Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, means that a person has excessive fear, depression and inability to function normally after witnessing or experiencing intense fear or helplessness. While most commonly associated with veterans of combat or captivity, PTSD can also occur after:
Any Amount of Alcohol Increases Cancer Risk
"When it comes to cancer, no amount of alcohol is safe." This is the conclusion of the 2014 World Cancer Report, issued by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. Alcohol can cause cancers of the esophagus, breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, colon-rectum, liver and pancreas. It is also associated with...
Sunscreens and Sun Protection
Sunscreens help to prevent sunburns and skin cancers because they actually block the ultraviolet rays of the sun that damage the skin. However, some sunscreens are safe, while others may not be safe.
Gut Bacteria to Help Treat and Prevent Cancers
To function properly, your immunity depends on the tens of trillions of bacteria in your intestines. New cancer treatments rely on gut bacteria to help stimulate the immune system to kill cancers such as lymphomas in the blood and melanomas in the skin. If you give antibiotics that kill gut bacteria before you give these cancer drugs, the cancer drugs do not work at all
Colorectal Cancer Remission with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Drugs
Fourteen patients with “mismatched-repair” colorectal cancers were given a drug called dostarlimab every three weeks for six months, and follow-up after two years found that none of the patients had any remaining evidence of cancer. This is an incredible result because all patients had complete remission and none suffered serious reactions to the drug.
Jim Allison’s Nobel Prize: Toward a Cure for Cancer
In August 2015, the world learned that former U.S. president Jimmy Carter’s melanoma skin cancer had spread to his liver and his brain. Patients with melanoma that had spread through their bodies were expected to die from their disease, but doctors radiated Carter's tumors and then gave him Keytruda, a check point inhibitor. Three months later, there was no evidence of cancer in his 91-year old body.
Pfizer Vaccine 90 Percent Effective in Early Data
Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, have announced that their COVID-19 vaccine appears to be more than 90 percent effective against the disease. Early data from their 44,000-person trial analyzed the first 94 cases of symptomatic COVID-19 among the participants who received either the two-dose vaccine or a saline placebo.
Your Liver Does Not Need to be Detoxified
Your liver is the organ that picks up breakdown products of your own metabolism and removes them from your body. The promoters of liver-detoxifying supplements tell you that their products "support healthy liver function" and help it do its job better.
Dry, Cracked Skin on Heels (Fissures)
Dry skin on any part of the body can be annoying and can cause flaking and cracking, redness due to scratching, and unsightly patches of thick or hard skin. When dry skin occurs on the feet, the symptoms are magnified due to wearing shoes, the stretching of the skin on the feet with every step . . .
Colon Cancer, Gut Bacteria and Diet
A diet that is high in either red meat or sugar, or both, increases the growth in the colon of bacteria called Fusobacterium nucleatum that appears to suppress a person's immunity to increase the growth of cancer cells in the colon.
Monkeypox Declared a Public Health Emergency
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has declared monkeypox to be a public health emergency, and the U.S. has recorded more than 7000 infections, more than any other country in the world. The only two states that have not yet reported monkeypox infections are Montana and Wyoming.
Parkinson’s Disease vs Benign (Essential) Tremors
If you have developed shaking of your hands, you could have Parkinson's disease which is difficult to treat, or Benign Tremors which is usually easy to treat. You are more likely to have the more serious Parkinson's disease if you have the tremor at rest, a slow heart beat, rigid firm muscles, slowness to remember facts, difficulty speaking normally, depression or sleep disturbances.
Gut Bacteria Associated with Colon Cancer
A study from Harvard Medical School found that a typical Western diet increases growth of specific bacteria in the gut called “polyketide synthase (pks+) E. Coli” that produce a chemical called colibactin, which causes DNA mutations that can turn normal colon cells into cancer cells.
Gut Bacteria and Colon Cancer Risk Factors
A review of 45 prospective studies found that risk for suffering colon cancer is increased by drinking alcohol and eating red meat, and decreased by eating more fiber and yogurt. More than 1.3 million North Americans have had colorectal cancer, a disease associated with lifestyle factors that cause bad bacteria to thrive in your colon.
Lyme Disease May Be Transmitted Between Humans
An international team of research scientists and practicing doctors from Canada, the United States and Australia report that the bacterium that causes Lyme disease is found in 100 percent of the vaginal secretions of women and half of the semen of men suffering from Lyme disease.
Intense Exercise May Reduce Cancer Spread
A study from Israel found that intense exercise may help to prevent cancer from spreading, in humans and in mice, by using up body sugars so that less energy is available for the tumor cells to grow and spread. Compared to non-exercisers, those who exercised regularly before they developed cancers had a slightly reduced incidence of cancer, while those who exercised at high intensity after developing cancer had a 72 percent lower incidence of metastatic cancer than those who did not exercise after developing cancer.
Alzheimer’s Disease May Come From an Infection
Nearly fifty percent of people over 85 suffer from symptoms of dementia of which Alzheimer's disease, a progressive loss of brain cells, is the most common form. The second most common type of dementia comes from repeated strokes. This month researchers offer strong evidence that Alzheimer's disease may be started by an infection.
Pepper Cream for Pain Control
Pain messages are passed along nerves by a neurotransmitter called "substance P." Capsaicin, the component of chili peppers that makes them hot, blocks substance P and the resultant pain. A cream containing .025 percent capsaicin has been shown to block pain in joints, nerves and skin
Breakthrough Research from Winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Medicine
2019 Nobel Prize honors the discovery of how your body responds when you can't meet your needs for oxygen. Their groundbreaking research is now being used to treat certain cancers, strokes, infections, anemia, heart attack risks, and some eye diseases that can cause blindness.
History of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
When a person becomes extraordinarily tired to the point where he or she can’t get through the day, doctors should do an extensive evaluation to try to find the cause. They check for an infection, a hidden cancer, impaired immunity, poisons, an autoimmune disease, lack of minerals, hormone imbalance, and so forth.
Healthful Lifestyle Linked to Lower Death Rate in Parkinson’s Disease
In the largest prospective study yet on the subject, researchers followed 1251 participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses' Health Study who developed Parkinson's Disease. (JAMA Netw Open, Aug 19, 2022;5(8):e2227738). The average age at diagnosis was 73.4 years. During the 32-34 years of follow up, 942 patients died. They found that compared with those who had the worst before-and-after lifestyles, those with the healthiest eating and exercise regimens prior to diagnosis reduced their all-cause death rates by 49 percent.
Aspirin to Prevent Colon Cancer?
People who take aspirin are at reduced risk for colon cancer, unless they are among the four percent of North Americans who have a genetic susceptibility for colon cancer (JAMA, March 17, 2015;313(11):1133-1142). Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States (after lung cancer), with 1,162,426 people living...
Preventing Dementia
More than one in 10 North Americans, or 5.1 million, suffer from dementia. Today there is no effective treatment for dementia, but in the last month, several reports have shown that dementia may be delayed and prevented.
Foot Odor
Do you know why you should wear socks? It's to keep your feet and shoes from smelling.
Foot odor is caused by bacteria or fungi rotting old skin. Your skin turns over every 28 days. A new cell starts on the bottom layer of skin, then another skin cell forms underneath it. The process continues...
Risk Factors for Dementia and Heart Attacks Start Early in Life
Researchers in Finland followed 3,596 children (3-18) for 31 years to see whether cardiovascular risk factors in childhood and adolescence were associated with cognitive performance later in life. Cognitive testing was performed in 2,026 of the participants at 34-49 years of age, and the researchers found that early heart attack risk factors were also major risk factors for reduced mental function.
Latest Advice on the COVID-19 Pandemic
Federal guidelines now require most Americans to avoid non-essential travel, non-essential work, eating at bars and restaurants, and gathering in groups of more than 10, at least through April 30, 2020. Many states and local governments have stricter directives that take precedence over the federal guidelines.
How Would I Treat Myself If I Got COVID-19?
If I had COVID-19 and was not very sick, I do not know if I would take anything. Today there are no drugs or treatments proven to prevent or cure COVID-19, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not licensed any treatment specifically for the virus.
How Exercise Helps to Prevent Some Cancers
A review of 170 animal and human studies shows that regular exercise is associated with reduced cancer risk, particularly for the types of cancers that are associated with unhealthful lifestyles, such as those of the breast, colon, prostate, lung and endometrium. Exercise helps to prevent cancer by reducing causes of inflammation.
Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle Reduces Deaths from Prostate and Breast Cancers
Cancers of the breast and prostate look more and more like diseases of inflammation. They appear to occur more often in people with lifestyles that cause inflammation, and people who have been diagnosed with these cancers live longer when they adopt anti-inflammatory lifestyles.
The Current Coronavirus Pandemic – Updated
The World Health Organization (WHO) gave the new coronavirus the name "COVID-19" on February 11, 2020, and declared it a pandemic on March 10, 2020. COVID-19 is not more severe than many flu viruses. However, it is incredibly contagious.
