Natural Healing Therapies

Two Pennies at Amazon: Lithgow History Comes Alive!

2012-01-17T18:46:00.001-08:00

Amazon now has Two Pennies! Start your new year out right with a children's story that teaches you some very cool history and the money goes to a good cause!

My Two Cents: Two Pennies For Lithgow Library

2011-12-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

It often seems in this crazy world we cannot make a dent in things. But all you can do is throw in your two cents. I just did in the local library debate by writing a book based on the history of our library (don't worry, it's full of Masonic intrigue-really). Buy the book to support the library, because they get any profits. Just my two cents. I gave my granpa authorship credit for reaching his 100th birthday.

Go to the booksite here.

An Overview of James Randi, With Condolences.

2011-11-22T18:36:00.001-08:00

It seems that James Randi's partner is not who he seems. The expert on delusion and self-deception has evidently been living for two decades with someone who may have stolen the identity of another man to obtain a U.S. passport.

My condolences to Mr. Randi and his partner. It is a terrible thing to be separated from someone you love. The U.S. immigration system is horrible and horribly slow, and I'm sure they are not alone in their desperation to be together at all costs.

We all wish them well, despite the criminal nature of their deception.

There are several recent posts about Mr. Randi's unrelenting attacks on homeopathy, several of which are very well done.

http://www.naturalnews.com/034208_homeopathy_James_Randi.html

And you've got to love a youtube video that adds sound effects to keep you interested in all the boring old data supporting homeopathy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jJpcpubwTeo#!

Is Organic Better? Yes, Mostly.

2011-11-21T15:34:00.001-08:00

I've addressed the various issues with judging whether organic foods are better than conventional produce on my website. http://www.maloneymedical.com/id156.html

The short answer continues to be that organic produce does, in fact, have more of some nutrients than its conventional cousin. It varies from season to season and crop to crop. Let's acknowledge that, and move on. Unfortunately, places like the Mayo Clinic like to sound like authorities, and so cite one review (covering the last fifty years? Don't get me started on soil depletion, changing farming methods, etc.) and say probably there's no difference. I'd say some researcher needs to take the Twinkie out of his mouth and realize he's just set the debate back to the dark ages of the 1960's.

Our current discussion needs to focus on the process of becoming locavores. This term needs to enter the mainstream in the same way that vegetarian is now part of common knowledge. If you are unfamiliar with this concept, here's a starting point. Many people here in Maine have been locavores for decades, but have subsidized an otherwise exemplary diet full of fresh and flash frozen vegetables from their giant gardens with deep fried food. All they need to do to get healthier is stop eating out.

For the crunchies among us, put down that Ecuadorian arugula. It isn't in season, and you've just consumed a full tank of gasoline along with your "spring veggies." Oh, I'm guilty as well, and everything in moderation. But let's all keep humble and have a look at what our neighbors are doing right. If we focus, necessity and intention meld together to make it more and more obvious that our only possible way out of our issues is to work together on every issue.

EU Stops the Regular Use of Antibiotics For Animals, Time for Homeopathy To Shine?

2011-11-14T05:25:00.001-08:00

I first read about the transition from the homeopaths at NCH, but I doublechecked and confirmed at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which gives a different, supportive take on the banning of antibiotics in animal feed.

From a homeopaths' viewpoint, the banning of antibiotics is an opportunity to test whether homeopathy can be helpful. In the never-ending, howling skepticism of homeopathy its critics have failed to notice reports of better outcomes for animals placed on homeopathics. The data is good enough to inspire the EU to invest "1.8m in a pilot research project to examine the effectiveness of homeopathic treatments on farm animals."

The arguments against homeopathy pale when we are faced with a very real possibility that within our lifetimes we will not have antibiotics as an effective tool. It is far preferable to deal with the realities of commercial farming without an antibiotic buffer now than to wait until complete resistance is the norm.

Here's a recent study:

Homeopathy. 2010 Jan;99(1):57-62.

Homeopathy as replacement to antibiotics in the case of Escherichia coli diarrhoea in neonatal piglets.

Camerlink I, Ellinger L, Bakker EJ, Lantinga EA.

Source

Biological Farming Systems Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Irene.Camarlink@wor.nl

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The use of antibiotics in the livestock sector is increasing to such an extent that it threatens negative consequences for human health, animal health and the environment. Homeopathy might be an alternative to antibiotics. It has therefore been tested in a randomised placebo-controlled trial to prevent Escherichia coli diarrhoea in neonatal piglets.

METHOD:

On a commercial pig farm 52 sows of different parities, in their last month of gestation, were treated twice a week with either the homeopathic agent Coli 30K or placebo. The 525 piglets born from these sows were scored for occurrence and duration of diarrhoea.

RESULTS:

Piglets of the homeopathic treated group had significantly less E. coli diarrhoea than piglets in the placebo group (P<.0001). Especially piglets from first parity sows gave a good response to treatment with Coli 30K. The diarrhoea seemed to be less severe in the homeopathically treated litters, there was less transmission and duration appeared shorter.
Copyright 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PMID: 20129177

Kubler-Ross and the Autumn

2011-11-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

The Stages of Fall: Transition Into Winter

I've noticed the stages of dealing with the autumn mimic the stages of Transition here in Maine.

First, we work through our denial. It isn't just the people, the plants are just as busy trying to outgrow each other. Winter won't come our way if we don't look at it.

With the first early winter snow this year before Halloween, we have moved into the anger stage. Racks of shovels adorn every store. The armamentary of snowblowers and snow melters and heaters line our sidewalks. We will battle snow with every ounce of our will.

But already we've moved into the bargaining stage. We're trying to limit the damage. I've already said, "no more than twelve feet this year." As if somehow I could bargain with the winter winds. Will six inches really make a difference to my year?

And I've seen in my patients the depression beginning. They talk about the cold winter months and getting out of Maine for the season. Many will, but those that do will be gone by November. The rest of us will hunker down for the season. Days will shorten to mere slivers, and the long, windy nights will swallow up the sun.

Even as I write, I feel the creeping of acceptance. It is a relief to let go of having to be everywhere on time. Whole days can just come crunching to a halt. Plans will be remade, or cast aside. And the sun will come again.

Here's a link to Kubler-Ross' stages of grief.

Live First, Work Second: Understand the Young

2011-10-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

New book out with a lovely title: Live First, Work Second. Thanks to Candyce Carden-Deal of Candidness for bringing it to my attention. She has a great blog post that describes the book.

Is Andy Kaufman dead?

2011-10-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

There is a documentary out about Andy Kaufman asking whether he really is dead. I was intrigued because the director shares my name. But really, if Andy was alive, he'd be doing something else besides laying low. On the other hand, the weathermen taught us that you can hide in plain sight.

Walking Dead: Shocking? Really? Isn't Everyone Supposed To Die?

2011-10-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

I had the misfortune to develop an interest in the Walking Dead recently. Blame it on the recent Austen/zombie book. I wanted to see what a drama would be like played out against a zombie backdrop.

In the first episode, we begin with the hero blowing away a young blonde girl turned zombie. So children getting shot is how the series begins. Imagine my surprise when in the opener of the second season they...have a child getting shot.

Evidently my memory is longer than the reviewers, who are all atwitter (pun intended) with what it means to the morals of television now that a child has been shot. Really? Did you miss the horse getting eaten? How about the walkers getting beaten to second death with bats? Did you close your eyes during the moment when a man has to shoot his walker wife in the head?

My biggest issue with Walking Dead is that I do not believe our hero survived the initial slaughter lying comatose in his hospital bed. First, the walkers can smell people, so a bed across the door isn't going to deter them. Second, there is no way he didn't die of thirst while his beard grew to the length it did. World full of zombies who never die, fine. But don't fake dehydration.

I also found that I don't really care about the characters, so I stopped watching.

Dead Sea Scrolls: At Last Something Worth Reading Online.

2011-09-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Well, the scrolls are out! http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/ has all the scrolls, but I was severely disappointed that, unlike the Great Isaiah scroll, the war scroll isn't readable as an instant translation. Come on, we'd be talking endless online comparisons to end-time current day war activity as everyone and their brother tries to fit different players into the narrative.

But we do have some pretty exciting reading. Here we have a PG 13 section: Chapter 3 : Verse 17
"Therefore the L-rd will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and HaShem will lay bare their secret parts." A bit further on: Chapter 4 : Verse 1 "And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying: 'We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name; take thou away our reproach.'"

We also have some poetry: Chapter 5 : Verse 18
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope,

So I'm looking forward to lots of sermons and interpretations from our biblical preachers worldwide. Not just the scholar types, but the ones who preach everyday from the current texts. How will the scrolls factor in?

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

2011-09-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

I just finished listening to the book and I was pleasantly surprised by the author's ability to pay homage to Austen without losing a reasonable, though implausible, storyline.

How Do We Undo The Obesity Epidemic? The Australian Solution.

2011-09-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Fat, Sick & Nearly DeadIt's hard to make weight loss into a movie, and it's harder to make it inspiring without a hard sell approach. I was impressed by Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Unlike almost any weight loss program I've seen, it really is about people getting well without any money in it for the producer.

The movie is available at Netflix streaming, but you could also get a copy (so you can hand it to your relatives where it will sit on the shelf gathering dust until they have heart attacks like Bear in the movie did).

If anyone is looking for someone to monitor the fast and do blood work, this is one I can get behind. It's not permanent, but it is sustainable over time, and it's based on fruits and vegetables.
You can just look at the diet, but I'd watch the movie. It's not often you see a trucker become an actor and make the transition gracefully.

17 Day Diet, Really the 68 Day Diet

2011-07-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well, like anyone I was intrigued by the idea of a 17 day diet. Really? That's all it takes to conquer obesity in America? How could we have been so foolish?

But then I found out it was really four cycles of 17 days, and I thought: this guy's been watching too many late night infomercials: "Just four cycles of 17 days each..." but the 68 day diet just doesn't sound as sexy.

You can do the 17 minute workout, get the 17 day meal packages, spend a great deal of time thinking about why it isn't the 15.7 day diet or the 18.33 day diet. When you watch Dr. Moreno defend the 17 there really isn't any reason why the other two numbers wouldn't work. Wouldn't part of a day be better at confusing the body?

In the end, it's one more young, healthy male doctor explaining to middle aged women that they just need more discipline when really it's a matter of hormones.

Guillain-Barre: An Unknown Taking Down the Healthy Or A Worsening Chronic Infection?

2011-06-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

A recent story on ex-quarterback Danny Wuerffel getting Guillain-Barre Sydrome has been in the news recently.

In looking at his symptoms, he came down with a stomach virus, and now is at 50% muscle strength. Not only is this terrifying, it leads to the thought that none of us is safe.

For anyone living in a box, Guillain-Barre has historically been associated with vaccinations. More recent re-analysis of previous studies poo-poo any possible association, but have a look at the 1978 original study: "that the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome among individuals receiving immunization against influenza A/New Jersey is 7.3 times the risk among the nonvaccinated." (Adv Neurol. 1978;19:249-60.)

It is a miniscule risk, and shouldn't deter anyone from vaccination for that reason alone, but the association makes sense if one thinks about the fact that the virus is often simply weakened, not entirely dead. In a very few susceptible individuals it may spark an autoimmune cascade.

The truth is that we've got a pretty good idea of what is causing this cascade. It may vary from individual to individual, but the majority have antibodies that correspond to both an infectious agent and their own neural tissue. A recent study (J Neurol. 2011 Apr 24. ) found that a quarter of all patients had been infected by Campylobacter jejuni. Another recent study in China concludes: "Our results suggest that the antecedent C. jejuni infection triggered this GBS outbreak in China." (Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2010 Aug;7(8):913-9.) So at least 25% of patients might benefit from antibiotic treatment. Minocycline has been used to successfully treat an animal model of Guillain-Barre. (J Cell Mol Med. 2009 Feb;13(2):341-51. )

Currently the standard of care for Guillain-Barre involves intense rehabilitation, IV antibodies, and exchanging plasma for patients. All of these may be effective only if the body does not continue to generate antibodies from an ongoing infection.

For individuals without medical resources (and that is more and more people here in the U.S.) there are preliminary studies on the effect of ginger, licorice, calendula, and fenugreek. (Phytother Res. 2010 May;24(5):649-56.)

It shouldn't take a celebrity case to bring the standard of care of this illness in line with the most recent research.

What I Eat: How to Blow Your Mind and Reframe How You Think About Diet.

2011-06-18T18:17:00.000-07:00

I love this book! It's a coffee table picture book, full of exotic meals and strange locales. But it's arranged by daily calorie intake from 800 to 12000 calories a day. If you ever wanted visual proof that caloric intake does not correlate to weight, here's your evidence. We've got people starving themselves and staying fat, while thin people eat twice the calories (and no, they aren't all bike messengers).

It was $40 at Barnes and Noble, but I paid full price because I wanted it to look over and because I couldn't remember the title before. It's a fairly stunning rejection of the west's sacred cow of calorie counting.

The Looking Glass Wars: Alice's "Real" Life.

2011-06-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

I have two Boston friends for whom Alice was not only an inspiration, but I think a big part of their marriage. So I plodded through the Looking Glass Wars, book 1, and skipped the second one to move onto book 3. Evidently nothing happens in book 2, because I pretty much feel like I missed a chapter starting book 3.

The initial book was fascinating because it worked on how to combine Alice's real life with her Wonderland life. I learned a few things about her life that I didn't know, but I'm sure Aliceophiliacs would understand. But by the end of the first book Wonderland Alice has created a double of herself in the real world, creating no need to continue her double life. I would have found it much more interesting to have her forced to go back and forth.

But I plan to finish the series out of honor to my friends and because I did indeed become interested in Alice as a person. So for those of you looking for a remix and remaster of Alice in Wonderland, this is a great read.

Multiply Can Use Blogger, But Not Cleanly

2011-05-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

When I imported all my Blogger Natural Treatment Therapies information to Multiply, another social networking site, the end result is an unsatisfactory set of text blocks without any of the advantages of the original site.

So Natural Treatment Therapies will be staying exactly where it is. I suspect that in the end what I've just experienced is exactly the reason that we'll eventually see a decline in online networking. Problems with communicating what we really mean.

In the old days we talked about the game of telephone, where one person whispers in another person's ear. As you went around the room, the message got less and less coherent.

How often today I deal with issues generated by texting miscommunications. Where is the class for the average person in concise, appropriate texting? I know I need one. How do you deal with multiple messages when you're busy? Is 'k an appropiate response or are you being rude? If 90% of communication is non-verbal, where does that leave any of us online?

I wonder what we've become when online communication is how we find each other and how we judge each other.

Does Alternative Medicine Cost More Money Or Less For Fibromyalgia?

2011-05-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

There are two schools of thought on this issue. One says that adding insurance coverage for alternative medicine will cost more money because people will use both. The other says that using alternative medicine saves money because people get less sick and take care of themselves more. Can we have the drumroll please? The cost less people win! Washington state did an analysis of people who had coverage and the people who use alternative medicine cost the insurance companies about $400 dollars less. Most interesting is that the really sick people cost insurers almost $1500 less per year. Some of these people had back pain, fibromyalgia or menopausal symptoms.

In terms of Fibromyalgia, I went looking for the alternatives for Fibromyalgia on WebMD. The person writing about Fibromyalgia is an M.D. who happens to have Fibromyalgia. He's written thirteen books on Fibromyalgia. He also happens to be "a physician speaker for pharmaceutical companies that make medications used to treat fibromyalgia." I sense a vague conflict of interest when discussing alternative treatments as primary. Not surprisingly, he doesn't mention dietary change, GABA, DHEA, probiotics, or a range of other likely treatments. Instead he focuses on a number of antidepressant herbs that are basically milder versions of the antidepressant pharmaceuticals being used.

In focusing on the antidepressant aspect of treatment, our expert is playing to the "all in your head" phenomenon I see more and more often in chronic diseases. But the reality is that a range of other factors affect Fibromyalgia patients, including a blunted adrenal response. A number of different studies support this connection (one is below). So rather than saying it's all in your head, we should be looking at the rest of the body. Maybe this is why alternative medicine saves people money. We look toward the big picture rather than just managing the symptoms.

J Rehabil Med. 2010 Sep;42(8):765-72.

Evidence of reduced sympatho-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary activity during static muscular work in patients with fibromyalgia.

Kadetoff D, Kosek E.

SourceOsher Center For Integrative Medicine, Stockholm Brain Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis during static exercise in patients with fibromyalgia.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixteen patients with fibromyalgia and 16 healthy controls performed a static knee extension until exhaustion. Plasma catecholamines, adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol, as well as blood pressure and heart rate, were assessed before, during and following contraction. Plasma C reactive protein was analysed at baseline.
RESULTS: Blood pressure and heart rate increased during contraction (p < 0.001) and decreased following contraction (p < 0.001) in both groups alike. Compared with baseline, plasma catecholamines increased during contraction in both groups (p < 0.001), but patients with fibromyalgia had lower levels of plasma adrenaline (p < 0.04) and noradrenaline (p < 0.08) at all times. Adrenocorticotropic hormone increased at exhaustion in controls (p < 0.001), but not in patients with fibromyalgia, who also had lower adrenocorticotropic hormone at exhaustion (p < 0.02) compared with controls. There were no group differences, or changes over time in plasma cortisol. High sensitivity C reactive protein was higher in patients with fibromyalgia compared with controls (p < 0.02).

Dude, Where's My Electric Car?

2011-05-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Warning: The following is a thinly veiled rant by a gasoline addict feeling the pain of the pump.

Ooh, big oil crunched it before they decided to maim our economic recovery at the pump. You can read the spoiler for this movie at Wikipedia.

In crazy news, the same guys who killed the electric car are bringing it back. Funny thing, though, it has the same problems (short range/high price) that it did before even though we've evidently invested heavily in new technology. Since these are the same people who got rid of the other electric cars years ago, as well as dismantling our public transportation systems decades ago, I'm vaguely suspicious.

Don't we own most of the car companies now? Shouldn't we be selling ourselves a decent car at a decent price? Maybe even putting batteries at every gas station or grocery store (we do for propane tanks, so what's the problem?)

How is it that it's pretty darn impossible to make tiny functional electric cars for a decent price, but Tesla Motors is making roadsters for 100k? I'm sorry, but it occurs to me that some enterprising soul with cheap labor and a liberal view on copyright infringement might buy one and take a look under the hood. I certainly wouldn't want to condone such behavior, but it seems to happen with every other consumer good. How is it possible that cars have tighter security than any other electronic device?

Oh, we can buy cheaper cars, but they have a forty mile radius and a 25 mph top speed. Doesn't my kid's electric hotwheel getting faster than that?

So, we'll have to build our own. Here's the starter kit blog. I'll get right to it as soon as I finish my fully enclosed greenhouse backyard. Now, if only my neighbors didn't have so many trees...

How To Drag Your Children Away From Their IPods.

2011-05-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Remember when children just got their brothers hand-me-down jeans? Nowadays, we have hand-me-down electronics. My elder son is the proud owner of IPod sixteen or something, which seems about ready to take off (didn't IPod take over the shuttle missions? I think it's a free app.) He worked like a dog and saved his money (my money, but I got chores out of it). So his brother received his hand-me-down IPod. I've been dealing with App anxiety all week.

I had a vision of a different time, when my father read to us in the evening. So I went to the library (yes, they still have those, although ours desperately needs renovation). My mission was to engage my children with literature or at least dime store novels.

I picked out The Book of Three, Dune, Harriet the Spy, the Elfstones of Shannara, and Dragonsong. I figured something was bound to take.

As you may have guessed, my elder one played IPod silently while listening. But my four year old sat and played legos. Both of them want me to continue tomorrow.

The boys picked Elfstones after some debate. Book of Three was second. My twelve year old was reading Dune after his brother went to bed. Sometimes, just sometimes, we can make a stand in the sands of time and create a little family space amidst the din.

Mercy Hospital's Definition of Naturopathy: MD Diagnosis, alternative treatment.

2011-04-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

I was very pleasantly surprised by Mercy Hospital's lovely discussion of CAM. I like their definition of Naturopathy, which is succinct if a little inaccurate. Generally we spend an great deal more time diagnosing than what is allowed by a fifteen minute office visit. We also tend to try and link different body symptoms together: chronic tension and upset stomach, insomnia and foot pain, etc.

I've compiled a definition of Naturopathy under What in the World is a Naturopath? It gives the scope of Naturopathy in comparison to MDs and DOs.

Thirteen Virtues: Does Anyone Do Ben's List Today?

2011-04-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

When he was twenty years old, Benjamin Franklin wrote a list of virtues for himself and evidently tried to practice them for the rest of his life.

So there's a free website set up called Thirteen Virtue.com, but it appears to be defunct. So is anyone still trying to follow Franklin's advice?

I admit to trying, but I never really got into it. Maybe a week is too long a period for modern life.

Here are the virtues (listed on Wikipedia.)

1.Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2.Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3.Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4.Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5.Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6.Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7.Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8.Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9.Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10.Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

11.Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12.Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13.Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

This Just In From A Skeptic on Dr. Oz's Show: Herbs Are Not Alternative Medicine.

2011-04-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

What I find wonderful about Dr. Oz's show is that he allows all the skeptics on. Dr. Steven Novella, who previously insulted Dr. Oz and called him a quack, was invited on to Dr. Oz's show to make his case. Evidently Dr. Oz won the debate, because he used an example of herbal medicine that Dr. Novella could not refute. Dr. Novella backtracks from his own position to state, on his blog and for the record: "Herbal remedies are not really alternative – they have been part of scientific medicine for decades, if not centuries. There is even a research specialty focusing on pharmacognosy – or using natural sources for drug development. Herbs are drugs, and they can be studied as drugs."

So, now herbs are not alternative medicine. Ok, we keep redefining what is alternative medicine to suit our purposes. But I just checked the NCCAM website, which evidently Dr. Novella hasn't. Herbs appear as the subject of NCCAM. By definition they are alternative medicine, and, by Dr. Novella's own admission, they are in many cases scientifically proven. Many of them have also been shown to be safe and effective over decades of use in the food industry.

Here's a nice piece by the chief pharmacist at Mass General on why doctors like Dr. Novella are afraid of alternative medicine.

Heartburn: Now It's a Problem for Kids?

2011-04-22T05:32:00.000-07:00

It's very troubling to have the expansion of heartburn medication to children and even infants. Especially when we have no evidence that they are effective and we do have evidence that long term use of acid blockers affects bone health. But without evidence, we're still seeing prescriptions for the medication. Here's the expert meta-analysis from the Cochrane database. I've highlighted the relevant sentence.

Pediatrics. 2011 Apr 4. [Epub ahead of print]

Efficacy of Proton-Pump Inhibitors in Children With Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Systematic Review.

van der Pol RJ, Smits MJ, van Wijk MP, Omari TI, Tabbers MM, Benninga MA.

SourceDepartment of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Emma Children's Hospital AMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands;

Abstract

Introduction: Use of proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in children has increased enormously. However, effectiveness and safety of PPIs for pediatric GERD are under debate. Objectives: We performed a systematic review to determine effectiveness and safety of PPIs in children with GERD. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for randomized controlled trials and crossover studies investigating efficacy and safety of PPIs in children aged 0 to 18 years with GERD for reduction in GERD symptoms, gastric pH, histologic aberrations, and reported adverse events. Results: Twelve studies were included with data from children aged 0-17 years. For infants, PPIs were more effective in 1 study (compared with hydrolyzed formula), not effective in 2 studies, and equally effective in 2 studies (compared with placebo) for the reduction of GERD symptoms. For children and adolescents, PPIs were equally effective (compared with alginates, ranitidine, or a different PPI dosage). For gastric acidity, in infants and children PPIs were more effective (compared with placebo, alginates, or ranitidine) in 4 studies. For reducing histologic aberrations, PPIs showed no difference (compared with ranitidine or alginates) in 3 studies. Six studies reported no differences in treatment-related adverse events (compared with placebo or a different PPI dosage). Conclusions: PPIs are not effective in reducing GERD symptoms in infants. Placebo-controlled trials in older children are lacking. Although PPIs seem to be well tolerated during short-term use, evidence supporting the safety of PPIs is lacking.

PMID:21464183

So let's all step away from treating colic, which is likely to be associated with overgrowth of bacteria, with acid blockers.

I have extensive information on options for adults on my website: http://www.maloneymedical.com/ under What Do I Treat? and GERD.

How Many of Us Are Dying Because We Go To Our Doctors? (As Opposed To Dying Because We Can't Afford To Go.)

2011-04-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm often curious about the denial of the pretty clear reality that our medical system needs serious help. One of the denial sticking points is the number of deaths directly attributable to medical care. Let's be clear. Almost everyone dies under medical care at some point. But a fair percent of patients are helped on their way unnecessarily and prematurely by the very people who want to preserve their lives.

We rank poorly (twelfth out of fifteen) in comparison to other industrialized nations' healthcare. Before you blame the fat Americans, we rank 3rd lowest in smokers and fifth lowest in drinkers. U.S. men 50-70 have the lowest cholesterol of the group. So it isn't just that we're less healthy.

"According to several research studies in the last decade, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments:

• 12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery

• 7000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals
• 20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals
• 80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals
• 106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs
Thus, America's healthcare-system-induced deaths are the third leading cause of the death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer.

Where am I getting all these disturbing statistics? From the Journal of the American Medical Association, that den of alternative radicalism (seriously, one of the most conservative medical journals on the planet). Here's the data written out at a radical blog and here's -WAIT-where is that pesky journal article? Oh, right here on the JAMA website. Oh, and if you had some concerns about Starfield's credentials, she works at John Hopkins. So that's where we get our statistics.

If you'd like a whole book on our chilling reality, check out Money Driven Medicine.