|
Breakthrough Digest Editorial & Commentary
The articles below are the opinions and analysis of Breakthrough Digest, and should in no way be construed
to be medical advice.
Breakthroughs That Break Out!
We've
seen it in the news time after time, "Researchers discover promising new breakthrough that may someday…' The keyword here is 'someday'. Just what happens to all of those breakthroughs
that we never hear about again? Is there simply a pile of broken promises littering the floors of research labs around the nation, or have these new discoveries somehow slipped into our healthcare
system, and are now quietly saving lives? The answer to both these questions appears to be- yes. More
Who's Taking Your Blood Pressure -- Seriously?
So I'm going to the doctor's for
a routine visit. I'm a bit late and had to park a block or so away, I practically run the distance to the office. I check in at the front desk, turn to take my place behind a 1999 copy of Sunset
magazine, when the doctor's assistant calls my name. She leads me into a small room and takes my blood pressure (BP). She gets a reading of 196 over 95. " A bit high", she says. A bit
high? I had taken it at home only an hour ago with a reading of 119 over 72: I'll say it's a bit high. During an insurance exam only a month ago, the nurse took a reading of 121 over 70. A bit
high? More
Radiation: Too Much of a Good Thing
Radiation is wacky. We spend half our
lives being terrified of it, and the other half rushing to the hospital to be voluntarily exposed to it. We're frightened at the thought of dirty nuclear bombs and concerned about too much exposure to
medical radiation. On the second point, your concern may be more immediate. Recently, the National Research Council issued a press release, of which the very first line read: "A
preponderance of scientific evidence shows that even low doses of ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays and X-rays, are likely to pose some risk of adverse health effects…" Yet at this very
moment, doctors all over the country are ordering x-rays, CT scans and PET scans for their patients. Radiation indeed seems to be wacky. More
Just What Are We Thinking?
Someone close to me recently passed away. Not a 97
year-old codger or an 85 year-old 'lived-a-full-life' type. Instead it was a middle aged man in his late fifties. His principal diagnosis was diabetes. For the past 10 years, we could see his
battle with this incipient disease: first the heart attack, then the infections, later an amputation, a stroke, a second heart attack, and then only months later, a third and final heart
attack. There was some indication that he wasn't taking all of his medication. We don't take our medicine correctly, we skip out of blood tests and doctors visits, we don't exercise and ignore diet
guidelines. No wonder we're sick. More
Other articles and analysis by BreakThrough Digest...
|
