WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU

[Guest guest]

E-news broadcast - 17 August 2006 No.284

 

 

Help us spread the word

 

This broadcast is copyright-free. Please e-mail this on to any

friends you think would appreciate receiving it. Better yet, get

them to join the WDDTY community by registering on our website -

www.wddty.co.uk - to receive their own E-bulletins twice a week.

Thank you.

 

 

 

News content

 

 

 

ANTIBIOTICS: Not so fast, doc

 

HEART DRUG: It causes major gastric problems

 

CIRRHOSIS: Coffee can reduce the risk

 

HOT FLASHES: It's more to do with insomnia than the menopause

CAR SEATS: They're safer than seat belts

 

 

ANTIBIOTICS: Not so fast, doc

 

The doctor's promise to 'first do no harm' may have to be altered

to: 'First do nothing'. Doctors who do not immediately prescribe

antibiotics for treating conjunctivitis and upper respiratory

infections find their patients do just as well – and without

suffering any drug side effects.

 

With or without antibiotics, common and minor ailments seem to last

for about the same amount of time and with similar levels of

discomfort, new research has found.

 

The one advantage of antibiotic therapy is that it can prevent

complications - but the risk is so small with most of the common

ailments that the possible side effects of the drug outweigh any

benefit. Side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and rash

are common, and unnecessary prescribing is merely adding to the

problem of antibiotic resistance.

 

In one study researchers tracked the progress of 307 patients with

acute conjunctivitis, the eye infection. Some were immediately

prescribed antibiotic eye drops, others were given nothing, while

the rest started antibiotic treatment three days after visiting the

doctor.

 

There was no difference between the immediate and delayed action

groups in terms of the severity and duration of the disease,

although the delayed action group had used fewer eye drops.

 

It's a pattern that repeats across a range of minor ailments.

Previous studies found that delayed, and reduced, antibiotic use

made no difference in the recovery of children with acute otitis

media, the ear infection, or in patients with upper respiratory

tract infections, such as the cold.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 321-4, and 311-2).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEART DRUG: It causes major gastric problems

 

 

 

Manufacturers of the heart drug Aldactone (spironolactone) saw sales

soar after a study in 2004 found that it helped patients recover

after suffering severe heart failure.

 

It's a powerful diuretic that removes surplus fluid from the

bloodstream or tissues, and it can also prevent salt retention in

patients with heart failure.

 

As such, it's been used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension),

congestive heart failure, kidney and liver disease, and conditions

where there are abnormally low levels of potassium in the blood.

 

Better yet, it seemed to be 'well tolerated', as doctors put it. In

other words, it has side effects that aren't too worrying, and they

include nausea, headache, low blood pressure, constipation,

dizziness, and shortness of breath.

 

There had been a few rumours that it might cause stomach problems,

such as ulcers and gastric bleeding, but these had never been

verified.

 

But a new study, involving 306,000 patients taking Aldactone, has

discovered that it dramatically increases the risk of gastric or

duodenal ulcer - in fact, by nearly three times.

 

Does the risk outweigh the drug's benefits? Probably not, but at

least patients know why they have serious stomach problems all of a

sudden - and new patients can be told about the risks, too.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 333: 330-3).

 

· YOU DON'T have to risk your stomach to protect your heart.

There's plenty you can do that's safer and just as effective. It's

all explained in the WDDTY Heart Pack, a special offer that we've

put together for every reader of E-News. It includes our best-

selling book, My Healthy Heart, plus four special reports on heart

health. To order your copy,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CIRRHOSIS: Coffee can reduce the risk

 

 

 

OK, so you had one too many glasses of wine the night before, and

the thing you desire more than anything else right now is a strong

cup of coffee.

 

Natural as this pattern may seem, it seems to make sense medically,

too.

 

Researchers have found that there's an ingredient in coffee that

protects against cirrhosis of the liver, often caused by too much

alcohol.

 

When they studied the drinking habits of 125,000 participants,

reearchers found that the heavy drinkers' chances of developing

alcoholic cirrhosis fell in proportion to the amount of coffee they

were drinking.

 

Tea drinkers and people who drank just one cup of coffee a day had

almost no protection, while those who drank four or more cups of

coffee every day halved their chances of developing cirrhosis.

 

As an alternative we suppose they could just stop drinking so much

booze in the first place.

 

(Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2006; 166: 1190-5).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOT FLASHES: It's more to do with insomnia than the menopause

 

 

 

Many middle-aged women suffer uncomfortable 'hot flashes'. These

sudden rises in body temperature have been blamed on the menopause -

but researchers now reckon the problem has more to do with insomnia.

 

They're not sure if the flashes cause the insomnia, or it's the lack

of sleep that causes the flashes, but either way there seems to be

more of an association between the two than with the menopause.

 

The researchers interviewed 3,243 women in California whose ages

ranged from 35 to 65 years. The vast majority - nearly 60 per cent -

hadn't reached menopause, just 22 per cent were going through the

menopause, and the rest were postmenopausal.

 

Chronic insomnia - defined as poor or non-restorative sleep over a

six-month period - was experienced by 80 per cent of all women who

also suffered hot flashes.

 

(Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2006; 166: 1262-7).

 

· IF YOU'RE suffering from hot flashes, or if you're

approaching the menopause, you may want to give your body a tune

up. Everything you need to know about the best vitamins, exercise

and other beneficial lifestyle choices can be found in our special

Women's Health Pack, which we've put together for every reader of

this E-news bulletin. The pack includes two of our best-selling

books - Guide to Women's Health and the Guide to the Menopause -

together with a special report. It represents great value. As with

all our special packs, it offers a big cost saving compared with

buying the publications separately. To claim your Women's Health

pack,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAR SEATS: They're safer than seat belts

 

 

 

If you have a small child in your car, does the standard seat belt

offer enough protection? According to new evidence, the answer is

an emphatic 'no'.

 

Even children up to the age of six years have far more protection in

a proper child safety seat, if it's fitted properly.

 

Researchers looked at the accident reports from head-on car crashes

over a five-year period. A child safety seat reduced the risk of

death by 28 per cent, they found.

 

(Source: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2006; 160:

617-21).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to Lynne

 

 

On the radio: Hear Lynne McTaggart on Passion the innovative 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