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Lynda and I will be away on a course in late April. We leave Wed April 23 and will be back Monday May 5. The staff will keep the office open for your calls. We have arranged a locum physician for April 28,29,30.
drBob
On John Weeks' The Integrator Blog this week comes a post about an unusual survey done of the attitudes of Republicans and Democrats about health care insurance coverage. The full post is here. Voters, not candidates or any politicians, were surveyed in Iowa and Washington state.
Question #1 - "Basic health benefits should include coverage for any licensed health care professional, such as naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists and chiropractors, as long as they are certified and licensed by the state and by their profession."
Both Democrats and Independents supported this from 72-81%, while only 60% of Republicans supported this policy. This question does not mention alternative therapies performed by physicians.
Question #2 - "Health care services should stress preventing disease rather than relying on high technology cures."
Again over 70-77% of Democrats and Independents supported this policy, while only 60% of Republicans supported it. This question does not ask specifically what type of prevention measures should be paid for.
I'd like to see this survey done country-wide for even more revelations.
Missing was a survey of the Presidential candidates. It's one thing for voters to want these measures adopted, it's another for our representatives or our President to make it happen.
I enjoy reading John Weeks' blog and highly recommend it to you.
drBob
PS - How would you vote on these questions? Leave me a comment on your views.
In a departure from my previous posts on this subject, I came across a YouTube video explaining in very simple terms, the differences between the brain of a man and of a woman. Unfortunately, it offers no way to reconcile the vast differences. Otherwise, I could not have said it better. Enjoy -
Here comes the FDA, guardian of corporate profits, trying to stop the use of compounded hormones again. This time it's doing the corporate bidding of Wyeth who lost billions after the 2002 WHI study scared women off Premarin© and PremPro©.
Somehow the FDA has decided that the natural female hormone estriol should be banned from compounded products, because it is an "unapproved drug". However there is at least one FDA approved study underway on the use of estriol in improving MS. How can it be approved for this study and not for compounding use? Then consider that estriol is produced in every woman's body, so how can it be a drug and unapproved for use in your body?
A new group, the HOMEcoalition, opposed to the FDA attack, has published a full page ad recently presenting the other side of the argument. Please go to their website here and add your name to the opposition. Sign up for their free email list to keep up to date on this issue. I support the aims of this organization and have known the organizers as teachers and mentors for years.
This is about two approaches to healthcare - on the FDA and Big Pharma side the approach is One Symptom needs One Big Pharma Drug. On the side of health freedom the approach is to assess each patient as an individual with biochemical differences and individual requirements for treatment. Using a compounded prescription for hormones allows me to change the concentrations of the ingredients and the dosing instructions for each individual woman or man as needed.
Which type of care do you support?
Download the HOMECoalition_AD here. Please circulate this email and the ad to anyone who supports the need for access to individualized care.
drBob
Do you know what's in your drinking water? Recent studies highlighted in an MSNBC report from The Associated Press show that more and more our pharmaceutical drugs are ending up in our water supplies across the country. There are no standards for testing drinking water for drugs and no requirements to remove them. The EPA does not list any pharmaceuticals on their list of contaminants to be tested for in municipal water supplies. So no municipalities will reveal what drugs are there. Their reasons make for interesting reading in this article.
But the lack of testing and reporting doesn't mean there isn't a problem. Antidepressants, antibiotics, hormones, anti-convulsants and more are all found now in water. The amounts are small compared to taking a daily pill, however no one knows the risk involved with chronic exposure. As well we also get pesticide residues which often mimic estrogen effects in our bodies.
Is this happening in your city or town? You may have to really dig to discover that.
Click here to read the MSNBC report.
Alongside this comes the Third Report of the CDC which shows an average of 148 chemicals in most people, including 38 new ones. Similar findings were reported last year in the National Geographic when one of their staff writers had the $10,000 test to evaluate her chemical toxicity. She was shocked to discover how many of these 148 chemicals she was carrying. These are likely entering through our water supply and certain foods.
What's the answer? Bottled water may not be an answer because most bottled water is not being treated effectively to remove the chemical and drug residues. Reverse osmosis will remove many of the problems and some bottled water is treated this way. This process produces residue water contaminated with the removed chemicals and is expensive to do on a large scale. Read your water labels carefully to see what if any treatments were used in production. Carefully distilled water should be free of all chemical and drug residues but is expensive to produce.
To remove chemicals from the body requires at least regular infrared sauna. The drug residues should be cleared by your liver and kidneys.
Will the residues bother most people - nobody knows until research is done. This whole report got me thinking about numerous people over the years in my practice who have complained that drinking water makes them sick - was it the water or allergies to unknown drug residues? Would they have been fine on distilled water or reverse osmosis water? I don't know but I am suspicious.
What does drBob drink? Reverse osmosis water at home, Perrier or Pellgrino in restaurants when available and rarely tap water anywhere except at my cottage from a drilled well which is isolated enough to not likely get much pesticide or drug residue.
This MSNBC report is first in a 3 part series from The Associated Press. Stay tuned as I report on the remaining parts.
drBob
One of my favorite Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail, has just published a comprehensive look at Vitamin D research written by Martin Mittelstaedt. Read it here: Vit D article. Martin deserves an award for his research and writing on this important subject.
I routinely recommend all my adult patients consider testing their Vitamin D levels - locally the test costs $125 if you have no insurance. I can then suggest what dose of Vitamin D to take to achieve an optimal supportive level.
drBob
PS - I'm constructing a new website to highlight my practice and provide more benefits to my readers.
Take a look here - www.drbobsager.com. It's evolving and expanding.
This site will continue to provide the latest health news for you.
