HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bsimon@elvis.stsci.edu (Bernie Simon)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Evidence for homeopathy?
Date: 5 Nov 92 17:29:17 GMT
Organization: None. This saves me from writing a disclaimer.

It's a doctor's job to make his or her patient well. You can't fault a
doctor for not doing research, especially since he or she may not be
qualified to perform medical research. Homeopathic research is going
on and the results are largely positive. Please read the British
Medical Journal survey. Which topics are researched is the decision of
the researcher and the organization funding the research. Most people
are more concerned with showing that homeopathic medicines work at any
potency than proving that one potency is more effective than another.
--
Bernie Simon	(bsimon@stsci.edu)		O tempora! O mores!
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: ns14@crux2.crux2.cit.cornell.edu (Nathan Otto Siemers)
Subject: Re: Those darn antihistamine/decongestants
Organization: Department of Chemistry, Cornell Univ.
Distribution: sci
Date: 13 Nov 92 20:09:55

>>>>> On 13 Nov 92 03:38:29 GMT, dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) said:
 Steve> Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Nov13.033829.28030

 Steve> In article <12NOV92.16335461@alcvax.pfc.mit.edu> mrl@alcvax.pfc.mit.edu writes:
>My wife also uses Seldane for allergy attacks.  However, she also has been
>using Vitamin C AND an equal amount of bioflivanoids, and that has
> greatly
>reduced her allergy symptoms so she no longer gets allergy shots.Lately, I've
>been hearing that the bioflivanoid Quercitin is supposed to be extremely good
>for allergies and asthma.  You can buy that seperately at health food stores.

 Steve> Bioflavonoids.  They make a good placebo, I guess.


	Quercetin is more than a placebo, although I don't think
absorption is much at all.  It is a Cytochrome P-450 inhibitor.  Not
that that means anything about it's ability to fight allergies.

	If she actually tasted it, she may change her mind about
taking it.  uk :-p


nathan
--
					   "The Messiah has returned.
					   You are in the Shithouse."
						L. Bruce	
/  | /  /__|    /    /---/  /__|    /  | /
From: mepstein@ellis.asd.sgi.com (Michael Epstein)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: VITREOUS "FLOATERS"
Keywords: floaters, eyes, vitreous
Date: 7 Nov 92 04:11:04 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.

For several years I have had "floaters" in my eyes, especially the right
one. I have been to several eye physicians who have confirmed that nothing
is seriously wrong with the eyes (no retinal tears etc.). Their only advice
is "to just ignore them."

Unfortunately, I find that extremely difficult to do and the floaters are
quite distracting and annoying, often causing me headaches.

Has anyone any experience with floaters? Is there anything that can be
done? Will they ever disappear?

I would appreciate *any* information on this subject. Please e-mail me at:
epstein@asd.sgi.com 

or post to this newsgroup.

Thanks very much.


-- 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Epstein				     E-mail epstein@asd.sgi.com
Silicon Graphics, Inc.			     Tel    (415) 390-1510
2011 N. Shoreline Blvd.			     Fax    (415) 962-0494
M/S 8U-867
Mountain View, CA 94043
From: lwalsh@nemo (Laura L. Walsh)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Episiotomy...What my doctor said...Is this true? Anyone not have one?
Date: 12 Nov 92 19:47:01 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

mmatusev@radford.vak12ed.edu (Melissa N. Matusevich) writes:
>I had episiotomies with both my deliveries and I've regretted
>them both. I've never been the same since. [My daughters are 16
>and 14.] I, of course, do not know how my body would be
>different if I hadn't had the episiotomies, but if I had it to
>do over again, I'd take my chances. It doesn't seem my body
>could be any worse than it is now. I'll talk specifics by email
>only.
>-- 
>                     Melissa Matusevich          
>                 mmatusev@radford.vak12ed.edu               

I had the opposite problem -- no episiotomy (at my request)
and resultant tearing -- and my body hasn't been the same 
since either.  I really don't know if there is a single 
answer.  If you trust your doctor not to be knife-happy, 
I would probably let him/her decide at the appropriate time.
Laura Walsh
From: EWN1@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Contact lenses and blood vessels in the eye!?
Date: 12 Nov 92 22:06:12 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

In article <larry.721419470@mits>, larry@mits.mdata.fi (Lasse Hero) says:
>
>yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo) writes:
>
>>I recently heard a report about contact lenses.
>>The report concluded that tight fitting soft contact lenses
>>could restrict the flow of oxygen to the cornea of the eye.
>>The cornea reacts to the lack of oxygen by growing blood vessels
>>in the eye.  Which is fine, except that a person cannot see through
>>a blood vessel and thus it will obstruct vision.
>
>>The report also added that it is ironic that the people that are
>>the happiest about the fit of their soft contact lenses are the ones
>>that are at the highest risk.  The reason is that the tight fitting
>>soft contact lenses are the ones that are the most comfortable to the wearer.
>
>Does anobody have any further info about this?
>
>Especially, how "permanent" are these blood vessels? Will they disapper
>when you remove your contacts, or what?

Well, I was just talking to my optician about this today.  He said
that soft contacts can cause this problem, and he didn't seem to
think hard lenses would cause it. (However, I had one opthalmologist
tell me once that my rigid gas permeable lenses *were* causing this
problem in my eyes.)  My optician said the blood vessels go away
if you don't wear your lenses for a while.

I do know that soft contacts act like a bandaid over your eye, so if
you have corneal abrasions, the lenses feel great while you have them
in, but your eyes really hurt once the lenses are out.
*************************************************************************
 Ellen Newman                     | You can name your own salary here --
 LCS - Library Computing Services | I call mine Fred.
 ewn1@psuvm.psu.edu               |       - taken from a Ziggy cartoon
 ************************************************************************
From: larry@mits.mdata.fi (Lasse Hero)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Contact lenses and blood vessels in the eye!?
Date: 10 Nov 92 18:17:50 GMT
Organization: Microdata Oy

yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo) writes:

>I recently heard a report about contact lenses.
>The report concluded that tight fitting soft contact lenses
>could restrict the flow of oxygen to the cornea of the eye.
>The cornea reacts to the lack of oxygen by growing blood vessels
>in the eye.  Which is fine, except that a person cannot see through
>a blood vessel and thus it will obstruct vision.

>The report also added that it is ironic that the people that are
>the happiest about the fit of their soft contact lenses are the ones 
>that are at the highest risk.  The reason is that the tight fitting
>soft contact lenses are the ones that are the most comfortable to the wearer.

Does anobody have any further info about this?

Especially, how "permanent" are these blood vessels? Will they disapper
when you remove your contacts, or what?

--
Lasse Hero  -  larry@mits.mdata.fi
From: sfassman@titan.ucc.umass.edu (SUSAN F ASSMANN)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Malpractice database
Date: 7 Nov 92 02:52:38 GMT
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst

In article <Nov.5.11.07.40.1992.4970@cadenza.rutgers.edu> masticol@cadenza.rutgers.edu (Steve Masticola) writes:
>
>I heard that there is a database on malpractice suits and punitive
>actions against MDs. If so, does anyone know how to get access to it?
>I think this would be very handy to check up on the competence of a
>prospective MD.
>
>Thanks,
>- Steve Masticola (masticol@cs.rutgers.edu).

My health policies professor said that in the last year or two the
Health Care Quality Improvement Act was passed.  Judgements against
doctors are reported to a national data bank.  Before a hospital
grants staff priveleges to someone, they're supposed to check the data
bank.  The professor implied that the average consumer would not be
able to get access to this data bank.  Could this be what you had
heard of?
Another possible source, according to a friend, might be the Lexis
legal database.
From: joel@cray.com (Joel Broude)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Lyme Vaccine Begins Phase I Trials
Date: 12 Nov 92 19:16:34 GMT
Organization: Cray Research Superservers Inc., San Diego CA, USA

In article <1992Nov10.152423.2241@cnsvax.uwec.edu> nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu (David Nye) writes:

> ...Seriously, I don't understand why patients with these
> symptoms have such an emotional attachment to the idea of chronic Lyme.
> The success rate when treated with antibiotics is low.  When these patients
> are treated as fibromyalgia, the success rate is >80% by my own and Mike
> Finkel's experience, as well as Dr Sigal's...
> Do you care more about winning
>the ideological war than feeling better?  Why not seek treatment for possible
>fibromyalgia?  What have you got to lose?

Brilliant!  Why didn't I think of this before?!  Do you have MS?  Well,
the success rate for treating bronchitis is much higher,  so Why not
seek treatment for possible bronchitis?  What have you got to lose?
From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Weight Loss with Dexfenfluramine
Date: 11 Nov 92 17:23:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.1992Nov11.172345.6216
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA

In article <1992Nov11.111340.20507@omen.UUCP> caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg) writes:
>I guess you missed the main point, Dave, eh?

Dave? :-)

Why didn't you comment on the fact that it was most likely eating behavior
which changed?  That is, saying someone is on a continued diet doesn't mean
they actually are.  That was my point.

>In the vernacular: some "health professionals" view obesity on
>the basis of their moral prejudices instead of current knowledge
>of the relevant biology, in the same sense that some of the
>Religious Right view AIDS primarily as a consequence of wrongdoing.

Yup.

>"apparent failure" is a reference to the common thought that
>antiobesity treatments are failures because they do not cure
>obesity in the same sense that a mastectomy cures breast cancer.
>(This may not apply to CoPP treatment.)

Yup.  What's CoPP?

>But the paper considers obesity as a chronic illness which
>recurs when treatment is withdrawn, as is the case with current
>hypertension treatments.  The study shows:
>
>1.  Weight lost on a state of the art diet/exercise program recurs,
>even when the program is adhered to, and:

I think I was generous for Weintraub to describe his diet regimen
as "state of the art".  And we don't know that the program was adhered
to.  That was the whole point.  You can conclude only one thing from
this aspect of his study: it is very difficult to "adhere" to such a
diet for 4 years straight.  You can't conclude that people followed
the program unless you had a much more invasive experimental design,
which would have been virtually impossible to implement.

>2.  The drug combination suppresses weight as long as it is used.

We're in violent agreement.  What you habitually tend to skirt or
deemphasize or ignore however is that people regain much of their
weight by increasing their caloric intake, i.e., by _eating_.
This additional weight doesn't come out of the air.  You seem to
think this is a perjorative conclusion.  I don't.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: hank@well.sf.ca.us (Hank Roberts)
Subject: Re: Seasonal Affective Disorder - Light Treatments
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 18:29:54 GMT

In <27739@castle.ed.ac.uk> cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm) writes:

>In article <hank.720731904@well.sf.ca.us> hank@well.sf.ca.us (Hank Roberts) writes:

>>Major CAUTION
>>
>>halogen lights contain enough UV to cause eye damage.

>1) Can you quantify this? Is the danger more or less than looking at
>the midday sun? The evening sun?

>2) Probably by far the largest exposure to looking at halogen lamps for
>most people are the headlights of cars at night. But in this case the
>light passes through glass on its way to the eye. Is this sufficient
>UV screening to prevent the damage? In general, does putting a halogen
>lamp behind glass prevent the damage?

>3) For the treatment of SAD is it necessary for the eyes to be exposed
>to UV which is screened by ordinary glass? Is is necessary for the
>skin to be so exposed?
>-- 
>Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
>Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
>5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205

No, sorry, I can't answer any of those questions authoritatively in
any way that I'd want you to rely on my answers. I'm not a MD nor
an eye specialist.

I strongly suggest you look up the literature; you will find reports of
UV risks in halogen lights in the weekly _New Scientist_ a few years agok
and likely other magazine index references.  You will also find many
studies of various wavelength light sources in treatment of SAD; my
impression is that studies done in Canada suggest the need for added UV
and studies done in Texas say ordinary office fluorescents do fine, and my
personal hunch is that that's because people in Texas get more UV in the
ordinary course of the day by being outside more during the winter.

NOTE that the UV is not the only hazard from lights; ordinary incandescent
(or halogen) lighting also produces quite a lot of HEAT and I have been
told by an eye doctor that using incandescent lights to equal SAD-treatment
levels is about enough light/heat to do damage to the retina.  This is
the reason given for using fluorescents -- less heat -- or one reason anyhowl.

Be careful.  Being depressed is better than being blind and depressed,
according to friends of mine who've been blind from birth and also have
SAD.  Don't put your eyesight at any risk.
From: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: ibuprofen
Date: 11 Nov 92 14:12:12 GMT
Reply-To: geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks)
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science

In article <1992Nov4.114709.255@rivers> acs_belscamp@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu writes:
> I'm no doctor, but I really don't believe that any kind of drugs/vitamins
> that come in pill form are good for kidneys.  Your kidneys have to get rid
> of all the excess of this stuff that your body decides it doesn't need. I 
> had this uncle who used to take large amounts of vitamin C everyday ( we're 
> talking about handfuls of the stuff) he was a real nut when it came to
> vitamins.  He ended up with kidney cancer, and eventually that spread to 
> his brain.
>
The fact that vitamins come in a pill form are not likely to mean
the kidneys have to work harder to eliminate the excess vitamin.
I'm sorry about your uncle, but a lot of people get kidney cancers
who don't take vitamins, so I don't think you should draw any conclusions
about vitamin C cause renal tumors.  There is no scientific evidence
that I know of that it does.  

I agree that it is not prudent to take medications or vitamins unless
there is good evidence that you need them.

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "I have given you an argument; I am not obliged
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  to supply you with an understanding." -S.Johnson
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu (David Nye)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Tourette's Syndrome
Date: 13 Nov 92 05:35:09 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

In article <0f0Rr0O00WB2EX0Klj@andrew.cmu.edu>, Lawrence Curcio <lc2b+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

> A related question: Do tics (eye blinking, grunting, squirming) by
> themselves count (at least nominally) as Tourettes Syndrome, even if
> they aren't debilitating?

Tourettes is just a syndrome of multiple tics.  There has been a suggestion
that a single tic is a forme fruste of Tourettes.  Squirming is not a tic,
but might occur as a manifestation of chorea.

David Nye
nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu
From: paj@uk.co.gec-mrc (Paul Johnson)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: GRAVITY-NEUTRALIZING CHAMBER
Date: 6 Nov 92 09:31:28 GMT
Reply-To: paj@uk.co.gec-mrc (Paul Johnson)
Organization: GEC-Marconi Research Centre, Great Baddow, UK


I just came over here from sci.energy.  McElwaine has posted stuff
about perpetual motion there.  He's been posting these articles around
all the sci groups for the last month or two.  Each time he posts,
everyone falls around laughing and he disappears in a huff, only to
re-emerge a week later with exactly the same article on another group.

Hopefully the posting of this to sci.med indicates that he is running
out of sci groups and we will see the last of these posts.
Alternatively he might come back with something new and even funnier.
Come on Bob, I could do with a laugh.

Paul.

-- 
Paul Johnson (paj@gec-mrc.co.uk).	    | Tel: +44 245 73331 ext 3245
--------------------------------------------+----------------------------------
These ideas and others like them can be had | GEC-Marconi Research is not
for $0.02 each from any reputable idealist. | responsible for my opinions
From: schreiber@schreiber.asd.sgi.com (Olivier Schreiber)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Weight loss and ambiant temperature
Date: 12 Nov 1992 02:48:35 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: schreiber.asd.sgi.com


When does the body lose the greater amount of energy:
-when the ambiant temperature is too hot therefore causing sweating?
-when the ambiant temperature is too cold?
In the second case, how does the degree to which the subject does or does
not try to keep confortably warm by exertion affect things?
How much more heat can the body generate without exertion?
This last point would allow an exercise-free way to loose weight:
keep surface body temperature such that more heat loss occurs than normal.
--
Olivier Schreiber  schreiber@sgi.com (415)390 5353  Fax:(415) 964-8671 MS/9L580
Silicon Graphics Inc.,  2011 North Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, Ca 94039-7311
From: mcg2@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Marc Gabriel)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Lyme Vaccine Begins Phase I Trials
Date: 12 Nov 92 15:08:52 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

David Nye (nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu) wrote:
: Ah, a CONSPIRACY!  Seriously, I don't understand why patients with these
: symptoms have such an emotional attachment to the idea of chronic Lyme.

FACTS:
  1. When I am treated with antibiotics, I can function normally.  Without
  them, all of my symptoms return.
  2. 7-10 days after I begin an antibiotic regimen, I develop a classic
  Herxheimer reaction.

  One does not need to be a doctor to realize that my body needs the
  antibiotic.  This would suggest a bacterial infection of some sort.
  And, please note, I am not "dreaming up" these facts, as some in the Sigal
  brigade have suggested.  The RWJ folks have a reputation of insulting
  patients by telling them they are dreaming up their symptoms.

  If you can credibly explain why this happens, and why fibromyalgia is the
  real cause of my Lyme symptoms, the I will DROP the antibiotic and begin
  fibromyalgia treatment.

: The success rate when treated with antibiotics is low.  When these patients

Right.  Becuase they don't actually cure many patients.  They just keep the
bacterial population under control (and in hibernation).

: the ideological war than feeling better?  Why not seek treatment for possible
: fibromyalgia?  What have you got to lose?

I accept your challenge.
-- 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
             Marc C. Gabriel '93    -  U.C. Box 545  -
               (215) 882-0138        Lehigh University
              mcg2@Lehigh.EDU       Bethlehem, PA 18015
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: dag@col.hp.com (David Geiser)
Subject: Re: Yoghurt producing phlegm?
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 19:06:31 GMT
Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division

If it feels good, do it.  And conversely ...
-- 

 To the cat, the experimenter is problematic.
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Homeopathy
Date: 9 Nov 92 17:48:56 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.1992Nov9.174856.10877
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <17341@pitt.UUCP> geb@cs.pitt.edu (Gordon Banks) writes:
>In article <BSIMON.92Oct30072636@elvis.stsci.edu> bsimon@elvis.stsci.edu (Bernie Simon) writes:
>
>>them. There are other conditions that allopathic medicine treats less well
>>(migraines, for example) and still others where allopathic medicine
>>can only offer palliation (such as rheumatoid arthritis). If I had one
>
>I'm about 90% successful with migraine treatment.  Rheumatoid arthritis
>treatments can be more than palliative.  So both of these statements
>are false.
>
>

I can't speak on the former, but I'll damn sure speak on the
latter.  My ex-mother-in-law (rest her soul) suffered from
rheumatoid arthritis for over 40 years.  Before she had a proper
diagnosis and (allopathic) treatment, she was treated by all sorts
of quacks, homeopathic and otherwise, who had her teeth pulled,
sat her in mineral/mud baths, etc. etc.  

While there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, the allopathic
treatments available are far more than 'palliative'.  They allowed
her to live a fairly normal life when she originally seemed doomed
to rotting in a wheelchair at a very early age because of the severity
of her condition.


sue
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: depo provera LONG
From: RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Ruth Ginzberg)
Date: 7 Nov 92 08:05:00 EDT
Distribution: world
Organization: Philosophy Dept., Wesleyan University
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.20In-Reply-To: collene@unisql.UUCP's message of 6 Nov 92 19:31:28 GMTLines: 38

In <4147@unisql.UUCP> collene@unisql.UUCP writes:

> few days).  The reporter also went on to say that the drug had been up 
> for approval 20 years ago and that the feminist movement caused it to 
> be "disapproved".  (I thought that part of the story didn't make a lot
> of sense.)

The objection to depo provera raised by some feminist activists is that: (1)
for *many* people who take the drug, the side effects are substantial &
possibly health-compromising (e.g., average weight gain of 15 lbs among those
who experience this side effect);  (2) depo provera is so cheap, compared to
other hormonal or long-acting relatively effective contraceptives (e.g. the
pill) that demand for it (despite its side effects) is likely to be highest
among poor women. (3) Those who can afford it will tend to go to contraceptives
with fewer side effects. (4) Therefore, FDA approval of depo provera for
contraception will encourage or exacerbate a dual-track system of health care:
safer drugs for the rich or the insured, less safe drugs or drugs w. more
unpleasant side effects for the poor & the uninsured.  Since many feminist
activists take control over reproduction to be basic to progress toward other
feminist goals, this issue w.r.t. contraception, in particular, became an issue
of equal access to equal control over one's own reproduction at equal risk for
both rich & poor.

One last point:  Self-described feminists have never been in enough agreement
with one another to speak coherently about "the" feminist movement. Just about
any time one group of feminists supports some social or political agenda, there
will be another group of feminists who opposes it.  This sort of internal
debate and disagreement is thought by some to be an important part of
democratic process, not a shortcoming.

Hope this clarifies.

Followups probably ought to be directed to soc.feminism, soc.women, and/or
alt.feminism, or perhaps the new? (did it pass?) talk.politics.med.

------------------------
Ruth Ginzberg <rginzberg@eagle.wesleyan.edu>
Philosophy Department;Wesleyan University;USA
Newsgroups: sci.med