Health Matters

Physicians on the Take
Dr. Jerome Kassirer, Professor at Tufts University and former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, encourages professional and academic organizations to eliminate pharmaceutical largesse.
from Medscape

That Mn and tea paper said "venesected the volunteers". That didn't sound too good to me, so I looked up what venesection was exactly

Yet again, these papers use big words for no reason.. they could have "collected a blood sample", or "Got some blood from" or anything more meaningful to the average reader!

http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/WMNS/Projects/Wmns36/bloodletting/venefra.htm

The above link mentions how barber poles came to have that red twisted stripe on em :-))

In the Early Middle Ages bloodletting was almost entirely done by barber -surgeons. They identified themselves by putting a pole outside their business and hanging a blood collecting dish from it

*grins*

This study used black tea (with or without milk I assume).
3 or 4 cups of tea a day raised Mn levels , so you should not be low on Mn if you drink a couple of cups of tea a day.
What having increased Mn levels does to the levels of Mn enzymes is about as clear as mud to me.

http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v60/n1/full/1602260a.html

Caution: may cause cancer, especially in children

March 2006: CT and Cancer: A Mother's Story
"In 1998, my son Danny died of complications of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after a brief but valiant battle with the disease. Of course we were devastated. But this is not about our grief."
Medscape Radiology 7(1) 2006

Imaging X-rays Cause Cancer: A Call to Action for Caregivers and Patients
http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/5063
Imaging X-rays Cause Cancer: A Call to Action for Caregivers and Patients
Introduction
CT Remains a Powerful Tool, But ...
Imaging and Cancer: Kids Most in Peril
Why Patients Are the Last to Know
Radiology and Radiation: The Gathering Storm
Large X-ray Doses
The Science of the Immediate Experience
Equating Medical X-rays With an Atomic Bomb

This article is a follow-up to one from Medscape 1 year ago, which was entitled "Radiation Risk From CT Scans: A Call for Patient-Focused Imaging" http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/496297

I think I got my temp up with l-tryptophan. I only take about 150mg -200 mg most nights ( I leave out occasionally) and maybe 50-75mg with my noon thyroid meds. I take up to a couple of days off occasionally.
My body temp has definitely come up lately but I'm not sure if its that or duphaston (a progestin) or progesterone.pr just menopausal related.
Oestradiol and oestriol also influences the body temp.. so its not clear to me exactly what is going on.

Serotonin (via tryptophan) also influences oestrogen.

But now I feel the heat, sweat and my skin even goes pinkish with exercise.. whereas before the best I'd do was a cold clammy sweat on a hot day with exercise occasionally.. reached this last year.

An internal temp of 37 or 98.6 (or lower depending on how measured)
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/LenaWong.shtml
is measured via a thermistor usually inserted somewhere inside.. like the stomach(inserted down throat via a wire attached to a thermistor) or inside an artery!. I think even the rectal measurements are considered lower than real core body temperature.

So it depends on WHERE you measure your internal body temperature as well as when.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6793/3/7
There's a circadian during day as well as month, as we all knew .. lower in morning on waking in bed, and higher in evening.
For females- higher during progesterone part of cycle; see family planning (rhythm method) temperature measurments or instrucins that come with a basal thermometer.

today 15/3/06 1.40PM about 30 mins to 45 mins after eating .. about day 14.. no progesterone:

Eating also raises your core temperature. But I figure I need about 37C a half hour after eating for good digestion.

(now I may have worked out why I used to feel better with 3 cuppas before, during and after a meal!!..down to one after and one before now, with brekkie and lunch)

Temps measured by alternating different thermometers e.g. use normal digital on left underarm and basal on right underarm., then swap, then switch again ,then switch again.In mouth alternate thermometers.

Temps should be taken consistently in a same temp room after resting(reading forum on computer or watching TV, reading etc for preferably an hour)

left underarm 35.8 36.0 right underarm 36.3 , 36.3 under tongue 36.9, 36.88 with a normal digital thermometer (rounded)
left underarm 36.1 36.0 right underarm 36.2, 36.1 under tongue 36.9 , 36.9 with a BD basal Accu-beep digital thermometer

I think mine have finally became normal.. since adding the tryptophan and oestriol .. but I can't prove its that, it may have just been more T4 as well.

More on measurement of temperature :

Body temperature measurement
T Togawa 1985 Clin. Phys. Physiol. Meas. 6 83-108 doi:10.1088/0143-0815/6/2/001

http://www.herbalmagika.com/herbals/alphabet.html

hmm I just looked up pawpaw. Now we have pawpaws ..which look like the diagram and really do aid digestion..especially of steak, but custard apple is an entirely different fruit..so it doesn't seem right there??

thanks G :-)

I'm just chasing up chemists and health funds here.

HCF, my health fund for over a decade or so, stopped paying for my meds last year. I complained, queried phoned and asked to speak with the managers, I need to spend some time either writing complaints in letter /fax form .. phone doesn't work, and probably getting letters for doctor for verification.... OR switching to different health fund.

They will not give a list of what prescriptions they will pay for and apparently they don't have to. They will tell you if you let them know of each individual scripted items, whether or not they will pay. They will no longer cover any of my prescriptions. The only form of oestrogen they cover is an oestradiol implant. The other oestrogen on their list that I was imnformed by my chemist hadn't been [generally] available in Australia for 15 years.

I have phoned consumer affairs and the govt authority dealing with health funds..and apparently they can pay on whatever they like and don't have to disclose their list.:-)
I was told its supposed to be on the TGA list for approved meds, but not on the PBA list..as that is subsidized by govt. to the best of my knowledge all these meds are both not on the PBS list (sure Of) . The TGA when I phoned them said their list doesn't cover he compounded meds. Their list is here
https://www.tgasime.health.gov.au/SIME/ARTG/ARTGPublicWeb.nsf/MEDpublic?OpenView___##0##___ or by going to
https://www.tgasime.health.gov.au/SIME/ARTG/ARTGPublicWeb.nsf?OpenDatabase and clicking on Medicine Information.

Apparently the health funds can choose at their discretion NOT to cover the meds... like its only what they put on their own list!

Do any Aussies know of health fund that will give rebates for hormone replacement therapy meds.. like oestriol, oestradiol, progesterone, biest, triest, thyroid meds compounded if you are in the top extra cover. HCF may do it, but only as a special case with a doctors letter explaining why I need them. Just a script won't do, and I hate to bother the docs. The last doc who wrote me a script was the head professor at the bladder clinic at St George Hospital..they should have better things to do with their time, than write letter to health funds stating that I needed the med they prescribed and why??

I did have a docs letter for thyroid, but it was lost on a computer upgarde and the replacement note..after hours.. was not entirely accurate..and only covered THYROID 1./4 grain.. so HCF noow rejects anything with T4, T3, etc or a differening amount.. sigh. It always takes a LOOONG time every time I try to claim thryoid meds back..and to-ing and fro-ing with chemist for it to be written out with at least the words..these meds are for treatment of THYROID. ..and then sometimes they will only pay what I was charged for the 1./4 grain a long time ago. They also have difficulty finding the note on the computer,..so that takes up to hours as well.. until the one person who can find it comes in usually :-) each time I try for a refund.
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EDITED to ADD 15/3/06

I just paid another 6 mths with HCF and got a letter from the Professor at the teaching hospital saying I need the oestradiol cream; so I'll see how it goes. I was almost up to my 2 month limit for continuing as a member , so I had to do something. I did phone the other health company and they didn't phone me back the first day , but must have phoned my mobile the next day (I can never hear it and its turned off during lectures). The no they phoned me on from Melbourne is not a correct no for me to ring in on, so I give up.

I will try HBA though if still no luck with HCF. I've faxed them the letter from the Prof... who also is insisting I have physiotherapy..so I'd better be in a fund
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Also it looks like Stenlake compounding pharmacy made up thyroid meds without the Methocel.. phoned them and they told me to post me.. then told me ..they would test them out and I would have to pay full for replacement if their tests say they are OK..said they would pay to send back..then couldn't give me a free post address.. They told me just to stick in post box. I asked the post office and they said, I would be billed plus taxed extra if I did this, so I've bought them home again. They definitely are not gelling..and the hormone is running out too fast, before my next one is due. I found it difficult to stay on the road driving home yesterday..and was wiped with a headache past few days. This could have been the meds.

So now I'm wondering.. should I try and find someone else to send them to... or just send the bottle back to them and one somewhere else independent?

I did ask the TGA and they do not cover meds made up by compounding chemists either:-) They are exempt from being covered under the good manufacturers practise...or something similar..I part missed it. They advised trying a Pharmacy Guild or a State Dispensing? just in case Stenake say it tested with methocel in when It doesn't.. I have thougt of this.. but maybe its not worth the effort. I don't really like the idea of them doing the testing and me paying for the replacemeent meds based on what they say the results are though.. I think I would be fine if Stenlake had treated me in a friendlier manner, given me a free post return for the meds etc.

When I test them they don't gel as they should.. or gel in mouth etc.. If the mistake is really mine, I would be prepared to pay.. if they let me get a docs script etc first!..so if I do get a health fund I can part claim back. However I think I am right.. as rice flour.. the other ingredient acts exactly the same when water is added to it as the contents of the capsules., ie no expected gelling occurss, as I got with other meds with 30% Methocel and rice flour.

It is only the methocel. I'm sure the thryoid extract is in there as I'm holding out normal long term, so the actual drug is still in there in the correct amount
Anyway I just think..yet again:-), this is unfriendly.... to be told I'd have to pay if I'm in error according to their tests..which I assume are not independent(without any mention of discussing scripts etc and coverage with a health fund for the extra meds, so it would be pay in full), , seeing as I've been a customer there for 5 years.. and then not to be given a return freepost, I think that's what got to me as a last straw! LOL
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edited TO ADD 15/3/06
Re Stenlake..I did post in praise of them originally, but I posted later about the change of customer service friendliness to the worse. This is the first time they have got something wrong for me.. except for once adding colour to my caps (I'm allergic to some colours..and it's the sensiivities which are one of the main reason for people going the compounded route). That time they replaced the order friendly enough., although I had previously specified the no colour bit in writing.

Anway if you were planning on twice a day then all methocel or methocel 30 % to 50% and rest cellulose is fine.
IF you aren't allergic to Methocel (it gives me and a few others a mild asthma, which is one reason I try to minimize the amount I take).
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Love to hear from an fellow Aussies on this, especially if you have a health fund that does cover hormones, with a docs script of course!
I'm due for a health fund change!

On a more positive note
this url gives a few progesterone meds I didn't know where available in Oz
https://www.tgasime.health.gov.au/SIME/ARTG/ARTGPublicWeb.nsf/MEDpublic?SearchView&Query=progesterone&start=1&searchOrder=4&searchMax=1000&searchWV=0&searchFuzzy=0

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/contentnuts.html
contrary to the title is not about nuts.. nuts stands for nutrients, about tea, some vitamins, minerals

some terms (I keep forgetting them)
Hydrolysis
cleavage of a chemical bond by the addition of water. In hydrolysis reactions, a large compound may be broken down into smaller compounds when a molecule of water is added.

Hydroxylation
a chemical reaction involving the addition of a hydroxyl (-OH) group to a compound.