Whoops, been a while!

I am terrible at updating this, which is always how my posts start, but next year is a new year, and I guess my new year resolutions would be to update this more often and to drink a bit less. Its hard to believe its almost 2010. 2010 sounds very futuristic and it just sounds a bit scary. Also, I’ll be turning 30 in the next decade, and I wonder where I will be then. I finished for Christmas way back at the start of the month and it’s been a bit too long. However I think I was still a bit tired after second year, as I have not got into it this year and have had thoughts of quitting!

But after a good 4 weeks of working in the old man pub back home, getting some good banter of said old men and old mates, I’m ready to get back into working my ass off. As students always say, next semester will be different!

I just got a bit sick of it this year, my clinical teaching is crap in hospital, suprisingly GP is awesome, what the f? PBL is getting tiresome, I’m getting whingy, we’re doing CARDIORESPIRATORY AGAIN!!!

Anyway, much has been happening in the personal life. Men on the scene, I won’t say too much just incase anyone figures out my real identity! I don’t know if I am ready for taming yet so only time will tell. I’m still *technically* single so I guess that gives me a license to say/do what I want. I will post more on these escapades another day. I need to think of decent codenames, perhaps Michael Phelps and PG Tips. Both lads with big egos though, it’s quite annoying.

Elective is happening, loaded up my money onto a cash passport so it’s all real, nearly confirmed 100% just need to get health insurance which I will do in January. I’m very excited after meeting up with the girls from Europe last night: R, M and K remind me how much fun we had, and I’m sure it’ll be the same with the people I am going to South East Asia with.

Hogmanay eh? I’m not a huge fan but tonight should be good. Even if its just like a normal night in this flat it should be a laugh which will be better than last Hogmanay at the F&H. Because I spend Christmas Eve there, which is always awesome, it’s just a bit much to go there when it is rammed, in the space of one week. Had a few good nights there this Christmas with the homies, all very drunken. It would appear I would have had several snowball fights on the way home, none of which I remember. I was also sick on Christmas Day, success!

For once, it was a white Christmas and it was absolutely beautiful. I’ll need to post up pictures from the iPhone for you to see, although as temperatures have remained at around the freezing level, it hasn’t really thawed yet which is starting to get annoying! I nearly had a major car accident thanks to the snow as the poor old thing got stuck on a hill…

Anyway, best be off. To anyone who read this thing, happy new year and all the best!

[Via http://carpediem89.wordpress.com]

IMAGING SITES FOR PROJECT DEVELOPERS IN IMAGING TECHNOLOGY

Image via Wikipedia

ABOUT SITES

• FEW MRI IMAGES-GO TO  http://overcode.yak.net/15

• If you work with medical imaging files, this site can help you. Looking for a free DICOM viewer, DICOM converter, or PACS client? You’ll find them here. idoimaging.com tracks free medical imaging applications and resources: conversion programs, image display and analysis, surface and volume rendering, PACS clients and servers. Many programs are classified by a speciality to allow you to find similar programs by imaging modality, medical specialization, or similar. Half of all the programs listed here work with DICOM files, but there are over 25 file formats covered.

All the programs included are free and intended for distribution; there are no “demo” versions of commercial applications. If you are involved in programming, many of the programs are open-source, and provide APIs and SDKs for radiology programmers.

• http://www.insidestory.iop.org/mri.html

Related articles by Zemanta

• APPLIED RADIOLOGY Integrated Media-Planner 2010 (slideshare.net)
• Elevated-risk women refuse MRI breast cancer screening (scienceblog.com)
• Nebraska Medical Center Case Study (slideshare.net)
• Imaging and Health Care Costs (stealthmode.com)
• Radiation tracking: A really good use for personal health records (medcitynews.com)

[Via http://kushtripathi.wordpress.com]

BIOSTEC 2010-BIOMEDICAL CONFERENCE

3rd International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies

Venue:

Valencia-Spain

Event Date:

20-23 January, 2010

The purpose of the 3rd International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies is to bring together researchers and practitioners, including engineers, biologists, health professionals and informatics/computer scientists, interested in both theoretical advances and applications of information systems, artificial intelligence, signal processing, electronics and other engineering tools in knowledge areas related to biology and medicine.
BIOSTEC is composed of three co-located conferences, each specialized in at least one of the aforementioned main knowledge areas.

HEALTHINF»International Conference on Health Informatics

http://www.healthinf.biostec.org/

BIODEVICES»International Conference on Biomedical Electronics and Devices

http://www.biodevices.biostec.org/

BIOSIGNALS»International Conference on Bio-inspired Systems and Signal Processing

http://www.biosignals.biostec.org/cfp.htm

BIOINFORMATICS»International Conference on Bioinformatics

http://www.bioinformatics.biostec.org/

Contacts:

BIOSTEC Secretariat
Av. D. Manuel I, 27A 2º esq.
2910-595
Setúbal – Portugal
Tel.: +351 265 520 185
Fax: +44 203 014 5436

Event Site: http://www.biostec.org/

Event E-mail:secretariat@biostec.org

[Via http://kushtripathi.wordpress.com]

Many wary of H1N1 vaccine

Fears about the swine flu vaccine coupled with some degree of complacency among the public, as well as “swine flue info overload” have resulted in a far fewer doses of vaccine having been administered than health officials feel desirable, despite recent widespread availability of the H1N1 vaccine.  Officials continue to worry about the evolution of a ‘3rd wave’ of the flu as we move through the winter months and into the spring.  Immunization is the surest way to both prevent the flu and to limit its ability to spread among the population over time.  Recent recalls, which have NOT been related to safety, have added to some negative perceptions about the vaccines in general. Weighing risks and benefits of any medical treatment or procedure are always warranted.  However, all are urged to review the available safety data, which has grown substantially indicating that the H1N1 vaccine is safe and effective . . . ben kazie md

Pandemic influenza vaccine is getting much easier to find but more than half of American adults say they still don’t want it, and one-third of parents say they don’t want their children to get it either, according to two surveys. As of this week, 111 million doses of vaccine against the pandemic strain of H1N1 flu have been released to states and cities. Not all of it has been used. There have been no unusual or unexpected vaccine side effects reported. About 44% of high-priority adults, and 55% of all adults, said they did not intend to get the vaccine. About 35% of parents said they would not get it for their children. About 60% of parents cited the vaccine’s safety as their main concern.

More vaccine but fewer takers, H1N1 surveys indicate – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203418.html

Poll finds drop in public concern about swine flu – http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hjdCHrP82YTFser5vD6CzTK1az6wD9COGI282

Voluntary Non-Safety-Related Recall of Specific Lots of Nasal Spray Vaccine for 2009 H1N1 Influenza – http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/sprayrecall_qa.htm

www.blogsurfer.us

www.bloglines.com     www.blogburst.com     www.blogcatalog.com     www.clusty.com     www.reddit.com     www.huffingtonpost.com     www.digg.com     www.wikio.com     www.propeller.com     www.mashable.com     www.bing.com     www.wellsphere.com     www.yahoo.com     www.google.com

[Via http://benkazie.wordpress.com]

Op to cure high blood pressure in trials

Renal sympathetic nerve ablation is an operation in which the nerve used by the brain to tell kidneys to raise blood pressure is burned out in a series of very tiny burns. The procedure is considered simple, takes about an hour, and appears to lower blood pressure permanently.

110 patients are taking part in the trial, with half taking drugs only and the other half taking drugs and getting the operation.

It is hoped that the operation will enable some currently on medication to reduce it or come off it, and will provide a treatment for those who do not respond to medication.

The brain uses the renal nerve to signal the kidneys to leave large amounts of salt in the blood, even in those who eat little salt. This increases the volume of blood leading to an increase in pressure. The kidneys also produce hormones causing blood vessels to contract, also raising pressure.

This trial follows on from earlier results on renal sympathetic nerve ablation published in The Lancet on 30th March 2009.

[Via http://teammccallum.wordpress.com]

Mild vs. deadly flu could come down to one molecule

A Canadian and international research team may have found the key to severe cases of flu or other respiratory diseases. Patients who had the most severe cases had more interleukin 17 in their bodies. We have been getting the idea in the last several years that an especially strong immune reaction could wreak more havoc than the disease virus itself. Many of the patients who died of swine flu and consequent pneumonia have little virus left in their bodies. Yet they remain severely ill, their lungs clog and fill with fluids, and they can die. This severe reaction is called up by chemicals called cytokines; it’s been called a cytokine storm. Interleukin is one of the cytokines.

Interleukin is also found in inflammatory, auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma, according to Dr. David Kelvin, the head of experimental therapeutics at the University Health Network in Toronto. He is the senior author of a paper published in Critical Care journal last week. Dr. Kelvin says that this is the first solid clue to the problem.

[Via http://sciencenotes.wordpress.com]

BIOMEDICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY-By Neelina H. Malsch

Book overview Biomedical nanotechnology is one of the fastest-growing fields of research across the globe. However, even the most promising technologies may never realize their full potential if public and political opinions are galvanized against them, a situation clearly evident in such controversial fields as cloning and stem cell research. Biomedical Nanotechnology presents state-of-the-art research in the field and also considers the socio-political risks and perceptions of this important science.Contributed by prominent experts in this expansive and interdisciplinary field, Biomedical Nanotechnology examines developments in three sub-fields: nanodrugs and drug delivery; prostheses and implants; and diagnostics and screening technologies. The authors compare new capabilities introduced by nanotechnology to traditional methods of release, target, and controlled drug delivery in the body. They also consider the challenge of understanding and controlling the biological processes involved upon implantation and discuss nanoscale sensors for biological chemical detection and biodefense. The book concludes with individual chapters devoted to the social and economic context of nanotechnologies and to their potential risks and possible solutions.By outlining cutting-edge research in the context of pressing global medical needs and potential risks, this authoritative reference supplies a holistic treatment of biomedical nanotechnology that enables us to understand its implications and decide the best way to move forward. TABLE OF CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION: CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES: NANOTECHNOLOGY AND BIO MEDICINE-Mihail C. Roco

• TRENDS IN BIOMEDICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS WORLDWIDE Mark Morrison and Ineke Malsch

• NANOTECHNOLOGY AND TRENDS IN DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS WITH SELF-ASSEMBLED CARRIERS—Kenji Yamamoto

• NANOTECHNOLOGY IN IMPLANTS AND PROSTHESES Jeroen J.J.P. van den Beucken, X. Frank Walboomers, and John A. Jansen

• DIAGNOSTICS AND HIGH THROUGHPUT SCREENING Aránzazu Del Campo and Ian J. Bruce

• NANO-ENABLED COMPONENTS AND SYSTEMS FOR BIODEFENSE Calvin Shipbaugh, Philip Antón, Gabrielle Bloom, Brian Jackson, and Richard Silberglitt

• SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXTS: MAKING CHOICES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIOMEDICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY Ineke Malsch

• POTENTIAL RISKS AND REMEDIES Emmanuelle Schuler
• INDEX

DOWNLOAD THE BOOK FROM HERE EDITOR’S NOTE-BEST BOOK ON BIOMEDICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY

[Via http://kushtripathi.wordpress.com]

Marburg Fever Survivor Puzzles Scientists

“The Marburg virus had never before reached North America, as far as experts know. It is a close relative of Ebola, and the diseases these viruses cause are among the world’s most dreaded, because they can have horrific symptoms and high death rates and are easily transmitted by bodily fluids. There is no vaccine, cure or even specific treatment.

Infectious disease experts had warned for years that someday an infected person might board a plane and carry one of these deadly viruses halfway around the world, potentially exposing countless others along the way. Now it had happened.

But Ms. Barnes survived, and no one else became infected, even though epidemiologists calculated that 260 people — hospital and lab workers, friends and family — had potentially been exposed.” (New York Times )

[Via http://followmehere.com]

wow. this post is definitely making up for lost time.

It’s been a while. There is so much I’ve been wanting to write about but life and overall laziness have gotten the best of me. Let’s just say that I’ve been taking time to enjoy the holidays here in England. There are moments here that I KNOW I will miss once it’s over with. I can’t even fully acknowledge the halfway mark of this experience without getting sad. The holiday season in Newcastle just feels so warm to me. Certain holiday traditions and foods my flatmates have introduced me to, walking through the markets in town, decorating our flat, watching love actually and blasting Christmas music with the girls, these past couple of weeks have just been so wonderful.

It’s still crazy to think that I am in England. I almost think that this is someone elses life that I’m living, and not mine. There have been lots of days where I would just go to bed and think to myself, “did that really just happen?!”

Thanksgiving was one of them. Cannot even begin to express the gratitude I felt that day. My plate was definitely overflowing, and so was my heart.

The following week, I traveled to Durham with the Newcastle Dance Society. The dance I competed in won first! Honestly, I loved it more for the feeling of being on a team again. It was really nice to get to know the girls better, cheer for each other, and enjoy a lovely celebratory meal.

My flatmates also drove down to watch me perform and even brought sammy the snowman (our new flatmate this holiday season). I left for a bit to spend the afternoon in town and have lunch with them. It honestly felt like I was in a scene straight out of a Charles Dickens book as I was walking down the narrow and windy cobblestone roads. There was a mix of old/new shops, pubs, outdoor markets, crowds of holiday shoppers, carolers, so much Christmas love in the air.

Ok so this is not an actual picture I took… I just wanted to keep up with this picture + caption theme I have going here. So for this pre-med program here, we get the chance to shadow doctors at the hospital. I got matched with a neurosurgeon and observed in on a craniotomy for a pretty large meningioma that was pushing over this woman’s brainstem. I spent 7 hours watching these doctors basically chisel and singe away at this tumor, bit by bit, carefully maneuvering their way around her brain, bypassing extremely crucial cranial nerves. I was on edge the entire time, and grateful that I had a mask to cover my expression of shock, horror, and sheer amazement at the procedure happening right before my eyes.

I wasn’t all just about the glitz and glamour of brain surgery though. I spent one the days sitting in on follow up appointments that this doctor had with patients he operated on previously. It wasn’t in the operating room as the doctors proceeded to crack open the woman’s skull to get to her brain, but in this tiny little examination room when I truly grasped the magnitude and severity of what doctors must face with everyday. Just hearing these patients speak of how their conditions are affecting them and actually seeing the affect of their conditions on their movements and speech at times really hit home for me. The empathizing feeling I felt for each case was honestly getting to be a bit overwhelming really. It just showed me how vulnerable and human we all are. This was a make or break experience for me, and I’m glad to say that I’m still in it for the long haul. If anything this experience has restored my motivation to keep going. It’s kinda hard to see the point memorizing parts of the brain, brainstem, spinal cord, motor neuron function, cranial nerves, etc., when you are in the confines of a library. But when you are in that operating room looking at an actual pulsating brain, it all gets put into perspective real fast.

Last Friday marked the end of term for us here. I went out on Saturday to celebrate with Amy. Her sister was having a holiday party and we got too drunk for our own good. It was quite a memorable night. Too bad I don’t remember the end of it. haha.

If there is one thing that I am grateful to modern technology for, it is not the ability to stream episodes of Dexter on the internet anymore (OMGGGG RITAA!!) but for the ability for me to take this picture of my cuite nephew. And he walks now too!

And finally, I am happy to say that the england scarf is finally finished! I think I want to do socks next. I’m all about the instant gratification in knitting.

WOW… haha that is so typical of me to combine what would normally be about 5 posts into one incredibly large one.

I leave tomorrow for for France. I’m so excited to meet my dad’s family. Oh gosh I’ve missed cambodian food so much..

[Via http://alinanuth.wordpress.com]

Vampires: Menaces or misunderstood?

Today after more than 10 years, I got my blood taken for routine testing. For some odd reason, I thought it would definitely come out running through the tubes in a weird color, even though in retrospect, it’s not like I’ve never cut myself. (By accident, FYI.)

I actually just learned in linguistics that the term “blue blood” is a direct translation of sangre azule (Spanish), which was an observation about the blue blood vessels on the pale skin of the Spanish monarchy. And in a bizarre TVB drama in the 90s, guardian angels on earth had blue blood as well.

At any rate, blood came out. It was red, and I was disappointed.

My new doctor is relatively young and loves to talk about alternative medicine and nutrition. For my allergies, he’s been recommending several lifestyle changes and supplements. Apparently, from both breathing in the open air and the hidden mold in an old room, living on the Lawn is just asking to provoke my immune system all the time. If only I could install an air filter in my body…

To control my allergies, he told me to take garlic pills, which led to a talk about warding off vampires. Back in the days, people with a rare (often hereditary) diseased called  porphyria became sensitive to sunlight and had rashes all over their skin. This was due to certain deficiencies. The cure: drinking blood.

People tossed garlic at them because it was a cure-all for all diseases.

[Via http://howardo.wordpress.com]

Rupert Sheldrake--The Extended Mind--Videos

The Extended Mind: Recent Experimental Evidence

Background Articles and Videos Rupert Sheldrake: Interview with John Roach

Rupert Sheldrake: Telephone Telepathy

Rupert Sheldrake: Pets and Their Masters

Rupert Sheldrake: The Sense of Being Stared At

Rupert Sheldrake: The Habits of Nature

Rupert Sheldrake at Waldzell

Rupert Sheldrake – The Extended Mind – The Sense Of Being Stared At. Pt 1/3

Rupert Sheldrake – The Extended Mind – The Sense Of Being Stared At. Pt 2/3

Rupert Sheldrake – The Extended Mind – The Sense Of Being Stared At. Pt 3/3

Science and Spirituality: Rupert Sheldrake pt. 1

Science and Spirituality: Rupert Sheldrake pt. 2

Rupert Sheldrake: Creative Evolution

Rupert Sheldrake: Science and Wonder

Rupert Sheldrake: Mystical Experiences

Rupert Sheldrake: On Fasting

[Via http://raymondpronk.wordpress.com]

Urgent Care Medicine – Part of the Solution to the Emergency Room Crisis

For the past several years, descriptions of the healthcare system in the United States have included phrases like “serious emergency department overcrowding,” “unraveling safety net,” and “emergency medicine in crisis.” Articles have described many of the causes: closures of hospital emergency rooms, nursing shortages, individual’s lack of health insurance, and the need to comply with various government regulations, to name a few.

Whatever the reasons, the steadily increasing need for acute and emergency care services in this country has resulted in overcrowded emergency rooms in nearly every metropolitan region and many suburban and rural areas, as well. Many experts feel that the overcrowding is having a negative impact on patient care. Most patients who have to wait several hours to be seen by a doctor probably feel the same way. Fortunately, the results of a recent comprehensive study reveal one of several potential solutions to the crisis

 

Looking toward the future, it is unlikely that people will change their preferences for receiving prompt care for injuries, illnesses, and medical needs which arise suddenly. Moreover, many adults and children with anxiety-provoking or uncomfortable problems – even if they aren’t emergencies – cannot and should not have to wait for future appointments. For a variety of reasons – including convenience and a sense of superior care – many people chose the emergency rooms at their local hospitals to provide these services. But with so many people seeking care, the crisis mounts. And adding new emergency rooms is not possible, for the same reasons that so many of them are having to close. Luckily, there is another way to increase the ability of the healthcare system to meet the increased demand.

At the heart of one potential solution are the results of a recent study sponsored by the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Urgent Matters study found that up to 40% of those who go to an emergency room for medical care – those with lower levels of injury or illness – could be cared for in a clinic or doctor’s office. If those patients could be redirected from the emergency room, then they would get their medical care more quickly and conveniently, and leave the emergency room better able to care for patients with a higher level of illness or injury. The problem, of course, is getting an appointment – one of the main reasons that a person might go to the emergency room in the first place.  

Enter the Urgent Care Medicine solution. Urgent care medicine is the care of any patient of any age who has an immediate but non-emergent medical need. Urgent care clinics are equipped to care for patients with such problems as: cough, allergy symptoms, mild to moderate asthma, fever, many infections (sinus, ear, respiratory, skin, bladder, kidney, intestinal), rashes, wounds, sprains, simple fractures, abdominal pain, and headaches.

The “walk-in” basis of urgent care clinics is convenient for patients. The waiting times and overall treatment times are, on average, significantly less than that for similar evaluation and treatment in the emergency room. Because there are no hospital facility charges and the professional fees are lower, the cost of similar care and treatment is lower in the urgent care clinic than in the emergency room. Typically, the fees are low enough that uninsured patients can afford to pay for the care they need. Using urgent care clinics for the treatment of these common problems is therefore more efficient – a greater number of patients with needs at this level can be seen per unit of time – and economical. Another advantage is that urgent care clinics – each able to care for 70 patients a day or more – can be built much more quickly and economically than emergency rooms, to meet rising demand.

In many communities, urgent care clinics are already filling the acute-care void, giving patients an option to waiting for appointments with their physicians or using the emergency room. Urgent care facilities are typically open 6-7 days per week and have extended hours (e.g. 8am-8pm) compared with typical doctors’ offices. Patients are utilizing urgent care clinics more and more and are learning that they provide valuable services. Along with emergency rooms, they have become part of the medical “safety net” upon which people are increasingly relying if they don’t have personal physicians or can’t wait or chose not to wait for regularly scheduled appointments.

Because it is a new discipline, physicians from many specialties practice urgent care medicine. In fact, currently, over 20,000 physicians practice in over 10,000 urgent care medicine facilities nationwide. In response to the trend, in 1997 a group of concerned Orlando physicians formed an organization now called the America Academy of Urgent Care Medicine (AAUCM). Their goal is to ensure quality and excellence among practitioners of urgent care medicine. Members of AAUCM are working with the American Medical Association, university hospitals, and other groups to have the new specialty recognized and to develop training programs for new physicians. AAUCM recommends that all physicians in the specialty complete the certification process provided by the American Board of Urgent Care Medicine to demonstrate their proficiency and dedication. The Board uses techniques that meet or exceed those utilized by other medical specialty boards – including an application process, review of any malpractice cases, review of patient care records, and a written examination.

While there is no doubt that patients with critical illnesses or injuries are best cared for in the emergency room, urgent care medicine is an option for many. As Dr. Franz Ritucci, president of AAUCM urges, “Anyone who is severely ill or injured or unsure about whether a life-threatening condition is present, should call ‘911’. However, if you or a family member have a medical problem of mild to moderate severity and desire immediate care, your local urgent care medicine clinic is there to help you.” Dr. Ritucci and the AAUCM feel that making the investment in training urgent care medicine specialists and developing ways to integrate urgent care clinics into healthcare systems will help meet the rising demand that is currently stressing this nation’s healthcare resources. He adds, “The Academy’s ultimate goal is to improve the quality of urgent care medicine practice on a continuous basis, so that patients and other physicians can continue to rely on that portion of America’s ‘health-care safety-net’ which urgent care medicine provides.”

References

1. Derlet, R.W. and J.R. Richards “Overcrowding in the Nation’s Emergency Departments: Complex Causes and Disturbing Effects” Annals of Emergency Medicine 2000:35(1):63.

2. Solberg, L. I. et al. “Emergency Department Crowding: Consensus Development of Potential Measures” Annals of Emergency Medicine 2003;42(6):824.

3. Derlet, R.W. “Overcrowding in Emergency Departments: Increased Demand and Decreased Capacity. Annals of Emergency Medicine 2002;39(4):430.

4. Booth, B. “Is this trip really necessary? Emergency departments face overcrowding” American Medical News 8 Sept 2003. Available online at: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2003/09/08/prsa0908.htm.

5. McCraig, L et al. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2002 Emergency Department Summary 18 March 2004. Available online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad340.pdf.

6. Derlet, R.W., et al. “Frequent Overcrowding in U.S. Emergency Departments” Academic Emergency Medicine 2002;8:151

7. The George Washington University Medical Center, School of Public Health and Health Services, Department of Health Policy. “Walking a Tightrope, The State of the Safety net on Ten U.S. Communities”. May 2004. Available online at: http://www.urgentmatters.org/about/sna_reports.htm.     

8. Hawryluk, M. “California emergency departments close after hemorrhaging money” American Medical News 24/31 March 2003. Available online at: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2003/03/24/gvsd0324.htm.

9. “Improving Access to Emergency Departments: Costs, Trends, and Solutions.” A Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Analysis. 2003 Available online at: http://bcbshealthissues.com/relatives/100042.pdf.

[Via http://aaucm.wordpress.com]

CT-Scans may be more dangerous than thought.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Radiation from CT scans done in 2007 will cause 29,000 cancers and kill nearly 15,000 Americans, researchers said on Monday.

The findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, add to mounting evidence that Americans are overexposed to radiation from diagnostic tests, especially from a specialized kind of X-ray called a computed tomography, or CT, scan.

“What we learned is there is a significant amount of radiation with these CT scans, more than what we thought, and there is a significant number of cancers,” said Dr. Rita Redberg, editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, where the studies were published.

“It’s estimated that just from the CT scans done in one year, just in 2007, there will be 15,000 excess deaths,” Redberg said in a telephone interview.

“We’re doing millions of CT scans every year and the numbers are increasing. That is a lot of excess deaths.”

CT scans give doctors a view inside the body, often eliminating the need for exploratory surgery. But CT scans involve much higher radiation dose than conventional X-rays. A chest CT scan exposes the patient to more than 100 times the radiation dose of a chest X-ray.

Reuters

One heart attack results in medical imaging scans equivalent to 725 chest X-rays

[Via http://donthategcdaz.wordpress.com]

Medicine and Web 2.0 University Course: End of 3rd Semester

I’m really proud that I can organize and run the world’s first university credit course focusing on Web 2.0 and medicine at a medical school. This was the third, and so far most successful, semester with 115 students who filled a survey before and after the course. I hope I can publish the results in a peer-reviewed paper soon with the help of real experts in this field.

In the final lecture, I used Prezi.com again and talked about the future of medicine as well as the results of the surveys. I’ve already got some invitations to do at least a part of the course at other international universities. What is sure is that the next semester will launch in February in Debrecen with assignments and tests because I would like to engage students even more. See you there!

Course material (semester 3)

• Week 1: Web 2.0
• Week 2: Medical Blogosphere
• Week 3: RSS and Twitter
• Week 4: Wikipedia and Medical Wikis
• Week 5: E-patients and doctors in social media
• Week 6: Virtual Reality in Medicine
• Week 7: Social Media in Healthcare
• Week 8: Education 2.0
• Week 9: Google Story and Medical Search Engines
• Week 10: Web 3.0, Web 4.0

[Via http://scienceroll.com]

Important Update

Due to the schedule of the artist who designed my website for me, I am now the one to take over the reins and do my own updates. This means…there will not be any on the actual website for a great while because of my lack of knowledge on how to do such things. I am learning and focused on getting to my next evolutionary stage in art, anyways, so this is good. It is sad that you won’t be able to see what I am up to, though. Anyways, if there is anyone with a good knowledge of site design and is willing to help me at no charge (sorry, but that starving artist image is me at the moment) feel free to let me know.

And as for my art at the moment….mostly video, poetry, and….secrets. Here, let me give you a metaphorical phrase;

Tied to the left corner of the popcorn ceiling, words to linger while emptiness collides between clothes of white on black.

Ponder that.

[Via http://mdetelj.wordpress.com]

Getting Your Ears Syringed

Home from my travels, I noticed my ear
Was feeling bunged up; an infection I feared
So soon as I could, I went to the doc’
To try to find out just why it felt blocked

A build-up of wax makes your hearing quite dull
I felt a bit deaf and my ear felt quite full
The doc’ looked inside it and spotted some wax
“We’ll have to syringe it to get rid of that”

He thought this could be the best option for me
As the wax was affecting my hearing, you see
He’d also be able to check the ear drum behind
In case there was an infection lurking inside

I was prescribed some drops to use for a few days
To loosen the wax to prepare for the next stage
Sometimes this can be enough in itself
But my ears needed a little extra help

I wasn’t quite sure just what “syringing” meant
It’s not as bad as it sounds: no needle or pipette!
The tool they use is an electronic machine
Which sprays in water to rinse your ear clean

It felt unusual having something in my ear
But it didn’t hurt – there’s nothing to fear
Once the plug of wax had been washed away
I was able to hear again – hooray!

The doctor’s advice? Don’t use those cotton buds!
They’re not the safest tool with which to prod
They can actually push wax further into the ear
So avoid poking, pushing and picking, you hear?

You can help your ears to clean themselves
By adding olive oil, so there’s no need to delve
Adding a couple of drops now and then
Can prevent an annoying wax build-up problem

Don’t worry about having your ears syringed
It’s only the idea that makes you cringe
Afterwards they will feel clean and clear
And better still – you’ll be able to hear!

by Donna Milligan

[Via http://qwertysmithy.wordpress.com]

how to fix a broken tongue

My sister’s a big fan of osteopathic medicine because of its holistic approach. Well, today at the University of Jordan I saw the holistic approach applied on a group of twenty-some students, only the initials behind the doctor’s name were PhD.

It was literature class and my professor asked for a volunteer reader. When the girl with the grey-toned scarf began reading our short story, however, the professor stopped her short.

“No. Not like that. We want someone who can give each letter its right, who can enunciate loudly and clearly. Pardon me as I take this tangent, but this is important. You know, last week I was at an academic meeting and I presented some ideas. Afterwards, another professor accosted me. ‘Where did you learn to speak so clearly? mA you speak fus-ha (classical Arabic) with uncommon mastery.’ But I didn’t go to any school to learn that. Back when I when I was in school, we didn’t even have phonetics classes like you do now. I learned to tame my tongue, to control it the way I do simply from reciting the Qur’an. If you want to straighten out your pronunciation — it doesn’t matter if you’re Christian or Muslim — recite the Qur’an, because the Qur’an is i’jaz (a literary miracle). It is clear from your pronounciation,” she said, now addressing the girl in the grey-toned scarf, “that you haven’t read enough Qur’an.”

Ouch.

I know that not all medicine is cherry-sweet, but I also know that not every student (i.e. I) will be publicly diagnosed without being a little resentful.

I’m not an easy one. I avoid antibiotics like the plague, I still can’t swallow pills, and I’m complicit in the mysterious disappearance of the brown dropper-capped vitamin bottles.

But I’m clearly not prototypical, because this student seemed to swallow her professor’s criticism with grace.

They say, ilhaki ilik wisma’i ya jara (the talk’s for you, and listen, oh neighbor).

I’ve fallen behind on my daily Qur’an regimen. If the doctor’s right, taking that daily dose may well cure my tongue of its heaviness. Not to mention, it may have a (welcome) side effect on another organ southeast.

[Via http://tnbc.wordpress.com]

Salut i Medicina: Articles sobre la farmàcia, cirurgia, teràpia i bellesa

Si l’ambició és la joventut Ethernal, bellesa perfecta, la salut sòlids o llarga vida, podem afirmar que la medicina, cirurgia i tractaments, en diferents formes i amb diferents prioritats, han estat sempre central, com disciplina i com la capacitat, en les preocupacions de tots els la civilització. Les antigues cultures que ens han transmès un patrimoni immens dels coneixements tradicionals d’herbes, massatges, ungüents i altres remeis naturals (alguns dels quals conserven potencial impressionant). Aquests remeis són encara freqüents, important, aplicat i admirat per grans grups de persones en molts països, amb resultats que de vegades semblen molt positius, fins i tot pels estàndards científics moderns. Per descomptat, l’enfocament Científica contemporània als problemes de salut i benestar s’ha desenvolupat considerablement i millorat enormement el poder, la influència, l’eficàcia i el prestigi dels metges i els metges en la societat humana, gràcies a la seva capacitat per allargar la vida útil, per eliminar plagues , per derrotar a les malalties i per a curar les infeccions, limitant el dolor i recuperar el vigor.

References: http://webs.p-l-a-s-t-e-r.com“>plaster, http://webs.p-h-a-r-m-a-c-e-u-t-i-c-a-l.com“>pharmaceutical, http://webs.m-y-w-e-i-g-h-t.com“>myweight, http://webs.a-d-d-i-c-t-i-o-n.com“>addiction, http://webs.d-e-n-t-a-l-p-l-a-n.com“>dentalplan, http://webs.t-a-n-n-i-n-g-b-e-d.com“>tanningbed, http://webs.m-a-d-n-e-s-s.com“>madness, http://webs.i-n-s-a-n-e.com“>insane, http://webs.n-u-r-s-e.com“>nurse, http://webs.a-n-t-i-b-i-o-t-i-c-s.com“>antibiotics, http://l-o-t-i-o-n-s.com“>lotions, http://h-a-i-r-l-o-s-s.com“>hairloss, http://p-a-t-i-e-n-t.com“>patient, http://d-r-u-g-r-e-h-a-b.com“>drugrehab, http://d-i-a-b-e-t-e-s.com“>diabetes, http://p-r-e-v-e-n-t-i-o-n.com“>prevention, http://p-r-o-t-e-c-t-i-o-n.com“>protection, http://s-i-g-h-t.com“>sight, http://p-h-a-r-m-a-c-e-u-t-i-c-a-l.com“>pharmaceutical, http://m-e-d-i-c-a-l-i-n-s-u-r-a-n-c-e.com“>medicalinsurance, http://n-u-r-s-i-n-g.com“>nursing, http://h-e-a-l-t-h-c-a-r-e-p-l-a-n.com“>healthcareplan, http://h-e-a-l-t-h-p-l-a-n.com“>healthplan,

L’edat dels antibiòtics, analgèsics, cirurgia làser, la investigació genètica i quimioteràpia promet meravelles per a la millora de la qualitat mitjana de la vida humana: per tant, òbviament, grans capitals i els grans recursos que s’inverteixen anualment pels governs i conscients de les grans multinacionals en el camp de la recerca i el desenvolupament de vacunes, teràpies i pharmacons. Fins i tot els aspectes informatius de la medicina i la salut són, en si mateixes, un mercat massiu, on la gent vol saber quines són les millors pràctiques per a sentir-se millor i que les solucions ajuden a viure més temps, arran dels descobriments més recents i més noves solucions. Donada la rellevància del tema, hem resumit un grup de rics dels llocs web presentats per http://www.thenew.com i http://www.euroserve.cn (amb serveis de DNS http://www.esw3.eu ), el seu propòsit és, per descomptat, la presentació d’un valuós material sobre la cirurgia plàstica, les teràpies hormonals, receptes farmacèutiques i d’atenció mèdica.

References: http://info.d-e-n-t-a-l-i-n-s-u-r-a-n-c-e.com“>dentalinsurance, http://info.a-n-a-l-c-a-n-c-e-r.com“>analcancer, http://info.b-l-a-d-d-e-r.com“>bladder, http://info.b-l-o-o-d.com“>blood, http://info.b-r-e-a-s-t-c-a-n-c-e-r.com“>breastcancer, http://info.b-r-e-a-s-t-i-m-p-l-a-n-t-s.com“>breastimplants, http://blog.c-a-l-c-u-l-u-s.com“>calculus, http://blog.c-a-r-d-i-a-c.com“>cardiac, http://blog.c-e-r-v-i-c-a-l-c-a-n-c-e-r.com“>cervicalcancer, http://blog.c-e-r-v-i-x.com“>cervix, http://blog.c-y-s-t-e-c-t-o-m-y.com“>cystectomy, http://blog.d-a-v-i-n-c-i-c-y-s-t-e-c-t-o-m-y.com“>davincicystectomy, http://blog.d-e-n-t-u-r-e.com“>denture, http://news.e-n-d-o-s-c-o-p-y.com“>endoscopy, http://news.e-r-e-c-t-i-l-e-d-y-s-f-u-n-c-t-i-o-n.com“>erectiledysfunction, http://news.f-r-a-c-t-u-r-e.com“>fracture, http://news.g-e-n-i-t-a-l-s.com“>genitals, http://news.g-e-n-i-t-a-l-w-a-r-t-s.com“>genitalwarts, http://news.h-e-a-r-t-a-t-t-a-c-k.com“>heartattack

[Via http://healthmedicinecatalan.wordpress.com]

Fistgate II: High School Students Given “Fisting Kits” At Kevin Jennings’ GLSEN Conference

Original Article
Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 6:14 AM Jim Hoft

In March 2000 the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) organization of Massachusetts held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University. This conference was fully supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Safe Schools Program, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and some of the presenters even received federal money. During the 2000 conference, workshop leaders led a “youth only, ages 14-21″ session that offered lessons in “fisting” a dangerous sexual practice. During another workshop an activist asked 14 year-old students, “Spit or swallow?… Is it rude?” The unbelievable audio clip is posted here. Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings is the founder of GLSEN. He was paid $273,573.96 as its executive director in 2007. Jennings was the keynote speaker at the 2000 GLSEN conference.

Unfortunately for GLSEN, undercover journalists with Mass Resistance recorded these outrageous sessions. The audio was later leaked to a local radio station. This created such an uproar that GLSEN leaders were forced to apologize for their disgusting behavior.

Thanks to Soros-linked Media Matters we now know that GLSEN director, and current Obama Safe Schools Czar, Kevin Jennings was confronted on the vile content discussed at the children’s conference.

“Like the Parents Rights Coalition and the Department of Education, GLSEN is also troubled by some of the content that came up during this workshop,” said Kevin Jennings, national executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

He said people who run workshops in the future will get clearer guidelines, though Jennings said the network’s annual conference at Tufts University should not be judged on the 30-student seminar “What They Didn’t Tell You About Queer Sex and Sexuality in Health Class.”

“We need to make our expectations and guidelines to outside facilitators much more clear,” said Jennings. “Because we are surprised and troubled by some of the accounts we’ve heard.”

But despite Media Matters’ claims, Kevin Jennings and his GLSEN organization did nothing to clean up their act. In fact in 2001 activists handed out “fisting kits” to the children and teachers who attended the GLSEN conference.
That’s correct. Fisting kits.

Photo: This kit for fisting was distributed by Planned Parenthood at Fistgate II. (Mass News)

At Kevin Jennings’ 2001 GLSEN Conference an estimated 400 student attendees were given their own “fisting kit.”
Mass News reported on the 2001 conference:

Fistgate II was held on Saturday in the same building at Tufts University as last year with the same message about how to practice homosexual sex.

More students attended this year. Out of approximately 650 attendees, about 400 of those were students.

Kits of plastic gloves intended for “fisting” or oral sex were distributed at Planned Parenthood’s table in the lobby.

Public funds were used for the event with at least two school buses being used to transport students, from Methuen High School and Marblehead Public Schools. Adam Glick, Conference Coordinator, said he did not know how the buses were paid for. Other children were transported by public school teachers in private cars.

The private homosexual sponsor, GLSEN, is given state funds for many purposes and does not publicly report on how the money is spent.

There was a heightened sense of security with many Tufts campus police being highly visible in order to stop parents from seeing what occurred at the conference.

Although Tufts University was able to claim ignorance about the event last year, they obviously became complicit this year when they welcomed the conference back and provided the security muscle to keep the strategy sessions and indoctrination of the children running smoothly.

Founding Bloggers has a photo of one of the school buses that brought students to the conference.

Mass News had another article that described the contents of the “fisting kits” given to the students.

Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts distributed kits for fisting and oral sex. They contained a single plastic glove, a package of K-Y lubricant and instructions on how to make a “dental dam” out of the material.

The instructions explained how to cut up the glove with scissors until all that remains is a rubber rectangle with the “thumb” portion protruding from the middle. “Use the thumb space for your tongue,” say the directions.

The label on the ziplocked package says, “protects against STD’s,” and bears the Planned Parenthood logo and phone number.

GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network) got into trouble last year for hosting a workshop that gave young teens explicit how-to instructions on homosexual sex practices such as “fisting.” The ensuing scandal was subsequently dubbed “Fistgate.”

Regarding “dental dams,” Dr. John Diggs, a specialist in internal medicine who lectures about STDs, said that the kits create a false sense of security. “I’ve written a brochure about this whole thing,” he said. “The way I describe it is, I ask ‘How many people want to take a bite of a sandwich without taking the wrapper off?’ ‘How many people want to suck on balloons?’ Nobody does.”

Again, Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar organized and sponsored this conference as executive director of GLSEN. His organization later pushed filthy books on America’s children.
Today he’s running the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools in the US Department of Education.
Do you feel safe now?

There’s more to come.

This was cross-posted at Big Government.

Related Posts:
** Breaking: Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Is Promoting Child Porn in the Classroom– Kevin Jennings and the GLSEN Reading List
** Breaking: Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Is Promoting Porn in the Classroom– Kevin Jennings and the GLSEN Reading List (Part II)
** Breaking: Obama’s Safe Schools Czar’s Question to 14 Year Olds: “Spit vs. Swallow?… Is it Rude?” (audio-video)
** Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Promoted “Fisting” to Children (Video)

[Via http://lovingword.wordpress.com]

Pentagon: Zombie Pigs First, Then Hibernating Soldiers

Around half of U.S. troop fatalities are caused by blood loss from battlefield injuries. Now, with another 30,000 troops deploying to Afghanistan, the Pentagon is pushing for medical advances that can save more lives during combat.  The Defense Department’s latest research idea: Stop bleeding injuries by turning pigs into the semi-undead. If it works out, we humans could be the next ones to be zombified.

~ More ~

[Via http://b1ology.wordpress.com]

Rediculous Medicine

Why is med school so hard? Why is it so that people who never experience the terror of failing or being ridiculed for stupidly not knowing something that is ‘obvious’ have to live in fear of such torments daily?!?!

Why does it cost more and more? The equipment and medication i understand. But the books?!? The exam fees eg. USMLE? Is one generation the golden egg laying geese for the last? Wouldn’t that lead to harder input cost turnover for us and our successors? What would medical cost look like in the future?!?

every week there are new discoveries in medical science but medical course is still around 5-6 years long! That’s insane! What we need to learn is increasing exponentially but we are not given the time to do so! And not only that, the method of education hasn’t change all that much for decades. Kept busy all day, wards, clinics, tutorials, lectures… and to make sure we are run through everything, holidays get shorter and study breaks all but disappear… when do I study!?!? When do I assimilate what i just manage to understand and am struggling to engrain into my memory?!?!

The doctor to patient ratio difference is getting smaller. in the past in this country, fresh graduates were snatched up by government hospitals right after their exams cause they are that short of doctors! People who fumble through can become specialist consultants in due time. But now? Last I heard there was a hospital is some backwater town in this country that has over 200 HO/interns to about just as many beds… hopefully that is just management error and not a harbringer of overproduction… might bring a whole new meaning to personalised medicine… who are going to ‘feed’ us?

[Via http://drqwerty.wordpress.com]

Couple's son, 2, taken into care by social workers after they 'refused to feed him junk food’

It is the Doctor who is to be prosecuted and his licence to practice canceled.
Story:
A two year-old boy was taken away by social services and put into foster care after his parents, Paul and Lisa Hessey, refused to follow doctors’ orders and feed him junk food, they have claimed.
The Derbyshire couple, both 48, had been concerned about heath of their son, Zak as he was not eating properly.
Mrs Hessey and her lorry driver husband, took their son, who weighed just 17 lbs, to Chesterfield Royal Hospital in July.

The couple rejected the medical advice to feed Zak a diet of junk food, to fatten him up.
“They said we had been negative about eating. That was because they had been telling us we should feed Zak crisps, chocolate and cakes to get calories into him,” said Mrs Hessey.
“I was questioning that approach. We eat proper home-made food at our house and just have chocolate and cakes as a treat.”
Doctors said they wanted to undergo a series of tests over a fortnight and the couple, of Bolsover, near Chesterfield, agreed to have him put under observation.
But in a decision that surprised the couple, a social worker from Derbyshire County Council later said that Zak needed to go into foster care so they could “assess his needs” and determine how he ate.
The couple, who have four other children aged under 10, were told that if they challenged the decision, social services would “go straight to court” where “all your parental rights would be taken away”.
“I was absolutely devastated, I broke down in tears,” said Mrs Hessey.
“I was scared out of my wits.
“They kept saying, ‘if you love Zak and you want the best for him, then you’ll agree to this voluntarily’.”
After he was placed into foster care, they were later able to negotiate, through lawyers, to spend three hours a day with him during the following week, but only in the presence of social workers.
“I thought I was doing the right thing going to the best people for advice when Zak began to lose weight,” Mrs Hessey said.
“Instead they basically accused me of neglecting him and implied it was all my fault.”
Eventually they went to court to try to get Zak back, and after four months, he was allowed to return home after gaining less than a pound in four months.
Social services eventually said they were good and caring parents.
A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “We only take a child into our care either with the consent of the parents or following very careful consideration by a court.”
A spokesman for Chesterfield Royal Hospital added: “While we understand Mr and Mrs Hessey’s distress, Zak’s welfare was paramount and we believe we acted in his best interest.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6713838/Couples-son-2-taken-into-care-by-social-workers-after-they-refused-to-feed-him-junk-food.html

[Via http://ramanan50.wordpress.com]

Pregnancy Herbal - Natural Ovarian Cyst Treatment - Why Herbal Medicine is Best!

pregnancy treatments

Natural ovarian cyst pregnancy treatments analysis has bound to no ancillary furnishings clashing abounding of the infertility drugs produced by ample pharmaceuticals. According to a abstraction of over women ability infertility Pregnancy Homeopathic analysis amid and in Seattle amid the women demography Clomid there were three times added cases of ovarian blight diagnosed compared to women who had not taken the biologic on a ages cycle.

I achievement you now realise that accustomed ovarian cyst analysis is the way forward. However these are alone able if taken accurately in agreement of abundance and accurate types of medication. I accept begin a adviser which gives in abyss detail about how to do this appropriately and additionally teaches you how to advance your abundance in the process. I will altercate this later.

It is account acquirements and compassionate how these herbs work.

Natural Ovarian Cyst Analysis – How Cure For Infertility does it Work

Ovarian cysts are added generally than not the aftereffect of hormonal alterity Pregnancy Treatments in the changeable body. This is Pregnancy Herbal acquired by a array of factors including stress bad diet or abridgement of exercise. Do not anguish back these cysts generally go as calmly as they appear if you booty the appropriate action.

Certain herbs are called to try to advance the antithesis of hormones in the body. These will advice adapt your ovulation aeon too which will accomplish Cure For Infertility it abundant Cure For Infertility easier to ascertain back absolutely you are best abundant anniversary month.

You may additionally be Pregnancy Treatments experiencing affliction Pregnancy Herbal and alike bleeding. This is Pregnancy Treatments usually acquired by Pregnancy Homeopathic the deepening of assertive tissue in the uterus. Again herbs are called accurately to ambition these tissue and to abate the inflammation. In a few weeks you should apprehension the bleeding stop and the affliction disappearing.

Natural ovarian cyst analysis is accordingly a abundant affair to try afore activity bottomward the alarming and big-ticket avenue of surgery. There is little accident and you can pregnancy treatments consistently go for anaplasty if it doesn’t assignment out for you.

Find the best adviser on

[Via http://pregnancytreatments.wordpress.com]

Guest Post - My Experiences with Vulvodynia

[Dear internet, we have our first guest poster! The following was written by Rhiannon, who has volunteered the following background information: "I'm a white middle-class cis-gendered presently able-bodied Kinsey 2." She lives in the United Kingdom and is studying for her Master's degree. She can be reached at rhiannon (dot) book (no space) geek (at) gmail (dot) com.]

My Experiences with Vulvodynia

It was January of my second year at university. I’d got reasonable grades the previous semester, despite a bout of tendinitis in my writing arm; I wanted to get my life sorted out a bit. I’d been dating a male-born man for a bit over a year. I was also tired, after many years, of menstrual periods so heavy that sometimes I’d be immobilised by cramps for two or three days. Sometimes the pain was so bad that I vomited.

“See a nurse about the contraceptive pill!” advertised my GP’s surgery, so I saw a nurse. She took my blood pressure and prescribed a common form of the pill.

I spent the next month bursting into tears every five minutes. I wanted sex emotionally, but my body wasn’t interested and it started to hurt.

When I went back to the nurse, she did change my prescription, but also suggested that being a bit hormonal was normal and that all I needed was some lube.

To cut a long story short, I spent a long while trying different forms of the Pill, and also trying to work out why sex, which had never been a problem before (at least not since my first time, about a year prior to this point), was suddenly so painful. After a while, I took to examining myself very closely, and eventually discovered a sore looking red spot.

At first I thought it must be herpes – my partner at the time occasionally got cold sores, and although I’d never had one on my mouth or anywhere else, and we’d not really experimented with oral sex, I thought that was the only thing it could be.

I took it to the doctor, who couldn’t explain it and suggested we took some swabs in case of infection – the swabs, of course, came from deep inside the vagina, since nobody believes that vulvas have problems.

The tests came back negative. I found another matching sore spot on the other side – the site of what, I would later learn, was my other Bartholin’s gland. My GP referred me to a specialist.

The specialist’s assistant examined me, and suggested that I might have thrush (I didn’t; I’ve had thrush before, I know what it’s like, and I also know what my normal discharge looks like. This would have been quicker if I’d been listened to.) Despite the fact that I’d already been tested for an infection, I was sent home with an antibiotic cream and instructions to come back if the problem persisted.

It persisted. I went back.

We tried hormone creams, which didn’t work; and lidocaine gels, which work as topical treatments if I want to have sex (though it’s deeply annoying, since I need twenty minutes’ warning of any penetration event), but doesn’t work as a long-term numbing.

The twin soreness of my Bartholin’s glands remained. I was offered steroid or Botox injections into the site of pain, surgery, or physiotherapy. Being averse to invasive methods, I opted for physiotherapy.

(It was also suggested that I try coming off the pill. I did, had two months of worse-than-ever period pain, and went onto the POP. I now take a double dose of Cervazette, a practice which very few GPs have heard of, but works for me – it not only clears up the periods, but also the PMT.)

I saw a very kind physiotherapist three or four times in total; she concluded that my muscles were quite strong anyway, I concluded that doing any kind of exercise twice a day was more distressing than any pain (there’s another long story here, about the word ‘exercise’, my childhood experiences with PE lessons and my teenage mishaps and illnesses, and the male-centred physiotherapist I saw about my arm the previous winter), and we parted having agreed that she couldn’t help.

(As an aside, she claimed that she mostly saw young women with the problem, and not middle aged women. She concluded that it mostly resolved itself; I concluded that if you had it, you’ve give up sex, and that middle aged women were more likely to have accepted it and/or not regard it as abnormal and not be seeking treatment. She also claimed that many women found the pain lessened when their partner – always assumed to be male – didn’t wear a condom; I found that it was worse if he didn’t. This suggests that the difference is largely psychological in at least some cases.)

The only other non-invasive treatment I was offered was massage or dilation. The theory here is that if (and this seems to be unproven so far) the problem is caused by an overgrowth of nerves in the area, then it might be helped or cured by convincing the nerves that touch shouldn’t equal pain, i.e. overstimulating them until they give up.

(I’m going to skim over the long discussions we had about potential treatments for vaginismus, because that is a muscular reaction to pain, which I do not have. No medic appears able to believe this, but that doesn’t mean I have it.)

I thought hard about dilation, and attempted massage for a couple of days. In the end, I found the idea of causing myself pain on a daily basis for months if not years to be distressing far beyond the distress caused by giving up sex entirely (my relationship with my partner was falling apart anyway; we are still friends), and decided to reject further medical treatment – it would have been difficult to continue because I was moving, but I don’t want to give the impression that I have simply failed to seek more treatment. I actively decided that treatment was worse than the disorder.

I don’t expect to have any further sexual relationships. I am not seeking them; sex is too difficult to face. I don’t think most men would tolerate a sexless relationship, and having never dated women yet I haven’t the nerve to come out as an involuntarily sexless bisexual.

Since if I leave my vulva alone it is mostly painless on a daily basis, at the moment I’m coping by simply living with the issue. I don’t aim to ignore it entirely – I wouldn’t be writing this blog post if I were – but the options for treatment seem so distressing and/or so extreme that going through the process of seeking treatment in a new city doesn’t seem worth the trouble.

This leaves me in an odd, middle-ground position with relation to feminist opinions of FSD. On the one hand, I’m glad that I was able to seek treatment, that I was eventually diagnosed with vulvodynia, a physical if poorly understood condition, and that there were medical routes open to me.

On the other hand, I found the medicalisation of my sex life difficult to deal with – in the end, I was dreading trying to have sex, and tried to only do so the weekend before an appointment because I knew that a doctor was about to ask how it was. I dread to think what the reaction would have been if I had admitted to seeking treatment for this condition while single; there was no opening for the possibility of non-straightness or non-monogamy. It wasn’t until I saw the final doctor, a sex counsellor, that anyone asked whether my relationship was good; even then, the focus was on returning me to a fit state to have penetrative sex and babies. (When I finally took a deep breath and said, “I don’t think I want to go on with this, I have no motivation to cause myself pain every day,” the counsellor replied that other women often went through with it because they were trying to have children. Fair play to them, but she didn’t ask whether I wanted children.)

Throughout the process, I was never examined by a male doctor. I did see one – the expert consultant was a man – but he seemed curiously reluctant to examine me, preferring to have me comment on rough sketches of a vulva. Those who did examine me rarely did so twice; even the physiotherapist only checked me once, I presume because having admitted to only doing one set of ‘exercises’ a day and not two, I wouldn’t have made any difference worth checking.

I was never pushed into taking drugs I didn’t want, and nobody seemed interested in selling particular brands; perhaps this is an effect of the NHS, which will always favour the cheapest solution. The contraceptive pills I took were all free to all women in any case.

My present position is that the key thing is choice and knowing about all the options. I have no objection to women having access to, say, a drug which can raise sexual desire, or decrease abnormal pain during penis-in-vagina events. It is oversimplification to assume that all women are pressured into accepting such treatments by their male partners or doctors; equally, treating sex as a purely medical phenomenon with no social dimension misses much of its joy as well as its pain.

This is a complex issue, actually composed of many issues about women’s pain, sexual desire, social assumptions, medical views, technological possibilities, etc. I’d like to see a little more acknowledgement of this in feminist discussions.

[Via http://feministswithfsd.wordpress.com]

Church, Not State: The Christian Approach to Health Care

St. Luke, the physician

Christians cannot and should not try to separate their religious beliefs from their political beliefs. Faith must inform our morals, and morality must inform our politics. So what does the Christian faith have to say about health care? Quite a bit actually.

Christianity is fully embodied in Catholicism, and Catholicism uniquely reveres, embraces, and is founded upon the authoritative traditions of the early Church. So the answer to “What does the Christian faith have to say about health care” is another question: how did the early Church traditionally approach health care? (Scripturally, some important information on early Christian charitable work in general can be found in the Book of Acts and some of St. Paul’s letters but very little specific to health care aside from miraculous healings and the institution of the Sacrament of the Sick through the letter of St. James, 5:14-15.)

The history of institutionalized health care is so intimately intertwined with the history of Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity, that it is no exaggeration to say that the latter gave rise to the former.

But for the purposes of the current American health care debate, two main questions stand out: Did the early Church relinquish all responsibility for care of the sick to the state (the Roman Empire)? Did it demand the state tax the rich heavily to pay for health care for everyone?

On both counts, no, it didn’t. And it is so frustrating that the leadership of Christian churches, but especially that of the Catholic Church, as well as many lay Christians have ignored the history of the Church with regard to this issue.

Even before the persecution of Christianity stopped, the early Church assumed full responsibility for the sick (including their pagan persecutors) and financed their hospitals through private charity.

According to a Christianity Today article, reviewing the book Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity:

As early as A.D. 251, according to letters from the time, the church in Rome cared for 1,500 widows and those who were distressed. A hundred years later, Antioch supported 3,000 widows, virgins, sick, poor, and travelers. This care was organized by the church and delivered through deacons and volunteer societies…. When the plague of Cyprian struck in 250 and lasted for years, this volunteer corps became the only organization in Roman cities that cared for the dying and buried the dead. Ironically, as the church dramatically increased its care, the Roman government began persecuting the church more heavily.

Outside their close family and perhaps friends, most pagans cared nothing for their fellow human beings, whom they did not consider to be brothers made in the image and likeness of God, as Christians did. We should expect nothing less with health care under the neo-pagan political left in America today. Ideas have consequences; indeed they have already occurred in de-Christianized Europe. Just as the pagans before them, leftists are willing and even eager to kill the weakest among us, i.e. the unborn (or even born) child, the elderly, and the mentally or physically disabled.

According to sociologist Alvin J. Schmidt in How Christianity Changed the World:

Charity hospitals for the poor and indigent public did not exist until Christianity introduced them…. [T]he first ecumenical council of the Christian church at Nicaea in 325 directed bishops to establish a hospice in every city that had a cathedral…. The first hospital was built by St. Basil in Caesarea in Cappadocia about A.D. 369…. After St. Basil’s hospital was built in the East and another in Edessa in 375, Fabiola, a wealthy widow and an associate of St. Jerome, built the first hospital in the West, a nosocomium, in the city of Rome in about 390. According to Jerome, Fabiola donated all of her wealth (which was considerable) to construct this hospital, to which she brought the sick from off the streets in Rome….

The building of hospitals continued. St. Chrysostom (d. 407), the patriarch of the Eastern church, had hospitals built in Constantinople in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and St. Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo in northern Africa, was instrumental in adding hospitals in the West. By the sixth century, hospitals also had become a common part of monasteries. Hence, by the middle of the sixth century in most of Christendom, in the East and the West, ‘hospitals were securely established.’ Also in the sixth century, hospitals received an additional boost when the Council of Orleans (France) passed canons assuring their protection, and in the last quarter of the same century, Pope Gregory the Great did much to advance the importance of hospitals….

By 750 the growth of Christian hospitals, either as separate units or attached to monasteries, had spread from Continental Europe to England…. And by the mid-1500s there were 37,000 Benedictine monasteries that cared for the sick….

The Crusaders also founded healthcare orders, providing health care to all, Christian and Muslim alike. The Order of Hospitallers recruited women for nursing the sick. The Hospitallers of St. Lazarus, founded in the East in the twelfth century, devoted themselves primarily to nursing. This order spread to Europe, where it founded many more hospitals and treated people with various diseases. The Knights of the Order of Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights of Malta) not only operated and maintained hospitals, but also admitted the insane. They founded a Christian insane asylum in 1409 in Valencia, Spain.

According to historian Gary Ferngren in Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity:

The experience gained by the congregation-centered care of the sick over several centuries gave early Christians the ability to create rapidly in the late fourth century a network of efficiently functioning institutions that offered charitable medical care, first in monastic infirmaries and later in the hospital.

The Protestant Revolution, the Endarkenment, the French Revolution, and its intellectual descendants have brought abrupt and sometimes violent disruptions, if not a complete end, to this vast charitable network in many places. Yes, “evil” religion and “papism” had to be smashed and replaced by the “humanitarian” Animal Farm of the Leviathan state. Ha, how “compassionate.” But I digress….

Now, am I suggesting that the U.S. return to the exact health care system of the early Church? Of course not! This straw man entirely misses the point that I’m trying to communicate here. I’m not suggesting a structure and system in itself but rather an approach and a set of principles that need to be incorporated into the American health care system. And the Christian churches, esp. the Catholic Church, need to recommit themselves to their obligation to care for the indigent sick and need to take an active role in articulating and promoting these Christian principles to everyone.

What are those principles?

1. Generally and most importantly, care for the physical needs of human beings do NOT override Christian moral imperatives not to steal and commit violence, even from and against the rich. Spiritual needs override any physical needs.
2. The health of the poor in one’s local community must be a pressing concern of all Christians.
3. Care for the sick is an essential duty of local churches that should not be relinquished to the nation-state.
4. Care for the sick is not to be financed by state-coerced wealth redistribution but by the patients themselves or charity.
5. However, to whom much is given, much is expected. The rich are morally obligated to voluntarily direct their wealth to the health care of the poor, starting in their local communities.
6. If the state is to assist in financing health care in any way (which I doubt is necessary), it should be done as locally as possible, according to the Catholic moral principle of subsidiarity.

Medicine today is vastly more accurate, comprehensive, sophisticated, technological, and effective. That also means that, aside from higher costs caused by government interference in the industry,  health care is naturally more expensive now because it is so much more valuable than it was centuries ago. But none of these facts change or undermine the Christian principles I’ve laid out above. Politics itself has shown that more than enough money can be raised through a well-organized solicitation of voluntary donations.

The fact that modern medicine can treat so many maladies naturally and psychologically creates more pressure to assure every sick person receives treatment. But again, that pressure should not tempt us to stifle charity through state-enforced plunder. That pressure belongs on us as individuals, esp.  the rich, who must care for modern-day Lazarus or face an eternal punishment.

It is an inverse relationship and a zero sum game between government control and Christian charity. The former stifles the latter. Even if socialized medicine did work better (it never does), it would do no good for us to gain all the bodily health in the world yet become mortally and spiritually sick in the process.

[Via http://conservativecolloquium.wordpress.com]