Category Archives: Wellness

Is Tamiflu any good against swine flu or is it worthless?

Posted on December 14, 2009 | 2 Comments

A major controversy about the efficacy of the antiviral agent Tamiflu in treating influenza has erupted in the online version of BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal. A team from the prestigious Cochrane Review says that its analysis of published data about clinical trials of the drug, known generically as oseltamivir, shows that the drug is able to reduce the course of an influenza infection by a day but that they are unable to conclude that the drug is effective at reducing complications and hospitalizations caused by flu because they do not have access to key data from eight clinical trials sponsored by the drug’s manufacturer, Roche Laboratories Inc. In acommentary accompanying the report, BMJ editor Fiona Godlee said, “Governments around the world have spent billions of pounds on a drug that the scientific community now finds itself unable to judge.”

In a response, Roche officials said that the data from the eight trials simply duplicated the results from published trials and did not provide enough new information to justify publication. The company also said that all of the data were submitted to the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies when the company sought approval to market the drug and that those agencies found it convincing. Roche also said it would post the eight disputed trials on a pasword-protected website so that researchers would have access to it — although that has not occurred yet…read more here…

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Posted in Diseases, Drugs, Society, Wellness

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Seasonal Affective Disorder treatment with Negative Ions and Vitamin D

Posted on December 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

Bright Ideas for Treating the Winter Blues

  • By MELINDA BECK

It’s that time of year when darkness descends like a heavy blanket beginning in mid-afternoon in much of the country. For some people, it also brings a desire to stay in bed and wait for spring.

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, affects an estimated 6% of Americans, causing depression, lethargy, irritability and a desire to avoid social situations. It can also create an urge to overeat, particularly carbohydrates. As many as 15% of people in the U.S. may have a milder version that includes only some of these symptoms. The incidence rises along with the distance from the equator: Roughly 8% of Canadians, 10% of Britons and as many as 20% of Scandinavians suffer from SAD this time of year.

Light therapy, using beams many times more intense than normal light, is the most common treatment. But a host of new therapies—from simulating dawn in your bedroom and changing your thoughts through cognitive-behavioral therapy to taking mega doses of vitamin D—are having success in some patients.

Despite decades of study, experts still aren’t sure exactly what causes SAD, which is officially recognized as a form of major depression that remits in spring and summer. The seasonal and geographic patterns provide strong clues that it’s related to the diminishing daylight in the fall and winter. One theory suggests that the reduced light disrupts peoples’ circadian rhythms, the 24-hour biological clock that governs waking, sleeping and many other body functions. Another theory holds that the darkness wreaks havoc with neurotransmitters—brain chemicals that affect mood. Some experts believe the reduced sun exacerbates vitamin D deficiencies. It may also be that SAD has several different causes.

There are other mysteries, too. Why do SAD symptoms tend to peak in January and February, even though days are lengthening by then? Why does it hit most prominently between the ages of 18 and 30, and why are women three times as likely as men to be affected? The incidence of SAD is also surprisingly low in Iceland, where the homogenous population leads experts to surmise that genetic factors may also play a role...read more here…

-Read more about the Wein VI-2500 High Intensity  Negative Ionizer

-Read more about Vitamin D.

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Posted in Health & Fitness, Medicine, Wellness

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Kissing in France is Banned…

Posted on September 13, 2009 | 4 Comments

French companies and schools are bringing in kissing bans to try to stop the spread of swine flu.Skip related content

The peck on the cheek known as “la bise” – a traditional greeting in France – has been outlawed by large firms like insurance giant Axa, which has told employees to salute each other with a wave of the hand rather than a kiss or handshake.

Schools in the town of Guilvinec, in Brittany, western France, were the first to introduce a bise ban for teachers and students.

Mayor Helene Tanguy said: “I asked the children not to kiss anymore. I felt that the protections sought to wash hands regularly, not throw used handkerchiefs around, and not cough any old way had no meaning if we let the kids keep kissing.”…read more here

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Posted in Society, Wellness

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Children are at high risk for swine flu.

Posted on August 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

Children appear to be at higher risk for swine flu than adults according to studies.  There are several things one can do to help reduce risk of viral transmission according to Dr. Eric Madrid.

1.  Wash hands frequently. Consider regular hand gel use.

2. Sneeze into your elbow, not into your hands.  When one sneezes into their hands and then touches a door, a shopping  cart or shakes  hands- germs are easily spread.

3.  Optimize intake of vitamin D and sunlight exposure.   Influenza viruses are spread more during the  Winter and Spring when blood vitamin D blood levels lower.  Have their physician check  your child’s vitamin D level.  I recently checked my daughters and she surprisingly was vitamin D deficient- this was in the middle of summer. Learn more about vitamin D by reading Vitamin D Prescription

4.  If you are traveling, consider a N95 ViramMask or child’s mask.  Wein Products has manufactured the only line of self adhesive masks. This is a must for those planning on Winter travel.

5. The Swine Flu vaccine is not yet read as of this posting. However, clinical trials are underway.  It is hoped that the new vaccine won’t be as dangerous as the 1976 swine flu vaccine.  Talk to your physician if the swine flu is right for you or your children.  According to a recent report, vaccination may be mandatory or forced, under penalty of a $1,000 fine or 6 months in prison.

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Article Below from Bloomberg.

By Tom Randall

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Children were 14 times more likely to be sickened by swine flu than adults 60 and older, the age group that is typically the most at risk for influenza, according to a U.S. study of the disease.

Children ages 5 to 14 became ill with swine flu, also known as H1N1, at a rate of 147 per 100,000 people, according to the study of 1,557 confirmed illnesses, including seven deaths, in Chicago from April to July, months when the flu virus usually doesn’t spread. The findings were reported today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

U.S. health officials are planning a vaccination campaign that will focus on those who are disproportionately affected by H1N1, which include children, pregnant women and adults with underlying health conditions. A separate CDC study released today from New Zealand showed swine flu targeted younger people and dominated other virus strains after circulating for just one month during the winter, when influenza is more active.

“Like other Southern Hemisphere countries with temperate climates, New Zealand entered its winter season with co- circulation of both seasonal and 2009 pandemic influenza strains,” said the authors of today’s report, published in the CDC’sMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. “The number of viruses identified as 2009 pandemic influenza rapidly overtook the number identified as seasonal influenza.”

In New Zealand, the number of patients with flu symptoms who sought medical attention was 1,518 doctor visits for every 100,000 people from May 3 to Aug. 2, according to the report by the CDC…read more here…

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Posted in Children's Health, Diseases, Wellness

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Lipitor cuts risk of second stroke..

Posted on May 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

Studies have also  shown that statin medications lower inflammation, as measured by high  sensitivity C Reactive Protein. After the JUPITER trial  was published,  many healthcare professionals beleived that this is possibly the mechanism by which statin medications such as lipitor, zocor, pravachol  and crestor decrease risk of death and exert their health benefits.

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By Rob Waters

April 29 (Bloomberg) — Patients who reduced their cholesterol and blood pressure by taking Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor after suffering a stroke were less likely to have a second attack, researchers reported today.

People who lowered their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood fats called triglycerides to recommended levels with the drug cut their risk of a second stroke by 65 percent, according to the study funded by New York-based Pfizer. They also cut their risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular damage by 75 percent. Researchers presented results today at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Seattle.

All cholesterol-lowering drugs knows as statins are likely to have a similar effect, said Samuel Hunter, a neurologist at the Advanced Neurosciences Institute in Franklin, Tennessee, in an interview yesterday in Seattle. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the country and causes more serious long-term disabilities than any other disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“It is a message of hope for patients,” said Pierre Amarenco, a researcher at Denis Diderot University in Paris and the lead author of the study. “We can now tell them that if they are adherent to treatment, they may reduce the risk” of strokes and of major cardiovascular events...read more here…

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Posted in Drugs, Survival, Wellness

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