Motif

Author: Cathren Housley

  • Alt-Health: Find Your Tribe

    Alt-Health: Find Your Tribe

    friendsPoets, artists and musicians have known it for hundreds of years, but now medical research confirms it: Loneliness and isolation are hazardous to your health. Dr. Harlan Krumholz, director of the Center of Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Yale-New Haven Hospital, notes, “We shouldn’t just be concerning ourselves with pills and procedures. We have to pay attention to things like love and friendship and the context of people’s lives. It may be that these efforts to help people connect better with others … can have very powerful effects on their recovery and the quality of their lives.” Our connection to community may be the most important health insurance we have.

    Researchers at Brigham Young University have declared loneliness to be a major public health issue, on par with obesity, smoking and substance abuse. The statistics are unsettling. Social isolation alone can increase the risk of premature death by anywhere from 19% to 26%. Even people who happily live alone can feel the negative impact on their health. Solitude affects more than our moods — it can also weaken our immune systems and make us more susceptible to heart disease and depression. On a purely practical level, the mere presence of another person lessens the chance we are ever left helpless or unconscious, beyond the reach of rescue, behind a locked door.

    Considering the amazing technological advances in both medicine and digital communication, you’d think that in the year 2015 people would be healthier and happier. Ironically, pretty much the opposite is true. As humans are becoming more connected through devices, they seem to increasingly be removed from their deeper emotions and sense of shared humanity. It’s just a little too easy to be mean when you can hide behind a screen. And texting and social media offer a quick, virtual presence, but abbreviated thoughts and digital glimpses are nothing like being face to face with another living, breathing being with warm skin, a face and eyes. The complexities of human need cannot be expressed through an emoji. An avatar cannot hold you when you feel sad. But then … neither can a virtual image break into your house, beat you senseless and rob you blind.

    In 2015, we have all become just a little bit afraid of each other And if we listen to the news, we have every reason to be. Every day, seemingly normal people suddenly erupt in a theater, at a school, breaking through the gates of the military, into the homes of sleeping families, raping, killing, infecting and terrorizing. It has us spooked to the point that on September 16, a 14- year-old Muslim boy was arrested and handcuffed at school for bringing in a science project clock that was mistaken for a bomb. We are jumping at shadows, anticipating treachery at every turn. And every day, there is something else to be afraid of.

    Justified fear is the worst kind. It enables people to give themselves permission to act like fools and then feel sanctimonious. And we can become so hell bent on protecting ourselves we don’t notice that the walls we’ve erected as shields have become our darkest tombs. Fear takes so much away from us — our objectivity, our sense of well being, our ability to trust, even our ability to feel. It’s safer to seem unaffected, to look stylish and cool.

    But there is a value to basic human connections — friends who care, partners who commit, parents who are annoying as hell but who have been there since the day you were born — the shared memories and the sense of roots and belonging. They mean something, these connections.

    But what if you are alone? What if you’ve just moved, just been divorced, got mad or just got lost? It’s really so easy to become involved again. Volunteering is a great way to become part of a community. There are people out there who want you and genuinely need you. Studies have found this has powerful benefits. Individuals who volunteer in the community see a marked improvement in their own general health, with increased longevity and a more optimistic outlook about the future. When you help others, you pretty much always help yourself.

    In summation, I offer this quote from Herman Melville, of all people: “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

    We really do need each other. Whether we like it or not.

  • Advice From The Trenches

    Advice From The Trenches

    Itt copy“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Hunter Thompson

    We don’t live in a sane world. We’re not safe behind bars. Here, on the other side of the gates of privilege, a lot of us have wandered into the trenches. It’s an easy place to get lost for a while.

    When I was a Girl Scout, I earned the wilderness badge. I admit to taking some wrong turns … but I remembered to leave a trail.

    You know, the problem with reasonable advice is that, for the most part, we are not reasonable people.

    Nobody is wandering around out here because they are good at following directions or facing the truth. We are good at coming up with explanations and excuses for the things we want to do. We think we have everyone fooled. The people around us play along – they need us to stay the same so that they can keep playing the same games too.

    Therapists may have degrees, clinical experience and the sanction of the AMA, but on a certain level, they are clueless. They diagnose by symptoms and they are expecting that the words coming out of our mouths are true. In their offices, we tend to be the prophets of our own doom.

    The most useful lessons I ever learned were in a martial arts dojo, a place where you can’t talk your way out of anything. I was thrown into the ring with cops a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier than me who didn’t give a crap that I thought I was clever and cute. I got flattened and fractured and wanted to run; by the time I was a 4th degree black belt, I’d figured something out – the reason that most of us can’t solve our problems is because we don’t really want to. Nobody is stopping us. We stop ourselves. We buy our own bullshit. We say we want things to change, but want our habits to remain the same. When we finally get a different hand, we still play it out the same way. We’re asleep at the wheel.

    I do not pretend to be board certified. I had four full scholarships; I dropped out of four universities and schools. I’ve been married and divorced twice. I don’t wear designer clothes; I buy tools. I am an artist, and our minds strongly resemble those of schizophrenics. The only reason they don’t lock us up is that we sometimes manage to make our hallucinations come true.

    Over the course of many years, and out of the darting mess of ideas in my head, I’ve produced an award-winning cable show, a best-selling product line, published five books, been awarded six grants, got an album on the charts and had a child. I’ve lived in the slums and passed through the houses of the rich. No matter who we are or what we do, life can still be bitch.

    I wrote an advice column as The Granny Doctor for five years with a clinical psychiatrist. He gave readers very sensible assessments and explanations, recommended therapy and community service. I had a tendency to open my observations with “What are you, some kind of an idiot?”

    There’s a reason those zen monks whack snoozing zazen meditators in the head. Wake up! It’s not safe to fall asleep in these trenches.

    Sister C, at your service. Don’t be surprised if you hear a yelp

    Editor’s Note: Sister C will be answering your questions with her no-nonsense advice from the trenches. Send your questions to news@motifri.com.

  • Alt-Health: Whacked

    Watching the American health system operate is like watching a game of Whack-A-Mole: a symptom pops up, a doctor smacks it down. Another one pops up and whack! It goes down. Up again, down again, over and over. Unfortunately, it is a game in which the patient seldom wins.

    The US spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world, and what we get in exchange is obesity, autism and a mind-boggling collection of addictions and chronic illnesses. Our overall health ranks 70th among 132 other nations. Something’s not working and it’s time for a change, but the machine that powers Whack-A-Mole will not turn off. It seems that someone wants to continue this game.

    Here’s something we should never forget: Healthcare in America is run by corporations. Political lobbying alone costs medical, pharmaceutical and insurance companies over 50 million bucks a year. They need to make that money back.

    This may explain why the American Medical Association wages such a relentless battle against alternative and preventive medicine — they are protecting their turf, and this war has been successful. The hard-won Affordable Care Act does not cover services for holistic or complementary treatments. This insurance only covers pills and procedures that are sanctioned by the FDA. Patients are not given a choice.

    People love to blame the doctors, but I’ve met many with good intuition and skills. They can be stifled in a system dictated by bureaucratic protocol and billing codes. Those who don’t follow procedure find themselves open to litigation or out of a job. Patients walk into offices demanding a pill. If that doctor won’t give them one, they find one who will. In a symptom-based system, this generates a lot of sales.

    On the midways of mainstream medicine, the game of Whack-A-Mole continues, the plop, plop of mallets on soft furry heads. The money keeps coming in, fueling corporations that have tendrils threaded deep into the soil of this country. If the plug was yanked, lights would blink off all across America.

    Yet the health of a people is not determined by symptoms alone. We are not simply bodies; we have hearts and minds. We are affected by the air we breathe, the streets we walk and most of all, by what we believe. We need to believe in something better. A lot of self-perpetuating crap has gotten caught in our heads.

    We trust our lives too blindly to the hands of the system. Science and technology have made amazing advancements, but people are still human — they err. A 2014 study on patient safety found as many as 440,000 people die each year from preventable medical damage in hospitals. And patients themselves defy logic. You can patch us up and send us home, and we will just go out and screw ourselves up again. We ignore directions. We live like fools. The wisdom of natural healers is sorely needed to keep us on course. Diet and nutrition are not required training for Western doctors; they need to know when to yield the floor.

    America in 2015 is not a society that supports the notion that each individual is responsible for their own health. We are held responsible for buying a lot of stuff and paying our bills. What we do to keep going is our business. The cash that is made from the clean-up is theirs.

    We are not stupid, but we are sleep deprived. Whacked into submission, with whispers and lies.

    We can be so much more than that.

    Stay tuned.

  • Keeping Peace Alive

    In a world where acts of terrorism, violence and despair dominate the news, Ginny Fox, founder of the Peace Flags Project, has a different message: One of hope. “We are all peace makers. Peace is active, peace is personal and peace is communal. The power is in our hands.”

    Ginny’s inspiration for the Peace Flags Project came from the Prayer Flags of ancient Tibet, a tradition that began more than 2,000 years ago. While the country was ruled by war lords who carried their banners into battle, native people made their own bright flags to keep the nature gods of Bon Shamanism alive. Throughout history, prayer flags have been used to heal, to promote peace, and to grow wisdom and strength. Today, the Peace Flags Project provides opportunities for both children and adults to create flags that express and share their deepest wishes for the world. It is one of the ways that they keep peace alive.

    For 12 years, the Peace Flags Project has honored September, the Month of Peace, with events held throughout Rhode Island. Some have become traditions, such as the Peace Art Exhibit at the First Unitarian Church and Peace Flag Workshops at the nine Providence Community Libraries. This year, the Peace Flag Project will also will be part of the 38th Annual Heritage Day Festival, along with the Day of Honor at Roger Williams Park Zoo in recognition of our military and community service personnel.

    The joy of celebration is a powerful force of unity. The highlight of 2015 will be Peace Fest RI, on Saturday, September 19, in Burnside Park and Kennedy Plaza. The event is free to the public and promises a dazzling array of entertainment and activity, culminating in the silent and deeply moving Peace Walk, a tradition that joins interfaith clergy and believers from every walk of life.

    Throughout the afternoon, music and movement will mingle with craft-making workshops, and hip-hop and Zumba dancers will spring to life between exhibits by many of RI’s worthy nonprofits. Storyteller Len Cabral will weave his spellbinding tales, and puppeteer Dan Butterworth will leave a trail of laughter through the crowd with his interactive rolling stage, a carnival funhouse on wheels. Be prepared for surprises — spontaneous joy may erupt when least expected.

    Over the course of the afternoon, a new banner will rise in Burnside Park, stretching more than 18 feet across and 10 feet high. This community collaboration project, which I happily developed for Peace Fest RI, gives everyone an opportunity to contribute to the finished art. Each Peace Flag made by festival goers that day will become an integral piece in a giant mosaic — a quilted tribute of hope to our American flag. By afternoon’s end, the colors will fly above the crowd, unified by the wishes and prayers of hundreds of people who gathered in name of peace.

    For Ginny Fox, Peace Month is about coming together. The Peace Flags Project wants to inspire people to realize that they can take their own important steps every day. “The small things we do can be part of building and sustaining important change. Acts of peace and of kindness make our world better.”

    In these days of darkness, that is a wonderful thing. It is something that we all can do, to keep the flame of peace alive.

    Peace Fest RI takes place on Saturday, September 19, in Burnside Park and Kennedy Plaza from 1 to 4pm. All calendar listings are available at thepeaceflagproject.org. Daily updates are available on the Peace Fest RI Facebook page. 

  • Gateway to Heroin

    Gateway to Heroin

    DSC_0007America today faces a heroin epidemic of surreal proportion, generating deaths from overdose, HIV and violent bloodshed between the drug cartels that stoke the rising demand. The surprise is that 2015’s graduating class of junkies hails not from the inner cities, but from middle and upper class America, many with incomes above $50K.

    The pushers who supplied their gateway drugs were not back alley dealers, but legitimate pharmaceutical companies operating under the sanction of mainstream western medicine.

    It is a case of history repeating itself.

    When heroin first entered our country in the late 1800s, it was hawked over-the-counter as a universal cure-all. The highly reputable Bayer pharmaceutical company launched an aggressive marketing campaign to sell its own commercial brand, promoting the drug as being non-addicting … an excellent treatment for morphine addiction! In 1906, the American Medical Association approved heroin for general use and until 1920, when the Dangerous Drug Act pulled the curtain on this medicine show, smack was dispensed freely to kids and adults alike. By the time heroin was reclassified from pharmaceutical to street drug, a market of 200,000 addicts had already been created.

    Addicts are loyal customers. Heroin remained a stable, though illicit, commodity through the early ’80s. Then in 1981 the first cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome began popping up in cities and panic followed. A fear of AIDS, along with a sudden influx of crack cocaine, changed the habits of younger urban drug users. Heroin became a drug of the aged addict, its popularity ebbing.

    At the same time, an insidious new seed of addiction was being sown in pharmaceutical laboratories.

    Hydrocodone was created in the 1920s, intended as an effective alternative to morphine with fewer side effects. After extensive testing, the National Research Council found the drug to have a potential to be highly addictive, going so far as to say, “It would be possible for an individual to become addicted to hydrocodone without even realizing it.” However, despite that caveat, hydrocodone was approved by the FDA in 1984 under the brand name Vicodin. OxyContin followed in 1995; Percocet hit the market in 1999. The prevailing attitude of doctors was: “The chance of becoming addicted to pain medications is very low if the patient follows physician’s guidelines.”

    And a new generation of addicts was born — respectable citizens, fully insured.

    Opioid dependence swept through America like dust devils in a prairie wind. Prescriptions for legal opiate drugs quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. Painkillers were everywhere and patients believed they were safe because the pills were recommended by doctors. The truth of their damaging effects did not begin to dawn until deaths due to pharmaceutical overdose more than tripled from 1999 to 2010, rising higher than the number of fatalities from cocaine and heroin combined.

    By 2007, pain clinics in Florida were dispensing drugs as liberally as M&Ms, with little medical justification and by 2010, The Sunshine State was home to 98 of the 100 U.S. physicians who dispensed the highest quantities of painkillers directly from their offices. Faced with this embarrassing evidence, Florida finally enacted stricter measures to curb excessive prescriptions.

    It seemed a completely reasonable idea: Cut off the drug source and you curb the addiction. And at first the tactic seemed to work. Overdose deaths from pharmaceuticals decreased in Florida between 2010 and 2012, due largely to stricter controls. Other states followed suit, and on the surface the problem seemed to be abating. But there was a pesky little detail that no one took much notice of at the time: While prescription drug deaths fell, those from heroin overdose more than doubled during the same time period.

    Truth: An addict will not stop seeking a fix simply because their first source has been cut off. When one door closes, they scramble quickly for the next escape hatch. People went searching for a similar, cheaper, more accessible high, and drug cartels were only too happy to supply them.

    The business of heroin has grown exponentially with this new crop of users. The time was ripe for a change. Trafficking in marijuana had lost value since it become commercially available in some states and dispensed medically in so many others. Drug cartels turned to the more lucrative profits of smack production. Once sold in seedy tenements, heroin became branded and distributed as efficiently as prescription drugs, a move made to appeal to consumers accustomed to shopping convenience and designer labels.

    Twelve million Americans reported using opioid drugs for non-medical reasons in this past year. The age of users starts at 12. Many teens began by stealing pills from their parents; by survey, almost 50% believe that taking prescription drugs is much safer than using illegal street drugs. This belief does not keep them from turning to heroin when Mom and Dad’s prescriptions run out.

    The top reason given for not receiving help for drug dependency is “a lack of health coverage and affordable treatment.” Fortunately, recent changes in health care are making the likelihood of treatment more of a reality. The Affordable Care Act of 2012 now provides coverage for addiction treatment as standard policy, and the 1988 federal ban on needle exchange programs was finally lifted in 2009. Many cities are now offering amnesty and rehab to addicts who turn themselves in. But it may already be too little, too late.

    They say that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The pharmaceutical cartels are now shoving psychiatric drugs down our throats, touting them as the key to improved living. I cannot help but recall a quote often attributed to P.T. Barnum: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

  • Alt-Health: The Garden Grows

    Alt-Health: The Garden Grows

    Recent studies have shown STD rates rising at astronomical rates across the entire country. In our own state, between 2013 and 2014, new cases of syphilis rose 79%, gonorrhea increased 30%, and the rate of HIV grew by 33%. And these are the reported cases, statistically shown to be only half of all infections. Many people who carry disease are asymptomatic — beautiful people with HIV, herpes and chlamydia who have no idea they are ill, much less infectious.

    The RI State Department of Health (RIDH) credits this trend to recent increases in high-risk behavior. Research at NYU found Craigslist to be guilty of causing a 16% increase in HIV between 1999 and 2008. Grindr, a social app for gay men, apparently spawned half of all new cases of syphilis in New Zealand in 2012.

    If you look at the current Center for Disease Control statistics, the highest risk group consists of gay males between the ages of 15 and 24. Bisexual women and heterosexual men and women developed more STDs than lesbians. Of the top 10 states with the greatest percentage of STDs, all but New York were southern states with lower levels of income and education. Blacks and Hispanics contracted syphilis in disproportionately high numbers.

    But there was something else I could see along with the burgeoning epidemic: On educational sites, surveys show that the states with the most new STDs also had the least amount of sex education in schools. In Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, abstinence is often preached. Describing the use of condoms is considered pornographic.

    Rosemary Reilly, an HIV/AIDS specialist for RIDH, has a better idea: education is essential for every sexually active individual. The danger is so great now. In recent outbreaks of syphilis, high rates of HIV co-infection were also documented, sometimes up to 70%. The genital sores of syphilis make it easier to transmit the virus.

    Unfortunately, the highest risk group consists largely of teens, with brains that have not yet matured enough to realize the extent of consequence. Authority’s dire threats are fairy tales told by adults who demand respect while they act like children. The natural urges of gay teens make them the targets of derision and shame. What is more natural than to hide all activity from parents and teachers and ignore advice from a glowering authority figure? Clear, straight-forward education is key.

    The sexual drive of a human being is never as strong as when we are below the age of consent, without fully rational minds. We forget that as adults, and are horrified at the sensuality of 15-year-olds. But neither our horror nor suppression will stop their sexuality. There is a want in people that cannot be denied. It is born with us and grows like a seed. Keeping it in darkness only serves to twist it, like a wormy plant grown without light.

    The cost to our country is astronomical. STDs drain the economy of 16 billion dollars a year. And yet another disturbing fact: the rising teen suicide rate includes a percentage of deaths due to auto asphyxiation during masturbation. Parents cover up evidence and pretend it is accidental. But although 45% of teen suicides are from firearms, 40% are due to suffocation, “including strangulation.” Not all are hanging from rafters.

    It is time that sex education became mandatory in our schools, but more importantly, a reality has to be faced. Young people want to have sex, no matter what we believe or wish they would do. Disapproval and suppression only drive them to secret places … and who bothers to think of condoms or consequence there?

     

    (Slightly) related video: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/860581734031952

     

  • Ask Dr. Brilliant Cliche and the Granny Doctor: Freedom

    Ask Dr. Brilliant Cliche and the Granny Doctor: Freedom

    Dear Dr. Brilliant Cliché;
    After I dropped out of school I got caught for a petty crime — I shoplifted some CDs. Anyway, my parents got me intothis “rehab” program so I could minimize the impact of my pilfering. They feel like they’ve done their job, the state thinks I’m reforming and everyone’s happy. I’m supposed to go back to school and get my life on track.

    Here’s the problem — I just don’t give a damn. I don’t give a crap about college. I just want to experience life before I lock myself into the prison I’ve watched my parents live in. I feel like this is all a lie and I just want to run away from it. Any reason I shouldn’t?
    Jane Reb

    Dear Jane,
    Yes; you could go to prison for real. You may be right — your parents live in a box. We all do in one way or another. But I think you have the wrong idea about freedom. Freedom isn’t getting to do whatever you want whenever you want. That is just a state of limbo because life’s struggles are one of the things that define us. There is no meaning if you live just the moment. With that type of existence, it’s as if you are the wind and you are only defined by the damage you leave behind after you have blown through.

    A more valuable freedom lies in choosing what defines you. There is freedom in choosing the path and the vocation that will support the walls of your individual box. Perhaps your parents chose their children to define them. They probably worked 9-5, paid the mortgage and provided your basic needs so that you had the opportunity to go to school, play and have a decent life. Those walls, although
    invisible, provided the structure and consistency necessary to raise healthy children.

    In rejecting any structure, you run the risk of having one imposed on you — for example, prison. You are not unique in your thinking. What people want is often determined by the culture they are trying to
    escape from; thus when they get what they want it isn’t really what they need. A word of caution: You think you are making judgments on facts when you’re really making them purely on feelings. I suggest that you go see the play Pippin; it is about someone asking the same question that you are.
    Dr. Brilliant Cliché

    Granny says: If you want to experience life and you want it to be a good experience, you are going to need more than a collection of adventures. You are going to need to be able to take care of yourself in the long run.

    Going to college right after high school is not necessarily for everyone. It’s not a bad idea to take some time and see the world; many kids waste their time in college because they don’t know what they want to do. They spend their time partying rather than learning. There is no virtue in being an aimless academic with a hangover.

    Just keep this in mind — if you don’t get a college degree, or at least some solid vocational education, you are going to be at a disadvantage wherever you go. A lack of qualifications builds the walls to a box you may never get out of. You won’t be qualified for the rewarding, better paying jobs unless you happen to be extremely talented, well-connected AND lucky as hell. Oh, and have the ability to handle repeated rejection. Most people just can’t go this route.

    Take some time off after high school if you want. Travel and get some practical experience. See what interests you, what you are drawn to. But don’t sell yourself short and try to wing it on your fabulous personality and youthful charm. If you get a degree and don’t want to use it, fine. But you will never regret earning one. That is a promise.

    https://drbrilliantcliche.wordpress.com

  • Alt-Health: Sunscreen, Summer and Skin Cancer

    Every time I research a health topic, I uncover something that surprises the crap out of me. I assumed that sunscreen protects us from the damaging effects of the sun. Turns out the opposite may be true — cases of skin cancer have actually increased since its introduction to the general market.

    The ancient Egyptians used plant extracts to protect against sun damage. Zinc oxide paste has been applied to noses for thousands of years. But it wasn’t until the late 1920s that inventors began producing synthetic commercial sunscreens. One of the first was invented in 1938 by Franz Greiter, the man who also invented SPF (sun protection factor.) He called his formula “Glacier Cream.” It had an SPF of 2.

    In 1944, Benjamin Green gave us Red Vet Pet, a sticky and largely ineffectual substance that was supplied to GIs in WWII. In 1950, Coppertone improved and reintroduced Red Vet Pet to the public as Coppertone Girl and Bain de Soleil. The first Coppertone ads featured a 4-year-old girl with her lips pursed in surprise as a cocker spaniel pulled her swimsuit down, revealing a pure white bottom in contrast to a burnished brown tan. “Don’t be a paleface!” the ad teases. It promises “a magic ingredient that screens out harmful burning sun rays.” People took this invitation at its word.

    In 2011 the US Food and Drug Administration finally released standards for sunscreen labels. By now it was known that sunscreen was not the protective panacea it had been heralded to be. In truth, those advertising campaigns may have been responsible for many preventable cases of skin cancer. Here are the facts: Damage from the sun is caused by UV rays. There are two different types — UVA and UVB. The SPF of a sunscreen can be misleading — conventional sunscreens offer UVB protection against sunburn, but they block very few of the UVA rays that increase the rate of melanoma and cause the invisible damage that causes premature aging. A broad spectrum suncreen includes UVA blockers, but it doesn’t offer 100% protection.

    Scary facts:

    • According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, sustaining five or more sunburns in youth increases a person’s lifetime melanoma risk by 80%.

    • The rate of new melanoma cases has tripled since the 1970s.

    How is that possible? Shouldn’t the widespread use of sunscreen have slowed the rate, at least a little?

    The problem with sunscreen is that when people use it, they spend more time in the sun. Research shows that the higher the SPF, the safer people feel exposing themselves to dangerous amounts of radiation. But even an SPF of 100 doesn’t provide an impenetrable shield. Sunscreen is a viscous liquid that easily rubs or washes off of our sweaty summer skin. Even water resistant sunblock needs to be applied repeatedly. Properly used, broad spectrum sunscreen can provide protection against certain types of cancer, but it is surprising how few people use it as directed.

    Odd facts:

    • Outdoor workers report lower rates of melanoma than indoor workers.

    • Cancer rates are higher in northern cities with less year-round UV intensity than in cities with tropical sun.

    Why? Studies have found that Vitamin D actually helps prevent skin cancer. Ironically, sunscreens often block the Vitamin D producing rays, but allow the cancer causing rays through.

    Here are the recommended rules of prevention:

    • Don’t use sunscreen as an excuse to fry yourself.

    • Pick a product with strong UVA protection.

    • Cover up! Think big hats and diaphanous white clothing.

    • Boycott tanning beds. They dramatically increase the risk of melanoma and premature aging.

    • Avoid sunburn for yourself and especially protect children! Early life sunburns are worse.

    • Get a healthy dose of vitamin D. This varies from 10 minutes a day for very fair skinned people to 20 minutes for people with darkest skin.

    Remember: The skin you’re in is yours forever.

    drbrilliantcliche.wordpress.com

  • Dr. Brilliant Cliche and The Granny Doctor: Internet Creep

    Dr. Brilliant Cliche and The Granny Doctor: Internet Creep

    mouseDear Dr. Brilliant Cliché,

    My 19-year-old daughter isn’t really into school, she’s attending because I want her to. Recently, she met a 35-year-old man online who is from across the country. After two months she thinks she is in love with him. They Skype and she has seen his son and says he is real cute and she loves him too. The man claims he got custody of his child after the end of an abusive relationship with the mom. My daughter wants to drop everything and move in with him.

    So far, she has submitted to my ultimatum: “Over my dead body!” But I think that when she turns 20 she plans to leave. What can I do? She says they relate because he “doesn’t think like a 35-year-old.” This is what scares me — my daughter is not the most mature kid on the block. What if she goes? He says his ex was the abusive one but it takes two to tango. What if she has kids? I don’t want to be burdened taking care of her kids should it come to that.

    HELP!

    Fearful Mom,

    Dear Mom,

    Unfortunately, unless your daughter can be proven so mentally ill that she cannot be responsible for her own decisions, there is little you can do. Despite her emotional immaturity, her age qualifies her as an adult. Perhaps you could tell her, “You can go, but I have to move in with you too.” It often helps children behave in school if a parent threatens to go in and sit behind them.

    As far as any kids that your daughter may have, that’s a tough issue. What does one do with adult children who have children of their own? I hope that this guy would step up to the plate, but statistically it is unlikely. You should talk to your husband about what your plans are, when and if that should happen. I would also talk to your daughter about a copper IUD; it is good for 10 years. It has a higher risk of infertility than shorter methods, but it doesn’t require any maintenance. Talk to your daughter and her physician about options. Preventative medicine is the best policy here.

    Good luck,

    Dr. Brilliant Cliché

    Granny says: Your daughter is a fool, Mom. Let me relate a true story to you; this actually happened to an airhead friend of mine.

    Jude was a fanciful girl who smoked a lot of pot and tended to think in “cosmic” ways. She struck up a correspondence on the internet with a guy in California who claimed to have his own ranch. He understood her deepest thoughts. They felt the same way about the cosmos and about life and love. He sent her pictures and made promises and she was so besotted that she packed up all her stuff and drove across the country to be with him. When she got there, this smelly little gnome of a guy greeted her at the end of a dirt road, where she followed him to his cabin. Thank god she had her own car. It turns out the guy was a consummate liar and he was actually the caretaker for a large ranch someone else owned. He’d lied about everything. The only reason they “understood each other so well” was that they were both equally stoned and lacked a sense of concrete reality.

    Here’s a message to your daughter, Mom: Anybody can say ANYTHING on the internet and make it sound true. Nothing in their real life has to match the fantasy — not their age, their occupation or even their gender. All they have to do is convince someone without any ambition or life plan to believe them. If she’s lucky, your daughter will simply be let down. If she’s unlucky, she could end up dead.

    Men will say anything to get what they want. They prey on young impressionable kids like your daughter because no one else will fall for their crap. The internet is a perfect place to do this. Any 35-year-old man who is picking up teens on the internet is a LOSER, no matter how you look at it.

    As far as what you can do? I’d show your daughter this column. It may not open her eyes but I hope to god it prompts her to ask a few more questions. Another idea — have your daughter ask the guy to fly out and meet you and your husband. If he’s really serious, he’d welcome the chance to make his intentions known to Mom and Dad. If he refuses, that picture speaks a thousand words.

     

     

  • Alt-Health: Allergies and Nutrition

    Alt-Health: Allergies and Nutrition

    Allergy season is here. You can tell by the blotchy green dust on your car, the sniggley, snitchy sneezing, and your weeping eyes. Doctors recommend that you begin taking an allergy medication right away and stay on it for the duration. Before you step blindly onto this unending treadmill, we’d like to give you some information that your doctor probably didn’t.

    First, symptoms begin when the seasonal pollen and mold counts go up … this much is obvious. But did you know that those symptoms can then be increased dramatically by many factors other than pollen and dust mold? Ask yourself the following questions:

    • Do you spend hours by the pool seeking relief from the summer heat? Chlorine fumes can irritate nasal passageways and increase congestion.

    • Are you drinking to forget your allergies? Oops. Any kind of alcohol increases the blood flow to your nasal membranes, making allergy symptoms worse.

    • Are you using a humidifier to combat dry air? You are also providing an incubator for dust mites, which thrive in moisture. Get rid of the humidifier and see if your symptoms improve.

    • Do you notice that your symptoms increase after meals? Allergy sufferers often have antibodies in their systems that cause them to overreact to specific foods. If you are allergic to ragweed, your symptoms will worsen after eating bananas, melons, cucumber or zucchini. If your problem is with tree pollen, apples, pears, peaches, hazelnuts, kiwi, carrots or celery will cause your symptoms to accelerate. And this brings us to another important fact: The food that you eat can greatly lessen the severity of allergy symptoms. Nutrition can be a powerful weapon against seasonal suffering.

    • Histamine is the substance responsible for your itching, sneezing and watery eyes. Vitamin C naturally lowers histamine levels and boosts allergy-fighting hormones in the adrenal glands. Try taking 2,000 to 3,000 mg of vitamin C daily during allergy season. It works best taken in 500 mg doses over the course of the day.

    • Some scientists think the rise in allergies may be caused by a lack of bacteria in the gut, ironically, due to cleaner living conditions. Probiotics can replenish those bacteria and some studies show this reduces allergy symptoms. Probiotics occur naturally in fermented foods, such as yogurt and kefir, or in much higher concentrations in supplement form.

    * Drinking hot fluids breaks up congestion without shriveling up your nasal passages as pseudoephedrine can. It’s a counterintuitive move in summer heat, but it works.

    • Omega-3 fatty acids in fish and plant oils improve lung functioning in adults with asthma and lessen allergy symptoms by strengthening the immune system overall.

    The skeptics among you may ask, “Great. Nutrition can improve my symptoms. But why bother when I can just take a freakin’ pill?” And you are right. Taking a pill is easier. But in addition to instant temporary relief, you are getting some side effects you may not have been aware of. Here’s a few other facts to consider:

    • Medications that make you drowsy can also put your libido to sleep. Numerous people have reported that when their allergy symptoms went away, so did their sex drive. Ya gotta weigh your options.

    • Those antihistamines that block your itching and sniffles are also sold as a sleep remedy one aisle over, right next to the Unisom. They can have a decidedly dampening effect on your energy level. For those of you who are prone to depression, this sedative effect can further sink your mood and cause cognitive impairment in the bargain.

    • Feeling jittery and snappish? Anxiety and mood swings can be triggered by decongestants and other stimulant medications. Be careful about mixing caffeine with this stuff; it’s like swallowing combustible rocket fuel. If you have anger management issues, just say no.

    • Some nasal sprays contain ingredients that unpleasantly alter the taste of foods and affect your sense of smell. If you are a chef with a drippy nose, you may want to reconsider your remedies.

    Allergy symptoms are increasing every year, in part due to rising carbon dioxide levels, which affect the pollen production of ragweed and other allergen-inducing plants. As climate changes continue to evolve, allergies will probably worsen.

    If we rely solely on medicines to alleviate our symptoms, we are going to need larger and more potent doses as time goes on. The smarter choice may be to enact a preemptive strike and increase our resistance to environmental allergens. In addition to the nutritional remedies suggested, acupuncture, as well as herbal and homeopathic remedies, provide relief. Talk with a naturopathic physician or the nutritional manager at your local health store. They always know more than the doctors do.

    Personally, I am sick of supporting the pharmaceutical companies. I’d like to give someone else a chance.