Swine Flu Symptoms and When You Need Tamiflu

The swine flu (AKA H1N1) has gotten our attention. At my practice we are getting getting calls from patients asking about the symptoms and for prescriptions for Tamiflu to have at home “just in case”.

In this post I want to explain the symptoms of swine flu and when you do and do not need Tamiflu (oseltamivir) – or the other anti-viral medication, Relenza (zanamivir). Also, I want to give you a link to good information sources about swine flu. There is a lot of hype out there and as this is a story that is still being written, so I want you to have reliable sources for the best information.

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“Smart Choices” Food Labels - Shameful!

“Smart Choices” is a shameful food labeling campaign bought and paid for by giant food processers. It is a sham and so deserves its place of dishonor in the Hall of Shame. In these days of contentious debate about health and health care reform I want to do what I can to bring fame to those doing good work and shame to those trying to bamboozle us for a quick (or big) buck.

After reading this post if you want to protest this food labeling deception you can sign a petition at this link.

Read on to see why this is SO shameful.

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Beyond Exercise – Fitness Will Save Your Life

There is a lot written about “exercise”. We all know we need to exercise, eat right and control our weight – but most of us don’t do any of those things with enough regularity to change either our shape or our health. If we did 66% of us wouldn’t be overweight and chronic lifestyle diseases like diabetes wouldn’t be epidemic.

In the May 20, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association researchers in Japan analyzed data from 33 previous studies that included a total of 102,980 subjects whose fitness had been measured. They wanted to see how fitness related to developing cardiovascular disease or preventing death.

Read this post to see what they found.

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Consumers are the Ultimate Stakeholder in Health Care Reform

This week President Obama invited “stakeholders” in the health care system to the White House to seek their input about the best ways to reform health care. Representatives from hospitals, the insurance industry, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, labor and physicians came to discuss ways to lower health care costs across the board. Neither consumers nor nurse practitioners were among the invited stakeholders.

Also this month the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions (a subsidiary of the international consulting company Deloitte and Touche) published their analysis of a survey they did of 4,001 American adult health care consumers. The survey (administered either in English or Spanish) sought information about the behaviors and attitudes of consumers regarding health care.

Read this post to learn what we as consumers - the ultimate stakeholders in health care reform - say we want.

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Synch to Your Body’s Own Clock and to Mother Earth for Better Health

In March 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published research done at the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Researchers studied 10 subjects – 5 men and 5 women – to see what happened to their cardiovascular and metabolic systems if their behavioral and circadian rhythms were disrupted.

If you want to know what effect being out of synch with your body’s own clock and the rhythms of the Earth has on your health, read this post.

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What Is Insulin Resistance and Why Should You Care?

Insulin resistance is a silent condition that, unrecognized and untreated, leads to diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 57 million adults are estimated to have insulin resistance – also known as “impaired glucose tolerance”, “impaired fasting glucose”, “prediabetes” and “metabolic syndrome”.

And you know what? You have more power over this condition than your health professional does. A diagnosis of diabetes is a life changing event. Read this post to see what you can do to head diabetes off at the pass and prevent it.

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How Much Exercise is (Really) Enough?

In February 2009, the American College of Sports Medicine published Appropriate Physical Activity Intervention Strategies for Weight Loss and Prevention of Weight Regain for Adults. In this position statement they revised their 2001 position and raised the bar on the amount of exercise they recommend - from 150 minutes to 250 minutes a week. 

In my book, A Nurse Practitioner’s Guide to Smart Health Choices, I went out on a limb and exceeded the ACSM guidelines at the time and recommended 240 minutes of exercise a week at your target heart rate as the minimum amount of exercise needed for good health and weight maintenance. I went even further and, in the book, recommended 300 minutes of exercise a week if you are really serious about losing weight.

Before you click me off, just read this post.

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Vitamin D Update – Are 3 out of 4 Americans Really Deficient?

Six months ago, in September 2008, I wrote a post on vitamin D. Since then info keeps pouring in about the apparent benefit of this supplement. This month researchers at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine reported that three out of four Americans are deficient in vitamin D. They claim that’s up from about one out two 20 years ago. Some have argued that it might just seem that way because of how vitamin D was measured then and now.

After I researched and wrote that post 6 months ago, I started measuring my patients’ vitamin D levels. I am shocked at the results.

Read this post to see what vitamin D levels are like here in the “Sunshine State” of Florida.

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Do You Think You Are Following a Low Salt Diet? You Probably Aren’t

This week Time Magazine ran a really good article online by Tiffany Sharples about the pitfalls and difficulties of following a low salt diet. Here’s a link to it. If you are African American, a woman, have CHF (congestive heart failure) or high blood pressure, this would be a good link to follow.

First read my post about the story of a patient of mine who had to dramatically cut his sodium intake after a stroke.

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Unleashing Your Inner Olympian

I was talking to a diabetic patient of mine one day who was was worried about the an upcoming trip to Disney with his grand-daughter where he would have to do more walking than he was accustomed to. I asked him if he exercised. He held up his hand in a “stop right there” gesture and said, “Do not speak to me about exercise, I follow the religion of comfort and exercise is uncomfortable.” His statement left me completely speechless (and if you knew me you would appreciate how uncharacteristic that is).

This post is for all of you who have lost touch with your inner Olympian.

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