Personal
Aging
Coping With Restless Legs Syndrome In Our Over-Medicalized World
Disease mongering — defined by American and British researchers quoted in The Guardian newspaper on April 11 as “corporate-sponsored creation of disease” — is here to stay. Eleven papers in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine argue that “new diseases are being defined by specialists who are often funded by the drug industry.”
Read this story > > >Children's Health
Why Do Pediatricians Deny The Obvious?
It’s 2006, and for the first time in history, U.S. children are sicker than the generation before them.
Read this story > > >Endocrinology
Thyroid: Separating Fact From Fiction
Our thyroid gland plays an enormous part in our everyday quality of life. Unfortunately, one of the most prevalent disorders of this gland, hypothyroidism, is also one of the most misdiagnosed or undiagnosed ailments we face.
Read this story > > >Hysterectomy
Women, Lawsuits, Doctors And How The Medical Community Promotes Injustice
No "real" justice for women damaged by pelvic surgeries
Since the publication of Misinformed Consent in Canada in 2002, and in the U.S. in 2003, I continue to receive calls, letters and e-mails on a regular basis, from women wanting to know how to proceed with a civil or a class action lawsuit. As I read about their damage and the impact it had on their lives, I wish that there were more I could do to help. I encourage all women to stand up for themselves, but at the same time, I need to warn them that their chances of success with a lawsuit are slim to none.
Read this story > > >Menopause
The Latest On Estrogen Replacement
There appears to be no end to the pharmaceutical drive for profit — no matter what the human cost. A supreme example is the estrogen replacement drug for menopausal women known as Premarin. It is made from “conjugated equine estrogens” extracted from the urine of pregnant mares. (A “cruelty-to-animals” procedure you don’t want to hear about.)
For years, Premarin was widely, enthusiastically prescribed to protect women from heart disease and osteoporosis, while dealing with menopausal symptoms. This was enough to keep them taking the drug, in spite of the side effects of headaches, leg cramps, water retention, weight gain and mood changes.
Read this story > > >Osteoporosis
Your Bones On Pop
A Taiwan news report last week once again brought the question of the relationship between soft drinks and osteoporosis into the public eye. The article described a Tapei physician who was treating a 23-year-old woman for osteoporosis. The patient’s tests indicated that her bone density resembled that of a 60- or 70-year-old woman. The physician’s conclusion: the young woman’s cola habit was accelerating bone loss.
Read this story > > >Sexuality
Hysterectomy And Sex — Or Lack Thereof
Over the holidays, a local doctor sent me a copy of a recent study on sexual function and type of hysterectomy, published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. (1) The research concludes that retaining the cervix does not “appreciably” benefit a patient’s post-hysterectomy sexual function; therefore, it is appropriate to continue the practice of removing a healthy cervix just in case the patient develops cancer in this organ in the future. I wasn’t impressed with the findings, and I couldn’t let this one slide.
Read this story > > >Women
Who Is Everyone?
Everyone wants a cure. A television commercial uses this line, while promoting the sale of something pink during the current breast cancer awareness month sham.
Who does everyone include?
Read this story > > >