Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests

If there are some kids in your life and you love them, check this out. After working in pharmaceuticals for a time I was surprised to learn many of my colleagues would not use the very vaccines we produced. Their reasons surprised me and helped me to learn to be careful with my choices. My pediatrician is happy at the result of just a little informed choice.

New Warnings About Painkillers

Pain stinks. That’s a fact. Does dulling your entire body to mask it make sense? Drugs, pushed or prescribed, simply manipulate the body. I feel for anyone in pain, I have been there, I deal with it all day long. The dangers of numbing our minds and bodies is real. It takes work to find and fix the problem behind it and that takes time. are you a quick fix personality – or are you in it for the long haul?
Your health, wealth and your family depend on you making the right decision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxavH2Dnelk
The Food and Drug Administration has suggested that there are increased dangers associated with popular prescription painkillers Vicodin and Percocet, along with acetaminophen. Nancy Cordes reports.
Source: YouTube

Improved Hearing and Resolution of Ear Infections With Chiropractic Care – A Case Study

A case study research article published on March 25, 2009 in the scientific periodical, the Journal of  Pediatric, Maternal and Family Health, documented a case of improved hearing and the resolution of ear infections with chiropractic care. This case followed the progress of a  three year old girl who had right and left ear pain and hearing loss after three unsuccessful implantations of tympanostomy tubes as well as multiple medications.
The research article starts off by noting that ear infections are one of the most common diagnoses of children by pediatricians in the United States. According to the study, over one third (35%) of all pediatrician visits in the U.S. in 1990 and 46% of all three year-olds have experienced three or more episodes of this condition.

The case study author also reviewed the literature involving chiropractic care for children with ear infections. Dr. Crystal Brown, the author of the paper noted, “Numerous case studies and some clinical studies are revealing that there is a relationship between abnormalities in the spine, the nervous system and the various problems related to ear infections. These types of structural problems in the upper part of the neck cause a back-up of the lymphatics and problems with the tubes draining the middle ear. By removing the structural imbalance chiropractic helps these fluids drain, and improves nerve supply and range of motion.”

In this case the young girl was first diagnosed with ear infections when she was one year old. For the next several years the child had repeated infections that were not helped by multiple rounds of oral antibiotics, ear drops and three separate insertions of tubes in the ears. This case reported that the little girl’s health condition continued to get worse to the point where her preschool teacher even began noticing both hearing and speech problems. Hearing tests confirmed these findings and the third set of tubes were removed due to complications of excessive fluid accumulation, rupture of the eardrum, worsening speech disturbances and bilateral hearing loss.

At this point the girl’s mother decided to try chiropractic care prior to another set of tubes. The child was examined and the finding of upper cervical (neck) subluxations was made. A course of specific adjustments was initiated to correct the subluxations.

After about one month of chiropractic the child improved dramatically including a normalizing of the audiology testing. The child reported an increase in hearing and told her mother, “I can hear again”. The child’s mother reported the child had less ear pain, was less irritable, and had better speech. It was even reported by the preschool teacher that the girl was more attentive.

Dr. Matthew McCoy, a chiropractor, public health researcher and editor of the journal that published the study commented, “With everything we know about the dangers of antibiotic abuse, chiropractic intervention makes perfect sense in the case of childhood ear infections. In fact, chiropractic is the treatment of choice for dealing with the structural and neurological aspects of ear infections. This child was experiencing speech, hearing and school challenges as a result of her ear infections and the medical intervention was not helping. It wasn’t until the chiropractic intervention that the child improved dramatically and in a very short time.”

Healthy Tips

  

QUICK FACTS

·         The American Cancer Society recommends that most men get a prostate test beginning at age 50. Men at high risk, such as African-American men and men with a strong family history, should begin testing at age 45.

·          Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) affects 433,216 people in the U.S. each year and caused 430 deaths in 1999. It also accounts for 350,000 to 400,000 operations per year in America.

·          There were 218,890 new cases of prostate cancer and 27,050 prostate cancer-related deaths in the United    States in 2006.

·           It is estimated that approximately $8 billion is spent on prostate cancer treatment each year in the U.S.

What You Should Know About the Prostate

The prostate is a walnut-sized sex gland that surrounds the neck of the bladder and the urethra (a tube that carries urine from the bladder). Its job is to secrete a fluid that forms part of the semen.

Almost all men will have some kind of prostate disease in their lifetime. The causes are not known, but it’s speculated that tissue inflammation and an imbalance of male sex hormones, such as testosterone, may be at fault. The most common prostate diseases are benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), inflammatory prostatitis and cancer. BPH is an enlargement of the prostate, and it is very common. It’s present in more than 50 percent of men by age 60. As a man ages, his risk increases. When the prostate grows large enough to constrict the urethra, uncomfortable urination problems develop, such as delay and difficulty in initiating a urinary stream, stopping and starting urination several times during voiding, and dribbling at the end of urination.

An enlargement also may cause the bladder wall to thicken. This can reduce the ability to store urine and results in a frequent need to urinate. The symptoms of BPH and prostate cancer are very similar, so it is important to see your doctor right away if you are experiencing these symptoms.

For men under the age of 50, prostatitis, a benign (non-cancerous), inflammatory condition, is the most common prostate disease - so common, in fact, that some estimates show at least half of all men, at some point in their lives, will develop symptoms. These symptoms can include a frequent and urgent need to urinate; pelvic, groin or low back pain; and pain or burning when urinating. There are a number of treatment options for BPH and prostatitis, and neither disease develops into prostate cancer.

 

How to Reduce Your Risk

There are a number of risk factors for developing prostate disease. You may have little control over some of them, such as race and family history. Having a father or brother with prostate cancer, for example, doubles a mans risk of developing it. And, it’s nearly twice as common for African-American men to develop prostate cancer compared to Caucasian-American men.

Excessive hormonal stimulation also poses a higher risk, as increased testosterone stimulates the growth of prostate cancer cells. Fortunately, you can be proactive and modify certain lifestyle factors, such as diet, exercise and weight, to reduce your risk.

Dietary Support for Your Prostate

Research consistently shows that eating a diet rich in whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, reduces your risk of many chronic diseases, including several types of cancer. Dietary intake of lycopene-rich foods has been linked to reduced risk of prostate disease. Lycopene is a plant pigment and an antioxidant. Studies show frequent consumption of lycopene-rich foods, especially tomatoes, can lower your risk of prostate cancer by as much as 16 percent to 21 percent.

Modifying your diet to incorporate whole foods is important to your health, but it’s not always easy. Americans typically eat diets rich in refined carbohydrates, sugar, processed foods and saturated fats, which contribute to excessive weight and obesity. Moreover, we eat foods that are nutrient-poor, which is why many of us need supplements to ensure good nutrition.

Increasingly, we are adding specific supplements to our diet to combat certain health challenges and reduce our risk of disease. In addition to lycopene, supplements that support prostate health include selenium and saw palmetto. Selenium, a trace element, is an antioxidant that might help control cell damage that can lead to cancer. Research shows that men with normal PSA levels who take selenium have a reduced risk for prostate cancer. The most popular herbal supplement in the battle against prostate disease is saw palmetto. Studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing the symptoms of BPH.

When choosing a supplement, it is important to evaluate its ingredients. Supplements that contain whole-food sources are the best sources of these nutrients because they contain all the essential components of the food.

 

Being overweight or obese can cause a number of health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and even death. A survey conducted by the American Cancer Society showed that obesity also increased the risk of prostate cancer.

Diets rich in fat, sugar and red meat, and low in fiber, fruits and vegetables, contribute to being overweight or obese, and are linked to many cancers. The type of fat consumed in your diet also influences your risk. High intake of saturated fat in particular has been linked to increased risk of prostate cancer in several studies.

A diet that is higher in fruits, vegetables, fish, and some kinds of seeds and nuts (such as walnuts and flaxseed) will contain more healthy fats (called omega-3 fats) than a diet full of red meat and dairy foods (which contain more omega-6 fats). You need both kinds of fat in your diet, but the balance is what is important to protect against diseases such as prostate cancer. Increasing the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats might reduce prostate cancer tumor growth and PSA levels.

Exercise Supports the Prostate

Exercise has become the solution for just about every ailment, and prostate disease has been added to the list. According to a new study, older men who exercise regularly have a much lower risk - nearly a 70 percent decrease - of developing advanced prostate cancer or dying from the disease.

There is a lot you can do to protect yourself from prostate disease. Be proactive. Eat whole foods, exercise, take whole-food supplements and speak with your doctor about getting tested. This is your best defense against developing any type of prostate disease.

Body Weight and Prostate Health