The thinly veiled attempt to bring all of our economy under the control of the government is becoming increasingly obvious to even the most casual observer.  I can't help but be grateful for President Bush standing his ground like a true conservative when it comes to this ridiculous expansion of Medicare.  Medicare stinks to high heaven already as the festering rot of the concept permeates every level of health care.  Instead of guaranteeing the health and welfare of our great nation's elderly, it is driving doctors away from medicine almost as rapidly as malpractice lawyers.  If SCHIP didn't have the "children" bait in the name it would be a good skit for Jay Leno.  The only problem with it is that.......... it ain't funny!

If we lose any more incentive for doctors to practice medicine in excellence we are going to have a two-tier system that will provide minimal defensive medicine to the average "Joe" who isn't in the top echelon of the wealthy.  By that I mean compassion and tenderness will be fully absent from care.  Picture the post office at closing time on Christmas weekend and you rushing to the door to drop off a last minute package as the clerk turns away to ignore your urgent pleas.  Less government is good medicine!!!

I was driving into work and heard that "Adenovirus 14" was a lethal and frightening new menace for our North Texas community to deal with.  The fact that Adenovirus 14 (or any other number for that matter) is a common cold "bug" was not discussed.  There had been several deaths over the past few years in association with severe colds that wound up in pneumonia in very sickly and immunocompromised people.  This is always a sad thing.  No one likes to see mortality from a common infection but I am really quite sick and tired of the fear-mongering about viral illnesses.  Instead we should be focusing on the ways that we can help to prevent the spread of these "bugs" and train a new generation of health-conscious folks who know the good and the bad from the ugly.  Specifically, washing the hands regularly and using disposable tissues are simple ways to reduce infections and help our community.  Fear reduces immunity and increases the risk of infection.

Next thing, I get an ad in a professional journal that offers flu vaccine with a "money-back" guarantee if you don't wind up using it all.  There is such a desperation to push "product" that the flu vaccine manufacturers are upping the ante so that more doctors will buy.  This news came on the same day that a groundbreaking article revealed research that flu vaccine has no significant impact on mortality.  In other words, if you're going to die from an illness, flu vaccine isn't going to make a difference.  Does the flu kill a few people every year?  Absolutely.  Is it more than a few?  Possibly.  Is it tens of thousands or more?  NO!

So my point is that we don't need to be propagandized into injecting more "product" into ourselves and our children to support the infrastructure of the flu vaccine manufacturers.  When we need to ramp up production of vaccines to save the lives of the populace from something like SARS or bird flu gone wild, we should have a clearly articulated public policy that says so.  Stop the foolish scare tactics about health hazards and start teaching healthy habits.  It's really pretty easy if people really want to be involved in their own health and wellness.  If they don't, there's not a whole lot anyone can do to "Make them healthy!"  I am thankful for the excellent medical system we have in place.  Let's not manufacture any more problems than we already have!

I just got off the phone with one of my patients who has a history of heapatitis C along with a serious obesity problem.  When we first saw him to treat his weight problems and blood sugar elevation (pre-diabetes) I never even considered that we may get a significant reduction in liver enzymes.  The initial lab showed an elevation of about 5X normal, which isn;t unusual in hepatitis.  The follow-up lab showed a 300% reduction in liver enzymes.  That's amazing.  It may not have cured his hepatitis but a liver that's less fatty is going to function better.  Fat itself can cause cirrhosis of the liver.  Apparently, less fat is where it's at!  Even with hepatitis!!!

The latest news shows what I've told patients for a long time.  If you take medicine to turn off the acid in your stomach it will definitely show up somewhere down the line (so to speak).  Now research is showing that the strongest drugs (Prilosec, Nexium, Protonix) cause overgrowth of bacteria in the intestinal tract that can lead to peritonitis and death.  So, that goofy guy in the commercial who says he can eat all the barbecue he wants now that he's taking "the little purple pill" may be slowly killing himself.  It's bad enough that he's eating food that his body is telling him to avoid, but to take a drug that may produce subtle lethal side effects......... that's just dumb.

Unfortunately that's juts the way people have been encouraged to look at drug treatment.  The foods, drink and behaviors that we've been conditioned to "love" are really just thinly veiled addictions that have been created by constant exposure to food additives and flavor enhancers.  Can you imagine just how many chemicals we're going to be slugging down if we don't start listening to our body's signals.