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WDDTY e-News Service - 25 July 2003

Fri, 25 Jul 2003 08:33:25 +0100

 

 

WHAT DOCTORS DON’T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST No.45 - 25 July 03

 

Please feel free to email this broadcast to any friends you feel would

appreciate receiving it.

 

 

 

 

HRT: It kills you, but first it makes you mad

 

It never rains but it pours for the HRT industry. One of the most lucrative

drugs markets came crashing down with the sudden stopping of the Women's Health

Initiative trial when last year it was discovered that estrogen plus progestin

increased the risk of stroke in post-menopausal women.

 

This alarming discovery overshadowed another finding from the same trial-finally

published only recently-that found the therapy also increases the risk of

dementia among women aged over 65.

 

In fact, the risk is more than doubled in women who take one HRT tablet a day

compared with those taking a placebo.

 

The risk was discovered after tracking over a four-year period the progress of

4,532 women who were older than 65 and had good mental health at the start of

the study. Half were given HRT therapy and the rest had a placebo.

 

Overall 61 women were diagnosed with dementia, 40 of whom were in the HRT group

and 21 in the placebo group.

 

Researchers estimate that HRT will create an additional 23 cases of dementia a

year for every 10,000 women taking the drug.

 

The risk of dementia, coupled with the increased risk of stroke, means that the

risks of HRT outweigh any benefits, the study concludes.

 

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 289: 2651-62).

 

 

 

BUT THIS DOESN'T APPLY TO GERMANS. We mentioned it once, but we think we've got

away with it

 

In an extraordinary act of damage limitation, one HRT manufacturer has told

several thousand German gynaecologists that the Women's Health Initiative

findings are of " highly limited relevance " to German women.

 

The gynaecologists received this strange piece of information from a fax sent by

Prof Alexander Teichmann, based in a clinic in southern Germany. The fax also

included an information sheet for doctors to copy and hand out to patients.

 

When suspicious doctors traced the fax back, they discovered it had been sent

from two German drug companies that sell HRT. Prof Teichmann later denied

sending the leaflet, or even agreeing to its contents.

 

Finally, Schering, a drug company that manufactures HRT, admitted sending out

the fax without the knowledge of Prof Teichmann. Schering said it " regretted

the misunderstanding " .

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2003; 326: 1161).

 

 

 

HEALTH TIP OF THE WEEK. Don't eat raw snails

 

If you take nothing else from all our Email broadcasts, take only this and pass

it on to the younger generations: don't eat raw snails.

 

It's a lesson that one South Vietnamese gentleman and his two sons had to learn

the hard way. They were rushed to hospital suffering from fever, headaches and

confusion, and eventually the father became comatose and rigid.

 

When finally the two sons recovered (the father is still bed-ridden, and is

helped to perform basic daily activities), they told doctors that all three had

been eating snails.

 

Raw snails are a delicacy in South Vietnam where they are often washed down with

rice wine.

 

Unfortunately, the snails are a common cause of a form of meningitis, which

occurs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific basin. Infection comes from eating the

larvae in uncooked snails or slugs, freshwater prawns, frogs and fish, so sushi

lovers should also beware.

 

As one of the doctors who treated the three said: " Those who partake rarely know

the dangers of a raw snail supper. " But you, dear readers, do.

 

(Source: The Lancet, 2003; 361: 1866).

 

 

 

BLOOD PRESSURE: It's enough to make your blood boil

 

What is a 'health condition' that therefore needs drug intervention? Well, it's

pretty much what the medical profession defines it to be.

 

Take, for example, the definition of high blood pressure, or hypertension. New

guidelines from the National Institutes of Health in the USA have lowered the

risk levels before drug therapy is called for. From now on, in the States at

least, 'normal' blood pressure is less than 120/80 mm Hg, a pre-hypertensive

state is 120/80 to 139/89, stage one hypertension-and this where the drugs now

kick ion-is 140/90 to 159/99. Under the old guidelines, 'normal' blood pressure

was around 128/80 mm Hg, which is now pre-hypertensive.

 

Doctors are recommending two drugs to treat this new lower threshold of

hypertension-thiazide diuretics and a hypertensive. Unfortunately some of the

drugs recommended cause impotence, a small price to pay, many would agree, to

meet the exacting new threshold, and incidentally increase the coffers of the

drugs industry.

 

Fortunately, European levels are more reasonable. So, in those countries,

people don't have hypertension, nor will they become impotent.

 

All this moving of the goalposts may be in vain if a new study has anything to

do with it. It has discovered that the old-fashioned low-dose diuretics are

sufficient on their own to reduce blood pressure. In fact they are more

effective than the new boys on the block, the antihypertensives, which the

National Institutes of Health are keen that more of us take.

 

Researchers studied 42 clinical trials of different antihypertensives, which

involved 192,478 patients, and found that none of the new front-line

treatments-which include ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers and beta

blockers-was any better than the low-dose diuretics.

 

(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 289: 2534-44).

 

 

 

READERS' CORNER

 

The vaccine mothers: Most of you should have received our mid-week alert about

the appeal hearing for the mothers who are being forced by the courts to have

their children vaccinated, in accordance with the wishes of their estranged

ex-partners.

 

The appeal was heard on Thursday-and thanks to all of you who turned up at the

Royal Courts of Justice to protest-and the decision will be announced in the

next day or so.

 

Thanks to those who emailed us their supportive messages. Several blokes

emailed us that we were being 'sexist' by favouring the mothers over the fathers

('as expected', one said). In the first place, these Enews alerts are written

by a man (see last item), so our views may not be quite as expected as some

would suppose, but the point is nothing to do with sexism or otherwise. It's

about the dangerous precedent of the state intervening in what until now has

been a voluntary act. Once this precedent has been established, it could be

used in other cases where the state might deem its intervention to be in

somebody's best interests.

 

In the meantime we are continuing our appeal for donations to help with the

mothers' expenses. You can send cheques, made payable to 'The MMR Account', to

WDDTY. 2 Salisbury Road, London SW19 4EZ, or email your credit card details to:

mmrfund, or fax them to 0870 444 9887. Thank you for any help you

can give.

 

 

Amisulpride: One reader has a client who has been prescribed Amisulpride. As he

(or she) has been unable to find the drug mentioned in any pharmacopoeia, he

wonders if his client is being used as a guinea pig.

 

Well, every patient is a guinea pig every time a prescription is handed out, but

Amisulpride is a well-established anti-psychotic for schizophrenia. According

to a Cochrane review, carried out earlier this year, the drug is mild compared

to other anti-psychotics, and yet can successfully treat schizophrenia. But

please let us know of your patient's progress; it's often a different story from

that produced by the medical studies.

 

 

Amalgams: Our case study last week about the woman who cured herself of many

ailments by removing her amalgam fillings has prompted several responses. One

reader wants to know how toxins that get stored in the body's tissues can be

removed after the fillings have been taken out. According to our Dental

Handbook, important vitamins and minerals to take after the fillings have been

removed include free-radical scavengers such as vitamins A, C and E, copper,

zinc and manganese which help to clear out mercury, selenium, alginate and

pectin to help absorb heavy metals, and zinc to counter high levels of lead,

mercury and cadmium. To order a copy of The WDDTY Dental Handbook, click on

this link: www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=10.

 

Another reader is keen to contact the holistic dentist John Roberts, mentioned

in last week's case study. John, who practices in Huddersfield, can be

contacted on 01484 514451.

 

 

Fats and diabetes: Following on from our story last week about a high-fat diet

and diabetes, a reader points out that fats on their own do not cause diabetes.

They need to be taken in combination with carbohydrates to have an adverse

effect. A therapist called Kwasniewski is curing diabetes, our reader tells us,

with a high-fat diet that also includes saturates. A point worth making, but it

does no more than confirm what we were stating about the virtues of the

Montignac diet, which is a low-carb, medium-fat regime.

 

 

Who's behind the Enews? One reader wishes to congratulate the person who writes

the Enews for " the content and the wit with which they are written " . So, step

forward Bryan Hubbard, WDDTY's publisher, and take a bow for your erudition and

wit. (Now sit down, shut up, and get on with it).

 

 

Listen to Lynne

 

On the radio: Hear Lynne McTaggart on Passion the new DAB Digital Radio Station

focusing on your health and your environment -

http://www.wddty.co.uk/passion_main.asp

 

On demand: Select and listen to any of Lynne's archived broadcasts on Passion,

there's a new one each week - http://www.wddty.co.uk/passion_archive.asp

 

 

View missed/lost e-News broadcasts:

 

View our e-News broadcast archives, follow this link -

http://www.wddty.co.uk/archive.asp

 

 

Help us spread the word

 

If you can think of a friend or acquaintance who would like a FREE copy of What

Doctors Don't Tell You, please forward their name and address to:

info.

 

Please forward this e-news on to anyone you feel may be interested,they can

free by clicking on the following this link:

http://www.wddty.co.uk/e-news.asp. Thank you.

 

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