AltHealth: 2019 Wrapup

This was a year that seemed to end not with a bang, but with a long-suffering whimper, with the health of both our government and our people somewhat in limbo. It is often said that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let’s take a moment to look back.

First, despite those who deny that it exists, research shows that climate change is already affecting our health. Rising CO2 levels are causing an increase in allergens and illnesses transmitted by food, water and disease-carrying insects. Those elevated levels, along with more frequent and intense heat waves and drought, are impacting both the concentration of nutrients in edible plants and the sustainability of vital water sources. Extreme weather events and decreased air quality threaten both our physical and our mental health – just ask anyone in New South Wales, Australia. Since September 2019, 23 people have been killed by wildfires, seven of them in one 24-hour stretch alone. The blaze has covered 12.35 million acres and destroyed more than 1,400 homes, with daily temperatures sometimes reaching a high of 120 degrees. The flames show no sign of abating.

In other news, thanks to an advertising campaign that has spread from the internet to airports and shopping malls, CBD has reached craze levels in America. It is being marketed as the new panacea for every ailment from arthritis to depression, and profits are already soaring. The bad news is that the claims have far surpassed any reliable controlled studies on its actual effectiveness and long-term effects; it may or may not live up to expectations. If you use it, I recommend you buy medical grade CBD products from a compassion center or other reputable manufacturer to be sure of purity and consistency. There’s a lot of garbage out there on the web. 

Some good news – there has been significant progress with HIV/AIDS treatments. Researchers have discovered a potential new treatment that works with a patient’s own body to further suppress the silent virus that available HIV medicines are unable to contain. In addition, current testing efforts are proving to be more effective – 90% of those with the disease are now on medication to control it. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to our national health, the news is not as good. US life expectancy continues to decline despite the high cost of health care. The truly alarming thing about this is that suicides, drug overdoses and alcohol are largely to blame. Fact: because of the opioid epidemic, the average American stands a better chance of dying from an overdose than in a car crash. Fortunately, the drug companies who set the opioid wave into motion are now being held accountable – in a recent court settlement, two counties in Ohio were awarded more than $260 million; other law suits are pending. 

Measles made a major comeback, with 1,200 individual cases confirmed in the US. It is a disease that was virtually eradicated after the advent of vaccinations, but it has made a resurgence since the rise of the Anti-Vaccination Movement. The AVM continues to deny culpability and continues to claim that vaccination itself is more of a danger than measles; the CDC strongly recommends that parents vaccinate their children to safeguard not only their health, but that of others in the community. Stricter laws may soon make the choice moot.

The over-use of antibiotics has now produced a range of “super bugs” capable of resisting literally every treatment known to science. Unfortunately, this is yet another man-made epidemic. According to the RI department of Health, 20% to 50% of all antibiotics prescribed in US acute-care hospitals are either unnecessary or inappropriate. The result? A person dies every 15 minutes in the USA from one of these superbugs – that’s 35,000 deaths a year. 

And finally, a brand new danger has reared its ugly head this year – the deaths and lung damage from vaping. What is most disturbing is that while vaping-linked lung injuries have killed 29 and sickened more than 1,000 people in the US, these cases are virtually unheard of in Britain and other countries. In the UK, vaping is medically recommended for use in smoking cessation; national smoking rates are dropping as a result. In the US, the advertising and mass distribution of vapes has instead created a burgeoning new youth market for nicotine. 

As we face the road ahead in 2020, here is one thought we should all take to heart: We have got to watch out for ourselves. All commodities run on supply and demand, and the health care industry is no different. Regulations on any product that is making money for large corporations will be slow in coming. The only way to protect ourselves is through our own awareness. Time, gravity and the laws of accident being what they are, we may all find ourselves. walking through the shadow of the Valley of Death at some point … but we should never blindly trust the minions of those hills to guide our way. These bodies we live in know more than we give them credit for – it is time we learned how to listen.