FOUR-> Natural Heartburn Remedies You Can Test In Your Own Home
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Heartburn no more - Do you feel the discomfort of chronic acid reflux or even the tell-tale signs and symptoms of heartburn disease? Huge numbers of people are influenced by this issue. heartburn and acidity reflux aren't just annoying, they may be harmful. Should you give your acidity reflux go without treatment for too lengthy, your throat could be seriously hurt. Before you achieve for that Tums, pay attention to this. You are able to become hooked on these drugs because when you quit taking them your acid reflux is going to be a
whole lot worse. Keep reading through to discover some suggestions so that you can look for a natural fix for Heartburn no more.
1. Stay Upright
Laying lower, especially on the full stomach, causes it to be simpler for that acidity to return up to your throat. To avert this, there's a simple trick. Just also . lower to have an hour (as well as, three hrs) once you eat. Then, enhance the mind of the mattress. No, you don't have to sleep on the huge incline. Simply take a few hardcover books and set them under the bottom of the mind of the mattress. You will not have the ability to tell the mind from the mattress is elevated, but it will likely be enough to combat the acidity rising up.
2. Be wise together with your drinks If something to drink appears enjoy it is not healthy for you, you are able to be assured it will not help your chronic acid reflux. For any natural fix for acid reflux reduce soda, alcohol, caffeine as well as decaffeinated coffee. These drinks have elements which make acid
reflux worse. The most secure wager would be to drink milk or water. If you do not deal well with dairy, try almond milk rather. If common water does not work for you personally, try adding a little of lime juice to spice up.
3. Eat as an athlete The body wasn't produced to consume three large foods every single day. We began as foragers, eating many more compact foods. That's still how our physiques are created. You are able to relieve your chronic acid reflux when you eat 5 or 6 more compact foods rather than three large ones. Possess a small breakfast, a snack, then lunch, a snack and lastly dinner. Make certain to prevent making supper the biggest meal of the day. Goal or have lunch become your biggest meal - this way you're certain to be up contributing to after consuming. This is the way sports athletes who're trained to obtain the max from their physiques eat. It is really an simple and easy , natural acid reflux cure.
4. Achieve Out for Help If none of those tips matches your needs, then you're ready to acquire some help. You will find some good programs available
which help you cure acid reflux naturally. I've discovered some wonderful programs on the web. It's proven and delay pills work really rapidly. Whenever you do search for a course available, make certain to check on reviews and whether there's a great money-back guarantee. By utilizing these acidity reflux remedies, your signs and symptoms is going to be lessened and you'll have produced a house strategy to acidity reflux. And, if everything else fails, reach your physician because chronic heartburn no more can be quite harmful if left out of control.
Chronic Heartburn a Growing Problem in U.S.
THURSDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Heartburn and acid reflux
strike many people as an annoying and painful but ultimately harmless
problem -- a result of overindulgence and gluttony that must be endured,
much like a hangover after a night of drinking.
But frequent bouts of heartburn and reflux constitute a real medical
condition known as gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, and GERD is
on the rise worldwide.
"The overall prevalence is increasing over the past decades," said Dr.
Ronnie Fass, a medical advisory board member for the International
Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders who's also a
professor of medicine at the University of Arizona and chief of
gastroenterology at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System.
The increase has occurred "not only in the United States, but in Asian
countries, where GERD was unheard of," Fass said. "But we are the
trailblazers. We are leading the world."
If left untreated, GERD can lead to bleeding or ulcers in the
esophagus, a buildup of scar tissue that makes swallowing difficult and,
in extreme cases, esophageal cancer, according to the U.S. National
Institutes of Health.
"People consider heartburn part of the eating experience," Fass said.
"They have to understand the presence of heartburn denotes a real medical
problem."
Frequent reflux or heartburn are apparently a regular occurrence for
Americans. "We believe up to 20 percent of the population experiences
symptoms once a week, and 7 percent have daily symptoms," he said.
Heartburn and acid reflux occur when acidic digestive juices from the
stomach get past a ring of muscle known as the lower esophageal sphincter,
which acts as a valve separating the stomach from the esophagus.
People experience heartburn when the digestive juices eat away at the
lining of the esophagus. Sometimes the acid refluxes all the way up
through the esophagus to the mouth, causing people to taste digestive
juices or food in the back of their mouth.
Doctors consider people to be suffering from GERD if they experience
persistent reflux, meaning at least twice a week, according to the NIH.
Anyone at any age can have GERD, although symptoms tend to be different
for children 12 and younger, who may have asthma-like symptoms, a dry
cough or difficulty swallowing.
Most of the time, GERD stems from one of two causes -- what you eat and
how much you weigh -- but excessive weight is the most prominent, said Dr.
Kenneth R. DeVault, chairman of the gastroenterology department at the
Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and co-author of the American College
of Gastroenterology's guidelines for treating GERD.
"The most consistent factor is probably weight gain and obesity,"
DeVault said. "It's become pretty clear that a small amount of weight gain
produces an increase in reflux symptoms. I'm not talking a large amount;
I'm talking about 5 or 10 pounds, probably. Even if you're already
overweight, increasing your weight will increase your risk of reflux over
the next several months."
Excess weight can press on the stomach, forcing acid past the valve
into the esophagus. And, as Fass explained, the problem isn't just the
belly flab evident on people who are obese or overweight. Rather, the
accumulation of fat around the organs inside the body contributes by
increasing pressure on the stomach, making reflux much more likely to
occur, he said.
GERD also can be caused, or exacerbated, by a person's diet. But foods
contribute to reflux in different ways.
Caffeine, for example, has been shown to relax the esophageal
sphincter, increasing the chances of reflux, DeVault said.
Eating fatty foods can also contribute to reflux because fats slow the
emptying of the stomach, meaning "there's more material left in the
stomach that can be refluxed," he said.
Acidic, spicy or strongly flavored foods also can contribute to reflux
by increasing the amount of acid in the stomach, according to the NIH.
Citrus fruits or juices, tomatoes, mint, garlic, onions and chocolate are
among the main offenders.
Also, lifestyle changes can usually reduce the possibility of reflux,
the two experts said. These include:
- Making a concerted effort to lose weight, by exercising and adopting a
healthy diet. - Learning which foods are more likely to trigger excess acid or reflux,
and then avoiding them. - Eating the final meal of the day two to three hours before bedtime,
thus reducing the amount of food in the stomach that would press against
the esophageal valve. - Elevating the head of the bed, if nighttime reflux is a problem, as
this can reduce the pressure of stomach acid and contents on the
valve.
If reflux symptoms persist, however, DeVault stressed that more needs
to be done to avoid damage to the esophagus.
"If they have frequent heartburn symptoms, more than weekly, and have
had it for many years, they need to see a physician," he said.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases has more on GERD.
For more on the effects of GERD, read about one woman's story.
Sauerkraut water & pickle juice relieve both leg cramps and acid reflux
Sauerkraut juice seems to relieve acid reflux for some people, especially seniors, perhaps by supplying enough fermented salt an cabbage water to make up for the waning digestive enzymes in the stomachs of some older adults.
Pickle juice is used to relieve leg cramps. Apparently the fermented water and salt of pickles (cucumbers) an cabbage seems to relieve pain, acid, and perhaps electrolyte imbalances. And for diarrhea, coconut water helps as well as organic extra virgin coconut oil. The fermented briny juices are used by athletes, especially those in contact sports.
Football players and other contact sports athletes are drinking pickle juice to relieve cramps and other pains. Check out the December 1, 2011 article, "Meet The New Sports Drink: Pickle Juice."
Folk remedies are favorites of athletes if they work. One folk remedy is pickle juice for cramps and another is sauerkraut juice for acid reflux.
Drinking fermented (pickled) cucumber brine has been used for centuries. According to the article on the Post Game.com blog, pickle juice received media attention back in 2000 when Eagles trainer Rick Burkholder credited pickle juice as the secret weapon that helped his team stomp the Cowboys in Texas Stadium.
At that time the pickle juice reduced heat cramps as the temperatures on the field soared above 110 degrees. If you look at medical studies of pickle juice, one study done in 2010 at BYU proved the efficacy pickle juice.
Also older people swear by organic sauerkraut juice for acid reflux possibly caused by diminishing digestive enzymes due to age. With young athletes such as football players, cramps happened when athletes exercised to the point of mild dehydration. In the study, those athletes drinking pickle juice felt relief within 85 seconds, almost twice as fast as water or other sports drinks.
The reason why the pickle juice relieved heat-induced cramps for the exercising athletes is because pickle juice is full of salt and various other electrolytes. When you sweat too much you lose salt.
The pickle juice replaces the salt (sodium) along with other electrolytes you need. The electrolytes in the pickle juice come from the cucumber, the salt, and the fermentation process because the pickle also has other minerals such as magnesium and potassium. Cucumbers also help your body retain water.
Did you see the Pickle Juice Sport that was popular in 2006 as a bottled drink? High school athletes are also known to drink pickle juice. Athletes also can get electrolytes from coconut water, especially potassium and magnesium, if you don't want the salt.
If you're looking for pickle juice, you also might try the bottled drink, Pickle Juice Sport. The bottled drink is provided to nearly two dozen teams and more than 100 professional athletes and has excellent sales. Try pickle juice if you get a leg cramp at night. Or if you need more magnesium and potassium than salt, try coconut water.
Coconut water was once used for blood transfusions and is now used to help normalize simple diarrhea
About coconut water, see, Coconut water can be used (in emergencies) as a substitute for blood and the uTube video, Was Coconut Water Really Used for Blood Transfusions #723. It's amazing how many uses foods can be of help in when it comes to folkloric medicine.
Coconut water can be used for a variety of medical purposes, one of which is intravenous rehydration. A 2000 report tells of a stroke patient in the Solomon Islands who was too ill to drink or use a nasal tube but was successfully rehydrated with a coconut-water IV when no other fluids were available.
Emergency coconut IVs were reportedly used by the British and Japanese during World War II, and they’ve been clinically tested on humans several times to see how well they’d be tolerated. See the article, Coconut Transfusions - Washington City Paper.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Reports Double
Complaints of chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease have nearly doubled over the past decade, new research from Norway suggests. According to ABC News, heartburn and acid reflux symptoms have increased due to the rising obesity epidemic across much of the Western world.
And that can be dangerous. The stomach acid at work in heartburn scars the esophagus and causes food to get stuck on its way down. It also can lead to esophageal cancer if untreated, ABC said.
To determine the increase of gastroesophageal reflux, researchers from health institutions in Norway monitored 30,000 Norwegians in the years between 1995 and 2009. By tracking their responses to a national health survey, they were able to find that acid reflux symptoms increased by 30 percent at the end of the study. Reports of severe acid reflux rose by 24 percent.
“For these people, their quality of life is majorly affected,” said lead researcher Eivind Ness-Jensen of the Levanger Hospital. “Maybe more alarming is that the symptoms are associated with esophageal cancer.”
Ness-Jensen blamed the increase in heartburn and acid reflux on the increasing tide of obesity in Norway and other countries.
“It’s purely mechanical in one way,” he told ABC. “Added weight increases the pressure between the stomach and esophagus, [forcing acid back up]. There’s an increasing weight problem in the population. That’s the most important factor.”
Take a new approach to New Year’s resolutions
BY DR. MARTIN GLEIXNER
TIMES TRANSCRIPT
The early days of the New Year are often a time of self-reflection. You've eaten well and celebrated your holidays and you've had your New Year's Eve party. Now, lingering in your mind, are thoughts of what 2012 will bring.
For many, this is the time of year that we recommit to our health in numerous ways or adopt new health goals, including making New Year resolutions.
At times, resolutions are based out of guilt of overindulging over the holidays and avoiding exercise or the 'should haves' of all the things we didn't do during 2011. This approach can provide short-term incentives, but rarely results in long-lasting lifestyle changes.
I would like to propose a new approach for resolutions in 2012. Instead of focusing on the "what change will I do this year" such as exercising more, eating less sugar, and losing 10 lbs, the emphasis is rather on strengthening the "why's" behind the change.
Let's review the Top 5 new perspectives that will revolutionize your ability to have more energy, better sleep, a more balanced mood and sense of well-being, and a healthier weight in 2012:
* Do whatever it takes to feel more in control. As mentioned in his book When the Body Says No, Dr. Gabor Mate MD, explains how the worse type of stress is the kind that causes us to feel like we have no control. Examples include health problems, work deadlines, the fluctuating stock market, mortgage rates, relationship difficulties, yet another car repair, or a sick child.
Elegantly stated by researcher Ronald De Kloet in his journal publication titled Corticosteroids, Stress and Aging (1992), "psychological factors such as uncertainty, conflict, lack of control, and lack of information are considered the most stressful stimuli...".
When we feel overwhelmed because of everything we need to do in a given day, we are often rushing from one thing to the next, feeling chronically nervous, and have thoughts that are racing like a hamster wheel in our brain. Stress hormones are secreted in large quantities and overtime wear away at the body.
Focus on eliminating stressors on the things that can be changed. Take naturopathic preventative care for your health and for your children; have more open conversations with your significant other or friends to improve your relationships; and decrease spending to lower financial stress. Taking various steps that allow us to regain control of our lives can go a long way to decrease the stress response in the body.
Most importantly, simplify your life and slow down as much as you can. Have you ever seen how incredibly slow sea turtles and tortoises swim and move. It's no wonder they can live to 100 years of age!
* Aim to spend more time doing the things you love to do. Whatever makes you smile and laugh, do more of it.
Whether it's playing cards, going bowling, walking outside, sipping a coffee (organic is possible!), chatting face to face with your friend, etc...
Think about the last time you enjoyed a workout and felt energized afterwards. Was it when you were lifting weights at the gym, in an aerobics class, a solo yoga session at home, chopping wood at the cottage, scooping snow on your driveway, moving dirt and plants around your backyard to improve the landscape, or play wrestling with your child?
When we move our bodies, we feel warmer and more energized. Even the aching muscles the next day helps us reconnect more within ourselves.
Aim to move your body every day, regardless of what type of activity is it.
* Focus on pleasure versus seeking happiness: Paul Bloom wrote an excellent article entitled "10 ways to find more pleasure every day" published in the Real Simple magazine (July 2010).
He describes how happiness can be elusive at times, but focusing on what you love and doing more of it can bring great pleasure every day.
For any hobbies or activities that we do, think about:
1) Repetition nurtures pleasure. By doing things more often, it allows us to become more familiar and more connected.
Whether it's a song that causes butterfly in your chest, that homemade recipe you love that was passed down from generation to generation, or watching your favorite movie year after year, certain activities bring more enjoyment with repetition.
2) Deepen your knowledge. Whether it's skiing, building a train set in your basement, collecting wine or coins, gardening, knitting, painting, doing yoga, etc...learn more about the hobbies you enjoy. Buying a reference book, organizing a wine tasting, or taking a lesson/course or attending a workshop for example, will provide a refreshing way to think about the activity and will inspire you to do it more often.
If you want to increase your motivation to run for example, read running magazines, join a local running group, do research on the website, and get good running shoes. You will live and breath running, and it will become an automatic part of your life.
* Create a new vision for 2012: Feeling uncertain about your life direction for 2012? Feel like you're stuck in a rut and need new directions in your life? Start by visualizing yourself achieving your goals.
Making a vision board is one fun way to do this during the holidays. Take a poster board and fill it with images and words that represent your desires.
Make a collage from magazine photos of everything you would like to draw to you this year.
Try not to over-think this project. Take any picture or word that draws your attention and cut it out and place it on your collage.
Once completed, talk to everyone about your collage. Make it real. Hang this poster in a place where you see it frequently and where it can serve as a reminder of where you want to place your attention. You'll be amazed at this time next year how much of it actually happened.
* Adopt a new health paradigm: Too often, we focus our efforts on the problems of today's health care system: spiraling hospital costs and long wait times, side-effects and complications of pharmaceutical drugs, pros and cons of vaccinations, standardization of active ingredients in supplements, ideal vitamin daily recommendations, a biochemical explanation for homeopathy, only to name a few.
Progress in these larger scale problems can be slow. But by focusing at a more personal level, we can start now by adopting a new approach in the way we think about our health and medicine.
To take your personal health to an entirely new level in 2012, adopt the following conceptual framework: Take your health further than symptom management and address the true causes of your health condition.
The goal is to look for the reason(s) your body has developed symptoms. Within this philosophy, symptoms are used as a guide to discover the underlying imbalances in your health.
The true causes of weight gain, high blood pressure, insomnia, allergies, heartburn, respiratory illnesses as well as depression and anxiety were discussed in past columns (see www.monctonnaturopathic.com).
In weight gain for example, numerous imbalances exists that prevent fat loss even when a superb diet and exercise program are in place.
Underlying causes includes stress, inflammation, low thyroid function, sex hormone imbalances, a disrupted pancreas and blood sugar dysregulation, poor liver function, a sluggish digestive tract and neurotransmitter imbalances. There can even be other reasons!
Bringing forth your natural state of health and an understanding of what contributes to your personal well-being is paramount.
The overall aim of this new health paradigm is to address the true cause of your medical condition while still giving relief from your primary concerns.
For a more in-depth explanation of this principle, please visit www.monctonnaturopathic.com for Dr. Gleixner's previous columns entitled "Address underlying problems, not just symptoms" and "A Dual Approach".
I wish every one of you the best of health in the year of 2012. Slow down your life, create more pleasure in your life, set positive intentions about this year and adopt new ways of thinking about your health. What counts is to start somewhere and the rest will follow.
* Dr. Martin Gleixner, MSc, ND owns the Moncton Naturopathic Medical Clinic located at 90 Weldon Street in Moncton (382-1329). Fluent in French and in English, Dr. Gleixner offers professional health care for the whole family. Using his unique understanding to learn how your body is working (or not), he creates individualized treatment programs that will make a difference in your health. Are you ready to be healthier? Dr. Gleixner is a qualified naturopathic doctor presently accepting new patients. Visits are covered by health insurances (check with yours!). Additional information can be found on www.monctonnaturopathic.com. His column appears every fourth week in Life Times.
Underlying causes of sleepless nights are often treatable
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Dear Mayo Clinic: Does getting older mean that you won't sleep as well? Why does it seem like older people like me can't sleep like we used to?
Reply: Although sleep patterns change somewhat as you age, that doesn't mean you have to live with restless nights and the persistent feeling of insufficient sleep. The underlying causes are usually treatable.
Many brain activities contribute to sleep and wakefulness. Chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters help control whether you're awake or asleep. Some of these chemicals help keep parts of your brain active while others encourage sleep.
Other forces, such as the amount of light you're exposed to and the medications you take, also influence your sleep. Diet also can be a factor — for instance, caffeine and alcohol can have a significant effect.
Generally, sleeping seven to eight hours a night is considered optimal. In older adults, sleeping less than five hours a night is associated with a more than 50 percent increased risk of falls. Getting less than seven hours of sleep on a regular basis may cut into your ability to concentrate, make decisions and remember things. Adding to that, ongoing sleep deprivation may actually interfere with your ability to recognize how tired you are.
Sleep difficulties can often be traced to treatable health issues. For example, chronic health problems such as arthritis, kidney disease, Parkinson's disease and depression can cause difficulty sleeping.
Other factors that could cause sleep difficulties include:
Sleep disorders: Sleep-related leg cramps, obstructive sleep apnea, periodic leg and arm movements, and restless legs syndrome can jeopardize sleep.
Pain: Conditions that cause chronic pain, including heartburn, arthritis, back pain, cancer pain and headaches, can take a toll on sleep. In turn, poor sleep can increase the perception of pain intensity. Difficulties such as falling asleep or frequent nighttime wakening often are related to poor pain control.
Nighttime urination: Trips to the bathroom are a common reason older adults wake at night.
Illness: Coughing, shortness of breath, chronic pain and even itching can disrupt your sleep.
Medications: Drugs that disrupt sleep range from nonprescription decongestants to commonly prescribed drugs such as bronchodilators, some antidepressants and corticosteroids. Other medications such as beta blockers, varenicline (Chantix), some antidepressants and narcotics can cause vivid dreams or nightmares.
Menopause: Up to half of women in menopause report sleep difficulties. Hormone changes may be a factor and result in hot flashes, night sweats and disrupted sleep.
Providing care to family members is another factor that can reduce sleep.
Some sleep habits that everyone can adopt that may make a difference include going to bed at the same time each day; exercising before the evening hours; avoiding caffeine, nicotine and alcohol; and relaxing before bed with a warm bath or by reading something enjoyable. Try to keep your bedroom quiet, dark and at a comfortable temperature, and use your bedroom only for sleep or intimacy.
As a rule, if you can't sleep, don't lie in bed. Leave your bedroom and do a quiet activity until you feel tired.
Consider whether a particular stress may be the cause. Once the stress is relieved, the sleep issue may resolve. But if you can't identify a reason for ongoing sleep loss, talk with your doctor. Determining and addressing its cause can make your nighttime sleep more restful. — Jarrett Richardson, M.D., Psychiatry, Mayo Clinic
Send questions to medicaledge
@mayo.edu.
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West Virginia a big headache for the Big 12
After Kansas State takes on Arkansas Friday night in the Cotton Bowl, Big 12 Conference football as we know it will be no more.
Let’s set aside for a moment the fact the Big 12 had not 12 members this season, but 10, thanks to the prior defections of Nebraska and Colorado.
Let us instead look ahead to the 2012 season, when the Big 12 likely will be reduced to the not-so-Big 9.
Missouri and Texas AM are the latest to desert the Big 12’s leaky ship. They already have been plugged into the Southeast-ern Conference football schedule for next season. Missouri hosts Georgia in its opening game Sept. 8, and Texas AM will host Florida the same day, according to the SEC schedule released last week.
Meanwhile, the Big 12’s 2012 schedule is, shall we say, in flux.
Texas Christian will come aboard to replace Texas AM next season, while West Virginia has agreed to take Missouri’s place — at some point in the future.
When West Virginia accepted an invitation in October to jump from the Big East to the Big 12, the Big East bristled, saying the Mountaineers must give 27 months notice before leaving the league, as per conference bylaws. West Virginia sued the league to gain its freedom to join the Big 12 July 1. Then the conference counter-sued to hold West Virginia to those bylaws.
Last week a judge in Rhode Island denied West Virginia’s request to dismiss the Big East’s suit. A West Virginia judge had earlier denied the Big East’s request to dismiss WVU’s lawsuit, which is not scheduled to go to trial until June 25. For its part, the Big East says it will stand its ground and intends to force West Virginia to honor its agreement.
That means the Big 12 might not find out until late June whether or not West Virginia will be joining it next season.
All of which must be giving Big 12 athletic directors heartburn. It won’t be long before schools normally begin selling season tickets. In order to help sell season tickets, it helps to have a schedule to promote.
If West Virginia is forced to remain with the Big East for the next two seasons, Big 12 teams will play only eight conference games and four non-conference contests. That means the schools could be scrambling to fill out their schedules at an extremely late date.
Non-conference football schedules used to be determined years in advance. No longer, given the fluid nature of college football’s conference affiliations these days.
Oklahoma’s non-conference schedule for 2012 currently consists of one team, Notre Dame, while its conference schedule is filled with three letters, TBA. Oklahoma State has no non-conference games listed on its 2012 schedule, which still includes conference home games with Texas AM and Missouri, which, of course, will not happen.
West Virginia’s dilemma means Big 12 schools likely will have to entice non-conference opponents with hefty payouts of anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million, not only this coming season, but the next, as well.
Perhaps the other conference schools should send the bill to the University of Texas, whose Longhorn Network helped turn the Big 12 into a mere shell of its former self.
Mullin is senior writer of the News Eagle. Email him at jmullin@enidnews.com.
Two Choices for the Best Read for a Hospital Stay
Two new books take on the latter task. One homes in on the most majestic of the resident fauna, the surgeons striding godlike through the hospital corridors, breezing past the rest of us dithering little pill-pushers hunched over our computers. Plenty of surgeons may be small women these days, but somehow they all seem 15 feet tall.
Dr. Paul A. Ruggieri summarizes their ethos bluntly: If you are his patient, “I do not exist to talk about your heartburn, neck pain, weight gain, fatigue or swollen legs. That is not my job and, frankly, I’m not interested.” The surgeon, he says, exists only to operate (or, sometimes more challenging, to decide whether to operate). The rest of the work belongs to the small, hunched, dithering crowd.
Generally, the surgeons we meet in memoir form are somewhat atypical of the species, like the poet-philosopher Richard Selzer, or the thoughtful policy guy Atul Gawande. Dr. Ruggieri, by his own description, is a regular Joe Scalpel: An average student, he graduated debt-ridden in the middle of his medical school class, weathered a grueling old-style residency program, and now works as in private practice at a community hospital.
As a general surgeon, Dr. Ruggieri spends his time not probing for the location of the soul but deep in intestinal muck: “I need to take out several feet of your colon, sir. Does next week sound good?”
Of course, just because you are a demigod in the O.R. doesn’t mean you’re exempt from the perplexities of modern medicine, and it turns out surgeons get their share and more. For all the immediate gratification of the calling — they can raise the dead with a few slashes of the knife and a purse-string suture — they too are condemned to a little dithering.
Calculating the risks and benefits of surgery in a sick old patient is only part of it. Like everyone else, surgeons are tormented by ambiguous test reports, whose cautious wording often forces them into an unnecessary operation. Malpractice law casts a giant shadow over their decision making, with statistics showing that virtually all surgeons will be named in a suit at some point during a career.
Dr. Ruggieri ruminates at length on bad surgical outcomes — some the fault of bad surgeons, some of bad equipment, some of bad luck. Human flesh is never completely reliable, and a successful operation will not necessarily improve the patient’s health. Inexperience, impatience and fatigue may all undermine a basically competent surgeon; Dr. Ruggieri makes the interesting point that even though training programs now curtail residents’ work hours, a fully trained surgeon may nevertheless have been up all night with an emergency before a full day of elective surgery, including yours.
And while smooth sailing in the operating room is an exhilarating, ego-boosting rush, things can go wrong in an instant, leaving the surgeon “grasping blindly into a rising pool of blood.”
Some of the statistics describing the “best” hospitals for a given type of surgery are available to the public, but performance measures for individual doctors are generally not. Ask for your surgeon’s complication rate before your procedure, Dr. Ruggieri suggests — you will have to assume the answer is truthful. And if you want to know what really happened while you were asleep, track down the operative report (although even that document may not reflect all the potholes on the trip).
It must be said with some emphasis that creating realistic dialogue is not Dr. Ruggieri’s forte, but the reader will forgive him the stilted paragraphs he encloses in quotation marks for the immediacy and honesty of the rest of his narrative. He offers up the requisite anecdotes featuring hapless people impaled by various pointy objects (including the horn of an annoyed rhinoceros), but he is at his best describing his own worst moments, muttering under his breath to a recalcitrant section of intestine, his right eye twitching in anxiety, wondering why he didn’t go for that M.B.A. instead.
A preoperative patient might prefer to leave Dr. Ruggieri’s book at home until it is all safely over. Elizabeth Bailey’s book, by contrast, is specifically meant to be included in the hospital suitcase, a marketing gimmick that is not a bad idea at all.
Checklists for doctors to complete have been shown to reduce errors in the hospital; Ms. Bailey offers a collection of checklists for a patient to complete toward the same end. There are lists for “before you go” and “during your stay,” various ways to organize the cupful of unfamiliar medications left by your bedside, and sections for planning your escape and coping with your insurance. While it would take an unusually energetic sick person to fill it all out, the book will be a godsend for concerned friends and relatives trying to rein in the chaos.
And for a little background reading, no one should miss Ms. Bailey’s introductory essay: A producer of music videos, she was thrust into the role of patient advocate when her elderly father was systematically manhandled by one of New York’s great teaching hospitals. Bravo to her for turning that all too common misery to a constructive end.
On the Agenda: GOP unhappiness with Republicans in Congress gives Obama opportunity
Updated 11:09 AM
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Commentary: It’s not any big secret that President Barack Obama is going to campaign against a do-nothing Congress in this election.
Seventy percent of voters tell pollsters that the country is heading in the wrong direction, and only 13 percent approve of the job done by Congress. It makes Obama’s average 45 percent approval rating look stratospheric.
Persistently high unemployment should make this a cake walk year for Republicans. The anti-Obama passion already has self-identified Republicans impatiently awaiting the 2012 election.
Dispirited Democrats didn’t turn out in 2010 creating a Republican tidal wave. It’s not at all clear yet that the president can revive the passions that made his first election possible.
While no one likes either party in Congress, it’s become a more serious problem for Republicans than Democrats.
A recent Pew Research Center poll frames the issue.
Pew reported two in three voters think most members of Congress should be voted out of office. The number of voters who want to fire their own congressman or woman matches two years ago when a record 58 incumbents were defeated
Here is the GOP problem. The poll concluded, “By wide margins, the GOP is seen as the party that is more extreme in its positions, less willing to work with the other side to get things done and less honest and ethical in the way it governs.�
That is a problem for the GOP, but the news actually gets even worse. According to the poll, 60 percent of Democrats approve of their congressional leadership while less than half of Republicans approve of theirs.
The flip side of the coin is President Obama’s approval, among the independent voter that will actually decide who wins the 2012 election, is still dismal.
Anything can happen, but as of today, it looks like the Republican nominee will need to separate himself from his party in congress, and that’s tough when you need to unify your party to win.
Man Completes New Years Resolution: Eat 2011 Chicken Wings in 2011
January 2, 2012
Updated Jan 2, 2012 at 10:27 AM PST
(TIME) Worried about sticking with your New Year’s resolution in 2012? Take Ryan Hohman’s advice and wing it.
No, seriously: The 28-year-old New Yorker recently challenged himself to eat 2,011 chicken wings by the end of 2011, and he accomplished the meaty milestone a few days ago, on December 20.
The idea started as a joke exchanged with a friend via text message. ”I thought it was pretty funny, so I kept the idea in the back of my head,” Hohman said.
He started eating wings on New Year’s Day 2011 as he recovered from the events of the night before. He then updated his Facebook page to read “Wing Count: 6,” and added eight more the next day.
Soon after starting a blog and a Facebook page to track progress towards his resolution and, calling himself the “Ultimate Wingman,” the gastronomical challenge began to go viral.
As his popularity grew, so did the wing-related opportunities. He rated every wings joint he attended (on a scale from one to five Tums, instead of stars), and by February, he found himself judging the “Best Wings in Brooklyn” competition.
Heartburn medication Prilosec OTC sponsored him. In September he did a “wing crawl” with Bon Appetit magazine the day after he returned from serving as a taste-tester at the National Buffalo Wing Festival.
Through it all, his social media prowess grew; riffing on Charlie Sheen, he coined the Twitter hashtag “#WINGING,” and gained a following with each successive update.
Hohman says he ate wings for about 65% of his meals. A typical week would have him eating 15-20 wings every other day, and devoting his weekend to finding a new eatery to pack away another 30.
“I’m a big sports guy; I love football, basketball, but those aren’t the only sports you can eat wings with,” Hohman says, adding, ”Sometimes I eat wings when I’m watching daytime television. Soap operas, you name it—there’s not one thing I cannot eat wings to.”
“Sometimes it’s not pretty,” Hohman admits. But though he has yet to get his cholesterol checked (that’s a resolution he promises to fulfill in the coming weeks), the effects of 2,011 wings have been strangely positive.
As of December 20, Hohman weighs a cool 14 pounds lighter than he did when he started, and his blood pressure has decreased as well.
Hohman says he won’t shoot for 2012 chicken wings by the end of 2012, but hopes to leverage his status as the “Ultimate Wingman” to attend wings competitions and other events. And maybe even recruit sponsors for his next venture: To eat 50 wings in 50 states.
For more on this story, CLICK HERE.
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