HealthBeat News

Category: Opinion

  • A Glimpse At A Senior Wedding

    The following is a cute little story, and also a sad reflection of what many seniors seem to expect and accept as a normal part of ageing. You can be sure that the couple in this story do not represent the average Wellness Club member or patient of Dr. Myatt!

    Folks, as far as we are concerned at the Wellness Club, the ages of 89 and 92 are just getting to be comfortably “mature” – with plenty of good healthy years to look forward to. There should be no need for anyone at any age to look forward to reliance upon such a cornucopia of pharmaceutical crutches and bandaids – even if medicare does pay for ’em!

    So, with that in mind, enjoy a chuckle on Jacob and Rebecca, and on Big Pharma:

    Jacob, age 92, and Rebecca, age 89, living in Miami, are all excited about their decision to get married. They go for a stroll to discuss the wedding, and on the way they pass a drugstore … Jacob suggests they go in.

    Jacob addressed the man behind the counter: Are you the owner?”

    The pharmacist answered, “Yes.”

    Jacob: “We’re about to get married. Do you sell heart medication?

    Pharmacist: “Of course, we do.”

    Jacob: “How about medicine for circulation?”

    Pharmacist: “All kinds.”

    Jacob: “Medicine for rheumatism?”

    Pharmacist: “Definitely.”

    Jacob: “How about suppositories?”

    Pharmacist: “You bet!”

    Jacob: “Medicine for memory problems, arthritis and Alzheimer’s?”

    Pharmacist: “Yes, a large variety. The works.”

    Jacob: “What about vitamins, sleeping pills, Geritol, antidotes for Parkinson’s disease?”

    Pharmacist: “Absolutely.”

    Jacob: “Everything for heartburn and indigestion?”

    Pharmacist: “We sure do.”

    Jacob: “You sell wheelchairs and walkers and canes?”

    Pharmacist: “All speeds and sizes.”

    Jacob: “Adult diapers?”

    Pharmacist: “Sure.”

    Jacob: “We’d like to use this store as our Bridal Registry..

  • The Subtle Formula for Health

    The Subtle Formula for Health (Why Small Choices Matter)

     

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    Disease and poor health are rarely caused by a single, cataclysmic event.

     

    Most people do not lose their health overnight. Instead, disease and declining health result from an accumulation of poor judgement and unhealthy lifestyle choices.

    In other words, most disease is caused by a few small mistakes, repeated frequently.

    Why would anyone who knows they are making bad choices or “cheating” on their health be so foolish to keep repeating those bad choices day in and day out? Because the average person doesn’t realize how much those small choices matter.

    Individually, our little daily indiscretions don’t seem that important. A slight bit of overeating here, forgetting to take supplements a time or two there, skipping our daily exercise a couple of times a week doesn’t cause any instant or noticeable problem. Most of the time, we escape any immediate consequences of our “slips.”

    People who eat too many unhealthy foods are contributing to future health problems, but the temporary pleasure of the moment overshadows the potential consequences of the future. If one is lucky, that over-the-top sugary desert causes a stomach ache and we are not eager to repeat the taste again. Usually, however, there is no apparent consequence for such a “small” bad choice. And so we come to believe that such a choice “doesn’t matter,” forgetting that such choices are cumulative. Because there are no apparent repercussions, it becomes increasingly easier to enjoy a sweet desert more often.

    The same holds true for smoking, drinking, skipping exercise, skimping on sleep. One may not feel immediate consequences, but don’t be fooled! The consequences have simply been delayed for a future date.  These choices accumulate until the “day of reckoning” arrives. Eventually the price must be paid for our “little” poor choices, choices that didn’t seem to matter at the time.

    Disease’s most dangerous trait is subtlety. Those little errors don’t seem to make any difference. We eat desert every night and nothing bad seems to happen. Our health does not seem to be failing. Because nothing terrible happens over these small choices and no immediate consequence captures our attention, we continue from day to day, repeating the errors, eating the wrong foods, skipping the exercise, forgetting our supplements and making poor choices. The sky did not fall on us yesterday when we skipped our supplements, so we think that probably didn’t have much effect and that skipping them doesn’t matter.  Since the choice seemed to have no negative consequence, it feels safe to repeat.

    Wake up and smell the green tea!

    If we ate a rich desert and woke up the next morning with fifty extra pounds of fat hanging off our middle, we’d notice – pronto!

    Such immediate feedback would undoubtedly merit an emergency visit to the doctor and a promise to ourselves not to repeat such an act. Like a child who sticks his finger in a flame despite warnings, the instantaneous feedback would have convinced us of the folly of our ways.

    Unfortunately, most poor choices don’t holler out warnings or give immediate feedback. This is why anyone aiming for good health, sustained into old age, must be wise enough to recognize the cumulative effects of small daily choices and develop a philosophy of consistently making better choices. With a clear personal health philosophy guiding our steps, we can more clearly see our errors in judgment and also see how those small daily choices really do matter.

    In reverse order, the results of consistent good choices are not always immediately apparent. As one patient recently remarked, “I took those supplements for a whole week and didn’t feel any different!” Positive changes resulting from small, positive choices take time to accumulate and manifest, just like poor choices take time to manifest.

    Fortunately, the formula for health is just as easy as the formula for disease. Good health is a matter of a few simple habits practiced every day.

    One way to make small daily habits a part of our routine is to make a decision to be healthy in the future. Only by caring about our state of health in the future will we be able and willing to make small, positive changes today.

    What do you want your future to look like? When you are old, do you want to be healthy and vigorous, still able to play a keen round of golf or throw a few hoops with the grand kids? If you can see yourself as vigorous and healthy tomorrow, you will have stoked the fires of enthusiasm today.

    How many good things could happen to your health if you took just a few minutes each day to think about your future? The consequences of your repeated actions would become clear to you, and the day-to-day choices would become easier.

    One of the exciting things about this “Health formula”  of just changing a few simple habits, practiced every day,  is that the results, though not immediate, can be seen quickly.  Fifteen minutes a day of exercise, replacing water for soda pop, taking nutritional supplements regularly instead of occasionally — these simple habits will improve our health noticeably in just a few weeks. That positive feedback, combined with our increased awareness and pro-activity toward our future, can make a significant difference in our health today and tomorrow.

    Little choices practiced consistently add up to big results, whether for good or ill. Remember, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”  — Chinese proverb.

    Will you start today to make “deposits” toward a future of good health?

  • "Waxman Amendment" To Return?

    Will The “Waxman Amendment” Be Back To Threaten Your Freedom Again?

    Nurse Mark Thinks “Yes!”

     

    Opinion By Nurse Mark

     

    HealthBeat News readers will remember that I recently wrote about a piece of political shenanigans that has come to be known as “the Waxman Amendment”. Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA) attempted to insert his unrelated legislative language into The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) – an underhanded ploy that we exposed in this HealthBeat article: HEALTH FREEDOM ALERT – URGENT ACTION NEEDED! The offensive language was eventually stripped from the bill, thanks to the efforts of people like you: Waxman Amendment Fails – You Win!

    But beware – the enemies of your vitamins, supplements and natural remedies are nothing if not patient.

    I wrote an article two years ago describing the propaganda – er, public relations – efforts that were underway then and that no doubt continue today. EXPOSED: FDA’s Self-Critical Report is a PR Scam

    Why do I bring all this up now?

    You may have noticed over the past few days and weeks that there have been a increasing number of news articles about vitamins, minerals, and supplements – all warning of the dangers faced by anyone foolish enough to use these things instead of FDA approved drugs and treatments.

    A WebMD article warns us that Calcium causes heart attacks.

    A drugs.com press release tells us that the FDA warns people not to use Miracle Mineral Solution, an oral liquid solution also known as “Miracle Mineral Supplement” or “MMS.” warning that it produces bleach and can cause serious harm.

    A recent news article produced by Consumer Reports breathlessly warns of the dangers of a “dirty dozen” dietary supplements and bemoans the powerlessness of the FDA to quickly and easily remove products from the market.

    Even the Consumer Reports article that goes on to list 11 supplements that it feels might be beneficial is grudging and guarded in it’s language.

    A common thread running through many of these articles is a cry to give the FDA increased powers to “protect” consumers and dewy-eyed hand-wringing that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) protects dietary supplements from the FDA and prevents the FDA from regulating them as if they were drugs.

    While much is made of the rare cases where people have gotten themselves into trouble by mis-using (or abusing) dietary supplements, like the woman who developed a bluish skin discoloration from the chronic overuse of colloidal silver or the overweight and out-of-shape baseball player who became dehydrated and collapsed and died with ephedra in his system at spring training camp, we rarely hear about the serious, even fatal side effects of common, FDA-approved prescription drugs.

    Oddly enough, we hear little about those people foolish enough to take topical analgesic gels by mouth, or others who find themselves in need of liver transplants after abusing common Tylenol, or who suffer heart attacks or stroke after using Advil, Motrin or Aleve… or the any number of other medical disasters that can ensue from the use of these “safe and effective” FDA approved drugs.

    And really now, why would anyone worry about such a minor little inconvenience like rhabdomyelosis and liver damage from statin drugs, or skin necrosis (death) from several commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals, or the fatal “side effects” and “adverse reactions” that can be a part of taking so many of the FDA’s “approved” drugs… after all, they are “approved”, and they are profitable.

    Here is my prediction: we are going to see an increasing number of “news” articles detailing the “dangers” of dietary supplements over the next few months. These stories will be replete with heart-breaking anecdotal tales of personal pain and suffering endured by the unwary “victims” of the unregulated vitamin industry.

    The well-meaning writers of these stories will point to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act as being the reason that the FDA cannot adequately “protect” the public from these dangers.

    In time there will be some example of harm that will be suffered by some celebrity or sports star or there will have been enough negative press and “the public will demand action.” At this point a legislator will step forward with a solution and that solution will, strangely enough, look a lot like Henry Waxman’s failed initiative.

    This solution will call for new powers to be given to the FDA to allow it to “protect consumers” by regulating vitamins, minerals, and supplements as strictly as any synthetic offering from Big Pharma. This, of course, will have the effect of driving many vitamin and supplement makers out of business and raising the prices of any surviving vitamins or supplements so high as to make prescription drugs seem like a bargain.

    Watch for it. It is coming. Americans reportedly spend $26.7 billion a year on vitamins, minerals, and supplements.

    Big Pharma jealously covets that money.

    The Waxman Amendment will return. It is already written and it’s just waiting for the right time, the right incident, the right politician. The DSHEA will be attacked. We are seeing the foundations for that attack being laid now.

    Those who have been in the military will be familiar with the concept of this sort of repeating attack; it is known as “BOHICA” – which stands for “Bend Over, Here It Comes Again!”

  • Dr. Myatt And Nurse Mark – A Personal Glimpse

    What do Dr. Myatt and Nurse Mark do when they are not researching or writing or speaking or teaching or seeing patients? Well, recently they have decided to undergo the training required to obtain their Private Pilot Certificates. That’s right, we are learning how to fly airplanes!

    Why the heck would we want to do that you ask. After all, there are perfectly good airlines, quite willing to take you anywhere you want to go at a reasonable price…

    You are right – there are. As long as you don’t mind the interminable lines and waits and the invasive searches and scans and the dreadfully cramped seating and the lost luggage and the…

    But more than that, the act of learning keeps the mind active and sharp – we highly recommend to all that the best way to keep your mind healthy is to exercise it, regularly. And wow, this flight stuff is some exercise!

    Rather like cross-training for athletes, learning a science and skill that is completely new and outside of one’s regular experience has other benefits – there are always truths and tips to be learned that spill over into and improve other areas of our lives. The list that appears below is humorous, but also very, very true for a pilot. If you think about them, there are a lot of these truths that apply to non-flyers as well. There is, for example, number 9: Learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make all of them yourself. That is advice that we can all use – young, old, flyer, or not.

    See how many of these you can apply to yourself as you go through your day.

    Oh, and by the way – does anyone have an airplane laying about that they’re not using?

    Cheers,

    Nurse Mark

     

    This appeared in Australian Aviation Magazine (June 2000)

    1. Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.

    2. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick all the way back, then they get bigger again.

    3. Flying isn’t dangerous. Crashing is what’s dangerous.

    4. It’s always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here.

    5. The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.

    6. The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.

    7. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.

    8. A ‘good’ landing is one from which you can walk away. A ‘great’ landing is one after which they can use the plane again.

    9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make all of them yourself.

    10. You know you’ve landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to taxi to the ramp.

    11. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and vice versa.

    12. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn’t get to five minutes earlier.

    13. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.

    14. Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take-offs you’ve made.

    15. There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.

    16. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.

    17. Helicopters can’t fly; they’re just so ugly the earth repels them.

    18. If all you can see out of the window is ground that’s going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.

    19. In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.

    20. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgment.

    21. It’s always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much as possible.

    22. Keep looking around. There’s always something you’ve missed.

    23. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It’s the law. And it’s not subject to repeal.

    24. The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above you, runway behind you, and a tenth of a second ago.

  • Surviving The Bad Times

    Surviving The Bad Times – When the lights go out and your debit card doesn’t work…

     

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Our world is a restless and sometimes dangerous place – whether the disaster-de-jour is naturally-caused as in the earthquakes of Chile or Haiti or Turkey, the floods or tornadoes or hurricanes right here in our own country, or the man-made disasters that fill our daily news reports from around the world – terrorism, chemical spills, riots, strikes, social unrest, economic meltdowns, and all manner of other unpleasantness.

    My point is that we need to be thinking: If Bad Things Happen and it’s up to me to look after the safety, health, and well-being of my family am I prepared to do so?

    A brief excerpt from a recent article by author Barbara Simpson – the entire article can be found here: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=127205

    Picture this: Your city is in virtual ruins because of a natural disaster. You’re trying to gather your family and stay with your belongings and what’s left of your home or business. You have no electricity, water or food. Your main goal is to stay safe, stay together and stay alive. Think Haiti. Chile. New Orleans. As hours pass, you realize there’s no police or firefighter protection for you, and there’s no military in sight.

    And in another correspondence over the weekend:

    Emergency tip from a friend in Chile:
    “We’ve all came through the event okay, and we’re fine for now. Our only immediate issue is a shortage of cash! The earthquake instantly converted all of Chile to a ‘cash-only’ society!  Checks, and even credit cards, are currently worthless here and of absolutely no use.  Some items can be bartered, but, right now, cash is king!”

    Have you thought about how you might manage? If power and phones are out for more than a few hours? If it is not safe to travel, even to the corner grocery? And if you can get to the corner grocery, and the power is out, what good is that? You’ll not be able to use your credit card or write a check… even if there is what you need available the stores will likely be locked since they will be without power too. And if the stores have been “opened” as many were in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina are they a safe or wise place for you to be?

    Lets face it, there are times when it is best just to hunker down in our homes and ride out the storm.

    Are you prepared to do that?

    Do you have a week or two worth of non-perishable food on hand? Food that can be prepared without electricity or natural gas? Sure, you might have a sack of rice, or beans, or pasta – but without power or gas how will you boil them?

    What about water? Will it be safe to drink municipal water (if it is still running) or do you have a backup supply? Do you have an emergency water purifier in case local water becomes contaminated?

    Are there any medicines that you must have? What about your vitamins and supplements? Since food might be a bit of a problem, your vitamins become even more important! You can get along just fine for quite a while on reduced rations – as long as you are maintaining your nutritional status with vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients.

    Here are a few random thoughts on this from me:

    Protein: In terms of maintaining health through diet, protein is an essential nutrient. Carbohydrates, that is breads, pastas, beans, rice, and the like are not essential – they are just empty carbs and they are often expensive to prepare in terms of energy for boiling or baking. If food is short we’ll take what we can get – but health-preserving protein will be “golden.” Why not consider keeping a few containers of whey protein on hand? A couple of tasty servings of whey, simply mixed with water, will go a long way toward meeting your daily protein needs and keeping you fit and strong. While you are at it, add a serving of a fruit and vegetable drink like Red Alert or Greens First to your whey shake, and you’ll be getting the equivalent of 10 servings of fruits and vegetables! To really top it off, add some flax oil and a scoop of Maxi Fiber to make it a “full meal deal”! See our recipe for the Super Shake – if the power is out you may not have ice or your blender (unless you have a small generator – not a bad idea either!) but the Super Shake can be mixed up and shaken by hand in any jar or container with a snug-fitting lid.

    Vitamins: Troubled times are NOT the time to “economize” and “cut back” on your vitamins and other supplements! Lets think about this for a moment – you take your vities to stay healthy and to make up for the missing nutrition in our food (see Vitaminless Vegetables) during the good times – so why would you cut back on these during lean times? More than ever you will need to ensure that your body has all the nutrition it needs in order to remain strong and fend off illness and infection! Here’s my suggested minimum: keep at least a full month, or better two months supply of Maxi Multi, Maxi Greens, and Maxi Marine fish oil on hand for each member of your family. Keep on hand the same amount of any other important supplements that you use as well.

    You will also want to be sure you have a good supply of things such as Dr. Myatt’s B.A.M. to treat infections, activated charcoal and / or Enteraklenz for G.I upsets and charcoal poultices, Bromelain because it’s such a good anti-inflammatory, and cayenne lobelia tincture for shock, hemorrhage, and cardiovascular emergencies.

    All of these things, like whey protein and Maxi Multis, will keep well in their containers – they do not need refrigeration or other special treatment – so they can be kept in stock for emergencies. Just remember to rotate your stock so that you always have the freshest possible stock on hand!

    What else can you do? Well, there is plenty of advice out there for things to consider keeping on hand for emergencies: first aid kits, blankets, flashlights, generators, spare batteries, fuel, candles, warm clothing, a radio, some cash, a defensive firearm and ammunition if you are so disposed and it is legal for you to do so (be sure that you and all family members have received safety training and know how to use it!),  the list goes on and on. I am not a big fan of keeping gold or silver or jewelry as “emergency currency” – who will be able to “make change” for that gold coin when you go to spend it?  Personally, my tastes in “precious metals investments” run more to the “precious metals” brass and lead…

    So in closing, let me offer my prayers for you and for all of us that our planning and preparation for such difficult times is unnecessary. But I would rather take a razzing and be called a “survivalist” during the good times than have to watch my family, friends, and neighbors suffer should, Heaven forbid, some disaster strike us and I had not given my 2 cents worth of free advice. Besides – I like the old Boy Scouts motto: Be Prepared!