HEALTH-DIET-EXERCISE – Page 4

DRUG ERROR – COLCHICINE – POSSIBLY LINKED TO FATALITIES

THIS IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THOSE PERSONS SEEKING MEDICAL AIDES AND MEDICAL CURES. (REFERENCE CITED.)

(generic photos from tufts.edu and generic medicines)

The Herald – Everett, Wash. – www.HeraldNet.com

Published: Saturday, April 28, 2007

Toxic drug at Portland clinic causes three deaths

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. – Three people in the Pacific Northwest have died after receiving a drug that was erroneously made 10 times more potent than intended, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office said Friday.

ApotheCure Inc., a drug-compounding pharmacy company in Texas, said an employee made a weighing error in the creation of the drug colchicine, which lead to the deaths. Colchicine is commonly used to treat gout, but in these cases it was being given intravenously to treat back pain.

The drug was sent to the Center for Integrative Medicine in Portland, where three people received injections of the defective batch of the drug this spring. All three people, two from Portland and one from Yakima, died between the end of March and beginning of April from the toxic levels of the drug.

The defective doses were sent only to the Portland clinic, ApotheCure said.

The Food and Drug Administration said it is investigating the case but believes the problem has been contained.

The Center for Integrative Medicine has since closed, and representatives from the organization could not be reached.

Colchicine works by stopping cells from dividing, which reduces inflammation in conditions such as gout, said Dr. Rob Hendrickson, associate medical director for the Oregon Poison Center. But in excess doses, the drug stops all cells from dividing – eventually leading to organ failure and death.

The medication is not commonly used anymore and the use as a back pain treatment is less common than for gout.

Gary Osborn, a pharmacist and certified clinical nutritionist for ApotheCure, said the situation could have been contained earlier, but the clinic did not contact ApotheCure until nearly two weeks after the first death. He said the second death occurred before the company was able to complete recalling the batch and sending them a new lot. He said this is ApotheCure’s first incident of this sort.

“We are kind of the leaders in the industry,” Osborn said. “But you know what people say, stuff happens.

Linqiong Copyright Â©1996-2007.
The Daily Herald Co.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

POISON CENTERS AND TOXINS AND POISONINGS METH to METHANOL to MUSHROOMS – One Call 1-800-222-1222

This is the time of year when lawn chemicals, yard cleanups, and neighborhood events start to be exposed and available to little hands. Certainly many chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides, fuels, and cleaning agents are ubiquitous in homes and garages. But beware. Many of these chemicals are poisonous and dangerous with regard to flammability, explosiveness, and chemical burns.

Each dollar invested in poison centers saves about seven dollars in expenses not needed if the patients go into their doctor, their clinics, or their hospitals. This is a great public health service.

Over the years since the early 60's, the poison centers have become an integral part of the healthcare network. Now with the terrorism issues, the poison centers have become an integral monitoring source of information, as many times calls come to the poison centers early and often, thereby making a grid of what is happening and where it is happening.

For instance, when the bad botulism toxin product that was being used by spas and clinics that were trying to save money by not buying and using the approved botulinum toxin brand, the poison centers were seeing a problem early. Patients across the country, in pockets, were being paralyzed – not just the muscles of the eyebrow, forehead, and other smaller muscles.

The poison centers across the USA now have a single number. Depending on your area code, your call will be forwarded to the center in your area, or the one contracted by your state officials. For instance, Idaho calls go to Denver's poison center. Alaska's poison calls go to Oregon. Washington's poison center gets all of Washington State's calls. This year that number will be around 150,000 calls! Poison calls are answered by an expert group of pharmacists, nurses, Pharm Ds and have backup by physicians specializing in toxicology and poisonings. It is the number that the experts in all fields, from dermatologists to kidney specialists, call when the patient has been poisoned, or is toxic from unknown sources, or when the patient doesn't act or change based upon "normal" disease states.

The goal of Poison Prevention Week is to reduce illnesses, injuries, and deaths due to poisonings; build safer communities; and reduce unnecessary health care costs for everyone.

Here are some ways to be poison cautious:

Obtain syrup of ipecac and keep it in your home – but use it ONLY if instructed to do so by a poison center or physician

Use child-resistant containers and remember, they are not childproof

Keep products in their original containers

Never call medicine candy or take it in the dark

Return products to storage areas immediately after use

Teach children about Mr. Yuk

Put Mr. Yuk stickers on all poisonous products

Call the Poison Center for a free information packet and Mr. Yuk stickers

Keep emergency numbers next to your phone:

1-800-222-1222

What is National Poison Prevention Week?

Public Law 87-319 authorizes the President to designate annually the third week in March as National Poison Prevention Week. This act of Congress was signed into law on September 16, 1961, by President Kennedy, after which the Poison Prevention Week Council was organized to coordinate this annual event. Congress intended this event as a means for local communities to raise awareness of the dangers of unintentional poisonings and to take such preventive measures as the dangers warrant.

(PC week and listing adapted from WAPC.org website with commentary from castMD.com)

PACK RATS AND SAVERS – CLUTTERERS ADDICTION

Have you ever wondered why you saved something? You find the dust accumulation, like fresh snow on the sidewalk, on the old book or stack of papers. You can’t live without it, or them, or the files, or the boxes of the papers or files or smaller boxes. You absolutely know, beyond any shadow of a doubt – that you, yes you, will indeed, one day, not soon, but some day – require that item to be whole. Wow….

Why do the savers do this? I remember walking into an office of a professor once. Little did I remember of our conversation. Overwhelming amazement and disbelief warped my mind as the mountains of papers sat from the floor to the ceiling. Not only papers, but also the books, the binders, the boxes of books, and the boxes of binders. Why would he need a conference syllabus from 1979?

That little seashell gift from your Auntie is still valuable and taking up space not only on the mantle, but also in your brain. She gave that to you in 1960!

Clutter is intimate. Clutter represents the untapped resource of the final idea. Clutter is the soul of what can become. All those articles neatly filed, catalogued, scanned into a progression of finding it someday. All the unread, partially read, outdated books that may become part of your next book, or writing, or an editorial.

Possibly the worst offending clutterers? Certainly teachers hit the top of the list, at all levels. Hobbiest are great clutterers, never know when you need that spool or dried up glue. Some of that remaining blue yarn could become the hair of that unique doll for the grandchildren. But everyone is a clutterer.

Your next dinner party, social engagement, or backyard barbe will prove my point. Just look around. Why is the broken golf ornament still on his desk? Big Bird finger puppet – thought he went out years ago? What’s behind that door?

Offices, garages, and closets make great hideaways for the clutterer’s calmness. But overall the problem rests somewhere between poverty, obsessive-compulsive disorder, ADD, and depression, all mixed for normality to hypomania. Within all of this, is creativity. Clutterers are creative, like the addictive mind. They find the place, the time, the hidden capacity to make the world around them in the mirror look normal. But the reflection from the mirror tells a different truth and perspective.

Now, not all clutterers, savers, and pack rats deserve such painful insight. But as the time train continues the “eternal project” remains incomplete for another day.

The rules:

1. Experiment with throwing something away. Calculate in advance how you will feel, then, in a day or so, compare your reality with what you calculated. Pain or gain?

2. Start clearing by starting with smaller boxes of items, a drawer, a desk, a closet. Can’t eat the elephant with one bite.

3. Feel good about donating to others who might use it, like Goodwill or other charitable agencies.

4. With the modern day video cameras, photograph the things that represent memories and get rid of the junk. It is the memory we clutch to, not really the item.

5. Talk with your family, friends, colleagues. They do it too. Every family has one !

6. A nice compromise for families that distress over the junk…make a memory box.

7. Remember, only the feelings are real, the uncompleted task is still part of the soul.

8. Professional counseling is required to break the grip of this strange yet sometimes funny process of the human spirit.

Well, today, I was going to go find a cheap storage unit. Which stack of paper was that ad in? Which box? Which room? Oh, ya, in the bathroom…oh, it was at work…….

(adapted from The Magazine, 2007 Jan. with significant commentary by CastMD)

STROKE – BRAIN ATTACK – MRI OR CTSCAN

When it comes to having a stroke, with a sudden loss of movement, speech, thought processes, or consciousness – the quick response to get to 911 and get the patient to the hospital is paramount. Once in the hospital, sometimes a "clot buster" drug can be used, just like in heart attacks, to restore function. There are very strict timeline and symptom criteria for use of such "clot busters" in the setting of an acute stroke – "cerebrovascular accident" or CVA.

*****

Stroke is a medical emergency. Know these warning signs of stroke and teach them to others. Every second counts:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Call 9-1-1 immediately if you experience symptoms!
Time lost is brain lost!

*****

But how does the doctor know if a stroke has happened and where is the stroke? New modalities of computerized tomography of the brain (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other imaging techniques tell the doctors more information about the stroke.

Some strokes are not the "clot or blocking artery" type – as some are bleeding types and yet others are "embolic" types, or clots that have travelled from some other area of the body.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of NIH has conducted the largest study of these patients to determine which imaging study might be best to see the stroke in the brain.

A non-dye MRI showed five times the sensitivity compared to and twice the accuracy of a non-dye CT scan. Both MRI and CT not using dye again, were about equal in seeing the bleeding type of stroke.

Independent neuroradiologists read the studies and both studies were conducted on each patient in the study. Of the 356 patients with suspected stroke, the MRI showed superior for diagnosis.

If you or anyone you know, develops sudden loss of speech, motor control in an arm or leg, loss of consciousness, or confusion – call 911 immediately. Time is so important in this disease. Just as in a heart attack, let your doctor know of any concerns you have with regard to stroke.

GOING GREEN – AN ESSAY – THE WASTE BY THE PHARMA INDUSTRY AND ADVERTISING COMPANIES – WHERE IS AL GORE ON THIS?

Did you ever get a sample or starter pak of medicine from your doctor? Usually, the pak will have one or two pills in a blister, nuclearbomb proof wrap, and then boxed with some expensive advertising. When is enough, enough ! To top it off, the little pill in the blister pak in the little box is one of five or six other little highly advertised little boxes in a yet bigger box. Then comes the literature that is mandated by the FDA to be put in each box or on the blister pak itself. Then, with the leaving of the little boxes in the bigger boxes, pages and pages of highly detailed literature is presented and left with the doctor. Only God or Buddha would actually know how much of this stuff ends up in the garbage.

And now, with the internet, WebMD, CastMD, Mayo Clinic, and other portals of Net-formation, why is all this waste appealing to the advertisers, the pharma companies, and the FDA subcommittees?

If the waste would stop, more medicines could be used by clinics to help offset the high costs to patients for starter paks, courses of medicines, or to give to those without drug benefits…a rising number ! How about just a 5-10 point update on the med instead of pages of infitessimal fine print squished on multi-folded paper…What do you think FDA?

Well, I hope Al and his Green friends read my essay today. Maybe he could trade some of those "Green CO2 impression stamps" he bought to offset his private jet and give them to the FDA and the Pharma companies. That way, the universe would be in drug balance, and we don't have to worry about trees, water, air, and the uninsured and underinsured. ZZZZOOOOOOOMMMMMM, I hear his jet now………

CHEST PAIN: HEART ATTACK “IS IT THE BIG ONE” OR NON-CARDIAC CAUSE ?

Chest pain is generally considered the second most common cause patients show up at the Emergency Room (ER) doorstep. Yet only about 20% or less of patients admitted with chest pain to the hospital actually have significant coronary artery disease. There is a wide spread of how many patients that actually have coronary artery disease which also had other complaints already diagnosed – ranging from about one percent to almost thirty percent. That’s what makes diagnosing cardiac disease difficult. Some authors say ER’s discharge 5 % of the chest pain patients that will have a heart attack and another five percent or so that will have a chest pain (or equivalent) unstable episode soon after the discharge. This problem in diagnosing chest pain, and trying to pick the patients with the “real chest pain” from the heart or cardiac in origin is paramount in the ER.

Even with a normal ECG (electrocardiogram) and normal blood tests a condition of serious heart disease can co-exist with the patient. Many strategy techniques are used to try to capture the potential patient with significant heart disease. Recently the new CT scanners that can look directly at the heart blood vessels to see potential blockages or narrowings are being used, however not all insurance companies will pay for such studies.

Other causes of chest pain that are not cardiac (heart) in origin are:

gallbladder disease

pneumonia

musculoskeletal disorders

herpes zoster (“shingles”)

anxiety states

peptic ulcer disease

gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Other more serious diagnoses are:

aortic dissection (a tearing of the aorta itself)

pulmonary embolism (blood clot in lungs)

pneumothorax (popped lung – usually from trauma).

Chest pain can occur in many manners with many masks. Under the breastbone pain, aching, stabbing, with exercise especially is suspicious. However, not all cardiac pain has true pain. Many times pressure, a sense of fullness, shortness of breath can be equivalent to pain in seriousness. Some patients experience profuse sweating, nausea, light-headedness, and arm, jaw, neck, or back pain.

With the advancing of age groups, the lack of exercise in children, the growing obesity problem, and the ongoing lack of universal prevention techniques, especially in the United States – chest pain will continue to create diagnostic challenges for patients and their physicians.

Many patients do not live to tell what happened when they started having chest pain.

In 90 percent of adult victims of sudden cardiac death, two or more major coronary arteries are narrowed by fatty buildups. Scarring from a prior heart attack is found in two-thirds of victims. When sudden death occurs in young adults, other heart abnormalities are more likely causes.

About 325,000 people a year die of coronary heart disease without being hospitalized or admitted to an emergency room. That’s about half of all deaths from CHD (coronary heart disease) â€” more than 890 Americans each day. Most of these are sudden deaths caused by cardiac arrest.

IN DOUBT TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY OR GO TO AN IMMEDIATE CARE CENTER OR EMERGENCY ROOM ! CALL 911 IF YOU ARE IN DISTRESS OR UNSURE !

FOR MORE INFO CLICK ON THE LINK TO THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION’S WARNING SIGNS.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3016999

(adapted: emergmed-aha with castMD commentary)

SUICIDE AND THE ELDERLY – A “MATURE MATTERS” ESSAY

Our “mature matters” group of the boomers increasing into their late 60’s, 70’s, and onward into their 80’s and 90’s represent a new volume of potential depressed individuals and suicidal risk candidates.

It is fairly simple for depression in the elderly to go unrecognized or missed. Many times the depressed mood is masked by drugs such as anti-parkinson meds, narcotics, pain relievers, and heart and blood pressure meds. Many co-morbid conditions of parkinson’s, early dementia, diabetes, mini-strokes, heart disease, neurological disorders can also mask symptoms of elderly depression and potential suicidal risk. Depression in the elderly can suddenly change, manifesting itself as agitation, confusion, new dreams or hallucinations, but even can be a change toward new apathy or diminished or unusual caring. Certainly, with any of these, the constant is a change from the baseline of the elderly person.

Males suicides rates are alarming. Rates continue to rise as men age, with a peak in the mid-80’s of age. Meanwhile, females suicide rates peak in middle age, then decrease again in older years.

Elderly men in their 80’s have greater success in suicide attempts when compared to their younger male counterparts. Younger men generally have more attempts, but generally are less apt to completion. Many times planning specifics are detailed and even some have been to their doctor recently.

Elderly men typically will have a diagnosis of depression, while younger individuals will have a history of affective disorders (mood) or substance abuse disorders. Additional risk to the elderly potential suicide victim is a group of problems including loss of spouse, loss of home, previous suicidal discussion, alcoholism, or new diagnosis of a chronic condition.

Families and caregivers must be alert for any change in attitude, mood, eating habits, sleeping habits, or conversation or discussions of suicide – or discussion of would be better, less burdensome to their family, or hopelessness.

Elderly patients need a close eye and open ear to their concerns, wishes, demands, and needs. A hopeful and loving family with caring friends, with professional consultation, can be literally elderly life saving…and that shows that “Mature Matters.”

KIDS ON CALL – HIGH ANXIETY – TURN OFF CELLPHONE MADNESS – CUT THE INTERNET – CUT THE CALLS – CUT THE ANXIETY

What if Sally told Damian who told Susie who said Bob heard from Tony that someone was told that somebody knew about what was supposed to have happened !

What matters is:

Does your family need every kid to be “on call?” Does the kid deserve some privacy, alone time, reflection time…

Does your family need every kid to be “on call?” Does the kid deserve not to be in everyone’s quick pick cellphone five to stay alive? What if no reply is sent?

It seems that the number of anxiety disorders is rising, as is the number of children with attention deficit disorder, attention deficiti hyperactivity disorder and eating disorders. Many other illnesses such as diabetes, joint disorders, heart disease, ocd, and high cholesterol are sneakingly and alarmingly rising in our youth.

Many of the reasons that cell phones’ basic safety issues have been put to the back burner, is to train the trend setting addiction downloads and uploads to happen. Addicted to cell? Crazy?

The problem is – with all the uploads, downloads, text messages, pix interchanges, and annoying ringtones or games that your youth has to endure….when does the quiet moment come, when does the kid get to relax? Flop on the couch? Jump in the lake? Take the cell with…

Processing of information is good. Processing of steps is good – as in chess. All this does come from being able to program a cell phone, take a picture, record a intro, text the message…then send the entire file to a friend or foe in record milliseconds.

But while doing all of this, reading books, doing homework, writing poetry or music, or practicing basketball or bass guitar…even eating ice cream does NOT happen relaxed.

When people are constantly interrupted from thought, the complexity of the thought process drops. Like in hitting baseballs or golfballs, the follow through is critical. I say slow the burn, cell phone OFF turn !

Torture is being interrupted from a thought process over and over and over and over. Sleep patterns, napping, resting, watching the clouds go by, day-dreaming, and wishing upon a star…are all interrupted. It just makes for high anxiety.

Slow down, even the turkeys obey the speed limit.

Many of my colleagues would forever give up their beepers, cellphones, and pagers…for less anxiety. What is crazy is we are creating and feeding the mental anxiety monster in youth worldwide…….

Oh, excuse me, my cell phone is vibrating……….