tonygoodson

Flu Pandemic

I love worrying about things!
So I'm always thinking about relative risk; what is the biggest threat to us.
And I realised many years ago, that a flu pandemic was the most likely risk.
Hence my fears about Bird Flu.

Having said that, I'm not sure that this is the one.  Right now, it's only spread from birds to human and not human to human. Also, I read somewhere that only the worst most lethal cases are reported, so it could be that it's not as lethal as the statistics show.

What is good about this panic, is that it's got the world thinking more about a flu pandemic, and maybe we can start to channel more research and resource into preventing and relieving the symptoms, instead of fighting wars, and misrepresenting actual risk.

Toxin in plastics harming unborn boys

Toxin in plastics harming unborn boys.  And do you think this is the only thing harming us?

Heart Surgeons are Liars?

Really? Lord knows I've got it in for doctors who don't think and blindly dish out the pills and X-Rays, but I'd have thought on the physical stuff, doctors and medicine are good.
What does Dr Nortin Hadler mean when he says heart by-pass surgery doesn't work.
Does he mean the symptoms return and the added veins and arteries also get clogged?

There's still a mystery as to why arteries clog up.
Malcolm Kendrick writes a lot about this unsolved mystery.
Me, I tend to favour the radical theory that medical X-Rays cause coronary heart disease in many cases.

the probable mechanism is radiation-induction of mutations in the coronary arteries, resulting in dysfunctional clones (mini-tumors) of smooth muscle cells.
This is from the work of John Gofman.

And whilst we're on this subject.  Does anyone know where in Melbourne and/or Victoria there is a Digital Thermal Imaging system (or Breast Thermograph), offering a similar service to this one in Sydney.

The 3 Hour Diet

Hey given my eating habits, this sounds just up my street.
The 3 Hour Diet, it's not what you eat but when you eat.
I eat all the time.  So limiting it to every 3 hours (much too long), and limiting what you eat sounds great.
So that's chocolate every 3 hours then.  Fantastic.

Take More Tablets

I went to the doctor today.
Last night, I measured my blood pressure.
It was off the scale.  I thought there was something wrong with the monitor.
I calibrated it on my wife.  She's perfect.
Holy Shit, that means I'm not!!
Rushed to the doctor today.  It's high, but not so bad.

He wants me on the medication.  The trouble is, I've taken the stuff before, and it has a marginal improvement.  I said this to him.  And you know his reply?
"Take more"
And that's the problem with medicine today.  It's come down to fixing it by taking more, instead of looking at what might be causing it.

I've had "High" Blood Pressure for at least 14 years, and I've been tested for everything.
Kidneys, Heart, Blood, Urine.  Nothing.
Goodish diet, don't smoke, don't drink, used to exercise, slightly overweight.
So the medical establishment just shrugs their shoulders and tells me to take more and more drugs.
And that's their only solution.

My solution?  I'll go with them for the short term, I'm going to have all the tests again, but I don't think there's anything wrong, except I need to adjust my diet and stick to it.
I love my carbohydrate and chocolate!

I reckon a dose of Dr Mercola, his No Grain Diet book (not as dogmatic as the Atkins diet), a bit of exercise, and some EFT (cranky, but it works), will sort me out.
And you want a higher medical authority on it, who talks more sense than anyone I've read?
Malcolm Kendrick (unfortunately most of the links are paid subscriptions).  He's da man.
Cholesterolmania
LowCarbPortal

Bird Flu

Scientist Attacks Bird Flu Plans.
This Bird Flu thing is scaring the shit out of me.  With 2 young kids and my mother who seems susceptible to flus and colds, I'm very worried.
I really think it's the single biggest short term threat to us.
You only have to look at how badly SARS was handled to realise what could happen.

So should you have a flu injection, or will anti-viral drugs work?
Do they work?
And a lot of the information is contradictory in terms of what the actual threat is.
An Aussie view.
I wonder what governments really are doing about it.
What is on Johnnie Howard's mind this very second?
How many more troops to send to Iraq, and what it will do for his popularity?

I always go to Joseph Mercola for an alternative view.  He's a qualified doctor, but also advocates an alternative look at health and medicine.
Alternative to the Flu Vaccine.
Oh no, he says cut the sugar out!!

What I don't get, is the outpouring of grief (by non victims) for the Tsunami, and recriminations for how we could have prevented the disaster (usually after it has happened!), but here we have a wave which is potentially a hundred times greater, and everybody shrugs their shoulders because they don't believe the wave will hit them.

Hey, maybe there's not much we can do about it, but I'd like to see more done about it, and the threat taken very seriously.  Now please.
If we all chipped in $10 per person, would that help?

Oh, and have listen to John Barry.

Pandemic Flu

What's the biggest threat to the USA?  Commies?  Russians?  Iraq?  Terrorists? North Vietnam?  AIDS?
I'd say a pandemic flu outbreak.  It scares the shit out of me.
And what are we doing about it?
Not a lot.
We'd rather pump money into Iraq, than put enough resource into stopping a pandemic flu outbreak.
Not that I'm sure there's much we could do.

I've read a fair bit about the 1918 outbreak, and it still seems a bit of a mystery, with quite a few views and theories on it.  Just listened to an IT Conversations interview with John Barry author of The Great Influenza - The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History.  Holy Shit.
His interview is a bit USA-Centric, as if Europe didn't suffer at all, and he makes Kansas the centre of the outbreak.  Eh?  Can that really be?

The Joy of Laziness

Ah yes, my kind of book, The Joy of Laziness!

the book explains how being "lazy" — being calm, eating temperately, reducing or avoiding sports, exercising moderately, and limiting ambition — can boost the immune system and increase longevity.

It's common sense isn't it.  Exercise reasonably by walking and occasionally running, eat reasonably, and enjoy life!  I did read somewhere, that all mammals have the same number of heartbeats in their lifespan, so those mammals with faster heartbeats live shorter lives, e.g a humming bird.
So the more you exercise, the more heartbeats you use up!!
You'll find that top athletes will tell you that they're always ill, and not the fighting fit freaks we think they are.  They seem to be more susceptible to illness.

I'm off for some more chocolate!

MS risk 'linked to birth month'

Either statistical scientific research is completely wrong (which is entirely probable!) or there's something really weird going on here.  MS risk "linked to birth month"
Being born in May in the northern hemisphere puts you at a significantly higher risk of contracting Multiple Sclerosis!  Why the hell is that?

You know what I think?  I've been meaning to write a weblog entry on Mark Purdey for a while.
He's the guy who has fought the British Government and medical establishment worldwide, with his own Mad Cow Disease theory.  But he also has an incredibly elegant and simple theory for the cause of other disease such as MS which he's investigating by going to places in the world where these diseases occur in clusters.

I'll bet there's an environmental (probably chemical) effect on summer babies (or pregnant mothers) which is causing this, probably something done to babies in summer which isn't done to them in winter. And I'll also bet it's babies born in industrialised countries or those using modern farming techniques.
Any suggestions?

Health Dies a Death

Just received an email from Red Flags Weekly, asking me if I want to re-subscribe.
Red Flags Weekly is a fantastic health website taking a different perspective on traditional medicine.
Contributors are often doctors trying to break out of the conventional views we've set ourselves.

To my shock, the email told me that the editor and founder, Nick Regush died last month.
Another death in mid to late 50s from a heart attack.

One of my favourite writers, writes for Red Flags - Malcolm Kendrick.  Unfortunately, you have to subscribe (with money) to read most of his stuff, ironically on heart disease!!