Well, don't even get me started on vaccines...and as for medicine, there are plenty of vitamin supplements you can buy to keep you healthy.
I do, however, want to share with you a letter I just received from Dr. Jay Gordon, a pediatrician in California who I met at the Green Our Vaccines rally in Washington D.C. last summer. I think he offers some excellent advice and rationalization.
Without further ado...Dr. Jay Gordon:
Greetings!
Just wash your hands.
Every year, hundreds of viruses pass through the pediatric and adult community. Many of the bugs are disruptive and keep kids out of school and adults away from work. Some of the viruses have unique signs and symptoms, but most just cause amorphous aches, sneezing, coughing or intestinal upset.
Influenza viruses, especially new ones, trigger more news stories and can be made to seem much more frightening and dangerous than they really are. Government agencies and media don't supply statistical context and make it sound like you've got a "fifty-fifty" chance of contracting this new virus. They then make it sound like a lot of people who get this influenza end up in the hospital and may die. Statistically, nothing could be further from the truth: The chance that the new virus is really dangerous is small. The chance that you'll get it is much, much smaller, and the possibility that you or a family member will be harmed by the virus is so slim that the news should be on page twenty, not page one.
Swine Flu is a virus for which there is no vaccine, no threat to your family and there are undoubtedly tens of thousands of harmless undiagnosed cases throughout the world. The news stories are probably taking a hundred questionable respiratory deaths in Mexico and guessing.
There actually is a very, very small chance that this virus could cause severe illness and whenever this occurs hospitalization and even fatalities are reported. The likelihood of a pandemic is minuscule, but newspapers, governments agencies and the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals do their best work and make their biggest sales when people are scared.
Tamiflu is recommended for treatment and prevention of this influenza virus. The company which gets the drug's royalties (Gilead) has as a major stockholder--previously Chairman--one Donald Rumsfeld.
Local pharmacies are already running low on Tamiflu.
Connect these dots.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN2445216420090424
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tamiflu.asp
http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53O17O20090425
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200904251215dowjonesdjonline000319&title=who-says-initial-findings-show-swine-flu-responds-to-tamiflu
The usual boring admonitions apply: wash your hands, stay well-rested and well-hydrated. You do not need to buy Tamiflu. It is an effective antiviral drug but has possible side effects.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/health-illness/treatment/medicine/medications/tamiflu-psych.htm
As far as our office prescribing Tamiflu, we would rather not, but we will if you insist. I promise you that I personally am purchasing none for my family and would recommend the same to you.
Best,Jay
JNG, MD FAAP
http://www.drjaygordon.com
So there you have it...the most valuable information you'll receive during this trying time of doubt--get plenty of rest; eat nutritious meals; practice excellent hand washing techniques; keep hydrated, especially on these hot, muggy days; and lastly, find a great multi-vitamin to help give your body the vitamins and minerals it's lacking.
**UPDATE**
The CDC just announced on live TV they're considering a vaccine. Give me a break! Do they not understand viruses mutate and a vaccine developed today will be completely useless tomorrow? Looks like pharmaceutical companies are in it to make money, once again.
In other news, I was recently asked to do an entry regarding artificial sweeteners and their dangers, as well as healthy alternatives. I'm going to try to further research and write that information later this week.
In the meantime, stay healthy!
10 comments:
though you may not realize it, you and i are in tune quite often about the things that go on in my life that you then write about. I was reading FIRST or another woman mag last week and it said that the ingredient in Sweet and Low will cause a person to get the flushed blotchy face that i now live with. I never had the problem till i taught myself how to make coffee in 2008 and started drinking it daily with creamer and sweet and low.
thank you for telling us common sense will save us from this newest panic.
XO
I Agree wash your hands!! Can't wait to see the sugar story, HUGS Cass
My kids were sort of panicked and I told them, its like any other flu, just wash your hands, and dont share food and drinks with other people and you'll be fine.
Just happened to come about to your blog. I am in total agreement with you and this "swine flu." Friends of mine who know I do an alternative delay immunization schedule, are calling me and asking me, What are you going to do? Give me a break. We do not get the flu vaccine, there are many, many, many vaccines my children are not going to get. I am not going to start now because the media is putting out stories and scaring people. Thank you for the article too. Enjoying reading your blog. Will be back soon.
Great advice! I wish more understood the need to wash hands and how germs are passed. There's a person at work that goes to the restroom, I assume washes his/her hands, returns to desk, puts on lotion, then pulls a kleenex and blows his/her nose, then proceeds to pick up the phone, type, etc. And, I just want to scream, you've got it backwards!!!!
I stopped doing artificial sweeteners, for the most part, years ago. Except! Breathe mints. It's nearly impossible to find one that isn't made with it and I'm a breathe mint addict.
Amen, Toots! Throw in a daily dose of pro-biotic and up your vitamin C for your immune system. Keep your diet clean, drink water (allll of the time). Lastly, exercise/ sweat regularly (releases toxins through the skin). People would be amazed at how they DON'T get sick.
Thanks for sharing this info, B. I am going to let Beau read it, because this morning he came downstairs while I was watching the stupidity on the Today show. He didn't say anything, but I know he was thinking about it, and so many things make him worry. And worry can make you sick! Argh!
xo
Thank God someone is speaking rationally!!! I laughed when I saw the Swine Flu CDC conference. Are you kidding me?!?! It's a FLU, not the plague!! And, my neighbor's daughter said "My Mom is taking me today to get that flu shot for the swine flu". I didn't even bother arguing, I said "Oh okay, have fun being sick tomorrow". UGGGHHH! People, if you would think for yourselves, it would make the world a better place!
LL Cool
Oh, and using Sweet & Low may have caused a brain disease in a friend of mine. They can't prove it, but that's what the Neurologist told them. How about using what nature produces, SUGAR!
oh dear God I feel argumentative today...to Anonymous.....
Nature does not produce sugar, it produces sugar cane. If you want to knaw on that, its natural. Granulated sugar is a processed chemical that man makes out of sugar cane. Its not a healthy option at all. Stevia, Agave Nectar and I think Xylitol? Yes to those, NO TO SUGAR.
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