Let me begin by stating that I am not a healthcare professional. My only medical training was a first aid/cpr card back when, and reading one of my son’s EMT training manuals.
Other than being the recipient of four eye surgeries in the past two months, the only other surgeries I have personally participated in involved any number of rare pieces of beef. Still, I have some opinions and some research you may follow-up on in your spare time (my what?) if you want to join me at 67 going on 45…
Is There Healthcare Rationing?
One reality I haven’t had time to research is the matter of heart attacks. The reason I don’t pay them much mind is that it’s my job in life to give them, not get them.
Still, Wednesday morning at the eye doc’s joint, we had a very interesting discussion with a fellow who’d retired to East Texas from the Auto Industry.
He revealed that his research showed that if you have a heart attack, you’d better make it a good one and get everything taken care of the first time-around. Because – and this is only an assertion, mind you – he says that on subsequent events, the only thing that will be authorized is medicine, not procedures.
You might want to look into whether that’s true, or not, but it was interesting enough that I thought is worth throwing out there for some community research.
The docs are being told with ACA rules coming, that after the first heart attack, the move by government is to counsel patients about death and the risks of lifestyle and so forth.
Rationing? Sure sounds like it, but this is only a street-level report – and he said the medical community is fighting it.
What worries me is that some of the money to fund the invasion of America from foreign people might be funded by such rationing..but we need not go there.
Statin Madness?
Related to this is a study that says prescribing of statins for cholesterol is of questionable value. One of the better write-ups is in the UK Independent modestly headlined “Heart disease is not caused by high cholesterol so taking statins is ‘waste of time’, research finds.”
This is something my doctor and I have been going around-on for a couple of years now. I hold the view that the research into the viability of statins is pretty low and there are plenty of risks from taking them including some risk to mental acuity (and things like TGA – temporary global amnesia) and I’m not interested in either one. While landing an aircraft, about the last thing I want showing up is mental drift…
My doctor insists that I’m a Neanderthal, although he observes professional ethics and questions present acuity, instead. And he’s got plenty of support from the careet statin makers who have basically started a major re-launch of the “statins are good for you” messaging. See articles like the Guardian’s “Don’t throw away your statins yet – LDL cholesterol is still probably bad for you…” for the other side of it.
Still, when articles like Prescribing statins to prevent cardiovascular disease in older people ‘a waste of time’, according to study “ show up in The Pharma Letter, it is worth additional study.
I have referred to this issue many times. In fact, there’s been a dandy book on Amazon for six years, now – it’s so good I gave a copy to my doctor to read: and this has been out since 20-10.
Ignore the Awkward.: How the Cholesterol Myths Are Kept Alive (Paperback) – Common/
As I said, I am not a medical professional, but I do, thanks to business school, know a few things about statistics. And the issues here arte part statistical and very much financial. Statins are a huge source of profits in the “health care” industry. If they have side effects, break a few shells to get an omelet seems the approach.
Here lately, I have been doing a fair bit of research into what I can only call the “Fadicity” (as in fad-like) approaches to public health.
Chlorination of water is a fine example: It can create carcinogens by the test rube full. And yes, use of ozone as a water purifier that kills more viruses, doesn’t have the side effects, and demonstrably tastes better is obvious. In fact, virtually all bottled water is ozonated. But have the facts changed public health on use of chlorination? Not so far as I’ve seen.
There is – in much of what we do here on Ant Farm Earth, a financial herd mentality. Once an idea (even if questionable with alternatives available) takes financial hold, you pay hell trying to get people to chaing their minds.
Go look up how much money is being spent in the fight against cancer on exotic drugs…and nothing wrong with that. But then look up how much current research is aimed at improved cellular level oxygen uptake….and oh, my, I’m going to bet there is a spread because oxygen is not a financial exploitable but some 20-symbol sting of chemicals is, so see how this all works?
Let’s move on… there’s still more on my list…
George;s Missing Beard
Yes, that and the caterpillar under the nose are both gone.
When the temp got up to a “feels like” of 103F this week, even though I avoid going outside like the plague, off came the facial hair unt65il the Ice Age returns..but that’s around the middle of October.
The side benefit is there is less chance of my face flaring up in fire from either alcohol fumes in the beard or an odd spark.
Elaine looked at me differently for the first two days./ “You look like a different man…”
I’m not, but you can call me John, I told her/ The hell of it is Zeus the
Cat was a little skeptical of being fed by “John” the first couple of times, too.
Benefits from Boron? Alternative Turkey?
Here’s another supplement to look up when you get time: Boron. You can find it at health food stores, but interesting stuff. Then flip over int the local master gardener programs and such and ask about plants with (and without) boron…see what grows best.
Last, but not least: We’ve discovered the local grocery emporium, Brookshire’s, bakes fresh turkey breast in their deli daily. When Elaine happened by as a breast was coming out of the oven, Elaine said “I’ll take it…”
It was justg cool enough to slice and put on fresh French bread by the time she got it home. And between us, it had the half-life of a political position…gone in a day.
We don’t usually engage in such extravagances, but rather than fire up the grill, or heat up the over in the house, this seemed like an easy way to get some simple turkey which I like to toss in soup, or have on a sandwich.
Along the way, I’ve also converted Elaine to Claussen’s Dill pickles – which are in the reefer case generally around the sandwich meats. IJ don’t know if you’ve ever done a side-by-side of a cold process pickle (real) or the heat-treated last till the Second Coming type, but E’s not a cold pickle convert. It’s a small congregation, but they do have good taste.
Bring more coffee and show up tomorrow…and write when you get rich…
With the same warning you made George – I’m not medically trained – but I have problems myself with ‘statins’, namely very sore muscles. During a recent knee problem, I got placed on them while in the hospital, etc. despite telling them I was ‘allergic’, and as soon as I got home and under my doctor’s control, I got off – and feel much better. Perhaps it’s all in my head, but I prefer to think that my doctor and I agree on the matter!
On facial hair, one of my late cats and my late husband agreed – when it would get cold, Stan would wear a full beard – and apparently it made Merlin, the cat very happy and the little bugger would leap up and try to stroke Stan’s face with his body, seeing that one of it’s favorite humans finally had a descent furry hide.
And as a last note – along with ‘cold vs. heat treated’ pickles – during the summer months – probably longer ‘down south’, you have ‘fresh pack’ which they made where Stan worked (and which he preferred) – consisted of vegetables not given normally given the ‘heat treatment’. Check them out – many people are fans of pickling . . .
Ure right, cluaussen dills are the ONLY way to go, too bad they screw them up with all the unnecessary CHEMICALS. ( nothing is perfect I guess). e.
As a national brand the claaussen taste better than others, sure, but at the expense of having to comsume things like yellow 5. Could make your own pickles cheap & easy – cucumbers grow like crazy once the roots take. You’ve got plenty of space to do so, George. Cold/raw packing is easy, too – just remember there always needs to be a pouring of the boiling liquid brine over top of the cucumbers/veggies before canning. It’s the yeast/mold/bacteria potentially ON the plant that needs to be watched out for. Beyond that, the acidity does the preserving, and with the right blend of spices they are oh so delicious!
If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, I like the kosher dills (little guys) they get from Germany. Really tasty – even better than claussen – and they do it without adding stuff I avoid putting in my body (like artificial coloring).
Oh, and there’s an easy way to keep them crispy/crunchy – don’t slice them into spears before storing them in the brine. Whole pickles maintain their crunch. I much prefer them to spears, personally.
Rationing in medicine? It’s just common sense!
Cold pickles are crunchy too, not limp or mushy. Grandma always made her pickles here at El Rancho de Chaos in a large crock in the root cellar. An exception to this rule are those little round sliced green mushy things you get in a pile with a plate of good Kansas City BarBQ. Research is inconclusive as to why. A day without a pickle is like a day without sunshine.
Ant farm earth? Love it. Statins, gave up on them years ago. Still here and nothing has really changed. My TCM doctor blames “sticky cholesterol” for problems. Also a problem are “inflamed arteries” according to the doc’s I listen to. Add them together and BOOM, the big one or so it seems. Not a medic so don’t believe a word I said. Just think.
George, at this point you need to seriously start looking at the Ketogenic Diet. Half-way between the paleo and the atkins, its effectively a low-carb, high fat, moderate protein diet (too much protein turns into sugar). It has completely changed my life. I’ve lost 40lbs since March and haven’t stepped foot in a gym (yet).
I eat bacon and avocado for breakfast, a salad or bunless-burger (w/all the fixins) for lunch and then something like chicken or meatloaf or steak for dinner (with cauliflower mash).
There’s a reason meat eaters are thin it’s because we had to chase those suckers down kill him BBQ or you just see you tomorrow anyway it took a lot of it took a lot of calories if you will to sustain that lifestyle but when people started growing stuff like we’re doing with machines instead of picking the right berries can you imagine what’s happening when all those big machines produced stuff that actually does add weight to you, yes eat a little bit of meat before you go to bed what happens you know what happens instead of eating ice cream anything with sugar with rotten teeth alcohol is good for you because you can actually never brush your teeth but I would actually recommend that unless she knew about using alcohol to kill all the germs and wipe out all the particles when you swish your mouth for at least 30 seconds to a minute and if you did that constantly if it was a practice you would overcome tooth decay I never had a cavity until I was 21 because because my mom said brush your teeth you know every chance we got but I didn’t get the cavity until 21 because of the fact that I started eating Reecie cups and drinking dr. Pepper and they’re both full of sugar and you know a mouth wash the alcohol tent is so high that it kills all the germs if the masses swash for 30 seconds to a minute and that was leaked out on the news Health news but the advertisements on TV was like no you have to brush it with this you know I could be whatever name it was you have to brush it with but the Ancients knew that they could take an alcoholic mixture and swish it through their teeth and all the Germs would be killed that promote tooth decay
Here’s one for George do you know that spring water can kill you, of course I’m making this up as I go but you’ve always thought well spring water it’s It’s gotta be good I mean it’s clear as Crystal and all those other water sources that come from the city well you say well they gotta be bad too butt the one thing that defines bad water if it’s clean so to speak would be its pH balance that’s why so many people can’t drink regular water because the pH balance is not right and it comes naturally from the ground that way so it has to be altered in some fashion in order to be alkaline f the pH balance has too much acidity to it and what was good in a spring a hundred years ago may not be the same now because of the I’ll leave you with that
the ancients used two different things mainly to clean their teeth which were the fingernails which scraped the outside surface and the other one was a fermented Brew to clean the inside,this also served the purpose of receiving heartburn
Of relieving heartburn
You just don’t see ancient people that they have Ben discovered and they have a full mouth of teeth, it’s this new technology of being able to manufacture and distribute sugar and all kinds of forms yes we have sweet tooth or teeth and we have been forever in the United States led to believe he ate some of that sweet apple pie and watch you later cry when they try to pull out your teeth
On boron: my chiropractor (very knowledgeable on alternative health care) told me to avoid supplementing with boron. He says it promotes breast cancer in women with family history of such.
On cholesterol and such: I have been having difficulty controlling high blood pressure with prescription meds. My chiropractor recommended anti-inflammatory diet and the Rath-Pauling protocol for clearing the cardiovascular system. The diet had immediate impact on weight (water retention) and general body aches. I have not been on the protocol long enough yet to attest to lowering BP, but it is relatively cheap, no side effects, so why not try it?
I found info on the Rath-Pauling protocol as far as ratio of supplements.
Interested in learning about the anti-inflammatory diet. Would that be the “wellness diet” with the anti-inflammatory pyramid of Dr. Weil? If not, would you have a link where I could get more info.
Thanks!
“…which are in the reefer case generally around the sandwich meats.”
so thats where you keep the Mary Jane?? with the sawndich meats. LOL!!
why do you think I eat sandwiches?
IIRC, the Clas… pickles had a strong taste of the chemical that makes them crisp.
Regarding statins and “sore muscles”: One very bad side effect of statins (according to the advertising disclaimers) is “muscle pain or weakness” and call your doctor immediately. About 10 years ago I had this happen, did some research and discovered “muscle wasting” disease. Yikes! The heart is a muscle. Double yikes! I threw out the statins and have been fine.
My older brother (Satan toasts his soul, I’m sure) always used to stop shaving on his birthday (Halloween) and not touch a razor again until May 1.
In later years he dropped the razor entirely, along with his sanity (for want of a better word).
Never drop the razor entirely.
have had high cholesterol for nearly 30 years (am 60+yo (somehow have plateaued at that number)–total cholesterol number like 290. Blood pressure has held steady for 30 years at around 116/80 (give or take stress situations). High cholesterol is not diet related but genetic (low fat diets and ‘healthy’ eating only affected the number by about a mere 10 points). Have refused statins since they were first being pimped and still do today.
About 15 years ago, came to agreement with doc – I go in every 3 years for pix of the arteries (which, btw, are totally clean and clear in spite of all these numbers and lack of statins but I DO eat healthy, walk just about every day and occasionally do regimented exercise (vs. everyday manual labor)). If ever these pix become not so pretty, well, we will have that discussion then. But given that longevity runs in my family (all women back 4 generations lived to be over 96yo), I guess that discussion about big pharma meds can wait.
Now, if only the other parts of my body would quit falling apart and exhibiting symptoms of a very misguided youth. In spite of that, I do avoid ANY big pharma meds (unless pre/post surgery required) so the only monthly costs I have are for my supplements-which I do take quite a handful of every day.
Personally I do not ‘just accept’ whatever my doc says. I respect his opinion as a professional, but it doesn’t mean he is always right for me. In addition to seeking second opinions I also see a naturopath. My hubby on the other hand – whatever the doc says to take, that’s what he takes and thinks that those pills will magically fix everything (i.e., high blood pressure – sure, pills will bring it down, but one also has to have a healthy weight, eat right, drink in moderation and exercise exercise exercise….none of which he does). He doesn’t want to do the hard work to fix the problem when a ‘magic pill’ will do it for him. Sort of like the mind set of so many in our world.
Try using Tumeric for anti-inflammatory.
There is a belief that no surgeries would be allowed after a certain age (69? 79?). Let’s just say, all my healthcare worker friends are getting knees done NOW!
The data on statins was pretty clear 30 years ago, if you excluded pharma “studies”. Dr. Atkins said it was not the fat, but the combination of carbs with the fat, perticularly high glycemic. I believe these views have been vindicated, if we assume that pharma studies are grossly skewed, as the New England Journal of medicine showed a few years back.
I know one Crestor victim whose legs gave out on him. He was an AC repair guy who is now broke and bedridden. Before he was fully disabled, a month or two after starting Crestor, he reported sudden loss of leg usage to his doctor, who accused him of shamming to start a lawsuit. The side effect was not reported because the doctor assumed he was lying. Turns out this doctor gets about $250k a year to “study” Crestor, or so I’m told. Plastic fats, refined carbs, inflammation of various types, chemical poisons, etc. are the culprit.
Dr. Burzynski, Huston Tx. Doesn’t treat cancer, he cures it.
see the cholesterol myth and load up on blubber:
http://www.alienview.net/allt1.html
try a pickle at bed time to get those dreams into overdrive!
George, I should note that my previous comment should NOT be construed as medical advice. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one one TV. :-) I am just describing what has worked for me.
Doctors only seem to have enough time to know about the drugs they prescribe from what the drug company reps tell them. The reps also hand out free samples by the handfuls to pass along to patients, which seems to greatly influence preference in prescribing.
One of my previous doctors tried to get me hooked on statins because of my high cholesterol, but my body rebelled with high levels of acheness and a severe loss of short term memory and ability to concentrate. I dumped the statins and, eventually, the doctor as well. Turns out my cholesterol is high with HDL, which more than balances out the LDL. If I had stuck with “what was good for me,” I would have been doing myself a disservice in the long run. Moral of that story: don’t go on whole numbers for your cholesterol level. Ask for a break down ratio between HDL and LDL.
Not advice but a mere aside: I’ve been experimenting with Vitamin K2 taken with Vitamin D. It’s supposed to help remove plaque/calcium from one’s arteries and redeposit it back into the bones where it belongs. Not sure how to check if it’s working, but no ill effects so far.
Oh, and I use hibiscus tea for my high blood pressure. You can buy the dried leaves on
Amazon.
George,
You should look into Earth Clinic site
Take care of your own health. There is a world of information on this site provided by regular people with many cures
I may have abandoned my path to becoming an allopathic medical doctor, but not my interest in health and healing. I am still working on mastery, of sorts, on the subject.
Having a mate heavily exposed to high powered electronics, radiation, agent orange and assorted life or death stressors of all make and kind, health issues are a rather steady challenge with him.
For (agent orange) diabetes treatment/solutions, I truly recommend: https://www.amazon.com/Rosedale-Diet-Ron-M-D/dp/006056573X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466098120&sr=1-1&keywords=rosedale+diet+book
The results of application of this diet stirred the attention of the entire staff at the local VA hospital. (If only I could keep him focused on it.)
After his first heart attack, I would recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Heart-Disease-Now-Cardiovascular/dp/0470228784/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466098315&sr=1-1&keywords=reverse+heart+disease+now
Within a few months after the clot and stents, his echo-c showed the damage repaired. (If only I could keep him on target.)
During this latest heart attack, brought on by a change of medications that threw his heart into endless bouts of severe tachycardia that was aided by a round of farmer’s lung (if only he would have let me take him to the hospital before it was almost too late), he was down to 15% ejection fraction (should be about 65%). He had to have two resets (conversions) and grams of magnesium sulfate to be stabilized.
Apparently, he chose to continue living, but then ‘they’ were talking pace makers, heart valve replacement, heart transplant…he was just getting by on their medications, not really getting recovered by much.
They, a team of cardio specialists, told him they didn’t know what to do for him. Finally, week 2 into the drama, he decided to start retaking some of the supplements I had snuck into the hospital. The change that came over him was so pronounced he noticed and bothered to say so.
A few days later, he was bundled up and sent home with a life vest. So, if his heart acted up again, he would receive a restart. He wore that until he couldn’t stand it any longer and he got the bill for its cost.
He went to therapy for awhile, but he finally paid attention to the VA nutritional doctor (and me) who had told him to take more magnesium for his arrhythmia, and he paid more attention to the contents of the two aforementioned books (and others). At the last cardio, his ejection fraction was back to 60% just a few months after his near code blue.
I don’t know if I will ever get him off the heart meds he’s taking for what he believes is keeping his heart from going berserk, but I have witnessed the effects of various food based knowledge and supplements.
GU,
research direct link statins to diabetes. I “caught” it at age 65! was on statins for 10 yrs or so. YMMV
Mainstream doctors have no reason to investigate ways to NOT have to prescribe pharmaceuticals as their income depends on managing symptoms of, and NOT curing, chronic diseases. You probably have more knowledge about cholesterol and statins than your doctor.
I have little faith in the pharmaceuticals-brainwashed medical industry/octopus. My few ventures into its clutches have had zero results. I’ve managed to stay reasonably healthy by doing research whenever I have symptoms of a problem, and then dosing myself with natural cures.
Re BORON: Here is a great article on its MANY virtues, health-wise, with an impressive list of references from which the author gleaned his facts.
http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm
So George, you need to do some real research on cholesterol. So here is a link to a very good detailed article by Dr. Mercola. Turns out the whole concept of cholesterol needing pharmaceuticals is based on a lie by the originating professional who was in bed with the pharma industry.
Check it out
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/08/10/making-sense-of-your-cholesterol-numbers.aspx?i_cid=cse-tbd-cholesterol-content%E2%80%A6
My mother (mid 80 years old) was taken off statins for a surgery about 8 years ago. Hadn’t felt that good in years, all of her joint pains went away. Convinced added dietary sugars create the inflammation that they think is the true cause of many ailments, so I’ve cut back on those, have a couple of cups of green tea a day, Italian seasoning/flaxseed-olive oil/parmesan cheese dipping sauce frequently. LDLs dropped significantly for me. Not taking away my bacon, eggs and butter, no way. (I am not a healthcare professional, just stopped being too concerned with what medicines doctors suggested I take).
Mikey’s cheapo Boron recipe:
1Tablespoon (15 mg) Borax from the box
1 Liter pure water (from the Berkey)
dissolve (I recycle liter water bottle, and shake to dissolve)
I mix 1Tablespoon (15mg or 1/2 oz) in any other liquid and take 3-5 times a week (I like MWF schedule).
I figure I won’t outlive the box, and I plan a loooong life.
YMMV
73,
I prefer the Amazon vitamins..I leave the borax for cleaning and metalurgy
George
AAs I have mentioned before, My wife has worked for going on 15 years at the Heart Transplant Intensive Care Unit (HTICU) at University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital/School of Medicine.
I asked her to confirm and nearly every patient there is on disability/Medicare/Medicade from the high costs of the procedures, and most are “elderly,” which I use advisedly as I may be in that group as well.
So if the Government is cutting off procedures, etc., either that unit will be closing down, or the info is mistaken. I would not put it past the O Admin to do something like that though.
Big Al, thankfully home from CO.