Posts Tagged ‘healthcare’

Type 2 diabetes treatment failure is distressing to say the least. Doctors’ diabetic care seems to accelerate the growth of both the pharmaceutical industry and the medical supply business.

Doctor’s Advice

The doctor’s advice is oddly consistent with the American dietary approach. Eat everything in moderation. That advice hasn’t paid off.  Their solution to the problem is an insulin injection or a pill along with a jab of the finger a few times a day.

Their cash flow isn’t hurt, but the potential for a full recovery isn’t anywhere to be seen. What are the medical community’s benchmarks for successful disease management?  Well it seems the simple trick to success is not to challenge the patient to change their lifestyle, but to just comply with the drug schedule, and adjust medication with glucose monitoring.

The treatment isn’t about science; though that is what it is suppose to be about. The medical system is about care not cure. That is the real problem. Doctors support a system that is about volume, and what works best is maintenance.

Here is some advice from a pediatric endocrinologist and senior scientist in the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center. For Halloween he gave parents three options.

Counting Carbohydrates

By counting carbohydrates, kids can enjoy some of the treats that Halloween has to offer in moderation. This option allows the child to keep up with how many carbs they are eating: the example is one unit of insulin for every 15 or 20 grams of carbohydrates.

This is the doctor’s quote: “This is an easy option for kids on an insulin pump because they can just dial in an extra dose of insulin to compensate for what they are about to eat. But for kids that take shots, this could prove to be more difficult or inconvenient if they have to go to the school nurse for an extra dose,”

What is wrong with this solution is that everything can be solved with a shot of insulin. This message sets the stage for life, with using insulin as the fix for poor dietary choices. Sometimes you need the insulin, but to use it as a springboard to survival is absurd. The next problem is the quality of the treats and the ingredient list. These treats will deplete the body of its store of vitamins and minerals, which are needed and used by the pancreas, liver, and all systems that support the body’s ability to deal with sugar and toxins, such as artificial flavor and colors.

This is considered a proactive approach by both the parents and physician. The child needs to feel part of the crowd, and enjoy the American past time of eating poor quality fuel for the body.

Exchanging Candy

The second solution suggested is that the parents can trade the child a gift, money, or low carb snack for their candy. Parents can also provide a substitute snack for their child if the class is holding a Halloween party at school.

I know as a parent that this sounds good and it may work.  However, to offer cash or a gift makes the candy seem to have a high value. What the problem is this is considered a practical solution, since we live in the real world. This approach doesn’t remove sweet treats but perpetuates its value.

The low carb approach is good and even better if it’s structured to be the desired item by the child. The way to do that isn’t mystical; it’s eating healthy while pregnant, and starting the baby on a good diet. The chances of having diabetes would be lower with this approach.

Dessert

kids can savor their Halloween treats without an extra shot or dose of insulin by having them for dessert after dinner. The quote “By incorporating a sugary treat into meal time, when a child would normally get a dose of insulin, it eliminates the need for adding doses to their regimen.”

Another idea I am not fond of and the reason is there is an aticipation of a reward. It takes sweets and holds them in high esteem. Protecting health and remaining safe from disease is the main goal, not building deals around things that aren’t good for diabetes.

Removal of harmful substances is a necessary tool for the parents of diabetic children. Avoiding the American way of eating will enable diabetic children to achieve a long and healthy life.

Antibiotic resistance strains of bacteria are more than just than MRSA. Every time we turn around we meet the new kid on the block, and each time the danger escalates. Drug development seem to give superpowers to these life-threatening bacteria. The problem seems to be growing too quickly for the pharmaceutical companies. It seems that the drug companies have a working relationship with the infections. The higher the potency of the antibiotic the stronger the bacteria become.

Bacteria

As the bacteria evolve we may be heading for extinction. We live in a challenging times. Creating a way to handle this problem requires new thinking and creative solutions. Antibiotics are losing their luster. Upgrading them may further risk our health. Innovative thinking may manage this scourge better than the drug mentality.

For a society that worries about bacteria, and concentrates on making everything sterile, we seem to be a hot bed for their activity and growth. The evolution of the super bugs are in direct proportion to the aseptically filled syringes, and prescriptive filled antibiotics.

Sanitizing

This is without taking into account hand sanitizers, which are used on just about anything in arms length. The problems is going to grow too quickly unless we put a wrap on sanitizing the planet. Our commercial meat, poultry, produce and dairy supply are become a health hazard thanks to nurturing the big pharma instead of our livestock and vegetation.

Pharmacutical Problem

The pharmaceutical company has put their stamp on every aspect of our lives. This may be the point where we sound the alarm. The potential impact on the quality of our lives isn’t potential anymore, it is here. We have to stop increasingly sponsoring this way of thinking. There is a lot of pressure by consumers for big pharma to save us. This is because of the fear generated by a harmonized network of marketing by the pharmaceutical industry. All treats are either large and global or small and regional but they are all in close proximity to you, and the next blockbuster drug will save you. They may not have drug development down to a science, but they surly have consumer centered marketing down pat.

We need a partnership that gives us a reason to smile, and one that is easy to work with. There are people and companies that it would pay us to sponsor. At this point in time our dollars are sponsoring the companies that are changing the landscape of the planet for the worst.

Coriander Oil

While the scientist ponder the best preclinical drug for eradicating these supper bugs. We already have an arsenal of natural herbs, spices, and plants that can independently eradicate some of the antibiotic resistant bacteria. Case in point, researchers from the university of Beira Interior in Portugal test coriander oil against 12 bacteria strains, including Escherichia Coli, Salmonella enterica, Bacillus cereus and meticillin-resistant Staphylococuus aureaus(MRSA). All the strains showed reduced growth and most were killed by solutions containing 1.6% coriander oil or less.

The coriander oil damages the membrane surrounding the bacterial cell and its environment. This action inhibits essential processes like respiration, which ultimately leads to the destruction of the bacteria. This is without side effects, unless they manage to put it into clinical drugs. To prevent food-born illnesses, and treat antibiotic resistant infections we have to look outside of the current thinking.

When it’s assessing health risk of medical radiation exposure, the trend is to underestimate the consequences of repeated exposure. We have more radiation producing technology, and a looming crisis from its use.

Unless you are Ann Coulter you are at risk. The consecutive years of all kinds of exposure are sure to add up. The culture has gotten off track and the diagnosis and treatments are factors in our radiation exposure. Today’s technology has new capabilities. However they carry too much risk and the powers that be are discharging that risk. This is a paradox of oncology while new ct scans are fueling a whole new generation of future patients.

There seems to be an unholy alliance between the pharmaceutical firms and the developing diagnosis tools. The issue is with conventional monitoring and implementation of testing.

There is data that suggest that CT scans deliver far more radiation than has been assumed. It now is thought that it may contribute to at least 30, 000 new cancers each year. This is from two studies that appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  One study was led by the National Cancer Institute’s Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, used existing exposure data to estimate the cancers that may be caused by CT scans.

 Another study in the journal suggests the problem may be worse. In that study, researchers found that people may be exposed to up to four times as much as estimated by earlier studies. While previous studies relied on dummies equipped with sensors, authors of the new paper studied 1,119 patients at four San Francisco-area hospitals, says author Rebecca-Smith Bindman of the University of California-San Francisco-area hospitals. Based on the higher measurements it is estimated that a patient could possibly get as much radiation from CT scan as 74 mammograms or 442 chest X-rays, she stated.

This is a bad fit in which half of oncology advisory services depend on radiation, for both diagnosis and treatment. This isn’t a proactive approach that the medical community makes it out to be. This isn’t prevention at its finest. What this type of mentality does is feed the drug companies.

These are the glory days of the partnerships and alliances of the American medical system. It is so disconnected from the real implementation and applications of life protecting policies. Expanding the scope of medical testing and treatment means trusting an industry based on its ability to mobilize its resources and research with an eye on extreme revenue growth. It will be a high price for the American public as the promise of medical science is realized in dollars and cents.