Health and Shopping Blog

Yes we understand the shocking value of this headline. Ever since the “Man bites dog” story, we’ve had every kind of animal story. The cat and the killer squirrels would have been more accurate. But we don’t do sensationalism for its own sake here. We kept it simple. One day, Richie cut her finger but thought nothing of it as she tended to the cat. So you have to travel over to Smith Valley in Nevada. Richie Simmons’ cat was sick. She had visited with the local veterinarian to get drugs. A few days later, she was flat on her back with a high fever. It took a month for the lab to identify the problem. One thing - it was highly contagious between humans and animals. How did the cat come to be infected? We can never know it. She had tularemia. Huh? Well, back in 1911 there was a disease that almost wiped out the squirrel population in Tulare, California so they called it tularemia. Did the cat travel back in time or just visit with some squirrel or even mole cousins in California? Who knows. It died before we could ask. The good news Doxycycline was an almost instant treatment. Just goes to show. Once you know which bacteria are making you sick, you get the right antibiotic and get better fast.

Most men never seem to talk about diet. You never see them in a huddle comparing the results of only eating grapefruits as against cabbage soup. If they do get worried about their weight, they tend to do it behind closed doors. But now there’s a whole new way of telling if they’re serious about losing weight. Most of my friends walk in the house, open the refrigerator and pick out a cold bottle of beer. The ritual inspired by mass-culture of XX century. But now men are giving up beer. They’ve done the math. They know how many calories are in each bottle or can. If that fails, there’s always a cold Acomplia.

If you see women get together, they almost always talk food. Too much of it, too little of it. When we eat too much, we put on weight and that ain’t flattering. For every extra food we get some extra pounds. To reverse weight gain couldn’t be easier. Eat less. Except it isn’t easy which is why there’s a whole industry out there to sell us diets. And if the diets don’t work, there’s always the pills like Acomplia. All the clinical trials have shown this top European drug shaves an average 10% of your body weight and slims down those waistlines.

Maybe the coin of summer has even several sides. And just so you can keep calling global warming a myth, poison ivy is one of the plants responding well to the increases in temperature, humidity and the level of carbon dioxide. You can see it spreading along hedgerows and into your back yard. Only a very few people are immune. For light exposure - you realized the danger immediately and washed the affected area of skin with warm water and plain soap or a solvent like rubbing alcohol - an over-the-counter topical steroid cream will usually be sufficient. This plant is bursting with an oily resin called urushiol. If this penetrates your skin, you’ll almost certainly get blisters and, in due course, a rash. For more serious exposure, you’re going to need the cream plus Prednisone. Two final thoughts on removing a patch of poison ivy from your yard. Lay in a supply of Prednisone and, wearing gloves, cut the vine and throw it on a bonfire. But watch out. Heat and smoke can lift urushiol particles into the atmosphere so don’t stand down wind of the fire. And if all else has failed, get a goat. Goats love to eat poison ivy.

Every year, Xanax has been winning the prize in the “most prescribed” category. Naturally, Pfizer loves these annual headlines. They want customer thing that it is so popular because it does really work. Well, that’s true to some extent. If you take xanax for the right reasons and under proper medical supervision, it does reduce levels of panic and anxiety. But you can’t change the fact that it’s one of the benzodiazepines. That means it’s habit-forming. If you take to big dose, you’ll probably won’t like an effect. You only have to go into the emergency departments of hospitals to see the truth of this. In 2005, there were more than 2 million admissions caused by the non-medical use of drugs. Add in the continuous barrage of advertisements for drugs, and people are persuaded to take FDA-approved medications without worrying about the consequences. The way the world works today, people do need help. Drugs like xanax really do help them to cope with the stress. But it’s not helpful to see drugs as the only solution. Yes, xanax relieves anxiety, but you don’t want to become an addict. You need to change yourself. This drug gives you a breathing space. In the medium to long term, psychological support is the way to learn how to control your fear and worry. Live life the natural way, don’t pay endlessly for “help” through a bottle of tablets. Use that opportunity to get counseling and therapy.

Once upon a time, long long ago, there were five young ladies who were called the Spice Girls. One of them, born Victoria, was given the kind nick of Posh (a word meaning classy and elegant which she was until she opened her mouth and spoke). Now, her claim to fame is that she’s married to a footballer who can’t kick the ball in a straight line. Anyway, Posh is prone to get acne - not quite what you would expect of someone so, well, Posh. But she’s finally found the cure. While the rest of the world fights acne with Accutane, the footballer’s wife is mainlining natto. This is a favorite of the Japanese who make the stuff by fermenting soy beans. Guess what? It’s full of essential vitamins that fix scarred skin. Now, I gotta tell you. Natto has a taste that’s best not described and it’s best approached from up wind because it’s not overflowing with natural perfume. Back in the good old days when people really were posh, they used to go to spa towns to take the waters. That also tasted vile and smelled worse, but the classiest could make it look like they were sipping champagne. We’re all waiting for pictures of Posh downing her beans. For those of you not into has-beens, there’s still Accutane for acne. No smell and swallowed whole so no taste problem but, hey, you can’t have everything unless you’re either rich or Japanese (or both).