Health

This week I'm mad as hell. My 102-year-old aunt-in-law, a Yankee of independent spirit, lives alone in her own house and has been robbed. The scoundrel stole $200.00 in her petty cash box and then grabbed her bottle of Irish Cream Sherry as well. Now she's anxious, has to lock her door, making it harder for friends and neighbours to drop by and check on her. Recently another elderly Vancouver woman was robbed and injured, in a similar way. She cried, "He's a low down beast and he needs the lash."

It was August 16, 1985 and the day started in horrendous fashion for Guy Condelli. A five-year old boy in Medford, Massachusetts, he had his right ear bitten off by a dog. Dr. Joseph Upton, a reconstructive surgeon at Children's Hospital, Boston, reattached the ear during a tedious 12-hour operation.

Do many rapists know that a condom could put them on the operating table? Not many. And how many people believe that barbecuing can have a lethal outcome? Not many. Life is indeed full of surprises.

How good are you at following a healthy lifestyle? This week you can compare how you rate with the faculty of The Harvard Medical School that has 15,329 faculty. Equally important, are they paragons of virtue, practicing what they preach?

Do you want to have a body free of imperfections? In an ideal world we would all say "Yes". But how important is it to be perfect? A recent report shows that in some surgical operations it's prudent to live with a slight imperfection.

The Uncensored Hot Dog: What Does It Look Like?
by Dr. W. Gifford Jones
Tuesday, January 31, 2006

"How much do our kids know about sex?" is a question parents often ponder. But how many ask, "What do our children know about food?" A study conducted by the British Heart Foundation shows it's appallingly little. And the Foundation is using a shocking approach to change this situation.

"Why bother shaving today when I'm not going anywhere?" I thought. But I suddenly changed my mind. Dr. Shah Ebrahim, at the University of Bristol in England, reports that men who don't shave daily enjoy less sex and are more likely to suffer stroke and heart attack. It seemed to me that shaving is a small price to pay for increased amour and keeping alive!

How about opening an English style pub in your local hospital? Just mention this idea to a hospital board and it will question your sanity. Readers may also conclude that I've gotten into the sauce before writing this column. But 25 years ago I visited the Boar's Head Pub in Toronto's Sunnybrook Veteran's Hospital and left convinced that it helped patients cope with medical problems better than most medications.

Lupus affects more people in the US than AIDS. A women's blood disease that has been incurable -- until now.

"Physician heal thyself" is a proverb quoted in the New Testament by Jesus Christ. This looks to be the remedy. Berean Development, Inc has developed and is marketing a product that is knocking out previously thought incurable diseases that strike mainly women - Systemic Lupus Erthematosus to name one of a few.

What's your waist measurement? I'd bet you don't know. So let's start 2006 by putting a bit of old-fashioned horse sense back into medicine. As has been aptly said, "keep it simple, stupid (KISS). Moreover, this approach could save your life.

Voltaire was right when he wrote, "Most men live lives of quiet desperation". As we enter another year, desperation seems to be getting worse. Escalating violence in Iraq, concerns about increasing crime in our cities, political corruption and headlines warning us of the dangers of prescription drugs confront us daily. So all the more reason to consider 10 non-prescription ways to help you relax in 2005.

"Oh my aching head! Why did I drink so much last night?" That's a question many people will ask on January 1, 2006. Some headaches will result from too many martini's, beers or scotch-and-sodas. That's a hang-over. But you've magnified the odds of a blistering headache if you recklessly imbibed in too much red wine. What is it about red wine that carries such a blow to the head?

Why not prescribe natural remedies rather than man-made pills to prevent disease? The longer I practice medicine the more I'm convinced this has some wisdom. Now, a report in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that an ancient anti-gout diet does work. And that mother was often right.

"Vanity, thy name is woman", wrote the immortal bard William Shakespeare hundreds of years ago. He was right. I know, because two years ago I wrote a column dealing with "cosmeceuticals" and mentioned Reversa, a cream that helps aging skin. The avalanche of mail from female readers stunned me and gave the postman a backache.

Chickens I've always enjoyed eating. But now, like many scientists around the world, I've also become interested in the health of chickens. Asian chickens are now infecting one another and millions are dying from the "chicken flu" H5N1 virus. This virus, if transferred to humans may cause a world pandemic that could kill millions of North Americans. And if this happens what can you do to decrease the risk of leaving this planet prematurely?

If you asked anyone to stand outside naked during the winter months from sunrise to sunset, they would think you'd gone bonkers. But even if willing to be arrested for doing it, they would still not receive enough sunshine to produce vitamin D. Today we're constantly urged to keep out of the sun for fear of skin cancer. But most people are unaware that too little vitamin D from the sun may increase the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

What can you do if you've tried every conceivable way to relieve pain? You've been treated by anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone, painkillers, physiotherapy, massage and finally, surgery. Yet the pain continues unabated. A technique, known as "Low Intensity Laser Therapy" (LILT) could be the answer.

Why do diabetic patients die? Over 60 years ago, Joslin, the founder of the world famous Boston Diabetic Clinic, remarked, "With an excess of fat diabetes begins, and from an excess of fat diabetics die." Years ago diabetic patients died in coma due to a lack of insulin. Today, since the discovery of insulin, patients are dying from premature cardiovascular disease. Why does this happen and can Aspirin save many of these deaths?

How times have changed! I've often complained that toe-tapping music has gone, now replaced by loud singers who shout or gyrate. We used to have more sense. But when it came to sex how much sense did we have? Not much, compared to what is now happening. At the Centre Hospitalier Robert-Gillard, the largest psychiatric hospital in eastern Quebec, a new policy allows psychiatric patients to have sex. This reminded me of Thorupgaarden nursing home in Copenhagen and its "ladies-of-the-night".

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