One of the best things I've read lately!
From Jay Parkinson's blog: the FutureWell
"As doctors, we have pills to treat infections and high cholesterol. We have scalpels to replace hips and open clogged arteries. But beyond pills and scalpels, what tools do we have? Walking out of the doctor’s office without a prescription is a rare occurrence these days. And the famous surgeon tagline has always been “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” We see people when they’re sick and we’re trained and expected to do something. But do we want more than one of every five kids and nine of ten older Americans taking prescription drugs? Do we really think that more heart stents are the secret to longevity? Of course they are if we believe our job as physicians is to treat the symptoms rather than the cause.
I’m trained in Preventive Medicine, one of the twenty four specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Out of the nearly 16,000 medical students that graduate every year, only about 120 choose Preventive Medicine. Does that really mean that less than one percent of doctors think preventing disease is more important than treating it? I’m afraid so. Maybe it’s because our medical culture hasn’t figured out how to profit off health, rather than sickness? Or maybe it’s because our doctors simply aren’t creative enough to think beyond pills and scalpels? Of course it’s a mixture of both and many more, but I think the main reason is we’re absolutely clueless how to treat bad lifestyle from the confines of the 8 minute office visit. It’s a horribly outdated tool for the problem at hand.
Health happens in your home and in your neighborhood, not in the exam room. Health is all the little routines you have in your life, some of them good and some of them bad. But in order to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, we have to look at health as being the optimal mix of good food; fun movement; real relationships with people you love; financial success; a job that leverages your best skills; a neighborhood that makes health easy; and the wild card– sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I threw that last one in because health has traditionally been so burdensome and black and white. But in real life, health is grey and life is fun. And being a good doctor is much more than writing prescriptions and doing procedures, it’s about knowing your patients and inspiring them.
My first practice was strictly a house call practice where I’d see patients in their apartments here in Brooklyn and follow up with them via email or Skype. It was lean and cost $1500 to launch. I was profitable in the first month because my overhead was only about 10%. My patients paid me via PayPal and my visits were typically less than $100. I couldn’t have done any of this without my iPhone and my MacBook. I used today’s technology to practice yesteryear’s medicine. It enabled me to be real-time traveling somewhere in my neighborhood awaiting my iPhone to alert me of my next appointment. Granted, I couldn’t see 40 patients a day like other doctors. But I wanted quality, not quantity. I wanted a real relationship with good, respectful communication. And 6 to 8 house calls a day in your neighborhood gives you way more information about people than 40 harried visits in some faraway institution. But that’s just the business side of things.
Most importantly, I saw how people lived. I could see the chubby person’s potato chips on the counter, the mice droppings in the asthmatic’s ultra-cool Williamsburg loft, or the depressed person’s evidence they spent a lot of lonely time by themselves staring at glowing rectangles. My neighbors were my patients and I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without someone saying “Hey Doc!” I liked to think that every time someone said that, they were reminded about living healthier. They saw me at the farmer’s market on Saturdays, going to the gym, having barbecues in the backyard with friends, and drinking at the corner bar. I became a regular fixture in their neighborhood. Hopefully, I was this occasional little familiar nudge that inspired them to chase the good life. And if you ask me, that’s what we as doctors need to be asking ourselves the next time we write a prescription– am I inspiring or am I perpetuating a broken system?"
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
How biking can save $3.8 BILLION per year in avoided mortality and health care costs!
Here's an interesting article reported by Scope blog:
"Convincing Americans to ride their bikes instead of driving when traveling short distances during the warmest six months of the year could yield significant health and economic benefits, according to findings published today in Environmental Health Perspectives.
In the study, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined the largest 11 metropolitan areas in the upper Midwest and calculated the effects on air pollution and health costs if short car trips, five miles or less round-trip, were replaced with bicycle trips. According to a university release:
The biggest health benefit was due to replacing half of the short trips with bicycle trips during the warmest six months of the year, saving about $3.8 billion per year from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs for conditions like obesity and heart disease.
[Additionally, the] report calculated that these measures would save an estimated $7 billion, including 1,100 lives each year from improved air quality and increased physical fitness.
Researchers say they hope the study serves as motivation for city planners to make communities more bike friendly and invest in separate paths or lanes for cyclists, storage racks and public transit."
"Convincing Americans to ride their bikes instead of driving when traveling short distances during the warmest six months of the year could yield significant health and economic benefits, according to findings published today in Environmental Health Perspectives.
In the study, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison examined the largest 11 metropolitan areas in the upper Midwest and calculated the effects on air pollution and health costs if short car trips, five miles or less round-trip, were replaced with bicycle trips. According to a university release:
The biggest health benefit was due to replacing half of the short trips with bicycle trips during the warmest six months of the year, saving about $3.8 billion per year from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs for conditions like obesity and heart disease.
[Additionally, the] report calculated that these measures would save an estimated $7 billion, including 1,100 lives each year from improved air quality and increased physical fitness.
Researchers say they hope the study serves as motivation for city planners to make communities more bike friendly and invest in separate paths or lanes for cyclists, storage racks and public transit."
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Need some inspiration? I loved this presentation!! Give it a try!
LosAngeles/CreativeMornings - Sharon Ann Lee from LosAngeles/CreativeMornings on Vimeo.
LosAngeles/CreativeMornings - Sharon Ann Lee from LosAngeles/CreativeMornings on Vimeo.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Collaberative Consumption
Hi, all! I know it's been forever since I've posted here!! I've been super busy writing for Borgess Athletic Performance and still keeping up on the Eating Coach blog. Not as much time for reading wonderful things (or at least the non-athletic/fitness related wonderful things). But...today's a brand new day and I just found a great video to get you thinking about how you interact with the world -- or more to the point, how you could interact with the world.
I found this at the Good Gym website and they are featured in the first part of the video -- they are fantastic! and if you're looking for an exercise model that makes you feel great about taking time for your health, this might be just what you need. I hope you find this as inspiring as I did!!
Collaborative Consumption from NESTA UK on Vimeo.
I found this at the Good Gym website and they are featured in the first part of the video -- they are fantastic! and if you're looking for an exercise model that makes you feel great about taking time for your health, this might be just what you need. I hope you find this as inspiring as I did!!
Collaborative Consumption from NESTA UK on Vimeo.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Laughter has similar health benefits to aerobic exercise and statin use!!!!
How cool is this! From the Scope blog at Stanford University:
How laughter, anger may influence heart health
Lia Steakley on August 29th, 2011 1 Comment
Anger and the inability to manage stress can harm your heart, while laughter can be an effective stress-reliever and improve cardiovascular function, according to a pair of studies presented yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting.
In the first study, Italian researchers recruited 228 survivors of an acute myocardial infarction, 200 of whom were men, conducted psychological evaluations of individuals and followed them for 10 years to evaluate how negative emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety might affect prognosis in cardiology. During this time, researchers recorded 51 cardiac events. According to an ESC release:
To understand which factors were able to predict these events the authors used a statistical analysis known as the Cox model. Examining factors such as the age of patient, gender, psychological variables, clinical data (traditional risk factors, peak cardiac necrosis enzymes, left ventricular wall motion score index and heart rate variability), the results show that the only factors able to predict cardiac events in patients are the Anger and Stress-related disturbances, with a relative risk of 2.30 and 1.90 respectively. Patients who had reported a high score on the Anger scale had a higher risk of experiencing a new event, 2.30 times superior in comparison with those who had reported a low score on the same scale.
These study results were particularly interesting in light of additional findings presented at the ESC meeting by University of Maryland researcher Michael Miller, MD, who has been exploring the role of laughter and humor in reducing the risk of heart disease for the past decade.
Miller’s early work suggested mental stress caused blood vessels to constrict so he decided to examine if positive emotions, such as laughter, had the opposite effect. In his latest study, participants were instructed to watch either a comedy or intense drama and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films. According to an ESC release:
When study volunteers watched the stressful movie, their blood vessel lining developed a potentially unhealthy response called vasoconstriction, reducing blood flow. This finding confirms previous studies, which suggested there was a link between mental stress and the narrowing of blood vessels. However, after watching the funny movie, the blood vessel lining expanded.
Overall, more than 300 measurements were made with a 30-50% difference in blood vessel diameter between the laughter (blood vessel expansion) and mental stress (blood vessel constriction) phases. “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise or statin use” says Dr. Miller.
How laughter, anger may influence heart health
Lia Steakley on August 29th, 2011 1 Comment
Anger and the inability to manage stress can harm your heart, while laughter can be an effective stress-reliever and improve cardiovascular function, according to a pair of studies presented yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting.
In the first study, Italian researchers recruited 228 survivors of an acute myocardial infarction, 200 of whom were men, conducted psychological evaluations of individuals and followed them for 10 years to evaluate how negative emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety might affect prognosis in cardiology. During this time, researchers recorded 51 cardiac events. According to an ESC release:
To understand which factors were able to predict these events the authors used a statistical analysis known as the Cox model. Examining factors such as the age of patient, gender, psychological variables, clinical data (traditional risk factors, peak cardiac necrosis enzymes, left ventricular wall motion score index and heart rate variability), the results show that the only factors able to predict cardiac events in patients are the Anger and Stress-related disturbances, with a relative risk of 2.30 and 1.90 respectively. Patients who had reported a high score on the Anger scale had a higher risk of experiencing a new event, 2.30 times superior in comparison with those who had reported a low score on the same scale.
These study results were particularly interesting in light of additional findings presented at the ESC meeting by University of Maryland researcher Michael Miller, MD, who has been exploring the role of laughter and humor in reducing the risk of heart disease for the past decade.
Miller’s early work suggested mental stress caused blood vessels to constrict so he decided to examine if positive emotions, such as laughter, had the opposite effect. In his latest study, participants were instructed to watch either a comedy or intense drama and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films. According to an ESC release:
When study volunteers watched the stressful movie, their blood vessel lining developed a potentially unhealthy response called vasoconstriction, reducing blood flow. This finding confirms previous studies, which suggested there was a link between mental stress and the narrowing of blood vessels. However, after watching the funny movie, the blood vessel lining expanded.
Overall, more than 300 measurements were made with a 30-50% difference in blood vessel diameter between the laughter (blood vessel expansion) and mental stress (blood vessel constriction) phases. “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise or statin use” says Dr. Miller.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Can practicing yoga help women suffering from Fibromyalgia?
Good news! A new study published in the Journal of Pain Research suggests it can! Thanks to the Scope blog for passing along the following news:
Women suffering from fibromyalgia may find some welcome relief in yoga. A new study from York University in Toronto shows that practicing yoga boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol, helping ease some of the symptoms, which include pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and depression. Low cortisol has been tied to fibromyalgia, and this study is the first to look at the effect of yoga on levels of this hormone.
For the study, which appears in the Journal of Pain Research, the researchers followed a group of women who practiced 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice a week. After eight weeks, saliva samples revealed elevated levels of cortisol. Women also reported significant reductions in both physical and psychological symptoms. Kathryn Curtis, the study’s lead author, explains more in a release:
“We saw their levels of mindfulness increase – they were better able to detach from their psychological experience of pain,” Curtis says. Mindfulness is a form of active mental awareness rooted in Buddhist traditions; it is achieved by paying total attention to the present moment with a non-judgmental awareness of inner and outer experiences.
“Yoga promotes this concept – that we are not our bodies, our experiences, or our pain. This is extremely useful in the management of pain,” she says. “Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that psychological changes in turn affect our experience of physical pain.”
Women suffering from fibromyalgia may find some welcome relief in yoga. A new study from York University in Toronto shows that practicing yoga boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol, helping ease some of the symptoms, which include pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and depression. Low cortisol has been tied to fibromyalgia, and this study is the first to look at the effect of yoga on levels of this hormone.
For the study, which appears in the Journal of Pain Research, the researchers followed a group of women who practiced 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice a week. After eight weeks, saliva samples revealed elevated levels of cortisol. Women also reported significant reductions in both physical and psychological symptoms. Kathryn Curtis, the study’s lead author, explains more in a release:
“We saw their levels of mindfulness increase – they were better able to detach from their psychological experience of pain,” Curtis says. Mindfulness is a form of active mental awareness rooted in Buddhist traditions; it is achieved by paying total attention to the present moment with a non-judgmental awareness of inner and outer experiences.
“Yoga promotes this concept – that we are not our bodies, our experiences, or our pain. This is extremely useful in the management of pain,” she says. “Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that psychological changes in turn affect our experience of physical pain.”
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Two important things parents can do to change the childhood obesity epidemic
The following is a repost from Stanford School of Medicine's Scope blog:
Following a controversial commentary published last week in the Journal of American Medical Association, the ever-growing childhood obesity epidemic is once again the subject of many headlines and roundtable discussions. Today, as a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Stanford pediatrician Thomas Robinson, MD, MPH, took on the issue and responded to listeners’ calls and e-mails. Many parents, he said, don’t know how to solve their child’s weight problems – and some don’t know how to identify if their child needs help in the first place.
Robinson, who runs the Center for Healthy Weight at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and serves on the Institute of Medicine’s standing committee on childhood obesity prevention, says the most important thing for parents is to set a good example, and he offered up two simple suggestions: Turn off the TV and don’t bring foods you don’t want your children eating into the home. “If you know that they shouldn’t be drinking sodas all the time… then you shouldn’t have them in your home,” Robinson said.
Following a controversial commentary published last week in the Journal of American Medical Association, the ever-growing childhood obesity epidemic is once again the subject of many headlines and roundtable discussions. Today, as a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Stanford pediatrician Thomas Robinson, MD, MPH, took on the issue and responded to listeners’ calls and e-mails. Many parents, he said, don’t know how to solve their child’s weight problems – and some don’t know how to identify if their child needs help in the first place.
Robinson, who runs the Center for Healthy Weight at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and serves on the Institute of Medicine’s standing committee on childhood obesity prevention, says the most important thing for parents is to set a good example, and he offered up two simple suggestions: Turn off the TV and don’t bring foods you don’t want your children eating into the home. “If you know that they shouldn’t be drinking sodas all the time… then you shouldn’t have them in your home,” Robinson said.
A great post written by a girl recovering from an Eating Disorder
Kids in your life? Read this!! Eating disorders aren't always about body size or body image -- sometimes it's about feeling like life is out of control. Here's a great post written by a girl recovering from an Eating Disorder.
“What I wish parents knew about eating disorders…” by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on July 20, 2011
“What I wish parents knew about eating disorders…” by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Exercise Guidelines for Toddlers
Do you think this is actually going to work? Do you think new guidelines will give parents the knowledge it takes to raise healthy toddler's?
British government urging toddlers to ‘get physical’
Margarita Gallardo on July 11th, 2011
In case you haven’t heard, the British government – in an effort to combat childhood obesity – has just issued guidelines recommending that children under the age of 5 get at least 3 hours of exercise a day. The activities can be as simple as playing, walking to school, or lifting kettle balls like in the photo to the right. (Okay, just kidding about the last one).
The U.K. Department of Health is hoping that by encouraging such a fitness plan, toddlers will be encouraged to adopt healthier habits and minimize sedentary activities – like being in a stroller or playpen or in front of the television. Explained Maura Gillespie, head of policy and advocacy at the British Heart Foundation, in a statement:
…It’s vital that parents introduce children to fun and physically active pastimes to help prevent them becoming obese children, who are likely to become obese adults at risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
British government urging toddlers to ‘get physical’
Margarita Gallardo on July 11th, 2011
In case you haven’t heard, the British government – in an effort to combat childhood obesity – has just issued guidelines recommending that children under the age of 5 get at least 3 hours of exercise a day. The activities can be as simple as playing, walking to school, or lifting kettle balls like in the photo to the right. (Okay, just kidding about the last one).
The U.K. Department of Health is hoping that by encouraging such a fitness plan, toddlers will be encouraged to adopt healthier habits and minimize sedentary activities – like being in a stroller or playpen or in front of the television. Explained Maura Gillespie, head of policy and advocacy at the British Heart Foundation, in a statement:
…It’s vital that parents introduce children to fun and physically active pastimes to help prevent them becoming obese children, who are likely to become obese adults at risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
What if it's not the kinds of foods we're eating?
Although it has been my rant for the last couple years, here is some research support for the idea Americans are getting fatter not because of the foods we're eating ("healthy" vs. "unhealthy") but that we're just eating too much. Too much, as in, too many meals and snacks:
"According to a new study, the biggest single contributor to the sharp rise in calorie intake has been the number of snacks and meals people eat per day. Over the past 30-odd years, the study found, Americans have gone from consuming 3.8 snacks and meals per day to 4.9, on average — a 29% increase.
The average portion size has increased, too, but only by about 12%. And, surprisingly, the average number of calories per 1-gram serving of food (known as “energy density”) actually declined slightly over that period, which suggests that calorie-rich food has played a relatively minor role in our expanding waistlines."
credit to Stanford Scope
"According to a new study, the biggest single contributor to the sharp rise in calorie intake has been the number of snacks and meals people eat per day. Over the past 30-odd years, the study found, Americans have gone from consuming 3.8 snacks and meals per day to 4.9, on average — a 29% increase.
The average portion size has increased, too, but only by about 12%. And, surprisingly, the average number of calories per 1-gram serving of food (known as “energy density”) actually declined slightly over that period, which suggests that calorie-rich food has played a relatively minor role in our expanding waistlines."
credit to Stanford Scope
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Beetroot Juice: The new cardiovascular cure-all???
Check this out! I don't usually get too excited about a new wonder drug -- but what happens when the new wonder drug is juiced up plant product? Beetroot? I'm not sure how that is going to taste. Or if your teeth are going to become permenantly purple but....
![]()
Researchers are finding that the nitrates in beetroot juice lower blood pressure (the high the pressure the more effective it is!), increase our ability to exercise, and improve physical performance in events like the Tour de France.
How's this all possible? And what are the downsides?
Well...the nitrates in the juice relax the blood vessels and cause working muscles to require less oxygen for a given amount of work.
As for the downsides.....taste, maybe? Research has shown results with 250 ml of juice. Seems like a very small price to pay to possibly avoid having to take blood pressure meds!
What do you think?
How's this all possible? And what are the downsides?
Well...the nitrates in the juice relax the blood vessels and cause working muscles to require less oxygen for a given amount of work.
As for the downsides.....taste, maybe? Research has shown results with 250 ml of juice. Seems like a very small price to pay to possibly avoid having to take blood pressure meds!
What do you think?
Monday, June 20, 2011
How play can transform our economic landscape
Think we need to be serious about getting our country's ecomony back on track? From the unhappiest, least innovative place in Europe, here's one speaker's thoughts on how play will transform his country. Can it work for us too? I think so.
What do you think?
What do you think?
Friday, June 17, 2011
Good Samaritans saving lives? Now there's an App!!
Fire Department App - PSA from Fire Department on Vimeo.
Check out this app! The San Ramon Fire Dept built an app to connect first responders to emergencies. In many cases, especially cardiac events, the difference between a 2 minute and 5 minute response time is the difference between life and death.
According to TechCrunch:
[Y]ou launch it, and it prompts you to ask if you’ve been trained in CPR and would be willing to help a stranger in the event of an emergency. If you accept this, then the application will take advantage of the iPhone’s location monitoring to get a general sense of where you are (a new feature enabled with the most recent update allows this with a minimal amount of battery drain).
Then, the next time a 911 dispatch center receives a call for an emergency that’s occurring near you, you’ll receive a push notification telling you that help is needed. The app will also tell if you if an automated external defibrillator (those electric paddles that can kickstart a heart) is nearby.
How cool is it when technology really does bring us together and make the world a better place!!
Interested? Read more here !
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Small changes add up
I just came across this calculator that let's you figure out how many more calories you would burn if you did your office work standing instead of sitting. It's an interesting take on trimming your waistline!
Thanks to Jay for sharing.
Thanks to Jay for sharing.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
We're not victims -- we need to get to work!
“Individual behavior is highly modifiable-and is responsible for the lion’s share of health status and associated costs. An individual’s lifestyle choices-smoking, nutrition, weight, exercise and stress management-are responsible for approximately 40% of one’s health status and 87.5% of healthcare claim costs. Clearly an opportunity exists to reduce healthcare spending by motivating healthier behaviors and lifestyle choices.” (S.A. Schroeder in the NE Journal of Medicine and the IPFW Study of 2006).
Friday, May 27, 2011
How much do you love your smart phone?
Here is an article about out love affair with our phones!
Do you prefer your cell phone over sleep? You're not alone
Our obsession with our smartphones has grown into a full-blown addiction, according to a new survey in the iPass Global Mobile Workforce Report. According to iPass, one of every three mobile workers get up regularly throughout the night to check email on their phone, and nearly half of those surveyed admitted that they couldn’t sleep without a smartphone within reach.
And loss of sleep isn’t the only obstacle our phone addiction brings with it, as a little under one third of respondents said that their domestic partners were upset by their incessant use of technology. And that’s most likely a low-ball figure, as a good chunk of those surveyed were probably either single, or somewhat oblivious to the fact that their partners were upset.
The report claims that our mobile obsession, at least within the workforce, started when people began to value speed over quality. In many executive circles, the employee with the first response was considered to be a better worker than his more thoughtful colleagues. According to the survey, 40 percent of respondents admitted to interrupting a meeting to take a call.
Even those of us who don’t partake in the corporate America lifestyle know how annoying it can be to try having a conversation with someone whose main priority is their current SMS exchanges. What’s funny is that, along with the 40 percent who admit to interrupting meetings for phone calls, an additional 40 percent agree that doing so is unacceptable behavior.
Do you prefer your cell phone over sleep? You're not alone
Our obsession with our smartphones has grown into a full-blown addiction, according to a new survey in the iPass Global Mobile Workforce Report. According to iPass, one of every three mobile workers get up regularly throughout the night to check email on their phone, and nearly half of those surveyed admitted that they couldn’t sleep without a smartphone within reach.
And loss of sleep isn’t the only obstacle our phone addiction brings with it, as a little under one third of respondents said that their domestic partners were upset by their incessant use of technology. And that’s most likely a low-ball figure, as a good chunk of those surveyed were probably either single, or somewhat oblivious to the fact that their partners were upset.
The report claims that our mobile obsession, at least within the workforce, started when people began to value speed over quality. In many executive circles, the employee with the first response was considered to be a better worker than his more thoughtful colleagues. According to the survey, 40 percent of respondents admitted to interrupting a meeting to take a call.
Even those of us who don’t partake in the corporate America lifestyle know how annoying it can be to try having a conversation with someone whose main priority is their current SMS exchanges. What’s funny is that, along with the 40 percent who admit to interrupting meetings for phone calls, an additional 40 percent agree that doing so is unacceptable behavior.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
An old gout medicine + a new patent = HUGE price increase of an old drug
Jay Parkinson brought this to my attention:
Colchine has been used to treat gout for decades. Gout is a relatively common painful kind of arthritis. Colchicine has been around so long that nobody had ever bothered to patent it. It was a few pennies a pill and very effective. In steps URL Pharmaceuticals. They realized it didn’t have a patent so they quickly did some studies to determine its effectiveness. Of course the studies showed that it was safe and effective. They took their studies to the FDA who quickly approved “their” colchicine. URL then had exclusive rights to sell colchicine as a branded drug at over $5 a pill. And then they successfully sued the companies who had been making colchicine as a generic for years. They’ve won the cases. And now people who depended on colchicine for their daily lives must pay $5 a pill instead of 5 cents.
Now a few members of Congress want answers.
Too late. What URL Pharmaceuticals did was just business right? That’s the American medical industry…
Colchine has been used to treat gout for decades. Gout is a relatively common painful kind of arthritis. Colchicine has been around so long that nobody had ever bothered to patent it. It was a few pennies a pill and very effective. In steps URL Pharmaceuticals. They realized it didn’t have a patent so they quickly did some studies to determine its effectiveness. Of course the studies showed that it was safe and effective. They took their studies to the FDA who quickly approved “their” colchicine. URL then had exclusive rights to sell colchicine as a branded drug at over $5 a pill. And then they successfully sued the companies who had been making colchicine as a generic for years. They’ve won the cases. And now people who depended on colchicine for their daily lives must pay $5 a pill instead of 5 cents.
Now a few members of Congress want answers.
Too late. What URL Pharmaceuticals did was just business right? That’s the American medical industry…
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Drug use
Here's a neat post about how different drugs cause different amounts of harm among the following categories:
- Mortality
- Damage
- Dependence
- Impairment of mental functioning
- Loss of tangibles
- Loss of relationships
- Injuries to others
- Crime increase
- Environmental degradation
- Family breakdowns
- International turmoil
- Economic cost
- Loss of community cohesion and reputation
Think you know which drug scores as the most destructive? Click here to find out!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Fitness Triumphs over Medicine -- one Aussie's thoughts
Here's an article from an Austrialian talking about the Triumph of Fitness over Medicine. The article is his but I have to say I agree with a lot of what he has said. I am looking forward to hearing what you think.....
.......You're not wrong.
Here's an article I drafted recently based on the Australian experience - where despite record levels of spending on medical care, the health of the population continues to decline.
I don't like the word 'prevention'. 'Preventive health' is medical speak.
You don't prevent health you create it yourself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FITNESS TRIUMPHS OVER MEDICINE
If you ever you wanted evidence that the best bet for departments of health throughout Australia was fitness not medicine, all you had to do was watch the final of the Biggest Loser.
In the race to improve the health of Australians the Commonwealth Government continues to spend infinitely more on medical research, surgeries and hospitals that it does on fitness. However, you can put down the glasses, the race is over, it’s fitness first, daylight second, medicine a distant third.
I’m a big fan of the Biggest Loser. Where else can you see people go from fat to thin, unhealthy to fit, sad to happy, all in a few short months? Certainly not in many surgeries and pharmacies around Australia
The Commonwealth Government’s timid response to the epidemic of personally generated body system dysfunctions - metabolic, musculo-skeletal and psychological - is to set up a toothless Preventive Health Agency with the bulk of the ‘illhealth’ budget still ending up in the pockets of an increasingly ineffective, expensive and bloated medical industry: preventive health $145m versus Medical industry $68B.
So, here’s the blue print for health, fitness and wellbeing in this country.
* we need to make a distinction between what's medical and what's not. Too many people are going to doctors for things doctors can't fix and for things that would best be attended to by someone else, like a nurse, naturopath, counsellor or fitness practitioner.
1. Then we need to make the distinction between what's a disease and what's a personally-generated body system dysfunction. If you've got a disease, a medical complaint or your dysfunction is too far gone, you need medical treatment. Otherwise start working on yourself.
1. Anyone with any of the personally generated dysfunctions who is prepared to donate 4 weeks of their time to work on their fitness can have free access to fitness instruction at a fitness centre close to their home. Getting fit becomes their full time job. No pussy footing, no molly codling, just 8 hours a day devoted to restoring poor function to good with a balanced health, fitness, wellbeing and nutrition program.
* the health of Australians to improve, departments of health around Australia have to lever the fitness industry into the front line of primary health care.
You know that the bulk of the illhealth problems in this country are fitness problems and you know you can’t solve a fitness problem with a medical solution.
* the current Department of Health into two to form a Department of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing on one side of the ledger and a Department of Medicine on the other, with the current budget for general practice being split evenly between general practice and the new Department of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing.
* Commonwealth Government has to publicly acknowledge that in a toxic, sedentary society, that’s under nourished, over fed and stressed to the max, the medical model is the wrong model for improving health, fitness and wellbeing. Over the last 35 years it’s had a good trial and come up short.
* Commonwealth Government has to recognize the effect that the practice of junk medicine is having on health standards, junk medicine being the prescription of medications which mask symptoms rather than restoring poor function to good.
John Miller
So....what do you think??? Click the comment icon and share your thoughts.
.......You're not wrong.
Here's an article I drafted recently based on the Australian experience - where despite record levels of spending on medical care, the health of the population continues to decline.
I don't like the word 'prevention'. 'Preventive health' is medical speak.
You don't prevent health you create it yourself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FITNESS TRIUMPHS OVER MEDICINE
If you ever you wanted evidence that the best bet for departments of health throughout Australia was fitness not medicine, all you had to do was watch the final of the Biggest Loser.
In the race to improve the health of Australians the Commonwealth Government continues to spend infinitely more on medical research, surgeries and hospitals that it does on fitness. However, you can put down the glasses, the race is over, it’s fitness first, daylight second, medicine a distant third.
I’m a big fan of the Biggest Loser. Where else can you see people go from fat to thin, unhealthy to fit, sad to happy, all in a few short months? Certainly not in many surgeries and pharmacies around Australia
The Commonwealth Government’s timid response to the epidemic of personally generated body system dysfunctions - metabolic, musculo-skeletal and psychological - is to set up a toothless Preventive Health Agency with the bulk of the ‘illhealth’ budget still ending up in the pockets of an increasingly ineffective, expensive and bloated medical industry: preventive health $145m versus Medical industry $68B.
So, here’s the blue print for health, fitness and wellbeing in this country.
* we need to make a distinction between what's medical and what's not. Too many people are going to doctors for things doctors can't fix and for things that would best be attended to by someone else, like a nurse, naturopath, counsellor or fitness practitioner.
1. Then we need to make the distinction between what's a disease and what's a personally-generated body system dysfunction. If you've got a disease, a medical complaint or your dysfunction is too far gone, you need medical treatment. Otherwise start working on yourself.
1. Anyone with any of the personally generated dysfunctions who is prepared to donate 4 weeks of their time to work on their fitness can have free access to fitness instruction at a fitness centre close to their home. Getting fit becomes their full time job. No pussy footing, no molly codling, just 8 hours a day devoted to restoring poor function to good with a balanced health, fitness, wellbeing and nutrition program.
* the health of Australians to improve, departments of health around Australia have to lever the fitness industry into the front line of primary health care.
You know that the bulk of the illhealth problems in this country are fitness problems and you know you can’t solve a fitness problem with a medical solution.
* the current Department of Health into two to form a Department of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing on one side of the ledger and a Department of Medicine on the other, with the current budget for general practice being split evenly between general practice and the new Department of Health, Fitness and Wellbeing.
* Commonwealth Government has to publicly acknowledge that in a toxic, sedentary society, that’s under nourished, over fed and stressed to the max, the medical model is the wrong model for improving health, fitness and wellbeing. Over the last 35 years it’s had a good trial and come up short.
* Commonwealth Government has to recognize the effect that the practice of junk medicine is having on health standards, junk medicine being the prescription of medications which mask symptoms rather than restoring poor function to good.
John Miller
So....what do you think??? Click the comment icon and share your thoughts.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Better Dibetes Type II control
With diabetes (especially Type 2) running rampant in our population, here is something that might help us control our sugar levels.
We all know exercise is a great way to help the body control our blood sugar but a recent study reported Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise reports that creatine supplementation for those who are exercising works better at improving A1C levels than does exercise alone!
Interesting, a relatively easy fix and worth talking to your doc about!!
We all know exercise is a great way to help the body control our blood sugar but a recent study reported Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise reports that creatine supplementation for those who are exercising works better at improving A1C levels than does exercise alone!
Interesting, a relatively easy fix and worth talking to your doc about!!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Mindfulness and the acceptance of the unfair
For those of you that also read Eating Coach, you will already know what a huge proponent of Mindfulness Training I am.
This article from Biosingularity, discusses how mindfulness training effects decision making -- moving away from the more emotional areas of the brain and increasing the ability of the brain to make a decision based on more rational information of the present moment.
Eating too much, impulsively buying things we can't afford, acting out because life isn't fair -- all of these seemingly hard to control impulses might be brought under better management with mindfulness training.
At best, it could change your life -- at worst, you've devoted some time to a undertaking that didn't pan out. Might just be worth a try!
This article from Biosingularity, discusses how mindfulness training effects decision making -- moving away from the more emotional areas of the brain and increasing the ability of the brain to make a decision based on more rational information of the present moment.
Eating too much, impulsively buying things we can't afford, acting out because life isn't fair -- all of these seemingly hard to control impulses might be brought under better management with mindfulness training.
At best, it could change your life -- at worst, you've devoted some time to a undertaking that didn't pan out. Might just be worth a try!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
An unusual vomiting syndrome
Although it is unusual, cyclical vomiting syndrome is worth knowing about. It is caused by the vomiting center of the brain being triggered -- it isn't a stomach issue at all! It's unique aspects are:
- The attacks are sudden, with an abrupt start and end point
- The symptoms displayed during an attack tend to be similar to previous attacks
- Once the episode is over the patient quickly feels well again, as if she had never been sick at all
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Positivity
Here's a neat positivity test. A couple of weeks ago, at BorgessAthlete, I talked about positive to negative interaction ratios and some of the research done by Marcial Losada on what it takes to have a team (athletic or work-related) flourish (or languish).
The same principles apply with the emotions you feel within yourself. How did your day stack up to the goal positivity ratio of 3:1? Take the test and find out.
Then....if you're not happy with the results and you realize you want more positivity in your life, check out this website from the Happiness Project.
Remember: what you think is that which you create! --make it GREAT!
The same principles apply with the emotions you feel within yourself. How did your day stack up to the goal positivity ratio of 3:1? Take the test and find out.
Then....if you're not happy with the results and you realize you want more positivity in your life, check out this website from the Happiness Project.
Remember: what you think is that which you create! --make it GREAT!
Monday, April 11, 2011
How do you measure success? Perhaps it's time for a tune up.
What is success?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Thought for the Day.....
“statis is achieved through dynamism… constant change is a form of equilibrium” --Gretel Ehrlich
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Should we need to be told we should limit our articificial food coloring intake?
I would think that just makes good sense! But...if you'd like more information on the debate, click here to link to the NY Times article on some of the studies linking artificial food colorings to ADHA.
The average cost of a sick day in the US -- anyone have any guesses??
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the average cost, in lost productivity, of a sick day is:
$348!!
Our National recovery just might depend on the US getting healthier and staying healthier! It just costs too much to be sick!
$348!!
Our National recovery just might depend on the US getting healthier and staying healthier! It just costs too much to be sick!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
"So I am a few pounds overweight. How can that be such a big deal for my knee pain?"
"So I am a few pounds overweight. How can that be such a big deal for my knee pain?"
Consider that with activities of daily living and modest exercise, 2 to 6 lb of force are generated across the knee joint for every pound of a person's body weight.4 For some activities, forces across the patellofemoral joint can be as great as 20 times body weight.
In performing bending, kneeling, and climbing activities, for example, a 30-year-old woman with knee pain who weighed 120 lb at age 18 years, before her 3 pregnancies, and now weighs 285 lb is carrying an extra 165 lb of body weight.
That can result in an additional 660 lb of force across the patellofemoral joint with each step.
**source**
Consider that with activities of daily living and modest exercise, 2 to 6 lb of force are generated across the knee joint for every pound of a person's body weight.4 For some activities, forces across the patellofemoral joint can be as great as 20 times body weight.
In performing bending, kneeling, and climbing activities, for example, a 30-year-old woman with knee pain who weighed 120 lb at age 18 years, before her 3 pregnancies, and now weighs 285 lb is carrying an extra 165 lb of body weight.
That can result in an additional 660 lb of force across the patellofemoral joint with each step.
**source**
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The Job -- will you join me???
The job isn't to catch up to the status quo; the job is to invent the status quo. --Seth Godin (from the Poke the Box workbook)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Real Age Calculator
Interested in calculating your biological age? I just tried these two sites:
http://www.realage.com/the-you-docs/my-realage
This was took 15 minutes or so. It was fairly comprehensive and gave me some interesting feedback. If you have the time, this is a great resource for working on a health improvement plan.
http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage.htm
This was a much quicker survey. That being said, it is much less comprehensive but still offered insights on changes I could make to impact my health.
http://www.realage.com/the-you-docs/my-realage
This was took 15 minutes or so. It was fairly comprehensive and gave me some interesting feedback. If you have the time, this is a great resource for working on a health improvement plan.
http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage.htm
This was a much quicker survey. That being said, it is much less comprehensive but still offered insights on changes I could make to impact my health.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Managing Diabetes without insulin?
A researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston is experimenting with a protein in the liver that, when artificially simulated, controls blood glucose levels without the use of insulin. Research is providing an interesting potential option in the management of diabetes! Click here for more information.
Monday, February 14, 2011
How to keep your kids Intuitive Eaters
This morning there was a very interesting piece on NPR talking about techniques for developing picky eaters into people who like a wider variety of foods. Click on over -- you might learn something that changes your eating behaviors, too!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Future Trends in Healthcare?
Does this map change your expectations for the future?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Why do I love Seth Godin????
He just might be more optimistic than I am about what each of us can accomplish in the world!
Friday, February 4, 2011
"The World is too much with us"....
...poet William Wordsworth complained over two hundred years ago. "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers." Today many women would agree with him. We're chronically exhausted from the "getting"-- the amount of energy spent earning a living and juggling the demands of home and career. And the reality of the recession means we're paying now for the "spending" of yesterday.
But despite all the doom and gloom that constantly assaults our senses, there is a way for us to ransom our lives and reclaim our futures: it consists in turning away from the world to recognize what in life makes us truly happy. For each of us, what that is will be different. But once we obtain this inner knowledge, we will possess the ability to transform our outer world.
"You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself," the pilot and writer Beryl Markham reminds us. We cannot let this continue to occur....
--an excerpt from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach
It's amazing how the world never really experiences anything new -- it just keep turning. Wordsworth wrote 200+ years ago, Sarah wrote the above in 1995 and here we are again, experiencing many of the same things. The big question is, is it again? Or is it still?
But despite all the doom and gloom that constantly assaults our senses, there is a way for us to ransom our lives and reclaim our futures: it consists in turning away from the world to recognize what in life makes us truly happy. For each of us, what that is will be different. But once we obtain this inner knowledge, we will possess the ability to transform our outer world.
"You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself," the pilot and writer Beryl Markham reminds us. We cannot let this continue to occur....
--an excerpt from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach
It's amazing how the world never really experiences anything new -- it just keep turning. Wordsworth wrote 200+ years ago, Sarah wrote the above in 1995 and here we are again, experiencing many of the same things. The big question is, is it again? Or is it still?
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Bullying statistics
A 2010 study by the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) showed that 80 percent of girls and 53 percent of boys reported some type of bullying during high school.
Are you kidding me??? Are you talking to your kids about their experiences of bullying?
For more resources and information on bullying, click here.
Are you kidding me??? Are you talking to your kids about their experiences of bullying?
For more resources and information on bullying, click here.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Your Brain on Meditation....
I've heard lots of people talk about how good meditation is for us -- and sure, it seems logical. But for those science-minded skeptics amoung us, a new research article will highlight some of the physical changes that happen in the brains of meditators.
The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.
A more highly functioning brain? Who doesn't need that??
The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.
A more highly functioning brain? Who doesn't need that??
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)