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6356. concerned - 10/28/2004 1:31:30 AM I really learned somthing about coronary bypass operations, as a result of following a thread in another forum discussing Xlowntoon joining the Kerry Kampaign. The idea that half or more of bypass patients suffer some possibly permanent mental impairment due to foreign object damage to blood vessels in the brain from the artificial heart machine used during surgery certainly makes me look at all those Heartcheck radio commercials I keep hearing in a different light. I'll go with an angioplasty or just do without if I possibly can, assuming the possibility ever comes up for me. 6357. wonkers2 - 10/28/2004 2:12:39 AM If Clinton lost 90 percent of his brain cells, he'd still be smarter than Bush. 6358. judithathome - 10/28/2004 3:00:56 AM AMEN!! 6359. judithathome - 10/28/2004 3:02:12 AM He certainly hasn't seemed to miss a step, mentally, since the bypass. 6360. SnowOwl - 11/8/2004 11:52:57 AM I'm not sure where I should put this but I guess this is as good a thread as any.
A Cancer drug's journey from Cuba
Cuba has developed a promising new treatment for lung cancer, which a biotech company in the US is keen on importing. They had something of a struggle to get permission to import the drug though, because of the embargo.
Cuban scientists were willing to help Americans gain access to the drug.
"There is no reason why scientists here and there cannot cooperate," said Dr. Augustin Lage, director of the Center of Molecular Immunology in Havana, which developed the drug.
But in order for the drug to come to the United States, the State Department had to recommend that an exception be made to the 44-year-old U.S.-Cuban trade embargo. The Treasury Department later approved that request. The deal came together just as the Bush administration was getting tougher on Cuban trade.
"The Bush administration doesn't want to do anything to validate the [Cuban] revolution, whether it be public relations terms or financial terms, and that was the quandary with CancerVax," said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.
...
The U.S. government did not want the Cuban government to benefit from the sale of the drug. So instead of paying $6 million in cash for the drug, CancerVax was told to pay in food and medical supplies.
It's pleasing to see that in the end sense prevailed and the drug was allowed in. It's hoped that it may also prove effective in combatting breast cancer and other cancers. 6361. RickNelson - 11/8/2004 4:22:36 PM Amen SnowOwl!!
Upthread, Jen,
Well, there's a lot to discuss here about any one of us. I'll keep reading.
Concerned,
You and I both took an interest in Clinton's surgery. However, both my g'father and father have had bypass surgery. My g'father lived well into his 80's. My dad isn't doing his best, weight being a big problem, but he's survived for 6+ yrs so far, into his 60's. I'm sure I have the genetic track to follow suit. It bothers me, but there's not much I can do know. I've made a mess of my 30's and it's still affecting me.
But, I will never----- surrender!
(add appropriate accents to make Chruchill proud) 6362. RickNelson - 11/8/2004 4:24:32 PM typing know instead of now makes me think,
drain bamage is a terrible thing to taste. 6363. robertjayb - 11/8/2004 5:14:22 PM My double bypass nine years ago came about as a consequence of a botched (the doc's will never admit it) third angioplasty attempt. Despite cheery assurances I would be fine and fit in a brief time it took several weeks even with rehab therapy. We live on a slight hill and there is a park with jogging track about a block away at the bottom of the street. I could walk down and walk a few laps easily enough but I needed a ride back up the incline. I recognized the condition while watching Clinton and wanted to yell at the TV to get the guy out of some of the crowd scenes he attracted. Of course, Clinton being Clinton, the mobs were probably useful therapy.
I have attributed any possible diminution of my once-awesome mental powers to the effects of aging and booze. I had not heard of concerned's concerns about the heart/lung machine.
A concern that is concerning me presently is the rumored/alleged muscle impairing effects of my lipitor medication. Jar lids and such are getting to be a real challenge. 6364. arkymalarky - 11/9/2004 1:05:32 AM My great-uncle was one of the very first to get the surgery and he lived to be in his late 80s (I think he died--I'm losing track). 6365. thoughtful - 11/10/2004 8:26:06 PM Uh oh....looks like even too many vitamins can be a bad thing...now it's vit e!!!
Vitamin E
High doses of vitamin E, which millions of people take to protect themselves against heart attacks, Alzheimer's disease and other ailments, appear to actually increase the overall risk of dying, researchers reported today.
6366. Magoseph - 11/10/2004 8:36:42 PM thoughtful, rather scary article--I have to check what my husband takes now. I don't take any vitamins at all. Do you? 6367. thoughtful - 11/10/2004 8:46:11 PM I take tons of vitamins and I take herbs and flax seed oil, all in an attempt to get healthier. apparently though, even attempting to get healthy can kill you. go figure.
of course, I always crack up at articles like this one on vit e that note a 5% increase in death from all causes. So does this mean that people who take vit e become worse drivers? more accident prone? more likely to drown in a pool?
Perhaps all it means is that people take vit e because they already have health problems. perhaps just confounding cause and effect and simple correlation.... 6368. Magoseph - 11/10/2004 9:14:53 PM I just found that my husband gets only 100 IU in his morning pill. So he read the article and had the same thoughts as you had about it, toughtful. 6369. wonkers2 - 11/14/2004 9:21:31 PM The Centrum Silver multi-vitamin tablet I try to remember to take has 45 IU of vitamin E. I assume that amount is okay??? 6370. judithathome - 11/14/2004 10:29:34 PM I take massive amounts of Vit E and have for years...over 800 units a day at some periods of my life. (I credit it with staving off the onset of gray hair, for one pleasant side effect) My doctor once recommended 1000 units a day when a suspicious spot appeared on my annual mammogram...it went away in 3 months.
I think that study showed deaths from all sorts of things; the fact many people were taking vitamin e just happened to be a commonality they shared. And probably in one or two years, the study will be found to have been bogus and we'll all go back to taking vitamin e. 6371. judithathome - 11/14/2004 10:30:43 PM Wonk, the article said anything under 200 units was safe. But don't count on that being true in a few years...they once thought eggs were killing us all, too. 6372. robertjayb - 11/15/2004 6:24:41 PM 'Kangaroo Care' said good for preemies...
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Continuous skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her premature infant appears to help them to thrive just as well as traditional care in incubators, according to a new report.
In developing countries where mothers and doctors have less access to medical technology, this technique, known as kangaroo care, "can make the difference between life or death," lead author Dr. Juan Gabriel Ruiz-Pelaez of Javeriana University in Bogota, Columbia told Reuters Health.
Now, accumulating evidence suggests that kangaroo care, which costs much less than an incubator, would also help premature babies born in wealthier countries, even if their parents have access to incubators and other traditional tools for tiny babies, Ruiz-Pelaez noted.
6373. thoughtful - 11/15/2004 6:28:07 PM Gee, what a shock. If you're a suffering premie, which would you prefer...being locked in a box hooked up to all kinds of tubes, hoses and needles, trapped in a room full of strangers under bright lights? or in your mother's arms absorbing warmth from her body?
Actually being locked in a box under bright lights...isn't that a form of torture?
They talk about ICU psychosis as a common occurrence for adults. How could it possibly be any easier on infants?
6374. wonkers2 - 11/17/2004 4:19:37 PM New Scanner Stirs Cardiology Debate Here 6375. angel-five - 11/24/2004 2:38:42 AM So there's this kid at the condominium gym who gets some kind of stipend for being in there while it's open. There are two people who do it; the one of 'em just sits in the other room watching television and hollers at you to sign in and out. The other guy is this young man, really nice dude who knows a whole lot about working out (he goes to, or went to, Penn State and apparently spent most of his time hanging out in the gym with the ball players there). And he'll train people.
Now, I was an athletic trainer for a while and came within an eyelash of going to school for it, but this guy really knows his stuff. I've been going to the gym about three times a week since I moved down to MD, mostly working upper body and abs and hitting the heavy bag, and it's been working very well for me, but this guy saw me working my shoulders (dumbbell flies and reverse butterflies) and just said 'why don't you save shoulders for last and I'll guide you through a workout for 'em when you're done with everything else'. I'd already done two sets each as part of the rotation but I said 'sure'.
Now, I know what this dude had in mind -- he's big on low weight burn exercises where you grab like five pound dumbbells and do calisthenic-like exercises with them. And I've never been big on those, especially since my focus right now is building explosive strength and not slow-twitch muscle, but what the hell.
Right now I can barely lift my damned arms. I have to drive for six hours tomorrow and I have the sneaking suspicion that my arms are going to feel like molten lead when I'm doing it. And mind you I've been working out three times a week for a while now. My deltoids are about ready to rip out of my skin.
Yes, I think I'm gonna pay for this tomorrow. Oh well, time to go get some sushi.
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