Where does the United States rank in healthcare among nations?
I think that is a fair question – We rank #1 in spending, no suprise there. So do you think we rank ahead of Europe, Sweden, how about Chile or Moroco — Nope we are behind them all and falling further back.
The time for change is now!
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_performance_ranks.html
Why some doctors have a problem with Complementary Medicine (and the patients who ask about it).
Graham Henderson is a public health doctor working for the NHS in Surrey. He trained at the Royal London Hospital and worked in children’s and adult medicine, and in general practice in Australia, before specialising in public health. He has been a consultant for ten years and is a former medical director of an NHS trust hospital.
By Dr. Graham Henderson
Taking the kids to school this morning came the inevitable comments from the back seat; “Dad, you’re going too fast; Dad, you forgot to signal at that junction”.
How many of us love back-seat driving, even when we love the people who’re doing it more than life itself? It’s even worse, especially if you’re having a bad day, if the back-seat driver is right, and you know that you did in fact make a tiny little error of judgement on that last roundabout!
It’s in all the training – give the patient
When we’re ill we feel insecure, dis-empowered, unable to assert ourselves. We see our advisors, our doctors, as wise, all-knowing, confidence-inspiring. At least, that’s how we want them to be. They know that. It’s in all the training – “give the patient confidence”. But the doctor also knows that he’s human; he’s not all-knowing; sometimes he makes mistakes; sometimes he can’t deal with the emotional stress of the consultation.
So what happens to the doctor when:
He (or she) hears you asking about vitamins, dietary approaches to cancer, or reflexology?
You arrive with a sheaf of printouts from the internet?
You want to know his views on a book by a cancer sufferer that he’s never read?
He gets scared, that’s what.
Because suddenly, he can’t do his job. The doctor’s professional respect, self-esteem, position in the community, everything, is tied up in his/her ability to give you the information, reassurance, treatement you need, or to send you to a man who does. You don’t say that someone “works” as a doctor; you say he or she “is” a doctor. So if he’s not a good enough doctor, he might feel he’s not good enough at anything at all! And most doctors don’t know much about dealing with illness other than with conventional (allopathic) medicine.
You don’t say that someone ‘works’ as a doctor; you say he or she ‘is’ a doctorClearly, it’s not the same for all doctors. They come in different shapes and sizes, like everyone else. But there is a pattern, conditioned by medical training, of feeling threatened by the knowledgable, questioning patient.
Modern medical training has spotted it, and younger doctors have been shown ways of dealing with it. But we’ve all heard too many stories of patients who “couldn’t get the doctor to listen”, felt brushed off, or even, in the worst cases got laughed at, to believe that it isn’t a problem.
So, to go back to the surgery. We’ve got one sick person (you) who’s frightended because you’re ill. And on the other side we’ve got another person, the doctor, who’s frightened as well, because your efforts to help yourself, to get some control over your illness and what’s happening to you, have accidentally threatened the doctor’s very sense of self-worth.
Now we have to careful here. You, the patient, are frightened because you’re ill. Horrible things are happening to you. You’re in the middle of a disaster. You’re entitled to be scared. The doctor, on the other hand, is a professional who ought to be able to deal with this.
What both doctor and patient need is to get into a constructiveHis difficulty dealing with it is professional weakness; letting that develop into irritation or anger is professionally unethical. So let there be no confusion about who’s right and who’s wrong. The point of this article is not to dish out blame. What both doctor and patient need is to get into a constructive conversation.
In my experience there’s three groups of doctors when it comes to complementary medicine – apart from the rare enthusiasts who actually know something about it. If you can spot which one you’ve got, then you can try and make the relationship work for you.
The first, and easiest to deal with, are the ones who accept that they ought to know about complementary therapies, but have never quite got round to finding out. These are the best ones to deal with, because you can challenge them to find out about it; perhaps even work with them to explore the subject together. You might want to offer them some info (gently!), but you should probably let them go off and do some research on their own before coming back to the discussion later. That way you can have a proper conversation; otherwise it’s just you giving them a lecture. Ideally, the conversation ends with “I’ve always wanted to find out about this, but never got round to it. Now you’ve given me a reason. Come and see me later in the week and we’ll go into it together”.
The second group are the doctors who really don’t think it’s anything to do with them, and are fundamentally unpersuadable. They’ve either looked into it and decided its a load of old codswallop (of which more below) or, even worse, have not really thought about it but have decided the same thing anyway! Quite frankly, there’s not a lot of point pushing your ideas in this situation. You probably know more about it than the doctor, you’re very unlikely to bring them round to your point of view, and you’ll just be wasting your time. Take what they’re offering in the way of allopathic medicine and look for complementary help elsewhere. Or, if you need your doctor to understand complementary medicine, change your doctor.
Finally, and perhaps the hardest to decide about, are the doctors who know very little about complementary medicine but could be persuaded if you (and they) had enough time. Here is your opportunity to lead them into the subject gently. Not intimidating them and making them feel stupid with your superior knowledge, but leading them gently to the point where they actually want to spend the next few evenings reading the book you’ve suggested, researching the internet, or going to the library.
When I worked in a factory before becoming a doctor, the woman in the packing department gave me a piece of advice I’ve never forgotten. “If you want someone to do something for you” she said, “make sure they think it was their idea in the first place”. I’ve since found out that you can earn a fortune as a “change management consultant” for telling people things like that. It was good advice then, and it’s where you’re trying to get to with your doctor. You want to leave him with the sense that he’s missing something really useful and interesting. Something that he really can’t afford not to know about.
If you want someone to do something for you, make sure they think it was their idea in the firstThe other thing I ought to mention, in a piece that’s trying to tell you how to understand your doctor, is why conscientious, caring doctors sometimes reject the complementary approach. Doctors today are trained in the scientific approach, although the best doctors combine this with the “art” of medicine, which accepts that science can’t explain everything about people. The scientific side of medicine asks that everything, all medicines, all operations, all treatments, be subjected to rigorous testing and “proof”. So when a new drug is invented, or a new operation suggested, it has to be put to the test. Compared with the existing treatment, under controlled conditions, preferably in a “blind” trial where neither the doctor nor the patient knows whether they’re taking the old or the new treatment.
This means that all bias is put aside, and only rigorous objective measurements show whether the new treatment is as good as, better, or worse than the old. And as patients, we want nothing less. We want to know that we’re being offered the best treatment, not just the latest fad from a “modern” doctor, or the stuff they’ve always used from a traditionalist.
But a lot of complementary treatments haven’t been tested through this sort of process. Partly, this is because the process takes a long time, and is expensive, so it can only be done if you can get the money back from drug sales when the tests are complete. Or because many complementary approaches tailor treatments precisely for individual patients, making it very hard to test a “standard” treatment.
But perhaps most often complementary approaches are hard to test objectively because they rely heavily on drawing out the patient’s inner resources to fight the illness. This is often in combination with a very strong relationship between therapist and patient, and these factors are just not amenable to standardisation and reproduction so they can easily be measured.
Remember, in the end, it’s your lifeSo, sometimes, even the very best and most caring doctors find themselves unable to accept that complementary approaches may be the right thing for you; they may honestly believe that, in recommending you explore alternatives to their allopathic approach, they may be doing you harm. I know this article appears to ask a lot of you, the patient. It asks you to try and understand your doctor when he doesn’t understand you. It asks you to consider his vulnerability at a time when he really ought to be considering yours. But the ICON approach is about helping YOU to take control of YOUR illness.
Use your doctors for what they can give you. Help them to a greater understanding if you can. Listen to their advice, and understand their perspective. But remember, in the end, it’s your life.
The final decisions are your yours to make.
Many orthodox medical ‘experts’ claim there is no research evidence behind Complementary and Alternative Therapies. Yet when there is evidence – consistent evidence – it often gets ignored. When it comes to Beneficial Bacteria, perhaps the experts have not had time to read and digest the research results? Perhaps they are not aware of it? After all there is so much of it – and all very recent. Or could it be that the research poses some nasty questions about the direct conflict with current orthodox treatment methods? Judge for yourself.
1 Over 80 clinical trials and more than 4,000 research studies have been conducted in the last 4/5 years on the essential role of Beneficial Bacteria in your good health.
2 Scientists believe over 800 strains of bacteria inhabit your gut – they have already identified over 400 strains.
3 Thirteen strains have been studied most frequently. All offer significant benefits to your health and well-being. They are Lactobacillus Bulgaris, Acidophilus, Shirota, Caseii, Lactis, Rhamnosus, Plantarum; Bifidobacterium bifidum, langum; Streptococcus thermophilus; Saccharomyces boulardi.
4 A fundamental finding running throughout the research is that many of key beneficial bacteria strengthen your immune system, particularly stimulating the production of immunoglobulins, cytokines and Natural Killer cells.
5 Kids growing up on farms and those with pets in the home have stronger immune systems – you need to eat a bit of dirt. You need more bacteria to build your defences.
6 Natural birth babies have stronger immune systems. Mothers give their children some good bacteria as baby passes down the birth canal. Breast milk contains important prebiotics – the perfect food for beneficial bacteria – these stimulate the growth of important good bacteria. (So much for ‘caesarians’)
7 Our strong immune systems keep invading viruses, bacteria and cancer cells in check. Without the beneficial bacteria – our defences are greatly weakened, allowing disease to take hold more easily.
8 One hundred years ago, we ate beneficial bacteria all the time – but pasteurisation, sterilisation and irradiation of food have ended much of that.
9 Worse – our modern world kills the good guys, and alters the balance nature intended in our gut. Chlorinated water, stress, alcohol, too much salt, antibiotics in our chickens etc all reduce the levels of good guys within us.
10 Worse still, the drugs your doctor prescribes actually kill off even more; for example, antibiotics, chemotherapy, even certain statins and mercury in vaccines. Most drugs actually weaken your defences.
11 But these good guys do even more than build your immune system: at night time when you sleep, they attack, neutralise and ingest the invading microbes and yeasts you consumed during the day. Without the good guys your enemies can take control.
12Yeast and fungal infections are now commonplace among adults – yellow toe nails, thrush, cystitis, bloating, wind, allergies are all signs.
13 Now, fungal infections in the body are increasingly being linked to serious diseases like diabetes, MS, and cancer.
14 Beneficial bacteria are essential to the processes that release vitamins from your food. Their action increases blood levels of anti-cancer vitamins like B vitamins folic acid and B-12, and vitamin K.
15 Some beneficial bacteria have been proven to make short chain esters from your food – these pass across the gut wall and reduce bad cholesterol levels.
16 Some beneficial bacteria have been shown to neutralise excess toxins, biding to nitrosamine and oestrogenic products and to heavy metals, helping the body to eliminate these dangers.
17 Some beneficial bacteria destroy the Helicobacter pylori bacterium known to play a part in stomach cancer; they may even neutralise a microbe US researchers believe is linked to colon cancer.
18 Some beneficial bacteria can even rebuild and repair the gut lining, damaged in diseases like IBS and Krohn’s.
19 It’s not mumbo jumbo – you can increase your beneficial bacteria by supplementing with probiotics – a probiotic cannot be called a probiotic unless clinical trials have proved it delivers a real benefit in the gut!
20 Every day you need as many beneficial bacteria strains as you can ingest – and you need to feed them their favourite whole foods. Rare ones you ate as a child may never be replaced if you destroy them. Without them all, can you really hope to beat cancer?
File this one away for September 2009 when we are headed into flu season. Mark this is important and a must have item by that time and continue to use it through Nov, Dec. Why? because it increases immune factors in your body by 1700%! We will all want our families to be well protected from the coming flu season – this is the best protection I have seen to date.
Cheap product to protect you from the flu ->
Enhanced Super Digestive Enzymes with Probiotics, 100 vegetarian capsules
less than 25.00
From Drug Discovery and Development:
New Study Suggests That GanedenBC30 Increases Immune Response to Cold and Flu
Drug Discovery & Development – May 13, 2009
A promising new study in the March issue of Postgraduate Medicine suggests that a strain of probiotic bacteria, GanedenBC30 (Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, PTA-6086), increases the body’s immune response to viruses that cause common viral respiratory tract infections such as colds and flu. Study data showed significant increases in T-cell production of TNF-alpha, a key immune marker, versus control upon exposure to adenovirus and influenza A in healthy adults who consumed a daily capsule of GanedenBC30 for 30 days. While many health professionals believe that probiotics can help people who have specific health conditions, there has been controversy surrounding the benefits of probiotics in healthy people. The new study supports the idea that probiotics can indeed benefit those who are healthy.
The study measured the changes in blood TNF-alpha levels upon exposure to adenovirus and influenza A in 10 healthy adults prior to and following a 30 day regimen of GanedenBC30, which is marketed as a dietary supplement called Sustenex and is also available in a variety of fortified packaged foods. Results showed a 250% increase in TNF-alpha levels with adenovirus and a 1709% increase in TNF-alpha levels with influenza A after subjects took the probiotics for a period of 30 days. Increased production of TNF-alpha in response to viral exposure indicates a heightened immunological effect.
Colds and flu are the most common illnesses among humans. They have significant health and economic consequences, especially among young children, the elderly, and people with underlying or chronic conditions. Every year, an average of 5 to 20 percent of people in the U.S. contract the flu, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized with flu-related complications, and approximately 36,000 people die from the flu. It is also estimated that 1 billion colds occur annually in the US.
“These results demonstrate the ability of GanedenBC30 to boost the immune system of healthy adults against viruses that cause some of the most common human illnesses,” said Mira Baron, MD, author of the study. “The study helps support the long-suspected belief about the beneficial effects of GanedenBC30 on the immune system and adds to the emerging body of evidence that probiotics can benefit healthy people as well as those with specific health issues.
Probiotics are live, beneficial microorganisms similar to the “friendly” bacteria found naturally in the body’s digestive system and have best been known for their ability to support the body’s digestive system by helping to reduce symptoms of digestive disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhea, gas, and bloating. Researchers have long postulated the role probiotics play in boosting immune function through promoting a healthy bacterial ecosystem in the digestive tract, which comprises approximately 70 percent of the body’s immune system, a hypothesis supported by the current study.
“The results of this research are interesting and set the stage for the continued study of the effects of the GanedenBC30 strain of probiotics on the immune system,” said Dr. Justin Sonnenburg, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who has reviewed the study’s findings. “The standard practice today is for people to take medicine to achieve symptomatic relief of colds and flu, but this research hints that healthy adults may be able to boost their immune system to potentially ward off infection and prevent such illnesses.”
The study points out that different strains of probiotics have different inherent properties, suggesting that the unique ability of GanedenBC30 to survive common conditions that can potentially kill other probiotics before they can have a beneficial effect, such as manufacturing conditions, extreme temperatures, and the harsh gastric environment, may contribute to its ability to support the immune system. Dr. Ken Alibek, MD, PhD, ScD, an infectious disease, microbiology, and immunology expert who has studied Bacillus coagulans extensively, believes that the strain may be the most ideal in existence, noting that “no other probiotic has the ability like that of Bacillus coagulans to survive the challenges probiotics face in reaching the intestinal tract where they can do good” and added that “once there, no other strain is as prolific in producing the beneficial by-products responsible for many of the benefits of probiotics.”
“This study is another step forward in our understanding of probiotics and the many health benefits they can deliver,” said Andrew Lefkowitz, CEO of Ganeden Biotech, which helped fund the study through a research grant and has completed a total of seven clinical trials using GanedenBC30, including trials in immunity, IBS, intestinal gas, Crohn’s disease, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. “We will continue to fund research investigating the benefits of GanedenBC30 and its ability to improve the quality of life.”
Date: March 12, 2009
Source: Ganeden Labs
