Haiti - Update # 3

Haiti Medical Update #3

You’d think the worst would be over a month after a powerful earthquake struck Haiti. But it’s not. The earthquake brought an already poor country to its knees and left behind a long trail of pain and suffering.

A shift from physical health to mental health

As the physical wounds begin to mend, health officials are turning their attention to the emotional wounds that’ll require much more than bandages to heal. Trauma counseling centers are being set up in tent cities and elsewhere to help Haitians cope with their new reality.  

Haitians have lost their homes and their livelihoods. They’ve lost parents and children, siblings and neighbors. With so many families torn apart, many survivors have been forced to care for not only themselves, but for orphaned children, the aged and infirm, and the injured. 

With nowhere to live and few ways to earn a living, earthquake survivors are scared, hungry, wounded and sleep-deprived. The makeshift campsites they live in offer little in the way of protection from the elements or from the escaped prisoners and hoodlums who prey on them.  

Many Haitians, especially women, live in a state of constant fear, especially at night when near total darkness sets in. With only a few candles and cell phones to provide light, many no longer even sleep. Instead, they lie awake and wait for the worst to happen. Food and valuable food coupons are stolen. Women of every age are victims of sexual attacks and sexual intimidation. Children disappear. And people still die.


The start of an aggressive vaccination campaign 

Just as medical experts warned weeks ago, the number of cases of diarrhea, rubella and tetanus is steadily increasing.

With people living in such close quarters and in such unhygienic conditions, the fear is that once a disease takes hold, it will spread quickly. Everyone is vulnerable, but especially worrisome are young malnourished children because malnourishment adversely affects their natural resistance to disease. 

In an attempt to combat the rise of potentially troublesome diseases, a massive vaccination campaign is scheduled to begin on February 8th. The multi-phase campaign is a joint undertaking of several aid organizations including the Red Cross Federation, the WHO, UNICEF, and the Haitian Health Ministry. The first phase of the aggressive vaccination campaign will be focused on children and adults living in Port au Prince. From there, the campaign will spread outward to other areas.  

It’s unclear how many Haitians will be vaccinated, but the hope is to reach millions as quickly as possible. But that may be easier said than done. If the vaccination program turns out to be anything like the food distribution program, help will be slow in arriving. 

On a more positive note

Medical specialists have tended to all known trauma cases. They’ve amputated limbs, bandaged wounds, and treated every type of bodily injury imaginable. And they’re encouraged by the continual supply of medicines and medical supplies. What they need most now are more antibiotics to prevent reinfection, more crutches, more orthopedic specialists, and most important of all, more hope.

Do you know your ABC's?

Learning What’s Good One Letter at a Time

We learned our ABCs at a very young age. As we grew older, we learned about things that are good for us. As we continued growing older and wiser, we started learning about things that are bad for us. 

But then something happened: We started hearing too many conflicting reports. Some of the things we learned were bad suddenly were not so bad. And likewise, some of the things we learned were good all of a sudden were not so good. Then there was this sort of flip-flop of opinions where we were told something like caffeine or carbohydrates was bad, then a few months later turned out to be good, and then later on, was back to being bad again. 

I stopped listening to the so-called experts and their opinions about what’s good and what’s bad. It was getting too confusing. 

So I was really happy when I came across this list that was unlike any I had ever seen before. It’s an alphabetical listing of things in life that are actually good for us. It starts with the letter “A” and continues all the way through to “Z.” And along with each letter is a topic. For the letter A the topic is Alcohol. B’s topic is Bacon. I guess to make the list even more interesting, K’s topic is kissing and O’s is Orgasms.

Also on the list are things like Eggs, Iron, Germs, Lipids, Queues, Sleep, Underwear, Yoga and more. 


Included with the alphabetical listing of topics is a paragraph of good points about each topic. For example, the information attached to the letter “G” for “Germs” states that, “Most bacteria within our bodies are helpful, constantly working to keep the numbers of disease-causing bacteria under control.”

Huh? Haven’t we always been told germs are bad? 

• Cover your mouth or you’ll spread germs! 
• Don’t eat off the floor, too many germs!

Yes, that’s all true, too. And that’s the point of this list. When it comes to germs—and all of the other topics—there are situations in which germs are good. But there are also times when germs are bad. And that’s what I like about this list. It tells the good ALONG with the bad. It doesn’t flip-flop and confuse. It lays out both sides in an easy-to-understand way.

And it also makes you stop and think. Sticking with the topic of germs, listed under “Bad” is information about a study that revealed that only 39% of the doctors wash their hands on a regular basis, even though they know hospitals can be breeding grounds for superbugs. 

That’s astonishing, especially when doctors likely learned early on in their careers how important hand washing is in reducing infection rates. Next time I visit my doctor, I’ll ask her to wash her hands right in front of me, just in case she’s part of the 61% that don’t!

I encourage you to read the list especially if this is the year you vow to get healthy!

To view the list of whats good and whats bad for you click here.

Pounds and Inches Audio Book

Read a Book? Who Has Time?

Not me. Although I’d like to read, I’m way too busy for books. That’s why I was so happy to hear that one of the most popular weight loss manuscripts of all time has been transcribed into audio. And it’s available just in time for the New Year, when I and millions of others start looking for fast and effective ways to lose weight and keep it off.

The book I’m talking about is Dr. Simeons’ Pounds and Inches: a New Approach to Obesity, the most comprehensive book ever written about the HCG diet protocol. Dr. Simeons is the medical expert whose clinical observations of HCG more than 50 years ago offered a fresh new approach to losing weight.

If you aren’t familiar with HCG Pregnyl and its ability to zero in on the body’s abnormal fat deposits, then you definitely need to download this audio file. It’s a free download from PharmacyEscrow.com. And since it’s an audio file, you can easily navigate to the different sections and focus on the topics that interest you most.


What’s inside?

Every page is included in this professionally-recorded audio version of Dr. Simeons’ information-packed manuscript. You’ll find chapters on understanding the signs, symptoms and causes of obesity as well as complications caused by obesity. You’ll learn about the different types of fat and the role each plays in the human body. This is an important section since it also discusses abnormal fat; the type of fat HCG attacks.

There’s an in-depth section that talks about HCG production and common misconceptions surrounding HCG. As you’d expect, there’s also a considerable amount of information about the HCG diet protocol. This is where you’ll find answers to questions like treatment duration, dealing with immunity, and what to do while menstruating.

The audio file includes a discussion of what HCG diet protocol followers can expect before, during and after treatment. Since HCG is effective only when combined with a very low calorie diet, there’s plenty of information about eating, including several days’ worth of meal plans. Also included are sections related to overcoming that unavoidable diet “plateau,” the causes of weight fluctuations, recovering from dieting mistakes, the importance of water intake, and how cosmetics can interfere with HCG’s effectiveness.

Believe it or not, all of the information mentioned above is from the first half of Dr. Simeons’ book. There’s an entire other half that I haven’t even talked about yet!

And that’s why having the book available in audio format makes so much sense. You can listen and learn about HCG when and where it’s convenient for you. You can skip around the various sections, and play back any sections you don’t fully understand. You can listen while driving, exercising, shopping, or cleaning house. You can even listen before heading off to bed at night.

Start listening now

To get the free audio download, click the link and follow the simple instructions. In a few minutes, every information-packed page of Pounds and Inches is ready for easy retrieval and listening!

Download Pounds and Inches Audio Book by Dr Simeons

Texas Ordered to Destroy Thousands of Blood Samples

Infant Blood Taken Without Consent

This sounds like the plot of a horror movie, but it actually happened in real life.
Not long ago, a group of Texas parents discovered that blood samples drawn from their infants were being stored indefinitely without their consent. They thought the blood samples were being destroyed after they were screened for various disorders and birth defects. But that wasn’t the case. Some were used for “unspecified research projects.”

So the group filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Department of State Health Services as well as the Texas A&M University System. Federal court determined this was a violation of the plaintiffs’ 4th amendment rights against unlawful search and seizures.

When I think of unreasonable search and seizure, I think of arbitrary intrusions of homes, cars, or persons by law enforcement officers or government officials. I don’t think of hospital personnel unlawfully taking and using someone else’s blood, especially an infant’s. That’s kind of creepy.

The background

There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with collecting blood samples from newborn babies. The state of Texas has done this for decades. Most parents appreciate the comfort that comes from knowing the results of early screening of their newborn babies’ DNA.

But what some parents didn’t appreciate was finding out that stored infant blood could be used without their knowledge or consent for research. What’s worse, they were concerned that personal information associated with the blood samples could be misused.

As a parent, I don’t think I’d be comfortable knowing my baby’s blood was sitting on a shelf somewhere, accessible to anybody with the right credentials.


Millions will be destroyed

Only 5 plaintiffs were involved in the lawsuit. However, over 5 million blood samples will be destroyed. That might seem like a waste of valuable research material, especially when the blood may have played a role in the discovery of some new disease or treatment. But if the blood samples shouldn’t have been there in the first place, destroying them really can’t be considered a waste.

Whether or not the millions of blood samples should have been there is the heart of the lawsuit. Stricter laws were passed recently giving parents a choice of opting out of the blood storage situation. The laws also strengthened patient privacy rights. But the parents that gave birth prior to the law’s passage didn’t have any of these rights.

That’s why millions of blood samples obtained and stored prior to the implementation of these new laws were also ordered destroyed.

Who’s right?

Obviously in this case, the federal government felt there was a clear-cut violation of constitutional rights. And I tend to agree with that.

But what about the people who could have benefitted from medical advancements that might have been discovered had that blood samples been made available for study? Do they have any rights?

I don’t know the answer. But I do know that if anyone wants my blood or my child’s, they’ll have to ask me for it. That way I can decide its fate.

What do you think?

Taking Aspirin May Soothe Social Pain

A Possible New Cure for an Age-Old Problem

It used to be that hurt feelings could be soothed with an apology. Sometimes more was needed to help ease the pain, so a piece of chocolate was given along with the apology. That usually worked. And if it didn’t, time could always be counted on to make things better between two people.

But very soon, there might be a new way to alleviate social pain. And it doesn’t involve words or chocolate or anything normally associated with soothing hurt feelings.

What’s the newest way to cure social pain?

Pop an over-the-counter pain reliever and in a few hours, your emotional pain may subside. No chocolate or prescription required!

I have to admit, the news that it might be possible to treat emotional pain the same way physical pain is treated caught me by surprise. Haven’t we always been told that if we’re unhappy, we should do something that makes us feel happy? Or that if someone isn’t being nice, stay away from that person?

These are the strategies I’ve always relied on to cope with hurt feelings and social snubs. So why would I take acetaminophen to get rid of pain that someone else caused and that exists only in my mind? It didn’t make any sense. But that’s because I don’t know a lot about genetics or brain mapping.


One gene, two types of pain

Apparently scientists have zeroed in on a single gene that they have been able to link to two types of pain: One is physical pain, and the other is the kind that’s felt as a result of being rejected. They’ve also located certain regions of the brain that are believed to be linked to this pain-causing gene.

We already know that pain relievers can focus on the regions of the brain that process physical pain, and effectively alleviate that type of pain. But what we don’t know is whether that same pain reliever could also focus on the overlapping regions of the brain that process emotional pain, and effectively alleviate that type of pain.

So a research team was assembled. Their goal: Figuring out whether over-the-counter pain relievers can alleviate both a broken heart and a broken bone.

Two small-scale studies were launched. The first consisted of 62 participants, half of whom took acetaminophen and the other half, a placebo. For 3 weeks participants reported their feelings of pain using a widely accepted tool for measuring hurt feelings. When researchers analyzed their responses, they confirmed that over time, hurt feelings and social pain decreased in the group taking the acetaminophen. The placebo group showed little change.

A second study measured brain activity. After three weeks of testing and observation, the group taking the acetaminophen showed much less neural activity in the regions of the brain that respond to rejection than the placebo group.

Time to stock up on acetaminophen?

Not yet. Until further studies are completed, you’ll have to settle for soothing socially-induced pain the old-fashioned way!

Haiti - Update # 2

Haiti Health Update #2

It’s been nearly 3 weeks since an earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital, and survivors are hungry. It’s far from normal in the city’s streets, and many places residents used to go for food remain buried under the rubble. So they eat what they can find.

Aid from abroad is arriving

Rice, water, ready-to-eat meals, beans and other staples have begun pouring in to the capital city’s airport. But distribution is a problem and much of the supplies aren’t making it to the neediest people. Obstructed roadways, logistics, too few vehicles, and too many unscrupulous thugs all cause delivery delays.

Patient Haitians spend hours waiting for deliveries of food and water. When it finally arrives, they sometimes have to fight to get their fair share. Food riots and outbreaks are frequent, and supplies often are unfairly distributed with the strongest taking the lion’s share. Then they turn around and charge outrageous fees for food that was distributed for free moments ago. Some pay, but many can’t afford to so hunger persists.

People need food to survive, and to heal. They also need it for strength. There’s a lot of clearing and rebuilding to do and the work won’t be easy. In situations like Haiti’s, the most vulnerable usually are the most taken advantage of. It’s already happening with food, and it’s also happening to orphans.

No one knows how many there are, only that there are a lot. Efforts are being made to gather newly parent-less and homeless children of all ages, and take them to safety. Otherwise they risk being taken and sold into slavery, or prostitution.


United States food aid waits to be delivered outside a U.S camp.

Airlifts cease

Wounds are still being treated and the demand for medical help remains great. But resources at Haitian hospitals are stretched thin. Some of the most critically-injured Haitians were lucky enough to be airlifted out of the country, but it’s difficult to say how much longer this will go on. Airlifts were suspended after Florida, which had received hundreds of the injured Haitians, made an urgent plea to cease transports into the state, claiming it didn’t have the resources to care for so many.

The noticeable effects of amputated limbs are all around. Estimates put the number of limbs amputated because of irreparable injury or infection at around 2,000. Entire wards have been set aside for amputees who need time and a safe place to heal. Upon their release, all will face difficulties adapting to life without a limb, without a job, without family, and without so much. The lucky ones will enroll in rehabilitation programs, and receive after care and prosthetics. But the magnitude of the problem and the number or people requiring help will likely overwhelm many organizations.

Money won’t fix this problem

As news crews pack up and leave, the spotlight on Haiti and its suffering will dim. Countries will still send money, and lots of it. But like the food, most will end up in the wrong hands and never help those who truly need it most.

The cure to sadness?

Does Sunshine Really Lead to Happiness?

Now here’s something I didn’t need a special study to tell me: People living in sunny places tend to be happier.

I didn’t need a study because this is something I’ve experienced first-hand after living in different parts of the country. For a long time, I lived in the northeastern part of the U.S. where there was always more gloomy days than sunny days. On gloomy days, I felt gloomy. Without any sun, lying on the couch wrapped in a blanket always seemed like the best thing to do. On gloomy days I didn’t feel like getting dressed up. I didn’t feel like socializing. I didn’t feel like doing much of anything—except eating.

Today I live in a state where the sun shines nearly every day of the year. And I am happy nearly every day. I’m always ready to go out and explore. I’m chattier. I even find myself smiling more. On the rare day when I’m not feeling quite so happy, guess what? It’s dark and gray outside!

Coincidence? I think not.

A newly-released study confirms what I’ve always suspected: Sunshine has a major effect on a person’s feelings of happiness. And happiness, it seems, is directly related to an individual’s perception of his or her overall quality of life.


This is the conclusion drawn recently by a team of economists. The team carefully analyzed the answers to questions asked of 1.3 million people in a multi-year study compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They then compared these responses to several other studies in which individual states were ranked based on criteria including taxes, public land access, commute time and other “quality of life” issues.

The team found that people living in areas with lots of sunshine, greater availability of and access to outdoor activities, lower crime rates, less congestion, better air quality, and better schools reported feeling happier.

Where are those areas?

The five states where the authors of the study found the largest number of happy people included Louisiana, Florida, Arizona, Hawaii, and Tennessee; all of which are states with ample amounts of sunshine.

The team of economists is confident that for the first time, they have made a verifiable connection between a person’s quality of life and that person’s level of happiness.

What’s especially interesting about the study outcome and state rankings is California. You think it would rank high. But it doesn’t. Instead, California sits near the bottom of the list of 50 states. It seems the congestion, both in terms of people and traffic, combined with this state’s high cost of living makes a lot of its citizens very unhappy.

Although economists and others have long suspected such a connection, no one had ever attempted to test it. But now that the data appears to be validated, it will be very interesting to see how the news affects people’s migratory patterns.

Think there’s any connection between your address and your happiness? Let us know!