This Is Your Brain On [Psychotropic] Drugs

Life is full of emotions. Happy. Sad. Nervous. Frightened. Excited. Depressed. Crazy. Anxious. All of these are a normal part of life. Everyone experiences these emotions at one point or another.

At times these emotions may lend themselves to be more intense than at other times. I've experienced this myself in life. I remember the overwhelming sense of joy I felt when I finally graduated college and landed my first job. That was an incredible high for me. I can also remember being at the lowest of lows in life just a few years prior as pharmacy school and my personal life seemed to come crashing down on me. That was an awful feeling that seemed to last forever and something I never want to experience again. When times like these come in life we often turn to those closest to us to share in our experiences—good, bad, or ugly. Our friends and family are our personal counselors.

Today, however, every emotion has been labeled as a "disease" or "disorder". Every human being walking the face of the planet is mentally ill, according to the drug manufacturers anyway. These greedy business entities have designed a system where they profit off of everyday life experiences of people. Depressed because of a breakup or loss of a loved one? Big Pharma deems you as having major depressive disorder. Anxious when you attend new functions and meet new people? You have social anxiety disorder. Have a typical, energetic 6 year old who can't sit still in class for hours on end (because everyone knows that little kids are supposed to be able to do this)? Your child is suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Take The Thanksgiving Challenge

by guest blogger Jody Perrecone

Remember when we sat down at the table as a family for dinner? When we bought local food?  When we knew the shop keepers?  When food was prepared by a person and didn’t come out of a box?  

Maybe not all of us remember these times from not so long ago.  Somehow we have gotten away from our relationship with our food.  We have almost become alienated with our food and food sources. Often times we don’t know where our food came from or who (or what) made it.  

The Shocking Cure For Crohn's Disease, Asthma, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, & Every Other Chronic Disease

Let me start this post by giving you fair warning... if you don't like sarcasm stop reading now. You probably won't like this post and will get easily offended by it's simplistic nature and the rather harsh approach I take in delivering it's message. Just in case you were wondering... My goal here is not to be liked. My goal here is to tell people what they need to hear in order for them to get better.

Now I'm going to share a story with you. A story about how to cure Crohn's disease, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, and basically any other type of chronic disease you and/or the rest of the world may be suffering from. You want to know the secret? Get ready. Wait for it... wait for it... wait for it...

Should I Get A Flu Shot?

It's that time of year again. Everyone seems to be advertising the flu vaccine. Your doctor, your local hospital, walk-in clinics, and even the local pharmacy all have the flu vaccine ready and waiting for you to get vaccinated. But, should you get it? I'm not going to tell you either way. What I will do is supply you with the evidence from a number of comprehensive reviews on the scientific and medical literature done on the flu vaccine. This way you can make an informed decision on your own on whether or not to get the flu shot.

As a clinical pharmacist, I'm just as interested as you are on whether or not the flu shot is worth getting. For this reason, I did what any respective healthcare professional would do. I turned to the Cochrane Collaboration for answers.

The Cochrane Collaboration is a non-profit, international network of over 28,000 individuals from over 100 countries. These individuals work to provide unbiased, evidence-based reviews from available scientific and medical research studies to help healthcare providers, policy-makers, patients and their advocates make informed decisions regarding their health care. These reviews are called the Cochrane Reviews. These reviews are highly trusted and credible because they are free of commercial bias. The Cochrane Collaboration doesn't allow big money or special interest groups to taint their organization or their highly respected work. This is made evident in their commercial sponsorship policy:

"The Cochrane Collaboration has gained an international reputation for producing evidence of the highest standard to inform healthcare decision-making. To maintain this reputation, we are committed to ensuring that the results of Cochrane Reviews are not influenced by personal or commercial interests, particularly from the pharmaceutical industry and medical device manufacturers. Sponsorship of Cochrane Reviews, their derivative products, author teams and the Cochrane 'entities' who produce them, by any commercial source, is strictly prohibited."

Cancer Answers - Treatment Options For Fighting Cancer

The word cancer makes anyone stop dead in their tracks and shudder, literally, especially when this word comes from their doctor. Cancer is devastating. It's feared. It's deadly. It changes everything in life for the individuals affected by it as well as their family and friends. A number of questions follow for everyone involved.

How bad is it? Is it terminal? How long do I have to live? Will I suffer the whole time? These are just a few questions many people have when facing this horrible disease. But probably the biggest question everyone has after the initial shock wears off is - What do I do now?

The majority of people immediately dread the thought of weeks or months of chemotherapy and radiation that carry a myriad of awful side effects with their use. Many wonder - are these the best options available or are there any alternatives? If so, which ones work best for the specific cancer at hand? What are the safest and most cost effective options available?

Proposition 37 - Do We Have The Right To Know?

by guest blogger Jody Perrecone

Californians will be voting November 6th on Proposition 37, also known as the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Foods Act.  It will be asking if   1) it should be mandatory for genetically modified foods to be labeled and  2) foods that contain GMOs no longer be labeled as “natural.”

What is genetically modified food?  It is the moving or modifying or insertion of a gene in a plant (or animal) to modify its characteristics.  A bacteria gene may be inserted in seed that will make it resistant to pesticides. Changing the genes of a plant will allow insecticides or herbicides to be sprayed on fields that will kill insects or weeds but not the plant. 

What’s the harm?  The truth is we don’t know if there are any long term health implications of GMOs.  Suggestions have been made that GMOs may be toxic and cause allergies and cause hormone disruption in humans.

5 Superfoods For Optimal Health

Superfoods are on everyone's radar nowadays. You hear them talked about on the news and see them in advertisements by health food stores and grocery chains. So what's all the hoopla about? Is there a magic cure to these foods?

The answer is 'yes' and 'no'. News media and advertisers love to market the biggest upsides of products without giving you the whole picture. This is what sells after all. Glamour and glitz not blood and guts. The truth is superfoods ARE the key to superior health and longevity, BUT ONLY if you consume them on a regular basis as part of a health-promoting diet. They need to make up the foundation of your total dietary plan and not serve as a mere supplement to being a junk food junkie. It really is important to stay away from the crap food if you wish to achieve optimal health. You'll never achieve glamour and glitz by washing down a large order of fries and a double bacon cheeseburger with an antioxidant-rich green smoothie. The human body doesn't work that way. To achieve optimal health you need to practice optimal eating habits. This includes adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts/seeds while passing on visits to Outback steakhouse and Dairy Queen for dessert.

With that being said, superfoods [foods low in saturated fat, high in fiber, with an abundance of antioxidants and phytochemicals] CAN and DO make a difference in one's journey towards optimal health. Here's a few of my favorites that should be included in your regular diet on a weekly if not daily basis:

Lessons From A Pharmacist - I Get A Big, Fat Paycheck While You Stay Sick

Hi. My name is Dustin Rudolph. I've been a practicing pharmacist for over 10 years now, and I'm here to tell you something you may not like hearing. I get a BIG, FAT paycheck every two weeks while YOU (or at least the vast majority of you) stay sick. To put it bluntly, I get rich off of your misery.

Why does this happen? It happens because I, along with the rest of my colleagues in the medical field, practice profit-based medicine. We put profits before patients.

If this makes you angry then good. If this disappoints you then good. If you're a fellow colleague of mine and me calling it like it is pisses you off then good. Quite frankly, I don't give a damn how it makes you feel as long as it makes you feel something. That way I know I've fulfilled my purpose in writing this article because maybe, just maybe, you'll do something about those feelings which will positively influence how you live your life from this point forward.

"All Natural" Not Always Better

by guest blogger Jody Perrecone

While at the grocery store the other day, I saw many products on the shelves labeled “all natural.”  I wondered how they could be labeled “all natural” since all of these products were processed foods and were in packaged in boxes, bags, and jars. 

Looking into this further, with the exception of meat and poultry, I found the FDA does not regulate these words on food packaging. Without any regulation, “all natural” labeling is like the Wild West.  I saw a bag of veggie crisps labeled “all natural.”  These are potato chip-like snacks. Eight ingredients were listed on the ingredient list including beet powder. Cruising the grocery aisles, I saw bottled salad dressing with 14ingredients listed including lecithin - a processed soy product that keeps the dressing from separating.  “All natural” was also on bottled green tea.  The label said it had “no preservatives, no artificial flavor, no artificial color.”  True, but it did list high fructose corn syrup and “natural flavors” on the ingredient label.   Fruit chews are snacks that are similar to juju beans. They too are “all natural” and “made with real fruit juice.”  One serving had the equivalent of nearly four teaspoons of sweeteners corn syrup and sugar in addition to carnauba wax. Made from leaves of the copernicia prunifera palm found only in Brazil, carnauba wax is also used in shoe polish and car wax but is food safe. The ingredient list of an “all natural” chicken flavored soup base didn’t contain any chicken, but did include maltodexrin and autolyzed yeast extract. A colorful breakfast cereal had “natural fruit flavors” advertised on the front of the box.  The ingredient list had sugar as the first ingredient and no fruit mentioned. One cup of this cereal contains 3 teaspoons of sugar.  Also listed were blue dye #2 and yellow dye #6 which studies have shown to cause tumors in animals.  What a way to start the day!

The Missing Piece Of The American Health Care Conversation

It's an all to often occurrence in my line of work as a hospital pharmacist to hear other healthcare professionals talking to patients about how they can treat their ailments. This almost always involves a reference to the latest procedure or newly released blockbuster drug. While some rare occasions may indeed call for such action, many do not. We have a pill for everything in this country and a high tech procedure for everything else. 

Many of the conversations I hear go a little something like this:

Patient: "How'd my cholesterol test come back?"

Nurse: "It's higher than we'd like it to be, but the doctor just ordered this drug called Lipitor for you..."

Patient: "The chest pain was almost unbearable at times doc."

Doctor: "You're going to be ok. You're actually a really good candidate for a procedure called a cardiac cath. What happens is we'll insert a stent into your coronary artery..."

Patient: "This indigestion is killing me. It's been going on for days. I can't sleep at night it's so bad."

Doctor: "I'm sorry. It has to be difficult to get any rest when your chest feels like it's on fire. There's this medication called Nexium we can try on you. It's the purple pill. You may have heard of it before. Also, I can give you a sleeping pill called Ambien..."

Patient: "So what's the verdict from my fall? Is anything broken? I'm really in a lot of pain."

Doctor: "Unfortunately, you broke your hip. You have osteoporosis which is a major contributor to this. We need to consult an orthopedic specialist to see if surgery is necessary for you. Also, there's this drug called Fosamax I'd like to start you on once you leave the hospital..."

Defend Yourself!

by guest blogger Jody Perrecone

We use a variety of gear to prevent injury. A motorcyclist wears glasses and a helmet to protect their eyes and head. Construction workers wear steel-toe shoes and hard hats. Potholders are used in the kitchen to grab something hot. What is needed within our bodies to protect us from disease?

Plants.  Yes, that’s correct.  Amazingly, nature has built into plants the ability for them to produce compounds for them to fight disease.  When we eat the plants – vegetables and fruits – the same plant compounds fight disease in us.

A Mother's Story Of Reversing Type 2 Diabetes

Imagine being faced with one of the most difficult decisions of your entire life. A decision of whether or not to let another human being live or die. By choosing life, it may result in years of surgery for this person, the possibility of retardation, and even the chance of them being put into a vegetative state. By choosing death, it means letting go of a newly formed bond and love so strong that you don't know if you could possibly forgive yourself for making such a decision.

This is the exact decision that Cherise Scally and her husband, Michael, were faced with as they looked into the eyes of their precious baby girl weighing only 1 lb. 11 oz. Nicole had been born nearly three and a half months early and was currently on life support in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). She was suffering from a severe infection called sepsis which is a life threatening infection in the blood. Sepsis is actually the seventh leading cause of death for infants in the United States [1]. In Nicole's case, it was likely due to Cherise's water breaking early and the resulting preterm delivery. Cherise had just been admitted to the hospital a few days earlier due to diabetic complications. Her blood sugars were fluctuating wildly between 165 and 485 and she nearly suffered a diabetic coma. She had no idea she was in such critical condition.

Strength Training For Triathlon

by guest blogger Lincoln Davis

Strength Training for Triathlon

Strength training in endurance sports like triathlon is one favorite topic of debate. In the ideal world, the top athletes incorporate some strength workout that includes weight lifting into their training. However, in practice, everyday people who are not after award plaques find that including some form of weight lifting to an already full schedule of biking, swimming and running more of an exception than a rule. Is it really necessary? Will you benefit from it?

Misconceptions

One common misconception is that strength training is just ‘all show, but no go.’ It can look great on a man’s body form, but it does not contribute to performance on endurance races. It takes more effort to move especially in running and biking, and is just considered a waste of energy and training time. Women who race also have a misconception that weight lifting can lead to a bulky figure. It is for this reason many women do not even attempt to do any necessary weight training for a race.  

Athletes Fuel Up On Plant Protein

by guest blogger Jody Perrecone

Scott Jurek- six time ultramarathoner winner, Patrick Neshek- Minnesota Twins relief pitcher, Brendan Brazier-ironman triathlete, Mac Danzig – ultimate fighting champion, Martina Navratilova – 18 time Grand Slam tennis champion, Robert Parish – Boston Celtics Hall of Famer, Arian Foster – NFL Pro Bowl 2010 and 2011, Rich Roll - world champion ultra man, Billie Jean King – #1 ranking in tennis five times, Carl Lewis nine time Olympic Gold Metal winner and world’s fastest human, Dave Zabriskie – Tour de France winner, Timothy Bradley - WEO welterweight champion – what do these athletes have in common?  #1 - they are all world-class elite athletes. #2 - they are all vegans (don’t eat meat or dairy products).

Gardening As A Natural Stress Reliever

by guest blogger Mark Carol

Work, family, bills, and other obligations and responsibilities can make stress a part of your daily life. Stress can help you get motivated, but too much stress can increase your risk for illnesses such as stroke, heart attack, and high blood pressure. Natural stress reducing activities, like gardening, can be an ideal solution to finding a peaceful balance in your life.

The Benefits

Gardening has been shown to have many health benefits. In fact, the activity is recommended by the JAMA, or the Journal of the American Medical Association, to lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by nearly fifty percent. According to Capital District Community Gardens, tending a garden alleviates stress by immersing you in nature. Gardening requires dedication, care and patience to be successful. When tending your flowers, fruits and vegetables, you are spending time on something that redirects for attention away from daily stress. Gardening also provides you with real results that you can share with family, friends and neighbors.