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Medicine needs a social revolution led by America’s doctors http://t.co/NYD0vON

First let me say, that I come from a position where I have seen the word “professionalism” be bastardized to create funding for dubious projects in medicine, to keep doctors from advocating for their patients, to keep patients fearful and “in line” and many other untoward activities. It is right up there with “it’s for the BABIES!” as a sentence that imposes immediate alliance in any situation. Who would want to be “against the babies” or “unprofessional”? No one. Therefore, when someone plays that card, it impedes real conversation about issues that affect the lives of our patients and our peers.

I think the recent article in Amednews is a fine example of how this works. A self appointed director of “who gets to be on twitter” decided that he knows best whether someone should blog or tweet anonymously or whether someone’s post is appropriate for the masses. By establishing that position, he intimates that the general public and physicians are not smart enough to decipher the words or intentions of someone else. The most offensive part of his activities from my perspective, is he has attacked those he assumed were weaker or less able to defend themselves. Someone of foreign descent, a single woman out there in the internet jungle, a man whose words may be hard to defend, etc. This is a classic maneuver to induce compliance by attacking those who can’t defend themselves, thereby making the rest of us fearful that we will be next. And certainly, as gauged by private messages I have received, he is creating success with establishing fear among doctors that they may post something of which he doesn’t approve, thereby causing embarrassment and the terrible, terrible label of being “unprofessional”.

Ironically, he participated in a chat last week consisting of the question: “How do we get more doctors involved in twitter?” It was noted that innovators were the only docs on twitter, that the “early adopters” have not even begun tweeting yet. There is a reticence, among doctors who know that every single word they write has legal implications, to open themselves to the public and share what they know, how they care and create conversation. I love doctors and I think their voices need to be heard. They have been silenced by legal implications and by this type of behavior, so we are not hearing from them. I think we need to hear from them. They are intelligent, caring, educated, experienced people who really do, for the most part, passionately care about their patients and their communities.

Now, I will be the first to say that words which burb writes, at times, make me cringe in the worst of ways. But clumsy as his attempts may have been, underneath this is a valuable lesson. Doctors are in extreme distress, financially, emotionally and with their health. It is not easy to serve the public, day after day, when you are significantly abused on an hourly basis by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, other forces in medicine and yes, your own patients. Recent posts on doc only sites indicate that patient theft of office items (even pieces of equipment the person could never use??) is at an all time high. Rudeness and outright violence against physicians is written about on a daily basis, but for the doctor, is to be taken in stride without comment or reaction. I, personally, had a hand fracture from a violent-patient interaction. And yes, I was expected to take this in stride, which I did. It’s a part of the job. This is the state of medicine and why, in some fields, over half the doctors are looking for alternative careers. It is a CRITICAL ISSUE in medicine and burbdoc is a free voice to speak about it. The anger, frustration, self judgment and other-judgment in medicine has reached, truly, a critical point. If burbdoc is a release valve for this, then his words need to be heard.

What would be the appropriate way to have handled someone you think is “rogue”? I believe the appropriate way to have handled this would have been to open it for discussion, on twitter or google plus. Where everyone could chime in with their thoughts and, as a group, we could have come to a higher understanding. This bullying behavior is unacceptable as it not only impedes conversation but impedes one of the greatest use of the internet, which is to move humankind to a higher plane of conversation. Bullying does not afford that possibility.

I have much more to say on this topic, but let me end with the thought that physicians need support now, more than ever. Medicine has been taken over by corporate forces which divide the patient/physician relationship rather than enhance it. Doctors and patients need more say in the process. I fervently believe if that were the case, our medical system would improve rapidly. Right now, corporate and governmental agencies are making most of the decisions and although some are good, they cannot possibly be the best for our country if patients and doctors are not heard from. Silencing voices that may be uncomfortable is not the way to do this. It is unprofessional (see how that works?  )

Physician volunteers are asked to AVOID the major hospitals as one is destroyed and the other is overflowing with patients. All volunteers are asked to go to one of three places:

1. Memorial Hall – 212 W. 8th, Joplin, MO
2. Macauley Catholic High School – 930 S. Pearl Avenue, Joplin, MO
3. Missouri Southern State University – 3950 Newman Road

From the abstract:  These data suggest that low dose curcumin effectively disaggregates Abeta as well as prevents fibril and oligomer formation, supporting the rationale for curcumin use in clinical trials preventing or treating AD.

 Curcumin inhibits formation of amyloid beta oligomers and fibrils, binds plaques, and reduces amyloid in vivo.

Yang F, Lim GP, Begum AN, Ubeda OJ, Simmons MR, Ambegaokar SS, Chen PP, Kayed R, Glabe CG, Frautschy SA, Cole GM.

Department of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) involves amyloid beta (Abeta) accumulation, oxidative damage, and inflammation, and risk is reduced with increased antioxidant and anti-inflammatory consumption. The phenolic yellow curry pigment curcumin has potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities and can suppress oxidative damage, inflammation, cognitive deficits, and amyloid accumulation. Since the molecular structure of curcumin suggested potential Abeta binding, we investigated whether its efficacy in AD models could be explained by effects on Abeta aggregation. Under aggregating conditions in vitro, curcumin inhibited aggregation (IC(50) = 0.8 microM) as well as disaggregated fibrillar Abeta40 (IC(50) = 1 microM), indicating favorable stoichiometry for inhibition. Curcumin was a better Abeta40 aggregation inhibitor than ibuprofen and naproxen, and prevented Abeta42 oligomer formation and toxicity between 0.1 and 1.0 microM. Under EM, curcumin decreased dose dependently Abeta fibril formation beginning with 0.125 microM. The effects of curcumin did not depend on Abeta sequence but on fibril-related conformation. AD and Tg2576 mice brain sections incubated with curcumin revealed preferential labeling of amyloid plaques. In vivo studies showed that curcumin injected peripherally into aged Tg mice crossed the blood-brain barrier and bound plaques. When fed to aged Tg2576 mice with advanced amyloid accumulation, curcumin labeled plaques and reduced amyloid levels and plaque burden. Hence, curcumin directly binds small beta-amyloid species to block aggregation and fibril formation in vitro and in vivo. These data suggest that low dose curcumin effectively disaggregates Abeta as well as prevents fibril and oligomer formation, supporting the rationale for curcumin use in clinical trials preventing or treating AD.

PMID: 15590663 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Any information, medical or otherwise, contained in this blog is purely for entertainment and is not intended as medical advice or medical treatment. Please consult your own doctor for any medical advice or treatment.

A few years ago researchers began noticing that there are vitamin D receptors on cells all over our body. In fact, there are a LOT of vitamin D receptors on the cells in our bodies. During the same period of time researchers were evaluating why the rates of cancer were so much higher in developed countries. Hypotheses abounded and some of them included fears concerning increased pollution in developed nations, our lifestyles and stress.

Now it may come to pass that one of the possible reasons for increased cancer rates in developed countries may be as simple as the fact we work in office buildings wearing clothes. In undeveloped countries people spend much of the day out-of-doors and wearing generally less clothing than we do. It is likely in many undeveloped countries people obtain thousands of units per day of vitamin D simply from the sun exposure they receive.

As you may know from recent news reports, vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic in developed countries; as many as 70% of our children were found to be insufficient or deficient in vitamin D. In fact, the Vitamin D Council suggests there is a syndrome associated with the deficiency of vitamin D. Interestingly, if you read their materials the vitamin D deficiency syndrome appears to closely match many of the medical problems rampant in our modern society.

The symptoms and signs the Vitamin D Council associates with the deficiency of vitamin D include: osteoporosis, heart disease, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, certain cancers, depression, chronic fatigue and chronic pain. I would add that multiple studies document an increased immune status resulting in a decrease in certain infections with adequate vitamin D levels.  They do not suggest these diseases are caused, per se, by the deficiency or can be cured by repletion. They do suggest, however, they are associated with the deficiency of vitamin D.

We are really just at the beginning of truly understanding the role vitamin D plays in long term wellness.  To cut to the chase, without exposing yourself to excessive sunlight which may predispose to serious skin cancers, supplementing with adequate amounts of vitamin D3 appears to be the best way to increase this vital nutrient.  This is a fat soluble vitamin, so it is important to receive medical guidance on the amount to take.

To Your Health,

Dr. Sennholz

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Any information, medical or otherwise, contained in this blog is purely for entertainment and is not intended as medical advice or medical treatment. Please consult your own doctor for any medical advice or treatment.

http://twitter.com/mtnmd

Vitamin D and Mental Health

Volumes of studies are now documenting the relationship between vitamin D levels and mental health.  It is clear, most of us in the developing world have deficiencies of vitamin D that can impact not only our mental health, but our immunity, disease state, cardiovascular health and many other functions. 

Vitamins are generally known to be responsible for a single disease and appropriate supplementation should correct the disease. A hormone, on the other hand, goes to distant tissues and has multiple metabolic activities.  Vitamin D is in a class by itself. Its metabolic product, calcitriol, is actually a secosteroid hormone that targets over 1000 genes in the human body. And as such, it should come as no surprise that vitamin D deficiency is also linked to behavioral and mental issues such as major depression and seasonal effective disorder… even possibly autism, Parkinson’s Disease and general cognitive function.

 ·         Prevalence of vitamin d insufficiency in patients with Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease. Arch Neurol. 2008 Oct;65(10):1348–52.

·         Vitamin D deficiency is associated with low mood and worse cognitive performance in older adults. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006 Dec;14(12):1032–40.

·         Vitamin D receptor variants in 192 patients with schizophrenia and other psychiatric diseases. Neurosci Lett. 2005 May 20–27;380(1–2):37–41.

Current recommendations for Vitamin D intake are 2000 IU a day to prevent deficiency states.

Coping with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

Some of the ways to combat winter “blues” include letting more light in your house, taking walks, exercising regularly, getting proper sleep, managing the stress in your life and socializing.  Easy to say!!  Sit down and write out 5 things that are now stressing you and one step you can take to begin to ease the stress.  You don’t have to do fix the problem all in one sitting.  If we make little changes in the directions of our dreams, the stress will lift.  Another great idea is to spend 10 minutes right before bedtime and write down the things you are grateful for each day. This is one of the most powerful mood stimulators known to man.  Give it a try!

To your health,

Dr. Sennholz

For further health recommendations, visit our site at www.Symtrimics.com.

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Any information, medical or otherwise, contained in this blog is purely for entertainment and is not intended as medical advice or medical treatment.  Please consult your own doctor for any medical advice or treatment.

What things will help with weekend binging?

 1.  Start to identify your weak points here and take action. If you tend to ‘gorge’ during social events, plan ahead so that doesn’t happen. Not every evening out should be an opportunity to go off track.

 2.  Notice alcohol calories and keep it in check. One way to do this is to have one drink and then alternate with calorie free beverages. Add a lime for festivity and enjoy without over indulging.

3.  Lastly, the weekends are really the time to have fun by increasing your activity. Play ball!! Go on a hike. Play with kids. Don’t make television your only weekend activity.

I am sure with a little attention, you can start to identify your “weekend Achilles heel.”  Send me your weekend ideas; I am sure you have some great ones!

To your health,

Dr. Sennholz

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Any information, medical or otherwise, contained in this blog is purely for entertainment and is not intended as medical advice or medical treatment.  Please consult your own doctor for any medical advice or treatment.

I hear this comment all the time from people hesitating to confront their health problems. First, I will say it is not true, and often is used as an excuse for people to avoid dealing with the problem. You may object saying, “Have you priced organic vegetables lately?” and I will say, “Yes, some foods which are healthy are also expensive.” But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done, and done fairly simply. We have calculated that patients who participate in our Symtrimics programs save on average approximately $600-$700 the first year alone, so that comment is beginning to lose its appeal. In addition, there are some simple ways to make healthy living affordable. Here are some suggestions for just one day, to save $10. Give this a shot and see what happens. 

1. Soda at the gas station costs $1.59 or more. Don’t get it.
2. Drink water instead of a beverage with your lunch; save ~$1.50.
3. Limit salty and sugary snacks (omit the afternoon vending machine); save ~$1.75.
4. Avoid foods high in saturated fats (beans for your dinner protein instead of meat); save ~$3.50.
5. Substitute a high quality, pharmaceutical grade, well-rounded shake for breakfast instead of your latte and bagel; save ~$2.50.

This comes out to a total of $10.84, which is over $10. These suggestions may or may not apply to your situation, but with this as an example, take a look at how you could combine food savings with healthier choices. I am sure you will be thrilled with the results.

In addition, if you include the cost of the prescription drugs you will need if you are not healthy, you can see that switching to health is a REAL cost saver!!

To your health,

Dr. Sennholz

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Any information, medical or otherwise, contained in this blog is purely for entertainment and is not intended as medical advice or medical treatment. Please consult your own doctor for any medical advice or treatment.