HealthBeat News

Category: Senior 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 judgment 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 small choices matter.

    Individually, our small daily indiscretions don’t seem that important. A slight bit of overeating here, forgetting to take supplements a meal 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 they probably don’t have much effect and skipping them doesn’t matter. Since the choice seemed to have no negative consequence, it is probably 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.

    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.

    "Just a Little Won’t Hurt"

    An occasional sweet treat probably won’t make a big health difference, especially for those who are doing the other "small things" right on a regular basis. The problem is that many people make these "small exceptions" far more often than they admit. Consider what these "small cheats" can do to you.

    The World Health Organization previously recommended no more than 10% of daily calories from sugar, but now they’re considering lowering that to 5%. For an average, healthy adult, that would mean 25 grams or about six teaspoons of sugar per day. According to the USDA food tables, a single can of Coke has 33 grams of sugar or about the equivalent of 8 teaspoons of granulated sugar. "Just one little soda" per day is way over the recommended limit.

    What’s the big deal with excess sugar? If can damage the heart, increase risk of diabetes, insulin resistance and high blood pressure and is significantly  associated with an increased risk of cancer to name only a few of the long list of problems.

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-eating-too-much-sugar-2014-3#ixzz3iSCAzeQY

    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.

    How Small is "Small”?

    For Regular exercise, "small" is a little as 15 minutes or 1/2 mile per day.

    Fifteen minutes of walking per day increased lifespan by up to three years in elderly subjects. This amount of exercise reduced death from all causes by 14%.

    Minimum amount of physical activity for reduced mortality and extended life expectancy: a prospective cohort study.

    Walking only 72 blocks per week, consistently over the course of 9 years, improved gray matter volume and help preserve cognitive function. Seventy-two blocks per week is 3.6 miles of 1/2 mile per day, not exactly marathon distance.

    Exercising as little as 15 minutes, 3 times per week, reduced the risk dementia among persons 65 years of age and older.

    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 grandkids? If you can see yourself as vigorous and healthy tomorrow, you will have stoked the fires of enthusiasm today.

    Small, consistent use of vitamin supplements yield big benefits

    Daily intake of a multiple vitamin over the course of ten years lowered risk of colon cancer in men and women aged 30-62 years of age.

    Vitamin D therapy significantly decreased all-cause mortality with a duration of follow-up longer than 3 years. Note that the life-extension effects of vitamin D were seen after three years of consistent intake.

    The Iowa Women’s Health Study showed that women who supplemented with vitamins C, D, E and calcium had significantly lower risks of mortality.

    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" — 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 proactivity 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?

    References:

    Erickson, K.I.; Raji C.A.; O.L. Lopez O.L., et al. Physical activity predicts gray matter volume in late adulthood:The Cardiovascular Health Study. Neurology. 2010 Oct 19; 75(16): 1415–1422.

    Larson EB, Wang L, Bowen JD, McCormick WC, Teri L, Crane P, Kukull W. Exercise is associated with reduced risk for incident dementia among persons 65 years of age and older. Ann Intern Med. 2006 Jan 17;144(2):73-81.

    E White,  J S Shannon and R E Patterson. Relationship between vitamin and calcium supplement use and colon cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev October 1997   6;  769 

    Zheng Y, Zhu J, Zhou M, Cui L, Yao W, Liu Y. Meta-analysis of long-term vitamin D supplementation on overall mortality. PLoS One. 2013 Dec 3;8(12):e82109.

    Mursu J, Robien K, Harnack LJ, Park K, Jacobs DR Jr. Dietary Supplements and Mortality Rate in Older Women: The Iowa Women’s Health Study. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Oct 10;171(18):1625-33.

  • Lutein… Eye Can See Clearly Now (The Haze Is Gone)

    By Nurse Mark

     

    HealthBeat News readers may not know that I will be turning 60 this year, so there it is – my age, now known to all. And I feel that I’m in pretty good shape for being almost 60; I run every morning, I do daily body-weight exercise, I eat well, I sleep well, I take my vitamins faithfully, I’m a normal weight and I feel good.

    Like many people my age however I like to joke that “if I’d known I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself!”

    When we are in our 20’s and 30’s we are immortal, invincible. But as we move into our 40’s and 50’s and begin to notice little things we wish we had been more careful, more attentive.

    As I moved through my 40’s I began to notice that my arms seemed to be becoming shorter – I was having to hold printed materials further from my eyes in order to focus and read. As I approached my 50’s a set of “cheaters” – non-prescription reading glasses – became my constant companion.

    When I was in my 20’s and 30’s I actually preferred driving at night when there was less traffic on the roads – but as I moved into my 40’s I found that it seemed like more people had annoying, glaringly maladjusted headlights, and as I entered my 50’s I found myself going out of my way to avoid night driving – the glare from oncoming headlights seemed blinding and I felt I was not as safe as I wanted to be because of that.

    In my mid-50’s I earned my Private Pilot certificate, which meant learning to fly at night. I found that flying in darkness is a delightful experience. But while takeoffs are optional, landings are mandatory and the glare from the runway edge lights and other airport lighting made night landings a nerve-wracking experience – I found myself avoiding night flight.

    As I entered my 50’s I also noticed that while my distance vision was still quite good, things sometimes looked a little “flat” in some light, and objects were becoming harder to pick out from backgrounds. Colors weren’t quite as “crisp” as I seemed to remember…

    So, around my 59th birthday last year Dr. Myatt and I were attending lectures at a medical conference in Las Vegas. One of those lectures explained the results of the NIH-sponsored AREDS2 study and the actions and effects of the supplements lutein and zeaxanthin. After sitting through what felt like hours of mind-numbing statistics and science the speaker began to get to the meat of the lecture and I started to think that perhaps there was something in it for me – and that since we carry a very high quality lutein supplement perhaps I would give the stuff a try. And so, when we got home from the conference I began to take a lutein supplement faithfully every day – it has been about 90 days now.

    Here is what I found: For the first month or so it didn’t seem to be doing a darned thing.

    Then about halfway through the second month of using it I was out for my usual morning run – a day like any other. As I neared one particular hilltop that affords a nice view of a local valley something seemed different. I stopped and admired the view. Colors felt brighter; distant homes, vehicles, trees, and other features somehow looked more prominent. Everything just seemed crisper, cleaner, like when the air is especially clear after a rainfall. But this is Arizona – we had not experienced any rain for some time. I drank in the beauty of it and continued my run without much more thought.

    A few days later I found myself needing to drive to a meeting at night. I really don’t like to drive at night anymore, but there was no way around it, so off I went. Oddly, though it seemed like there was as much traffic as ever, oncoming headlights weren’t quite as blinding – even the nasty high-intensity blue headlights. Headlights from behind (we have plenty of “jacked-up” trucks and SUV’s in our part of the world) were less annoying too. When I did get an unavoidable flash of headlights in my eyes I seemed to be recovering my vision faster – more like I was able to when I was 20 years younger. My own headlights seemed to be working a bit better too, and I was finding it easier to pick out objects at the edges of their illumination – the car in a dark driveway getting ready to pull out onto the road, the deer feeding in the ditch, the pothole to be avoided. All in all, I found myself enjoying driving at night again – wow!

    The next day I thought about my vision, and about the changes I was noticing. It isn’t like by vision is any better by measurable means – I still need my readers for close work, I don’t think my visual acuity has changed or improved – my distance vision seems unchanged (it was pretty good to begin with).

    What has changed though is the quality of my vision. Would it make sense if I said it feels “cleaner”? Colors seem less muddy. Contrast seems improved. There seems to be less glare. Perhaps there is a way to measure all this that I’m not aware of, but for now it just seems… better. And that’s enough for me.

    But I wasn’t satisfied with that – and so I dug out my notes from that medical conference lecture and reviewed them.

    I found that what I was noticing is exactly what the lecturer said that they had been finding in their research.

    My notes said that 6 to 9 weeks of continued supplementation was required to achieve any noticeable improvement. Check.

    I had noted that lutien forms a protective layer inside the eye that improves night sight and reduces glare effects by blocking blue light. Check.

    And that this blue light blocking effect also improves contrast and color rendition in full and in subdued light. Check.

    My notes also say that lutein is protective of the eye, functions as an antioxidant, and may prevent development and progression of cataracts and may prevent the progression of Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

    My Bottom line?

    I believe that using lutein faithfully for the last three months has made a difference to the quality of my vision. Not to my visual acuity: it hasn’t fixed my presbyopia – but has improved a difficult-to-define “quality” of vision.

    Let’s just say that I like what (and how) I’m seeing, and you’re not taking my lutein away from me!

    Learn more about Lutein and Zeaxanthin here:

  • A Good Sleep For… Strong Bones?

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Could bone health be improved in seniors by getting a better night’s sleep? If that better sleep involves melatonin the answer could be “Yes”!

    We have long praised the benefits of a good sleep in our HealthBeat News articles, and we have also warned of the dangers of achieving sleep with drugs – especially the newest crop of drugs known as “Z-drugs”, such as Ambien and Lunesta. Check out Sleeping Pills – It Just Gets Worse if you need to review.

    Our alternatives are improved sleep “hygiene”, and supplements like magnesium, Kavinace, Lavella, and of course melatonin. For more information and suggestions review our recent article Get a Good Night’s Sleep: Your Checklist

    Now according to recent research melatonin can not only help seniors get a good night’s sleep, it can also help to strengthen their bones too.

    Researchers from McGill University in Canada have just this month published a paper describing their work with melatonin and aging lab rats (really – I couldn’t make this stuff up!) where they found significant improvements in bone density and strength in the animals given supplements of melatonin.

    You can read the full McGill University news article here: Melatonin Makes Old Bones Stronger – but for those who want the punch line, this is what the article concludes:

    The researchers found that there was a significant increase in both bone volume and density among the rats that had received melatonin supplements. As a result, it took much more force to break the bones of rats that had taken the melatonin supplements, a finding that suggests to the researchers that melatonin may prove a useful tool in combating osteoporosis.

     

    Now, to be fair, this is not exactly “new” news – researchers have long been aware of the relationship between melatonin and the health of so-called “hard tissues” like bones and teeth. Here is what another, earlier research paper concluded:

    The above analyzed data indicate that melatonin may be involved in the development of the hard tissues bone and teeth. Decreased melatonin levels may be related to bone disease and abnormality. Due to its ability of regulating bone metabolism, enhancing bone formation, promoting osseointegration of dental plant and cell and tissue protection, melatonin may used as a novel mode of therapy for augmenting bone mass in bone diseases characterized by low bone mass and increased fragility, bone defect/fracture repair and dental implant surgery.

    Reference: Jie Liu, Fang Huang, and Hong-Wen He. Melatonin Effects on Hard Tissues: Bone and Tooth. Int J Mol Sci. May 2013; 14(5): 10063–10074.
    Published online May 10, 2013. doi:  10.3390/ijms140510063

    Indeed, a quick search of PubMed using the terms “melatonin” and ‘bone” returns hundreds of articles discussing the positive effects of melatonin on bone and dental health.

    So, do you really need more reasons to supplement your melatonin and get a good night sleep?

     

    Learn more about:

    Melatonin

    Magnesium

    Kavinace

    Lavella

  • Popular Sleeping Pill Sends Thousands to Emergency Rooms

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Are you still taking Ambien? Lunesta? Sonata? After what we have written about their dangers in past HealthBeat Newsletters?

    Or maybe you just haven’t read those newsletters or maybe you forgot them – well, here are the articles once again so that you can refresh your memory:

     

    Are you back from your reading now? Good! Did you think I was being just a little alarmist in writing those articles? Well, here is a recent headline found on The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website:

    Sharp rise in emergency department visits involving the sleep medication zolpidem

    Zolpidem is the active ingredient in Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar and Zolpimist

     

    Now, before you go thinking that this is yet another dire warning from some woo-woo far-out all-natural herbal medicine website, it’s not – The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a part of our very own government’s Department Of Health And Human Services. If our own BigPharma-funded government is warning people about this “FDA approved” drug, then you know things are getting serious!

    SAMHSA recently produced “The DAWN Report” (Drug Abuse Warning Network) which gives us the following “bullet points” in summary:

    • The number of zolpidem-related emergency department (ED) visits involving adverse reactions increased nearly 220 percent from 6,111 visits in 2005 to 19,487 visits in 2010
    • Females accounted for two thirds (68 percent) of zolpidem-related ED visits involving adverse reactions in 2010
    • Patients aged 45 or older represented about three quarters (74 percent) of zolpidem-related ED visits involving adverse reactions while those aged 65 or older represented about one third (32 percent) of such visits
    • Half of visits (50 percent) involved other pharmaceuticals combined with zolpidem, including narcotic pain relievers (26 percent) and other anti-anxiety and insomnia medications (16 percent)

     

    The full report can be found here: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k13/DAWN079/sr079-Zolpidem.htm

    The DAWN Report makes for some interesting and eye-opening – even alarming – reading and is a must-see for anyone who is using these drugs or who has a loved one using these drugs.

    “But wait a minute,” you say… “Maybe this drug is a bit spooky, but at least I get some sleep when I take it!”

    Then you say “If you take that away I don’t know what I’ll do – I’ve tried every other drug…”

    But have you tried Dr. Myatt’s suggestions for insomnia?

    I know, I know, you are a busy person with a stressful life and you don’t have time for all that. That’s why Ambien is so nice, right? Just pop the little pill and go to sleep – maybe, sort of.

    Well, because you are busy, here is the short course: some of our most effective supplements to promote healthy sleep.

    • Maxi Multi: 3 caps, 3 times per day with meals. Optimal (not minimal) doses of  B complex vitamins and magnesium (both found  in Maxi Multi) are particularly important for insomnia.
    • Melatonin: this hormone decreases with age. Melatonin is a potent antioxidant that helps regulate Circadian Rhythms. It should be used in almost all cases of insomnia. Melatonin is also an an “anti stress” hormone.

      Some people complain that they tried melatonin and it didn’t work for them. We usually find that they tried it in a form that they swallowed, as a tablet. Melatonin is not well-absorbed this way, and we recommend that it be take sublingually – that is, dissolved under the tongue. This allows the hormone to enter the bloodstream more directly and without being altered by stomach acids. Rarely, others complain that melatonin helped them sleep, but left them feeling groggy the next day. If this occurs, try taking a smaller dose – a half or even a quarter-tablet to start with.

    • L-5-HTP (5-Hydroxy-Tryptophan) 100 mg: 1 cap, 3 times per day, twice with meals and once before bed. Dosage may be increased to 2 caps, 3 times per day after 2 weeks if response is inadequate. L-5-HTP is a neurotransmitter precursor; most neurotransmitters decrease with age.
    • Magnesium (amino acid chelate): 2 tabs, 45 minutes before bedtime. (In addition to what is contained in Maxi-Multi) Magnesium is a “calming” mineral.
    • Lavender Essential Oil: Used as aromatherapy, lavender has a balancing, relaxing and uplifting effect. Apply several drops to a cotton ball or diffuser to help drift peacefully off to sleep.

      Here is a trick that was taught to me as a young Nurse by an older and very experienced European Nurse: It is common practice in some European hospitals to put a few drops of lavender oil on pillows to help relax patients and promote sleep. I know why lavender was held in such high value by our ancestors – it works!

    • Kavinace – This is our “secret weapon” for treating insomnia. Kavinace potentiates GABA, one of the main inhibitory neurotransmitters. Higher GABA levels can relieve anxiety and promote restful sleep. Kavinace works amazingly well as a sleep aid and anti-anxiety formula for people who are low in GABA. Usually 1-2 capsules taken at bedtime (or better, a half-hour before bed) will promote a fine, restful sleep. Three capsules can be used, but may result in a “hangover” sleepiness or “just feeling too well-rested” the next day for some people. Yes, it really is that effective!

     

    So, would you rather not make a trip to the Emergency Room? Try our sleep suggestions and boot the Ambien from your life!

     

    References:

     

    Press Release: Sharp rise in emergency department visits involving the sleep medication zolpidem. http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1304303131.aspx

    The DAWN Report: Emergency Department Visits for Adverse Reactions Involving the Insomnia Medication Zolpidem. http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k13/DAWN079/sr079-Zolpidem.htm

  • Patients Lied To About Cancer Diagnosis, Doctor Arrested For Fraud

    By Nurse Mark

     

    When is it wise to get a “second opinion” ?

     

    Almost Always!

     

    No matter how “trusted” the doctor may be, no matter how “nice” and “caring” the doctor may seem, if there is a serious diagnosis involved, or an extended course of treatment, or multiple “scans,” or “tests,” or other “diagnostics,” there is a chance that a doctor might be wrong.

    There is also a good chance that money might be playing a role in a doctor’s advice.

    Many medical conditions involve incredibly expensive diagnosis and treatment – and much of that expense is in the form of profits paid to the doctors performing the diagnosing and treating. In many cases those profits reach to the millions of dollars.

    Do you see any potential for problems here?

    Insurance fraud, Medicare fraud, Medicaid fraud, and a medical billing system that hides the true costs of medical care from patients all conspire to attract the greedy and unscrupulous.

    If it were simple greed, if it were simple fraud, it would be bad enough – but it is often more than that. It is often people who are made to suffer for the enrichment of the fraudster. People like you and me. People who have suffered enough already.

    Doctors have been known to tell lies.

    Consider the case of oncologist (cancer doctor) Farid Fata, MD, who was arrested in Michigan on August 6 and charged with Medicare fraud in a federal investigation that, if the charges are true, is a sickening example of medical greed.

    In this federal case investigators allege that Fata bilked patients and insurance companies including Medicare of some $35 million dollars over just two years, “treating” people unnecessarily for cancer.

    That’s right, 35 million dollars! In just two years!

    How could this happen? Federal investigators charge that Fata would see anywhere from 30 to 70 patients a day, and that almost every patient was found to “need” expensive, extended courses of chemotherapy – purchased from the pharmacy that Fata also owns. And of course those patients also needed expensive positive emission tomography (P.E.T.) scans, performed by the imaging company that Fata also conveniently happens to own.

    Further, having established himself as a cancer “expert” Fata felt safe in bestowing false diagnoses of cancer on healthy patients – after all, who would doubt the word of such a respected “expert”? One of Fata’s Nurses told federal agents that “Dr. Fata falsified cancer diagnoses to justify cancer treatment” The Nurse explained that blood cancers were easy to falsely diagnose because Fata could “interpret” blood tests. In other words, he lied to patients to fill his pockets.

    Further, once diagnosed with cancer, Fata would tell patients that they must take chemotherapy drugs “for life” – even if they were in remission or if their cancer was so advanced that they would get no benefit from the toxic drugs.

    But surely this must be an aberration? Certainly this must be an isolated case of a doctor having become consumed with greed and lust for money right?

    Nope.

    In another case, two executives of a hospital in Chicago as well as 3 physicians and a podiatrist were arrested by federal agents in April in a case involving illegal kickbacks for referring Medicare and Medicaid patients and other fraud schemes.

    The worst scam in this case? It seems that the pulmonologist involved would perform an intubation (a procedure where a temporary breathing tube is placed into a patient during surgery) and would then drug the patient so heavily that it would become impossible for them to breathe on their own after the surgery. This would require another surgery to insert a tracheostomy tube through the front of the patient’s neck and of course an extended stay in the intensive care unit on a mechanical ventilator.

    One of the individuals arrested was the president and chief executive officer of Sacred Heart Hospital. He was secretly recorded saying that tracheotomies were their “biggest money maker” and that the hospital could make $160,000 for the procedure if the patient stayed 27 days.

    If that isn’t evil enough, it seems that this particular hospital had a hard time keeping those tracheostomy patients alive – the death rate for the tracheostomy patients of the surgeon involved was 3 times as high as other Illinois hospitals over a three year period.

    Those involved in the arrests are also accused of unnecessary emergency department and hospital admissions, and were paid “kickbacks” for those.

    Does all this sound like the plot for some sort of a medical horror movie? I wish that were so – but it isn’t – it is happening all across America because Big Medicine and Big Pharma are such obscenely profitable industries.

    So, how can you protect yourself or your loved one?

    Easy – insist on a second, and even a third opinion.

    Don’t allow yourself to be pressured or stampeded or panicked into a decision about a course of treatment. In cancer treatment the words “there’s not a moment to lose” or “we must start chemo immediately” are almost always a clear warning that there is something fishy going on.

    Certainly there are conditions where “there’s not a moment to lose” – an acute abdomen or ruptured appendix, a closed head injury, a stroke, a heart attack, an embolism, severe trauma… all of these require urgent and skilled care. But cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, “bone-on-bone” joints, and other similar conditions are what we call “chronic” meaning that they have developed over time – often a long time – and rarely do they need to be treated so quickly that there is no time for a second opinion.

    Even if a doctor is able to convince you that “there’s not a moment to lose” and persuades you to start a treatment regimen immediately, you can still get a second opinion. It’s not “against the rules” to be receiving treatment from one doctor and seek the advice of another doctor about that same issue. And it’s not against the rules to confront one doctor with the conflicting opinion of another doctor.

    Beware of being pressured to undergo scans and tests and biopsies – these are often moneymakers for both the doctors and the hospitals. A sober second opinion from someone with no connection to the first doctor or hospital could end up saving you expensive, unnecessary, and possibly hazardous “diagnostic workups.”

    An additional benefit of a “second opinion,” especially one from an holistic doctor (such as Dr. Myatt) is that an experienced holistic doctor can not only offer alternatives to conventional treatment, but if conventional treatment is truly indicated a good holistic doctor can find ways to make that treatment more effective and less toxic or harmful. And, in the case of a scamming doctor like Fata, having an holistic doctor like Dr. Myatt review the case would quickly expose any fraud and save the patient from unnecessary and harmful treatments.

    Finally, having an holistic doctor (like Dr. Myatt) reviewing and overseeing your care can help to keep your specialists “honest” and can save you grief by helping you to coordinate care among different doctors, who often seem to never communicate with each other.

    Learn more about Holistic Health Consultations.

     

    Resources:

    Feds accused Dr. Farid Fata of fraud, prolonging chemo for cancer patients

    Medicare Kickback Bust in Chicago Hinged on Wired Colleagues