Mistletoe is a poisonous fruit which has been a symbol of virility and fertility. The Druids thought the plant was a physical aphrodisiac. Mistletoe also has medical purposes. Which of the following conditions can be treated with mistletoe?
1. epilepsy
2. heart tonic
3. cancer
Answer: All of them.
Advanced Directives are a series of legally binding forms to make your wishes known in the event you cannot make your own medical decisions because of an illness or accident. These forms and instructions can be found and downloaded at the Idaho Quality of Life Coalition at https://www.idqol.org/page/planning. There is also a link on the website to register these completed forms with the state.
I found this site to be very helpful in understanding various terms, and available options. The forms make it easy to choose which level of care you receive in the hospital.
Perhaps if you are seriously ill at home you may not want full resuscitation (code blue). If you call the ambulance, the crew and Emergency Room personnel are obligated to perform full resuscitation, regardless of your Advanced Directive. The only way to ensure you do not get this treatment is not to call the ambulance.
I would like to tell you of a specific instruction that I placed on my forms. On the blank box on page 6, I wrote in the statement “I, Ann Huycke, give permission for my agent to allow me to be taken against medical advice to die at home.” In the event my situation is terminal, my agent has been instructed to drag me (if necessary) home. I encourage you to really think about where you would like to take your last breath.
Another good organization with information for end-of-life choices is the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Idaho at https://fcai.fortboise.org/index.html. Since it is difficult to make funeral decisions at the stressful time surrounding death, for $35, the Alliance will lock in prices for burial or cremation.
Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) use nicotine based liquid which is vaporized, inhaled and used as a nicotine substitute. This has become very popular with actors including Leonardo diCaprio, Johnnie Depp, Kate Moss and Lindsey Lohan. Many are questioning the safety of this new smoking alternative.
Regulations:
Idaho bans sale of E-cigarettes to children under 18. However, E-cigarettes have youthful flavors like “bubble gum”. I don’t know about you, but the last time “bubble gum” flavor was appealing to me was when I was 10 years old. So, who is the intended consumer of vaping? There is some concern that e-cigarettes could be a gateway to smoking by young people. There has been a strong campaign against smoking as a deadly habit. Now vaping products are being targeted to young people as a highly palatable and accessible alternative.
Are E-cigarettes harmful? Larger E-cigarettes known as tank systems heat the nicotine liquid hot enough to product cancer-causing carcinogens such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. Human bronchial cells exposed to vaping demonstrate the same pattern found with combustible tobacco smoke. Since amounts of nicotine are not standardized, people vaping might be exposed to markedly higher doses of nicotine because they are unaware of their usage (a cigarette is a known and timed unit of nicotine vs. almost continual inhalation of many “vapers”).
Side effects? Users of E-cigarettes complain of headache, cough, dizziness, sore throat, nose bleeds, chest pain, heart palpitations and allergic reactions.
Vaping as a way to stop smoking has no solid research. E-cigarettes have an uncontrolled amount of nicotine in the liquid and labeling does not currently disclose additional fillers and flavors. The FDA plans to wait 2 years before enforcing warning labels requiring manufacturers to submit product applications. In the meantime, […]
Hepatitis C is curable! Protease inhibitors can provide an 80-95% cure rate over an 8 to 12 week period
The price for this medicine is $1000 a pill, or an average $84,000 per treatment.
Incidentally, a similar regimen in the United Kingdom is $54,000 and possibly as low as $900 in Egypt.
JAMA 312:6, 593-4
Do you have any of the following symptoms?
Waking up with a very sore or dry throat
Loud snoring
Occasionally waking up with a choking or gasping sensation
Sleepiness or lack of energy during the day
Sleepiness while driving
Morning headaches
Restless sleep
Forgetfulness, mood changes, and a decreased interest in sex
Recurrent awakenings or insomnia.
You may need a sleep study. We now carry an in-home sleep monitor that you can take home and be tested for sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is dangerous for multiple reasons, the most serious being negative cardiovascular effects on the body. As you fall asleep and stop breathing, your body slows your heart rate because it wants to conserve the oxygen that is in your system. When your heart rate gets too slow it reaches a point where your body needs to wake up to get some air. Your heart rate has to speed up to partially wake you to breath, consequently you have a heart rate that slows down and speeds up, this puts tremendous stress on the heart. This increases your chance of a heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease. It has never been more affordable to check to see if sleep apnea affects you.
You will not need to pay more than $400.00 for self pay, $300 for insurance and may be as little as $0.00 with Medicare. Call the office for further details.
Top five regrets of the dying written by a caregiver Bronnie Ware author of “The Top Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing”
Top five regrets of the dying written by a caregiver Bronnie Ware author of The Top Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing
I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
I wish that I had let myself be happy.
And not a mention of not having enough sex….
Allergic to dairy and love yogurt? Here is a healthful delicious alternative
For those of you who love yogurt and cannot tolerate dairy, consider using coconut milk for the main fluid of your yogurt. Coconut milk can help as prevention for heart disease, diabetes, infectious disease and dementia. Coconut milk also has medium chain triglycerides, which can keep your waistline slim. Because it is such a powerful “medicine”, start with ¼ cup and go up to one cup of yogurt per day.
Coconut Yogurt
3 cans coconut milk
1 cup coconut flour
Heat on the stove until it comes to a simmer. Continue to simmer for another minute stirring until smooth. Take off the burner and cool down to 110 degrees. Add two capsules of non-dairy probiotic and blend. Put into the yogurt maker for 10-12 hours. Refrigerate until firm (6 hours or more).
You can add stevia (flavored or not) and fruit.
The stool screening test for early cancer detection has reemerged. Cologuard requires the donation of a stool sample and does not require special dietary restrictions. It is 92% accurate for detecting cancer, but detected less than half of advanced precancerous lesions. Cost is about $600.
Qwest Labs has another test called the Septin-9. This blood test is very convenient, requires no dietary restrictions but is only 70% accurate. The cost is about $600.
The test I have used for years is the Fecal Immunochemical Test (FITs) and does not require special dietary preparation. This test is about 74% accurate and costs around $50.
Current guidelines by the American College of Gastroenterology recommend colonoscopy starting at age 50 and repeating every 10 years. When colonoscopy is not available or the patient declines the procedure, guidelines recommend annual fecal occult blood tests. Some guidelines now recommend computed tomography colonography every 5 years as another alternative test for average risk patients. Beware of the high radiation levels with this form of cancer screening
“USDA ORGANIC” is considered the gold standard for labeling. This label ensures that chicken eat organic feed (GMO-free) that doesn’t contain animal byproducts, are raised without antibiotics and have access to the outdoors (how much access…isn’t regulated).
“AIR-CHILLED” means that chickens were not water-chilled en masse in a chlorinated bath and the meat did not absorb any water during processing. (Water-chilled birds retain up to 14 percent water—inflating cost and diluting flavor) Instead, chickens hang from a conveyor belt and circulate around a cold room.
“RAISED WITHOUT ANTIBIOTICS” are important; too bad they’re not strictly enforced. (The only rigorous enforcement is when it is USDA Organic). Loopholes – like injecting the eggs (which will be used as meat birds) with antibiotics or feeding birds feather meal laced with residual antibiotics from treated birds.
“NATURAL & ALL NATURAL” beware of these ubiquitous labels. The USDA has defined the term just for fresh meat, stipulating only that no synthetic substances have been added to the ‘CUT’. Producers may thus raise their chickens under the most unnatural circumstances on the most unnatural diets and inject birds with broth during processing.
“VEGETARIAN-FED & VEGETARIAN DIET” sound healthy, but such terms are not regulated by the government, you’re relying on the producer’s ‘notion’ of vegetarian, which may mean cheap bakery leftovers that may have preservatives and/or chemical additives.
“HORMONE-FREE” – When used with chicken (and pork) “hormone-free” is an empty reassurance, since the USDA does not allow the use of hormones or steroids in the production of either chicken or pork.
Full article…