Medical Health

We often hear of opportunists building rather shallow web sites around mesothelioma and asbestos so that they might obtain top dollar from contextual pay-per-click Google Adsense advertisements (Google crawls participating web sites and serves ads that match each site’s content). Or the myth is that content related to mesothelioma will bring webmasters some of the best paying Google Adsense ads. But here is one mesothelioma law firm that is serious about bringing the public lots of relevant and very detailed mesothelioma information: The Maune Raichle Law Firm runs the web site www.legal-mesothelioma-help.com, where the lawyers and their researchers tell victims and victims’ families (and other interested parties) all about mesothelioma: what it is, how and why individuals fall victim to the disease, and the symptoms and procedures leading to diagnosis.

This mesothelioma information site, www.legal-mesothelioma-help.com, goes on to point out the products that contain asbestos and the jobs that lead to asbestos exposure, and provides links to cancer centers that treat individuals suffering with mesothelioma. Available treatments (including nutritional and alternative therapies) are enumerated and explained. And while acknowledging that the victim’s health, treatment and survival are of paramount importance, the site details the legal process and the probable length of the legal battle. Legal Mesothelioma Help Dot Com is serious about putting good information on the Web.

Jude Lewis submitted this entry:

Stopping smoking is now considerably more complicated than it was when I was a little kid. While everyone agrees addiction to nicotine is the primary reason cigarettes are so hard to quit, not everyone agrees that the prescription of antidepressants is a safe solution. Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors and dopamine reuptake inhibitors are history; now there is a medication available which specifically targets nicotine receptors in the brain. The argument is that a drug which acts as a nicotinic agonist specifically, instead of as familiar antidepressant generally, will be safer for the general population and have fewer side effects. This does seem scientifically sound, but introduces yet another layer of pharmaceutical complexity in combatting smoking.

Very best regards,

Jude Lewis
General Consultant
Consultants General
http://www.consultantsgeneral.com

If you are unable to eat milk products or if you are taking a medication such as prednisone, you should definitely take calcium supplements — at least 1000 mg of calcium per day, divided into 2 to 4 doses. Never take more that 500 mg of calcium at one sitting during the day: your body has a hard time utilizing more that 500 mg at a time. And I have heard that among people supplementing with calcium, cranberry juice causes kidney stones. So avoid cranberries.

You might want to take a look at EZorbOnline.com. EZorb is a “new generation” calcium supplement — it has a very high absorption rate. I believe that I can feel the effects of EZorb on my muscle tone and skeletal strength.

The manufacturer states that “EZorb does not need participation of Vitamin D or magnesium for better calcium absorption,” but I still take 1000 IU of Vitamin D every day, and I continue to include old-style calcium-magnesium-zinc supplements in my daily regimen.

Recent research shows that while supplementing with calcium, you should take 1000 IU of Vitamin D every day. The old standard was 400 IU, but now it’s 1000 IU.

The University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the very best online references for finding out about herbs. The site comes with a variety of cross-reference tools: Conditions by Organ and Body System, Interactions by Drug, Conditions by Signs and Symptoms, Interactions by Herb or Supplement, Herbs & Supplements by Uses, and Depletions by Drug.

I do not know if George Lindemann uses alternative medications and herbs, but as an officer of the SOUTHERN UNION CO, he has most likely looked into investing in the alternative medicine and vitamin industries. Even the National Institutes of Health, near Washington, D.C., has been providing the public with information about promising alternative treatments.

Although a number of medical professionals still recommend applying a tourniquet to rattlesnake bites (and then briefly releasing the tourniquet every 15 to 20 minutes), Tony Nester, the author of Desert Survival. Tips, Tricks, & Skills (Flagstaff: Diamond Creek Press, 2003), writes that most of the doctors he spoke to advise against applying a tourniquet (it simply concentrates the venom in the tissues immediately adjacent to the bite) and that your best treatment is to get to a hospital or clinic as quickly as possible: do not delay.

Nester says that two important rules of desert living are 1) “Don’t put your hands where you can’t see” and 2) “Vigorously slam your boots on the ground and shake clothes before you put them on.”

Watch out for Gila Monsters, Africanized Bees (Killer Bees), Black Widow Spiders, Scorpions, Rattlesnakes, and Coral Snakes.

And if you end up spending way too much time in the sun out there in the dry desert, you can always consider getting plastic surgery. I’m sure that there is a great selection of cosmetic surgeons out there in the West, and I know that you can find a surgeon through the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, an association that represents thousands of reconstructive surgeons throughout the world.

So your grandparents passed down one or two genetic vulnerabilities and you have become ill with a genetic disease (maybe arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, or breast cancer). And you know that you did not bring on your condition, you know that it is not your fault, and your doctors and friends know that much, too. Yet all the neurotic busybodies are saying, “It serves you right.”

Well, think of the bright side: the mean-spirited gossips (particularly those living in rainy climates) have once again shown off their ignorance. They live in the dark, like rodents. Because what they have really said is that you are the blame for your grandparents’ genes, that you got what you deserved the day you were born.

What a bunch of arrogant, greedy, thoughtless fools.

A staff member at a local hospital recommended these medical sites as good, reliable and reputable sources of information pertaining to ulcerative colitis and IBD:

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/colitis/

http://www.ccfa.org/info/about/ucp

http://mayoclinic.com

If you are looking for dietary methods for toning down the symptoms of ulcerative colitis, read Dr. Barry Sears’ book The Anti-Inflammation Zone, where he explains how to remove grains from your meals and how to balance protein, good fat, and favorable carbohydrate.

If you are to the point of recovery where you can again tolerate spices, be sure to try adding organic tumeric and organic ginger to your meals. Both spices fight inflammation and ginger alleviates gas and diarrhea. (But don’t go overboard: these spices can thin your blood and increase bleeding. SEE the “Colitis, fish oil, chocolate, tea, and spices” post.)

You might have a problem finding organic fresh ginger, but Frontier brand organic ground ginger root works just fine. Their Web site is www.frontiercoop.com.

Today my doctor told me that I had pinched one of the shoulder muscles attached to my rotator cuff and that the muscle is swollen. I’m supposed to stay away from the computer because holding my arm horizontally in ways that allow gravity to pull on it will just make my injured muscle swell more. More swelling = more pinching = more swelling. I’m supposed to ice the shoulder 5 times each day.

You ask what happened. When I woke up Monday morning, a sharp pain occurred right when I first moved my left arm as part of the movement of getting out of bed.

This e-mail was forwarded to me:

> I considered not forwarding this info. I had it in my inbox for months.
> The reference to Gilda Radner is what swayed me. I remember her early
> death only too well. She wasn’t much older than me at the time and way too
> young to be dying.
>
> I have to see my DR. next week and I’m going to ask.
> One life saved would make all the difference. Why die of ignorance.
>
> SIGNS OF OVARIAN CANCER (even in the absence of Ovaries) THIS IS A
> MUST TO READ TO THE END. . . .
>

Basically, it was a new form of a discredited e-mail that has been circulating for years. Its main thrust is that you must have regular CA-125 blood tests. However, quite a few Web sites cast doubt on this e-mail’s story/testimonial. Take a look at Trend Micro’s summary at Hoaxes.

And also see the Urban Legends synopsis: http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/ca125.asp.

More importantly, John Hopkins University, in its Questions and Answers About the CA-125 Test, says,

The CA-125 test is not recommended for use alone as an early detection method. The rate of false positives is very high, and there has been no data concerning change in mortality.

The CA-125 test should not be used alone to detect ovarian cancer, but rather with transvaginal sonography and rectovaginal pelvic examination for greater accuracy.

Combining detection methods lowers the number of false positive results.

The CA-125 test should be done serially for best accuracy.