Medical Myths

Myths are pieces of fantasy. As soon as we find out something we've heard is a myth, we toss it out of our memory. The problem is in finding out what is a myth and what isn't.

Some medical myths have been around for hundreds of years. Others are fairly new. Some are dangerous. All of them live on.

Always base your medical beliefs on scientific knowledge and research rather than
folklore.

Some myths can cause serious problems. One myth, for example, is that the medical establishment (doctors, hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical houses) is hiding a cure for cancer so they can make more money taking care of patients who are suffering from cancer. There is no semblance of truth to this statement, but it can lead to attitudes of suspicion and distrust that prevent people from obtaining appropriate medical care.

Another dangerous myth is the one that all bacteria must be destroyed for optimal health. Not only are the majority of bacteria helpful, but wholesale destruction of specific bacteria can lead to new strains that are resistant to the anti-bacteria cleanser.

The easiest defense against medical myths is to raise your level of suspicion and ask, “Where is the research report? What evidence is there? Why should I believe this?”

If you can’t put the pieces together concerning a piece of news you’ve picked up about a cure or a health problem you’re likely to encounter, ask your doctor the next time you’re in the office.

Don’t follow myths. Too often they lead to closed minds and medical problems.

Family Health History Day is Thursday!

In 2004 the U.S. Surgeon General declared that from now on Thanksgiving Day will be "National Family History Day." They've even prepared a Web-based tool to make it easier for you and your family to create an attractive family health history report.

Why do you need a history of your family health?

Only one reason: to plan for a healthier future.

Health risks such as cancer, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease are often passed down through the generations. Knowing the risks in your family for such diseases can help you prepare for ways to prevent or cope with such problems.

A great time to share what you know about your family's health history is when you're together for the feast of the year on Thanksgiving Day.

Dealing with dry skin

If you live in Idaho (or any other dry environment), your dry skin just gets drier

Skin takes a beating in a dry climate such as we have year-round in southwest Idaho, especially if you work outdoors. Taking hot tub baths and working with wet hands are other ways to dry out your skin.

Dozens of skin-soothing creams and lotions are sold at cosmetics counters, and women buy most of these products, probably because they are more likely to have dry skin than are men. Dry skin is usually a minor irritation marked by disturbing wrinkles or itching that can be relieved by applying an enriching lotion.

When the skin is broken or painful, you should take extra care to be sure that infection doesn’t set in or that your skin problem isn’t an indication of another medical condition.

Causes of dry skin begin with living in a dry climate, but may also include the following:

• Very cold winters dry out indoor air
• Central air-conditioning and heaters reduce humidity anddry the skin
• Hot baths break down barriers in your skin and cause dryness
• Antibacterial soaps are very drying
• Thyroid disease
• Alcohol and caffeine
• Not drinking enough water

Self-treatment of dry skin can include the following:

• Thick moisturizing creams
• Baby oil applied after bathing
• Shorter baths (no longer than fifteen minutes)
• Mild soaps containing oils and fats

The Mayo Clinic suggests that you talk to your doctor if one or more of the
following applies:

• No improvement after trying simple remedies
• Sleep disrupted by itching and dryness
• Open sores or infections on the skin’s surface
• Large areas of peeling or scaling skin

Your dry or flaky skin could be a sign of related health problems such as psoriasis, eczema, fish scale disease, or karitosis. Deep cracks in the skin can cause permanent scarring.

You don’t need to see a dermatologist unless your doctor gives a referral. The reason is simple. Skin specialists are rare in this part of the country, and because they are highly specialized, their fees are high. Your primary care doctor can recommend medications and other therapy for your dry skin and refer you to a specialist if necessary.

Fast Foods are Bad, and Here's Why

Hey, it’s a balanced diet!” your fast food self protests. “I’ve got protein in the burger, I’ve got veggies on top of the burger, I’ve got dairy in the butter and the cheese, and I’ve got cereals and grains in the sandwich. Plus I’m going to have more veggies with my French fries and more dairy and fruit with a king-sized strawberry milkshake.”

We like fast foods for two reasons: they’re cheap, and they’re fast.

Price and convenience are high priorities for busy people today, but too many of us are trading current eating pleasure for serious heart and digestive problems down the road.

Burgers, hot dogs, fish and chips, pitas, fried chicken, pastries, and frozen desserts are the most popular fast foods we consume these days, and we can almost always find a McDonalds or other fast food outlet nearby.

Dietitians warn us that the three most dangerous ingredients in fast food are fat, sugar, and salt. Doctors tell us that obesity, diabetes, and heart problems are far more likely among their patients who rely on fast food for a major share of
their food intake than for those who choose good nutrition over convenience.

Here are some findings from a study conducted by Boston’s Children’s Hospital that followed more than 2,275 persons between the ages of 18 and 30 for fifteen years:

• Eating fast food twice or more a week resulted in a 50 percent greater risk of obesity than among those who eat this way less often.
• Fast food eaters have double the risk of abnormal glucose control, which often leads to diabetes, than do those who rely less on fast food for their nutrition.
• Eating fast food more than twice a week plus two and a half or more hours a day watching television triples the risk of obesity and abnormal glucose control, compared to those who eat out once or less and watch no more than an hour and a half of TV every day.
  

Not all food at a fast food restaurant is bad for you, of course. You can choose
salads, fruit, and milk. Or you can leave off cheese, bacon, and mayonnaise from
your burger and skip the french fries.

Or you can just be careful. Fast food once in a while won’t hurt you, but the
accumulative eff ect of relying on fast, tasty, unhealthy food day after day can
haunt you later for decades.

We tell you this for just one reason. We want you to be well!

Thyroid problems, anyone?

"I blew out my thyroid"

With these words Oprah Winfrey announced to the world on September 10, 2007, that she had become victim to one of the most insidious and troubling ailments in the human race.

The thyroid, a one-ounce gland with a two-winged shape just below your Adam’s apple, does a heroic job for your health. Each of your three billion or so body cells relies on thyroid hormones to regulate its metabolism. These hormones also play
a key role in the development of brain tissue and in the regulation of growth
and other vital functions.

The thyroid gland can act up and often does, especially among older persons. The most common problem is hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid.

At the other extreme is hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid. Thyroid nodules or small growths on the thyroid are a third type of thyroid disease. Fewer than one out
of one hundred thyroid nodules are cancerous.

The most startling fact about thyroid disease is that half of all its victims are unaware that they have a thyroid problem. They sense the signs of thyroid dysfunction such as thinning hair, fatigue, cold hands and feet, weight gain, and dry itchy skin but do not recognize them as symptoms of thyroid disease. Untreated, these conditions
worsen and can cause serious health problems.

Your doctor will probably want to check your thyroid’s function with a blood test if you have symptoms of aging; are feeling tired, forgetful, or depressed; or if you have experienced a sudden weight loss or weight gain without a clear reason.

By testing for the amount of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in your blood, your doctor can tell if you have a thyroid disorder even before you have any symptoms.

If you have hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), your TSH levels will be high; persons with hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) may have small or undetectable levels of TSH.

The good news about an underactive thyroid is that the condition is readily
diagnosed from a few drops of blood and easily treated with medication.

Unfortunately, many persons don’t realize that they are suffering from a thyroid problem until it has progressed so far that their bodily functions have
begun to go awry.

An underactive thyroid is often the result of a quirk in the immune system that turns it against the thyroid and either blocks the thyroid from producing hormones or else attacks the thyroid itself and attempts to destroy it.

With an underactive thyroid it is relatively easy to replace the biological hormone produced by the gland with synthetic hormones that mimic that work of natural hormones. All you have to do is take the medicine as directed and have your TSH levels measured from time to time as your doctor requests.

When your thyroid is producing too much thyroid hormone, you may feel tremors and heart palpitations because the hormone is affecting your circulatory and nervous systems.

Anti-thyroid medications, radioactive iodine, and surgery are the treatment options for a person with an overactive thyroid.

Goiters can form with normal, high, or low levels of thyroid hormone. If the goiter is visible or interferes with swallowing, surgery is the best way to take care of the problem.

Your chances of having thyroid disease are higher the older you are, especially if you are female. Estimates are that one in four nursing home patients have underactive thyroids but have not been diagnosed and are not receiving treatment.

Don’t hesitate to mention it to your doctor if you suspect you may have a
thyroid problem.

Recommended sources for learning more about the thyroid:

The American Thyroid Association
Endocrine Web
Medline Plus

Be Well, Be Happy

"Wherever you go...there you are."

It's so true. I once chatted with an elderly lifelong smoker who had cancer and emphysema in his remaining lung plus diabetes, and heart problems. "I'm dying because I smoke," he gasped. "Seventy years of smoking. I can't quit."

Most of us don't "make" health decisions. We traipse through life trying to make ends meet, keep the spouse from blowing up, please the boss, and survive. When we're adolescents, we start wolfing down thousands of calories of worthless food. We pour enough caffeine into our system to energize a freight train. Even if we manage to stay off serious drugs and get married or shack up, we end up sleeping two or three hours one night and fourteen the next. We yell at the kids. We get irritated by our spouse or live-in. We overeat, underexercise, and overreact when things get rough.

As a result, lifestyle-related diseases take their toll. But there's an encouraging word here as well. I couldn't find up-to-the-minute data, but The American Heart Association has a statistical update for the 10 years from 1991 to 2001.

For virtually every state, the death rate from coronary heart disease, stroke, and all cardiovascular disease has declined. The average decline in deaths from cardiovascular disease for all states over those ten years is 18.8 percent.

This is a result of thousands of posters, videos, classes, news reports, interviews, Web coverage, and much more.

You can choose a healthier lifestyle. You can encourage others to do so. You can live healthy longer.

Flu shots and heart disease

When you got your flu shot this year, you probably thought that the main benefit was that you’d sail through the flu season without coming down the the latest “flu bug.”
A new study just released has found another benefit for rolling up your sleeve: a healthier heart.

Conducted in Poland and presented in November to the American Heart Association, the study compared groups of people who received the flu vaccine with those who did not. All of the patients had coronary artery disease. Half received a flu vaccine; the other half a placebo. After 296 days it was discovered that the patients who did not receive the flu shot were twice as likely as the others to have a heart attack, undergo unplanned surgery to open blocked arteries, or die from heart-related causes.

Researchers concluded that there’s no magic in the flu shot but that people with coronary artery disease are already vulnerable, and a hard case of the flu is often enough to put them over the edge.

Every year influenza kills 36,000 persons in the U.S., yet only one out of three adults receives a flu shot in any given year.

By the way, it’s not too late to get your flu shot. Call your doctor and make an appointment. If you’re under Medicare, the shot is free.