Posts Tagged ‘medical tests’

Coronary angiogram dangers are real. According to a Henry Ford Hospital study there is a risk of developing kidney damage from having this procedure. Women have a 60 percent higher risk of this happening.  Deciphering the reasons for this the researchers will be investigating why women develop radiocontrast-induced nephropathy (RCN) an adverse side effect that causes kidney dysfunction within 24 to 72 hours after administered an iodine contrast dye during the common heart imaging test.

Javier Neyra, M.D., an Internal Medicine resident at Henry Ford and study’s principal investigator has stated that a women’s size may be a factor. While researchers say further study is needed to explain the gender risk, they theorize that a woman’s size may be a factor, says Javier Neyra, M.D., an Internal Medicine resident at Henry Ford and the study’s principal investigator. “Because men and women patients receive the same amount of dye during a coronary angiogram, it’s possible the amount is just too much for a woman’s body to handle given her smaller size,” Dr. Neyra says. “Perhaps a woman’s height and weight ought to be factored into the dosage.”

In the Henry Ford study, researchers followed 1,211 patients who received a coronary angiogram from January 2008 to December 2009. Nearly 20 percent of women developed RCIN compared to 13.6 percent of men. Dr. Neyra says other contributing factors in the gender risk could be age,hormonal levels and other chronic conditions. “We just don’t know without further study,” he says.

The real problem isn’t that we aren’t sufficiently advanced in medical technology or phamacology to proceed with the procedures at the rate we are. The problem is that we are needing to take these tests at the rate we do.

With the reliance on pharmacology you can be sure that there will be some eye-popping statistics for unforeseen or unexpected side effects. It should be a foregone conclusion that a patient proceeds at their own risk.

RCN is the third-leading cause of hospital-acquired kidney damage in the United States, after surgery and hypertension. There is a big price for thinking that the medical procedures are safe. It is essential that we make lifestyle choices that make a difference in our health.

Is the doctor in, I think not. Private practice has changed over the years. Now, it seems to be at an all time low. The yearly exam which all insurance companies seem to want you to get has become nothing more then a referral system. The doctor has become the pez machine of the pharmaceutical companies.

The Exam

The exam most people go for each year can be done as well at a CVS. To obtain weight, blood pressure, heart rate and temperature reading you may have to wait two hours. The stethoscope is use for all of 2 minutes.

Many people have a scale and blood pressure cuff that also measures heart rate at home. Many know what the numbers mean, and really don’t have to wait hours see them. Some of the time is used on an appointment is for to share any troubling symptoms. From that you will probably get some referrals for additional tests. Then the staff or doctor will suggest you take your yearly flu shot and check if you are up-to-date on some vaccines.

This is not supposed to be urgent care, but preventive. The troubling part is it like being on a merry-go-round that goes in an endless circle. It is a round of tests, vaccines, and medication that keeps you spinning without a safe landing. Treating symptoms by catching a condition early keeps you depending on tablets, capsules or powders. To get healthy is your choice; the optimal ranges of glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol aren’t in a pill.

Lifestyle

What people need a lifestyle make over, which will eliminate most of their troubling symptoms. As we assert control over our lives the doctor will be within us. That is the way to protect your body the leading cause of decline is to keep clear of pharmaceutical mindset.

To protect our health it is urgent that we obtain the latest information on defensive and offensive ways of living. What has happened is the doctor is out and a hands on approach from him is going down the drain. The motto seems to be send the patient on to every specialist, who in turn can use all diagnostic tools at his disposal. Then give the patient an amply supply of drugs to address the possible condition.

What the current breed of doctor don’t seem to realize is the latest pharmaceutical formula doesn’t address the cause, just the symptom. Being compliant will not overhaul your health. It may help manage symptoms until you overhaul your life.

Interesting Take on The Way Many Doctor’s Think

We need to rethink how we use medical testing. Sometimes, when the medical doctor says we got you covered, he means he is protecting himself from a medical-malpractice lawsuit. It isn’t just enough to offer you his guidance without all suitable and not so suitable tests. To be more specific doctors think healthcare means access to more and more tests.

We have taken healthcare to a new level.  We are being bombarded with a continuous stream of radiation through CT scans, and other powerful x-ray machines. The quest for better health through more scanning devises has been a disaster. It is a risky decision to subject patients to immeasurable amounts of radiation.

This is a perilous exercise in overcautious use of imaging testing. Americans should be prepared for higher frequency of radiation caused cancers, if this trend continues in the years to come.

Americans Get Radiated.  It can be titled:

The Dangers of Medical Radiation Exposure

CT Scans Dangers

Overuse of Medical Imaging         

Radiation Impacts Cancer Rate

Americans Get Radiated

Americans are the Winner and Loser at the same time in the radiation department.

Americans Get the Most Medical Radiation

Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, more than citizens in other rich countries. We finally win at something. The U.S. accounts for half of the most advanced procedures that use radiation and the average American’s dose had grown six fold over the last couple of decades.

This is not looking at anything but medical tests. What’s amazing is not looking at airport scanners, power lines, cell phones, or microwaves.

Americans get the most medical radiation and still have lousy health. So the biggest myth buster is more radiation is going to ensure better health. In fact it raises the cancer risk and medical costs.

Reality Check

Using technologically advanced medical imaging hasn’t changed how allopathic medicine conducts business. Americans are over tested and over treated, and yet are still unhealthy. Now, we have another source of danger acquiring too much radiation from all the testing.

Radiation accumulates over time. Doctors don’t keep track of radiation given to their patients. Also, there are no federal rules on radiation dose. Children are going to have a lifetime to accumulate more radiation exposure than any previous generation.

Sometimes machines aren’t adjusted for the patient’s size. This isn’t non-toxic and it makes plain sense to realize this generation of super X-rays that give fast, detailed images should be used very selectively. At this point in time it is used selectively, to avoid a lawsuit by misdiagnosis of a patient.

Danger

Too much radiation raises the risk of cancer. That risk is growing because people in everyday situations are getting imaging tests far too often. Like the New Hampshire teen who was about to get a CT scan to check for kidney stones until a radiologist, Dr. Steven Birnbaum, discovered he’d already had 14 of these powerful X-rays for previous episodes. Adding up the total dose, “I was horrified” at the cancer risk it posed, Birnbaum said.

When other radiologists tell him they’ve never found such a case, Birnbaum replies: “That tells me you haven’t looked.”

Another study by Columbia University researchers, published in 2007, estimated that in a few decades, as many as 2 percent of all cancers in the U.S. might be due to radiation from CT scans given now. Since previous studies suggest that a third of all tests are unnecessary, 20 million adults and more than 1 million children are needlessly being put at risk, they concluded.

Business as Usual

At this time this is how allopathic medicine conducts business. Yes, these are business decisions as well as dumb choices for safeguarding the American consumer’s health.

Spotting health problems by using ultra sophisticated scanning machines is one thing, trying to avoid a malpractice and lawsuit shouldn’t be at the expense of the patient.

Welcome to America’s defensive healthcare, with you getting bombarded with radiation so doctor’s can play it safe. Imaging that shows a problem doesn’t always mean that it will lead to effective treatment.