! The surgical resident stole it from right under my nose!

I hate surgeons. Sure, they have the ability to save lives with their hands. Except that while saving those lives they completely forget about co-existing other people such as patients, relatives and for instance other doctors. They are rude, careless, reckless and very, very arrogant. If you think surgeons are anything like McDreamy I suggest you keep on dreaming.

Of course, as always, it was my own fault. I was not assertive enough. I let myself being cornered and became invisible. I blent in with the furniture. I was there like a gurney is there just because it is. I get so tired of things always being my fault. When I miss child abuse in a young patient, it is my fault. Never mind that it was the parents that actually hit the poor thing. When a patient dies despite of my care, it is my fault. Never mind that death is something that happens because I failed to prevent it which is quite different from deliberately inflicting it on someone.

So anyway, I need to toughen up. I need to toughen up big time. To be the best in Emergency Medicine it is not going to help to sob out loud all the way from hospital to home.

But it sure felt good.

Clammy Lydia

Day Five

It slipped my mind to tell you about the results of my blood test on Day Three, didn’t it? I probably needed time to digest it myself. Actually, I can hardly believe I walked out of there without getting them to make a copy that I could take home with me and study at my leisure. Instead, I tried to memorise it all. I didn’t even take notes, that’s how stupid I am.

Apart from the fact that she used words like “enormously high levels” and “across several bands” without going into details or explaining what bands or what levels, I heard one thing really loud and clear. Chlamydia. Or as I prefer to call her – Clammy Lydia.

Now Clammy Lydia and I are old friends. I knew her before she even had a name, before she was even discovered, back in the very early eighties when Sheena Easton was singing “Modern Girl”. I had her lurking in my plumbing for two full years before she was bopped on the head by a randomly found antibiotic. But not before I was well and truly turned inside out. You can read all about how I felt at the time here: “The Elusive Wormy Germ”.

The thing about Clammy Lydia is this: she is usually a sexually transferred bacterial infection. Take a look at Wikipedia. Now without wanting to reveal much about my sex life here I can divulge this much. You know that I had sex because I told you I got pregnant, remember? But that’s about as far as it goes. You’re looking at a very married woman here. The bed-romping days with all and sundry belong to my dark, murky youth, way back in the 20th Century, even before AIDS was known about. So my question is this: what was that tick up to? Was she sexually active? Was she living up to our Benny Hill-type prejudices about all things Swedish?

It took me more than an hour of googling to find it in black and white, buried deep in a German article. Here’s a bit of German gobbledeegook for you:
„Chlamydien werden – ebenso wie eine Vielzahl weiterer Erreger, etwa Borrelien, Babesien, Ehrlichien, Rickettsien, Yersenien, Leptospiren, Coxiella, Bartonellen, Francisella und FSME – häufig durch Zecken übertragen“1 .
Put that through Google Translator and you get a very passable translation:
„Chlamydia is – like many other pathogens such as Borrelia, Babesia, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, Yersenien, Leptospira, Coxiella, Bartonella, Francisella and TBE – often transmitted by ticks”.

Whoah, that’s a lot of infection for one tiny little tick.

By the time I was approached from below by my tiny little tick, as far as I was concerned Clammy Lydia was long gone and forgotten, like my whooping-it-up youth. Little did I know that the tick had more than one infection. Actually she had three, because Bartonella was thrown in for nothing – three for the price of one.

The upshot of the consultation was this: the antibiotics hadn’t worked and now my diagnosis had been tripled. Strangely enough, I didn’t strangle the doctor, I remained calm, left the practice and went for coffee for a friend. YES COFFEE! I know, I’m still drinking coffee. It’s the only unhealthy thing I still do! And it tasted LOVELY! So give me a break!

Somewhere in there I read that Lyme is a “pioneer disease”. That means that we lucky ones who get to have it are out there pioneering for all the patients who come after us. We get to try out all the whacky treatments and stare down disbelief. We get to march out front holding the banners and trying to drag the medical community screaming and kicking along the road we are forced to travel. Back there in the eighties, noone knew who Clammy Lydia was either. She was called “Pelvic Inflammatory Disease” in women or “Non-Specific Urethritis” in men. Whenever she was whipped under a microscope she vanished into thin air. And get this: between the Chlamydia and the Lyme disease, guess what I had? Endometriosis. That’s another one of those diseases where medical science can see no profit in researching it further.

So it looks like I’m stuck with being a pioneer for medicine. I work for the doctors in every millimetre of my life, internally and externally. The question is – do I get to go to heaven?

1 Brouqui P et al.: Guidelines for the diagnosis of tick-borne bacterial diseases in Europe – ESCMID STUDY GROUP REPORT European Network for Surveillance of Tick-Borne Diseases – Diagnosis of tick-borne diseases. Clin Microbiol Infect 2004; 10: 1108–32

Medicate

Making frames that have no contents
Framing claims without a context
Replacing reason with reflex
Substitute sub-standard subtext

Or

Faking fame that has no pretense
Making claims without a pretext
Substitute reason for reflex
Submitting/Sustaining sub-standard subtext

Taking aim without a target
Taming flames with (gilded argent)
Transforming into pathogen
(Tresspassing, a secret agent)

(Replacing the words in brackets)

No

Splintering fragments
Absorbed, distracted
Making fake names
For the glittering facets

What's on the Web: Telemedicine, Twitter and Wii-hab

• HIPAA’s Broken Promise (e-Patients.net)

• Self-Tracking Wins at the Mayo Clinic (The Quantified Self)

• Physicians Using Twitter (iCons in Medicine)

• The latest Parkinson’s treatment: Wii-hab (Times Online)

Could a real hope of improving the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease — here, now, in their own homes — lie in a computer game? With major drug breakthroughs still tantalisingly out of reach, many health professionals and people with Parkinson’s are suddenly excited by the dramatic improvements in function and wellbeing being brought by simply playing the Nintendo Wii — a games system available on every high street that simulates sports and other activities by transferring your movements to the computer screen.

• Digital tools let doctors see patients via Internet (The Baltimore Sun)

But Broomell, 35, of Rising Sun, never set foot in the specialist’s Baltimore office. Instead, she met him several times by videoconference while she was at an Elkton hospital, saving her the trip down Interstate 95.

Clindamycin (Clindamycin Hydrochloride) - Indications and Dosage

Clindamycin is indicated for the treatment of serious infections caused by susceptible anaerobic bacteria. Clindamycin is also indicated for the treatment of serious infections due to susceptible strains of streptococci, pneumococci, and staphylococci. Its use should be reserved for patients allergic to penicillin or other patients for whom, in the trial of the physician, a penicillin is inappropriate. Due to the risk of colitis, as described in the WARNING box, before selecting clindamycin the physician should consider the nature of the infection and the suitability of less toxic alternatives (eg, erythromycin).

Anaerobic: Serious respiratory tract infections such as empyema, anaerobic pneumonitis and lung abscess; serious skin and soft tissue infections, sepsis, intra-abdominal infections such as peritonitis and intra-abdominal abscess (typically resulting from anaerobic organisms resident in the gastrointestinal tract normal), infections of the female pelvis and genital tract such as endometritis, nongonococcal tuboovarian abscess, pelvic cellulitis and post-infection vaginal cuff.

Streptococci: Serious respiratory tract infections, severe skin and soft tissues.

Pneumococci: Serious respiratory tract infections.

Bacteriological studies should be conducted to determine the causes organisms and their susceptibility to clindamycin.

To reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria and maintain the effectiveness of Clindamycin HCl and other antibacterial drugs, Clindamycin HCl should be used only to treat or prevent infections that are proven or strongly suspected to be caused by bacteria sensitive . When culture and susceptibility information are available, they should be considered in selecting or modifying antibacterial therapy. Without such data, local epidemiology and susceptibility patterns in May assist in the selection of empirical therapy.

A Nurse is Mercury Poisoned from Hepatitis B Vaccines and Amalgams

A Nurse is Mercury Poisoned from Hepatitis B Vaccines and Amalgams

by Susan Kreider, RN, CPC

I grew up in the Philadelphia area. From my vantage point, primarily Philadelphia and its suburbs, I saw the fertile soil of Lancaster County, PA farms being parceled for spiraling housing development, and the Amish exploited for tourism. My parents were from Lancaster County and we visited my grandparents there. I have a strong family history of autoimmune disease: a female cousin with multiple sclerosis and another female cousin with autism. Autism was rare (estimated incidence of 1 in 10,000) in the 1960s when my cousin was diagnosed, and it is 5 times more common in males than females. In the 1990s ‘Home Fields’ became a residence for autistic adults. The home was established in Lancaster by my maternal-side aunt and uncle, with much assistance from various agencies and individuals. Despite the family history I had managed to be relatively naïve about autism. I attended public schools in the 1960s and 1970s, tolerating the requisite inoculations. I presume I am among the 98 million Americans infected with Simian Virus 40 (SV40), known to have contaminated the polio vaccines of the late 1950s through early 1960s. Now this virus is even showing up in malignancy in offspring of the vaccinated (http://www.ouralexander.org) At age 33 years old, healthy and with an advanced degree in the martial arts, I enrolled at Abington Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. My physical examination was all “WNL” (within normal limits) with a minimal past medical history except as related to general dentistry, and orthodontics; this included the fairly common extraction of bicuspids and wisdom teeth, and another minor oral surgical procedure that involved harnessing the root of an incisor. In September 1990 I had relocated and terminated employment, so I was forced by the School of Nursing to receive an influenza vaccine, tetanus booster and hepatitis B series. Within days of my third hepatitis B shot on March 18, 1991, I was crippled and started developing progressive glove and stocking distribution parasthesias (numbness and tingling), first in my right hand, along with Raynaud’s phenomenon (dusky, mottled color in my hands and feet). Twice during the post-vaccinal period I experienced large, atraumatic olecranal hemarthrosis (spontaneous pooling of blood in my elbow) that resolved in a couple of weeks with ice, elevation and compression by ACE wrap. I reported to the Rheumatology Clinic on April 1, 1991 and serologic evidence confirmed massively elevated anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), leading to a diagnosis of ‘undifferentiated (unknown cause) connective tissue disease.’ In the spring I accepted part-time employment as a nurse extern at Chestnut Hill Hospital where I received inoculation with the MMR series May and June of 1991. These shots were recommended by the occupational medicine nurse, despite my reporting autoimmunity (i.e. the massively elevated ANA indicated that my immune system had gone awry, launching an attack against the nucleus of my own cells). Following I developed daily explosive bowel movements for several years. Fall 1993 I became acutely ill, beginning with a lesion on my tonsil and an upper respiratory infection, moving on to my gastrointestinal tract. Aside from persistent vomiting with black tongue, I was anorexic and lost 10 pounds (8% BW). I missed 2 weeks of work. By the remarkably icy East Coast Winter of 1993-94 my balance was tenuous and I was ambulating with an occasional assist. A battery of medical and surgical procedures ensued, including: a brain and cervical spine MRI to rule out multiple sclerosis, a thoracotomy to remove a giant lymph node from the base of my lung, a minor salivary gland biopsy to rule out Sjogren’s Disease, and a sural nerve biopsy. There were numerous electromyographic studies (EMG) to evaluate sensory and motor nerve function. To no avail, I tried a course of high-dose steroids. Later at age 36 years old I was unwilling to try methotrexate, a powerful chemotherapy drug that can cause grossly malformed offspring if taken during pregnancy. I was diagnosed with ‘undifferentiated connective tissue disease’ and an “extremely rare” ‘idiopathic pure sensory peripheral neuronopathy,’ +/- vasculitis. By year 2000, with telangiectasia (tiny diffuse capillary wall weakness, presenting as red spots on the skin, a change from rheumatology evaluation in 1994 “No telangiectasia”). At Eagleville Hospital where I was a staff nurse, an administrator -noting my progressive sensory ataxia -encouraged me to speak with our dental hygienist because “She walks like you do. She believes she was injured by the hepatitis B vaccine.” The petite dental hygienist had acute reactions to both her first and second shots. Within 24 hours of her first hepatitis B shot she lost bowel and bladder control. With the second shot she became numb from the waist down and was diagnosed with transverse myelitis. Her physician is among the few that file an adverse event report with the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS.) The FDA-estimates that 90-99% of physicians fail to report vaccine injuries. Last I heard she is divorced, living with her parents, totally disabled in a wheelchair, with multiple sclerosis. Vaccines can trigger a cascade of autoimmune problems and may take months to fully develop. By 1995 I needed hand controls to drive; I was unable to locate my feet to discern the location of the accelerator from the break due to the loss of lower extremity proprioception. My deep tendon reflexes were deemed “absent.” Parasthesias have taken over my lower extremities. Neurotransmission is challenged; there is no longer fluidity to my movements. I have a positive Romberg’s sign (cannot stand in the dark) because I am dependent upon visual cues to orientation. I get little to no feedback from my peripheral sensory nerves, except for an acute sense of temperature and hyperacute contact reflexes (as evaluated by a chiropractor, in response to environmental stimuli). Unlike many diabetics with peripheral neuropathy an appropriate response to painful stimuli is intact and is especially important to somebody who lacks proprioception. With the support of my family practitioner, Elizabeth Carroll, DO, also on staff at Eagleville Hospital, I filed a claim with the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) shortly thereafter. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) was established by the Congressional Childhood Injury Act of 1986. Despite babies receiving the shot within hours of their birth since 1991- the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine wasn’t even under the umbrella of vaccines included in the NVICP until August 1997. In her May 18, 1999 Congressional Testimony, cell biologist Bonnie S. Dunbar, Ph.D. of Baylor College of Medicine stated that medical students respond on their Board Examinations (to achieve the “correct” response) that this synthetic vaccine is “the safest ever.” As a researcher and vaccine developer, she objected to the rote response: there are no long-term studies to prove this claim. Abington Memorial Hospital had failed to document any lot numbers; of five vaccines only one manufacturer is indicated. The ‘Immunization Record’ reveals ‘Engerix’ brand. Their (AMH) ‘Consent Form’ had not been updated since the older serum-derived vaccine, referring specifically to “Heptavax.” Healthcare providers poorly accepted the serum-derived Heptavax. There are concerns and speculation that mass hepatitis B vaccination of gay populations in San Francisco in the 1980s spawned the epidemic of acquired immune deficiency disease (G. Lanctot, The Medical Mafia). By the time I became a patient of Harold E. Buttram, MD, FAAEM at the beginning of the millennium, I had acquired a computer and learned that vaccines contained toxic heavy metals, including mercury and aluminum. With Dr. Buttram’s specialized testing I learned that I am highly reactive to heavy metals including mercury, phenol and formaldehyde (used as preservative, adjuvant or antimicrobials in vaccines.) In May 2000 at significant personal expense, I had 43 years of dental amalgam removed, following dietary supplementation and following holistic dentistry (Huggins) protocol. I conservatively estimate in the dental work there was at least 6 grams of mercury in the 6 multi-surface fillings and underneath 6 porcelain crowns, but I defer to experts in the field of dentistry and oral surgeons. Because various amalgams had been placed over the years, juxtaposed dissimilar metals with their (+) and (-) charges created galvanism; I was not particularly aware of experiencing this phenomenon, the ‘battery effect.’ April 2001 I had cavitation surgery to remove ’silent’ infection in my jawbone; especially in the area of wisdom teeth and other 4 prior extractions. A chunk of amalgam was retrieved from the area of my extracted bicuspid some 25 years prior. Chronic osteomylitis (infection) and osteonecrosis (cell death) of the jawbone and extreme toxicity were confirmed by in vitro samples at two different laboratories. I now suffer from multiple chemical sensitivities and eczema. I have acquired renal cysts. 1994 a CT-scan revealed a 5cm simple cyst on the inferior pole of my right kidney. “Don’t worry,” I was told. “They’re very common. Most people have them.” Dr. Buttram ordered another CT-scan in May 2001. The renal cyst of the right inferior pole had grown to 8.7 cm. There was now a small lesion of the left kidney, inferior pole. Again it was confirmed to be a possible neoplasm, enhancing 24 Hounsfield Units (HU) by CT-scan. It likewise ‘enhanced’ with gadolinium when evaluated by MRI. It was suspicious for renal cystic adenocarcinoma, according to multiple reports prepared by radiologists at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Since the late 1990s I have experienced intermittent left-sided lumbar muscle spasms, lasting for days, I am able to associate with acute exposures to mercury and formaldehyde. They have decreased in frequency and intensity since the amalgam removal and avoidance of seafood, especially shellfish, known to contain mercury. On MRI June 2002 and 2003 the lesions on my left kidney no longer enhance or look suspicious of cancer. Under Dr. Buttram’s care I learned of foods that, for me, trigger delayed hypersensitivity (allergic) reactions, particularly soy and tomatoes. I can tolerate some soy, especially “non-GMO soy,” but generally try to avoid it, an increasingly difficult task. Several hours following soy ingestion I get bronchiospasms; with coughing and airway constriction. These now only occur rarely. I no longer suffer ‘heartburn’ which would sometimes include acid reflux, simply by severely limiting tomatoes from my diet. Imagine -an uncomfortable and persistent medical condition successfully treated without a dependency on pharmaceuticals! Likewise, post-vaccinal eczema that had bothered me several years has been corrected with supplementation with evening primrose oil, an Omega-6 essential fatty acid. My heavy metals detox regimen includes other essential fats, chlorella, vitamins, minerals, and weekly IV-injections of vitamin C followed by glutathione, a naturally occurring substance in the body that is less prevalent with aging. Since red blood cell membrane analysis has consistently, over several years, demonstrated excessive levels of EPA (fish) oils, under Dr. Buttram’s supervision I have avoided these dietary and supplementary oils until they are normalize. It’s not just babies and children, our future, who are being impacted. Our nation has a severe nursing shortage. The amount of mercury I received in one day in my requisite vaccines was 75 mcg, or 1,389% of an ‘acceptable’ amount for somebody my size: 54 kg. This constitutes a massive single toxic exposure, especially in the presence 6 grams (again, my estimate) of mercury in my dental amalgams. Sensory-neural dysfunction is a known effect of mercury toxicity. Despite claims that severe reactions are infinitesimally rare I know of numerous other medical professionals who were injured following vaccination and had to drop out of their chosen profession. I meet numerous parents or neighbors of kids and adults that had serious post-vaccinal consequences, while I’m just gimping around health food stores or otherwise going about my business. My bumper sticker: “Vaccines make $$ – but no sense” (Vaccination Liberation) is a real conversation-starter. Since 2000, Medicare has expanded their ‘Preventive Care’ program to include the hepatitis B vaccine series. These have a high mercury and aluminum hydroxide content. In accordance with strategic business planning, Family Practice News, November 1, 2002 provides a ‘Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule’ for persons age 19 years and older. Enlistees have fled the armed services in droves as a direct result of vaccine mandates and unexplained conditions such as epidemics of Gulf War Illness even among individuals who were never deployed. With the help of Dr. Buttram, I learned that vaccine reactions are oftentimes being misdiagnosed as so-called ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ (SBS). A trilogy of symptoms that include cerebral and retinal hemorrhaging and diffuse axonal injury (DAI) are criteria for diagnosing. There is an epidemic of parents being treated as criminals when their babies tragically die, particularly among the lower and middle demographics who are unable to afford adequate counsel. They are accused of losing control, violently shaking their babies at a speed of 70 mph or dropping them from 2nd-story windows. Meanwhile, since 2000 unexplained infant deaths (cot death or SIDS) have reportedly declined. This discussion is beyond the scope of my personal history here, but one such case is that of Alan R. Yurko, exhaustively covered at the website: www.freeyurko.bizland.com. Dr. Buttram introduced me to SBS-convict Alan Yurko in February 2001. He has served 5-1/2 years of a life sentence (plus 10 years) following the death of his baby Alan Joe Yurko in November 1997, the result of medical malpractice. With Dr. Buttram and Alan’s help and the support of good friends and mentors, I have established my own website geared to lay people, to alert them to facts regarding vaccination about which the government and industry have not been forthcoming. I encourage you to peruse the first draft of my ‘Vaccine Ingredients Table’ at www.informedchoice.info/cocktail to see just what toxins are allowed in vaccine production. Also see my table at www.informedchoice.info/hepB.html#Bottom where, using myself and Baby Alan Yurko as case studies, calculations show how egregiously the HHS ignores EPA guidelines for ‘acceptable’ mercury exposure in the creation of our ’schedules.’ Note that the CDC hasn’t updated their ‘Vaccine Information Sheets’ since 1998, and that they neglect to mention heavy metals ingredients and their potential hypersensitivity reactions. It is my hope that by posting my story on the Internet, other dental and medical injuries can be prevented. Following are among my special areas on concern: * a belief that there is a human right to maintain body integrity * lack of accountability – Abington Memorial Hospital (and other hospitals) fail to document lot numbers / brand names. * safety, efficacy and synergy – we have here an ongoing mass experiment * informed consent – my hep B vaccine Consent Form hadn’t been updated to cover recombinant technology, making reference to the serum-derived Heptavax product * a Center for Disease Control and Prevention that is misreporting epidemiological findings and is disregarding chronic illness in favor of ‘controlling’ infectious disease * a Food and Drug Administration that removes thimerosal from dog vaccines before human infant vaccines and is otherwise severely inept or criminally liable * a National Institutes of Health that doesn’t want to look beyond genetics and germs – 40 years until holding hearings on SV40?? * some physicians who are complicit by their silence and failure to practice the art of medicine /report * media bias and profitability on the backs of the afflicted, and * psychopathic types who choose their boats and ponies over their fellow m

hack cough uuurgh

Hullo all. Apologies if this post seems a little phoned in. That’s for the simple reason that it is. I’ve come down with the dreaded lurgy, some form of the ‘flu. The doctor tells me it’s down to an excess of licentiousness, but the horoscope bodes well for my recovery provided I avoid shellfish, willow bark and the colour red. So I’m afraid I’m sort of writing this in the few minutes of coherence I have.

Rather than send you good people away empty-handed, here’s an interesting fact concerning illness. No less an authority than Dr Travers of the Brompton Hospital recommended an unusual treatment for tuberculosis in the 1860s consisting of antimony, creosote and boa constrictor excreta. It’s not clear whether this was supposed to be used as a balm or taken orally, but for the sake of the patients I hope it wasn’t oral. Apparently it was a treatment only affordable to the rich, due to the obvious scarcity of snake-poo. Having said that, given that the treatment probably had zero effect whatsoever (other than perhaps as an emetic once the doctor told you what you’d just swallowed), I think I’d rather take my chances. Given the choice between dying of TB and dying of TB with a stomachload of creosote, I think I’d favour keeping things simple.

Anyway, there’s that for you. Hopefully normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Textbook of Biochemistry With Clinical Correlations (Textbook of Biochemistry w/ Clinical Correlations)

Textbook of Biochemistry With Clinical Correlations (Textbook of Biochemistry w/ Clinical Correlations)

still waiting
It is almost 2 weeks outside of the window for the arrival of my book. I have tried to contact the distributor to ask where my book is and have recieve no response (its been a couple days now). I am approaching EXAM II and have no book to reference the material for my class (i made the purchase before classes started)

Stop the Presses! I'm Eating! And Toe Tapping to A New MP3 Too!

No, I’m serious.  This is actually worthy of “Breaking News!”

My body is weird.  At least from the inside.  I think it’s alright from the outside? *shrug* Still, I don’t eat.  This can be traced back to a variety of reasons.  However, in the immediate, it has tended to work “backwards” in a certain way regarding my drinking.  Now that I have stopped drinking, it’s working…maybe sideways? Or something? Let me try and explain.

When I used to drink, I would become ravenous after the fact.  Apart from the other “benefits” I considered alcohol already gave me, I felt this was another “bonus” as I never ate! I’d come home and whip up a meal, take my meds and off to sleep I’d go.

Well, since my brain decided to explode in the worst way to date several days ago, thus necessitating me to decide to stop drinking, I am now…hungry? Without the alcohol? Alright, at first I was so sick I didn’t want to eat much, but yesterday I had a bit of cereal for lunch and then a decent portion of pasta.

This is where things have now started to get a bit nuts.  I woke up in the middle of last night, completely dying for food–even more so than when I had been drinking–ever! I didn’t finish my pasta last night so down it went, and then a huge piece of chocolate and vanilla, mousse cake.  Then in my dopey haze, back to sleep.  But it gets even better! I woke up this morning and my regular readers, sit down, hold on to something to support yourselves…get prepared!

I ate a bowl of cereal, before one, single sip of tea or even taking my meds!!!

People.  This is not me.

Not to mention the fact that this is completely all backwards, sideways, twisted around! First, I could never figure out how on earth drinking would make me starving in the first place.  I mean, it went well beyond an Aperitif! Also, if I am going through any alcohol withdrawal problems (that would be extremely slight regardless), I would be losing my appetite!!!

Either way, this is a good thing as I did confirm that, yes, I went down to 95lbs. from 100lbs.  Not good.  I still question whether I’ll ever get beyond 100lbs. ever, due to all the Gastro Hell from years ago.  But at least for my health’s sake, I need nutrition!

I also need to change my MP3, as I don’t want that other, current damn thing with the comments up there anymore from my bloody, brain blow up.  Hmmm…what to play…  I don’t know if I have anything “Food Related.” *rolls eyes*

Oh, wait! I do! *laughing*

“Peaches” by The Presidents of the USA *laughing even more*

I'm NOT smoking!

I was one of those people who never thought I’d quit smoking. It’s probably a good thing I got sick or I never would have. Hey, I loved smoking. But there are so many things I don’t miss about it. I don’t miss the dirty STINKY ash trays. I don’t miss the ashes’ mess. My desk used to get so bad and so did my car. Those pesky ashes fly everywhere. I don’t miss worrying about where my cigarettes are and if I have a working lighter. It’s also really nice to be out somewhere and not being “antsy” about when will I have my next one. So many things I don’t miss.

I do have to say though, I MISS SMOKING. I really do. I loved my cigarettes! I don’t think about smoking very often and NO, I won’t smoke but there are times I really have the urge. I think the worst time for me is at night when Paul and I are Wii bowling. I constantly had a cigarette going when we did that. The other night I said something to Paul about “I really missed smoking while we did this” and he asked me if that meant I was going to smoke again and I said NO WAY but I do miss it. I smoked for more than 35 years and I’m sure it’s normal for me to miss it. I’m also not on the patch or gum. I just didn’t like the side effects of that dang patch. The only thing I’m using is Bazooka Joe.

I’ve also found out that I’m very impatient where my health is concerned and I want things to be fixed RIGHT NOW. I also don’t like ANY side effects of the medications I was on. Listen, if I’m thirsty, I want to be thirsty because my body is telling me I’m thirsty and not because of a stupid pill I’m taking. I’ve found that the side effects of the medicine are sometimes worse that what’s wrong with you in the first place.

What I’d really like to know though is why is it so easy for people to think it’s so easy to quit smoking? I’ve had people tell me I’d be nuts if I smoked yet they are pretty overweight or have other issues of their own. Why is it so easy for them to say that not smoking is so easy? I feel like telling them it would be so easy to diet and not be fat. That wouldn’t be nice though would it? I know people who are on all kinds of medication for one thing or another and I wonder why they wouldn’t try to change either their diet or lifestyle so they wouldn’t have to be on the medication. Kind of like, when you eat that “snack” at night, I’d like to have a cigarette. When you “snack” on something else, I’d like another cigarette. People think it’s different because we “have” to eat but some of the most vocal people in my life have health issues but they are the ones telling me not to smoke.

I know this is just me but I’d have done just about anything to not walk around with the oxygen tank with me 24-7 so why wouldn’t someone want to change what they could so they wouldn’t have to take all those pills and medications? Like I said before, the side effects of some of those meds are awful and there’s no way I’d want to be on some of them for the rest of my life.

I guess my point is that we all have bad habits. Whether it’s over-eating or over-shopping or we have OCD’s about one thing or another or are afraid of flying or what have you, so why would anyone judge that smoking is so easy to quit when they have their own bad habits? Just why is it we can say whatever we want to a smoker but God forbid we tell someone they’re fat or a drunk or a pig or anything else, but it’s okay to say you’re an idiot for smoking? I just think any addiction is hard and one shouldn’t be so quick to point out that one thing is easier than another to quit.

10 Powerful Tips to Stop Smoking

Ob Sie Nicotine Replacement Therapy, Hypnose oder nur Cold Turkey, diese Strategien und Tipps für die Unterstützung der Sie das Rauchen sind sicher, zu unterstützen. Es ist an Ihnen, sicherzustellen, dass Sie diese Dinge wirklich zu verbessern, was du tust tun, desto mehr Mühe, die Sie setzen in diese Übungen, desto einfacher ist es, das Rauchen für immer zu beenden.

Leistungsstarke Hinweis 1.

Als Raucher ist wie Radfahren mit Stabilisatoren zu den Rädern angebracht, können Sie es schwer finden, ohne zu rauchen ausgeglichen werden. Wenn Sie nun Zyklus wieder frei, das natürliche Gleichgewicht zurück.

Wenn die Leute rauchen, mehr als die Hälfte dessen, was sie atmen, ist frische Luft – zog durch die Zigarette bis hinunter in die Lunge. Also, wenn Sie ein Verlangen Sie können sofort überwinden, indem sie drei tieferen Atemzüge. Stellen Sie sich die Atmung aus, dass der Raum direkt unter Ihrem Bauchnabel. Wenn Sie dies tun, setzen mehr Sauerstoff ins Blut. Das heißt, Sie können tiefe Atemzüge verwenden, um die Sie sich sofort und geben Ihnen die Macht über die Art und Weise Sie sich und helfen Ihnen, loszulassen von den alten Verlangen und wodurch es leichter mit dem Rauchen aufhören zu ändern.

Leistungsstarke Hinweis 2

Weiter denken jetzt von all den Gründen, die Sie nicht wie Rauchen, die Gründe, dass es schlecht ist und die Gründe, die Sie möchten mit dem Rauchen aufzuhören. Notieren Sie sich die wichtigsten Worte auf einem Blatt Papier. Zum Beispiel, erleben Sie Atemnot, es ist schmutzig, dreckig und deine Kleider riechen, Ihre Familie und Freunde sind besorgt und es ist teuer, unsozial und so weiter. Dann, auf der anderen Seite des Papiers, schreiben Sie alle Gründe, warum Sie sich dann gut, wenn Sie sie stoppen konnte. Sie werden gesünder fühlen, werden Sie die Kontrolle über dein Selbst zu fühlen, werden Ihre Sinne verbessert, Ihre Haare und Kleider riechen und frischer so weiter. Wann immer Sie um dieses Stück Papier zu suchen.

Leistungsstarke Tipp 3

Als nächstes werden wir Ihre Meinung Programm fühlen sich von Zigaretten angewidert. Ich möchte Sie daran erinnern, 4 Mal, wenn Sie sich Gedanken “Ich muss beendet habe”, oder dass Sie fühlte sich über das Rauchen verleidet. Vielleicht fühlte sich wirklich nur ungesund, oder Ihr Arzt hat Sie in einem bestimmten Ton “You got to quit” oder jemanden, den Sie wissen, war stark durch das Rauchen beeinflusst haben. Nehmt euch einen Moment nun kommen mit 4 verschiedenen Zeiten, die Sie fühlte, daß Sie das Programm verlassen oder wurden durch das Rauchen verleidet.

Denken Sie daran, jede dieser Zeit, einer nach dem anderen, als ob sie geschieht jetzt. Ich möchte, keep going durch diese Erinnerungen und machen sie so lebendig wie möglich. Je mehr Sie die lebendige Erinnerungen, desto leichter wird es sein, mit dem Rauchen aufzuhören. Sehen Sie, was Sie gesehen haben, hören, was Sie fühlen und hören, wie Ihnen. Ich möchte, dass ein paar Minuten dauern jetzt weitermachen durch diese Erinnerungen wieder und wieder, überlappen Speicher mit dem nächsten, bis Sie sich ganz und gar von Zigaretten angewidert.

Leistungsstarke Tipp 4

Have a denken, sich über die Folgen Sie nicht das Rauchen aufgibt, jetzt, wenn Sie gerade weiter und weiter zu tragen. Stellen Sie sich vor, was wird passieren, wenn Sie auf das Rauchen zu tragen. Was sind die Konsequenzen? Stellen Sie sich in 6 Monate Zeit, ein Jahr Zeit, auch 5 Jahre Zeit, wenn Sie nicht aufhören zu rauchen jetzt. Denken Sie an all die negativen Auswirkungen der nicht sofort stoppen und wie eine einfache Entscheidung, die Sie heute machen kann eine solche Auswirkungen auf Ihre Zukunft zu machen.

Als nächstes vorstellen, wie viel besser ist, Ihr Leben zu gehen, wenn Sie das Rauchen aufzugeben. Wirklich vorstellen, es ist Monaten ab jetzt und Sie erfolgreich beendet. Rauchen ist eine Sache der Vergangenheit, was Sie zu tun pflegten. Halten Sie dieses Gefühl mit Ihnen und vorstellen, morgen und für den Rest der nächsten Woche. In your mind, verstärkte sich vorstellen, in diesem Nichtraucher-Version für Sie und fühlen, wie es für eine Nicht-Raucher fühlt.

Leistungsstarke Tipp 5

Außerdem ist Ihre Meinung sehr empfindlich auf die Verbände, also ist es sehr wichtig, dass Sie eine klare heraus und entfernen Sie alle Tabakwaren aus Ihrer Umgebung. Verschieben Sie einige der Möbel in unserem Haus und bei der Arbeit. Raucher sind, das Rauchen in bestimmten Situationen zu gewöhnen. So zum Beispiel, wenn Sie früher am Telefon am Arbeitsplatz rauchen bewegen Sie das Telefon auf die andere Seite des Schreibtisches. Werfen Sie Aschenbecher, Feuerzeuge, alte und alles, was Sie früher mit dem Rauchen verbinden. Buchen Sie Ihr Umfeld zu schaffen, das Rauchen aufgibt.

Leistungsstarke Tipp 6

Raucher benutzen manchmal ihre Gewohnheit, sich zu ergeben kleine Pausen während des Tages. Taking a break ist gut für Sie, so dass bei der Aufnahme dieser Zeit aufgehört hat – aber etwas anderes. Spaziergang um den Block, eine Tasse Tee oder Wasser trinken, oder doch einige der Techniken, die auf dieses Programm. In der Tat, wenn möglich, trinken Sie viel Fruchtsaft. Wenn Sie aufhören zu rauchen der Körper wird durch eine große Veränderung. Der Blutzuckerspiegel eine rückläufige Tendenz auf, ist die Verdauung verlangsamt und der Körper beginnt, die Teer und Gifte, die angesammelt haben auszuwerfen. Frisches Obst Saft enthält Fruktose, die Ihren Blutzuckerspiegel wieder, Vitamin C, die räumen hilft Verunreinigungen und hohe Wasser-und Faserpflanzen, um Ihre Verdauung geht. Testen Sie auch Früchte zu essen jeden Tag mindestens zwei Wochen, nachdem Sie aufgehört haben.

Auch wenn man aufhört, schneiden Sie Ihre Aufnahme von Koffein um die Hälfte. Nikotin bricht Koffein, ohne Nikotin ein wenig Kaffee hat einen großen Einfluss haben. Trinken 8-10 Gläser Wasser (am besten in Flaschen) zu helfen, auswaschen Ihrem System.

Leistungsstarke Tipp 7

Sie wurden mit Zigaretten, um Ihren Körper Signal an glücklich Chemikalien Pressemitteilung verwendet werden, so dass beim nächsten werden wir einige gute Gefühle in Ihrem künftigen Programms. Lassen Sie sich in vollem Umfang daran erinnern heute in einer Zeit, wenn Sie fühlte sich sehr tiefe Ekstase, Lust und Wonne, gerade jetzt. Werfen Sie einen Moment Zeit, um sie daran erinnern, so anschaulich wie möglich. Beachten Sie, dass Zeit – sehen, was Sie gesehen haben, hören, was Sie fühlen und hören, wie gut Sie fühlte. Wo abouts in Ihrem Körper waren die Gefühle, vorstellen Drehen sie auf und verbreiten sie durch deinen Körper, um sie intensiver.

Fahren Sie durch die Erinnerung, sobald es fertig ist, durch sie gehen wieder und wieder, die ganze Zeit drücken Sie Ihre Daumen und Zeigefinger zusammen. In your mind, machen die Bilder groß und hell, laut und harmonische Klänge und Gefühle stark und intensiviert werden. Wir bilden eine assoziative Verbindung zwischen den Squeeze Ihrer Finger und das gute Gefühl.

Okay, zu stoppen und entspannen. Nun, wenn Sie das getan haben, richtig, wenn Sie Ihren Daumen und Zeigefinger zusammen, sollten Sie das gute Gefühl wieder spüren zu pressen. Go ahead das jetzt tun, drücken Sie Daumen und Zeigefinger und daran erinnern, dass gutes Gefühl.

Jetzt werden wir die guten Gefühle Programm automatisch geschehen, wenn Sie in einer Situation sind, wo Sie zu rauchen verwendet, aber jetzt, das Rauchen aufzugeben.

Also, neben ich möchte, daß Sie Ihren Daumen und Zeigefinger zusammen drücken, erhalten, dass gutes Gefühl und gehe jetzt vorstellen, in verschiedenen Situationen, in denen Sie geraucht haben, aber da gibt es große Gefühl, ohne eine Zigarette an. Sehen Sie, was Sie sehen und hören und nehme das gute Gefühl in solchen Situationen, ohne die Notwendigkeit nach einer Zigarette.

Stellen Sie sich in einer Situation, wo jemand bietet Ihnen eine Zigarette an und Sie getrost sagen: “Nein danke, ich rauche nicht. Und fühlen sich fantastisch about it!

Leistungsstarke Tipp 8

Holen Sie sich die soziale Unterstützung. Ihr Engagement für das Rauchen aufgibt, für den Rest Ihres Lebens gemacht werden können viel einfacher, indem man über sie an Freunde und Familie und lassen Sie sie zu unterstützen. Sie werden Ihnen gratulieren, so gut zu! Sie wirklich aufhören zu rauchen.

Leistungsstarke Tipp 9

Seien Sie sich bewusst machen, Entschuldigungen für sich. Manche Leute reden sich in einen Raucher, vor allem wenn sie auf einen Stress-Situation und sie in der Vergangenheit benutzt, um mit ihm durch das Rauchen befassen. Wenn die alten Gedanken in deinem Kopf pop, schreiben das Wort “STOP” im Kopf, die Gedanken voran zu stoppen. Nikotin betont, nur der Körper mehr und ist wie die Krätze, dass nie richtig zerkratzt werden können, je mehr Sie rauchen, desto mehr müssen. So sagen “STOP” und Hände weg von alten rutschigen Pisten.

Leistungsstarke Tipp 10

Belohnen Sie sich. Glückwunsch. Gönnen Sie sich jedes Mal, wenn Sie an einem bestimmten Meilenstein erreicht werden, die erste Woche oder im ersten Monat, die sechs Monate Ziel. Lassen Sie wissen, dass Sie etwas ganz Besonderes hier taten.

Halten Sie sich mit Ihrem Gehirn, Streckung und hilft Ihrem Selbst, indem Sie durch diese Übungen immer wieder, Sie sind sicher in der Lage sein, damit es leichter und leichter und erfolgreich das Rauchen für immer.

The Mapping Project: Duane Reade Settles in Sunset Park

This is the first in a series of posts that will use maps, graphs, and other web visualizations to take a look at what’s happening in the neighborhood. Curious about something? Have a question about the neighborhood you’d like to see drawn out? Shoot an email, or leave a comment.

View Sunset Park Pharmacies in a larger map

Duane Reade has made its debut, and now settled into its shiny plate-glass storefront on 5th Ave. Best View in Brooklyn gives a great description of the space, and a resident’s viewpoint on how it compares in price and feel to longer term spots like Ike’s Party Party and the Mini Max.

“I wonder what’s gonna happen to all the little mom and pops,” said local Stacy Mosher, who said she has gone out of her way to shop elsewhere.

Many small local pharmacies call 5th Avenue home. It’s still too early to gauge how the little guys will fare against large New York City chain. People often assume that with a large market, Duane Reade can offer more for less, but it appears with prescriptions,  big chains don’t always mean low prices.

The Sunset Park Rezoning Plan passed by the City Council in September opens the door for larger stores on several blocks of 5th Avenue, with mixed reactions from locals. Some worry that the visual character of the neighborhood will slide; others fear that the chains will push out the little guys. The plan’s supporters feel that it will pave the way to positive economic development in the area.

Stacy Mosher remains torn. “On the one hand, you think ‘Oh that means that sunset park is really coming along,’” Mosher said. “But you feel sorry for all the mom and pops that have toughed it out for all these years.”

The map pictured above, which you can access here, shows the Duane Reade in red and other local pharmacies (including the Rite Aid chain) in blue. It offers a way to track, over time, any closures in local pharmacies, as well as new ones that open.

Have any favorite pharmacies? Know some that have great deals or service? Have you found that Duane Reade provides better deals? Leave a comment. Also, feel free to note any missing pharmacies, or those no longer in business. The map is still in its Beta stage.

Nibiru Approach: So what? Humanity is immune to pain now

 

Muhammad, peace on him, advised believers to get to the mountains during the end times. Like the Companions of the Cave in Surah Al-Kahf.

According to the Gospel, New Testament, Jesus is around until the end of ‘this age,’ that is, the period before the Age of Aquarius, about to begin around 2050 AD.

Harun Yahya’s study about the end times suggests that the followers of Prophet Muhammad would be around for 1500 years. Now we’re reaching the end.

Here’s information about Planet X, Nibiru, or Orcus. Many are of the opinion that the approach of this planet should wreak havoc on earth. Haven’t the Freemasons/Dajjal done enough to ensure that already? The earth seems to have reached its peak of pain.

But we still have to wait to reach Heaven. Prophet Muhammad had said that many people would wish for death during this time, but it won’t come.

Allah says in the Qur’an that He gives respite to the infidels. Still, believers should be making the disbelievers uncomfortable lest the infidels start to imagine that the long respite is good for them. And that – ladies and gentlemen – is Jihad. Allah takes account in the very end. Like the police that arrives late on the scene. And, Allah is all-wise. He can’t be questioned, but we will be questioned because we’re too small to question the Creator’s wisdom in this severe test of patience.

 

Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKc2U11ATo (Leaked NASA Nibiru Photos)

 

(Because WordPress is taking too long to upload it; they don’t like Muslim blogs too much. Did you know Blogger is Number One? And LiveJournal is Number Two?)

 

Here’s another cool video: http://www.whalesinspace.com/2009/10/ufo-over-iran-during-missile-test/ (UFO Over Iran During Missile Test)

 

Israeli UFO? The Iran-Israel war is exopolitics. But it’s all exopolitics now. American government is alien, and they want to keep the Djinn ruling over humanity with his brute strength.

 

We can’t fight the Djinn with violence. Djinns are all physical. But, humanity has a brain and we’re granted knowledge that Djinns lack. So, when the Djinn tries to humiliate you because he wants to show himself that he’s superior to humanity — say Allahu Akbar, and let Allah shame His enemies.

Teeth Whitening Is Good For Self Confidence

There are many things which can add to a person being positive in life and having teeth whitening can certainly go a long way. There are many things in life that can happen. During a young geezerhood and adolescence many of those things are influenced by parents but once a person gets past the geezerhood of 18 it is often up to them to decide where they want to take their life. Many grouping take to eating and drinking to stay positive. Eating foods such as chocolate and sweets can be extremely tasty and can cheer grouping up enormously.

A healthy, beautiful smile is very significant to your self esteem and self confidence. We all see meliorate when we are self-important of our teeth and smile, so a teeth whitening treatment will be well worth Laser agency whitening is a highly effective means of whitening the teeth. It is quite spendy, but the results will hit you smiling wide. This article will describe the process of laser agency whitening and what you can wait from this dental procedure. Laser agency whitening is basically the best agency whitening process you can choose.it.

Back to the future

I am writing this post in a way I’ve never written any other blog posting. Flat on my back, using something called a ball-point pen and a Stuart Hall spiral notebook. It’s very awkward.

The reason I’m in bed and not hunched over my laptop is that I suffered a lower back strain on Sunday. As I was hanging shirts up in my closet, I made a slight pivot and felt a twinge of pain that within hours had blossomed into a full-blown back attack. It was the same pain I felt when I first developed disk problems 30 years ago — except instead of lunging to reach a drop shot on the tennis court, I was now injuring myself doing laundry.

And now the handwriting is becoming increasingly illegible and the pen is starting to fail. My back might be flat against the mattress and temporarily compliant, but everything else is growing strained.

Ouch! Screw this. I’m getting my computer.

Hey, these little netbooks are pretty handy for use in bed. I can still lay on my back and set the thing on my lower abdomen, and type with relative ease. And the radiation is soothing too — maybe it’ll work it’s way through to my back.

So anyway, I got through the rest of the day Sunday without too much trouble, then spent the night tossing and turning and moaning and groaning, and not in a good way. Exclamations of agony followed every turn, and by the time morning had rolled around, my wife was insisting that I get to a doctor or a hotel.

First I had to call my office to inform them I was taking a sick day. Not really a sick day, per se, because we don’t have those. Like many businesses tired of hearing contrived excuses from lazy employees looking to catch up on their daytime dramas, we’ve lumped vacation days and sick days into one neat package called “paid time off.” Whether you’ve had an ischemic stroke or decided to take a three-day weekend in Paris, it’s all the same to them. All they want to know when I call in is “with or without?” in reference to whether or not I want to be paid for the missed day. Yes, I want to be paid but no, not if you’re going to consider a day at the doctor’s office the same as a day at the beach.

Yow! This netbook-in-bed thing is just not working after all. I’m taking it out to the kitchen counter, and hoping that sitting erect on a stool will have some positive effect.

Okay, everything is back to vertical now and, though it’s a little tiring, it feels much more proper than to be blogging horizontally.

So I get to the doctor’s office, and the place is filled with the sorriest collection of humans this side of Guantanamo Bay. Coughing and sneezing and wretching, they’re making me very uncomfortable, so I’m glad I finally get called back to the inner sanctum. When the doctor shows up, I tell my story, explain how I was x-rayed for disk problems years ago and now have these periodic flare-ups, practically diagnosing myself. He insists, however, on conducting an “exam,” during which he asks me to move my arms and legs. I thought that was his job.

He gives me a thoughtful look, and announces that he disagrees with my assessment, proposing that instead it’s a muscular problem. I’m pretty sure I know better, but he’s the one with the prescription pad, so whatever. He suggests some new age-y vegan therapies — putting frozen peas on the small of my back and stretching — and dashes off a couple of scripts, one for an anti-inflammatory and one a muscle relaxer. These should knock me out enough to allow me to spend the rest of the day in bed, which is just the rest my bothersome spine needs.

Ah, jeez, this sitting up at the counter isn’t working either. Let me stuff those peas in my pants, elevate my lower legs onto a coffee table, and try suspending my computer from the ceiling with snow chains.

I take a shower when I get home from the pharmacy, and it’s quite the ordeal. The thing about back problems is that you never know which subtle and otherwise harmless movement is going to provoke lightning bolts of pain. Getting into the car for my drive home was not too bad, since I took it slowly. But once I’m situated in the driver’s seat, I forget that I have to reach out to close the door and Christ that hurts like a mother. I maneuver myself through the bath, deciding that foot-washing will best be left for another time, perhaps during a Catholic ritual. Now I emerge wet onto the bathmat, and have to figure whether it’s really worth the trouble to dry the lower half of my body. I make the attempt, but not with a lot of muffled yips and involuntary gasps.

I swallow the prescribed meds and head for bed. I need a little light reading material to help me doze off, so I grab the patient information leaflet that accompanied my drugs. I’m taking methacarbamol, 750 milligrams, one or two tablets by mouth every eight hours as needed for muscle spasm. It’s a white, oblong pill, stamped for some reason with the imprint “Westward 292,” and should be kept in a dark, cool, dry place. Possible side effects include lightheadedness, drowsiness, pendular eye movement, slowness of heartbeat, and the possibility of blog-writing being both painful and not especially funny.

Maybe it’ll turn out better in my dreams.

New medicine, different side effects!

Warning another post that will go into way too much detail for some.

So I have completely gotten rid of Effexor out of my body. Which is awesome! I’m now on Savella 50mg BID (twice a day). It’s amazing how the pain has almost gone completely away. Only thing is my anxiety has absolutely tripled! I’m being a bit on the bat shit crazy side ride now. It’s not a good time for this (like there ever is a good time for this!) because I’m stressed so much about school right now. The classes I didn’t think that would kick my ass are and the ones I thought would kick my ass, aren’t kicking as hard as they could. But I’m seriously stressed.

With this, I have been put on Buspar. I’ll write down later what the dosage is for that. I don’t have it off the top of my head. For those that do know, SSRI are killer on your sex drive. Which with me being bipolar is not such a bad thing. My libido is that of a rabbit. But with meds, I feel it’s way more under control. Until recently! I knew something was up when I was driving home the other day, and I was having a hard on. Seriously nothing I could do about it. Then to make matters worse I keep having sex dreams. All the dreams end is major frustration.

That’s when I realized this medicine is not going to have the normal anti-depressant effect on my libido. SHIT! So now I have to figure out a way to control this. I haven’t had to in four or five years. That’s how long I’ve been on this medicine.

I refuse to date someone (or in lesbian terms never part from someone’s sight) because I don’t have the time or energy. It would be for sex only currently and I’m not that kinda person. And I don’t intend on starting that right now. But man it would help this urge!

Damned if I do, damned if I don’t! Argh!

Sorry Victoria, sorry Tasmania, sorry Australia.

When I received a New York Times email alert announcing that three people had won the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine, I was anxious to find out if they were American. When I read that they were, I was thrilled, but I had a feeling that they wouldn’t all be American-born.

Here’s the Associated Press article running in newspapers across America, with the headline “Three Americans Share 2009 Nobel Medicine Prize” (screen shot below).

The article says this about the winners:

Blackburn, who holds U.S. and Australian citizenship, is a professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Greider is a professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

London-born Szostak has been at Harvard Medical School since 1979 and is currently professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Only Blackburn is more than just a holder of Australian citizenship. Here’s the top story from The Australian (screen shot below).

The article in The Australian, which describes Blackburn as an “expatriate” – not an American citizen – notes:

Dr Blackburn, 60, a Hobart-born graduate of Melbourne University who has worked in the US for many years, was one of the favourites for the Nobel for physiology or medicine.

Yes, all three are Americans now, and I am happy to claim them. And I suppose the AP article at least mentions Blackburn’s dual citizenship, while The Australian does not. Still, the AP describing Blackburn as simply holding Australian citizenship feels unfair to me. They should fix that.

Congratulations to Australia, Great Britain and America for producing such a gifted group, whose research will benefit the world.

Premature Births Soar to nearly 10%

I wonder why air and chemical pollution aren’t being blamed for this
and only ‘use of technologies’ was mentioned:

‘Nearly 10% of babies born each year worldwide arrive prematurely, and the stress of caring for them “is exacting a huge toll emotionally, physically and financially on families, medical systems and economies,” the March of Dimes said today. Some 13 million babies are preemies, and more than 1 million of them live less than a month. The problem overwhelmingly affects Africa, where 12% of births are early, followed by North America and Asia.

‘”We need to know more about the underlying causes of premature birth in order to develop effective prevention strategies,” says a March of Dimes exec. Driving up North America’s numbers is the fact that the rates of premature birth in the US have soared, thanks in part to increased use of technologies that result in multiple births, HealthDay News reports.’
—M. Morris Source: HealthDay News

Scientists Develop Nasal Spray That Improves Memory

Good news for procrastinating students: a nasal spray developed by a team of German scientists promises to give late night cram sessions a major boost, if a good night’s sleep follows. In a research report featured as the cover story of the October 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, these scientists show that a molecule from the body’s immune system (interleukin-6) when administered through the nose helps the brain retain emotional and procedural memories during REM sleep.

“Sleep to remember, a dream or reality?” said Lisa Marshall, co-author of the study, from the Department of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Lubeck in Germany. “Here, we provide the first evidence that the immunoregulatory signal interleukin-6 plays a beneficial role in sleep-dependent formation of long-term memory in humans.”

To make this discovery, Marshall and colleagues had 17 healthy young men spend two nights in the laboratory. On each night after reading either an emotional or neutral short story, they sprayed a fluid into their nostrils which contained either interleukin-6 or a placebo fluid. The subsequent sleep and brain electric activity was monitored throughout the night. The next morning subjects wrote down as many words as they could remember from each of the two stories. Those who received the dose of IL-6 could remember more words.

“If a nasal spray can improve memory, perhaps we’re on our way to giving some folks a whiff of common sense, such as accepting the realities of evolution,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “This is exciting piece of interdisciplinary science, since IL-6 had previously been considered a by-product of inflammation, not an agent that affects cognition.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001091752.htm

How To Date a Med Student

Yesterday I’ve found this hilarious (and TRUE…my boyfriend is a med student, I know what I am talking about ) article at YourTango.com and I just have to show it to you. For the original version, click here, otherways read on my blog!

HOW TO DATE A MED STUDENT

1. Don’t expect to see them. Ever.

2. Accept the fact they will have many affairs. With their books. (MM: SO TRUE!)

3. Learn to hide your “ew, gross” reactions when they tell you all the stuff you never wanted to know about your bodily functions. (MM: No “ew” reactions from me, it interests me actually)//

4. Support them when they come home after each test, upset because they failed—and gently remind them after they get their well above passing grade how unnecessary the “I’m going to fail out of medical school and never become an MD” dramatics are.

5. Each week they will have a new illness. Some will be extremely rare, others will be more mundane. Doesn’t matter. They will be certain they have it (no second opinions necessary). Med school can, and will, turn even the sanest into a hypochondriac. Date them for long enough, and you’ll become one too.

6. There will be weeks you’ll forget you even have a boyfriend—friends will ask how he is and you’ll say, “What? Who? Oh… right. He’s well… I think.” Read: Married To A Doctor, I Was A Lonely Newlywed…

7. They’ll make you hyper-aware that germs are everywhere and on everything. Even though you used to walk into your home with your shoes on, and sit on your bed in the same clothes you just wore while riding the subway, or sat on a public bench in, you’ll become far too disgusted to ever do it again. Believe me, it’s going to get bad… you’ll watch yourself transform into the anal retentive person you swore you’d never become. And when you witness others perform these same acts that, before you began dating your med student, you spent your entire life doing too, you’ll wince and wonder, “Ew! How can they do that? Don’t they know how many germs and bacteria they’re spreading??!”

8. Romantic date = Chinese take-out in front of the TV on their 10-minute study break.

9. A vacation together consists of a trip down the street to Walgreens for new highlighters and printer paper.

10. Their study habits will make you feel like a complete slacker. For them, hitting the books 8-to-10 hours a day is not uncommon, nor difficult. You’ll wonder how you ever managed to pass school on your meager one hour of studying per night. (MM: This is the best point and I TOTALLY have to agree with it!!! Omfg!!! I feel like the slackiest slacker that ever lived!)

11. They’re expected to know everything. Everything! The name of the 8 billion-lettered, German sounding cell that lives in the depths of your inner ear, the technical term for the “no one’s ever heard of this disease” disease that exists only on one foot of the Southern tip of the African continent. But ask them if your knee is swollen, or what you should do to tame your mucous-filled cough, or why the heck your head feels like someone’s been drilling through it for oil for two weeks straight, and they won’t have a clue.

12. “My brain’s filled with so much information, I can’t be expected to remember THAT!” will be the standard excuse for forgetting anniversaries, birthdays, and, if you get this far, probably the birth of your first-born. (MM: I hope it’s not that tragical )

13. You’ll need friends with unending patience who pretend never to get sick of listening to your endless venting and complaints. Or, you’ll need to pay a therapist who will pretend never to get sick of listening to your endless venting and complaints. (MM: Hahahhaaaaaa!)

But take this all with a grain of salt. It’s not like I’m speaking from experience or anything…//

Written by Marissa Kristal for Fox News iMag

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Other news briefly:

• leaving for Prague tomorrow I’m not packed even 1%! @_#
• just doing my make-up
• reading Bridget Jones Diary and can’t get enough, it’s hilarious & I can relate very often
• gonna pick up my contact lenses tomorrow (90 Euro snifff)
• taking my VERY pruned minirose to Prague probably (my flatmates will think I’m mad to take such a pruned rose…it’s basically 4 short stems in the soil and I’m waiting for new leaves to sprout wtf)
• bought Vichy’s PURETE THERMALE Calming Cleansing Solution recently and it’s the. best. stuff. ever. It contains a rose extract & I looove roses!

OK! That’s it for now…I must run!

Hey, We Taxpayers Already Subsidize Abortion Services!

Via Ann at Feministing, I came upon Dana Goldstein’s excellent analysis of why a public option sans reproductive health coverage is doomed. She notes that women will be less likely to choose the public option if it excludes abortions and other basic reproductive care:

After all, the typical woman spends five years of her life pregnant, or trying to become so, but a full 30 years avoiding pregnancy. Without good reproductive-health coverage and strong buy-in from women — who use more health care than men — it is difficult to see how a public plan would gain strength over time.

(Read the rest here.)

And there’s more: Women with private insurance may find their plans dropping reproductive care, whether due to market forces (as Ann implies) or meddling in insurance regulation by conservative lawmakers (as Dana suggests).

Really, though, this whole debate rests on false premises. While the Hyde Amendment has prohibited Medicaid from covering abortions for over 30 years, abortions are already financed indirectly by taxpayer subsidies. Anyone with an employer-sponsored health plan gets their insurance tax-free. That’s a massive federal subsidy. Ann cites a NYT story that claims 50 percent of employers offer abortion services among their health benefits.

So taxpayers are already subsidizing abortion for women in the middle class and higher. It’s just those poor women who’ve been excluded.

Up ’til now, even after a quarter-century of supporting abortion rights, I’ve tended to think, “Get reform passed, and then we’ll worry about specific services.” But Dana has convinced me that this isn’t just a distraction, though the ‘wingers will surely conflate public subsidies for reproductive health with their phantom death panels. This is a matter of reproductive justice for poor women, and a sustainable system for all Americans.