HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Colonic irrigations
Keywords: alt medicine
Date: 28 Jul 92 14:27:55 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Jul27.193221.4940@island.COM> green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein) writes:

>>Colonic irrigation is a dangerous quack treatment which has been
>>outlawed in many jurisdictions.  It has no established use.
>>There have been deaths due to the procedure.
>
>Not to defend colonics, but if you were to ban every procedure which has
>resulted in deaths, your so-called scientific medicine would not exist.

If a procedure has no established use, yet causes deaths, it should
not be used by any practitioner.  Certainly scientific medicine
has dangerous procedures, but if they are applied where there is
no established usefulness, it is malpractice.  Risks can be 
justified scientifically if there is a benefit to be obtained.
WIth colonic irrigation, there is no such benefit.
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: vmm@cbnews.cb.att.com (virginia.m.medici)
Subject: Hypochondria
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 19:09:43 GMT


I believe I am a bonafide, licensed hypochondriac.
I do have asthma, hypogammaglobulinemia, - other than
that I am HEALTHY.  A little (lot) breathless some of the
time.  But this year, I am having probably the best year of all.
I think I wrote this once but I would like some help -
I am doing things I haven't done since pre-asthma (1962).
Eating the same, doing more physically (taking water pills
occasionally because of the medicine I take) and losing weight -
no not a lot a pound here and then I put it back on and then lose
it again then gain two.
My doctor has told me that because of the increased activity (from
virtually NONE) and the fluctuation of prednisone (30 mg one day
5-10 the next) and when a flare up comes 30 every day that this is normal
and that it is mostly water weight and loss -
and do not worry - so what do I do I am convinced that I am dying because
I weigh the same that I weighed in 1989 +/- 2 pounds.
Is this hypochondria - or just silliness - or the need to worry about
something (oh yeah, that's the other thing - I make sure that I worry
about something everyday - if it's not weight - it's about my husband's
new kidney, the cats, the horses or my mother (she's dead).
To people with very serious illnesses this may sound stupid -
my husband also thinks I am foolish but since he takes prednisone for
his kidney he also seems to have worry thoughts - so he does understand
somewhat.  Please answer - especially if this has happened, is happening
to you or someone you know.
GINI
mvuxd!vmm
From: sss@netcom.com (Small Systems Solutions)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Telephones and Doctors
Date: 24 Jul 92 21:37:50 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)


>>On the other hand, if people assume all doctors are rich, then
>>doesn't telling people you are a doctor help you meet women?
>

In article <15800@pitt.UUCP> km@cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum) writes:

>Who wants to meet that kind of woman?

Right -- you want to meet the kind who understands about odd hours, long
hours, phone calls at all hours, being unable to take vacations, etc...

And if you meet her, give her my number :-)
-- 
Small Systems Solutions                   1563 Solano Avenue, Suite 123
sss@netcom.com                                  Berkeley, CA 94707-2116

The above-expressed opinions aren't necessarily
From: hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Questions for MDs
Date: 29 Jul 92 14:44:07 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department

In article <15886@pitt.UUCP> geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>In article <15575@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> fzjaffe@hamlet.ucdavis.edu (Rory Jaffe) writes:

>>me then also?  You want me to give the patient a full lecture on the
>>risks/benefits of the various alternatives, and then have the patient
>>make the decision.  This can be done for the major components of the
>>decisions (e.g. to operate or not, whether to have general or regional
>>anesthesia), but is extraordinarily impractical for the thousands of
>>minuteae involved.  It takes years to educate a resident about these

>Herman and others reflect this misunderstanding that in a few minutes
>the physician can bring the patient up to an level of an expert in
>making medical decisions.  In the time available, all that could
>be done would be to spew out some meaningless statistics which would
>more likely scare the patient into doing nothing.

You have never seen such a statement from me.  There is a major difference
between emergency situations and those where time is available.  

On another posting, I have pointed out that even with all the variables
quantified, it often requires calculation, not conclusion-jumping, to 
come up with the correct procedure.  This calculation cannot be bypassed
by any amount of experience.  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.  If
one does not do this, Murphy's Law is likely to get into the act.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
{purdue,pur-ee}!pop.stat!hrubin(UUCP)
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: sss@netcom.com (Small Systems Solutions)
Subject: Re: FDA still at large
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 23:01:40 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <15889@pitt.UUCP> geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks) writes:
>In article <h2mm4m_.sss@netcom.com> 
>	sss@netcom.com (Small Systems Solutions) writes:

>>>... Too late for them to try the low fat diet.
>>>Just let them croak?
>>
>>Maybe...compare the cost of the bypass, and all comcomitant therapies, with
>>granting basic health care to 100 people....
>
>"OK, Mr. Jones, we've decided that instead of giving you your bypass,
>we'll just confiscate your $20,000 and use it to provide basic health care
>to 100 homeless people.  You won't be needing the money anyway
>where you're going."  Do you see the problem with this?

*His* $20,000 ?  Bzzzzt!  It's a benefit paid for him out of my pocket
and yours.  A benefit I would choose not to pay for, if you made me
king, unless there were compelling circumstances.

What percentage of total U.S. Health Care Dollars are spent on the last
six months of life?  50%, or near that?

If you eliminated the percentage of coronary bypasses due to lifestyle alone,
and further eliminated those in patients whose profile shows them to
be poor candidates for another 5 years of breathing, what percentage
do you estimate to be left?

Prevention, prevention, prevention. The problem with this is that there
is nothing the physician can do to make a patient take his/her advice --
but every respected cardiologist, and even DeBakey agrees, says that
prevention is the *only* approach for the future of controlling heart
disease.


-- 
Small Systems Solutions                   1563 Solano Avenue, Suite 123
sss@netcom.com                                  Berkeley, CA 94707-2116

The above-expressed opinions aren't necessarily
Xref: sparky sci.med:14368 talk.politics.drugs:5283 pnw.general:1600
From: Pete.Mcdonough@p0.f100.n203.z1.fidonet.org (Pete Mcdonough)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Hand shake
Date: 13 Jul 92 13:08:40 GMT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:203/100.0 - NorCal Star HST, Sacramento CA

What would cause the hands to shake and body feel weak after skipping 
breakfast and lunch, except for three cups of coffee?  I was up at 5 am and 
this occured at 2 pm.
Just Curious



... Come November lets clean out the barn.  Register and VOTE!

 

--  
Internet: Pete.Mcdonough@p0.f100.n203.z1.fidonet.org
From: carl@aoa.aoa.utc.com (Carl Witthoft)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Weight/appearance of professional models; Re: Obesity...
Date: 21 Jul 92 15:14:30 GMT
Organization: Adaptive Optics Associates

In article <1992Jul17.040104.15965@spdcc.com> dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
>In article <1992Jul10.035136.14946@athena.cs.uga.edu>, mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
>> Concerning women who want to look like models on the fashion pages, 
>> I wish it were more generally known that these pictures are often
>> "stretched" vertically by tilting the paper in the enlarger.
>And for the photogenically challenged os us, there's always the rack...
x
And in the 20 July Wall St Journal, an article says (actually the
writer says :=) ) some woman is suing Playgirl because they ran
an ad with a photo of her that was laterally stretched, i.e. she
looked somewhat more obese than she actually is.  So it goes.
x
x


-- 
Bobby Newmark, aka  Carl Witthoft @ Adaptive Optics Associates
aoa!carl@bbn.com  carl@aoa.utc.com
54 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge,MA 02140 617-864-0201
**Just say NO to HMOs**
Newsgroups: sci.med
From: carl@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Carl Devore)
Subject: Re: Vitamin E rancidity (sic)
Summary: oil in capsules goes rancid
Keywords: vitamin E, rancid, ester
Organization: UDel, School of Life & Health Sciences
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 06:29:34 GMT

In article <1992Jul28.223511.7132@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> jabba@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Jabba T. Hut) writes:
>Recently I read in an article that a survey of
>over the counter Vitamin E showed that almost 2/3 of the
>samples were heavily oxidized. This resulted in cases
>of Elevated cholesterol etc in patients. Don't remember the
>reference off hand. Seems like it would make sense to add
>a bit of preservative to the soft-gels. 
Vitamin E _is_ a preservative, but only in the unesterfied form.  The problem
is, I think, that the capsules have vitamin E esters and filler oil.  The 
filler oils go rancid.  On the other hand, the unesterfied (alcohol) form is
unstable.  The solution is to buy an esterized form that is packed dry.  Your
body will de-esterize it.

Ref:  Pearson & Shaw, _Life Extension_, p 407.

carl@genie.slhs.udel.edu   Newark, DE, USA
From: m0102@tnc.UUCP (FRANK NEY)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: FDA still at large
Date: 27 Jul 92 11:56:40 GMT
Reply-To: m0102@tnc.UUCP (FRANK NEY)
Organization: The Next Challenge, Fairfax, Va.


> Those AMA-approved doctors have a pretty good record.

Oh really?  Which news report did I just hear concerning an estimated
100,000 deaths/injuries per year due to the negligence/incompetence of
those 'approved' doctors?

I won't even go into the times I've busted my butt to bring in a
patient to the ER alive only to have some half-baked intern or
burnt-out 'doctor' with a degree from South America kill him.

Frank Ney N4ZHG EMT-P  LPVa NRA ILA GOA CCRTKBA "M-O-U-S-E"
Commandant and Acting President, Northern Virginia Free Militia
Send e-mail for an application and more information
----------------------------------------------------------------
"...I am opposed to all attempts to license or restrict the arming of
individuals...I consider such laws a violation of civil liberty, 
subversive of democratic political institutions, and self-defeating
in their purpose."
        - Robert Heinlein, in a 1949 letter concerning "Red Planet"
-- 
The Next Challenge - Public Access Unix in Northern Va. - Washington D.C.
703-803-0391 To log in for trial and account info.
Newsgroups: sci.med,talk.politics.drugs,pnw.general
From: userHLBK@um.cc.umich.edu
Subject: Declomycin
Reply-To: Fran.Jackovich@UM.cc.umich.edu
Organization: University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 08:06:26 GMT

                            Francis V. Jackovich
                      1540 Parker Rd., Holly, MI  48442
 
                     (313)634-0640 phone (313)634-9502 fax
              internet e-mail    Fran.Jackovich@UM.cc.umich.edu
 
 
Has anyone information on DECLOMYCIN discoloration of dental enamel ?
My wife developed dental staining as a result of Declomycin therapy
during childhood and has been bothered by the cosmetic effect since.
If there is a treatment available that would remove this discoloration
would someone let me know.
We've already consulted two Dentists and bleaching or bonding for this
condition are very expensive (and of course not covered by insurance).
Appreciate any information...
Thanks
Newsgroups: sci.med,talk.politics.drugs,pnw.general
From: tpe36878@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mr. Mensa )
Subject: used to be very fat....
Summary: questions about weight loss
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 05:25:47 GMT

Hello everybody:

	I am posting this for two reasons: first, I am wondering if anyone
out there has experienced a similar situation, and secondly, I would like to
know if anyone knows what I may do to alleviate some of my woes.
	First, my situation. When I was a senior in high school, I weighed in
at 315 lbs and by August of that same year, before I took off for school, I
had dropped to about 200 lbs. Today, I weigh about 190 (I'm now a senior
in college). I have noticed some rather peculiar changes in my health since I
have lost weight.
	When I was heavy, I would constantly sweat. Even though I am in
incredible health (as my doctor puts it), I will work up a sweat if I walk
around the block on a cool day. Many people, doctors included, have told me
that there is no health problem here and that it is simply a good internal
thermostat regulating my body temperature.
	Heart disease and high blood pressure run in my family, but I have
low (110/70) blood pressure and a constantly slow heart (rest rate of 40-45bpm).
Now I know that a slow resting heart rate is indicative of a strong heart, but
I wonder about this given my family history. Also related to this low blood
pressure: I have a problem of blacking out a lot. If I sit in a chair for any
length of time and stand up, I will experience a sensation of numbness in my
face and almost passing out. My family doctor tells me that this is the same
thing that my grandfather had and that it is nothing to worry about...
	Finally, I am wondering if anyone reading this has had a huge 
weight loss like I have. I am very interested in hearing whether or not
any such people have experienced similar problems after losing a lot of
weight.


		in advance, I thank you
		thomas ehardt
		tpe36878@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
From: crosson@cam.nist.gov (Robert Crosson)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Suggestions welcome about pain after root canal
Date: 27 Jul 92 20:20:18 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Four years ago my wife's trigeminal nerve was attacked by something
like a virus.  Apparently the nerves in her teeth swelled and cut off
the blood supplies to all of the teeth, because, eventually, all of her
teeth had to be regularly or surgically root canalled.  Some of the 
regular procedures were not enough to remove the infections so that some of
the teeth required surgical canalling, too.  Now she is in the spot
where a tooth that had been regularly, then surgically, canalled is
hurting again, but nothing shows on the x-rays that either the dentist
or the surgeon have taken.

Previously, the surgical procedure has done the trick in removing the pain
of a previously regularly canalled tooth.  The surgeon and dentist agreed
to do the procedures at my wife's insistence, even though there wasn't
conclusive proof of something wrong on the x-rays, but they couldn't say
for sure that everything was fine.  The last time this happened the
tooth had to be pulled, finally, again at my wife's insistence, and
against the recommendations of both the dentist and the surgeon. Pulling
the tooth removed the pain, but neither the site nor the tooth 
had anything obivously wrong.

We don't want to continue to have to remove teeth.  The dentist and the 
surgeon say to endure as long as possible because there is no evidence
either from the x-rays or when the area is surgically opened that anything
is wrong.  I would appreciate any suggestions anyone might have about
specialists to see in the Washington, DC, and Baltimore areas, and any
information about organizations that might be doing research in this area.

We've been to very many doctors over the years, from neurologists to a
retired professor (a worldwide expert we were told) from the now defunct
Georgetown School of Dentistry, about what started this, but we're
concentrating on what seems to be this secondary effect of all of the
root canals.

Email can be sent to the address below.  Thanks in advance.

Bob Crosson
crosson@cam.nist.gov
From: hollombe@polymath.tti.com (The Polymath)
Subject: Re: Anesthesia for plantar wart removal
Organization: The Cat Factory
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 00:53:41 GMT

In article <1992Jul27.164838.14813@chpc.utexas.edu> jbyrd@chpc.utexas.edu (Jan Byrd) writes:

}P.S.  My daughter now takes gymnastics, and among the older (high school
}age) girls, Planter's warts are rampant (as is athlete's foot, even among
}the younger ones).  I've heard the other mothers voice their suspicions 
}about the girls spitting on the gloves they use on their hands to do the 
}bars, viruses picked up from all the bare feet on the mats, etc.  Does 
}anyone out there have any evidence or informed opinions about how athlete's 
}foot and Planter's warts get transmitted in such an environment?

I was a gymnast in high school and never suffered from either. (I did have
a plantar wart in high school, but it was before I joined the gym team.
Repeated treatment with Compound W(tm) eventually got rid of it).

The only person I recall from that time who had a really nasty case of
athlete's foot was also the only person who came to class barefoot.
Athlete's foot is a fungus, so it likes warm, dark, damp places to get
started.  Clean, dry feet and clean, dry socks are probably the best
preventives.

I don't remember anyone spitting on gloves.  We all used gym chalk, both
as a drying agent and lubricant.

That's what I remember from 26+ years ago.  Your mileage may vary.

The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, M.A., CDP, aka: hollombe@polymath.tti.com)
Head Robot Wrangler at Citicorp                   Turn the rascals out!
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (310) 450-9111, x2483     No incumbents in '92!
Santa Monica, CA  90405 {rutgers|pyramid|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe
From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: used to be very fat....
Date: 31 Jul 92 16:59:35 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.


In article <1992Jul31.002533.12217@omen.UUCP> caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX) writes:
>
>You didn't mention how you lost the weight.  Was it by dieting?
>
>heavier.  These decreases are documented side effects of weight
>loss induced metabolic slowdown and do not necessarily indicate
>a proportional improvement in cardiovascular health.
>

What?  Where did you get that?  I doubt if the lowered blood
pressure is influenced that much by the metabolic slowdown.
Also, if you had hypertension at the fat weight, then it
certainly does indicate an improvement in cardiovascular health.

>I also got dizzy almost to the point of blacking out when
>abruptly arising from a chair.  This is a documented side
>effect of dieting.
>
>These effects subside when body weight returns to set point.
>
I'll take postural hypotension any day over weighing 150 lbs
more.  That has much more unpleasant side effects!





-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: Clinical Trials on Homeopathic Remedies
Date: 26 Jul 92 02:15:09 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Jul20.201233.6875@island.COM> green@island.COM (Robert Greenstein) writes:

>Only low-potency homeopathics are generally available OTC. 
>-- 
But since high-potency homeopathics are made by diluting low-potency
homeopathics, that's kind of ingenuous, isn't it?
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: harris@drvax3.msfc.nasa.gov (Mitch Harris)
Subject: Re:Elavil for Migraines?
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Date: 27 Jul 92 04:30:08 GMT

I took Elavil for migraines for about 1 - 1 1/2 years at the suggestion
of my neurologist. While I didn't see any dramatic improvement, my
migraines didn't worsen. Then I started developing arrythmias. After a
cardiac workup that showed no apparent cause, I was taken off the
Elavil.(The cardiologist told me Elavil can cause arrythmias on
occasion). I haven't had an arrythmia since.

.............(Posted for Beverly H.)
:wq

--
Mitch Harris                           |  New Technology Inc.
(205)-544-2846                         |  700 Boulevard South, #401
drvax3!harris@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov    |  Huntsville, AL  35802

Newsgroups: sci.med
From: annick@cortex.physiol.su.oz.au (Annick Ansselin)
Subject: Re: Use of term allopath
Organization: Department of Physiology, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 22:18:32 GMT

In <15783@pitt.UUCP> km@speedy.cs.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum) writes:


>Hmm. Alternative medicine cures diabetes, corrects valvular heart disease,
>reverses asthma and makes joints normal? TUBS.

A friend is a diabetic.
Initially, she was controlling the problem with tablets (to stimulate
insulin production) and diet, but it wasn't working.
Her husband is deeply involved in alternative medicine and insisted that it
was a state of mind and could be cured with fasting.
He convinced her to try this with quite severe results. She now is on
insulin therapy, but he continues to say that it is absolutely unecessary.

It is rather frightening that such people can still persist with these
ideas, and play with someone else's life in the bargain.
Newsgroups: sci.med,talk.politics.drugs,pnw.general
From: fyl@fylz.wa.com (Phil Hughes)
Subject: Re: FDA still at large
Organization: FYL
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 04:10:36 GMT
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3

I decided to avoid any quoted text.  My point is not really related to
that text.

Today AMA approved doctors use poison chemicals, radiation and saws to
"treat" cancer.  This is considered the norm.  The "proper" treatment.
These same doctors use knives to "treat" heart problems.

While this approved treatment is going on other doctors are suggesting
that 1) many cancers are environmentally caused, 2) diet can prevent
cancer and even make an existing cancer go away and 3) heart problems
can be treated with diet and exercise.  These other doctors are on the
quack list.

I am not a doctor but, having worked on other hardware, I can
understand how poison or sawing off an afflicted body part could
"cure" a problem in that part but I would not call this science.
But I am very impressed with those who feel that we need to address
causes of diseases instead of treating symptoms or sawing off body
parts to "solve" a problem.

As a person I feel I have the right to select whatever method of
"treatment" that I want.  I have no problem with a testing agency
(like Consumer Reports) collecting statistics and offering me decent
information on various treatments but I still feel I have the right to
select whatever treatment I want.


-- 
Phil Hughes - FYL - 8315 Lk City Wy NE - Suite 207 - Seattle, WA 98115 
Phone: 206-526-2919 x74      Fax: 526-0803
E-mail: fyl@fylz.com or nwnexus!fylz!fyl or cpac.washington.edu!fylz!fyl