Many of us have found our doctor visits have been filled with tests to make sure everything is ok and that we are healthy.  As many of us learned a few weeks ago, nine medical specialties admitted 48 tests or screens were not as helpful as we were lead to believe, and in fact, resulted in harm to many while preventing any real disease process in the few.  This included prostate screenings and other cancer screenings people believed in because they were told these services would save lives.  Unfortunately, the data and the truth are different that those who would benefit from the adminstration of these screens.

One of the most common obsessions is with cholesterol levels, one of the 18 risk factors for cardiac disease as we have been told.  New information now suggests HDL’s that were supposed to be good may not be so preventative of heart disease after all.  The NY Times says “People who inherit genes that give them naturally higher HDL levels throughout life have no less heart disease than those who inherit genes that give them slightly lower levels. If HDL were protective, those with genes causing higher levels should have had less heart disease. ”

What does this all mean to you, the consumer? 

Unfortunately, much of the public at large have been duped into taking cholesterol meds to chase the bogey man of heart disease because it supposedly lowered risk.  The problem is that these medications create problems in muscles and in the liver and must be closely monitored.  Worse, we are waiting for the next shoe to drop when studies finally show these drugs have no benefit, yet, you made yourself sick taking them because you were afraid of heart disease.   Based on what we know and the new drugs that fail to improve our health with the same broken theories, the fear and the medication may be worse than the what if problem that may never occur.

Two things in life that are certain are death and taxes.  Of course, many of us want to live a long time. You may actually improve those odds by not taking many of these products which do more harm than good.  As often suggested, making health decisions out of knowledge rather than fear and you will make better decisions.  Rather obsessing about diseases, obsess about living, taking calculated risks and see the world. Mental health helps us live longer and stay active too.

Check out the NY Times article here

Doubt Cast on the ‘Good’ in ‘Good Cholesterol’

By GINA KOLATA

The name alone sounds so encouraging: HDL, the “good cholesterol.” The more of it in your blood, the lower your risk of heart disease. So bringing up HDL levels has got to be good for health.

Or so the theory went.

Now, a new study that makes use of powerful databases of genetic information has found that raising HDL levels may not make any difference to heart disease risk. People who inherit genes that give them naturally higher HDL levels throughout life have no less heart disease than those who inherit genes that give them slightly lower levels. If HDL were protective, those with genes causing higher levels should have had less heart disease.

Researchers not associated with the study, published online Wednesday in The Lancet, found the results compelling and disturbing. Companies are actively developing and testing drugs that raise HDL, although three recent studies of such treatments have failed. And patients with low HDL levels are often told to try to raise them by exercising or dieting or even by taking niacin, which raised HDL but failed to lower heart disease risk in a recent clinical trial.

Read more here

Coffee Drinkers Rejoyce – Catch Your Morning Buzz and Live Longer Too.

A new study shows that coffee drinkers are more likely to live longer.  Many coffee drinkers (myself included) love the morning buzz and some of us feel we just cannot function without it.  Although there were some previous concerns regarding the safety of coffee, some new information suggests the coffee and starbucks crowd may also have an added bonus… A longer life. 

Scientists: Coffee Drinkers Live Longer

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 9:28 PM
Read more: Scientists: Coffee Drinkers Live Longer

One of life’s simple pleasures just got a little sweeter. After years of waffling research on coffee and health, even some fear that java might raise the risk of heart disease, a big study finds the opposite: Coffee drinkers are a little more likely to live longer. Regular or decaf doesn’t matter.

The study of 400,000 people is the largest ever done on the issue, and the results should reassure any coffee lovers who think it’s a guilty pleasure that may do harm.

 ”Our study suggests that’s really not the case,” said lead researcher Neal Freedman of the National Cancer Institute. “There may actually be a modest benefit of coffee drinking.”

 No one knows why. Coffee contains a thousand things that can affect health, from helpful antioxidants to tiny amounts of substances linked to cancer. The most widely studied ingredient – caffeine – didn’t play a role in the new study’s results.

 It’s not that earlier studies were wrong. There is evidence that coffee can raise LDL, or bad cholesterol, and blood pressure at least short-term, and those in turn can raise the risk of heart disease.

Continue reading here

The cure for cancer has not been found, however, for those who have suffered through the disease and its treatment, exercise may keep the cancer away.  A new study shows that Cancer Survivors who stay active as less likely to get it again.

Cancer Survivors Who Stay Active Live Longer

Phys Ed|

| May 16, 2012, 12:01 am

Can going for a walk improve cancer survivors’ long-term prognosis? It may, according to new research showing that exercise can lower survivors’ risk of premature death, not only from cancer but from any cause. The findings are likely to resonate widely at a time when about 14 million Americans, and many more worldwide, have survived cancer.

In one report, a major new review published this month in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, scientists at the agency gathered available studies examining exercise and cancer survivorship, dating to 1950. Most had been published in the past five years.

“This is an area of growing scientific interest,” says Dr. Rachel Ballard-Barbash, the associate director for applied research at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. “Exercise is an accessible, low-cost intervention. But before we can suggest that cancer survivors become physically active, we need to understand what effects exercise has” on the bodies and life spans of those who’ve been given a cancer diagnosis.

To date, messages about the effects of exercise on cancer patients have been mixed. Some physicians have worried that exercise might exacerbate the fatigue that is common after cancer treatment. Others have raised concerns that the physical stress of exercise could even create conditions within the body that might contribute to tumor recurrence.

Continue reading here

Many of our patients are helped with our drug free methods.  A new movie now in production called Medical Incorporated reveals the truth about today’s healthcare system, and the Monopoly that surrounds it.

Check out the trailer here.  You can even become a sponsor for a few dollars.  This is the movie that blows the whistle on why healthcare is so dysfunctional and why.

Ipad neck?  A new condition arrives with a new electronic device.

The Ipad has become the tablet dejour for most people, with Apple selling millions of these devices the public internationally just ate up.  Many of us have come to rely on these devices either at work or home for browsing the internet and more importantly, Facebook gaming. 

My wife, who not only runs her home business on this using it to answer questions of her clients and communicate with her partner, is constantly on this.  Of late, her most frequent complaint is neck pain.  Typically, she sits on the couch typing into the surface of the device.  Since she often plays Facebook games as well, she is constantly looking down at the device.

If this sounds familiar, it is because many people are also doing the same and noticing their neck may also be stiff and sore and they do not understand why.

Check out this recent NY Times post on the subject.

Really? Using an iPad Can Strain Your Neck

REALLY? | 

 | May 7, 2012, 2:02 PM

THE FACTS

More and more people are getting hooked on tablet computers like the iPad. By 2015, there may be as many as 80 million tablet users in the United States alone.

The simplicity of the sleek hand-held devices can make life easier. But for some, a tablet can literally be a pain in the neck.

In a recent study, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health looked at whether using a tablet in various seating configurations can cause head and neck strain. They found that using a tablet on your lap for extended periods may raise the risk of neck and shoulder discomfort and potentially musculoskeletal problems.

The scientists studied 15 experienced tablet users in their natural viewing positions. Placing a tablet on the lap created the greatest strain, the researchers found, because it forces the user to look down at a steep angle, causing head and neck flexion — a particular hazard for users who are doing a lot of typing.

People can hold tablets in a more upright position while watching a movie, but generally the screen has to be held flatter for the user to type, which causes more flexion and potentially more head and neck strain.

Read more here

In the news today, the makers at Gilead Sciences, the makers of the AIDS drug Truvada must be thrilled as are their stock holders.  Truvada, long a staple for treating and minimizing the effects of the AIDS virus, may be safe enough when taken daily to prevent the spread and proliferation of the AIDS virus. This type of endorsement on an established drug can be worth billions.

Is this a good idea?  While the intention of preventing AIDS is admirable, all drugs have side effects and if taken by people who are high risk on a daily basis (My assumption is being married to someone with AIDS, or perhaps involved sexually in groups most likely to contract it), it will prevent the proliferation of the virus among those groups and avoid lengthy and expensive prolonged or lifelong treatment.

The problem is that it is treating the what if disease.  It also may have long term side effects (here come the lawsuits in 10 years), and from a pharmaceutical companies perspective, any drug that can be deemed medically necessary which can be paid for by the system (insurance companies, government) and be taken out of fear (take it or else), is clearly a great way of building up the profit of a company while offering a solution that will likely be expensive and offer no benefit if it is not taken.

Would vaccination be a better idea, and would this work?  We will likely never find this out from big pharma because they want us to be on a subscription that lasts forever, which makes us dependent on their product and then makes us fearful of losing it.

Buyer beware, if this is approved, a problem has not been solved.  A financial problem has been created with people who need it because they will now believe they cannot live without it.  We need to rethink prevention.  This is not a daily supplement like vitamin C.  I am sure for those who are scared of contracting the virus, it will seem like it is, but at what cost (financial, side effects, etc)?

Read more here

For those of you who have Aetna and were disappointed that we have elected not to sign on to their new contract which was in our view unsignable, apparently, Aetna is not rushing to push their doctors who refused to sign the contract modification out so fast.  I spoke with their representative today who informed me that any doctor who refused to sign the contract change will eventually be removed from the networks, however, Aetna, will be keeping them on in their PPO networks for the near future.  Under Triad who handles the HMO, apparently this is the same.

What this means for you is that we will continue in their networks under our current contract until they decide we cannot.

Personally, I think too many doctors refused to sign their paperwork, forcing them to reconsider.

For now, we will maintain our participation until we are told we cannot under our current terms.

For years, lower back pain sufferers who visited neurosurgeons and orthopedics have been offered steroid injections for pain relief, often while ignoring proven and effective solutions such as better management of the problem which the book Cheating Mother Nature, what you need to know to beat chronic pain describes as a gait issue, with the lower back being the symptom rather than the problem.  Proven therapies such as manipulation and fascial release can have a terrific effect  combined with exercises to resolve a lower back and leg pain problem.  All too often, these solutions are not either offered or are pushed aside for more agressive solutions such as the steriod injection.  New evidence is now showing these injections which have been made hugely expensive, offer little or no upside benefit, yet, many surgical specialists religiously recommend them as a conservative course of care that should be considered.

Making a strong recommendation against the use of these methods is not politically correct and may offend or harm those who are selling these medical procedures, however the reality is they do not work.  Should insurers be paying for something that does not work even though they are given the hard sell as if they are necessary and do work? Since back pain has to do with the way someone walks and they way they are built as per Cheating Mother Nature, shouldn’t we be smarter about what we are treating and treat the problem, not the symptom.  Perhaps insurers must follow the lead of this Pittsburgh Pa. insurer (see article) and require manipulation, fascial release and active care prior to surgery or any invasive procedure is even considered.  This would put a huge dent in health care costs.

Read the NY Times article here

For Back Pain, Steroid Shots No More Effective Than Placebo

Doga – Yoga with your dog?

Believe it or not, this exists. Check out this article on the latest spin on the practice of Yoga.

Bonding With Their Downward-Facing Humans

Health plan now requires chiropractic or other conservative care before allowing back surgery for chronic back pain; Are insurance companies finally learning?

Years ago, people would select back surgery out of fear because their doctors recommended the option after medication and rest (two things that rarely help back problems on their own) failed to relieve the problem.  The result was unnecessary surgeries that were costly and rarely fixed the problem.  Rehabilitation of the back and the gait process that causes the back and sciatica issues takes time, patience and trust.  Years of data now suggest that before anyone has surgery, they should minimally see a chiropractor, physical therapist or both.  Many chiropractors have moved to active rehabilitation which improves the outcomes, while performing myofascial release and other methods.  This has further improved outcomes with patients, especially those with disc problems.  Methods such as flexion distraction are very effective as well as affordable.

From my own experience with a disc problem, I can tell you these methods work, and I avoided having surgery and was given a clean bill of health by a local neurosurgeon. It took months of flexion distraction, muscle work, acupuncture, and exercises until I was back to normal.

Now, a health plan in Pittsburgh affiliated with a major hospital is requiring conservative care referrals before surgery.  This forces doctors in the system to inter refer more.  Since people who are frightened by pain they do not understand and are sleep deprived by it often do not think clearly about their options, or are given all the effective options, this plan is a no brainer.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health Plan mandates conservative care before considering surgery for chronic LBP cases.

Peter W. Crownfield, Executive Editor

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Health Plan, a health maintenance organization affiliated with the university’s School of Medicine, has adopted landmark guidelines for the management of chronic low back pain. As of Jan. 1, 2012, candidates for spine surgery must receive “prior authorization to determine medical necessity,” which includes verification that the patient has “tried and failed a 3-month course of conservative management that included physical therapy, chiropractic therapy, and medication.” Surgery candidates also must be graduates of the plan’s LBP health coaching program. The program features a Web-based decision-making tool designed to help plan members “understand the pros and cons of surgery and high-tech radiology.” It is the first reported implementation of such a policy by a health care plan.

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