National Study Indicates that 45% of Cesarean Sections May Be Unnecessary

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National Study Indicates that 45% of Cesarean Sections May Be Unnecessary
Thomas Finn - May 7, 2014 7:08 AM | Categories: advanced analytic s in healthcare, General News and Commentary, government policy, Healthcare Providers, Supply Chains, women's health
Tags: healthcare supply chain, not medically indicated, prenatal care, unwarranted surgeries, women's health

Cesarean Sections (C-sections) continue to occur at a high rate in the US despite evidence that they increase poor health outcomes for women and their children. A new nationwide study reveals that 26% of US mothers delivered via C-section in 2001, and 45% of these deliveries were not considered medically indicated.

 Furthermore, this study suggests that many risk factors for C-section delivery could be addressed prior to pregnancy, indicating that these discussions should take place before women become pregnant.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Whitney P. Witt, director of maternal and child health research at Truven Health Analytics, noted that many C-sections are not medically necessary and since these surgical deliveries can be dangerous for both the mother and the baby, the medical community is increasingly concerned about reducing the rate of non-indicated and elective C-sections when possible.

The research team studied how the risk of having a medically indicated and non-medically indicated C-section was affected by many factors both over the course of a woman’s life and during pregnancy. The researchers examined data on 9,350 pairs of mothers and children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, a nationally representative sample of children born in 2001 and their mothers. Of the women surveyed, 74% had a vaginal delivery, 14% had a medically indicated C-section, and 12% had a non-indicated C-section.

Important findings from the study include:

    Women were over 100 times more likely to have a non-indicated C-section if they previously had a C-section. However, women were only 20 times more likely to have a medically indicated C-section if they had a prior C-section.

    Women were more likely to give birth via indicated C-section if they experienced any stressful life event prior to pregnancy.

    Obese women were about two times more likely to deliver via C-section than normal weight women.

    Older women were significantly more likely to deliver via C-section than their younger counterparts.

    Women who had chronic conditions or experienced pregnancy complications were more likely to deliver via indicated C-section.

Women and their doctors should work together to make decisions regarding childbirth. Based on previous research and what we have heard anecdotally, health insurers and hospitals may also need to re-evaluate their policies to increase rates of vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), said Witt. Furthermore, this study suggests that many risk factors for C-section delivery could be addressed prior to pregnancy, indicating that these discussions should take place before women become pregnant.

The study also examined Market-Scan data from Truven Health Analytics, finding that a C-section delivery costs $4,000 more than a vaginal delivery on average. In fact, reducing the national C-section rate by only 2.8% would save approximately $101 million in C-section-related expenditures per year.

The research was funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration and the National Institutes of Health. It has been published in the Maternal and Child Health Journal and is available online here.

Source: BusinessWire, Truven Health

Thank You

Tom Finn

 

  God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.

Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.

 

 

New Study Finds Sunlight Boosts Nitric Oxide Production

REMINDER: In The Archive is all of the articles that I
have posted since I started this blog. There is TONS OF
INFORMATION there for you to learn from. It's the type
of information that not only saved my life...It also has
given me a better quality of life.

PLEASE PASS THIS BLOG ON AND PLEASE TWEET THIS BLOG.

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 New Study Finds Sunlight Boosts Nitric Oxide Production

By Dr. Mercola

    By now, you are probably aware I am a strong proponent of sun exposure and its many health benefits. Most of those benefits come from the boost in vitamin D, but a new UK study suggests sunlight’s benefits extend far beyond vitamin D.

    In fact, exposure to the sun may be one of the most important steps you can take in preventing heart disease and stroke. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh discovered that when sunlight touches your skin, nitric oxide is released into your bloodstream, and nitric oxide is a powerful blood pressure lowering compound.

    Researchers have concluded sun exposure may even prolong your life by significantly cutting your heart attack/stroke risk. The abstract for the study was published online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology on April 15, 2013.

    The Edinburgh researchers mentioned an absolutely stunning statistic. For every one skin cancer death in northern Europe, between 60 and 100 people die from stroke or heart disease, related to hypertension.

    Knowing that your risk of dying from heart disease or stroke is 80 times greater on average than from skin cancer really puts it in perspective. While higher vitamin D levels also correlate with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, oral vitamin D supplements do not appear to benefit blood pressure, and this latest study may be telling us why.

    Researcher Richard Weller stated:

        "We suspect that the benefits to heart health of sunlight will outweigh the risk of skin cancer. The work we have done provides a mechanism that might account for this, and also explains why dietary vitamin D supplements alone will not be able to compensate for lack of sunlight."

   You Are My Sunshine

    Research is illuminating a forever-growing list of sunlight’s health benefits. This isn’t really surprising when you consider the fact that we evolved hunting and foraging under the sun.

    This team of researchers found that your body's production of nitric oxide is separate from its production of vitamin D, so it follows that there are two completely separate sets of benefits. Until now, increased vitamin D had been thought to be the sole explanation for the sun's health benefits, but it appears from these latest findings that vitamin D is only one part of the story.

    Besides the benefits derived from increased vitamin D, the sun also provides relief from a wide variety of health problems from mechanisms separate from vitamin D. For a comprehensive overview, refer to our previous article on the sun’s benefits, but here are just a few:

        Improved mood and energy levels through the release of endorphins
        Better melatonin regulation and synchronization of your biorhythms
        Suppression of the symptoms of fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis
        Treating skin diseases (including psoriasis, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, and
        scleroderma) and  antibiotic-resistant infections, such as MRSA
        Treating tuberculosis, neonatal jaundice, and possibly T cell lymphoma

Why Care About Nitric Oxide?

    The researchers found that sunlight triggers your skin’s production of nitric oxide. Why is this significant? Because nitric oxide is crucial for maintaining healthy blood pressure, helps prevent atherosclerosis, and plays a role in modulating immune system function.

    Your skin contains large stores of nitrite and nitrate, but only the nitrite is biologically active. Sunlight appears to prompt conversion of nitrate to nitrite and nitric oxide (NO). Please don't confuse nitric oxide (NO) with nitrous oxide (N2O) or "laughing gas, the anesthetic gas used by dentists.

    Nitric oxide is such an important compound that it was dubbed Molecule of the Year by Science magazine in 1992, followed by the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine for its discovery as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. Your blood vessels require the amino acid L-arginine for the synthesis of nitric oxide, since L-arginine is its precursor in your body.

    By helping to regulate your blood pressure, nitric oxide enhances blood flow. Nitric oxide signals the smooth muscle cells in your blood vessels to relax so that your vessels dilate and your blood flows more freely, which helps your arteries stay free of plaque. When you have inadequate nitric oxide, your risk for coronary artery disease increases.

    If your blood is flowing freely, then nearly every physiological process will function better. If your blood is sluggish, then important cells and nutrients can't reach the areas that need them. It's like getting the tow truck to the scene of the accident no tow truck means no repairs.

    Not only is nitric oxide important in regulating blood pressure, it also functions as a signaling molecule in your brain and immune system. Besides sitting in the sun, you can increase your nitric oxide levels with a few natural supplements and techniques:

        Calcium and magnesium rich foods and supplements, and vitamins C and E
        Olive extract
        Bitter melon
        Electrical acupuncture
        Taking a warm bath, or by breathing in and out through one nostril (close off
        the other nostril and your mouth)

Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure, the SILENT Killer

     According to the CDC, high blood pressure is the second greatest public health threat in the US. According to the CDC, 36 million people in the US have uncontrolled high blood pressure, and 14 million of them don’t even know it quite alarming considering uncontrolled high blood pressure can be deadly when it results in a heart attack or stroke. But insufficient nitric oxide is just one factor contributing to the high blood pressure epidemic.

    High blood pressure is associated with insulin and leptin resistance and elevated uric acid levels. One of the things driving up uric acid levels is overconsumption of fructose, and to a lesser degree, grains, beer and caffeine. Fructose breaks down into a variety of waste products, one of which is uric acid. Uric acid drives up your blood pressure by inhibiting nitric oxide in your blood vessels. In fact, 17 out of 17 studies demonstrate that elevated uric acid levels lead to hypertension.

    According to the latest research, the safest range for uric acid is between 3 and 5.5 milligrams per deciliter, and there appears to be a steady relationship between uric acid levels and blood pressure and cardiovascular risk, even down to the range of 3 to 4 mg/dl. The ideal uric acid level appears to be around 4 mg/dl for men and 3.5 mg/dl for women.

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear About Melanoma

    Melanoma is the most lethal form of skin cancer. However, your risk of dying from it pales in comparison to your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, as discussed earlier. And the rates of melanoma so often quoted by government officials may be grossly inflated, based on recent data.

    A report in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology claims that 90 percent of melanoma surgeries are actually unnecessary removals of benign lesions and not melanoma at all, raising questions about the accuracy of the melanoma epidemic. The lead author of the report attributed the unnecessary excisions to an increased awareness by patients who see anti-sun promotions, such as "melanoma awareness" campaigns, and worriedly run into clinics demanding treatment. The report highlights the necessity of getting a second, and perhaps even a third opinion from a specialized clinic before going under the scalpel.

    Unfortunately, what this means is that, while the melanoma epidemic appears to be real if you go by surgical statistics, those stats actually paint a misleading picture if 90 percent of "melanoma cases" are not really melanoma! Sensible exposure to UVB light (adequate exposure without allowing your skin to burn) may actually protect you from melanoma, whereas UVA radiation is associated with skin damage. For example, indoor workers actually have a higher risk of melanoma than outdoor workers, suggesting that chronic sun exposure may indeed have a protective effect.

    Melanoma studies are just now beginning to look at variables such as gender and affected body area. For example, one new Journal of Investigative Dermatology study found differences in skin cancer distribution patterns between men and women. We need many more studies such as this before we can draw definitive conclusions about how the sun can increaseor decrease your risk.

Basic Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Heart

    Sunlight will provide enormous health benefits with respect to increasing your nitric oxide production, enhancing your vitamin D levels, and helping regulate your blood pressure, which in turn will reduce your overall cardiovascular risk. But you cannot stop there! You must also address other diet and lifestyle factors, starting with the basics.

        Proper Food Choices

        For a comprehensive guide about which foods to eat and which to avoid, see my comprehensive nutrition plan. Generally speaking, you should focus your diet on whole, ideally organic, unprocessed foods that come from healthy, sustainable and preferably local sources. For the highest nutritional benefit, eat a good portion of your food raw.

        Most people (although there are clearly individual differences) should strive for a diet high in healthful fats (as high as 50-70 percent of the calories you eat), moderate amounts of high quality protein, and abundant vegetables. Non-vegetable carbohydrates should be a fairly minimal part of your diet. Sugar, and fructose in particular, can act as a toxin when consumed in excess, driving multiple disease processes in your body including insulin resistance, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and systemic inflammation.

        High-Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats

        If you want to increase your overall health and energy level and prevent health conditions like heart disease, cancer, depression, Alzheimer's, and a host of other diseases, one of the most important strategies at your disposal is increasing your intake of omega-3 fats and reducing your intake of processed omega-6 fats. An animal-based omega-3 fat like krill oil is incredibly good for your heart and brain.

        Comprehensive Exercise Program, including High-Intensity Exercise

        Even if you're eating the best diet in the world, you still need to exercise and exercise effectively if you wish to optimize your health. You should include core-strengthening exercises, strength training, and the right kind of stretching, as well as high-intensity burst type activities. Consider combining this with intermittent fasting to supercharge your metabolism.

        Optimize Your Vitamin D

        The important factor when it comes to vitamin D is your serum level, which should ideally be between 50-70 ng/ml year-round, and the only way to determine this is with a blood test. Sun exposure or a safe tanning bed is the preferred method, but a vitamin D3 supplement can be used when necessary. According to the latest research, most adults need about 8,000 IU's of vitamin D per day to achieve serum levels of about 40 ng/ml.

        If you take supplemental vitamin D, you also need to make sure you're getting enough vitamin K2, as these two nutrients work in tandem to ensure calcium is distributed into the proper areas in your body. Vitamin K2 deficiency is actually what produces the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, which includes inappropriate calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries. Fermented vegetables can be a great source of vitamin K2 if you ferment your own using the proper starter culture. Gouda and Edam cheese are also good sources.

        Stress Reduction and Emotional Housekeeping

        Your emotional state plays a role in nearly every physical disease, from heart disease to depression to cancer, and yet it’s the factor most often neglected. Stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day. Meditation, prayer, energy psychology tools, such as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), and yoga are all viable options that can help you relieve stress and clear out hidden emotional blocks.

        Avoid as Many Chemicals, Toxins, and Pollutants as Possible

        This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, pesticides and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.

        Earthing, or Grounding Yourself to the Earth

        When walking barefoot on the earth, free electrons transfer from the ground into your body through the soles of your feet. These free electrons are some of the most potent antioxidants known to man. Experiments have shown that these electrons decrease pain and inflammation, improve heart rate, promote sound sleep, and make your blood less viscous, which has a beneficial impact on cardiovascular health.

        Lack of grounding due to widespread use of rubber or plastic-soled shoes has contributed to the rise of modern diseases by allowing chronic inflammation to proliferate unchecked. So the more you can walk barefoot on the ground, the better. Ideal locations are the beach, close to or in the water, and on dewy grass. If you spend much time indoors, you may want to consider investing in an Earthing mat.

        Drink Plenty of Fresh, Pure Water Every Day
        Get Plenty of High-Quality, Restorative Sleep

Thank You  Dr. Mercola

 God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.

Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.

Where Corn Is King, a New Regard for Grass-Fed Beef

REMINDER: In The Archive is all of the articles that I
have posted since I started this blog. There is TONS OF
INFORMATION there for you to learn from. It's the type
of information that not only saved my life...It also has
given me a better quality of life.

PLEASE PASS THIS BLOG ON AND PLEASE TWEET THIS BLOG.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

                       "Nature Cures Cancer" - Here are 10 examples
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                                         Your Path To Wellness
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Where Corn Is King, a New Regard for Grass-Fed Beef

By Dr. Mercola

    In the grand scheme of all that is wrong with modern agriculture, the unnatural transition that turned cattle (which naturally eat grass) into grain-eating ruminants is at the top of the list.

    In the twisted realm of agribusiness, raising grass-fed cows, especially in the heart of ‘corn country’ (the Midwest) is now regarded as a specialty industry for the crazies, as the New York Times recently reported.

        Where the great cattle herds once roamed, grass finishing  an intricate and lengthy ballet involving the balance of protein and energy derived from the stalk, with the flavor rendered by earth, plants and even stress is a nearly lost art.

     ...said Fred Kirschenmann, a distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University The attitude out there is that grass-fed is for the crazies.

    Yet, far from being ‘crazy, grass-fed beef represents a sought-after solution to unsustainable agricultural practices  one that could not only drastically reduce pollution but also produce a nutritionally superior meat.

    While far from the norm at this point, a new appreciation for grass-fed meat, and all that it stands for, is steadily growing and these so-called unconventional ranchers are now becoming mainstays in the industry.

Change to the Cattle Industry Must Come From Educated People From the Outside

    Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), in which the majority of US beef (and pork, chicken and eggs) is raised, contribute directly to global warming by releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in fact, more than the entire global transportation industry.

    They also contribute to climate disruption by their impact on deforestation and draining of wetlands, and because of the nitrous oxide emissions from huge amounts of pesticides used to grow the genetically engineered corn and soy fed to animals raised in CAFOs.

    The cows are fattened for slaughter on giant feed lots as quickly as possible (on average between 14 and 18 months) with the help of grains, as CAFOs represent a corporate-controlled system characterized by large-scale, centralized, low profit-margin production, processing and distribution systems.

    Contrary to popular arguments, factory farming is not a cheap, efficient solution to world hunger. Feeding huge numbers of confined animals actually uses more food, in the form of grains that could feed humans, than it produces. For every 100 food calories of edible crops fed to livestock, we get back just 30 calories in the form of meat and dairy. That’s a 70 percent loss.

    With the Earth’s population predicted to reach 9 billion by mid-century, the planet can no longer afford this reckless, unhealthy and environmentally disastrous farming system. And as Prescott Frost, great-grandson of poet Robert Frost who has entered the grass-fed meat business, told the New York Times:

        If change is going to come to the cattle industry, it’s got to come from educated people from the outside, Mr. Frost said, quoting from Allan Nation, the publisher of The Stockman Grass Farmer, considered the grazier’s bible.

Grass-Fed Beef Is Better for You, Better for the Planet and Better for the Cows

    A joint effort between the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Clemson University researchers determined a total of 10 key areas where grass-fed is better than grain-fed beef for human health. In a side-by-side comparison, they determined that grass-fed beef was:

Lower in total fat
    
Higher in beta-carotene
    
Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)

Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin    

Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium    
Higher in total omega-3s

A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)    
Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter    
Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)

Another troubling aspect of grain-fed cattle involves the well-being of the animal and, consequently, the health effect this has on you. Common consequences among grain-fed cattle include:

    Acidosis. During the normal digestive process, bacteria in the rumen of cattle produce a variety of acids. Saliva neutralizes the acidity from grass-based diets, but grain-based eating in feedlots prohibits saliva production. The net result is "acid indigestion."

    Animals with this condition are plagued with diarrhea, go off their feed, pant, salivate excessively, kick at their bellies, and eat dirt. Over time, acidosis can lead to a condition called "rumenitis," an inflammatory response to too much acid and too little roughage and results in inefficient nutrient absorption.

    Liver abscesses. From 15 to 30 percent of feedlot cattle have liver abscesses, which result when bacteria may leak out through ulcerated rumen in cattle and are ultimately transported to the liver.

    Bloat. During digestion, cows produce gas and when they are on pasture, they belch up the gas without any difficulty. Grain-based feeding causes these gasses to become trapped, and results in bloat. In more serious cases of bloat, the rumen becomes so distended with gas that the animal is unable to breathe and dies from asphyxiation.

    Feedlot polio. A highly acidic digestive environment may result in the production of an enzyme called "thiaminase," which destroys vitamin B1, starving the brain of energy and creating paralysis.

    Dust pneumonia. In dry weather, the feedlot can become a dust bowl, which springs the cattle's immune system into action and keeps it running on a constant basis, ultimately resulting in respiratory ailments and even death.

Real Farmers Are Grass Farmers

     Virginia farmer Joel Salatin is a living example of how incredibly successful and sustainable natural farming can be. He produces beef, chicken, eggs, turkey, rabbits and vegetables. Yet, Joel calls himself a grass farmer, for it is the grass that transforms the sun into energy that his animals then feed on. By closely observing nature, Joel created a rotational grazing system that not only allows the land to heal but also allows the animals to behave the way the were meant to expressing their "chicken-ness" or "pig-ness," as Joel would say.

    Cows are moved every day, which mimics their natural patterns and promotes revegetation. Sanitation is accomplished by birds. The birds (chickens and turkeys) arrive three days after the cows leave via the Eggmobile and scratch around in the pasture, doing what chickens do best.

    No pesticides. No herbicides. No antibiotics. No seed spreading. Salatin hasn't planted a seed or purchased a chemical fertilizer in 50 years. He just lets herbivores be herbivores and cooperates with nature, instead of fighting it. It's a different and refreshing philosophy. When cows are raised on a salad bar of natural grasses, the meat takes on different flavors that cannot be achieved with grain. Frost told the New York Times:

        When the wine industry started out in California, nobody had a language for what a bouquet was, Mr. Frost, 55, said. Vintners had to come up with a way an audience could have a conversation about hints of raspberries, of chamomile. And that’s what we have to do with beef.

    Farming done in this type of sustainable manner can be incredibly profitable, too. Instead of making $150 per acre per year from a crop that produces food for three months, but lays fallow for the rest of the year, Salatin’s making $3,000 per acre by rotating crops throughout the year, thereby making use of his land all 12 months and maintaining its ecological balance at the same time. This generates complementary income streams for the small farmer and allows them to compete with CAFO operations, while protecting the land from ecological disasters.

Where Can You Find Grass-Fed Beef?

    Currently, meat in supermarkets will be labeled 100% grass-fed if it came from pasture, but if it contains no label it’s probably CAFO-raised. In 2013, a new alliance of organic and natural health consumers, animal welfare advocates, anti-GMO and climate-change activists will tackle the next big food labeling battle: meat, eggs and dairy products from animals raised on factory farms, or CAFOs.

    This campaign, which aims to have CAFO foods labeled, will start with a massive program to educate consumers about the negative impacts of factory farming on the environment, on human health and on animal welfare, and then move forward to organize and mobilize millions of consumers to demand labels on beef, pork, poultry and dairy products derived from these unhealthy and unsustainable so-called farming practices.

    In the meantime, you can boycott food products from CAFOs and choose to support farmers who produce healthful grass-fed meat, eggs and dairy products using humane, environmentally friendly methods. You can do this not only by visiting the farm directly, if you have one nearby, but also by taking part in farmer's markets and community-supported agriculture programs, many of which offer grass-fed beef. The following organizations can also help you locate grass-fed beef and other farm-fresh foods in your local area, raised in a humane, sustainable manner.

 God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.

Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.

Doctors Perform Thousands of Unnecessary Surgeries: Are You Getting One of Them?

REMINDER: In The Archive is all of the articles that I
have posted since I started this blog. There is TONS OF
INFORMATION there for you to learn from. It's the type
of information that not only saved my life...It also has
given me a better quality of life.

PLEASE PASS THIS BLOG ON AND PLEASE TWEET THIS BLOG.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

                     "Nature Cures Cancer" - Here are 10 examples
                                     http://bit.ly/1k1N4Bg

                                    Your Path To Wellness
                                      http://bit.ly/RGNZ0i


Doctors Perform Thousands of Unnecessary Surgeries: Are You Getting One of Them?

By Dr. Mercola

    If your physician tells you that you need surgery, unless it is an emergency, I would strongly recommend to get a second opinion first.

    In many cases, you may find that you don’t need surgery after all, saving not only a considerable amount of money but also avoiding the potentially deadly risks that any surgery carries.

    In fact, according to a new USA Today review of government records and medical databases, tens of thousands of patients undergo unnecessary surgery each and every year!1 And according to some experts, that number may actually be in the millions. According to USA Today:

    It's a very serious issue, (and) there really hasn't been a movement to address it, says Lucian Leape, a former surgeon and professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Leape, a renowned patient safety expert...

        He began studying unnecessary surgery after a 1974 congressional report estimated that there were 2.4 million cases a year, killing nearly 12,000 patients. Leape's take today? "Things haven't changed very much.

Many Doctors ‘Lack the Competence to Know When a Surgery Isn’t Necessary

    There are multiple reasons why unnecessary surgeries take place. In some cases they’re the result of criminal acts, in which surgeons intentionally prey on patients, performing surgeries even though they know they are not medically justified.

    USA Today cited the case of Michael Rosin, a dermatologist who was sentenced to 22 years in prison and fines of more than $7 million for intentionally misdiagnosing his patients with skin cancer so he could perform surgeries to remove benign lesions.

    Far more often, however, are the physicians who perform unnecessary surgeries out of incompetence or a lack of training in less-invasive alternatives. Many health care providers may believe that surgery is the only answer, even when the success rates are minimal and better non-surgica treatment options exist.

    Then there are those providers who perform the surgery simply because the profit will increase their income, and they can justify them as medically ‘necessary. USA Today reported:

    I think there are a very small percent of doctors who are crooked, maybe 1 or 2%,' says John Santa, a physician and former health system administrator who became director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center in 2008.

    I think there's a higher percentage who are not well trained or not competent to determine when surgery is necessary, Santa says. Then you have a big group who are more businessmen than medical professionals  doctors who look at those gray cases and say, Well, I have enough here to justify surgery, so I'm going to do it.

    Personally, I think USA Today is being very kind in their low-ball estimate of 1-2%. Those numbers seem quite low and from my experience I suspect it is significantly higher.

Six Common Surgeries That Are Often Unnecessary

    It’s worth getting a second opinion before you have virtually any non-emergency surgery. However, if you’re scheduled for one of the following procedures, it becomes even more imperative to seek another expert’s opinion, as these surgeries carry a high risk of being done without medical necessity.3

    Yes I realize there is a cost and significant hassle factor, but I strongly encourage to do your due diligence. The extra time and resources you invest in confirming the necessity of the surgery could have a major impact on your ability to enjoy the rest of your life.

    1. Cardiac Angioplasty, Stents

        This invasive procedure involves inflating a thin balloon in a narrowed artery to crush plaque deposits; a stent (a wire mesh tube) is often then left behind to keep the vessel open. When used during a heart attack, an angioplasty can quickly open a blocked artery to lessen the damage to your heart, and when used in this way can be lifesaving.

        However, oftentimes heart disease patients receive angioplasties even though they have not had a heart attack -- a decision that goes against the latest medical guidelines. One 2011 study found that 12 percent of all angioplasty procedures (in cases that did not involve an acute heart attack) were not medically necessary. Separate research also revealed that angioplasty offers no benefit compared to less invasive treatment of heart disease.

    2. Cardiac Pacemakers

        Pacemakers are used to correct heartbeat irregularities, but research shows that more than 22 percent of these implants may be unnecessary.

    3. Spinal Fusion Back Surgery

        If you have low back pain and see different specialists you will get different tests: rheumatologists will order blood tests, neurologists will order nerve impulse tests, and surgeons will order MRIs and CT scans. But no matter what tests you get, you'll probably end up with a spinal fusion because it's one of the "more lucrative procedures in medicine," author Shannon Brownlee says even though the best success rate for spinal fusions is only 25 percent!

        According to one review, more than 17 percent of patients told they needed spinal surgery actually showed no abnormal neurological or radiographic findings that would require surgery.

    4. Hysterectomy

        The surgical removal of the uterus may be recommended inappropriately in 70 percent of cases, often because of a lack of adequate diagnostic evaluation and failure to try alternative treatments before the surgery. Some surgeons also remove healthy ovaries during hysterectomy as a precaution, sometimes without the patient providing their consent or being informed as to the severe adverse effects the ovariectomy may produce on their remaining quality of life.

    5. Knee and Hip Replacement, and Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

        Patients who were informed about joint replacements and alternative treatments had 26 percent fewer hip replacements and 38 percent fewer knee replacements than those who did not. Arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis is also one of the most unnecessary surgeries performed today, as it works no better than a placebo surgery.

        Proof of this is a double-blind placebo-controlled multi-center (including Harvard’s Mass General Hospital) study published in one of the most well-respected medical journals on the planet, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) over 10 years ago.

        Recent research has also shown arthroscopic knee surgery works no better than placebo surgery, and when comparing treatments for knee pain, physical therapy was found to be just as effective as surgery, but at significantly reduced cost and risk. And yet another study showed exercise is just as effective as surgery for people with chronic pain in the front part of their knee, known as chronic patellofemoral syndrome (PFPS), which is also frequently treated unnecessarily with arthroscopic surgery.

    6. Cesarean Section

        Cesarean delivery is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the US and rates are increasing. But research shows rates vary 10-fold among hospitals, even among low-risk pregnancies, suggesting that practice patterns, not necessity, are driving these high surgery rates.

        According to the World Health Organization, no country is justified in having a cesarean rate greater than 10 percent to 15 percent. The US rate, at nearly 32 percent, is the highest rate ever reported in the US and is higher than in most other developed countries.

Diagnostic Errors Permanently Injure or Kill Up to 160,000 Americans a Year

    Unnecessary surgeries are only one problem facing the conventional medical system. Medical errors are also alarmingly common, and diagnosis errors, in particular, appear to be occurring at very high rates. Researchers recently wrote in BMJ Quality & Safety:

    Among malpractice claims, diagnostic errors appear to be the most common, most costly and most dangerous of medical mistakes. We found roughly equal numbers of lethal and non-lethal errors in our analysis, suggesting that the public health burden of diagnostic errors could be twice that previously estimated.

    The study involved more than 350,000 malpractice claims, of which nearly 29 percent involved a missed, wrong or delayed diagnosis. Such errors may account for the permanent injury or death of up to 160,000 patients each year, the study found, with researchers noting that it is probably a lot higher than that. Case in point, when all medical errors, not just diagnosis errors, are taken into account, the rate of medical harm occurring in the US is estimated to be over 40,000 harmful and/or lethal errors each and EVERY day.

Hospitals Profit Off of Surgical Errors and Medical Mishaps

    Part of the problem is that hospitals and providers have little incentive to change, as the more surgeries performed, the more money they make. And if complications are involved, so much the better from a financial perspective.

    One revealing JAMA study found that major surgical complications actually earn hospitals more money on privately insured or Medicare-covered patients. This isn’t exactly shocking, of course, since the more complications suffered, the longer the hospital stay and the more associated medications, tests and procedures that will be ordered. Hospitals are a business, after all, and the more services used by any one patient, the more money they make.

    Where money is concerned, a hospital therefore has no incentive to reduce surgical errors and other medical mishaps, which may actually be a key moneymaker for them. And, as the Health Business Blog astutely reported,18 unlike most businesses, which suffer financially when mistakes occur, hospitals get to charge you even more money to treat you for avoidable complications or mistakes they make. Decreasing surgical complications may therefore have adverse financial consequences for many hospitals, the researchers concluded, and the same goes for reducing unnecessary surgery rates, as well.

It’s Your Body: Take Control of Your Health

    My primary suggestion is to avoid hospitals and surgeries unless it's an absolute emergency and you need life-saving medical attention. If you're going to have an elective medical procedure, always get a second opinion—and possibly a third and fourth.

    The other KEY is to be proactive and start pursuing a healthy lifestyle today so you don't become a victim of an unnecessary medical procedure. I have compiled my best tips in a customized 100-page nutrition plan to help you take control of your health. It is customized to three different levels and you can start at any level, but be sure and read from the beginning, as reviewing the basics is the best way to reinforce healthy patterns.

    As much as possible, be proactive in using a healthy lifestyle to support and protect your health and, if illness does occur, use natural methods that will allow your body to heal itself without the need for unnecessary surgery, drugs or other invasive medical procedures.

Thank You  Dr. Mercola

 God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.

Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.

Turmeric: The Spice That Can Potentially Help Your Health in 150 Different Ways

REMINDER: In The Archive is all of the articles that I
have posted since I started this blog. There is TONS OF
INFORMATION there for you to learn from. It's the type
of information that not only saved my life...It also has
given me a better quality of life.

PLEASE PASS THIS BLOG ON AND PLEASE TWEET THIS BLOG.

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                     "Nature Cures Cancer" - Here are 10 examples
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Turmeric: The Spice That Can Potentially Help Your Health in 150 Different Ways

By Dr. Mercola

    Most spices have powerful medicinal properties, which is precisely why they've been used to promote healing for thousands of years prior to the advent of modern, synthetic drug-based medicine.

    One such spice is turmeric, the yellow-pigmented "curry spice" often used in Indian cuisine. Turmeric contains curcumin, the polyphenol identified as its primary active component and which exhibits over 150 potentially therapeutic activities, which include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

    Curcumin is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, which is one reason why it holds promise as a neuroprotective agent in a wide range of neurological disorders. Researchers have investigated curcumin for its potential role in improving Parkinson's disease.

    Preliminary results indicate that it may hold even more promise than the drugs currently used for this disorder, many of which (ironically) have serious neurotoxic side effects, including dyskinesia a movement disorder identical to the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Natural Curcumin Extract Outshines Parkinson's Drugs

    Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a steady depletion of dopamine-producing nerve cells, particularly in the area of your brain referred to as the substantia nigra. Most of the current drug treatments for Parkinson's disease, known as dopamine agonists, focus on replenishing dopamine.

    Although such treatments provide symptomatic relief during early Parkinson's disease, they are ineffective in the long term where they may actually increase symptoms such as tremor, postural instability and cognitive deficits that are common with this disease. They are also associated with motor complications and a laundry list of other strange and disturbing side effects, including:

Euphoria    

Nausea

Hallucinations    

Insomnia

Causing or worsening psychosis    

Unusual tiredness or weakness

Orthostatic hypotension (a dizzy spell caused by a sudden
drop in blood pressure)    

Dizziness, drowsiness, lightheadedness, or fainting

Increased orgasmic intensity    

Twitching, twisting, or other unusual body movements

Weight loss    

Pathological addiction (gambling, shopping, internet
pornography, hypersexuality)


    As researchers noted in the journal Current Pharmaceutical Design:

        "Most of the current pharmacotherapeutic approaches in PD [Parkinson's disease] are aimed at replenishing the striatal dopamine. Although these drugs provide symptomatic relief during early PD, many patients develop motor complications with long-term treatment. Further, PD medications do not effectively tackle tremor, postural instability and cognitive deficits.

        Most importantly, most of these drugs do not exhibit neuroprotective effects in patients. Consequently, novel therapies involving natural antioxidants and plant products/molecules with neuroprotective properties are being exploited for adjunctive therapy."

    Unlike Parkinson's drugs, curcumin is neuroprotective and several studies strongly support its use for the treatment of Parkinson's. For example:

        Curcumin showed neuroprotective properties in an animal model of Parkinson's disease; the beneficial effect was thought to be related, in part, to its antioxidant capabilities and its ability to penetrate the brain.
        Curcumin alleviated the effects of glutathione depletion, which causes oxidative stress, mitochondria dysfunction and cell death and is a feature of early Parkinson's disease.
        The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway is involved in dopaminergic neuronal degeneration, which is in turn associated with Parkinson's. Curcumin prevents dopaminergic neuronal death through inhibition of the JNK pathway, and thereby offers a neuroprotective effect that may be beneficial for Parkinson's.
        Slow-wriggling alpha-synuclein proteins can cause clumping, which is the first step for diseases such as Parkinson's. Curcumin helps prevent the proteins from clumping.

Curcumin Is a Powerful Ally for Your Brain Health

    For years now turmeric, and its active ingredient curcumin, have shown powerful benefits to your brain health. One of the ways that it works, similar to vitamin D, is modulating large numbers of your genes; in fact, curcumin has been shown to influence more than 700 genes.

    The potential healing power of this spice, which is an important part of Eastern cultural traditions including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, perhaps first came about when it was noticed that the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease among older adults in India is more than four times lower than the rate in the United States.  

    Why such a significant difference?

    Some researchers believe the answer for this drastic disparity in Alzheimer's disease prevalence is a direct result of curcumin. Research has shown that curcumin may help inhibit the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, as well as break up existing plaques. People with Alzheimer's tend to have higher levels of inflammation in their brains, and curcumin is perhaps most known for its potent anti-inflammatory properties. The compound can inhibit both the activity and the inflammatory metabolic byproducts of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and 5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX) enzymes, as well as other enzymes and hormones that modulate inflammation.

    And that's not all. The growing interest in curcumin over the past 50 years is understandable when you consider the many health benefits researchers have found when studying this spice. According to an ever-expanding clinical body of studies, curcumin may help:

Support healthy cholesterol levels    

Prevent low-density lipoprotein oxidation    

Inhibit platelet aggregation

Suppress thrombosis and myocardial infarction    

Suppress symptoms associated with type 2 diabetes    

Suppress symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis

Suppress symptoms of multiple sclerosis    

Suppress symptoms of Alzheimer's disease    

Inhibit HIV replication

Suppress tumor formation    

Enhance wound healing    

Protect against liver damage

Increase bile secretion    

Protect against cataracts

Protect against pulmonary toxicity and fibrosis


 Two More Important Tools for Parkinson's: Vitamin D and Omega-3

    There is a correlation between insufficient levels of vitamin D and the development of early Parkinson's disease, and research has suggested that long-term deficiency may play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. There are three major points you want to remember about vitamin D:

        Your best source for this vitamin is exposure to the sun, without sunblock on your skin, until your skin turns the lightest shade of pink. While this isn't always possible due to the change of the seasons and your geographic location (and your skin color), this is the ideal to aim for. A safe tanning bed is the next best option, followed by oral vitamin D3 supplementation.

        If you do supplement with vitamin D, you'll only want to supplement with natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Do NOT use the synthetic and highly inferior vitamin D2, which is the one most doctors will give you in a prescription most of the time unless you ask specifically for D3.

        Get your vitamin D blood levels checked! The only way to determine the correct dose is to have your blood tested since there are so many variables that influence your vitamin D status. I recommend using Lab Corp in the U.S. Getting the correct test is the first step in this process, as there are TWO vitamin D tests currently being offered: 1,25(OH)D and 25(OH)D.

    From my perspective, the preferred test your doctor needs to order is 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is the better marker of overall D status. This is the marker that is most strongly associated with overall health. You'll want to optimize your levels according to the chart below. If you currently have Parkinson's disease you will want to keep your vitamin D level in the higher 70-100 ng/ml range to help fight the disease.

     Animal-based omega-3 fats are also a powerful defense against Parkinson's, as they contain two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. Most of the neurological benefits of omega-3 oils are derived from the DHA component rather than the EPA component.

    In fact, DHA is one of the major building blocks of your brain. About half of your brain and eyes are made up of fat, much of which is DHA -- making it an essential nutrient for optimal brain and eye function. Your brain activity actually depends greatly upon the functions provided by its outer, fatty waxy membrane to act as an electrical nerve-conduction cable. In your brain alone, DHA may help to ward off Parkinson's by:

    Reducing brain inflammation

        Stimulating neuron growth, and development and repair of synapses. (Your brain is a vast complex system of nerve cells sending and receiving electrical impulses across junctions called synapses. The small space between the two cells is where the action occurs. One neuron may synapse with as many as 1,000 other neurons.)
        DHA protects your brain's function by supporting optimal glutamate function. Glutamate and GABA are considered your brain's 'workhorse' neurotransmitters. They work together to control your brain's overall level of excitability, which controls many body processes.

    I believe krill oil is your best option for getting animal-based omega-3 fats because of the fact that the omega-3 is attached to phospholipids that dramatically increase its absorption, especially into brain tissue.

Lifestyle Changes to Help Prevent Parkinson's

    Parkinson's disease is related to lifestyle factors, including the following:

Environmental toxins and pesticides    

Aspartame consumption

Petroleum-based hydrocarbon solvents, like paint and glue
    
Deficiencies in vitamin D and vitamin B folate

Excess iron in your body    

Pasteurized milk


In addition to avoiding these toxic exposures, lifestyle adjustments including:

    Exercise regularly, including high-intensity exercise like Peak Fitness. It's one of the best ways to protect against the onset of symptoms of Parkinson's disease

    Get plenty of sunshine to optimize your vitamin D levels
    Avoid pesticide and insecticide exposure (as well as exposure to other environmental toxins like solvents)

    Eat more organic vegetables, which are high in folate, the natural form of folic acid (folate after all comes from foliage)

    Make sure your body has healthy levels of iron and manganese (neither too much nor too little of either)

    Consider supplementing coenzyme Q10, which may help to fight the disease. But remember, the oxidized form of coenzyme Q10 called ubiquinone or plain CoQ10 is actually found in elevated levels in neurodegenerative conditions involving enhanced oxidative stress, as it is a residual marker of lipid peroxidation (brain rancidity). This is why ubiquinol, the reduced form that is capable of donating electrons to quench brain-damaging free radicals, while at the same time providing a boost to brain mitochondrial function, is the only logical choice in Parkinson's disease and related neurodegenerative conditions.

As for getting the full benefits that curcumin has to offer, look for a turmeric extract that contains 100 percent certified organic ingredients, with at least 95 percent curcuminoids. The formula should be free of fillers, additives and excipients (a substance added to the supplement as a processing or stability aid), and the manufacturer should use safe production practices at all stages: planting, cultivation, selective harvesting, and then producing and packaging the final product.

Unfortunately, at the present time there really are no formulations available for the use against cancer. This is because relatively high doses are required and curcumin is not absorbed that well. There is much work being done to provide a bioavailable formulation in the near future.

In the event you need higher doses (such as in the case of treating cancer), use the curcumin powder and make a microemulsion of it by combining a tablespoon of the powder and mixing it into 1-2 egg yolks and a teaspoon or two of melted coconut oil. Then use a high-speed hand blender to emulsify the powder (be careful when doing so as curcumin is a very potent yellow pigment and can permanently discolor surfaces if you aren't careful).

Another strategy that can help increase absorption is to put one tablespoon of the curcumin powder into a quart of boiling water. It must be boiling when you add the powder; it will not work as well if you put it in room temperature water and heat the water and curcumin. After boiling it for 10 minutes you will have created a 12 percent solution that you can drink once it has cooled down. It will have a woody taste. The curcumin will gradually fall out of the solution, however. In about six hours it will be a 6 percent solution, so it's best to drink the water within four hours.

Thank You  Dr. Mercola

 God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.

Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.