Teen correctly self diagnoses disease Doctors Missed

You have to read this article about how a teen had to eventually self diagnose her Crohn's disease because the doctors kept missing it:

click here.

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Food Inc., a look at Factory and Science Fiction Farming

Funny, even in Whole Foods I find myself skipping most of the aisles (organic marshmallow, chips with MSG) and goign mostly for produce...which will end this week as our CSA starts. Haven't been to a normal supermarket in years. Anyway, the always entertaining Stephen Colbert interviews Eric Schlosser about the new documentary, Food, Inc, that you all must see:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Eric Schlosser
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

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Warning on Bacterial Contamination in Hand Sanitizers: FDA Warns Consumers

Yo, keep it simple and try castile soap (like Dr. Bronner's, that you can buy in bulk concentrate that you dilute) and water. The soap makes the germs slide off, no need for an all-out assault to KILL them. Blech.

From the Huffington post:

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The FDA has warned consumers not to use Clarcon skin products. From the release:

Risk of bacterial contamination has led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to warn consumers to not use any products made by Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory Inc.

The Roy, Utah, firm voluntarily recalled some skin sanitizers and skin protectants sold under a variety of brand names after a recent FDA inspection found that the products contained high levels of disease-causing bacteria.

What products are consumers being warned not to use?

Consumers should not use any Clarcon products. Examples of these products include

• Citrushield Lotion

• Dermasentials DermaBarrier

• Dermassentials by Clarcon Antimicrobial Hand Sanitizer

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Going to work sick increases changes of more absenteeism

Talk about preventative medicine. Ironically, when I was doing research for my "doctor" novel, I noticed doctors in particular pride themsemves on working (cough cough) when they're sick. Blech.

From Newswise, the journalists'-only site:
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Newswise — Employees who often go to work despite feeling sick have higher rates of future work absences due to illness, according to a study in the June Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

The findings raise the possibility that measures attempting to decrease work absences could inadvertently have the opposite effect, if they encourage workers to come to work when sick.

Led by Gunnar Bergström, Ph.D., of Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, the researchers evaluated whether going to work despite illness—called "sickness presenteeism"—affects future sickness absenteeism. The study included two groups of workers: about 3,750 public sector employees, mainly female; and 2,500 private-sector employees, mainly male.

Workers with more days going to work sick also had more days absent because of illness. In the first year of the study, 19 percent of public sector workers and 13 percent of private sector workers had more than five sickness presenteeism days. For these workers, the risk of having more than 30 days of sickness absenteeism the following year was 40 to 50 percent higher, after adjustment for other factors.
Recent studies have shown that sickness presenteeism is common—most employees say they go to work sick at least sometimes. Poor health is one likely risk factor for sickness presenteeism, but other job-related and personal factors could also play a role.

The new study suggests that employees with a lot of sickness presenteeism days also have more sickness absenteeism days. This may indicate the health-promoting aspects of taking sick leave when appropriate, as shown by previous studies.

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Lifestyle Changes can Help Fibroids and Endometriosis

Fibroids and endo are not just painful, they can cause infertility and complicate pregnancy. Fortuately, some simple lifestyle changes can help. From Natural News:

(NaturalNews) The incidence of fibroids and endometriosis are nearly epidemic in the USA. More than a half million American women have hysterectomies every year due to problems associated with fibroids and endometriosis. It is estimated that around 40% of American women 35 and older have fibroids and 10 to 20 percent of American women of childbearing age have endometriosis. Fortunately, woman can find relief from these health problems by implementing some lifestyle changes.

What is Endometriosis?

Endometriosis is a common gynecological condition which can affect up to 15% of all women. Half of all women with endometriosis will be infertile. It is a condition where the lining of the womb implants and grows outside the womb itself. It can grow in the Fallopian tubes, pelvis, bowel bladder and even the nasal passages. The tissue bleeds every time there is a period, but with endometriosis the blood has no outlet and becomes trapped in the tissue causing pain, inflammation, cysts and scar tissue. It appears endometriosis is sensitive to oestrogen, so high oestrogen levels are linked to endometriosis. Common symptoms are pain during periods, painful sex (60% of all cases), heavy or irregular periods, back pain, nausea, fatigue, GI problems and infertility.

What are Fibroids?

Fibroids are non-cancerous growths in or on the muscular wall of womb and affect about 20% of women over age of 30. Symptoms are mainly heavy periods - due to the surface of the womb being bigger, but there is no pain. Sometimes women experience frequent urination, constipation and even back ache; for some there is a risk of anemia and infertility.

Risk Factors Associated with Endometriosis and Fibroids
*Excess Levels of Estrogen / Deficient Progesterone: Excess estrogen causes abnormal tissue growth and is a direct cause of both fibroids and endometriosis for many women.
*X-Rays: Any amount of radiation may increase the risk of fibroids. Many women actually develop these problems months after a mammogram.
*Too Much Caffeine: A 2001 study published in Fertility and Sterility revealed that women who consume 500 milligrams of caffeine daily, which is the equivalent of 4-5 cups of coffee, produce 70% more estrogen in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle than women who consume less than 1 cup of coffee.
*Meat: Research published in Obstetrics and Gynecology discovered that eating red meat doubles the risk of developing uterine fibroids. This is most likely due to the hormone injections and antibiotics given to conventional animals.
*Oral Contraceptives: Statistics show that a large percentage of women who have these issues have taken the pill. Oral contraceptives can also aggravate fibroid problems and endometriosis for susceptible women.

Lifestyle Changes that can Help Endometriosis and Fibromyalgia

*Fiber - Increase the amount of fibrous foods in the diet to balance estrogens
*Lose Weight - Being obese increases the number of fat cells in the body, which produces more oestrogen increasing hormone levels.
*Stress - stress can cause women to stop ovulating and hormonal issues.
*Avoid alcohol - It is the job of the liver to break up oestrogen levels and excrete them, so excess alcohol is a burden to the liver
*Avoid Sugar and simple carbohydrates such as white bread - These foods cause inflammation, pain and swelling.
*Avoiding smoking - this depletes micro-nutrients required for healthy hormone balance and the immune system.
*Essential Fats - EFAs help to metabolize hard, clogging saturated fats that contribute to fibroid growths. EFAs also help maintain hormone balance and reduce inflammation- important.
*Cruciferous veggies - These vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts and contain a natural antioxidant with powerful anti-tumor activity called Indole 3 carbinole. This improves estrogen metabolism and the body's ability to eliminate excess estrogen.

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Cancer Research and conflicts of interest...

Not surprising in the least. But something to be aware of.

From Newswise, the journalists'-only site:

Newswise — Nearly one-third of cancer research published in high-impact journals disclosed a conflict of interest, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The most frequent type of conflict was industry funding of the study, which was seen in 17 percent of papers. Twelve percent of papers had a study author who was an industry employee. Randomized trials with reported conflicts of interest were more likely to have positive findings.

“Given the frequency we observed for conflicts of interest and the fact that conflicts were associated with study outcomes, I would suggest that merely disclosing conflicts is probably not enough. It’s becoming increasingly clear that we need to look more at how we can disentangle cancer research from industry ties,” says study author Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., assistant professor of radiation oncology at the U-M Medical School.

The researchers looked at 1,534 cancer research studies published in prominent journals. Results of this current study appear online in the journal Cancer.

“A serious concern is individuals with conflicts of interest will either consciously or unconsciously be biased in their analyses. As researchers, we have an obligation to treat the data objectively and in an unbiased fashion. There may be some relationships that compromise a researcher’s ability to do that,” Jagsi says.

For example, she says, researchers might design industry-funded studies in a way that’s more likely to produce favorable results. They might also be more likely to publish positive outcomes than negative outcomes.

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Female Hormones Replacement may make Lung Cancer more Fatal

ORLANDO, Fla. – There's more troubling news about hormone therapy for menopause symptoms: Lung cancer seems more likely to prove fatal in women who are taking estrogen-progestin pills, a study suggests.

Hormone users who developed lung cancer were 60 percent more likely to die from the disease as women who weren't taking hormones, according to results reported Saturday.

The new findings mean that smokers should stop taking hormones, and those who have not yet started hormones should give it careful thought, said Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He led the analysis and presented results at a meeting of the oncology society in Florida.

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