Dr. Needles Medical Blogs

FLUORIDE IS KILLING US

2011-01-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

FLUORIDE IS KILLING US

Fluoride is killing us adults. It’s time to eliminate fluoridation. More children are swallowing toothpaste, getting fluoride in their soft drinks, fruit juices, and dental fluoride application, and are getting fluoride intoxication by the age of eight.

The government is now recommending reducing the level of fluoride in drinking water by 40%. After 65 years of fluoridation in 64% of American families,, researchers find that over 40% of our children before the age of 15 have spotting or streaking under their teeth( up by 50% over The last decade). The fluoride makes the tooth enamel become harder and more opaque. The light bouncing off the the enamel causes spots and streaks to occur. Tooth This collagen is disrupted resulting in pits and parts of the tooth breaking away. After the age of eight, teeth are fully formed, and fluoride is of no value.

Fluoride is a central nervous system toxin and affects human brains in low doses. It allows aluminum cross the barrier. It blocks magnesium ions that are necessary body enzymes systems. Fluoride goes into the bone osteoblasts and blocks collagen formation, Making the bones more brittle, Resulting in osteoporosis.. Tendons, spinal ligaments, and cartilage become mineralized.

Seniors get a lot of fluoride from antidepressants, osteoporosis medication, antibiotics Cipro, Prozac, anti-cholesterol drug Lipton, pain relievers Celebrex, and general anesthetics. Fluoride, by disrupting collagen metabolism, results in calcification of ligaments tendons muscle and thyroid cartilage. This skin wrinkles because of this breakdown. The cells in the walls of arteries start producing imperfect collegen and causes hardening of the arteries. The immune system becomes confused, causing it to attack its own body tissues and blocking antibody formation. This prevents your white blood cells from destroying bacteria that enter the body.

Fluoride was used until 1950 to treat overactive thyroids. By causing low thyroid function, it adds to our obesity problem. It is also a toxic sedative, once given to prisoners in Nazi death camps, in WW11, to calm them down and make them easier to handle. Fluoride also accumulates in the brain and has caused learning disabilities.

Sure it kills bacteria on your teeth that cause tooth decay, but so does common sodium bicarbonate. . By causing a great deal of damage and seniors, this powerful toxin should certainly be removed from the water. Perhaps our Hollywood smiles would last longer, and we would not need whiteners for our teeth. We might find less osteoporosis, less obesity, and .......read full article

Search Amazon.com for fluoride

HEALING POWERS OF JOHN OF GOD

2010-11-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

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HEALING POWERS OF JOHN OF GOD

The following are excerpts from the Oprah show this month. Using a powerful acupuncture point CV 17 Joao a Brazilian healer, shows the power of activated invisible forces, (as found in medical acupuncture).

A video screen in a one-story coral building, was playing a video where a man’s chest was being cut open with a rusty paring knife. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful as blood ran down his white shirt. (acupuncture point: Conception vessel 17 was entered).

A 62 year old Brazilian healer named John of God, in a small town of Abadiania Brazil, walks barefoot,on a stage, dressed totally in white, his eyes scanning the hall with a laser-like focus.

John of God, a Catholic, is known in town as “Joao”. He is solidly built, and says other spirits borrow his body. and do the healing. It is these “Entities”, who work through John of God. They are the spirits of deceased doctors, surgeons, masters, and saints. They use his body to channel their energy to Joao’s patients. He feels a radiant heat which puts his patients in a state of spiritual peace and happiness.

As his eyes become darker and more intense,his gait becomes stiffens, and Joao asks any doctors in the room to come forward. Four medical doctors take the stage and talk with the healer.

The woman on stage, has advanced breast cancer, and as the doctors look on, Joao lifts her left breast and makes a vertical incision. Blood streams down from her chest and he proceeds to pick up a needle and stitch the wound closed.

As Dr. Oz reviewed the tapes, he explained his theory: “These actions stimulate aggressive immune responses and dad may be what the healer is doing tapping into a long lost feeling that could be effective in treating other conditions”.

On stage, he next scraps a knife across a woman’s eyeball back and forth and the patient (from Jackson Michigan: says she can see again.

Another patient has a Kelly clamp shove up her nostril, It is twisted four times with Joao’s wrist and there is no blood. She again can breathe.

Joao takes no credit for healing and says: “ I’ve never healed anybody. It is God who heals.” He practices medicine without a license, does not charge for his services, and has treated the president of Peru as well as many Brazilian mayors, He is accepted protected, and regarded as a national treasure.

At 16, he had a vision of a beautiful woman down by a river who gave him the address of a spiritual center and told him to go there. He thought the woman was St. Rita of Casa, and the spirit of King Solomon came to him. He suddenly fainted.and awoke several hours later, being told he had healed several people all afternoon.

Dr. Oz, five years ago, was on “Prime Time Live” segment, that focused on the John of God story. He examined hours of footage from the healing tapes, looked at scans and biopsy reports, and he could not explain why an aggressive, very deadly, cancer as a glioblastoma, would disappear. The radiologist said this was impossible. (We rely on the naked eye for proof of everything. Yet there are countless unseen things that have power–sound waves, microwaves, radio waves, emotions of anger and envy, wind, and the power to love, yet here people have blind faith, believe without documentation, and are healed).

Edwina Gaines, tells her story. A 71-year-old Alabama minister and motivational speaker, she is the author of ”The four spiritual laws of prosperity”, telling of her inoperable brain aneurysm (verified by 5 neurosurgeons). The “Entity healer,Joao, did his invisible surgery on her in a group meditation setting. She placed her right hand on her heart, collapsed in exhaustion for 24 hours, and was she should have stitches removed. In eight days Arriving home, a CT scan revealed her aneurysm was gone.

One of the keys to healing is a willingness to change entrenched habits, behaviors, jobs, impossible schedules, and let go of everything that is holding you back. Doing this is a radical almost scary change.

The healings are all intended to facilitate an individual’s well-being, were told by the entities to write books, get their pilots license, stopped smoking, especially pot. People who smoke pot habit as read or rise and take about a year to heal. It is important to take out the reason why you got sick not just remove some organ. Daily meditation, changing habits improving diets upgrading mindsets all are required. The rest is done, maybe 60% by healing.

If you were shown an iPhone 100 years ago you wouldn’t believe it. Everything is progressing. We know so little and our senses are limited. If you aren’t open to ministry, you’ll never see it. Most people who come to Joao’s town in Brazil believe this, and skeptics, even Dr Oz,who see this no longer are the same. This is also true about medical acupuncture.

Oprah;s magazine Dec.10 should have more on this subject.

Visit www.americanacupuncture for more discussion of controversial medical issues.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE IS HERE

2010-11-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE IS HERE

Have you recently gone to your doctor and noticed some changes? His waiting room is now called a reception area. He is very concerned in cutting down the cycle time of you the patient, and you are limited to 7 minutes with him.   In the past he was reimbursed for his time and expertise, but now non-traditional visits are handled by phone consultations, smart phones, e-mail, or video chats. The offices want your registration forms completed by way of mail or computer so everything is available when you come in. If you require 15 minutes or more, you will put you in slots where he is not as busy. His practice is now being labeled “patient centered medicine” rather than "primary care medicine".

His usual jovial personality has changed, and you no longer can engage in meaningful conversation about you, your health, nor even the state of Obama care. He asks the questions, and you answer yes or no.

When your doctor enters the room, he is now carrying a laptop computer. Sometimes he will put it on his lap, but soon notices that the heat may fry his testicles, and puts the computer on the counter.

All the information you’re giving him seems overwhelming to him as he mutters under his breath and begins typing. He no longer is looking at you, but remains focused on the computer data he needs to place in the registry.    Your visit ends and you wonder: "How on earth can he know what to do for me when I couldn't tell him what was wrong.

Charting has become more important than having a quality experience or quality outcome with you, the patient. Your doctor is forced to do this, because of several new payment schemes, with names like “ accountable care organizations”, “global payments”, and “ and bundled payments”---- all of which are already in their pilots stages in Massachusetts, Michigan and California.    The programs all aim for the same result: CAPITATION ( another name for the old HMO).   To make all this work requires a great deal of technological infrastructure.   So dear patient: Your doctor, in order to play the game, must pay the price.

The electronic health records (EHR) certainly has benefits.   It signal potential drug reactions, makes prescriptions and notes more legible, and eliminates storing paper charts. The data however is very slow and cumbersome, And reading it is very difficult, as your doctor sifts through meaningless data trying to find your important information that will let him treat you properly.

It is also very expensive. In a midsized practice, we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars for the hardware and software just to get started.   This does not count the huge annual service charges each month. In the face of your doctor getting lower reimbursements for your care, and his rising costs of private practice, many doctors are abandoning their practices and joining hospital groups.   Your next visit may no longer be with your doctor, but his surrogate, or a nurse physician-practioner aid.

The new health reform bill, called Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is now the law of the land.   The reform bill provides incentives for doctors and hospitals to do less for you in terms of treatment and diagnosis, and to do more for the government by providing cost-saving data to provide more quantity and less quality. The meaningful use criteria for EHR is all spinned as leading to “ quality health improvement”.

Certainly the technology industry has a lot to gain. The dollars for your patient care are now being diverted into the pockets of Silicone Valley, the makers of computers and software. Follow the money trail, and you’ll see who has the ear of Congress.

These new payment schemes, and the EHR that supports it, penalizes your doctor when he interprets your medical findings properly and tries to customize a treatment plan that will work for you.

I think that you, the patient, still sees value in quality, individualized care, patient centered care, and compassionate care. Hopefully you realize a one-size-fits-all approach to medicine will not work. Regardless, get ready for more big changes in the way your doctor practices medicine.

Visit www.drneedles.com for more discussion of controversial medical issues that affect your health.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read between the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs

Thanksgiving 2010 Trivia Quiz

2010-11-18T12:28:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2010 Trivia Quiz

For our Facebook and twitter fans we have a little Thanksgiving quiz today. Give it your best shot!

1 A female turkey is called: a chick, a cuckoo, a hen, or a rooster.
2. A male turkey is called: a clark, a tom, a larry, or a harry.
3 A mature turkey has how many feathers? 1500, 2000, 3500,    5000
4 Oldster keys are produced in the state of: Arkansas,    Minnesota, Ohio, Kansas, Michigan
5. A wild turkey can run: 5 mph, 15 mph, 25 mph, 45 mph
6. What percentage of American homes eat turkey on Thanksgiving?    50% 66%, 80%, 90%
7. The skin that hangs from a turkey’s neck is called: a garble, a swag, a wattle, a snark
8. The following percentage of American homes eat turkey on Christmas: 35%, 50%, 66%, 90%
9. Which country eats the most turkey per year per capita: Spain, Britain, Israel, United States
10. The best way to defrost a turkey is: in the microwave, with a hair dryer, in the refrigerator, in cold water
11. The Pilgrims came to North America in: 1616, 1620, 1648, 1650
12. The Pilgrims sailed on a ship called: Pinta, Mayflower, Speedwell, Santa Anna
13. To reach North America, the Pilgrims sailed across the: Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic Ocean
14. The Pilgrim ship landed in North America at: Cape Cod, Plymouth Rock, Boston, Portsmouth
15. Which president named Thanksgiving Day a national holiday: Grant, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington
16. Pilgrim boys and girls got their schooling from: natives, British, parents, religious
17. Pilgrims came to America to: trade tea for animal furs, fight Indians, religious freedom, find gold
18. Which of the following Presidents claim Mayflower ancestry: George Washington, George Bush, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt
19. The Pilgrims came to America from: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England
20. What percentage of pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower survived to celebrate Thanksgiving> 20%, 50%, 75%, 90%
21. The original Thanksgiving lasted how long? Three days, seven days, two weeks, two months
22. How big is the size of the Plymouth Rock? The size of a bus, a peanut, a car engine, a car
23. What drink to the pilgrims bring with them: tea, coffee, beer, cider
24.The first football game was started in 1934 by: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets
25. The answers to all the above questions can be found at home page of drneedles.com,   americanacupuncture.com.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!
Visit www.americanacupuncture for the best discussions of current medical issues.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read between the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EATING

2010-11-17T17:56:00.000-08:00

I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EATING

I am in control of myself at all times in all situations.
Whenever I sit down I am determined to achieve my goal. By never giving in and eating right, I will reach the weight I want.

I really enjoy eating less whether in a restaurant or at home. I don’t have to finish the food in front of me anymore. I eat what I should and never won by it more.

When there is less food on my plate there is less food on my fork. By ordering less when I eat out, and giving myself smaller portions at home, it keeps me aware of staying with my goal each day. Less on my plate means less on my waist.

I will not allow anyone to influence, tempt or discourage me in any negative way. Reaching my goal was up to me. No one has the right to control my success.

I’m only losing weight for my own reasons; for my life, my future by personal health. No one will tempt me to take one more bite than I should. I am strong, can reach my goal, and am doing it.

A lot of food in front of me is no longer a problem to me. I just say no to the food and yes to my success.

I still enjoy sitting down to eat because it gives me time to conquer my past and create a tremor Here more self-confident future in front of me.

I don’t need someone else to remind me of my goal would keep me from eating something I should not. I’m responsible for myself and no one has to do it for me.

It’s easy for me now to control my weight and my appetite. I enjoy smaller portions, smaller bites, eat slower, am healthier, and more relaxed in every way. Mealtime has turned into achievement time for me.

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more discussion of controversial medical issues.

As a medical physician for over 52 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read between the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

PROCESSED CARBS MAIN CAUSE OF OBESITY

2010-11-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

PROCESSED CARBS MAIN CAUSE OF OBESITY

Thirty years ago we declared a war against fat. Dietary guidelines for Americans was first published in 1980 and has been updated every five years.   To prevent heart trouble, we are told to stay away from fats.

Obesity is no longer a sign of prosperity
Three times as many adults are now obese compared to 50 years ago and twice as many as 20 years ago. Being heavy was a sign of prosperity and being socially successful in the past. If one was not overweight it showed he could not make his way in life, nor obtain enough to eat. Today however the poorest and least educated American is very obese.

Obesity causes type II diabetes and over 10% of our medical costs. In the last 10 years the costs have risen from $74 billion-$147 billion. Being fat makes you less productive, you take more time off from work because of ailments. Perhaps you cannot walk more than a few yards without refreshing yourself with some fast food or sweet pop. Family meals you see are a thing of the past, is a great effort.   Kids don’t eat meals with their parents, and many of them only have one parent.

We buy take-home meals and ready prepared foods. They are heated in the microwave and serve as constant snacks. Often there is a need for a decent table to eat at since the TV serves at the dining table. We overindulge, and each feeding makes your appetite grow. Your behavior determines the appetite of the moment. You eat independently of everyone else, and when you eat there is no self control. Your world is very dull and slow-moving compared to the TV excitement. There is no reason to get in the real world when you can satisfy your appetite, which are mined in a vacuum, and have constant entertainment on your coach.

All fats are not created equal
Yet as you may have noticed, we are not getting any thinner, and heart disease is still our big killer. We developed the logic that fat is bad, since saturated fat increases bad LDL cholesterol, and if you have high LDL cholesterol you are more likely to get heart disease.

The fallacy of this is the assumption that: “ All LDL cholesterol is the same and it is all bad”. LDL cholesterol comes in a range of sizes. Large LDL particles cause no harm. Research shows that avoiding fat is a miscalculation.   it’s We have been replacing fat with process carbohydrates and this is far worse for our hearts.

As we switch from a low saturated fat diet to one high in saturated fat, there is an increase in total blood LDL cholesterol.   The rise, however, is due to an increased concentration of the large LDL particles, not the small ones. In other words, saturated fat consumption boosts our harmless LDL particles. Because the tests ignore particle size, today’s cholesterol tests are not good indicators of heart disease risk, and only predict heart disease risk 70% of the time.   (Since saturated fat has no double bonds, all of its carbon atoms are saturated with hydrogen atoms and these are neutral for the heart.)   Unsaturated fats that have one double bond ( mono unsaturated fats), as found in many nuts, are very good for the heart, Polyunsaturated fats that have multiple double bonds, as fatty fish, are also very good for the heart. By substituting mono saturated and polyunsaturated fats for saturated fats, heart disease risks dropped dramatically.   New England Journal of Medicine May 2006

People who ate most of their daily calories from fat, including saturated fat, had no increase in heart disease later in life. Those who ate the highest amount of vegetable fat, from foods like nuts and olive oil, lowered their heart disease rate more than those on low-fat diets. New England Journal of Medicine March 2010

Glycemic index is the answer to our obesity problem
If saturated fat does not adversely affect your heart health, what does? Researchers find a high glycemic index may be the answer. The index reflects the influence blood sugar levels, based on how quickly sugare is digested and absorbed. That means, carbohydrates like cereal, bread, chips and cookies all increase heart risks.

People who ate the highest glycemic load, (which also measures portion size), had twice the risk of heart disease than those who ate food with the lowest glycemic load.

Mixing high glycemic index foods with low glycemic index foods, like a piece of white bread with peanut butter, is healthier than eating is the white bread alone. If you were on a high fat low carbohydrate diet for eight weeks, your blood concentration of small LDL particles would drop 50%.   If you then went on a high carbohydrate and low-fat diet, you would see an increase spike of 36%. Also troubling is, that process carbohydrates lower good HDL cholesterol, while saturated fats increase good HDL cholesterol.

Sugars are not all created equal.
Despite having a lower glycemic index, fructose is less healthy than glucose, since it haa a different structure despite having the same chemical formula Table sugar is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. High fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose and 45% glucose.

Fructose makes you hungrier
Fructose results in a lower insulin response, which results in a lower circulating levels of leptin, (the appetite suppressing hormone), and a higher level of ghrelin, (the appetite boosting hormone), thus increasing your appetite and putting you at a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Processed carbohydrates are the cause of obesity
Our war against fat has made us more addicted to carbohydrates. As we cut out fat, we typically eat diet foods high in carbohydrates that contain the same number of calories, however with more corn syrup solids. Transfatty acids and foods high in omega six, as corn oil and margarine, are very unhealthy, We must start replacing carbs with some fat in our diets. To get the right nutritional messages, our new guidelines should be simple, targeted, and consistent.

Other causes of obesity
People tell you that that is you eat too much and don’t exercise enough. There are however other explanations.

Birds of a feather flock together.   You tend to mate with someone who has a very similar body type as you and thus pass along genes that contribute to obesity.

The normal activity of your hormones that regulate fat are disrupted by environmental toxins that lead to metabolic changes in your body and weight gain.

Since you lived in a temperature controlled environment, air conditioning and central heating, you need to burn fewer calories to regulate your thermostat. Instead of your body regulating her temperature by sweating and getting goosebumps, your temperature is always controlled and this causes you to burn less calories.

If you were a smoker and quit, you may still have oral fixations seeking food as a replacement for your cigarettes.

You can gain a lot of weight from certain drugs that cause water retention and slow your metabolism.   Examples include: antidepressants, contraceptives, blood pressure pills, antihistamines, diabetes medicines, and mood stabilizers.

If you just had your baby in your late 30s, you find it more difficult to regain your pre-pregnancy weight.

Our population is aging, our ethnic mix is shuffled, and we are constantly in a group of obese people.

We all sit longer then we sleep. Our sedentary lives of watching TV, or surfing the Internet, all lead to disease. We are burning 100 less calories a day than our parents: and it all adds up.   The fat burning lipase enzyme that burns fat stops working and drops 50%. Just walking around the computer desk for a couple hours would help a lot.

Removing your tonsils and adenoids results in a high percentage of kids suddenly becoming obese by eight years of age.
Pediatrics 2009: 123: 1095

Most of us are not getting enough sleep, and this increases our hunger and appetite and cause hormonal changes that lead to weight gain. Over half the people with sleep apnea are grossly overweight.   Archives internal medicine September 28, 2010

Your ancestors may have environmentally caused weight gain and these genes are passed on to you and your children.

Skinny women are less fertile than overweight women. This gives our future generations a better chance to inherit overweight genes.

In the past, it was suggested that obese people who did not have any metabolic problems, did not have any increased risk of morbidity and mortality, and could safely live with their obesity. A recent study shows this not to be true.

30% of people or obese are insolent resistant, and 40% have two or more metabolic syndrome risk factors. Only 25% are free of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome factors. So it looks like, if you are obese, and have no medical problems, you are fooling yourself into thinking you are risk free of heart disease.
Diabetes Care, December 2009

Reducing diets do not work
We all know that weight loss diets are not sustainable. It is important to work on your eating patterns. Our diets are terrible and most of us eat high-energy foods as chocolates, and fast foods daily. After dieting, once you start changing your food choices again, you inevitably fail and regain most of the weight you lost. Most of us could lose weight on a diet with high energy foods as well as some restriction of foods along with some aerobic exercising.

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more discussion of controversial medical topics.

As a medical physician for over 52 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

BROWN CELL TREATMENT FOR OBESITY

2010-11-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

BROWN CELL TREATMENT FOR OBESITY

We all know there’s good and bad cholesterol. It turns out that there is also good and bad fat.

White fat
White fat is considered bad. It is distributed to widely throughout the body. These specialized cells is door lipids or adipocytes. They are defined in childhood and stay steady throughout life. 10% of the cells are renewed each year. The main determinants of obesity are the number of adipocytes and their societies.

All fat cells in the body stays the same since new cells are offset by an equal loss of cells that die. Losing weight as an adult only shrinks the mass of the cells, which is quickly recovered by new cells.

It’s hard to maintain the weight you reached after a reducing diet since the new fat cells that laid down fat after weight reduction need to quickly grow in lipids. The adipocytes start to grow around the age of two and grows twice as fast in people with obesity. It also stops at the age of 16.

It does have its benefits by storing excess energy and providing us with a layer of insulation that keeps us warm. Too much of it however leads to serious health problems.

Your body stores excess energy by accumulating weight when you consume more calories than you use. When you’re short on food and your body needs extra energy, white fat does come in handy.

Brown fat
Brown fat, the good fat, Acts like a furnace, consuming calories and generating heat. It burns excess energy to generate heat. It is mostly found in newborns, arranged in little pockets around the shoulders and between the shoulder blades. It is 5% of an infant’s total body mass. Brown fat provides extra heat to help babies maintain their core temperatures. As you age, you have less brown fat. Some people however keep brown fat deposits into adulthood.

Brown fat is activated by temperature changes in the environment. When the baby is cold, brown fat quickly starts producing heat. The heat is generated by little energy factories, called mitochondria, better glucose fat and other nutrients into energy that the cell can use.

Brown fat cells are packed with mitochondria, making them very opaque. Brown fat cells are more dense than mitochondria and almost all other tissues in the body. The inefficiency of these mitochondria make them valuable. Instead of breaking down nutrients into energy that the brown fat cell can use, if it leaks out most of the energy into the form of heat.

Small Capillaries around the cells give the fat its brown color. and transport the heat energy throughout the baby’s body, maintaining the baby’s core temperature

Commentary
Most of our weight reduction programs have been targeted towards reducing food intake. Scientists are now looking for ways to increase the stores of your brown fat and turn off its metabolism to help you burn calories faster. If you activate the good that it will help burn off the bad fat.

It wouldn’t take much as a little bit goes a very long way. Since 3 ounces of brown fat if maximum they stimulated can burn up to 500 calories a day. All of us have small amounts of brown fat around our collarbones and in our necks, As seen under pets stands and CT scans. Brown spots show up as hot spots Women have twice is much as men, but at most only have a half an ounce of brown fat. Brown fat disappears as we age, and obese people have less than lean people. It is activated by just spending a little time in a cold room. Exposure to chilly temperatures causes a 15 times increase in the metabolic rate of brown fat than a healthy adult. If this could be activated it would burn at least 9 pounds of white fat each year.

Researchers are trying to activate brown fat with a drug targeted along the brown fast metabolic pathways. It may be possible to remove a small amount of a person’s brown fat, amplified in a test tube, and transplanted back, creating your own internal calorie burning furnace.

Perhaps just spending more time outdoors in cool climates could help. If you sat in your home at 60°F versus the comfortable 72 or 80, you might lose weight and help your health. However on the contrary, it might just make you eat more. A drug might be necessary to increase the metabolic rate also.

We could tackle obesity, If we could limit the number of adipocytes in children, or reduce the substitution of dead that cells with new ones. If we could prevent the death of brown cells as we age or reintroduce these cells, we could also prevent obesity.

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more discussion of controversial medical subjects.

As a medical physician for over 52 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing

I LOVE MY GREEN FAIRY

2010-11-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

I LOVE MY GREEN FAIRY

I use to go to Starbucks and order a Venti triple expresso. A new drink called Four Loko, has added some flavoring of taurine, guarine, wormwood (absinthe), and 6 packages of sugar. It is topped off with 6 cans of compressed beer (12% alcohol) and I now have a great college drink guaranteed to put me in LaLa land, or possibly the ER.

If I drank on an empty stomach, my blood alcohol would read around 0.40 the low end, approaching death. I can get all this for only $3 at any convenient store. If I want to get a Four Loko light, (9% alcohol), I order Joose, and if I want extra lite, Sparks is for me. I can just drink one, and quickly feel wasted,and don’t need any refills. The nice thing is I am totallly stoned,but wide awake, and manage to somehow drive home.

Interestingly, they added wormwood to the beverage, in place of the usual hops I get in my beer. The wormwood has absenthe, called the Green fairy, which is used to flavor the beverage. was abandoned in the US in 1912, but I’m glad the Green fairy is back.

It has a very bitter taste but the fruity flavor with f a lot of sugar covers the bitterness up. Normally it’s green in color, but the sugar turns that snowy white. I hear it was used for putrefaction, perhaps that’s why I no longer pass gas. it was used in the past to lower fever and also as an aphrodisiac. This should counteract the six cans of beer that I would’ve drank instead.

There is an oil called thujone, that makes the wormwood toxic. It stimulates the heart and depresses the brain, (Neat huh!) I hear it can be toxic to my liver and my brain, but i watch myself and don’t get refills. Wormwood also contains sangonin, a substance that makes one dizzy and creates illusions. This might be fun for a night.

I don’t know why they added Taurine to the product. It messes up the sleep wake cycle in my brain and I hear is the reason for the crash I get after I drink highly caffeinated beverages. It stimulates my central nervous system, and I guess that’s why it causes high blood pressure, strokes, seizures, and heart disease.

I guess the caffeine in Loko is okay, since I’m hooked on coffee anyway, with all the Coke, Fixx, Monster, and Rockstar I drink during the day. When I skip my caffeine fix, I feel really tired and depressed, have a little headache and some dizziness, and my muscles feel a little stiff. But all this is gone, once I have my daily energy drinks. The drink gives me a little buzz, and keeps me awake in the morning for my classes.

In the evening, with a can of LOKO, I let “the green fairy” out to do its magical thing. The upper lets me speed up, the downer says: “No, slow down, and my heart says sometimes: “ let me stop for a minute and think about it”.

VISIT www.americanacupuncture.com for more discussion of controversial medical subjects.

ADDICTION SOLUTIONS

2010-10-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

ADDICTION SOLUTIONS

Medical use of prescription drugs is second only to marijuana use. Fourteen million Americans smoke marijuana, and over 6 million Americans take prescription drugs for non-medical uses.   Over 9 million Americans take Darvon, Darvocet, or Tylenol with codeine. ( 2002 national survey on drug use and health/ SAMHSA). As prescriptions have increased, emergency room visits have increased even faster.

Teenage drug use has skyrocketed. One in 10 12th-graders abused Vicodin in the past year.( Monitoring the future study, 2004).

EIghteen percent of teens have abused Vicodin, 20% have tried Ritalin or Aderall, and 9% of teens take over the counter cough syrup to get high. An equal number had used ecstasy, LSD, ketamine, heroine, GHB, ice, and cocaine. They find easy access of these drugs through friends and their parent’s medical cabinets. They find drugs are fun and help them when they are having a hard time. ( Partnership for a drug-free America, April 21, 2005).

Since production and drug availability have increased, so has the increasing abuse of prescription drugs. There is more marketing and media attention to obtain pain relief, doctors more frequently prescribed pain relief medication. and the internet has provided more availability.

People want drugs for pain relief that work right away, are strong, don’t last too long, are smokable, and prefer brand names. The elderly are particularly vulnerable since they have a higher incidence of chronic pain, they don’t understand their prescription directions, they share their medicines with their golf partners, their family encourages them to take more medications, and they fail to understand the drug affects.

Everyone wants medications, since they are perceived as safe and highly effective.   Patients expect prescriptions, and doctors are pressured to oblige. Many doctors lack education and understanding of pain treatment.   Addiction sneaks up on you with extraordinary speed. A non-dependent user of drugs controls his use. A dependent person is controlled by his addiction.

TREATING ADDICTIONS SAVES LIVES

How can you tell if your friend is addicted?
If they have three or more of the following seven symptoms, they have a problem. If they use drugs to avoid or reverse withdrawal symptoms, have withdrawal symptoms, tolerate a great deal of medication, are compelled to use the drug when they’re trying to stop, have early relapses when they stop their medications, have a narrowing behavioral pattern, and find their drug-related behavior is more important than their activities in the world.

You find your friend fails to fulfill his obligations at work, at home, or at school. He is frequently found in hazardous situations, has legal problems related to drugs, and continues to use drugs despite having drug-related social or interpersonal problems.

SUMMARY

it is time that all of us encouraged our addicted friends to seek treatment. It will prevent an emergency admission from an overdose, and save society a great deal of money. The more access to treatment, the more our society saves. Otherwise our friends get involved in extensive criminal activity, undergo multiple detoxification’s every year, and are treated for medical co-morbidities, crime activities, and other social problems.

Along with other modalities. medical acupuncture is a wonderful way to provide detoxification from drug abuse.

Save a friend’s life by leading him to treatment for his addiction!
Finding satisfactory resources:
GOVERNMENT
Substance abuse and mental health services administration (SAMHSA)   www.samhsa.gov www.findtreatment.samhsa.gov
Center for substance abuse treatment www.csat.samhsa.gov
National helpline 800.662-HELP (4357)
www.niaaa.nih.gov (National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

MUTUAL HELP GROUPS
www.alcoholics-anonymous.org
www.na.org (Narcotics anonymous)
www.ca.org (Cocaine anonymous)
www.al-anon.org (Al-Anon)
www.nar-anon.org (Nar-Anon)
www.familiesanonymous.org (Families anonymous)
www.gamblersanonymous.org
www.slaafws.org (Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous)
www.sexaa.org (Sex addicts anonymous)
www.nicotine-anonymous.org

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more information on controversial medical subjects.

IT IS TIME TO QUIT SMOKING

2010-10-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

IT IS TIME TO QUIT SMOKING

The tobacco industry made over $13 billion profit last year on 43 million Americans who smoke. Smoking is one of the leading causes of health statistics.

Our government spends billions of dollars on cancer research, and treatment. Millions are spent on tobacco cessation treatments and advertising.   States receive billions of dollars in tobacco legal settlements. More than 80% of people smoking today really do want to quit and cannot.

On the other hand, tobacco companies received incentives to export, our government subsidizes tobacco farmers, tobacco companies have tax deductible advertising directed at teenagers, and there is an immense tax deductible lobbying effort and campaigning on behalf of the tobacco industry. The tobacco company helps Medicare funding by having those of us who smoke die sooner, and thus collect fewer Medicare benefits.

Feeling full, quenching your thirst, bonding with your mates, making more money, gambling, sexual satisfaction, and the use of drugs, are all strong reinforcing experiences that make us feel rewarded.

Unfortunately, the primitive parts of our brain control our less primitive basic drives and thoughts. Our thoughts cannot change, if they are under the control of our primitive parts of our brain.

Our health care providers all have the impression that it is futile to try to get someone to quit smoking.   They have time constraints, don’t get reimbursed for their efforts, and frankly lack training in addiction control.   It is estimated that 15% of smokers would quit each year if doctors continued to emphasize the risks of smoking, relate their health problems to smoking, show the effects of smoking on their family, and remind them that their children are more likely to smoke if they don’t quit. ( That adds up to 6 million Americans quitting each year).

Over 85% of Americans who smoke want to quit can’t quit, need help, and feel powerless. They must make a firm decision to ask for help, follow directions of their healthcare giver, change their behavior, and trust the cessartion process. Ask them, who among their acquaintances, has already quit.   They must see the advantages of changing their behavior, seeing themselves responsible and in control. they must see that there are no harmful effects, and change will also promoting long lasting changes in the brain’s circuitry reward system.

Effective tobacco cessation techniques include: brief counseling, drugs when appropriate, behavioral change with a support system( 12 step AA program), and acupuncture treatments. All these methods work for different people. If you are a smoker, keep an open mind, and remember persistence pays off.

Accept the things you can’t change, have courage to change the things you can, and get smart enough to know the difference. ( Serenity prayer).

Seek self-help materials:
www.lungusa.org
www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/tobacco
www.quitnet.com
www.ahrq.gov/consumer/index.html.html#smoking
www.americanacupuncture.com

Visit wwwamericanacupuncture.com for more information on controversial medical subjects.

START PRAISING YOURSELF

2010-10-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

START PRAISING YOURSELF

Most of us Americans today, feel beaten up. depressed, angry, and find ourselves in a hopeless frame of mind. That must change. Here are some thought to help you on your journey of life:

“You can do anything you believe you can do. You have talent, skills and certainly abilities. Just set your goals and reach them. You certainly know what you want out of life, go after it and get it.

Start feeling good about yourself. Take some pride in who you are and believe in yourself. Nothing will stop you. You have a lot of determination and can turn your problems into advantages. Look for possibilities and things that other people never give a chance.

You certainly have a lot of energy and are very alive. I see you enjoy life, so start telling it to others. Look ahead and start liking yourself. You can accomplish anything you choose and you must not let anything negative hold you back or stand in your way.

You have strength, conviction, confidence, and power. You don’t have to be afraid of anything or anyone. Start liking challenges and meet them head on face-to-face.

Get a clear picture in your mind of what you want and go for it. Seated in front of you and you will know how to get it. It’s all up to you and you certainly know how to do it. Don’t let roadblocks stopped you. They just mean that you are running and alive, and are not going to stand still for anything.

Start trusting yourself. You have what it takes and plenty of it and certainly know how to use it. You are unstoppable. Get yourself together and start getting more together every day. Say to the world: “Look out, here I come”.

You have no limitations. I can conquer any challenge and there is no wall you can’t climb. I can handle any problems around and make them work for you. You think clearly, are organized, and are in control of yourself and everything about yourself. People like you and you like to do with people.

No one is going to call your shots for you. You can’t blame anyone else for the circumstances in your life. Accept them and move beyond them, and start looking for the rewards for your victories. You don’t need perfection, but expect the very best of what you have to give. There are no excuses. You will get things done on time, and in the right way, since you have the inner guts and strength to win.

You are a super, exceptional, human being. Since you believe in yourself and have goals, start turning them into reality. You have the power to live your dreams, as long as you believe in them, like you believe in yourself. Your belief is so strong that nothing can weaken your wonderful spirit. “

Good luck and God Bless you. Dr. Needles

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more medical discussion of controversial subjects.

CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

2010-10-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Over 1% of our population experiences pain and numbness and loss of manual dexterity and a dominant hand and later both hands. Symptoms include difficulty grasping, inability to pick up small objects, dropping things, and night pain in the wrist. Symptoms include trouble knitting, driving, writing, or using the computer.

This problem is caused by compression of the median nerve in the carpal canal over the wrist. pressure on the flex or tendon leads to numbness when flexing or extending the wrist.

It is very common in women, workers using industrial tools, and in jobs or hobbies that require repeated forceful wrist and hand movements or that we use vibratory tools. The use of computers, bars: scanning, grocery store checkouts, and even playing the drums can precipitate this problem. Symptoms improve with the rest and get worse with activity. Pain can even go up the arm and into the shoulder.

Often changing the height of your chair at a computer, or eliminating some vibratory tools that work can relieve your symptoms. Daily stretching exercises also help.

Other conditions can masquerade as carpal tunnel syndrome. One can have cervical disc herniation, and compression of the median nerve in the forearm or the elbow.

Traditionally, the wrist is planted in a neutral position for 3 to 4 weeks permanently, and then for another four weeks part-time. Cortisone injections you merely short-term relief and can cause the nerve to be entrapped. has symptoms get worse, surgery is offered with carting of the transverse ligament in the wrist.

The goal is to increase the space for the flex or tendons and the median nerve. Complications include incomplete division of the ligament, nerve injury both motor or sensory, and post stringing of the flexor tendons with adherence. Good results occur in 85%, with 15% having numbness, muscle atrophy, and paresthesias.

Another non-surgical solution rarely offered is acupuncture, which increases the blood flow to the adherent area of carpal ligament, resulting in pain relief by reducing the swelling of the flexor tendons. acupuncture is safe, cost-effective, and therapeutically very effective and eliminating pain and restoring function to the wrist.

For more information on controversial medical subjects visit www.americanacupuncture.com

Chronic headache solutions

2010-10-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

CHRONIC HEADACHE SOLUTIONS

Every day, 10% of us have neck pain and headaches. Whiplash is the most common cause of chronic headaches. The cervical ligaments are stretched or torn as a result of irritation to the sympathetic plexus around the these cervical vertebral arteries. Trama precipitates these migraines and if there is mechanical occlusion it adds to the symptoms. Usually these headaches are one-sided, with associated trouble swallowing, noise in the ears, and occasionally some sensory changes. The pain is dull and neck movements are quite limited.

These headaches originate from the cervical spine that has been damaged: this result in persistent sub-occipital pain. When the neck is moved, the headaches are altered. A patients with neck pain carries an abnormal posture of his head and neck.

With swelling of the neck muscles, the first and second cervical roots become compressed and pain is referred to any part of the head by way of the trigeminal nerves in the brainstem. Often psychoneurosis becomes a factor in these chronic whiplash headache cases.

A routine x-ray rarely shows the true problem, since the patients has his neck in a neutral position.   The top two cervical vertebrae, the Atlas which is circular ( C-1), and the Axis which looks like a Mexican hat or top ( C2), become displaced. The second cervical vertebrae should fit nicely inside the first one.

Unfortunately the ligaments from C2 that connect and hold the ligaments in place are weakened by trauma and put pressure on the arteries to the back of the brain. An x-ray with the patient’s head held back shows more than 3 mm between the back rim of the Atlaa and the front border of C2.   Such an x-ray is rarely taken because the technician fears the patient may faint without a physician present. Acupuncture to the area strenthens these ligaments to hold the two vertebrae in place.

Various medications and manipulations are prescribed for chronic headaches, but rarely work. The FDA has recently approved the use of Botox injections for chronic headache patients.   This involves a shotgun method with 36 sites injected with this toxic poison, hoping to paralyze the right muscles. It alleviates headaches by paralyzing the muscles of the neck and face.   The procedure is repeated every three months.

It is amazing that the general public does not realize that acupuncture is quite successful in safely relieving these headaches, and is both cost-effective, and therapeutically effective.

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more information on medically controversial subjects.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ or more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

ACUPUNCTURE VS BOTOX FOR CHRONIC HEADACHES

2010-10-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

ACUPUNCTURE VS BOTOX FOR CHRONIC HEADACHES

Ovee 70% of women and 50% of men have disabling headaches. Often emotional stress is implicated, but many people have headaches at time of stress free weekends. It is difficult to label a headache by its type, as muscle contraction headaches are often confused with other headaches.

Headaches often occur because of stress, fatigue, hormonal imbalance, eating cheese and wine and other tyramine foods, MSG, nitrites in hot dogs, chocolates, flickering lights, missed meals, allergens, and vaso-dilating drugs.

Many headache treatments exist and most are ineffective. The drugs become habitual, have dangers of overdoses, often contain large amounts of caffeine, combines sedatives and nausea suppressors, and over the counter analgesics. The most common medications are beta blockers, which frequently result in fatigue, impotence, and exercise intolerance.

The aim of all the treatments is to reduce the frequency and severity of the headaches and to terminate a series of headache attacks. Doctors attempt behavioral alterations and psychotherapy in patients who are perfectionists, ambitious, fearful, or sensitive to the opinions of others.

Headaches result in excessive contraction of the neck and scalp muscles, and are seen frequently because of occipital atlas-axial syndromes, intervertebral disc problems, inflamed spinal column ligaments, inflammation of the periosteum of vertebral bodies, spasm of the cervical muscles attached to bone, pinched cervical nerve roots, and vertebral arteries being compromised.

All of the above are effectively treated by acupuncture, which also can prevent these headaches. Many of these headaches are labeled tension headaches with involuntary contraction of the scalp and cervical muscles. Scalp acupuncture can induce muscle relaxation and be a very effective treatment.

Recently Botox has been approved as a treatment for chronic migraine headaches. Generally 36 injections are placed in the scalp, forehead, temples, and neck. This toxin paralyzes the muscles that are in spasm. Repeat treatments are required every three months. The cost for many is prohibitive.

Headaches result in 3 million bedridden days each year, $17 billion of lost labor each year, five times more diagnostic tests, three times more drug costs, increase in emergency room visits, three times the increase in psychiatric disorders, and numerous visits to family doctors, internists, emergency room physicians, ophthalmologists, pediatricians, and neurologists.

It’s about time, that acupuncture gets its day in the sun to relieve and prevent this malady. It is safe, cost-effective, and above all therapeutically effective.

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more discussion of controversial medical subjects.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

BOTOX APPROVED FOR CHRONIC MIGRAINES

2010-10-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

BOTOX APPROVED FOR CHRONIC MIGRAINES

Many doctors have been using Botox for unapproved uses as headache and pain. Now the FDA has approved the drug to treat chronic migraines.

The current pain medications for chronic migraines are rarely effective and do not prevent future migraines. Over 12% of Americans suffer from throbbing pulsating pain of migraines.

The Botox drug company, Allergan, paid $600 million to settle criminal and civil allegations last month. Botox is a pure live form of the toxin of botulinum,, and is a nerve poison produced by the bacteria that causes botulism.

Injections paralyze nerves signals the certain muscles and glands. A typical migraine Botox treatment involves 31 interjections and seven areas including the forehead, temples, back of the head, neck and shoulders. These are given every three months. The cost has been prohibitive to many people.

Botox has already been approved for uncontrolled blinking, some neck muscle problems, underarm sweating, increased muscle stiffness in the hands and elbows, and of course for cosmetic purposes, to smooth the lines between the eyebrows.

People still see Botox as a cosmetic product, but the drug company has promoted therapeutic indications that now far surpass Botox use in cosmetics. Botox sales are over $1.3 billion, half of them from medical not cosmetic uses. This approval for severe migraines, should get them more than $1 billion annually by the next four years.

The FDA conceded that Botox is of no value in treating or preventing migraines that occur less than 14 days a month. However we all know, that it will be used for everyone with migraines. Botox has a black box warning that it can migrate to other parts of the body, and can cause death.

A safer route might be to have medical acupuncture treatments which are cost-effective and much more effective than this toxic poison.

Visit me, drneedles, @ americanacupuncture.com for more discussion of controversial medical issues that confront you daily.

REPORTING ACUPUNCTURE CLINICAL TRIALS

2010-10-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

REPORTING ACUPUNCTURE CLINICAL TRIALS

Finally acupuncture will be able to demonstrate its power and presence.

The consolidated standard of reporting trials ( CONSORT) has been revised since first published in 2001. In the revision, has added an extension for acupuncture. Worldwide experts from 63 exquisite international references have supported this addition after surveying 90 acupuncture trials. These guidelines are a checklist and explanations for use by journal editors and authors. this should help peer reviewers and journal editors in deliberating the merits of the acupuncture trials presented for publication..

Authors of acupuncture clinical trials, by executing these reporting standards, will now have to provide their acupuncture rationale, the details of needling, the treatment regimen, other components of treatment, the acupuncturist background, and the control of interventions. These standards for reporting interventions in clinical trials (STRICTA) will raise the quality of reporting clinical trials of acupuncture. Authors will have to produce more scientific depth in their articles. The new STRICTA requirements cover 21 pages.

All of this will improve the reporting of acupuncture trials especially the interventions and make it easier for their interpretation and replication by others. it’s now up to the authors to plan their clinical acupuncture trials appropriately as they prepare their manuscripts. It’s now obvious that acupuncturists must now get to business of proving to Western medicine the scientific depth of acupuncture.

Sources: Medical acupuncture, acupuncture in medicine, Australian Journal of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, Journal of alternative and complementary medicine, Journal of evidence-based medicine, and PLoS medicine.

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more information on controversial medical subjects.

As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

ARE YOU REALLY HUNGRY

2010-10-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

.
ARE YOU REALLY HUNGRY

When you diet you don't realize you are doomed to failure because you attack your belly rather than your behavior. Most of us care about our bodies as much as our homes. Any quick fix in the weight loss scheme is doomed for failure-- and will actually make you fatter.

To get things done, you must desire it, and persevere in your actions. Successful weight loss demands that you cut your caloric intake, eat low-fat high-fiber meals, and exercise regularly.

Why do you still go on eating when you are stuffed? This often happens after a special meal on Thanksgiving, but is a daily event. We eat without being hungry. We are constantly snacking, especially from 8:30 PM to bedtime. Most of the desire for food seems to come from the mouth. In the evenings, most of America opens her pantry doors, stare into the refrigerators, and without success, look into the freezer.

You eat because you are bored, and keep looking for snacks that are very salty and crunchy full of artificial flavors and colors, that will give your tongue and teeth something to play with. You feel deprived and know you really deserve this snack. Yet you never choose healthy foods at snack time. While eating, you find all your negative feelings start disappearing. You soon start feeling uncomfortable, but never really satisfied. You see yourself to eating at the kitchen counter and right in front of an open refrigerator door.

Your response to these emotions is not instinctive, but a learned behavior and therefore can be unlearned. Most impulses come and go rapidly and evaporate. Eating is a semi-conscious state and is not motivated by real hunger, but by habit and shallow negative feelings.

By using a delaying tactic, run from the kitchen, do something for 10 minutes, and see if this hunger impulse was truly sincere. Then renegotiate the entire eating matter. Shut the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator doors, put everything back in the refrigerator and quickly leave the kitchen. Start putting all these things all the snacks in one place and hide them somewhere in the kitchen where you will not accidentally find them. Make all the non-stack items in the refrigerator easily visible.

It’s gotten late, you are tired, and your mind is become drug. You look for food to help you stay awake. Certainly something sweet will raise your blood sugar, and give you an energy boost for while. You find yourself eating because the food is right there. Your mouth starts chewing anything insight, anything small enough to be devoured.

Ask yourself, why are you staying up so late in the first place? Do you really want to see the replay of the football games, watch an old movie, or Fox political news. Cutting out these late hours, will create a couple more hours of sleep where you will be refreshed in the morning and not have to confront food.

Make a bargain with yourself find a magazine you have not read and take it to the bathroom or bedroom and read a juicy article. Find a new hobby and really get involved in it. Go outside and start walking for exercise. Pick a certain time of day when you need them most, and schedules some kind of new activity during that time.

Strategies to win the battle

To win the Battle of the Bulge, you must know your enemy. Find a battleground where you eat. You find yourself eating in front of the TV, in the kitchen standing, at the counter preparing dinner, perhaps in bed while reading, or even munching while driving, You find yourself multitasking with food, using food as background music.

Make dinner a ritual and make your meal organized. Only put on a table where you want to eat at that meal. But the rest in the refrigerator or freezer. If you really are still hungry, wait 10 minutes, and get yourself some more food.. Your stomach is not a garbage can, and how will that good food look on your belly and butt?

.Stop what you are doing and eat without doing anything else. Start enjoying your food in the right way. Eat your food from a plate or in a bowl, take it to your dining table, sit down and enjoy every mouthful. Start paying attention to the food in front of you. Look at it, smell it, taste it, chew it, think about how it feels.

Put some signs in the kitchen:

Are you really hungry

Take a 10 minute timeout.

Wet your mouth and throat: drink two glasses of water.

No reading or TV here in the kitchen while eating

Please eat only at the table.

Where is your plate?

Put all the rest of the food away please before you start eating.

Think thin. Lose some weight right now by leaving the kitchen.

Use the garbage disposal.Throw some food away, and leave a dirty plate with some food on it.

Wait a while after you come home before you start eating. Don’t eat so fast, give your appetite center a chance to signal you when you are full. Put all your focus on the meal, and avoid watching TV or reading while eating. How does the food look on your plate? Take a bite of some foods, put down your fork, Junior of food and real slow, and enjoy the flavor, the aroma and the texture of the food. Eating can be enjoyable so why hurry it up. Make love to the food on your plate by moving it around cutting it up, and tasting it before chewing.

Now get up and go for a well deserved walk. It may be all you need to lose that belly,

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more tips on weight loss.

THE HEALTH CARE TRIPLE PLAY

2010-09-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

THE HEALTH CARE TRIPLE PLAY

You the patient, are about to hit into a triple play. The new Obama healthcare is now in effect. Four separate players who reluctantly joined the Obama health care team: insurance companies, hospitals, drug companies, and the doctors---, are now feeling betrayed after reluctantly endorsing the president’s plan.

You were told you could hold onto your current health care plan unless your employer made significant changes in its coverage. To everyone’s surprise, common adjustments as increased deductibility or co-pays or a reduction in benefits are now considered quite significant. Over half of the healthcare employer-sponsored plans no longer will qualify as grandfathered. You can’t keep your plan even if you like it--- Unless, you’re a union member, where grandfathering regulations is much softer.

Insurance company plans

Insurers are now cutting down on non-medical services, and cutting programs so they can keep their heads above water. at a the health insurance plans are now told they must meet medical loss ratios. They must divide their premium dollars into two buckets: 15% will go for administrative costs and the other 85% for medical services or activities that improve the quality of healthcare. The kicker is that hospital regulators will decide which specific activities fall into each bucket.

The 85% bucket includes everything from doctors visits, hospital stays, surgery, prescription drugs, medical equipment, and all soul programs to help patients cope with chronic diseases and even remind patients to take prescription medicines.

The other 15% of premiums, administrative, include profit compensation, agent commissions, overhead marketing, and salaries. To meet the government’s requirements, insurance companies are cutting back on activities that are labeled administrative.

Plans will have to choose between priorities that benefit them by preventing health-care fraud and reducing unnecessary services by creating technical innovations,and upgrading equipment. Patients will discuss and monitor their health with a team of nurses and this too will be lumped into an administrative functions, along with fraud prevention programs that endanger patient care.

Programs that set standards to help cut down MRI and CAT scan used are now categorized as increasing your cancer risk so would be good to improve their health. These tests soon will not be taken. Picking on the doctors who are ordering repeated imaging services in the name of “improved quality of health care” will reduce the administrative cost of doing business.

All of these activities are lumped in the 15% administrative cost. This means that the government will be able to control the payments and reduce insurance company profits. All of these critical services will be deemed to be administrative expenses paid to improve quality and lower costs. By placing all these services in this bucket, health care plans cannot invest in other essential programs, the costs will keep going up, and the health programs and care will go down dramatically.

Another scheme by the government is the medical loss ratio. This is a difference you pay an insurance company and what the insurance company pays doctors for their care. 20 years ago insurance companies kept a nickel on every dollar for their services. Today the insurance company is trying to keep nearly 1/4 of your insurance bill and call it paperwork, which is truly only profiteering.

Drug companies

Drug companies made a deal with the White House and made out quite well under the plan by bargaining. This has resulted in the same price regulation that is taking place in Europe now. The deal determines competitive pricing that will support real innovation. This change makes drug costs rise inside Medicare and this will discourage investment. New tools allow Medicare to set rules on prices but also clinical criteria for accessing new medicines.

Today companies are making a number of variations to their core drugs and this has led to fewer new drugs on the market. They pstented novel compounds that limits the maneuvering room for new players. Now that human gene patents have been invalidated, this is their way of getting around the problem. Generic drugs limit compensation of drug companies by preventing new scientific insights and technologies. The FDA also is become stricter and the insurance companies distort priorities in the way you pay for drugs.

Doctors

Doctors find it increasingly difficult to practice on their own. They are face with a lot of fear and paranoia. This has resulted in doctors and hospitals rethinking what they do. Private fee-for-service doctors are, in droves, joining paid positions on a hospital team.

Doctors don’t want to be told to see their patient for only 15 minutes, They no longer want to hear all your aches and pains when you come for an ear ache. A treatment will be prescribed and, any other symptoms you may have, will have to wait for another visit. Since your doctor will be forced to limit your visit to only 10 minutes, he will be forced to make each visit count-- for insurance reimbursement.

Primary care doctors are suffering because they have lower fees and work longer hours. Both hospitals and insurance companies are teaming up to squeeze these doctors even more. Your family doctor will be extinct in 2 to 3 years. Most independent doctors are selling or closing their practices and going to work for big hospitals. Others are simply retiring early. Big hospitals no longer have competition from independent doctors.

By practicing independently with multiple insurers, uncertain Medicare money, and many new requirements to start using electronic health records, it is difficult for the doctor to continue to practice independently. Medical schools never taught doctors medical economics nor how to run their practices as businesses, but stressed patient services as the core to success.

The government soon will flood the healthcare industry with many new doctors, that will be controlled. By paying the full cost of medical education for these doctors, the doctors will feel they are being treated as human beings and the doctor will commit himself to work for the health service to whatever tune the government chooses. This free education idea will quickly sneak socialized medicine into America.

Hospitals

Big hospitals will soon no longer have competition from individual doctors and the pain will come later when the big hospitals act as businesses not services. Those of you in poor neighborhoods and retirement communities. may soon not have doctors to service you. When the hospital controls the lion money share, it’s going to be the first in line to get paid.

Conclusions

The healthcare industry is a 2 1/2 trillion dollar industry. Costs will be driven up for everyone, and we will create the HMOs that we had 20 years ago where we had restricted patient choices and access to care.

Medicare wants alliances if they can reduce the cost of caring for patients and still improve quality. This means fewer hospitalizations and lower costs. Your diseases will be managed by managing the expenses your diseases incur. Hospitals are getting primary care doctors on the payroll to benefit from insurers and Medicare.

Everyone knows we have to change the way people practice medicine. When hospital beds are full, hospitals will earn more money . There is a big difference in providing health insurance for everyone and providing healthcare for everyone. We need to concentrate on providing service rather than concentrating on payments.

The government now can make and enforce private health plans to make business decisions and can set regulations on economic costs rather than what is best for you. Having free markets insurers does not result in free-market medical care.

There is no free lunch. Instead of dining at fancy restaurants, you will start eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at home. If you need a new pancreas or kidney, your insurance company program will develop a medical loss ratio for you to determine whether you’re worth getting it.

Visit www.americanacupuncture.com for more discussions of controversial medical subjects by Dr Needles

As a medical physician for over 52 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blogs Visit http://www.americanacupuncture.com/ for more detailed information on mind, body, and spirit healing.

WEIGHT LOSS FOR THE NEW YOU

2010-09-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

WEIGHT LOSS FOR THE NEW YOU

Over 50% of Americans are overweight. Are you one of them? To begin the Battle of the Bulge, you must locate your enemy before your battle can begin.

You may crave food at all times of the day, except at meal times. You may be just eating because it’s something to do, and eating helps you forget about your worries and anxieties. At dinner and lunch you eat sensibly in front of others, but when alone, wow do you pig out.

Most of us spend very little time eating our meals, are always hurried. The body does not have enough time to adjust the feeling of fullness, and can’t signal you when to stop. You eat in front of the TV, in bed, at the refrigerator, at your desk, while shopping,--it seems you eat almost everywhere. Every room in the house has a clue of food crumbs and keeps signaling you to eat. While watching the news, you always treat yourself to a rewarding a drink.

While eating snacks, you seem bored, lonely, depressed, and tired. Food gives you temporary gratification in an attempt to rid you of your negative feelings. Chocolates and sugar pick up your feelings and spirits, but this elevated mood elevation lasts a short time. When you’re angry, you take it out on yourself by eating. At lunch you take your food to your desk to show the boss how hard you work, and you console yourself with cookies and snacks.

Coming home, you find your spouse left his underwear on the floor, did not clean the shower, left food and dirty dishes on the table, and this sparks your appetite. Rather than speaking up, you eat.

Start your diet plan today. To lose weight, you must It’s take in fewer calories. Every 3500 calories you cut out will result in a pound lost. Everyone tells you to avoid carbs, but you do require a good amount of complex carbohydrates like beans, brown rice, whole grain breads, corn and yes, potatoes and pasta. i a were better than punishment in weight loss. Reward yourself with positive reinforcement: a massage, manicure,or a new hairstyle. If you goofed off your diet today, remember tomorrow will also be a new beginning.

Everything you buy today is in super deluxe huge packages. Repackage your food into smaller portions, freeze your leftovers, and use them for another meal. Remember there is nothing wrong with even throwing food away: bring in less food into the house.

If you plan ahead what you’re going to eat today, you will save yourself a lot of calories, and save money as well.

Go food shopping when you’re not hungry When you feel full, just after your meal. start your shopping by visiting the fresh food and vegetable department. Buy tuna in water, and read the labels of everything that you’re throwing into your basket. When you give in to an impulse to buy some high caloric food snack, buy the very smallest package, even though it costs more per ounce. When buying a salad dressing pick olive oil and plan on mixing it with yogurt, milk, and garlic. Looking for cereal? Stick to oatmeal or plain shredded wheat. Avoid cereals with added sugar, salt, or chemicals you can’t even pronounce. When reading labels, remember, ingredients are listed in the order of quantity.

Buy plain yogurt and add your own fruit or low calorie jams or jellies to it. Snack with skim milk mozzarella cheese. Stay away from the meat counter. Look for the fresh fish since they contain fewer calories than even chicken or veal. They’re also loaded with vitamins and minerals. Be aware that some diet foods actually are higher in calories than the regular type. When you go by the pop department stay away from diet sodas since they are high in salt, and contain a lot of phosphorus that pull calcium from your bones, resulting in osteoporosis.

As you’re changing her life, the people you love best will feel you are rejecting them when you reject the food they offer you. Try to find a dieting partner, and if you can’t find one, pick a friend who is thin. It’s hard for someone 50 pounds overweight, and not ready to go on a diet with you, to be very sympathetic to your game plan. It makes them feel out of control, and they resent you for even asking them to join you. . As you lose weight, they remark how tired you look, at how you’re always counting calories, and they can’t enjoy a meal out with you anymore. They tell you they liked you better when you were heavier. You can’t be all things to everybody and not everyone will keep loving the thin you. They will try to block your dieting by asking you if want something to eat. If you give in, you will resent yourself and your friend who torpedoed you.

Have you watched thin people eat? Drink a glass of water before you eat or have an apple 10 minutes before you sit down for dinner. Wait a minute before you start eating at the table. Cut all the food into smaller pieces even a banana. Chew each mouthful 10 to 20 times. Keep putting a knife and fork down between bites and really taste the food. Do a lot of talking but now with a full mouth. It will slow down the time your food stays in the stomach and send you a message that.you are full. Pick foods that take longer to eat, like a big plain potato: choose a fruit rather than custard. Have a huge green salad instead of easy to scoop up macaroni. Always eat the best nutritious food first. Try eating with your opposite hand, telling everyone you have carpal tunnel in the other hand. If you’re going out for dinner tonight, don’t let yourself get too hungry before the dinner. If you haven’t eaten in the last four hours, have a piece of fruit, plain yogurt, or a slice of lunch meat before you go.

Don’t make your kitchen your castle. Stay out of it as much as possible. Unconsciously you may spend a lot of time by yourself cooking: since no one is watching you start snacking. If your diet includes a high percentage of complex carbohydrates you will lose more weight,and feel better. Try taking in 100 g of carbohydrates scattered throughout the day. This will keep your blood sugar from dropping and give you a lot more energy.

Avoid foods with high fat content: as butter, cooking oils, mayonnaise, fat meats, bacon, sausage, and yes potato chips. Remember all that lunchmeat, salami ,bologna, and hotdogs are high in fat have a lot of toxic chemicals. Your body likes to use carbohydrates for energy, but if you are on a high-protein diet your body works extra hard to get the energy from the protein. Proteins requires a lot of fluids to flush out the liver, They also pull calcium from your body, and speed up your body’s metabolic rate.

Most of us get 75% of our protein from animal sources and we should cut this down to 35%. Make up the difference by eating more fish, chicken, eggs, beans, and even peanut butter with whole-grain bread. The darker the protein looks, the more nourishment it has. Pick whole-grain breads, oatmeal, and brown rice to increase the fiber in your body. Vegetables also have a high fiber content, like: cabbage, carrots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, bees, beans, and tomatoes. In the fruit department, pick apples, grapes, and oranges, since they can reduce the fat and cholesterol in your blood.

When cooking, use very little salt, since it causes water retention and can raise your blood pressure. Broil or poach your fish with lemon juice and pepper. Season your vegetables with apple cider or juice, and add vinegar to your tomatoes and cucumbers. Avoid cooking wine, since they have a great deal of salt. Better to take your table wine and put some of it in your cooking. The alcohol burns off during the cooking anyway. Add cloves and garlic for flavor. Use fresh ginger,onions, scallions, and you won’t need salt at all. Poach your chicken or seafood, with broth or clam juice.

Imitation dairy products all contain saturated coconut oil, which is usually listed as pure vegetable oil and should be avoided. For a tasty salad dressing, mix buttermilk with mayonnaise and add some spices and herbs. Avoid any labels that say” hydrogenated “, which means your unsaturated fat is saturated with extra hydrogen atoms.

How about the drinks? Hard liquor as Scotch vodka and gin add 75 calories. A four ounce glass of wine has slightly more. If you like wine, stay with white wine and add club soda with the splash of wine and perhaps a twist of lemon. Liqueurs, gin, and rum should not be on your diet says they are high in sugar and calories, and raise your alcohol blood level quickly. Avoid the mixers like Coke, ginger ale, and tonic water, since they boost your calorie count high.

Going to cocktail party? Eat before you go, and have some yogurt, an apple, or even an open faced peanut butter and banana sandwich. Be fashionable and arrive late. Avoid that handful of peanuts since it adds up to 800 calories nearly half your daily intake. Remember: “a moment on the lips, an inch on the hips”.

If it’s a buffet, walk around the whole aisle before you choose to start eating. Avoid the hot dishes, since they have a lot of fattening sauces. Stick to the salad, fruit, and cold meats. If you’re going to have cheese, pick the hard cheeses since they have less butterfat and you don’t have to have crackers to eat them. Hard cheese has about 50 calories per ounce while spreadable cheese has 80 calories per ounce. Forget the chips, since they have 15 calories per chip and are high in fat and salt, and are quite addictive. Dig into the colorful plate of sliced vegetables and chew them slowly. if you can’t hide the leftovers on your plate cut them into tiny pieces, and put them on the edge of the plate so they look as if you’ve been eating.

Going to the restaurant? Plan ahead and ask for a combination of vegetables that perhaps are not on the menu, and decide in advance what you want to eat without even looking at the menu. Every restaurant has broiled or blackened fish and some sort of tossed salad. Quit reading over all those rich dishes on the menu, that you aren’t going to order anyway. Take the bread and move it over to your skinny companion. Pick a dish that require slow eating, as a cold lobster or mussels. Be the last person to start eating and eat slowly. Muscles are good choices they take forever to eat and you only get 200 calories and the entire appetizer.

Avoid everything fried shrimp, rice, and egg rolls. Look at the appetizers you might want to have a double shrimp cocktail or broiled shrimp as your main course, Pass up the fries and onion rings. If you’re eating Mexican, choose at the tostada with vegetables or plain corn tortillas and chili sauce for nibbling. Avoid corn chips that are on the table and stay clear of tacos and enchiladas. When eating Japanese, sushi or steamed fish with a lot of vegetables are fine. Leave the tempura for others. If by chance a dish comes smothered with a sauce, scrape it off and season it with some pepper and salmon. Keep your entrée as dry as possible without gravy and sauce.

Ready for a big Mac french fries and a vanilla shake? They’ll cost you 1200 calories, Your entire days allowance. If you ordered a sandwich, make it open faced and eliminate that slice of bread of 60 calories from your daily intake. Cut the sandwich with a knife or fork to take you longer to eat. For dessert, pull out an apple that you brought in your bag. Still want more? Wait 10 minutes and have a glass of water, and ask yourself if you really have to have it.

Start being self absorbed on how you look and pamper yourself. Start seeing the new you, in new bright colors, and look at all the fashion magazines to give you ideas to help you change your image. Life is a bumpy road for everybody whether you are slim or your fat, be realistic and take one day at a time.

Start going for walks. Exercise decreases your appetite reduces anxiety, stress, lowers your cholesterol, improves your complexion, helps you sleep better, reduces your risk of osteoporosis, and give you a great sense of well-being.

If you are responsible for planning, buying, and preparing meals for the family, you invest a lot of time, thought, and energy on food. Keep telling yourself why you want to lose weight and think about more about yourself than about anyone else. Thoughts will come to tempt you to go off your diet. Poke holes in such negative reasoning.

Soon you will be thin. Everyone will notice it before you do. It will appear that it happened overnight. And you yourself will not recognize self. You swill soon see the new you, that you’ve always wanted to be. Getting used to the new you is not easy. Most people lose weight and gain it back. An acupuncture visit can stabilize your clock and prevent rebound weight gain.

Realize there will be changes in your life. People will look at you differently and you must make the mental adjustment that you will stay slim. Some of your friends will resent you since they loved being with the fat you. Friends who stayed fat will no longer know how to deal with you. Some will resent your being able to control your life when they can’t. But some people will not know how to deal with you now. Even your mate won’t say much about the eating, but may try to undermine you if he is fat. Now you’re man will think he has to worry about you at a party, as other men are becoming interested in you. He might look at who you’re talking to, and even though your conversation may be innocent, when you say you had a wonderful time, he might interprets it differently. . Give your soul mate that extra loving pat, letting him know that he is loved,needed, and wanted.

Losing weight will not change your life and turn you into the life of the party. As you grow thinner, you will change, learn new skills, and improve others. Be aware it will not be a coaster ride full of happiness. Be prepared for a letdown, when your goal is reached and you’ve lost the weight. Don’t talk yourself back into eating because it isn’t worth it. Don’t give in, the new you is great.

Visit www.drneedles.com for more information on controversial medical subjects

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON SOON AVAILABLE

2010-09-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON SOON AVAILABLE

Genetically engineered salmon will be the first genetically modified animal to enter the American food supply..Genetically engineered animals are regulated by the FDA under rules covering animal drugs. The salmon can be grown in 16 to 18 months instead of the 30 months required for a regular farmed Atlantic salmon.

A company called AquaBounty Technologies of Waltham, Mass., has for years tried to get approval for this salmon engineering. The salmon are referred to as ABT salmon. The FDA will make its final decision at the end of the month. It will take 2 to 3 years for the fish to reach American supermarkets.

The salmon is called a tripoloid,monosex (all female) Atlantic salmon is referred to as AquaAdvantage Salmon. The company included data and information on diploid male and female GE salmon as well as triploid female GE salmon of the same lineage.

Groups of consumer, environmental, animal welfare, and fisheries are in greatly opposed to this venture. They are concerned that the salmon could escape and compete with wild salmon for food and mates.

Aqua bounty argues that the salmon will be grown only inland. Only sterile females will be sold limiting their ability to reproduce. Critics are unconvinced since most of the conclusions were submitted by the company.

FDA FINDINGS

Since no foods is completely safe, the FDA lookED for any difference between food from the ABT salmon and other Atlantic salmon. The FDA concluded that the salmon meets the standard of identity for Atlantic salmon, and is the same as food from other Atlantic salmon.

No biologically relevant differences were detected nor any endogenous metabolite. There also were no biologically relevant differences in the composition or edible tissue components of amino acids, minerals, vitamins and fatty acids. The salmon contained the expected amount of nutritionally important omega three and six at an appropriate ratio for a fish source.

FDA CONCERNS

Only 144 salmon samples were taken and only 73 of these were analyzed for the information given to the FDA. The number of samples per group was also limited. Since the process is not perfect 5% of the fish might not be sterile.

Fish were included irrespective of sex or maturity and were not distributed uniformly within or between the different groups.

Because of limitations in the quantity of original salmon specific IgE pool, the company used commercially available sera to complete the inhibition assays. Two sets of extracts were used. The initial set was used to establish assay conditions, but all six of the assays were performed using the second set of extracts, and the second zero pool.

The fish contain an rDNA expression of the Chinook salmon growth hormone under the control of an ocean pout promoter. The allergenic potency of the fish could not be compared nor was the FDA able to determine how the company calculated its values for individual and pulled extracts from allergenic potency.

The FDA also noted an increase in the relative allergenic potency in the diploid salmon compared to the control salmon. Since salmon is eaten as one individual fillet per serving, rather than a mixture of many fish, there may be an increase in the allergenic potency of these genetically engineered salmon.

Because of the technical flaws in the study, its interpretation is limited and the FDA cannot rely on its results. There appears to be a lack of appropriate controls, experimental conditions that preclude detection, and no reliable conclusions can be drawn from this study.

Because of the low quality of the studies evaluating the allergenicity of the salmon tissue, there are uncertainties in the production and use of the eyed eggs produced in Prince Edward Island Canada, the shipping of these eggs to Panama at its grow out facility in the highlands of Panama, the processing of the fish in Panama, and the shipping of table ready process i to us in the United States. Since the location of egg productions and grow out start outside the United States. in Canada and Panama, the global commons potential effects are outside the jurisdiction of the FDA.

GROWTH HORMONE

Normally salmon produce growth hormone only in warm weather. This salmon contains a growth hormone gene from that Chinook salmon. the growth hormone is kept active all year round by a genetic on switch from a different fish, the ocean pout. Since the hormone is produced all year round, it can grow faster than farm grown salmon.

The growth hormone gene was isolated from the Chinook salmon which are fin fish that are listed in the eight major allergenic foods in the United States. Salmon growth hormones contained multiple proteins.

Hormones associated with estradiol, testosterone, 17keto testosterone,, T3 and T4 are identified as hazards for the consumption of ABT salmon. Plasma T3 (thyroid) levels were statistically different, but not when the company pooled the total together. Eicosadienoic, linolenic, and oleic fatty acids also were statistically different. Vitamin B6 was also elevated. Since the salmon are given high energy fat diets their high crude fat content exhibited elevated total lipid levels.

INSULIN LIKE GROWTH FACTOR

The engineered salmon has higher levels of insulin like growth factor I, a hormone related to growth hormone). . High levels of this hormone are associated with greater cancer risk.

LOCATION

The Panama growth facility is by a river which has three levels of containment between their tanks and the river. There are four downstream settling ponds that act as only one level of containment. Despite the adequate water temperature, the river habitat in the vicinity of the facility are not favorable for Atlantic salmon or other fish species.

There are also concerns that the physical facilities would have difficulty preventing accidental release of the genetically engineered fish and shell fish during floods, storms, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. The production site is potentially subject to hurricanes and strong winter winds and could fall within the hundred year flood level.

Since the facility is located 25 feet above sea level at its highest point and 120 feet from the tidal river. It is potentially subject to flooding from the nearby river. The area receives 200 inches per year of annual rain, most of it coming in the wet summer months. A recent flooding of the river caused extensive damage downstream, which prevented access of authorized people. Such a repeat would potentially allowing predators to carry the salmon off-site.

Not addressed in this company renderings to the FDA. are needs for alarms, standby power, and an operational plan including training, traffic control, record keeping, and an emergency response plan.

The plan does not also discuss unintentional potential release of fertilized eggs during transport from Canada To Panama. The eggs will be transported by air freight and then ground shipment to the growth facility.

The Panama facility has an elevation of 5000 feet with water supplied by a nearby spring. The water temperature is approximate 15°C similar to the river running next to the facility. The river will also receive water discharges from the facility. A significant amount of this water volume will be diverted for use in a local hydroelectric power plant.

The report does not show whether the salmon are indeed sterile. There are reports in the literature of coho salmon and other fish species that are triploid and sometimes fertile. Research on Atlantic char shows some triploid females can develop ovaries and mature gametes.

Another potential alarming issue If their confinement would be compromised, is that a small percentage of triploids can have gonadal tissue become mosaic, bearing both diploid and triploid cells. if A mono sex, all female salmon, is an effective form of reproductive containment to complement that of triploidy, the company has, according to the FDA, has The report does not show the effectiveness of their methods used to ensure that an all-female population salmon will be produced. They state all the salmon will all be female, and 95% will be triploid.

The production fillets will be processed near the grow out facility In Panama, placed on ice, and transported to the processing plant. How the fish wastes of heads, bones, and entrails will be processed, is not described in the report but will be in accordance with applicable laws says the FDA. Note: The FDA has no regulatory jurisdiction over disposal of wastes and other countries.

CONCLUSION

It looks like a done deal folks. With all these questions raised, it is hard to believe the FDA could come to a favorable conclusion on this venture.

What do you think?

Visit www.americanamericanacupunture.com for more commentaries on controversial medical issues of our time.

AGING AND STRESS

2010-08-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

AGING AND STRESS

You are responsible for your own old age. After the age of 70 we can retrieve information about 70% slower and our short-term memory is also slowed down. There is decreased blood flow noticeable after age 55.

There is no loss of cognition unless we have diabetes or hardening of the arteries. Each brain cell has thousands of energy factories called mitochondria. They bring oxygen to energize the cells; these cells release oxygen free radicals.

These radicals attack the walls of the mitochondria and invade the inside DNA. They also cut the connection centers of the brain. You have a defense system of fighters that vaporize and destroy these free radicals.

After the age of 30 the defense system weakens. The brain cells start dying in the hippocampus and Alzheimer's begins. Only 4% of people under 75 display this drop; after 85, 50% of people show signs of brain damage.

The good news is that the brain makes new neurons when old ones die (Gould & Gage). However, stress causes a rapidity of brain damage, cortisol is released and new brain cell production stops.

A stimulating life style switches on genes in nerve cells and proteins are made that help new connections, neurons, and new blood vessels all grow. This boosts our performance and adds nearly 20% more brain cells.

By stimulating our minds we increase our memory banks. This means taking on new pursuits not just being active. The reticular cells in the brain stem need novelty to survive.

As you age, you undergo a major relocation and this results in more stress with the changes. You develop acute health and mental problems. You sit back and reflect and take satisfaction in your past accomplishments.

As you hit 80, you are increasingly weakened financially and physically. You are penalized because society values productivity, youth, and autonomy. Dying and death becomes your challenges.

Everyone ages at their own pace and are affected by various influences. You feel that time is now short too short to start another life, and lose the capacity to adapt and you have less ability to survive stress. You become more vulnerable and your body functions decline, as your reserve capacity diminishes and you undergo cellular aging.

Fearing death, we spend our lives in doctor’s offices and our money at the pharmacies. We undergo knee and hip replacements, pacemakers, cardiac stents, chemotherapy, and bypass surgery in an attempt to add a few months to our lives.

We look for immortality and think our long life is not good enough unless we can package it as "eternal youth".

Visit www.drneedles.com for more information on controversial medical subjects.

Your comments are always appreciated.

MEDICAL TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES

2010-07-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

Different approaches are endorsed by some, and condemned by others. The question is: How do you get honest and true information? There is a middle ground to all this and we must try to seek it.

MEDICAL TREATMENT ALTERNATIVES

Millions of educated Americans are seeking alternative medical treatment. They are supplements or are abandoning prescribed medical treatments. Despite medicine's great progress, many question remain unsolved in patient health care.

We are living longer because of advances, in antibiotics, and Western Medicine surgery, but most of us find we also are suffering longer now from degenerative diseases that cripple us.

We have not stopped arteries from clotting, and rarely have we prevented or cured cancer, arthritis, Parkinsonism, Alzheimer’s, Aids emphysema, cataracts, kidney and liver failure and even the common migraine headache.

Doctors are reluctant to accept new approaches.

Many encourage patients to abandon treatments with previous good track records. Most patients want to prevent diseases before they lead us to chronic disabilities.

Society has narrowed the gap between the West and the East, as we appreciate new findings in the brain function and the immune system. There is now a better understanding of alternative medicine and rational approaches are now being taken.

Alternative medicine is here to stay. In chronic pain treatment, many treatments are available as hypnosis, meditation, prayer, special diets, and especially acupuncture. Teas are mentioned for insomnia as well as sleeping pills. Discussions about chelation, ginseng ginkgo biloba, and chondroitin, are taking place.

Even the NIH (the caretaker of western medicine) is spending 23 million dollars a year in research work on such alternative treatments. Insurance companies are now reimbursing policyholders for wellness plans and alternative medicines, but not for acupuncture.

We must be flexible on choosing what is good and what is bad. Doctors say they are holistic. So was the country doctor 50 years ago. The mind and body go together. Prevention of disease is important. You the patient must insist on it. Today’s specialists that treat only one organ, must consider the whole patient.

We also must do our part in considering how we shall live and how the style of our living effects on our bodies. We must see the dangers of smoking and drinking and the effects of moods, stresses, foods we eat, and the lack of exercising on our bodies.

Different approaches are endorsed by some, and condemned by others. The question is: How do you get honest and true information?

There is a middle ground to all this and we must try to seek it. We must sift out the garbage and find answers to our questions on disease treatments. Journals of western medicine never allow reports stating the results of alternative therapies.

Acupuncture has passed centuries of human experiences, yet claims are made that it is not scientifically tested according to western protocol. Yet western medicine is always changing its mind. Treatments of 10 years ago are now abandoned because they were found harmful.

Traditional doctors often make statements that are not based on sound hard evidence. These statements are based on belief instead of observed biochemical reactions in the body. How do you measure Qi energy? Clinical observations prove that acupuncture treatments work and have been used for thousands of years.

Suppose you have local back pain and have treatment with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, Vitamin E, antibiotics, massage, steroid injections and even prayer. When your back pain is gone, what worked? Try to explain the mechanism of how these modalities worked.

Oriental medicine is not scientific as it is practiced. It is not dependant on medical science. Research is needed to validate the effectiveness and mechanism of acupuncture and herbal medicine.

Oriental medicine is extremely old and time tested. There are specific energetic patterns to guide its practice. Only pain control has been scientifically proven by western medicine. The Oriental treatments for disease and injury are radically different from western medicine. It works by manipulating and enhancing Qi and blood. People can't wait for scientific validation by blind studies.

There are three problems acupuncture must confront:

1. It is a non-scientific language.

Originally, western medicine was a science of anatomy.

Now it is a science of biochemical and cellular physiology. Oriental medicine has an energetic framework and does not fit the matrix of western medical thinking.

Oriental medicine uses the energetic force in the body to control the biochemical and cellular activity. These energetic forces dictate this biochemical activity. With acupuncture biochemical changes occur by yin, yang and Qi, and are not explained by western biochemical physiology terms.

This traditional language allows us to have effective therapy. Pain control with acupuncture has been proven by Dr. Pomerantz , showing the neurovascular effect and also the release of endorphins.

2. There is a lack of double blind placebo studies for validation.

Acupuncture brings the yin and yang chemicals into energetic balance. By knowing the cause and prevention, we can correct a symptom. There is no interest in proving the efficacy of acupuncture when results can cut on the use of drug products and medications. Is it ethical to deny a sick patient some form of treatment? It took the NIH twenty-five years to accept acupuncture.

How many surgical procedures have double blind placebo studies? Aspirin has been used for 100 years and only recently has the physiologic mechanism been explained.

3. There is a lack of modern scientific explanation of how acupuncture works.

The west uses a language of biochemical physiology and not of energetics. As technology improves, acupuncture will be validated on its own terms. As new scientific instruments are developed, they will record and describe Qi, the difference between yin and yang energy.

It will become obvious how Qi is disseminated and how the rotation of qi occurs through the channels with acupuncture. stimulation . These studies are now being done in Japan, Germany, Russia, and China.

Observing the release of endorphins with acupuncture does not describe the methods of acupuncture actions but only its consequences. Yet a hundred chemical reactions can occur with acupuncture stimulation.

Because they are not observed does not mean they have not occurred. Because energetic pathways of qi, yin and yang have not been observed scientifically, does not mean they do not exist.

Western medicine has a different orientation in the treatment of injury and illness. It seeks to control uncomfortable and dangerous symptoms by manipulation of biochemical mechanisms. It focuses narrowly on disease manifestations.

There is a lack of a unified view of heath and vitality. Western medicine only excels in crisis management of the injured.

Eastern medicine looks at what a healthy body should be.

It describes the free circulation of Qi and blood through defined channels and organic function energetically. It uses the natural mechanisms of regeneration and recuperation without side effects. It accelerates the healing process of non-crisis illness.

You, the informed public should have access to both kinds of treatment. And that is what American acupuncture aims to do. One therapy should compliment another and they should be used interchangeably by physicians, to achieve the optimum health for you the patient.

Statistical analysis is hard to show because the body heals itself. Other therapies can also enhance healing. The state of the patient’s mental, emotional, and spiritual status are very important to healing.

When you are suffering from a debilitating and incurable disease, you look for the most improbable promise. You must always hope. With nothing to lose you become bait for any therapy that promises a cure.

Conventional and alternative therapies can work in controlled settings to provide the best of both worlds. Alternative therapy must complement western treatments.

You the patient must assume responsibility for your own survival and health. Never lose hope. I see miracles happen every day with acupuncture. Above all, explore alternatives including those outside of the expertise of your doctor.

The object is to live longer and also enjoy the best quality of life. Perhaps your doctor is opposed and does not listen to your problems. If that is so, perhaps it is time to find another doctor who understands you.

Visit www.drneedles.com for more commentaries on controversial medical subjects.

DANGERS OF BODY PIERCING

2010-07-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

Punching a hole in your tongue, nipples, or worse your genitals, is a serious decision. Before you decide to have a body piercing, consider the risks of infection, allergic reactions, nerve damage, teeth damage, bleeding, and bacterial and viral infections.

DANGERS OF BODY PIERCING

Fashion has no boundaries. We will go to to all limits to keep up with the latest fashion. For the past 20 years, celebrities, singers, and sport stars, all have had some body piercing. Popular body parts are the: eyebrows, lips, tongue, nose, ear, and even genitalia.

EAR PIERCING

Over the last hundred years, body piercing has been limited to the ears. As US rebellious hippy teens traveled to India, looking for enlightenment in the 1960s, they came back with nose rings. In India this was an accepted adornment. It offered a new meaning of rebellion against their mainstream parents. In the 70’s, punk rockers picked up the practice, and made it their own form of rebellion.

The Egyptians started ear piercing 5000 years ago. The oldest recorded mummy had pierced ears with large studs. It was seen as a status symbol, of love and of beauty. Certain body piercing were restricted only to the royal family. Most Egyptians, of wealth, wore earrings to display their wealth and accentuate their beauty.

Body jewelry was also a symbol that distinguish royalty from the common people. The nomadic tribes saw it as mark of wealth and beauty. It was given as a bridal gift and a part of a dowry.

In Africa, ear piercing holes were stretched to indicate their status within the tribe. The larger the hole, the more important the person. Earrings were deemed to have magical properties, preventing demons from entering their bodies through the ears. Indians practiced ear piercing and used bones and feathers for their adornment. During the Renaissance time, most male nobility wore enormous diamond studs to advertise their wealth.

Sailors, had only one ear pierced, and placed a gold or brass ring in it. If they were washed ashore after a shipwreck, the finder kept the gold and gave the body a proper Christian burial.

NOSE PIERCING

In the Middle East, husbands of nomadic tribes, presented their wives with a nose ring at their weddings. The bigger the ring, the wealthier the family. This offered the bride some security should her husband leave her.

In India, women traditionally pierced their left nostril and wore the stud ring, believing their menstrual periods would be less painful, childbirth would be easier, and pregnancy would be more possible. Some attached a chain from the nostril ring to a pierced ear.

Among primitive people, piercing of the septum was more common than nostril piercing. It could be stretched, and large pieces of jewelry inserted, as bones, feathers, and pieces of food. Leg bones of pigs were often used.

Sometimes the jewelry would be so large, it prevented the person from eating, and it had to be lifted during meals.

NIPPLE PIERCING

In the 1890s, Victorian women pierced their nipples and adorned them with Parisian jewelry. Women had plunging necklines, and piercing their nipples helped show off their jewelry. They even hung silver chains and pearls from one nipple to the other.

Piercing the nipples also added sensitivity to the breasts and gave visual and tactile stimulation to their men. Later, men began getting their nipples pierced for pleasure as well. Some doctors even suggested it improved conditions for breast-feeding.

As the Roman Republic grew more effeminate with the wealth and luxury, Julius Caesar pierced his nipples to show his strength and to identify with his men, A Roman Centurions pierced their nipples to show strength and dedication to the Roman empire. It unified and bonded the Roman Army.

PENILE PIERCING

Gladiators, who were usually slaves, pierced their penises with rings. This was used to tie the organ to the testicles with a length of leather, protecting them from serious injury. If the ring was large enough, it prevented the slave from also having sex without the owner’s consent. The gladiato, after all was property, and a stud fee was charged to fellow slave owner for the opportunity to raise the next generation of great fighters.

Prince Albert, the future husband of Queen Victoria, was said to have his penis pierced to enhance his tight fitting trousers. The penile ring was attached to a hook on the inside of one pant leg, tucked between the legs for a neat trim look.

Young Arabs had their left testes pierced to prevent it from ascending into the abdomen.

Piercing genitals should not be taken lightly. An infection here is not just painful but very serious. It can lead to blood poisoning, blocked airways, and toxic shock.

While men now rely on Viagra to strenthen their libido, women today are alse trying to enhance sexual intercourse. They look to genital piercing to stimulate the clitoris during sex. Piercing of the clitoral hood, the clitoris itself, the inner and outer labia, and the peritoneum are common today: they often are adorned with diamonds. Scarring, disfigurement, and tissue inflammation, can result in damage to the birth canal, making future vaginal delivery difficult.

NAVEL PIERCING

Because of the difference between men and women’s abdomens, the navel has long been recognized as an erogenous zone. Women’s lower abdomens are rounder in the lower part, while men’s abdomens have a greater distance between their navel and genitals

In Egypt, only the pharaoh could have his navel pierced. It represented courage and virility. No primitive cultures have engaged in navel piercing. Today, with the invention of the bikini, and exposure of navels in public, navel rings have become popular.

TONGUE PIERCING

Tongue piercing was a ritual in the Aztecs and Mayans culture. They believed that piercing their tongues opened communication to their gods. By piercing the tongue, blood was drawn to please the gods; this created an altered state of consciousness so the high priest could communicate with the gods. They also pierced their nasal septa, placin boar tusks, bones, and feathers, in them to appear fiercer to their enemies.

Tongue piercing today is very popular, shockingly provocative, and considered fantastic for oral sex. Teens feels it’s cool to have a tongue pierced, but most do not realize the potential life-threatening dangers of tongue piercing.

The American Dental Association is totally against all piercing in the mouth. They find infections common. The tongue swells so large, it blocks the airways. Studs, barbells, and hoops, can chip your teeth or even choke you if they come loose.

LIP PIERCING

Women in Central and South America, to emphasize their lips, had their lips pierced which stretched their lips to an incredible size. Gold and jade were placed in the piercing to enhance sexuality.

Other tribes wore labret plates in their upper lips to enhance beauty and entice men. These were made of wood, ivory metal, and even quartz crystals. Among the Aztecs, labret piercing was reserved only for men in authority.

The type of plate worn indicated whether a woman was available or already betrothed. These were made of wood, ivory, bones, precious metals like gold, and abalone shells.

RELIGIOUS BACKLASH

In the dark ages, the medieval church condemned body piercing as sinful, and the interest in the procedure died down. It was abandoned for several hundred years in Western civilization.

Here in America, the Puritan movement did away with men wearing earrings until 1970. The Europeans kept the practice alive reviving it to today’s new popularity.

DANGERS OF PIERCING

Navel piercing can often result in fungal infections and tends to collect dirt. The navel takes a long time to heal since it is on the waist, and the rings acts like hinges on the body. The navel is subject to a lot of movement; clothes rub the area and cause irritation. It may takes up to one year for healing to occur. Most people fail to see a small amount of redness (signifying inflammation) around the area where the ring pierced the body. All redness must disappear to insure complete healing. Pliers are usually needed to change the rings.

If you are exercising or sweating a lot, the sweat acts like acid and aggravates the wound. The piercing can use some sunshine to help promote healing. Many make the mistake of using hydrogen peroxide or Betadine in cleaning their navels. This destroys the cells that form scar tissue. Using creams and ointments can keep the wound moist and delay healing, and attract bacteria.

Without proper washing of the navel, the skin may heal around the jewelry and tear the inside of the wound when the jewelry moves. Deep navels are difficult to clean adequately.

Wearing tight jeans and skirts also delay the healing process and caused the piercing to grow out. The piercing diminishes until the ring finally comes out. Synthetic fabrics keep the wound from breathing.

If the ring is removed during the healing phase, the piercing will be lost. Jewelry should not be replaced until there is full healing. Silver jewelry is very dangerous, since it oxidizes in the wound, and causes many allergic reactions. Silver body jewelry should never be worn.

Chains and charms are often placed on navel rings,

If you become pregnant, you must remove the ring about the sixth month, since the abdominal skin expands. Fishing lines are often placed to keep the piercing open till after the pregnancy.

ENERGY BLOCKING ---Placing metals on body piercing sites, can block energy, disturbed meridians, and cause long-term health problems. Most metals on the body have a negative effect on your health.

We acupuncturists placed small metal balls on an acupuncture point to stimulate that point. The critical factor is where the points are located on the body.

Metals such as nickel, chrome, cobalt, and palladium all cause allergic reactions. All these metals are found in costume jewelry. When the skin is exposed to cheap jewelry, skin related problems occur. Even a 14 karat gold stud has a large amount of nickel and can cause skin allergies. One would be safer in using titanium, or stainless steel for the jewelry. Any metal can result in contact dermatitis as it is rubbed against the skin.

The tongue is an important energy center in the body. It is where the central nervous system meets the governing system. Energetically, when the middle of the tongue is pierced, the spleen Qi energy is depleted, and depression and muscle wasting occur.

The navel, called the “hara”, is the main power center. Since it is located near a meridian, putting a metal stud there, distorts and short circuits the energy fields.

INFECTIONS --- piercing is not always a safe procedure and is not simple. There are risks of hepatitis B, C, and AIDS, transmitted in unsafe piercing studios when done by unqualified people in non-sterile conditions. Avoid ear cartilage piercing since infections are common and healing is often delayed.

Piercing also results in complications like swallowing, infection, and bleeding.

If the normal tissues are interfered with scar tissue, keloids occur. When jewelry is removed from the pierced area, skin dimpling often occurs.

COMMENTARY

Fashion is fine, as long as fashion does not harm you. Many people are oblivious to the potential health risks body piercing causes.

There is no appropriate regulation of the body piercing industry. Minors are not protected from potential serious health issues. Teenagers should be protected from the potential harmful side effects of body piercing.

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Visit www.drneedles.com for more information on controversial medical subjects.

DANGERS OF ENERGY DRINKS

2010-07-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

It seems everyone today is looking for energy. They have found the answer in energy drinks, which are becoming their own food group.The true remedy for lack of energy is getting enough sleep and eating right. Energy drink chemicals have enormous dangers and side effects. The stimulating properties in energy drinks increase heart rates and blood pressure, and prevent sleep. People who eat well, drink water, and get enough physical activity and rest will have plenty of energy — the natural way.

DANGERS OF ENERGY DRINKS

It seems everyone today is looking for energy. They have found the answer in energy drinks, which are becoming their own food group.

The drink’s popularity has exploded across the world. It is now common to spot the drinks everywhere from high schools and college campuses to party scenes and even in some corporate settings. Many are unaware of the dangers of energy drinks.

Today the world drinks more than 900,000,000 gallons of these energy drinks. First popularized in Europe in 1960s, energy drinks are now a $5.4 billion dollar market.

In the 60’s, the first US drink was marketed to improve hydration and prolong athletic performances. It was invented for the University of Florida Gators, and was called Gatorade. Known as a sports drink, it is safer than most energy drinks.

CAFFEINE

The US has one of the loosest sets of regulation around labeling and health warnings. Using a loophole created by the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, energy producers are not required to place caffeine intoxification warning labels on their energy drinks, An energy drink can have up to 500 mg of caffeine, five times the recommended dose, without any warning labels.

Classified as dietary supplements, energy drinks have no limits on the caffeine added. Caffeine levels range from 50mg to 500 mg in a 20 oz bottle. Caffeine in energy drinks can excrete water from the body to dilute high concentrations of sugar entering the blood stream, leading to dehydration. If the body is dehydrated by 1%, performance is decreased by up to 10%.

Many of these energy drinks lead to caffeine addictions. This results in withdrawal symptoms as headache, dizziness, muscle stiffness, depression and fatigue, when they skip their energy drink. An over dose of caffeine can mimic mental disorders.

Stimulants, such as ginseng and ginkgo balboa, are often added to enhance the effects of caffeine, and others, such as guarana and yerba mate, contain caffeine.

Drinking as many as five cans a day, many use this drink like a pop. Teenagers, being more sensitive to caffeine than adults, are literally drunk on a caffeine buzz all day. Caffeine should not be given to children under the age of 12, and certainly no more than 100 mg every 3 to 4 hours. No-doze tablets contain 100 mg of caffeine and warning labels are required.

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Many feel they have more energy because of physical responses they feel. Caffeine works by blocking the effects of adenosine, a brain chemical involved in sleep. When caffeine blocks adenosine, it causes neurons in the brain to fire. Thinking the body is in an emergency, the pituitary gland initiates the body's "fight or flight" response by releasing adrenaline. This hormone makes the heart beat faster and the eyes dilate. It also causes the liver to release extra sugar into the bloodstream for energy. Caffeine affects the levels of dopamine, a chemical in the brain's pleasure center.

OTHER INGREDIENTS IN ENERGY DRINKS

To top it off, high amounts of sugar artificially-sweeteners are added. Other common ingredients are guarana, acai ginseng, maltodextrin, carbonated water, inositol, carnitine, creatine, glucuronolactone, ephedrine, theobromine ginkgo biloba, vitamin B, herbs, and taurine.

TAURINE

Synthetic taurine is implicated in high blood pressure, strokes, seizures, heart disease, and has been accused of having a sedative effect on the brain. It has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system that’s very unnatural

Taurine is a free-form amino acid that plays an important role in muscle contraction (especially in the heart) and the nervous system. It is contained in many foods and manufactured by the body from amino acid cysteine. The body naturally makes taurine during exercise and in times of stress. A good diet supplies all your daily needs of taurine. The daily dose should be between 100 and 500 mg a day. One can of an energy drink has 1000 mg of synthetic produced taurine.

It works deep inside the brain’s regulatory area of the thalamus, interacting with neurotransmitters, is involved in the sleep wake cycle pathways of the brain, and plays a role in the crash people get after drinking highly caffeinated beverages.

EXERCISE & ENERGY DRINKS

Energy drinks should not be confused with sports drinks such as Gatorade, which are consumed to help people stay hydrated during exercise. Sports drinks also provide carbohydrates in the form of sugar and electrolytes that may be lost through perspiration.

During exercise, electrolytes are lost, resulting in dehydration and irregular heart beats. The caffeine in energy drinks adds to dehydration. Water is still the most effective way to prevent dehydration.

ALCOHOL & ENERGY DRINKS

It’s become trendy to mix the drinks with alcohol, which dehydrates the body and interferes with normal sleep patterns. Teenagers tend to drink energy drinks with alcohol with the intent of counteracting alcohol intoxication, to hide the taste of alcohol, and to lessen the subjective effects of alcohol intoxication like dizziness and headache,

This mix, however, is hazardous, since energy drinks mask the influence of alcohol and a person may misinterpret their actual level of intoxication. [They drink more alcohol, and are also more likely to suffer alcohol-related consequences such as sexual assault, injury and riding with an intoxicated driver, even after adjusting for the number of drinks.

Those who drink mixers are more likely than non-mixers to drink more alcohol, and are also more likely to suffer alcohol-related consequences such as sexual assault, injury and riding with an intoxicated driver, even after adjusting for the number of drinks.

STUDENTS AND ENERGY DRINKS

Many young people drink the beverage to look cool and fit with their friends and to get a buzz. They find they can spend longer amounts of time studying for tests, stay awake in the morning, and enjoy a buzz by mixing it with alcohol. It has become a teenage obsession and the potential dangers are not discussed. Consuming high-energy drinks can have a detrimental impact on their ability to concentrate in class.

Most of these drinks are simply carbonated water loaded with gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup. Most energy drinks contain at least 27g of sugar per 8oz can. Those drinks that are advertised as sugar-free usually contain artificial sweeteners, which are worse for you than real sugar.

These drinks lead to more teenage obesity, by being packed with a lot of calories, some offering over 60 g of sugar (that's 15 teaspoons) in one can!

Besides empty calories and a nasty assault on their teeth, drinks that are this sweet really don't help keep their bodies hydrated. These drinks replace more nutritious drinks as milk, vegetable juices, and the often overlooked hydrating powerhouse “ water”.

COMMENTARY

The true remedy for lack of energy is getting enough sleep and eating right. Energy drink chemicals have enormous dangers and side effects. The stimulating properties in energy drinks increase heart rates and blood pressure, and prevent sleep. People who eat well, drink water, and get enough physical activity and rest will have plenty of energy — the natural way.

Your comments are always appreciated. Visit www.drneedles.com for more medical commentaries on controversial timely subjects.

TATTOOS ARE FOREVER

2010-07-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

Today, with the addition of new inks, tattooing has certainly reached a new plateau. Everyone is seeking a tattoo with some personal style that creates some new and unique body art. Children are being groomed to have removable sticker tattoos. Teen-agers, who want to show their independence and have $100 in their pockets, get the real thing. Most don't realize that "Tattoos are forever".

TATTOOS ARE FOREVER

With the hot summer, semi naked bodies are visible everywhere. It is amazing to see the number and locations of tattoos at the swimming pools.

Tattoos are forever. Getting a small tattoo generally costs $100 - $200, depending on the intricacy of the tattoo. Removal of that same tattoo might cost you up to ten times that amount!

In the past, tattoos were prevalent in our veterans. They were travel markers and told where the vet had been. They displayed art images of bravery and wartime icons.

After World War II, tattoos were associated with juvenile delinquents and were only found on the sleazy side of towns. The general public held tattoo parlors in disrepute. And heavily tattooed people were not on the basketball court, but traveled with circuses and freak shows.

Outbreaks of hepatitis, blood poisoning, and other diseases, almost eliminated most tattoo shops. Despite them having sterilization machines, few tattoo artists used them. Contamination by HIV or hepatitis B and C today occur frequently if piercing needles are not properly sterilized. Despite good needles sterilization, infections occur when the ink is reused on previously infected customers.

In Japan, tattoos were used to mark criminals. First offenses were marked with a line across the forehead. Adding an arch marked a second crime. A third offense was marked by another line. Together these marks formed the Japanese character for "dog". It appears this was the original "Three strikes your out" law.

Tattooing signified membership in a particular group, like the Hells Angels. TV and movies have used the idea of a tattoo indication membership in a secret society. Romans marked criminals and slaves, and the Nazis during WW11 tattooed numbers above the wrist on holocaust prisoners to identify them.

Tattooing was a slow and painstaking procedure, and each puncture of the skin was done by hand as the ink was applied. In 1891, Sam O'Rielly patented the first electric tattooing machine. It was based on Edison's electric pen, which punctured paper with a needlepoint. The basic design had moving coils, a tube and a needle bar, and became the components of today's tattoo gun.

THE TATTOO REVIVAL

In the late 1960s, Lyle Tuttle, a handsome, charming, and interesting chap, began to tattoo celebrities, particularly women. Knowing how to use the media, magazines and television media people flocked to Lyle to get information about this ancient art form. Soon this rise in popularity placed tattooists in the category of "fine artists". Basketball stars like Dennis Rodman and his colleagues on national TV. popularized tattoos.

When you get a tattoo, the ink is deposited in the dermis, the lower layer of skin. That’s why it can’t be rubbed off, and why the ink-laden skin is not shed and renewed. In case of tattoo removal that deep layer of skin needs to be accessed and that is very difficult to achieve.

REMOVING TATTOS

You should make the decision to get a tattoo with the idea that it can be removed later on if you change your mind! Tattoo removal is still not quick, easy, nor cheap. In fact, it may turn out to be substantially more expensive and painful than it was to get the tattoo in the first place.

Today, laser tattoo removal is the most popular way to remove a tattoo. The laser energy is directed at the tattoo area. It passes through the skin and absorbs the inks, allowing the body to process ink fragments and remove them.

Laser removal generally costs at least about $150 per session and can be as high as $800 or more per session. A small, dark tattoo that is not too deeply placed may take only one or two sessions for complete removal, but most require several sessions to see a dramatic difference. For complete removal, as many as 10 sessions are required.

This process can take time, money, and many treatments before it is successful. Expect to come in every 6-8 weeks for your treatments. Expect to pay roughly about $45 per square inch per visit for the removal of your tattoo.

Short pulses of light target the tattoo ink that is under the skin. The light breaks the ink apart into very small pieces. The body’s own immune system attacks and carries away the small ink fragment pieces.

A Q-YAG 5 laser is used that has two wavelengths (1064 and 532 nm). Darker tattoo inks are removed with the 1064 wavelength, and a mixed 1064/532 wavelength is best for the bright colored inks. Green, purple, brown, light orange, and light blue colors require many laser removal treatments. Some shades of purples, pinks, yellow, and white never fade away completely. Forearm, hand and ankle tattoos are the hardest to remove.

A blister followed by a scab (the color of the tattoo), forms the next few days. With every treatment, there is damage done to the surface of the skin, leaving scars behind. Removal also leaves blisters behind as well as scabs over the places where the laser destroyed the tattoo ink. The more treatments you have done, the higher chance there is of permanent scarring. The chance of scarring depends in the size and color of the tattoo as well as the thickness of your skin; thin skin scars more easily.

Darker colors are easier to remove and may require fewer treatments. Colors like yellow, green and fluorescent colors are the hardest tattoo colors to be removed. The type of tattoo ink that is used as well as how deep the artist injected the ink also play a part in removal success.

Other removal techniques don’t work. They include: chemical peel, bleach, dermabrasion, salt abrasion, hair removal pulsed light, and surgical excision. All of these non-laser methods tend to also cause scarring.

COVER THE TATTOO

If you're not happy with your tattoo design and you're not too fancy about tattoo removal, you can choose for a cover up tattoo. Well-done cover up tattoos make the old tattoo less visible, The success rate depends on the techniques used, size and colors of the old tattoo.

Sometimes laser removal machines are used to lighten up the old tattoo. The colors of the new tattoo have to be darker than those of the old tattoo to successfully hide the unwanted design.

WHY REMOVE A TATTOO?

Your life changes when you get older (marriage, children) and your once loved tattoo, can be a source of embarrassment. When your tattoo is in a visible place on your body, it could be holding you back from getting a new job.

A tattoo that is connected in some way with an ex girl or boyfriend may also be a good reason to remove the tattoo. If the love is over, so is your love for the tattoo. Tattoos change, as you get older. You may have put on some weight and your tattoo got stretched. Perhaps you're not happy with the quality of the tattoo design.

When you are getting your tattoo removed you want the best person with the lowest cost. With a procedure like this, it is important that you don't skimp on quality. Look for a specialist who is a board certified doctor or dermatologist and who has the experience and equipment to do this procedure.

If you are thinking about a tattoo, think twice and save yourself a lot of grief. Above all, don’t let your teenager talk you into permission for tattooing. Remember, there is no regulation nor approved training to become a tattoo specialist.

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SEXUAL PROBLEMS BETWEEN SOUL MATES page1

2010-06-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

If you have a sexual problem, it is inevitable that your soul mate will sooner or later also develop one. As you choose your soul mate, there are twelve big reciprocity sexual issues to consider.

SEXUAL PROBLEMS BETWEEN SOUL MATES

When seeking your sexual soul mate, there are several yin yang sexual problems that can occur.

Do you accept your mate and see sexual performance in a nonjudgmental way so both of you can reach sexual fulfillment? Can the difference in sexual exposure between one partner who has had no premarital experience in sex and another who has had numerous partners and numerous sexual enjoyments? Can you be patient and wait for sexual compatibility?

If you have a sexual problem, it is inevitable that your soul mate will sooner or later also develop one. As you choose your soul mate, there are twelve big reciprocity sexual issues to consider.

1. PREMATURE AND RETROGRADE EJACULATION result in sexually unfulfilled experiences. Such intercourse can cause your mate to become impotent. When you hold back your semen, your mate may feel you are denying her your ejaculation.

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2. THE TWO-CAREER FAMILY

In our economic times, most couples are working to make ends meet. You and your soul mate now have new major roles outside of your family and have equal status within the household as well as outside the home.

You must adapt to changes in the distribution of power within your marriage. You are proud of your soul mate’s achievement, but become troubled about your mate’s increased assertiveness, independence and power. Arguments occur about how to spend money, raise your children, and how to share responsibilities at home.

Arguments related to power concerning sex and the control of the sex act add to conflict. Wives today are sexually assertive and demanding, and seem less accepting of unsatisfactory sex.

Reading Cosmopolitan and Redbook, they think their sex is stale and unexciting. try to get their husbands to read sex manuals. Not being able to show their hostility at work, they bring these feelings home and display hostility to their husbands. Husbands find their egos deflated, and fear loss of their marriages and its effect on the family. Sensing they were never great lovers, they try to force their wives to return to their former nurturing roles.

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3. AN UNORGASMIC WOMAN who does not lubricate well and experiences very little excitement during sex, may make you feel you are not competent sexually or are not an exciting lover.

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4. A CONSERVATIVE MALE who doesn’t discuss sex may be unable to express himself sexually in a free and open manner. This makes you a less responsive and non-orgasmic partner.

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5. AN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE HUSBAND who as a child has been conditioned to hide his feelings, may approach life logically, and wants to control the relationship. He relegates you to a child-like position and wants to permanently own you. Because you are a vivacious, spontaneous, and arousable mate, he finds you exciting. Methodically, as he stimulates you during sex, he constantly assesses his masculinity by timing his ejaculation. Each sex act is an arduous task for him that helps him prove his masculinity.

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6.   PASSIVE-DEPENDENT MALE WITH AN AGGRESSIVE AND CONTROLLING WIFE.

You may feel inadequate and never initiate sex. A self-reliant woman attracts you, and you hope to incorporate her strengths. She manipulates people to make her feel dominant, and she never cooperates.

Neither of you can trust each other as equals.   You have two choices: dominate and control, or depend on your spouse and submit. As time goes by, you may fail to get an erection when you are fatigued, drunk, or stressed. Your wife becomes frustrated, and you then develop secondary impotence as your safety valve.   Unconsciously, you see her as your mother.
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7. PARANOID HUSBAND AND DEPRESSED WIFE

Here your husband is concerned about his masculinity. He becomes jealous and suspicious. He wants to intimidate, and when his masculinity is questioned, he becomes outraged.

He has a desperate struggle to survive. If he has a male boss, he finds it emasculating, and he does everything possible to get fired.   Usually he is attracted to a woman who will take the blame and responsibility for all his failures. She must have low esteem, and like her husband, she rejects her parent (usually her mother).   She is always looking for approval that her mother never gave her.

But he will never give you the recognition you seek and he will persecute you to prove his masculinity. There is repeated fighting and reconciliation. He looks at sex as a struggle and must always be victorious. A lasting erection proves his masculinity to himself.
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8. DEPRESSED HUSBAND AND PARANOID WIFE.

The wife’s suspicions and jealousy help in her harassment. She avoids sex as much as possible. Mothering is to be avoided at all cost. She identifies with the aggressive mother of her childhood.   Your depression leads to lack of sexual desire and your wife welcomes this. Neither of you even try to correct this situation.
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9. THE SAINT OR SINNER SYNDROME

Some people have sex only with partners they see as ‘bad and inferior’ to them. The opposite sex is seen as ‘good' and pure and sexless, or seen as ‘bad' and impure sexually, and this is highly desired. The woman is either motherly or non-sexual, or a prostitute.

Some men are attracted to women that are promiscuous, immoral and inferior. Sex is seen as evil and dirty and cannot be performed with someone he sees as good and motherly.   Thus he satisfies his sexual drives with impure and promiscuous women.

As some men are attracted to prostitutes, some women are attracted to bad and dirty males.   Many women are attracted to men they see as bad guys. To them, sex is bad, dirty, improper, and forbidden. Yet they find sex is exciting and pleasurable and the unconscious mind chooses sex with bad and forbidden partners.

After marriage the woman sees her husband as a father figure. To her, sex is incest. To solve this problem, an attempt is made to make her partner look like a sinner. Dirty and obscene words are used during foreplay and sex.   Seeing her man unshaven, dirty, and sweaty, becomes very arousing.
To meet her sexual needs, she will go to singles bars and become openly sexual and “on the make” with men.
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10. IMPACT OF GREAT WEALTH ON SEX.

Having a lot of money, is not as much fun as you may think. The very rich enjoy sex less, and lack a sense of meaning in their sexual lives. Often there is a vacuum in most other activities.
Many rich kids have a terrible feeling of emptiness. Money allowed their parents to be away a great deal. Maids and boarding school substituted for the consistent absence of their parents.   With constant changes in parenting figures, they become withdrawn, depressed, distrustful, and very bored.

Once grown, sex, to the rich child, is often used to pursue pleasure and to strike back at the parents, to feel more alive, and to relieve depression.   Young boys grow up with pornographic videos, magazines, always seeking bare breasts, pubic hair, and sexual acts in erotic photographs. Society’s current acceptance of a casual attitude about sex eliminates inhibitions and they see sexual freedom will make their lives happier.
But greater freedom goes hand in hand with less importance. The very rich have a much more casual, accepting, and less exciting attitude about sex.

The middle class has a greater capacity to enjoy sex than the very wealthy. They can never be as free and casual about sex as the very rich. Sex is more valued and important and that which has value cannot be given or taken lightly. The constant experiences of the middle class reinforce a sense of heading somewhere and moving in an important direction.

Dating, serious involvement, marriage, and parenthood are still gratifying. Certainly, sex always plays an extremely important role, but love is inextricably linked with self-esteem and has meaning. As more people jump from middle to upper class, changes occur in the formation of more casual sex.
RELATED POSTS: The Demise of Fatherhood

11. CHRONIC ILLNESSES CAUSING SEXUAL PROBLEMS

Many chronic illnesses create problems in daily living, and sex is becomes less important than medical treatment and rehabilitation.

Despite discomfort and pain, people with physical problems still retain their sexual libido. The desire for sex remains strong, even though the person is unable to perform as well because of his illness.

Illness creates a marked change in your relationship to others. It forces you to change your behavior and adopt new roles. A stroke may limit your mobility and verbal expression. Cancer can disfigure you and wreck your self-esteem. Severe arthritis may limit your sexual enjoyment. Having a colostomy may make you concerned about the odor of the ostomy. Facial disfigurement from cancer surgery may result in a feeling of shame and ugliness.

Even bilateral amputations, allow you to perform sexually, despite severe limitation in mobility. Female cancer surgery can lower your feeling of femininity. You must discuss solutions with your partner as well as your doctor.
RELATED POST: Stop Smoking

12. PAINFUL INTERCOURSE IN THE MALE

Inadequate lubrication is the major cause and results from inadequate foreplay.

Many allergies can also cause inflammation of the penis. These include a) contraceptive creams, foams, and jellies: b) rubber in condoms and diaphragms; c) soaps and detergents; d) douche preparations; e) hygiene sprays and deodorants; f) externally applied lubricants, and g) normal female vaginal secretions.

Painful ejaculation is almost always caused by acute prostate inflammation. Prostatitis can be bacterial, but also due to prolonged abstinence from sex resulting in congestion from prostatic secretion.   Traumatic injuries to the penis, testes, and vas deferens, as well as herpetic inflammation of the skin of the shaft of the penis, can cause pain with sex in the male.
RELATED POST:  Good bye Viagra

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THE DEMISE OF FATHERHOOD page2

2010-06-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Somehow we made 40 years together. The kids are gone, and I owe it to myself to finally get a life again. Time to break the knot. If Al Gore, John Edwards, and Larry King can do it, I sure should be able to.

Now as I am old, riddled with pain, and my new young soul mate has left me. Hey, I once was a dad. Its time for me to call my long lost son. Hope he remembers me, his dad.

COMMENTARY

Having a married husband is the No. 1 anti-poverty weapon in the United States. Today over 40% of American kids are born to single mothers.

Being a father today is now merely a social convention, providing another life alternative life style, that over half the men chooses not to accept.

Their mothers raise over half of all kids without a biological father being at home. The men provide the sperm, but then don’t partner with their women nor live with their kids.

The rights of fathers are now expendable, and women are now more prosperous and our social programs support single mothers. The system prevented them from establishing a family with the child’s mother.

The media in the past, geared men to select a mate, settle down, earn money, become productive, have kids, and try to survive for their sake.

There are no approved rules, regulations, and guidelines written anywhere. They constantly change from generation to generation and subculture to subculture. There are very few role models today and most fathers have very few parenting skills, leaving mom in charge.

MEN WANT TO BE FATHERS

Most young people think about marriage and want to get married. Men want to change, but have no clue how to do it. Many fathers are chemically dependent, and have come from dysfunctional homes, and never had a father in their homes. With no role model when growing up, they feel it impossible to fulfill the new role as a father.

Most men want to accept the responsibility of being a father, protector, and teacher to their child. They give love, but don’t accept the need to change their lifestyles and remain unmarried. They see their role in a self-serving way and bring gifts, play, and visit with their child and then leave. The mother is responsible to discipline and regulate the children.

In the fight for the almighty dollar, our economy requires both husband and wife in an intact family to work full time to just keep their heads above water. We are told what is good for the economy and government must be also good for the families.

Teen-age males not think it is OK to have a baby out of wedlock. They feel they can cohabitate after fathering a baby. The script that men should get educated married and have kids, in that order is now reversed.

A father is only as happy as his most unhappy child. The older your child gets, the more he realizes all you’ve done for him and how much you have shaped his life.

If you are a traditional father, I hope you know how much your child means to you for being the special man you are.

BACK PAGE 1

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THE DEMISE OF FATHERHOOD

2010-06-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Having a married husband is the No. 1 anti-poverty weapon in the United States. Today over 40% of American kids are born to single mothers.

Being a father today is now merely a social convention, providing another life alternative life style, that over half the men choose not to accept.

WHERE IS MY FATHER?

Have a great Father’s Day Dad, wherever you are.

Now that I am born I don’t see my dad. I heard his lovely deep voice for the last 9 months as I was growing in mom’s womb, but now it is gone. Other babies in the nursery seem to have their dads.

I don’t have anyone to show me how to throw a ball, ride a bike, swing a bat, or teach me to wrestle. I have no one to play hide and seek or make me just laugh.

Now, in the eight grade, my penis gets hard and I don’t know why. Mom has no answers. I know dad would figure it out and tell me.

I like sports because the coaches all look like by dad. But no one is telling me what I am doing wrong in sports so I can get better in sports. I hear President Obama’s dad left him, and he turned out ok. I guess there is hope for me.

In high school now, I feel swarmed with pushy pretty girls who know a lot more than I do. I am not sure how to handle this. The girls really try to get close to me. I don’t feel prepared for all this. I like when the girls bother me,. I really need someone to love me and tell me how important I am. I with I could talk to dad about my feelings. Oh dad, where are you?

All the teachers in my high school look and act just like my mom. They seem to create a lot of stress for me. Many of my buddies also don’t have dads around. Smoking and pot seem to make me calmer.

I don’t know how it happened, but my friend is pregnant. I can’t believe I can be a dad. Perhaps her mom can get her out of this jamb. I sure need you now dad.

I got a good job and want to live with my girl friend for a few more years. She sure is pushy and wants to get married or she might leave me. Dad left me, and I cant let my soul mate leave me too. Ok honey; let’s tie the knot.

So we are having a baby. I think this might screw up our good relationship. Who need a third party butting in? Dad, is that why you left? Who has the guidebook to being a father?

All the pretty women at work are on the make. They want to offer me good sex, and one night stands. Variety seems to be the spice of life in this office. Hope I don’t get caught. I think Dad did.

NEXT PAGE 2

WHY IS YOUR DOCTOR ALWAYS ANGRY

2010-06-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

If your doctor is unhappy, your care will be compromised. Your doctor is frustrated and angry with your insurance company and Medicare for setting values on their services to you. Next time you see your doctor, give him a big hug, and tell him you understand his frustration and anger. Perhaps, as a solution, he might take an early retirement and get out of the new medical jungle.

WHY IS YOUR DOCTOR ALWAYS ANGRY

If your doctor is unhappy, your care will be compromised. Your doctor is frustrated and angry with your insurance company and Medicare for setting values on their services to you. Being conscientious, he spent more time with you and solved most of your health problems and avoided costly tests and referrals.

In the past, most doctors loved being a doctor. Today, your doctor spends more time fighting insurance and government agencies, and less time caring for you their patient. He is constantly staying late in the office taking care of mindless paperwork only to find your insurance company denies your payment.

A recent Aetna national survey and another in the Journal Health Affairs 2009, showed over two third of doctors feel the current Obama care environment is detrimental to the care they deliver and see the quality of their care will decline over the next five years. Eighty percent fell they can’t make clinical decisions based on what is best for you, but must base their treatment on what your payer is willing to pay. They overwhelming found getting reimbursed were getting very complex and burdensome.

Administrative constraints take over 3 weeks of their time and they spend $70,000 in extra staffing per year for all the interactions of the various health plans.

THE INSURANCE JUNGLE

Your doctor tries to avoid new Medicaid and Medicare patients because the government insurance programs have become a tangle of frustrating paperwork. Even an act as fundamental as writing a proper prescription for you is dictated by the variability in different services and limitations your insurance company places on you.

YOUR DOCTOR’S DILEMA

It is difficult for your doctor to give you the proper care for your particular coverage. Different drug companies have financial agreement between their plans. Only certain drugs are on your plan’s formulary of listed covered drugs.

Instead of spending time coordinating your care he must deal with formularies and obtain prior authorizations for everything he must do. He must get a prior ok from your health plan for a procedure, test, or referral. Asking over and over again, he must ask for permission to write out a prescription that he feels you need. None of these every day services are reimbursed or compensated.

In addition to seeing you (average 18 patients a day), he must answer numerous telephone calls (average 24 per day) from insurance companies, pharmacies, and referral doctors, answer emails (average 17 per day), refill your prescriptions (average 12 a day), review your lab tests results (average 20 per day), review Cat scans, MRI and X-rays (average 11 per day), review reports from other consultants, visiting nurses, physical therapists, and other doctors and hospitals (average 14 per day),

MALPRACTICE DILEMA

All good doctors practice defensive medicine today. Without any change in tort reform in the Obama care reform bill, your doctor does not want to embrace any of the new 32 million additional new patients that will consume a large amount of his precious daily time.

Your doctor sees patients looking for a quick jackpot. Once in court, he will do anything to never go back again. He orders hundreds of tests each year to document conditions that don’t exist, because there might be a 1 in 10.000 chance someone will ask.

You enter the hospital with bronchitis, and your doctor will call in an infectious disease doctor to find what antibiotic would be best, a cardiologist to see why your chest hurts when you cough, a CT scan, and even a cardiac catherization.

Over testing becomes the standard of care. It is so ingrained that your doctor doesn’t even realize he is doing it. All equivocal tests lead to more tests. Any insignificant finding requires another study. They can’t miss anything anymore. No one wants to get sued.

These extra tests and procedures protect everyone against possible malpractice litigation. Besides, you the patient demand everything to be checked, and your doctor does not want to be perceived as a low quality doctor. This defensive medicine is the price we Americans must pay for healthcare.

Your doctor is now on a time clock. If he works for a hospital, they set the number of patients he must see daily, and the maximum time he can spend with you.

In California, to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits, the 21 million natives who have HMO plans will be assured their doctor sees them within 10 business days. If the patient says he has an urgent problem that does not require prior authorization, he must be seen within 48 hours. (Rules to go in effect this January.)

ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS

You now see your doctor using his computer and not looking at you as he logs in and goes through a long series of screens with long lists of options. If e picks the wrong option, you get the wrong drug or test, and this might spell disaster.

This certainly distracts him and leads to a lower quality of care for you. Before he enters a medical order, you might want him to check if you have any drug allergies, but it becomes very unwieldy for him to ask every patient these basic questions.

The system is designed for great billing outcomes, not clinical outcomes.

Being frustrated with the new technology, your doctor may just call in his new employee, a newly certified nurse aide, who just finished a crash 3 month program after failing to find another engineering job. He will work out the bugs and take care of the details of your medical care. After all, the clock is ticking and your doctor must stay on the hospital schedule, or he may be looking for another job.

Next time you see your doctor, give him a big hug, and tell him you understand his frustration and anger. Perhaps, as a solution, he might take an early retirement and get out of the new medical jungle.

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THE BUSINESS OF MEDICINE

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GETTING YOU TO SAY NO TO MEDICAL TREATMENT

2010-06-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

Deep down, most of us believe the more medical care we get the better we will be. We all want the most aggressive treatment possible, and certainly don’t want our medical care restricted or rationed.This resulted in our new Obama health care reform game plan to change your thinking without fighting you. They now continue to tell you that the new medical reform will give you the best possible medical care no matter what the cost.

GETTING YOU TO SAY NO TO MEDICAL TREATMENT

But how can the government get you to say no to medical care. When MRI breast care screening recommendations were restrictive, it created a firestorm. The health care reformists realized they must change their approach in restricting your health care.

They now continue to tell you that the new medical reform will give you the best possible medical care no matter what the cost. They remind you that our current system will continue to give you more care, but you must ask: “Is that care becoming worse or better?”This resulted in our new Obama health care reform game plan to change your thinking without fighting you.

CHANGING YOUR THINKING

Medicare, hospitals doctors, and the media, are now flooding you more information. Cost-cutting Medicare servants, to cut down medical costs, are giving you more choices and more control, resulting in more confusion. You are told that the economics of medicine is changing and you will be rewarded you with much better care rather than simply more care.

To change your thinking, you are being programmed to learn more about the “new evidence “that shows what treatments work and what don’t. You are told that all the data in the past is incomplete or unavailable. They claim that more than half of medical treatments lack clear evidence of effectiveness. The media bombards you with quotes of recent published articles telling you that prostate cancer, inflammatory diseases, back pain, CT scans and MRIs are not effective. Twisted statistics show that Cesarean sections have skyrocketed with little benefits to babies and are more burdensome to others.

The next step is to give you available facts about treatments. They will give you information about potential benefits and risks and sway you to choose less invasive care. Initially you may want aggressive care, and are willing to accept the risks and side effects from the treatment.

Being told preventing prostate cancer is very marginal, you might decide the risk of incontinence and impotence is not worth it. The new message for men is that if you have prostate cancer, you will never die from it, but you will become impotent and incontinent because of this aggressive treatment.

Today, says the government, everyone gets bypass surgery and stents because it is popular and people believe it will reduce heart attacks. They will tell you the new evidence strongly shows none of this treatment is necessary, and aspirin and a healthy diet works equally just as well.

You might decide to leave an intensive care unit call it quits, and enter a hospice to end your life.

COMMENTARY

Unnecessary care causes a lot of pain and even death. 15,000 people each year are projected to die eventually from radiation they get from just a single CT scan. But how many of you are successfully treated because of the scan. We all know that when hospitals and drug makers get a blank check from Medicare the costs skyrocket. Rationing and denying medical claims will free up resources for other services like education, and reduce the Medicare deficit.

When the tax subsidies for health insurance shrink, we will all realize that medical care is not free. Doctors, who will deny you expensive medical care, will be labeled preferred doctors and they will be financially rewarded by higher Medicare payments.

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Down the line, you will be denied any medical treatment that gives you modified benefits, but for now just getting you to say no is the best solution for lowering medical costs. What comes next will be even more painful.

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PESTICIDE CONTAMINANT IN TYLENOL RECALL pg2

2010-05-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

PESTICIDE CONTAMINANT IN
TYLENOL RECALL pg2

KNOWN BACTERIA

Raw materials had known contamination of bacteria and were still used to manufacture several finished lots of children’s drug products. The bacteria could not be identified, but the finished products were tested free of contamination.

DUST AND DIRTY AREAS

Some pieces of equipment were covered with thick layers of Thedust and others were held together with duct tape.

SPECKS OF MACHINERY METAL

Numerous customer complaints about dark specks in the formula which were tiny bits of metal from some machinery.

TOO POTENT INGREDIENTS

Components of this medicine were not adequately tested.

Company changed the process of one of its infant Tylenol products and failed to check if procedures were working right

Some had 25% more active ingredient than prescribed but the FDA said chances of harm were remote. The company did not have laboratory facilities to test drug ingredients.

Other recalls from this plant in December of Tylenol arthritis medicine made at Puerto Rico lab

Complaints since September 2009about moldy smell in medicine and stomach upsets after taking it

Lack of public trust/FDA and Congress to continue investigation/round-the-clock inspectors will be at the facilities that must be paid for by the company

The lawmaker is well now scrutinize the performance of both the drugmaker and also federal regulators. This recall affects 70% of the market for over-the-counter pediatric liquid medicines. Questions arise whether FDA inspections and recall procedures are sufficient and whether the drug company has controls put in place.

The company failed to attract consumer complaints and spot trends that could signal a systematic problems. They lacked written procedures, and fail to adequately train employees.

Another company, Perrigo of Allegan Michigan, that makes the equivalent of these child medicines for pharmacy chains of CBS and Walgreens also received warning letter from the FDA about manufacturing violations including ibuprofen tablets contaminated with metal shavings.

J&J, which is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, has long enjoyed a sterling corporate image, even ranking first place last year in a poll of company reputations.

A full list of the products can be found on the company’s Web site mcneilproductrecall.com.

That positive image The company's response to a cyanide tampering scare in Chicago that killed seven people in 1982 is considered a textbook example of how to deal with a brand crisis.

J&J had its sales force remove 264,000 Tylenol bottles from Chicago area storesis due in part to J&J's handling of past product recalls.

The company is the largest maker of store brand over-the-counter drugs. There are some similarities in the problems at both companies. Both companies, according to the FDA, have quality control issues

COMMENTARY

What will the FDA do about free-market quality control to detect these issues? The quality control issue is a big problem.

Are the processes and employee training in the manufacturing and quality and our organizational changes made in management along with quality control investigations.

These products have been trusted and there is a question by the public of quality control lapses that may be a pattern. Consumers will need to now find generic alternatives.

After being concerned about drugs manufactured in China and abroad elsewhere, it is shocking to find that we also lack quality controls.

The FDA has received hundreds of complaints, but fortunately no children have been harmed. The big harm is that the company has not lived up to its reputation. The big problem for the company is that when the government takes something Stock investors will also take it seriously.

Here again, this episode gives the FDA a boost to control drug makers. They may be able to expand their ability to order drug recalls, which now requires a lengthy legal process and court orders if the drugmaker refuses to voluntarily issue a recall. The J &J a company over 121 years old,also may be charged with civil or criminal charges.

The company has recently hired six new top officials to oversee quality and plant operations.

Are our federal regulators responding adequately?

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CONTINUE BACK 1

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PESTICIDE CONTAMINANT IN TYLENOL RECALL pg1

2010-05-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

PESTICIDE CONTAMINANT IN TYLENOL RECALL pg1

TBP, a pesticide and flame retardant used to treat wooden pallets, has been found to be one of the contaminants in the recent Tylenol recall. After being concerned about drugs manufactured in China and elsewhere abroad, it is shocking to find that our drug manufacturers also lack quality controls.

Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, Zertec, and over 50 versions of these products have been recalled by the McNeil division of Johnson & Johnson. The recall has resulted in over 140 million bottles of medicine recalls in the last 12 months. This recall affects 70% of the market for over-the-counter pediatric liquid medicines.

After a 10 day FDA inspection in April,showed numerous violations and over 20 manufacturing problems at its Pennsylvania plant, the plant totally closed, preventing further investigations there. The company failed to attract consumer complaints and spot trends that could signal systematic problems. The plant lacked written procedures, and failed to adequately train its employees.

The investigation was triggered by problems discovered last December at McNeils’s Puerto Rico plant where it failed to address, investigate, and correct quality problems. This resulted in a recall in December of its Tylenol arthritis medicine made at the Puerto Rico lab.

MOLDY SMELL

Complaints since September 2009 arose about a moldy smell in the medicine and stomach upsets after taking it.

In January the company recalled adult Tylenol pain relievers because of a moldy smell associated with wooden pallets used to transport the drugs. This contamination was noted in 2008, again in 2009, leading to recalls of several lots of Tylenol Arthritis Relief caplets, 100 count 650 mg bottles. Now the company is recalling other OTC drug products.

After a four-month barrage of complaints in 2008, the company finally spotted trend and sought to find the root cause of the odor. When microbiological testing in August 2008 did not find any bacteria, they quit looking for other possible causes.

The odor complaints that came from several OTC drug products was due to 2,4,6 Tribromoanisole (TBA) contamination in the product. TBP is a pesticide and flame retardant used to treat wooden pallets that are used to transport packaging materials and finished products. It is organoleptically detectable at parts per trillion.

The company argued that the TBP from the wooden pallets degraded into TBA, and tthen contaminated product containers containing the finished product.

The company’s analysts said the tablets from the bottle did not have an unusual odor despite the bottle still having a strong odor. No chemical testing was done to check this.

The FDA claims the company failed to check other lots and products, packaged in bottles from the same supplier using the same type of wooden pallets.

The company knew since September 2009 about the TBA contaminations since it had received results that the TBA was the source of the offensive odor on the complaint samples. They never told the FDA until they were caught.

McNeil, failed to investigate and take corrective action on customer complaints about particle contamination in their drugs, kept unclean equipment at the plant, failed to train employees in good manufacturing practices, and failed to check for bacterial contamination of drug ingredients,

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CONTINUE NEXT

THE MURKY SIDE OF STATINS page2

2010-05-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

THE MURKY SIDE OF STATINS page2

POSITION 0F THE AHA

The American Heart Association (AHA) issued a commentary reminding "patients that controlling cholesterol is critical for preventing coronary heart disease and reducing heart attack. People who experience myoapathy with statins should seek other alternatives.”

THE PLAYERS BEHIND THE SCENE

A clinical trial on which the FDA approved the drug, only looked at people who had low cholesterol and a positive test, called C. reactive protein (CRP).

The inventor of the test, Dr. Ridker from Harvard, persuaded the drug company to pay for this study He tried to get the National Institutes of Health and two other companies (Pfizer and Bayer) to do the study, but was turned down. He chose the candidates for the study, led the study, and wrote the conclusions of the study.

The company making Crestor, AstraZeneca, made four and one half billion dollars on this drug last year. There will be no generics for this product, and the drug is protected for many years. Compared to taking generic statins for a few pennies, the drug sells for $3.50 a day.

Incidentally, Dr. Ridker, receives royalties from his CRP test and everyone taking this statin will require his test on a regular basis.

COMMENTARY

Many patients complain of muscle aches and pains, weakness, memory problems, cognitive difficulties, and transient global amnesia from taking statins.

Doctors regularly will check your liver and at times it will have high enzymes. They will tell you even though your liver tests are off, the benefits of lowering your bad cholesterol and reducing your risk of heart disease offset the thought of quitting the drug.

Over the past 10 years, there is a steady expansion of people who are statin candidates. Various advisory panels have recommended these new cholesterol guidelines. Many are paid consultants for the drug industry. Many experts also receive research and honorary grants, consulting work, speakers’ fees, and serve on safety and monitoring boards of drug companies. These financial benefits play a role in many of their analyses.

The health benefits of statins in the very healthy are very misleading. They have very little risk factors to begin with. To claim that taking this drug will lower their risk of a heart attack by 40% is hard to accept. This statistic is clinically not significant.

Five hundred people would have to take this statin for a year to avoid one usually survivable heart attack, and many would experience the higher risk of side effects with this drug.

500 people taking this drug at $3.50 a pill, will cost $650,000 to prevent one heart attack each year. This does not include the regular costs for Dr.Rikers CPA test. Apparently the drug company. Dr Riker, and the FDA believe it is worth it. Others like myself disagree.

The big point is with any treatments, benefits should outweigh the risks. Statins in the healthy will turn a lot of healthy people like you, into patients, and commit you to a lifetime of medication.

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BACK 1

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