ShowMeBlog

Smoking or gays?

“WASHINGTON (CNN) -- You've seen the iconic picture of a soldier with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but that could soon be a thing of the past.

A new study commissioned by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs recommends a complete ban on tobacco, which would end tobacco sales on military bases and prohibit smoking by anyone in uniform, not even combat troops in the thick of battle.

According to the study, tobacco use impairs military readiness in the short term. Over the long term, it can cause serious health problems, including lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. The study also says smokeless tobacco use can lead to oral and pancreatic cancer.

The Defense Department's top health officials are studying the report's suggestions and will make recommendations to the Pentagon's policy team and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The study recommends phasing out tobacco products such as cigarettes and cigars over a five- to 10-year period…”

    The CNN story goes on to say that many in the military object to a ban on smoking.  

    The military is so upset with the idea of gays in the military, and we know that about 10% of the military is gay, I think we should offer a deal …It could be you can smoke if you agree to gays in the military.  Smile
   

Taking Vicodin and Percocet off the marktet?

  On ShowMeBlog on July 1st I posted about a panel voting to do away with Vicodin and Percocet.  That was is here.  We got a couple of comments from people that say they need those medications for pain relief.
  I been following the discussions of the issue on the news.
  The way I understand it now is that people could still get the pain medication that they need now…but it would not contain acetaminophen.  Vicodin and Percocet is a mix of two medications and one is the pain medication and the other is acetaminophen. 
  Now acetaminophen is very hard on the liver.
  What the panel wants is to take out the acetaminophen and then the doctor and patient can decide just how much, if any, of the acetaminophen they should take.
  So if they still call say Vicodin by that name you would take it and you could then take with it Tylenol, NyQuil, Pamprin or Allerest with it.
  That sounds like a very good idea to me.
  However I am not sure if it is the same panel or a different group they want to reduce the strength in the acetaminophen that you can buy over the counter without a Rx from a doctor.
  Like right now you can buy Tylenol Acetaminophen Extra Strength (500 mg) over the counter.  Due to the damage that acetaminophen does to the liver I suspect they want to reduce the strength.

Take Vicodin and Percocet off the market?

• NEW: Panel votes to kill prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen, narcotics
• Panel advises lower maximum doses of nonprescription acetaminophen drugs
• Those drugs include Tylenol, NyQuil, Pamprin and Allerest
• CDC estimates acetaminophen was the likely cause of most acute liver failures

  (CNN) -- “A government advisory panel voted Tuesday to recommend eliminating prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen with narcotics -- such as Vicodin and Percocet -- because of their risk for overdose and for severe liver injury.

The panel, assembled by the Food and Drug Administration, voted 20 to 17 to advise the FDA to remove such prescription combination drugs from the market.

The group recommended that the FDA "send a clear message that there's a high likelihood of overdose from prescription narcotics and acetaminophen products," Dr. Sandra L. Kweder of the FDA's Office of New Drugs said at a news conference after Tuesday's meeting.

The panel was meeting for the second day to vote on recommendations to reduce the risk of serious liver injury associated with acetaminophen, which is found not only in prescription drugs, but also in over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol and NyQuil.

It also advised the FDA to lower the maximum daily dose of acetaminophen in over-the-counter and prescription medications, and to address the formulations and dosing recommendations for children…”

  If they are talking about doing away with Vicodin and Percocet I think it would be a good idea.  A great many drug users take Vicodin and Percocet.  Hospital emergency rooms get lots of people each day that come in and pretend they have some sort of pain problem and they want Vicodin or Percocet. 

How can I help my schizophrenic son?

  CNN has a question and answer service.  A woman asked “How can I help my schizophrenic son when he stops taking his meds?”

Here is her question:

Asked By Maria, PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania

“Please help. My son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. However, when he starts feeling better he won't take his medicine, which is risperidone, and it is very difficult for us to get him to take it when he is not feeling well. He is a bright young man who has lost his job many times because of this illness. Are there any new findings for this illness? Can you explain what part of the brain is affected?”

  I was very interested in the answer to the question since I also have a son with the same problem.  He is not taking his medications now.  He says that he takes the medication.  He lives in Texas with mother, my ex-wife, and she can not get him to take his medications.
  About three months ago I started sending him $120.00 each month as a bribe to take his medication but that has not worked.
 
  Here is the CNN doctor’s answer to the woman’s question.

Teen diagnoses her own Crohn’s disease

“For eight years, Jessica Terry suffered from stomach pain so horrible, it brought her to her knees. The pain, along with diarrhea, vomiting and fever, made her so sick, she lost weight and often had to miss school.

Her doctors, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't figure out the cause of Jessica's abdominal distress.

Then one day in January, Terry, 18, figured it out on her own.

In her Advanced Placement high school science class, she was looking under the microscope at slides of her own intestinal tissue -- slides her pathologist had said were completely normal -- and spotted an area of inflamed tissue called a granuloma, a clear indication that she had Crohn's disease…”

CNN Story

  Read that CNN story.  We do have excellent doctors and hospitals in the United States.  But they do often make errors.  If you do not have health care insurance you are fucked in the United States.  This girl may have had health care insurance.  I hope she will still have health insurance.  With Crohn’s disease she is going to need insurance.
  Russell my grandson was in the ER last year with some problems and the ER could not find out what the problem was that he was having.  The ER doctor said it might be Crohn’s disease.  Russell has no job at this time.  He has been looking but can not find a job.  He has, of course, no health insurance.  He was getting un-employment money but that came to an end because the Republican state of FL refused federal un-employment money that would have had him, and many others, getting money until December.

Diabetes diagnostic test

  CNN has a very interesting story on Diabetes diagnostic test recommended as standard.  I just had the fasting plasma glucose test and my blood sugar was 121.  The doctor’s office called me and told me that I needed to come in for an A1C assay test right away.  I did not make an appointment.
   So the story in CNN is very interesting to me but I noticed something in the story about the test I took already.  It says in the fasting test the patient does not eat anything for about 12 to 14 hours before a blood test.  OH NO… I fasted from midnight and my test was at 0930 hours.  That is 9 and a half hours.  I ate and drink something right up until midnight.  So I do not think my fasting glucose test was correct. 
   I will go in for the test next month when I get my SS money.  They are going to want $20.00 for the lab test and I will wait until next month to have them do the test. I already spent $20.00 with them this month.
   I should mention that the doctor’s office before I took the blood test said I would need to fast and they would make the test early for me.  They never said 12 to 14 hours.  They just said “fasting.”  The lab girl that took my blood asked me if I had fasted and I said yes.  She never said 12 or 14 hours.  My guess is that she should have asked “When did you last eat?” and put that down.
   I am sort of thinking that I should get a new doctor.  I switched to this doctor a couple of years ago and saw him on my birthday and he did an EGK in his office and sent me right over to the ER and I was admitted.  You may remember that.  So I saw him after I got out of the hospital one or two times and then they switched me over to their nurse practitioner.  I like her and she spends more time with me and listens better than the doctor but I think I should switch to some other doctor.  I would not want to tell them at their office that I do not want to see the nurse practitioner.  It would hurt her feelings and it would make for an awkward situation for me and the doctor and the nurse practitioner.  I guess I will have to think about what I am going to do now.

Blood sugar level

  A few days ago I went to the doctor’s office and they did blood work.  They just called and said that I need to come in and have a “HAIL” test done to see if I am diabetic.  My blood sugar level was 121.

  “…Fasting blood sugar test. A blood sample will be taken after you fast for at least eight hours or overnight. With this test, a blood sugar level lower than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) is normal. A blood sugar level from 100 to 125 mg/dL is considered prediabetes. This is sometimes referred to as impaired fasting glucose (IFG). A blood sugar level of 126 mg/dL or higher may indicate diabetes…”
 
  I just found the above on the Internet.  I feel a bit better.  
  OK it is close to the 126 level but hell it was 121.  I am not sure I am going to get in and have a special test done right away.  I AM going to cut down on my sugar intake big time.  It will be hard but I am going to start making an effort today.

  I do not want diabetes.  I have seen how bad it is and the problems that people have that have diabetes.

Emergency Rooms Crammed With People

  CNN has a story about “walking well” flooding hospital emergency rooms.  I am so glad I am not working hospital security now.  I saw a bit of this in the past when I was working. 
  The news media is going nuts on the issue of the H1N1 virus (swine flu).  Fox “news” was talking about this flu as the new black death.  That is crazy.  But the other networks, while not calling it a black death, are reporting on each new case and counting them and showing video over and over again and reporting on it over and over again.
  Just with the normal flu we get each year 35,000 people die from it in the United States.  We need to be aware of this current H1N1 virus but the news media is out of control.
  Because of that people are running to the emergency room because they have a runny nose or a cough.  Some are showing up at the ER because they had pork to eat last week.
  Because of laws and fear of being sued hospitals are not going to just ask a couple of questions and then turn you away.  They are going to check you in and do some checking. 
  What happens is then their limited number of beds are full of people that are not sick and have no business being in an ER and you have real patients that have life and death issues sitting in a waiting room waiting to be seen.  Sure if the staff know that the person in the waiting room has a true emergency they will take them in and see them right away but often you do not know until they drop over dead on the fucking floor. 
  You may have a small ER with one ER doctor and two nurses and they may have four or five normal beds in the ER and one major code room and a GI room and a cast room and another bed or two and that is it.  They will now be filled with people that have nothing wrong with them.

  I do not know what the answer is for the problem.  The news media is going to use this story to get people to watch them and they are going to try and out do each other.  Sort of hard to top Fox “news” talking about black death however.  Smile
  One thing is we need national health care.  Then people can go to a family doctor and they will not have to go to an emergency room.  Right now people without insurance can not go to a family doctor because the doctor is going to demand insurance or to be paid cash right on the spot.  So the poor people will just go to the ER.
 

First Swine Flu Death

“ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A child in Texas has become the first fatality from swine flu in the United States, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday…”

  We are going to hear a great deal about the Swine flu.  The news media is going to scare the hell out of the American people.  I think the Swine flu is going to be just like other flu seasons. Yes, sad to say that many people will die.  People die each year from the flu and the Swine flu will be no different except we will hear about it.
 
   

“…However, he stressed that people should maintain their perspective on the swine flu outbreak.

"Seasonal flu each year causes tens of thousands of deaths in this country -- on average, about 36,000 deaths," Besser said. "And so this flu virus in the United States, as we're looking at it, is not acting very differently from what we saw during the flu season."

Meanwhile, health officials said they think they may have found "patient zero" in the global outbreak in a village in the mountains of Mexico…”

  I hope I am right about this flu.  I hope it is not the super flu many experts have been fearing is going to hit the world.

Government declares a Public Health Emergency

Here is the run down so far;  California 7 cases, Kansas 2 cases, New York City 8 cases, Ohio 1 case and 2 cases in Texas.  The Federal government has now declared a "Public Health Emergency."

 

There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

• Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
• If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.