HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jod@equator.com (John Setel O'Donnell)
Subject: Re: Xanax
Organization: Equator Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 22:11:38 GMT


>geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>
>>Xanax is a powerful anxiolytic which should only be taken by
>>prescription of a psychiatrist in my opinion (yeah, I know
>>a lot of docs prescribe it, but I don't agree with that).
>>It is addictive, seizures can result from rapid withdrawal.
>
>>...most patients who get on Xanax are on it or some similar drug
>>for the rest of their lives.


The outlook for those taking Xanax or some similar drug for life is
poor.  Beyond addiction, the rate of drug-induced problems such as
tardive dyskinesia is high.  It's a downward spiral with drugs not
working, side-effects and dosages increasing, changing drugs, etc.

Anxiety that's out of proportion to current circumstances is a clue, a
partially-hidden memory of old trauma.  It's not about "being crazy"
or having something essentially wrong with you.  It's about what
happenned to you long ago (the memories of which do change your brain
chemistry, as even the biopsychiatrists report).  The meaning of it,
and the specifics of what happenned, are hidden. 

Instead of destructively numbing it out with drugs, it's far better to
find a good therapist (generally *not* a psychiatrist, *not* a
psychoanalyst; find someone in recovery who specializes in working
with abuse.  Go for someone with empathy, not for someone with a
degree).  Remembering the old trauma and working it through reduces or
eliminates the current fear or anxiety, without drugs, without
drug-induced damage, and without biopsychiatric blame-the-victim stuff
about "your brain is out of balance".

---
For references, check out Peter Breggin's book, _Toxic Psychiatry_ (I've been 
trashed on sci.med for posting about it before), or one of the many
good books on trauma and recovery.  One I like is Jane Middleton-Moz, 
_Children of Trauma_.  Only Breggin tackles and documents the drug-related
issues, though.



-- 
- - -
John Setel O'Donnell                      jod@equator.com
Equator Technologies, Inc.                206-328-6544 voice/fax
Seattle, WA                               Read everything by Alice Miller.
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: bdbryan@eng.clemson.edu (Ben Bryant)
Subject: Effects of testosterone/lack of on male ageing
Reply-To: bdbryan@eng.clemson.edu
Organization: College of Engineering, Clemson Univ.
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 23:02:36 GMT

This could be a question of medical import. It goes as follows:

Why is it that after having sexual relations with my wife, I feel tired
as in energy drain, and sometimes my joints ache and I get a sore throat?
Has there been any research done on the correlation between loss of semen,
(overworking of testes glands), and effects on other parts of the
endocrine system? If so, has anyone else ever experienced these symptoms,
and what is the long range effects of them?

-I have read some articles in "Health" magazine concerning why women outlive
men. One of the reasons given was due to a lack of testosterone in their
systems. What effect does testosterone have on male ageing (dang, never
could spell that word)?

Thanks in advance.
-Benjamin Bryant
<bdbryan@eng.clemson.edu>



Newsgroups: sci.med
From: sheryl@seas.gwu.edu (Sheryl Coppenger)
Subject: Re: Obesity in the US is stress related.
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:07:50 GMT

In article <15741@pitt.UUCP> geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>In article <leonid.711407541@spssig> leonid@spss.com (Leonid Feygin) writes:
>>If I am not mistaken, nobody has yet mentioned that stress in many cases
>>can cause obesity.  Being under stress, many people find relieve from it
>>in excesses of various kinds: anti-social behavior, drug and alcohol
>>abuse, as well as overeating.  Needless to say, overeating is most
>>common (and considered most benign).
>>
>Stress can precipitate overeating in some people, but I don't think
>it would be proper to say that stress causes obesity, even in them.
>It is possible that if such people could lead a life without stress
>they would not be obese, but it would be hard to demonstrate that
>scientifically.  Eating is one way I react to stress, but I think
>that even without stress I would have managed to become obese.
>Other people react to stress by not eating and losing weight.

Hilde Bruch found that people who ate in response to stress (reactive
obesity) were usually able to head off a full-blown depression for
the same stress level that would cause serious depression in people who would
not react to stress by overeating.  That's usually given as the reason
that obese people have lower suicide rates than thinner people, and it
might explain why researchers like Rena find fat people emotionally in
very good shape (except for the body image/self esteem you mention, but
it's hard to be fat and have decent self esteem in this society).  Bruch
considered overweight to be a relatively benign compensating mechanism.

>
>>
>>In other words: since obesity is often the result of psychological and 
>>mental disorders which are caused by stress, and the USA is an obvious 
>>leader in this area, therefore the USA has so much obesity.
>>
>Certainly I can think of many societies more stressful than the US,
>where we have most of our needs met.  I think this conclusion is
>highly speculative.  

Although more people have their needs met in the USA, this society
also is very competitive, achievement-oriented, individualistic and 
geographically mobile compared to some others.  All of these factors 
can contribute to stress.  Bruch found that people who had been 
in war zones, concentration camps, etc. did have a greater tendency
to become overweight than people who had not, and she mentions that in
German there is a word meaning "fat of sorrow" which refers a large
amount of weight gained after a shock or loss, generally without a 
sufficient caloric intake to explain it.

-- 

Sheryl Coppenger    SEAS Computing Facility Staff	sheryl@seas.gwu.edu
		    The George Washington University	(202) 994-6853
From: fkhurshi@crc.ac.uk (Ms F. Khurshid)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: calcipotriol (MC 903) vs methotrexate
Keywords: psoriasis,Davionex, vit D analogues
Date: 28 Jul 92 15:15:30 GMT
Organization: MRC Human Genome Resource Centre

For the treatment of Psoriasis I know of two fairly 'new' drugs;

METHOTREXATE
 and
CALCIPOTRIOL.

My retired father has had psoriasis for over 20 yrs and for the last year 
has been taking methotrexate. This has helped reduce the condition but it has
not alleviated it.I am worried about the possible side egffects and long term
effectsof taking such a powerful drug. His liver is monitored every 2 months
and he finds that he cannot use any other drug whilst on the course or it affects
his liver, but he occasionaly needs to take anti inflammatory drugs for
rheumatoid arthritis in his knee. 
I have recently heard a lot about a topical treatment of calcipotriol for 
psoriasis and wonder what the success rate of it is? It certainly sounds
to be a safer alternative.

Thanks in advance

Farha Khurshid
Imperial Cancer Research Fund
LOndon WC2A 3PX
f_khurshid@uk.ac.icrf
From: km@speedy.cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Questions for MDs
Date: 30 Jul 92 14:13:50 GMT
Reply-To: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Pittsburgh

In article <55409@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>I suggest that the medical people learn
>about the problems involved in making decisions under uncertainty, and
>how complicated they become even in supposedly simple situations. 

This is what happens every day! One of the first things you learn
as an intern is how to take care of someone who's dying when you
don't know what they have! This is not just emergencies: tests,
cultures, etc. always take time, and the patient has to be
treated in the interim. This is one reason that doctors will
always look like idiots to some people, and why we have such great
problems with insurers and utilization review people. The U.R. person
reviewing the chart knows the final diagnosis, and can't understand
why the doctor wasted all that time with all those negative tests!

Uncertainty sometimes invovles making decisions which may later be
thrown back at you. If you are septic, unless I have very good
information to suspect a specific organism, I will treat you with two
antibiotics, one of which is an aminoglycoside. This is necessary to
cover the possible organisms. Aminoglycosides cause hearing damage in
a small percentage of patients. They also save lives. Yes, I can give
you (if you are conscious) the ods on the hearing loss, and I can show
you hospital data listing all the different organisms and their
sensitivities, but it really doesn't matter. If you live and suffer
hearing damage, you are going to sue me, even if the antibiotic saved
your life.  If I you die from Pseudomonas sepsis, your family is going
to sue me for not using the aminoglycoside. Now, Herman is going to
say that the patient's value system should dictate therapy, and that
if the patient considers that living deaf is worse than death, that
the aminoglycoside should not be used. However, the risk of the
hearing loss is so small compared to the risk of dying from Pseudomonas
that if I did withhold the aminoglycoside on that basis, I would
be commiting malpractice. So, I notify you of the possible risk.
If you want the aminoglycoside withheld, I will ask you to find
another doctor (quickly).



























Newsgroups: sci.med
From: rbuchanan@vitalink.com (Rick Buchanan)
Subject: Re: How does nervousness cause shaky hands?
Reply-To: rbuchanan@vitalink.com (Rick Buchanan)
Organization: Vitalink Communications Corp.  (Standard disclaimer of course)
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:49:28 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.172712.23844@spdcc.com>, dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) 
writes:

> >At 73 it might not be such a bad idea to start right in with Sinemet 
> >(L-Dopa/Carbidopa) (assuming, of course, that this person is actually
> >diagnosed with Parkinson's)
> 
> Getting a diagnosis from a competent physician might be a good
> first step before starting any drug therapy. :-)  It might well
> not be Parkinson's Disease.

Yeah, I originally wrote that sentence without the parenthetical, and
it struck me that I might just be jumping the gun a bit!  =8-)

Funny thing is, while a good neurologist can make a diagnosis with
a very high probability of getting it right, the only 100% certain method 
of confirming Parkinson's is autopsy.   PET scanning is next best (and it 
involves fewer "side effects"...)

   ---   Rick

       *** Smash the State!  (and have a _nice_ day!) ***
From: km@speedy.cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Colonic irrigations
Keywords: alt medicine
Date: 22 Jul 92 22:31:57 GMT
Reply-To: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Pittsburgh

In article <j4cm#df@lynx.unm.edu> bhjelle@triton.unm.edu writes:
>
>So for just $49.95 I will send you a package of "colon floss" and
>a "colon brush" designed to keep your colon free of lint, plaque,
>decaying matter, beer bottles, televisions, etc.

Yes, but you really owe it to your customers to tell them that
colon floss is of no use if you can't see what you're doing.
For that you need the home anal mirror, which was first perfected
by The Fat Man in the mid 1970s before he left for Hollywood to
do GI and the "bowel run of the stars." I don't know what the
anal mirror is selling for now, but you might contact Samuel
Shem, MD, author of "The House of God", who certainly could
give you a supplier.

 -km
From: fulk@cs.rochester.edu (Mark Fulk)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Withholding information; was: Re: Questions for MDs
Date: 21 Jul 92 14:56:35 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department University of Rochester

In article <15729@pitt.UUCP> geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>
>I don't know any doctors, except on TV, that tell patients how
>long they have to live.  Doing so is incredibly stupid.
>-- 
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
>geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

My friend's story has generated a long thread on this topic of ``telling
patients how long they have to live.''  I agree with those who said that
such is a stupid idea, that they never do it, and that probably very few
physicians ever have.  Please remember that I could only report what Bill
told me; I wasn't there at the time.  I suspect that his doctors told
him something like the average survival time for patients with (what they
thought was) his condition, and he interpreted it for himself.  It is
also possible that he heard what they said, and looked it up for himself;
after all, he is (was?) a reporter, and used to doing library research.

Also keep in mind that Bill has a flair for the dramatic, witness his plans
re the Rainbow Room.  He was also full of stories about hiding under cars
in Harlem during the race riots, NYC cop vs FBI agent stories, and the like.
It is completely possible that this tendency contributed to a misinterpretation
of what he was told.

If we can remember back to my original article, the point was not so much
that the docs told him he had a short time to live, but that they told
him of a diagnosis with very bad prospects before being sure that it was
correct.  That much seems to be factual enough to be trusted, and I saw
supporting evidence (the black cat cartoon, Bill's mother's story, Bill's
friends at the paper) to be fairly sure of it.
-- 
Mark A. Fulk			University of Rochester
Computer Science Department	fulk@cs.rochester.edu
From: Berger@cup.portal.com (Mark - Berger)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: "Bodyworks" software disappoints
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 23:20:58 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: usa


For all those who e-mailed me (and you too)--

I purchased Bodyworks from Price Club for $36.  It looked promising from
the box.  I should have gone out to dinner!

The descriptive text is strictly window dressing.  It is simplistic, sparse,
and even funny.  In one case, half the text explained the origin of some
colloquialism related to the name of the organ.  I have not found one yet
that is truly informative.

The only animation is a beating heart (showing external view only--no valves
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Red Hot Chili Peppers...(was: Colonic irrigations)
Keywords: alt medicine
Date: 29 Jul 92 13:38:09 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <23333@alice.att.com> ark@alice.UUCP () writes:

>Here's another possible explanation: is it impossible to grow hot
>peppers in cool climates.
>

That is true for some species, such as New Mexico Green, which
will only be hot if grown in the hot climate.  But Jalapenos
will be hot even if grown in the north.  Depends on the species,
apparently.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Colonic irrigations
Keywords: alt medicine
Date: 25 Jul 92 01:44:18 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <15782@pitt.UUCP> km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum) writes:
>
>
>One of my favorite xrays from medical school showed a quart
>bottle of mayonaise in the transverse colon. The patient claimed
>to have accidentally sat on it and the laws of physics had done
>the rest. We didn't quite belive him. The bottle was full and
>unopened. We don't know if the surgeon who removed it took it
>home or what....
> 
If he did, I hope he didn't tell his wife where he got it.
People seem to "sit" on light bulbs quite often, too.
If they are going to, it is better if they sit on the
rounded end, leaving the screw end toward the anus so
you can extract it by threading it onto a cord.

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: king@reasoning.com (Dick King)
Subject: Re: Colonic irrigations
Organization: Reasoning Systems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 18:31:38 GMT

In article <1992Jul26.063951.126394@zeus.calpoly.edu> dfield@zeus.calpoly.edu (Daniel R. Field) writes:
>In article <15813@pitt.UUCP> geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>>People seem to "sit" on light bulbs quite often, too.
>>If they are going to, it is better if they sit on the
>>rounded end, leaving the screw end toward the anus so
>>you can extract it by threading it onto a cord.
>
>Provided somebody doesn't get the bright idea of plugging it in!

That would be dangerous.  The walls of the lightbulb would crack from
temperature gradients ;-) .

>
>Don't these people ever, uh, break the light bulb during this activity?
>This seems potentially dangerous.

Well it is of course, but nearly spherical objects made of brittle material can
take an amazing amount of reasonably uniform compression.  You need to apply
LOCALIZED pressure to break it, so the material comes under tension somewhere.

Wrap an egg in a handkercheif and try to break it by squeezing it in a fist.
The handkercheif is to prevent any cuts in case you DO succeed, but you
probably won't.  Do try to apply uniform compression -- do NOT try to impres a
hole with a finger joint, and especially don't cut with a fingernail.

There is at least one research submarine made of a glass sphere.  It can dive
to 1500 feet.  The motor and batteries, etc. are all outside the sphere, and
the pilot controls these by light beams and photocells -- it would not be OK to
pierce the shell with wiring.  The two halves are very precisely ground [but
there is an O ring].

Some light bulbs have a near-vacuum inside.


-dk
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Curing asthma; was: Re: Use of term allopath
Date: 30 Jul 92 18:33:09 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Jul30.001130.10269@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
>In article <1992Jul29.194910.6420@island.COM> green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein) writes:
>
>>Ah, but they are. Almost any acupuncturist (even one who isn't all
>>that good) can point you to some asthma patient they have cured. That's
>>because asthma isn't that difficult to treat with Chinese medicine. 
>
>Or because mild asthma can go away by itself over a period of years?
>Mine certainly has faded out nicely over the past 5 years or so...
>not totally gone yet, but another few years should do it.
>
Have you ever stepped on a thorn?  Well, there you go!  Cured!










-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: ME.DMG@forsythe.stanford.edu (David Gaba M.D.)
Subject: Re: Why are Butterfly Needles being banned by FDA?
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 03:26:16 GMT

In article <30JUL199201250203@elroy.uh.edu>,
st1lv@elroy.uh.edu (McLeod, Stephen) writes:
>I will have to go into hospital soon and the one thing keeping up my spirits
>was the existence of butterfly needles.  They are almost completely painless
>and I have the heebie jeebies about needles.  The last time I went there, they
>said the FDA had banned them for the foreseeable future.
>

As of a month ago we certainly had them in our carts in the
operating room (I'm on sabbatical now) -- I sincerely doubth
that they have been banned by the FDA.
  In general they aren't very good as IVs compared to plastic
(or teflon) catheter over needle systems (common trade name ofr
one manufacturer is Jelco).  Because the catheter is plastic,
not metal, these are much better for staying in despite movement
of the arm.  If inserted properly, these should be no more
painful than a butterfly of equivalent size.  In anesthesia,
we routinely administer a small "bump" of local anesthetic
in the skin prior to inserting an IV through that anesthetized
bump.  This is done with a very small needle (25 or 26 gauge)
and although the anesthetic stings a bit, we don't inject much
and patients usually don't find it too bad.  The IV then shouldn't
hurt too much going in.  No one is perfect though at inserting
IVs.

I would not worry about using non-butterfly IVs.

Good luck.

*** The above is for information only and not the giving of
medical advice *****

David M. Gaba, M.D., Assoc. Professor of Anesthesia, Stanford
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: amt@linus.mitre.org (Anne Tallant)
Subject: Caffeine and Migraines
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 19:31:14 GMT


I'm confused by some of the articles I've read recently on sci.med
about caffeine and migraines.  Statements have been made that caffeine
can bring on a migraine attack.  And yet other statements indicated
that some of the migraine medications contain caffeine.

Is this just a case of some people being sensitive to caffeine which
brings on a migraine for them, and other people for which caffeine
is effective in eliminating the migraine?  Could someone clarify
this for me?

Thanks
--


Anne Tallant
MITRE Corporation

ARPA:  amt@linus.mitre.org
UUCP:  ...{att,decvax,genrad,ll-xn,philabs,utzoo}!linus!amt
From: km@speedy.cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Pityriasis Rosea
Date: 30 Jul 92 21:39:33 GMT
Reply-To: km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., University of Pittsburgh

In article <131903@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> asmith@tis.llnl.gov (A. Phillip Smith) writes:

>A dermatologist took scrapings
>and used Wood's lamp to corroborate the first diagnosis and rule out a
>fungal infection. I was surprised that none of the three physicians she 
>has seen (so far) have ordered any blood tests... Is anyone familiar 
>with pityriasis ? This seems to be a disfiguring disease, and the doctors 
>say the cause is unknown and there is no known treatment that is reliable.

I can speak from personal as well as medical experience, because
I have had Pityriasis twice and I know it is not fun.

It is caused by a virus, and can be recurrent (hence why I had it
twice). Some people are not bothered by it, but others have
intense itching. I was one of the latter, which I did not appreciate
when I got PR while studying for finals in my third year of med.
school. It tends to flare at night and to pale somewhat in the day.
It goes away in a few weeks, usually.

I had UV light treatments the first time. The second time I had
no treatments. Both episodes lasted about the same length of time.

There is no reason for blood work that I know of, or for other
tests. It is not associated with anything else, as far as I know.

 -Ken Mitchum MD
 km@cs.pitt.edu