VIDEO HANDS ONLY CPR HEART ASSOCIATION SAYS IF BYSTANDER NOT TRAINED OR NOT CONFIDENT USE HANDS ONLY CPR FOR CARDIAC ARREST SOME EXCEPTIONS

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The Heart Association say that "even people without CPR training can save the life of an adult whose heart stops,(cardiac arrest) and the American Heart Association has issued an advisory" called Hands-Only (Compression-Only) Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, "urging everyone,trained or not, to act immediately in such an emergency" when the heart stops . The procedure is simple: if you see an adult collapse after having a heart attack, immediately call 911 and then push hard and fast in the middle of the chest continuously, until emergency medical personnel arrive or an external defibrillator can be used". You should read the Heart Association guidelines.





Let's face it many people faced with an adult who collapses from a heart problem and has no pulse (cardiac arrest) are gripped by sheer panic. What to do? Time is critical. If the heart doesn't circulate the blood damage results. Many airports and public places have external automatic defibrillators which anyone trained or not can use to restart the heart with an electric shock but what if one is not available? Time is crucial. You call 911 and then what? CPR cardiopulmonary resuscitation is recommended to get the blood circulating. But most people either don't know CPR or find it too hard to understand. How fast do you push on the chest? When do you breathe in the mouth. Plus many people don't like the idea of breathing in a stranger's mouth.




Heart Association Advertisement About Hands Only CPR Click the Arrow to Start





"Dr. Michael R. Sayre, the lead author of the recommendations, said in a telephone interview that the ideal would be 100 pushes a minute with enough force to make the chest go down two inches, but, he added, “there is no need to use a metronome and a ruler.” Dr. Sayre is an associate professor of emergency medicine at Ohio State University. CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, can more than double the survival rate in cardiac arrest, but only about a third of people who collapse get CPR from bystanders. The advice does not apply to cardiac arrest in children, or that due to drowning or drug overdose, which usually require rescue breathing. Nor does it apply when the bystander does not see the collapse, since it might not have been cardiac arrest.









But the exceptions, Dr. Sayre said, are only about a quarter of all cardiac arrests. “We want people to act no matter what,” he said, “and one of the reasons it’s important to take a CPR class is because of this other 25 percent. “But doing chest compressions alone in these situations is better than doing nothing,” he said. “Even for children, the procedure would be the same.”

Hands Only CPR Consumer Website from Heart Association (Find the video here)

CPR Can Help, Even With No Training



The Heart Association report is called Hands-Only (Compression-Only) Cardiopulmonary
Resuscitation: A Call to Action for Bystander Response to Adults Who Experience Out-of-Hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest: A Science Advisory for the Public From the American Heart Association. Here is part of what they say:




All victims of cardiac arrest should receive, at a minimum,
high-quality chest compressions (ie, chest compressions of
adequate rate and depth with minimal interruptions). To
support that goal and save more lives, the AHA ECC
Committee recommends the following.
When an adult suddenly collapses, trained or untrained
bystanders should—at a minimum—activate their community
emergency medical response system (eg, call 911) and
provide high-quality chest compressions by pushing hard and
fast in the center of the chest, minimizing interruptions (Class I).


● If a bystander is not trained in CPR, then the bystander
should provide hands-only CPR (Class IIa). The rescuer
should continue hands-only CPR until an automated external
defibrillator arrives and is ready for use or EMS
providers take over care of the victim.


● If a bystander was previously trained in CPR and is
confident in his or her ability to provide rescue breaths
with minimal interruptions in chest compressions, then the
bystander should provide either conventional CPR using a
30:2 compression-to-ventilation ratio (Class IIa) or handsonly
CPR (Class IIa). The rescuer should continue CPR
until an automated external defibrillator arrives and is
ready for use or EMS providers take over care of the
victim.


● If the bystander was previously trained in CPR but is not
confident in his or her ability to provide conventional CPR
including high-quality chest compressions (ie, compressions
of adequate rate and depth with minimal interruptions)
with rescue breaths, then the bystander should give
hands-only CPR (Class IIa). The rescuer should continue
hands-only CPR until an automated external defibrillator
arrives and is ready for use or EMS providers take over the
care of the victim.

Read and download the pdf document Hands-Only (Compression-Only) Cardiopulmonary
Resuscitation: A Call to Action for Bystander Response to Adults Who Experience Out-of-Hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest

HEPARIN RECALL DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DRUG IS FROM HEPARIN AND INSULIN JUST SOME EXAMPLES OF THE GLOBALIZATION Of DRUG MANUFACTURE

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The recent problems with the drug heparin seem to involve the manufacture of heparin with ingredients from China. Heparin is a so called blood thinner, it is an anticoagulant, it interferes with blood clot formation. Heparin interferes with thrombin, which is a protein involved in the steps that lead to a blood clot in the blood.



"Batches of the blood thinner heparin were recalled worldwide.., after at least 19 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions were reported in the United States..The Food and Drug Administration found that some heparin ingredients produced in a Chinese factory had been contaminated with a man-made chemical called oversulfated chondroitin sulfate. The substance mimics the blood-thinning actions of heparin but is cheaper to produce".











The LA Times has a great article Is the medicine you depend on made in a place you trust? "When parents hear that a certain toy has lead in its paint, they can choose not to buy it. But people who rely on specific drugs to keep them well may not have that choice. Moreover, they may not know where their drugs were manufactured, making informed decisions all but impossible. Incredibly, the FDA doesn't require drug companies to disclose where prescription medicines come from. Companies are free to say as much, or as little, as they please". In the article, he discusses other examples of medical items, such as insulin whose origin you may think you know but are wrong.

Is the medicine you depend on made in a place you trust?

THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL ON THE ENHANCE STUDY CHOLESTEROL LOWERING WITH VYTORIN AND A VIDEO OF CLEVELAND CLINIC CARDIOLOGIST ON ZETIA AND VYTORIN

According to the NY Times, "Two widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, Vytorin and Zetia (ezetimibe), may not work and should be used only as a last resort, The New England Journal of Medicine said in an editorial published on Sunday" about the cholesterol lowering drugs. Vytorin is two cholesterol lowering drugs , one a statin, Zocor, which is the strongest class of cholesterol lowering medicines and one a drug called Zetia.




Actually what they said in the editorial was "As noted by Brown and Taylor, the data from this trial, which are based on measurements of intima–media thickness (This refers to the inner wall thickness of the blood vessel) in lieu of clinical end points, do not directly address the question of whether the lowering of LDL cholesterol with ezetimibe is clinically beneficial". "Until such data are available, it seems prudent to encourage patients whose LDL cholesterol levels remain elevated despite treatment with an optimal dose of a statin to redouble their efforts at dietary control and regular exercise. Niacin, fibrates, and resins should be considered when diet, exercise, and a statin have failed to achieve the target, with ezetimibe reserved for patients who cannot tolerate these agents".

Cholesterol Lowering and Ezetimibe




"The journal’s conclusion came as doctors at a major cardiology conference..saw for the first time the full results of a two-year clinical trial of the cholesterol lowering drugs, that showed that the drugs failed to slow, and might have even sped up, the growth of fatty plaques in the arteries. Growth of those plaques is closely correlated with heart attacks and strokes".






Doctors knew that Zetia did not lower cholesterol as much as the statins but it was hoped that in some people the effect would be enough to do the trick. However, reports have questioned if Zetia, even if lowering cholesterol,is helping sufficiently and if it has any impact on the buildup of plaque deposits in the arteries of the heart. When too much plaque lines the walls of the arteries it increases the chance that an artery can become clogged and close off thus setting in motion a heart attack.

Click here to READ ABOUT STATINS THE MOST POWERFUL CHOLESTEROL REDUCERS AND HOW THEY WORK AND SIDE EFFECTS



Watch a video of a famous cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic talk about his ideas about Zetia and the Vytorin study.The study questions the value of Zetia to halt or decrease artery clogging atherosclerotic plaque in the heart . Zetia has been viewed as a way to lower cholesterol without the possible systemic side effects of the more powerful statin cholesterol drugs. Some people just don't like or tolerate statins like Lipitor, Crestor or Zocor.


Cleveland Clinic Doctor Talks About Zetia Problems Click the Arrow to Start










"You've just seen a negative trial that should change practice," said Dr. Harlan Krumholz. "It seems to be a very strong study."



"Krumholz spoke on behalf of a panel of four doctors that included Rick Nishimura of the Mayo Clinic, Patrick O'Gara of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Joseph Messer, with a private cardiology practice in Chicago. Financial disclosures show Krumholz has testified against Merck in Vioxx-related litigation while the other three doctors reported no financial interests or relationships with pharmaceutical firms".

"Our strongest recommendation is that people need to go back to statins," Krumhotz said. "We really think there's just a small group of patients who cannot get to target (cholesterol) on statins."

"He said doctors should maximize the doses of statins and then try adding other drugs such as niacin-based drugs or fibrates in an attempt to lower LDL cholesterol levels as current practice guidelines recommend".

Panel: Doctors Should Cut Vytorin, Zetia Use



In the classic explanation of the dangers of high cholesterol, high cholesterol leads to the narrowing of the coronary arteries and a plaque may break off and block or occlude the artery. The result is little or no blood flow to the part of the heart being supplied by that artery and a heart attack. As Dr. Peter Libby of Harvard points outsometimes a plaque grows so large that it virtually halts the blood flow in an artery and generates a heart attack or stroke.





Some doctors like Zetia because it works in the intestine to block cholesterol absorption, not in the liver like statins. So potentially it has fewer side effects. But now the question is should they prescribe Zetia if it doesn't help with artery plaques?




"Previous studies have shown Zetia and Vytorin are effective at lowering cholesterol, but other medications that do this have been shown to have additional benefits, such as slowing the buildup of plaque or sometimes even shrinking it, and reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes and lowering mortality rates".

Journal Issues Warning on Two Cholesterol Drugs

WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT ISRAEL HOSPITALS LOOKING TO BECOME A HUB FOR MEDICAL TOURISM AND LOWER COST SURGERY COMPETING WITH INDIA AND SINGAPORE FOR MEDICAL

WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT ISRAEL HOSPITALS LOOKING TO BECOME A HUB FOR MEDICAL TOURISM AND LOWER COST SURGERY COMPETING WITH INDIA AND SINGAPORE FOR MEDICAL TOURISTS

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In a recent post I outlined how the sky high costs of medical care in the United States was propelling the growth of medical tourism. As people face astronomical charges for medical care and surgery, they are increasingly traveling to countries like India to have surgery. In that post I gave a comparison of the huge cost differences for surgery like coronary artery bypass and knee replacements. India and Singapore have been prominent destinations for people seeking medical treatment and surgery overseas. The Israeli government hopes that there will soon be more western medical tourists coming to Israel for surgery and medical treatment at Israel's top hospitals like Hadassh Hospital in Jerusalem. The Chicago Tribune recently reported the story of an American man who needed liver transplant surgery. He checked out a top hospital in South Florida and was told it would cost him 450,000 dollars and he would have to wait a few months to boot! So instead of getting the liver transplant surgery in Florida, he traveled to India where he had the surgery for 58,000 dollars!









Now Israel wants to become a hub of medical tourism too.According to a professor of medicine at Hadassah Hospital in Jersualem, "Israel is a very small country with incredible and amazing medical facilities," he said. "Excellence in medical terms and cheaper treatment. That is what they will get here. The treatments that we can provide are much cheaper than the ones that you are going to receive in Europe. Some patients are already coming from overseas. Most are from the Jewish diaspora, or even from Arab countries that have no diplomatic relations with Israel".


Watch Video about Israel Medical Tourism Click the arrow to start

Read healty medical Blog Sky High Surgery Costs Send Americans Packing

Israel courts medical tourists

SHOPPING FOR SURGERY MEDICAL TOURISM TAKES OFF AS SKY HIGH SURGERY PRICES SEND AMERICANS PACKING

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Cut Rate Cutting as Medical Tourism Booms amid Stratospheric Surgery Prices

When it comes to affordable surgery Americans are voting with their feet and their pocketbooks in a phenomenon called medical tourism. You don't need to plow through reams of surgery cost statistics when you read stories like this one about a man from Florida who decided to have his liver transplant surgery in India! Medical tourism is one result of sky high costs for surgery and medical care in the United States. This American man who needed liver transplant surgery checked out a top hospital in South Florida and was told it would cost him 450,000 dollars and he would have to wait a few months to boot! So instead of getting the liver transplant surgery in Florida, he traveled to India where he had the surgery for 58,000 dollars!









An article in the Chicago Tribune highlights what it says is a growing trend of medical tourism. People going outside of the United States for medical treatment and surgery to save money. It compares prices for surgeries between the United States and places like India and Singapore. The price differences for selected surgeries are startling. So for example, a heart bypass surgery in the United States is $130,000 but $10,000 in India and $18,500 in Singapore. An angioplasty in the U.S is $57,000 but $11,000 in India and $13,000 in Singapore. A knee replacement is $40,000 in the U.S but $8,500 in India and $13,000 in Singapore.

WEAK MALPRACTICE LAWS AND FINDING A DOCTOR FOR AFTER CARE IN THE U.S MAY BE A PROBELM

Of course the question is what price you really pay. Do you really know what the qualifications of the surgeon and the hospital are when you go on medical tourism? Is this really the sort of situation where you want to save dollars or is this like flying an airline you never heard of in a foreign country to save money and not knowing about the maintenance? Also the article points out that malpractice laws in many countries are much weaker than in the U.S and if something goes wrong you may be out of luck. And finding a doctor for follow up care in the U.S can be a problem.

Read healty medical Blog Israel and Medical Tourism

For big surgery, Delhi is dealing

YOU AS EINSTEIN PART 2 PLAY GAMES TO EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN IMPROVING BRAIN POWER WITH GAMES

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Besides conveying information the Internet has great interactivity. Brain power involves the ability to remember information and memorize facts among others things. Recall is central to the ability to think and brain function. Adding to the previous post about brain power games and improving working memory. A website about remembering information and improving the ability to remember says three fundamental principles are involved in the ability to remember, 1. imagination, 2. association and 3.location.

You as the Next Einstein Brain Exercise Games




The interactive features of the Internet provide a perfect way for you to use the Internet to work on your ability to remember and to strengthen your brain. I have previously pointed out a variety of web sites that have brain improvement games and various interactive features like games to help remembering. Here is a visual remembering game called Metro Match. You see a picture briefly then you have to remember where it's match is.

Click to go the Visual Remembering Game Metro Match

A VIDEO ABOUT SINGULAIR FOR ASTHMA AND AN FDA REPORT OF POSSIBLE PROBLEMS WITH SINGULAIR MONTELUKAST FOR ASTHMA

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The FDA is reported to be investigating possible adverse effects in the popular asthma drug called Singulair or montelukast. Singulair belongs to the asthma drugs called leukotriene inhibitors and is designed to decrease problems with asthma by blocking leukotrienes which are body chemicals causing inflammation. Asthma is inflammation of the airways. People with asthma have hypersensitive airways. The airways are the tubes that carry the air into the lungs. In asthma the airways narrow, become inflamed. So people with asthma hear wheezing noises. Singulair works to lower that inflammation. It is one of the medications along with medicines like albuterol and inhaled steroids that doctors use to control asthma. "The FDA said it is reviewing post-marketing reports it has received of behavior and mood changes, suicidal thoughts and behaviors as well as actual suicides in patients who took Singulair and has asked Merck to look at its own database".














Watch a video about Singulair How it works Click the arrow to start

FDA Studies Whether Singulair Is Linked to Mood, Suicide Issues

ALL SHOOK UP IF A FAMOUS CELEBRITY HAS PROBLEMS CHOOSING A SURGEON HOW CAN YOU SELECT A QUALIFIED SURGEON FOR YOURSELF

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In view of this report about choosing a surgeon, "Priscilla Presley, confirmed reports Tuesday that she once fell victim to an unqualified plastic surgeon". I must say I am all shook up! If a rich and famous celebrity, former wife of Elvis! can have problems selecting a qualified surgeon than what does that say about people who don't have as many resources available. How do you pick a surgeon or a doctor in general? How do you know if they are a good and qualified surgeon? I am repeating a recent post about finding a surgeon.







How can I pick or select a surgeon? That is a tough question for most people. As in all fields of skill, practice and more practice is a key. Thus you would like heart surgery done by a surgeon who does it often at an institution that performs many heart surgeries. As I wrote when talking about weight loss surgery like gastric bypass, experience counts. An editorial in the New England Journal about gastric bypass weight loss surgery also pointed out that the lowest surgical mortality is seen among gastric bypass surgeons who have performed more than 50 operations and preferably more than 100 operations.




In his blog, Dr. Sid Schwab, "a mostly retired general surgeon" says that his "intention is to inform, entertain, and possibly educate the reader about surgery, and about the life and loves of a surgeon". "When I've given readings of my book, a question I'm regularly asked is how to find a good surgeon. It's a toughie, for the non medically-connected person. I begin with the idea of trusting your primary doctor; if you have one you like and believe in, you ought to be able to assume she or he wouldn't steer you wrong. Other than the occasional political issue, and the fact that most primary docs don't really understand what goes on in an operating room, I think it's a good bet. Whatever else is true, they do see the patients again after they've sent them off; flesh-and-blood feedback. And, of course, credentials mean something. Training at an excellent program increases the likelihood that a surgeon knows his or her way around a body".

RISKS REWARDS OF GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY VERSUS DIETING: IN WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY EXPERIENCE COUNTS

Are You Experienced

A FASCINATING EXPERT VIDEO ABOUT THE PROS AND CONS OF GASTRIC BYPASS WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY HOW THEY DO BARIATRIC SURGERY AND WHAT TO EXPECT

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Dieting vs gastric bypass what to expect

Watch a very detailed expert video discussing the pros and cons of gastric bypass and weight loss surgery. There may be as many as 16 million Americans who are candidates for weight loss or bariatric surgery such as gastric bypass surgery. Extreme overweight or obesity can impact the social, psychological and health aspects of a person's life. Mark Twain's comment about smoking, "it's easy to quit, I've done it a hundred times" could easily apply to the roller coaster of dieting. Dieting to lose weight can be effective but for many very heavy people gastric bypass or gastric band surgery is a good alternative.

Look at Amazing Before and After Video of Gastric Bypass



A New England Journal of Medicine research article found that gastric bypass surgery is beneficial. "In fact, the benefit is quite dramatic. The authors studied 9,949 patients who had undergone weight loss surgery, and compared them to a control group of 9,628 severely obese individuals who did not have the surgery".

Click healty medical Study Suggests Less Cancer With Gastric Bypass

Read healty medical Blog Gastric Bypass Surgery Pros and Cons







This video features the surgeon who performed the first laparoscopic gastric bypass for weight loss. Laparascopic surgery uses small incisions in a less invasive surgical procedure with faster recovery times. In this video about weight loss surgery they discuss the pros and cons and what results you can expect with gastric bypass surgery. They also talk about who is a good candidate for bariatric (weight loss) surgery.







Watch a video discussing the pros and cons of gastric bypass surgery Click the arrow to start

IN DIABETES KNOWLEDGE IS POWER A CLEVER AND INFORMATIVE DIABETES BLOG READ IT AND LEARN

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Living well with diabetes can definitely be done. Being on top of your diabetes takes knowledge. In the case of diabetes and diabetes control knowledge truly is power. Not long ago I discussed a medical journal report saying diabetes researchers found that diabetes patients seemed to benefit from certain blood pressure pills called ace inhibitors. This seemed to be true even if the people with diabetes did not have high blood pressure. It was the kind of news that every diabetic should know about so they could make their own informed decision or at least discuss it with their doctor. But it's hard to stay informed about diabetes, diabetes is such a vast topic and let's face it sometimes our doctor is not the best conversationalist.

Gastric Bypass Surgery for Diabetes




Diabetes requires continuing medical care and patient self-management education to prevent acute complications and to reduce the risk of long-term complications. There is a plethora of information about diabetes, more like a flood. To prevent yourself from being inundated it helps to have a guide, a kind of "street smarts" of diabetes to help understand and apply medical knowledge. That's where a diabetes blog comes in handy!



Amy Tenderich is an "inquisitive, perhaps-just-a-tad overly analytical new diabetic based in San Francisco, CA. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in May 2003. BA in Journalism, MA in Communication Studies. After living overseas and many years of PR/marketing work for high-tech companies in Silicon Valley, currently a part-time freelance writer for the IT industry and full-time mom". She is also the author of a blog about diabetes. A sort of everything you wanted to know about diabetes but didn't know to ask collection of articles and links about diabetes.



She writes "I know I can learn to count the carb content of everything that passes my lips; carry monitor, glucose tabs, insulin pump/pen and needles at all times; learn to inject myself throughout the day; navigate the American healthcare system; and ward off the feeling that I’m somehow being punished. We all can. I’ve learned a ton since my diagnosis 5 years ago. With diabetes, you really do learn something new every day. So I started this diabetes blog as a place to sort out and share some “diabetes smarts.”

healty medical Blog Diabetes and ACE Inhibitor Blood Pressure Pills

Diabetes Blogs Can Change Your Life (at Diabetes Mine)

GUEST POST: Lobotomy Revisited (by Brian Carty)

The second guest post from Brian Carty of Hot Medical News, covering the... well, less-covered side of medicine! Enjoy "the history of the lobotomoy"! There's a great video that goes along with this post. Watch it here.

By Brian Carty, MD, MSPH
March 25, 2008

Do you remember Rosemary Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's sister? Maybe not, since she spent most of her life hidden away in an institution in the Midwest. She had a lobotomy, a brain operation for mental illness, in 1941 when she was 23. Her father, Joseph Kennedy, arranged the operation. The procedure left her mentally incapacitated. Whether she was mentally ill, mentally retarded, or both, is unclear, but her disruptive behavior led to the operation and its unfortunate outcome. She died of natural causes on January 7, 2005 at the age of 86.

The lobotomy, also called leucotomy, was devised in 1935 by the Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz for the treatment of various psychiatric disorders. In this procedure, holes were drilled in the skull and a blade was used to cut nerve fibers from the frontal lobes (the front of the brain, just behind the forehead) to the rest of the brain. The term lobotomy came to include a variety of surgical procedures on the frontal lobes which were performed for psychiatric disorders.


An estimated 50,000 lobotomies were performed in the US in the 1930s and 40s. Although electroconvulsive therapy was introduced in the 1930s, it is useful mainly for the treatment of depression. Otherwise, before effective psychiatric drugs were available in the 1950s, the only other treatments for the severely mentally ill were incarceration and physical restraint.

By today’s standards, conditions in the mental hospitals of the time were unimaginable. Many patients were severely agitated, extremely violent, and incontinent. The hospitals were dirty, overcrowded, and understaffed.

Many severely ill patients benefited from lobotomy with decreases in violence and agitation. However, lobotomy often caused serious adverse effects, including disturbances of mood and personality, euphoria, poor judgment, impulsivity, loss of initiative, intellectual deficits, and seizures.

For many patients, however, a decrease in agitation and violence, even when accompanied by neurologic injury from frontal lobe surgery, was understandably considered an improvement. When the first effective antipsychotic drug, Thorazine (chlorpromazine), was introduced in the US in 1954, the number of lobotomies performed plummeted.

Surgery for psychiatric disorders is still performed rarely today. The procedures have become more selective and less extensive and now include deep brain stimulation with implanted electrodes. Similar surgical procedures and deep brain stimulation are sometimes done for movement disorders and chronic pain. Surgery for psychiatric disorders is still controversial and, when performed, is most often used for treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is a disorder characterized by obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors such as repeated hand washing or checking to see if doors are locked. OCD can severely affect functioning and quality of life.

It is worth noting again that surgery for psychiatric disorders must be judged with reference to conditions which existed at the time the procedures were introduced. Although lobotomy is viewed by many as barbaric, the operation gave many patients a limited improvement which was otherwise unobtainable. The wisdom of hindsight should be applied sparingly; newly introduced medical treatments often cause unintended harm. The history of lobotomy should remind us that future generations will inevitably view our current best treatments as primitive.

HOW DO I CHOOSE A SURGEON WHAT ARE QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A SURGEON TO LOOK FOR AS A PATIENT

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How can I pick or select a surgeon? That is a tough question for most people. As in all fields of skill, practice and more practice is a key. Thus you would like heart surgery done by a surgeon who does it often at an institution that performs many heart surgeries. As I wrote when talking about weight loss surgery like gastric bypass, experience counts. An editorial in the New England Journal about gastric bypass weight loss surgery also pointed out that the lowest surgical mortality is seen among gastric bypass surgeons who have performed more than 50 operations and preferably more than 100 operations.






In his blog, Dr. Sid Schwab, "a mostly retired general surgeon" says that his "intention is to inform, entertain, and possibly educate the reader about surgery, and about the life and loves of a surgeon". "When I've given readings of my book, a question I'm regularly asked is how to find a good surgeon. It's a toughie, for the non medically-connected person. I begin with the idea of trusting your primary doctor; if you have one you like and believe in, you ought to be able to assume she or he wouldn't steer you wrong. Other than the occasional political issue, and the fact that most primary docs don't really understand what goes on in an operating room, I think it's a good bet. Whatever else is true, they do see the patients again after they've sent them off; flesh-and-blood feedback. And, of course, credentials mean something. Training at an excellent program increases the likelihood that a surgeon knows his or her way around a body".

RISKS REWARDS OF GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY VERSUS DIETING: IN WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY EXPERIENCE COUNTS

Are You Experienced

A VIDEO WHERE A CUTE BLOND EXPOUNDS ON HER THEORY OF WEIGHT LOSS AND DIET HOW SHE LOST WEIGHT AND SAYS YOU CAN TOO

Mark Twain said it's easy to stop smoking,he's done it a hundred times. Similarly weight loss and dieting propel some people onto a dizzying roller coaster ride of weight gain and loss. If someone could find the key to weight loss and dieting they likely would strike it rich. No one seems to have done it yet but they are out there trying! It's 2 A.M., you've been following your weight loss diet religiously. Suddenly you are gripped with an overwhelming urge to eat chocolate ice cream. You know you should not eat that ice cream and ruin your diet but the craving just won't stop.




















In this video a cute blond named Andrea expounds on her theory of weight loss. She discusses why people have problems losing weight. She talks of cravings for food and how she defeated her cravings as part of a successful weight loss plan.








A Video about Weight Loss Diet and Food Cravings Click the Arrow to Start







I notice that Andrea's video points to a web site. I happened upon the site by chance and have no connection with her or the web site. Her blog is

Amazing Body Now Blog
I think it's worth watching this video. These sort of videos can be helpful. You just need to remember to think as you watch and listen and take everything with a grain of salt.. She has several other videos as well. Remember Caveat Emptor.

THREE TRUTH OR DARE QUESTIONS ABOUT OBESITY DIETING EXERCISE AND WEIGHT GAIN AND IS BEING FAT INFECTIOUS DONT LET A FAT CHICKEN SNEEZE ON YOU

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A recent issue of Parade magazine has a story called "Surprising News About Weight Loss". It discusses three theories or myths about weight gain and weight loss that have been bubbling to the surface of the weight loss weight gain world lately. So truth or dare which of these ideas about fat, obesity and weight gain are true?



Can you catch weight gain and fat like a cold?



The first weight gain theory is that if your friends are fat there is an increased probability that you are overweight and or fat. The article says that a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed that people with friends who gain weight will also gain weight. That sounds logical since if there is greater acceptance of eating large amounts there is less social pressure to lose weight or be thinner. So true.







Number 2. Exercise won't help you lose weight because all that exercise makes you hungrier. No, regular exercise does help you lose weight. Regular exercise makes you healthier and is part of a successful weight loss plan along with diet. So false

Read Pros and Cons of gastric Bypass Weight Loss Surgery



Weight Gain Myth 3. There is a virus that causes weight gain and in some cases obesity and fatness might be contagious like a cold. Maybe.
Researchers have found viruses like human adenovirus-36 that may transform stem cells into fat cells! At the University of Wisconsin, researchers found that chickens exposed to adenovirus 37 gained up to three times more weight in the gut than chickens that weren't exposed to the virus. Actually physiologist Leah Whigham of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her colleagues inoculated young male chickens with three strains of adenovirus Ad-2, Ad-31 and Ad-37. She and her team then monitored the chickens for three and a half weeks, recording their food intake throughout. Though the infected chickens and noninfected controls consumed the same amount of food and were exposed to the same conditions, chickens carrying Ad-37 were found to have nearly three times as much fat in their guts and more than two times as much fat over their entire body at the end of the three-and-a-half week period.



It's hard to say exactly what the lesson is from these studies. One lesson might be that if you are a chicken, try not to let other fat chickens sneeze on you! But virus Ad-36 has been shown in an in vitro study by researcher Nikhil Dhurandhar of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana to help human cells go from having the potential to store fat to actually storing it. "I am not saying that all obesity is caused by viruses," Dhurandhar notes. "Obesity has multiple causes and viruses may be one of those causes."

Study Strengthens Link between Virus and Weight Gain

VIDEO GAME DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN ACTIVITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN A STUDY FINDS THAT MENS BRAINS MAY RESPOND TO VIDEO GAMES DIFFERENTLY THAN WOMEN

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Males are bigger consumers than females when it comes to mainstream video games. A possible reason males enjoy playing (and end up addicted to) video games might be attributed to how the male brain is wired when compared to the female brain, particularly in the reward and addiction system. A study by Hoeft etal found that when men play the video games, a part of the brain involved in feelings of reward and addiction becomes much more activated than it does in women. Scientists have been looking at how people's brains operate while playing video games using a device called a functional mri. MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. You can see changes happening in the brain while men and women play video games.




Do brain structure differences between men and women cause different responses to video games?









In the blog,Lumosity Brain Health, they talk with the brain researcher who found a difference between men and women in the brain activity while playing a territorial video game. Dr. Fumiko Hoeft told me that, “We only examined one kind of game (one that is based on space infringement). Hence, when other types of video games are examined, there may be a totally different response and perhaps females may show bigger physiological responses." At least in the territorial game, though, female subjects actually "turn off certain regions during game play."




Brain mapping is achieved by setting up an advanced MRI scanner in a special way so that the increased blood flow to the activated areas of the brain while playing the video games shows up on functional MRI scans. The scan measures the tiny metabolic changes that occur when a part of the brain is active during the game play. These changes will appear as a brightly colored area on the MR image, indicating the part of the brain that is being used to process the task.

Brain activity during video gaming

healty medical Blog VIDEO GAMES: DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MESS WITH YOUR KID'S BRAIN

MEN WITH LOW VITAMIN FOLATE FOLIC ACID MAY PRODUCE SPERM CAUSING BIRTH DEFECTS FOLATE B VITAMIN ALREADY RECOMMENDED IN WOMEN TO PREVENT BIRTH DEFECTS

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Men with low levels of the vitamin folate may be producing abnormal sperm that could result in children with birth defects. A UC Berkeley researcher from the team that made the discovery advised men who are thinking of becoming fathers to increase their folate intake, perhaps with a supplement or a multivitamin. The U.S government, for years, has been beseeching young women who could get pregnant to take the vitamin folate. Studies demonstrate that a diet high in folate lowers neurological birth defects like spina bifida. (see below)



The researchers found that men with low folate produced sperm that had abnormal numbers of chromosomes. An abnormal number of chromosomes is called aneuploidy. Chromosomes carry genes. Thus abnormal chromosome numbers can result in gene problems. Downs Syndrome is an example of a problem associated with abnormal chromosomes.

















Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps cells grow and also helps to make DNA and protein. It is very important in helping the embryo to develop because it is essential for the rapid cell division needed to make tissues and organs in the embryo and fetus. Folate and folic acid are different terms for the same B vitamin. While these two terms are often used interchangeably, there are some differences between them. Folate is the B vitamin form found naturally in foods. Folic acid is not found in natural food sources. Folic acid is the synthetic B vitamin form that is used in vitamin supplements and added to fortified foods. Synthetic folic acid is absorbed more easily than natural food folate.

Folate intake linked to genetic abnormalities in sperm, says new study

The association of folate, zinc and antioxidant intake with sperm aneuploidy in healthy non-smoking men





Imagine that scientists had discovered a miraculous substance that women could take which had the power to lessen neurological defects in their baby. Women would probably race to their pharmacy to buy it! Actually scientists have already discovered that substance. It's called folate or folic acid. FOLATE IS A VITAMIN THAT HAS BEEN PROVEN TO LOWER THE INCIDENCE OF SPINA BIFIDA AND NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN BABIES. THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN RECOMMENDING IT FOR YEARS...... THERE IS JUST ONE PROBLEM..... Many women STILL don't know about folate and even more are not taking it!

healty medical Blog Government begs women to take vitamin folate

WHAT IS THE CORRECT WAY TO MEASURE BLOOD PRESSURE AND A VIDEO HOW TO MEASURE YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE

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Watch this video showing how to take blood pressure properly which can provide more accurate information and better control

Recently I wrote about a study that said happy marriages lower blood pressure and bad marriages raise blood pressure. But what is the right way to measure blood pressure in the first place? There is a right and a wrong way to take blood pressure. There are millions of people who have high blood pressure.(Many of them don't know it,by the way) Blood pressure is reported as two numbers,such as 120/80, the systolic over the diastolic. The top number 120, the systolic is the maximum pressure when the heart pumps and the lower number 80, the diastolic, is the pressure in the arteries and the body when the heart relaxes.

By the way What is Coronary Artery Blockage? Watch a Video Click This











What are the benefits of measuring my own blood pressure?



It beehoves you to understand how to measure your own blood pressure since home monitoring on a regular basis usually gives a more accurate picture than an occasional measurement at the doctor office. And poorly maintained blood pressure machines at drug stores and supermarkets have sent many a frightened patient scurrying to the doctor as they report erroneously high blood pressure. You can buy a blood pressure cuff with a built in stethoscope so you can listen while you measure your blood pressure or you can buy an automatic digital blood pressure machine.

healty medical Blog The Effect of Happy and Unhappy Marriages on Blood Pressure


Using a blood pressure cuff or a blood pressure machine takes a little training and sometimes even doctor's office staff may not be measuring the blood pressure correctly. You will note that doctor's offices usually use a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. It is easy to learn and you should think about buying a do it yourself blood pressure cuff with a built in stethoscope so you can measure your own blood pressure with accuracy.

Click for Part Two Videos How to Take Blood Pressure

DOES YOUR HUSBAND RAISE YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE COULD BE SAYS STUDY OF BLOOD PRESSURE AND MARRIAGE

Does your husband raise your blood pressure? It's not your imagination if you believe a study about blood pressure and marriage. Take this quiz about blood pressure. You know that aggravation makes your blood pressure go up. Type A personality and so forth. O.K. So who has the highest blood pressure?
Rank these people from highest to lowest blood pressure. A. A person who is single B. A person who is in a happy marriage C. A person who is in an unhappy marriage.
















The answer is CAB. That's what a study of blood pressure and marriage by a Brigham Young professor demonstrated. "New research shows that happily married adults have lower blood pressure than singles with supportive social networks, suggesting marriage may literally be a matter of the heart". The study of blood pressure and marriage was called “Is There Something Unique about Marriage? The Relative Impact of Marital Status, Relationship Quality, and Network Social Support on Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Mental Health.”




The study by Julianne Holt-Lunstad and others also found, unsurprisingly, that unhappily married adults have higher blood pressure than both happily married and single adults. So that unhappily married adults had the highest blood pressure followed by singles and the lowest blood pressure was in the happily married group.

Happily marrieds have lower blood pressure than social singles, BYU study shows

PROVEN TO DECREASE BIRTH DEFECTS YET MANY WOMEN ESPECIALLY PREGNANT WOMEN DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE VITAMIN FOLATE

Imagine that scientists had discovered a miraculous substance that women could take which had the power to lessen neurological defects in their baby. Women would probably race to their pharmacy to buy it! Actually scientists have already discovered that substance. It's called folate or folic acid. FOLATE IS A VITAMIN THAT HAS BEEN PROVEN TO LOWER THE INCIDENCE OF SPINA BIFIDA AND NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN BABIES. THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN RECOMMENDING IT FOR YEARS...... THERE IS JUST ONE PROBLEM..... Many women STILL don't know about folate and even more are not taking it!



"Folate is a B vitamin found in a variety of foods and added to many vitamin and mineral supplements as folic acid, a synthetic form of folate. Folate is needed both before and in the first weeks of pregnancy and can help reduce the risk of certain serious and common birth defects called neural tube defects, which affect the brain and spinal cord. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps cells grow and also helps to make DNA and protein. It is very important in helping the embryo to develop because it is essential for the rapid cell division needed to make tissues and organs in the embryo and fetus. Folate and folic acid are different terms for the same B vitamin. While these two terms are often used interchangeably, there are some differences between them. Folate is the B vitamin form found naturally in foods. Folic acid is not found in natural food sources. Folic acid is the synthetic B vitamin form that is used in vitamin supplements and added to fortified foods. Synthetic folic acid is absorbed more easily than natural food folate.



The tricky part is that neural tube defects can occur in an embryo before a woman realizes she's pregnant. That's why it's important for all women of childbearing age (15 to 45) to include folate in their diets. If they get pregnant, it reduces the chance of the baby having a birth defect of the brain or spinal cord."

How Folate Can Help Prevent Birth Defects

WOMEN STILL DON'T REALIZE HOW GREAT FOLATE IS

"Between 1995 and 2002, awareness of the term folic acid increased from 52 percent to 80 percent within the reproductive-age women population. YET JUST TWENTY PERCENT OF WOMEN KNEW THAT FOLIC ACID COULD PREVENT BIRTH DEFECTS.
More alarming is that 90 percent of physicians who responded to a survey conducted in Florida (CDC, unpublished data, 2002) knew that folic acid consumption is linked to neurological tube defects, but only a limited proportion could identify the recommended daily intake of 400mg for the general population; moreover, an even smaller percentage could state the recommended dose of 4,000 mg for women of high risk.

Folic Acid Page at Center for Disease Control

MEDICARE SAYS WILL STILL PAY FOR HEART SCANS TO LOOK FOR BLOOD VESSEL BLOCKAGE ELECTRON BEAM CT SCANS OF THE HEART FOR CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

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Ultra fast or CT Scan of heart is a non invasive test for blood vessel blockage



Medicare has decided to continue to pay for a non invasive test for heart problems called a CT heart scan or ultra fast CT or electron beam CT scan for calcium in the arteries (blood vessels) of people who have symptoms of heart disease. You have probably heard of heart scans or Ultra fast CT because they are advertised heavily. Heart scans or heart CT scans or electron beam CT is touted as a non invasive way to look for heart disease and chances of a heart attack. Doctors would like to find a non invasive test to detect and predict heart disease and who is going to have a heart attack.






What are coronary arteries and why they are so important?



Coronary arteries are the blood vessels that supply the heart itself. If a coronary artery is blocked so that blood doesn't flow to a part of the heart it causes a heart attack. One of the most informative heart tests to look for blocked coronary arteries in the heart is a coronary angiogram. But a coronary angiogram involves inserting a catheter into the blood vessels and has some risks. Generally an angiogram is recommended when there are indications of blocked heart arteries. So for example, when David Letterman had chest pains his doctors wanted him to get an angiogram to look for blockage. A non invasive test for coronary artery blockage would encourage more people to get tested.








What is a calcium score on a heart scan?


Heart scans or heart CT scans or electron beam CT provide pictures of the coronary arteries and calcium in them. Calcium deposits show up as bright white spots on the scan. The standard imaging technique for coronary arteries uses electron beam computerized tomography (EBCT, also called ultra-fast CT). The theory is that the amount of calcium in the coronary arteries can help predict whether a person is at risk for a heart attack and has coronary artery disease or blockage. The result of the heart scan is a coronary calcium score . "A number of studies have reported that coronary artery calcium has independent and incremental value when added to clinical or historical data in the estimation of death and nonfatal heart attack (myocardial infarction)."




Computed tomographic angiography is a general phrase used to describe noninvasive imaging of the arteries with various types of computed tomography (CT) machines, such as multislice CT, multidetector CT, and dual source CT.The use of CT scans has increased over the years due to advances in the technology and rapid diffusion of the machines outside the hospital settings. The initial single slice CT machines produced poor quality images. In the late 1990’s, 4 slice CT machines were introduced, with 16 slice and 64 slice CT machines following shortly afterwards. Image quality and performance reportedly increased with each model. However, questions remain on the indications for use.



A particular focus has been the use of computed tomographic angiography for evaluation of the coronary arteries in patients with chest pain. Proponents have claimed that cardiac or coronary CTA may reduce the need for invasive coronary angiography for certain patients. Critics have pointed out the lack of evidence on outcomes and the limitations to the technology including uninterpretable segments and the health risks from the considerable radiation exposure. Although there are other uses of CT, Medicare's decision focuses only on the use of CT for the evaluation of the coronary arteries in patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease like chest pain. Imaging performed on patients without chest pain (asymptomatic patients) would be considered screening and is not an available benefit in the Medicare program.

Decision Memo for Computed Tomographic Angiography (CAG-00385N)

GUEST POST: Are Ya Juicin' It? Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Abuse

Welcome to our second guest poster on All Scrubbed Up... Brian Carty of HotMedicalNews.com. Here's an indepth look at the effect of steroids in body builders. Chilling stuff.

By Brian Carty, MD, MSPH
March 14, 2008

Irritable, angry, aggressive, but feeling strong and invincible, Mr. A, 32, a bodybuilder and prison guard, stopped at a convenience store to call his boss. Car trouble on the way to work.. He would be late.

Bodybuilder and enhanced performance


[With permission of Steve Michalik. Mr. Michalik, a former Mr. America and Mr. Universe, once used steroids and suffered as a result. He is now an energetic and outspoken opponent of steroid abuse.]


Mr. A was taking his fifth cycle of anabolic-androgenic steroids (abbreviated in this article as "steroids"), and he was "stacking," combining high doses of several different steroids, sometimes referred to by the slang term "juice." The woman working at the convenience store noted his uniform and joked, "You officers use my phone so much, I ought to start charging for it." Mr. A was strangely disturbed by this remark. He felt that the woman had criticized and demeaned him, and he was obsessed by the remark that afternoon and throughout the night. He slept poorly. His wife could not reassure him.

'Roid Rage
Later, he said that he wanted to "scare the lady in return for that remark she made to me." In the morning Mr. A drove back to the convenience store and forced the woman into his car. She fought back, biting his hand and grabbing his revolver which fired through the windshield. Although he subdued her and drove away, when the car stopped she bolted from the car. He shot her in the back as she fled, leaving her permanently paralyzed. Mr. A was later arrested, tried, and sentenced to twenty years in prison. After his arrest and withdrawal from steroids, he developed major depression which resolved in a month.

This case and several other cases of homicide or near-homicide by anabolic steroid abusers are presented in an article by Dr. Harrison Pope, Jr., and Dr. David Katz in the January 1990 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Read more on this subject at Brian's site here (continuation of article)...

LEARN MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE RECALL WATCH VIDEOS AND SEE HOW AVERAGE PEOPLE USE MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES IN AMAZING FEATS

LEARN MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE RECALL WATCH A VIDEO AND SEE HOW AVERAGE PEOPLE USE MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES IN AMAZING FEATS

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Techniques called mnemonic are ways to improve recall. You can learn about mnemonic on the Internet. All mnemonic techniques are essentially based on the concept of elaborative encoding, which holds that the more meaningful something is to the brain, the easier it is to remember. The key to mnemonic ideas is to develop a system that allows quick encoding and easy recall. Watch a video here as a self taught expert explains how he uses mnemonic to recall any card from ten decks of cards.








In this video, the World Memory Champion of 2002, Andi Bell, explains how he is able to use mnemonic and recall any card from 10 decks after having studied them for just twenty minutes! and how you can too.



Click the arrow to start the video







"Though every competitor in the memory championships has his own unique method of memorization for each event, all mnemonic techniques are essentially based on the concept of elaborative encoding, which holds that the more meaningful something is, the easier it is to remember. The brain isn't built to remember abstract symbols like numbers and playing cards, but if one can translate those symbols into vivid visual images, even the dullest series of binary digits can be made as memorable as your own address. The key is to develop a system that allows quick encoding and easy recall".

See YOU AS THE NEXT EINSTEIN GAMES FOR BRAIN EXERCISE MAKING YOUR BRAIN STRONGER BY PLAYING GAMES ON THE INTERNET TRY BRAIN SPEED TEST

Click here to see online tests of mental ability thinking and attention

Forget Me Not





There are five events in the U.S. Memory Championships. Memory Championships? What are those?....I was surprised too! It turns out that there are national and international memory championships where mental athletes compete in a sort of Marathon of Memory ..a Super Bowl of Recall. "To attain the rank of grand master of memory, you must be able to perform three seemingly superhuman feats. You have to memorize 1,000 digits in under an hour, the precise order of 10 shuffled decks of playing cards in the same amount of time, and one shuffled deck in less than two minutes. You're probably thinking that you have to be some kind of Uber Genius with a 200 IQ . And that's the beauty of it! Some of the people in these things turn out to be mere mortals. Everyday guys who put there pants on one leg at a time.

CLAMMY AND WEAK LIKE A HEART ATTACK THE MAN WITH THE ELEVATED CARDIAC ENZYMES NEEDED A MEDICAL DETECTIVE TO FIND OUT WHAT HIS HEART ATTACK REALLY WAS

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I read a fascinating story about a man in his early forties who had severe chest pain and all the signs of a heart attack. How can you tell if the chest pain is from a heart attack? YOU CAN'T. IF you have Chest Pain CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY for an ambulance. Let the doctors decide. Time is critical and it's better to err on the side of caution. Anyway,it's a big problem. You don't want to miss a heart attack but it turns out that many times chest pain can be due to another cause. This man was sweating and clammy and weak. He even had elevated blood cardiac enzymes like a heart attack. Many people think a normal electrocardiogram EKG means you don't have a heart attack. But you can have a heart attack or cardiac problem even with a normal EKG. Doctors look for chemicals, cardiac enzymes in the blood for evidence of heart muscle damage. This man did have elevated chemicals in the blood. It took a medical detective to figure out what the man with chest pain really had. It was not a heart attack but something much more mysterious. It turned out the answer was in his urine!




"When Decter (the doctor) heard that, something stirred in his memory. Cola-colored urine. Perhaps this was the key. Had he had this kind of dark urine since then? he asked. The patient told him that a couple of times a month his urine would turn brown and he’d feel achy all over. It happened whenever he was sick or tired or when he exercised too hard. He’d told lots of doctors about it, but none of them could figure out what was going on".



















"Decter knew he was on to something. Urine that dark is usually caused by muscle breakdown. When muscle cells are damaged, they leak CPK,( there are fractions of CPK that are more specific for heart muscle. There is also another chemical called troponin for heart muscle) but they also spill several other chemicals. One of them, the compound that gives skeletal muscle its distinctive deep red hue (myoglobin), can turn urine a dark brown. Were the brown urine and the elevated CPK caused by the same problem? Were they both signs of some longstanding disease process that was destroying this patient’s muscle"?



"Decter sent his patient to Dr. Alfred E. Slonim, a pediatric endocrinologist by training who spent his career investigating diseases of the muscle. The patient called Decter after seeing the specialist, almost speechless with excitement. Slonim spent more than an hour with him and his wife, getting the history of his strange illness. “Tell him about what happens on Yom Kippur,” his wife prompted near the end of the interview. Every year on the Jewish day of atonement, the patient would fast for a day, from sunset to sunset. And every year, he would spend the day after Yom Kippur in bed, crippled by an aching in his muscles and passing dark brown urine. Once he said that, Slonim had the diagnosis:".




He had a genetic condition called carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency is a condition that prevents the body from converting certain fats called long-chain fatty acids into energy, particularly during periods without food (fasting). Carnitine, a natural substance acquired mostly through the diet, is required by cells to process fats and produce energy. People with this disorder have a faulty enzyme that disrupts carnitine's role in processing long-chain fatty acids.



The myopathic form is the most frequent and typically the least severe form of carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency. It has a variable age of onset and is characterized by recurrent episodes of muscle pain (myalgia) and weakness. This condition is sometimes associated with the abnormal breakdown of an oxygen-binding muscle protein called myoglobin (myoglobinuria) so that the protein winds up in the urine or the breakdown of muscle tissue (rhabdomyolysis). Rarely, myoglobinuria can result in kidney failure.

When Is a Heart Attack Not a Heart Attack?

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency

A SURGEON TELLS OF HIS OWN GASTRIC BYPASS BAND SUCCESS STORY AND WE WRITE ABOUT THE RISKS REWARDS OF GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY

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Often a topic for comedians, weight is not so funny when you are fighting a long battle, dieting with little to show to control excess weight that colors every part of your existence from your health to your social life. Many people have chosen gastric bypass surgery. A surgeon who had gastric banding has written a blog about his experiences with gastric banding and weight loss. Note he has no affiliation with my blog. I just found his story very inspiring and thought it would be useful to people considering gastric band surgery.

Click healty medical Study Suggests Less Cancer with Gastric Bypass


For him the results have been worth it. He even entered a triathalon. A New England Journal of Medicine research article found that gastric bypass surgery is beneficial. "In fact, the benefit is quite dramatic. The authors studied 9,949 patients who had undergone weight loss surgery, and compared them to a control group of 9,628 severely obese individuals who did not have the surgery".

Look at this incredible before and after of a woman who had gastric bypass







He writes in his blog "One year today, life has completely changed, not only my weight but my attitude to life. Best bit has been return to sports; cycling, gym, spinning, learning to scuba dive, competing in a triathlon. It's actually been one of the best years of my life. Thanks to all that have supported me physically and mentally".

















When it comes to doing surgery experience counts. You want a doctor who does many bariatric weight loss procedures. "Technological innovations, especially the use of laparoscopic procedures (using a tube that is inserted through an incision in the abdominal wall so it's less invasive) have made for considerable gains in safety and efficacy. While the operation is still dangerous in some circumstances — one study found that for a surgeon’s first 19 bariatric operations, patients were nearly five times as likely to die than patients that the surgeon later operated on — the overall mortality rate is now in the neighborhood of 1 percent.

The editorial in the New England Journal also points out that the lowest surgical mortality is seen among surgeons who have performed more than 50 operations and preferably more than 100 operations.

See also healty medical Blog GASTRIC BAND WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY FOR OBESE DIABETES STUDY SAYS DIABETICS DID BETTER WITH GASTRIC BAND

Chris Oliver Blogspot Adjustable Laparoscopic Gastric Band Story



After gastric bypass surgery there was a significant reduction particularly from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. However, the rate from causes other than disease was higher in the surgery group than in the control group".

Study Shows Dramatic Health Benefit From Obesity Surgery








"Not only do most patients keep off a significant amount of weight but the other medical problems that accompany obesity are also often assuaged. One recent analysis found that 77 percent of bariatric-surgery patients with Type 2 diabetes experienced “complete resolution” of their diabetes after the procedure; the surgery also helps eliminate hypertension and sleep apnea. From an economic standpoint, research suggests that the operation can pay for itself within a few years because a postbariatric patient now requires less medical care and fewer prescriptions. That’s why some insurance companies cover bariatric surgery — as more do, it will likely lead to a further spike in the volume of operations".

Long-Term Mortality after Gastric Bypass Surgery (this is a pdf)

Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Bandings