Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients articles from November 2004

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients archives from November 2004

Letter from the publisher.
November 1, 2004... I have received correspondence from some readers complaining about my publisher's comments appearing in the August/September 2004 issue on cardiovascular disease. It seems that I appeared to acquiesce to the dictates of conventional medicine by...

Domestic violence.(Shorts)
November 1, 2004... Virtually every web site addressing women's health issues includes domestic violence as one of the major health risks. In domestic violence, the victim--who is usually female--is physically and/or emotionally battered by her husband or an...

Medications in drinking water.(Shorts)
November 1, 2004... The presence of very low concentrations of human and animal pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, natural and synthetic hormones, detergents, insecticides, and other 'organic waste-related chemicals' in US streams was documented in a 2002 US...

Eating disorders.(Shorts)
November 1, 2004... Eating disorders--anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating disorder--are becoming increasingly common among all socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural groups. The US Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS) Office on Women's Health says...

Female sexual arousal.(Shorts)
November 1, 2004... For three decades, researchers have investigated patterns of sexual arousal in heterosexual and homosexual men. Not surprisingly, they found that heterosexual men were aroused by erotic images of women while homosexual men responded to images...

Menstrual suppression.(Shorts)
November 1, 2004... Not surprisingly, women without access to birth control have far fewer menstrual periods during their lifetime than those with access. (Multiple pregnancies and breast feeding prevent ovulation and menstruation.) Some believe that the high...

MSG & obesity.(Shorts)(monosodium glutamate)
November 1, 2004... Could the rise in obesity in the US be partly due to the amount of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in processed food and restaurant fare? Food manufacturers add MSG to almost every food product to enhance flavor and encourage people to eat more....

Sexual satisfaction.(Shorts)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... In Basic Health Publications User's Guide to Complete Sexual Satisfaction, writer Victoria Dolby Toews, MPH, explains many factors that contribute to sexual satisfaction in women and men. She emphasizes that the first step is to look at overall...

Smoking & women.(Shorts)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Women pay a higher price for their smoking habit than men do. Smoking increases their risk of cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. It is the major contributor to heart disease (particularly in women under 50 years), which is the leading...

Ultrasound warning.(Shorts)
November 1, 2004... The FDA has issued a consumer warning about the non-medical, commercial use of ultrasound devices in keepsake video facilities and is considering regulatory action. These businesses provide high-resolution three-dimensional and four-dimensional...

Health differences.(Shorts)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... In 2001, the Society for Women's Health Research released its Institute of Medicine report, "Exploring the Biological Contribution to Human Health: Does Sex Matter?" It emphasized that the physical differences between women and men extend to...

Of enzymes, worms and cancer.(The War on Cancer)(lumbrokinase enzyme)
November 1, 2004... That unloved little girl of the children's rhyme, who sat in the garden eating worms, may have been onto something. There is a new health product on the market called lumbrokinase, which is derived from the common earthworm, Lumbricus rubellus....

Late stage breast cancer & Xiao Chai Hu Tang.(Chinese Medicine Update)
November 1, 2004... Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, oncology, breast cancer, Xiao Chai Hu Tang (Minor Bupleurum Decoction), chemotherapy ********** Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today (after lung...

Iodine treatment of fibrocystic breast disease.(Literature Review & Commentary)
November 1, 2004... One hundred-eight women with fibrocystic breast disease were treated with a preparation containing molecular (diatomic elemental) iodine at a dose of 0.08 mg per kg of body weight per day orally for nine months. Ninety-eight percent of the...

Indole-3-carbinol for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Twenty-seven women with biopsy-proven cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) classes II or III were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, indole-3-carbinol (I-3-C; 200 or 400 mg/day) or placebo orally for 12 weeks. None of...

Female infertility: consider thyroid hormone.(Literature Review & Commentary)
November 1, 2004... Forty-two women with idiopathic infertility of 1 to 12 years' duration were treated empirically with desiccated thyroid. The initial dose was 1 grain per day; for patients who did not respond, the dose was gradually increased, as tolerated....

A score bait.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Forty-two healthy young adults (mean age, 24.4 years) with a current sexual partner were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 3,000 mg/day of vitamin C or placebo for 2 weeks. Among women, the frequency of sexual intercourse...

Nuts for your gallbladder.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The association between nut intake (peanuts, other nuts, and peanut butter) and cholecystectomy was examined prospectively in 80,718 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study who were 30-55 years old in 1980 and had no history of...

Calendula prevents radiation-induced dermatitis.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Two hundred fifty-four patients receiving postoperative radiation therapy for breast cancer were randomly assigned, in single-blind fashion, to apply topically either trolamine (triethanolamine salicylate; considered by many to be the treatment...

Pesticides: less is more.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Tadpoles of four species of frogs were exposed for 30 days at early and late developmental stages to low concentrations of the pesticide atrazine (3, 30, or 100 ppb; the US Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standard is 3 ppb)....

Let your food be your medicine.(Literature Review & Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Thirty-eight patients undergoing cardiac surgery who would be receiving oral furosemide postoperatively were randomly assigned to consume potassium-rich foods (diet) or potassium chloride (KCI) pills (medication). The standard KCI dose was...

Inner space.(Colonic Chronicles Presents ...)
November 1, 2004... In previous articles (1) we have reviewed the anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Specifically I would like to call your attention to the length of the intestines of roughly 6 times the height of a person (i.e. a 6 ft...

Phytotherapy for polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).(Phytotherapy Review & Commentary)
November 1, 2004... Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), also known as Stein-Leventhal syndrome, is a common gynecological disorder characterized by hypergonadotrophism, hirsutism, obesity, oligomenorrhea and commonly associated with infertility. (1) PCOS is a...

Preventing and treating cardiovascular disease in women.(Therapeutic Nutrition)
November 1, 2004... Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and Cardioprotection [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Conjugated Estrogens (Premarin[R]) In developed nations, the leading overall cause of mortality in women is coronary artery disease (CAD), (1) and the...

Homeopathy for uterine fibroids.(Healing with Homeopathy)
November 1, 2004... [Some material in this article is excerpted from Whole Woman Homeopathy by Dr. Reichenberg-Ullman] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What Are Uterine Fibroids, Why the Concern, and What Are Conventional Treatments? Uterine fibroids, commonly...

Breast cancer and xenoestrogens.(Health Risks and Environmental Issues)
November 1, 2004... Breast cancer advocates are tired of hearing the same old risk factors repeated every October. Many advocates are pushing to rename October, "Breast Cancer Industry Awareness Month," because the industries that control all the information about...

Soy and cancer survivors: dietary supplementation with fermented soy nutraceutical, Haelan951 in patients who survived terminal cancers.
November 1, 2004... Introduction Soy has been a staple of the Southeast Asian diet for nearly five millennia and both its medicinal and nutritional values are deeply rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Herbal Medicine. (8,9) On the other hand,...

Nutritional protocols normalizing atypical breast Thermology.
November 1, 2004... Abstract I will be presenting 5 cases of patients who have received an atypical breast Thermology. These five patients, along with 20 others, have participated in a nutritional protocol that has normalized their subsequent readings. After...

The case for midwifery (birth rights and wrongs).
November 1, 2004... In the spring of 1999, Donna Cromie-Nguyen first visited with midwife Debra O'Conner. Cromie-Nguyen, a credit manager for a pharmaceutical company, and her husband, Truc Nguyen, an electrical engineer, were expecting their first child....

Preventing eclampsia (metabolic toxemia of late pregnancy): an interview with Tom Brewer, MD.(Interview)
November 1, 2004... Despite a century of research, American medicine offers as little today for the prevention and treatment of eclampsia (traditionally called toxemia) as it did a hundred years ago. This progressive and potentially fatal condition remains a...

Medical students learn mind-body methods.(Pathways to Healing)
November 1, 2004... Michael Lumpkin, PhD, specializes in studying the impact of stress on brain hormone systems. "I actually started off studying viral stressors such as HIV/AIDS, but it turns out that all stress, whether it's viral or physical or psychological...

Youthful aging using frozen liquid cellular extracts.(Letters to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Editor: Aging is a continuous process resulting from physiological and structural deterioration within the body. Whether it is precipitated by failing immune and endocrine systems or whether it is the result of the aggression of free...

Caffeine allergy and premenstrual symptoms.(Letters to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Editor: Ongoing caffeine anaphylaxis is a masked cerebral allergy that generates chemical imbalances which induce physical disorders. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), which can escalate to premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), is a symptom...

Update on Dr. Klenner's treatment for MS.(Letters to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Editor: I am continuing to receive many calls from doctors and MS patients wanting more information on the Klenner treatment which reverses and cures Multiple Sclerosis. In the many articles published by the TLfDP, beginning in Feb....

Unhappy with Dr. Bernstein's use of "statins".(Letters to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Editor: I was shocked with the coronary disease (CD) approaches in the August/September issue of TLfDP. Maybe Holidays might explain why the main alternative publication (I am an old subscriber) was able to do such an approach. First,...

Recurrent candidiasis: one step forward, still backward.(Editorial)(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated that once-weekly prophylactic oral administration of 150 mg of fluconazole (Diflucan[R]) can greatly reduce the recurrence rate of vulvovaginal candidiasis among women who...

Taking up a sport at midlife.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Menopause, Sisterhood, and Tennis by Alice Wilson-Fried Basic Health Publications, Inc. 8200 Boulevard East, North Bergen, New Jersey 07047 USA; 201-868-8336 Softcover, 2003, $14.95 US/$23.95 Canada, 149 pp. Many women at...

Natural vibrant health after 40.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Ageless Woman by Nancy Lonsdorf, MD MCD Century Publications, 2035 Hogback Road, Ste. 107, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 USA; www.mcdcentury.com Quality paperback, 2004, $19.95, 251pp. A plethora of books aimed at the midlife...

A primer in environmental medicine.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Healing the Planet--One Patient At a Time by Jozef J. Krop, MD, FAAEM KOS Publishing Inc, 1997 Beechgrove Road, Alton, Ontario, Canada LON 1AO; Tel/Fax: 519-927-1049 Softcover, 2002, 354 pp. After growing up and completing his...

Natural pregnancy.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Enhancing Fertility: A Couple's Guide to Natural Approaches by Chris Meletis, ND and Liz Brown Basic Health Publications, 8200 Boulevard East, North Bergen, New Jersey 07047 USA, 201-868-8336 Softcover, 202 pp., 2004, $14.95 US,...

The benefits of Doula support.(BookCorners)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Doula Book: How a Trained Labor Companion Can Help You Have a Shorter, Easier, and Healthier Birth by Marshall H. Klaus, MD, John H. Kennell, MD, and Phyllis H. Klaus, CSW, MFCC Perseus Publishing, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge,...

Cancer, oxygen, and pantotropha--Part 1.(Oxygen Homeostasis)
November 1, 2004... During my 29 years of work as a hospital pathologist, I conservatively estimate I assumed the responsibility for diagnosing over 75,000 malignant neoplasms and followed the clinical course of many of those cases. That experience was rewarding....

The cultural pharmacology of chocolate.(Medical Anthropology)
November 1, 2004... The relationship between chocolate and female health in our culture is legendary. How many times have we heard a female friend say they "need chocolate," with a tone of desperation in her voice? Indeed, despite its relatively recent reputation...

The impact of medical censorship on patient care: Part 3.(Townsend's New York Observer)(Column)
November 1, 2004... The word "Unproven" as used by the ACS is a highly and unjustifiedly weighted word... I would submit that no less than six, at the very least, of the ACS's "Unproven Methods" would be worthy of immediate scientific investigation by the NCI...

Urine studies: hormone profiling, bone resorption markers and patient care.(Naturopathic Perspectives)
November 1, 2004... The advent of new technology in laboratory testing is now providing busy clinicians with increasingly accurate and reliable testing methods. Although sticking to the basics can still provide salient information, adopting newer testing methods...

Infections in CFS, fibromyalgia and pain.(Highly Effective Treatments for Pain and Fatigue)(Chronic Fatigue Syndrome )
November 1, 2004... Many studies have shown immune system dysfunction in FMS/CFS. Although there are many causes of this, I suspect that poor sleep, adrenal inadequacy, immune suppression/exhaustion because of yeast infections and leaky gut, and glutathione and...

Web Page Potpourri: Baker's Dozen; A column devoted to informative alternative health resources on the internet.(Column)
November 1, 2004... We know the internet is an amazing resource. Don't let the internet fool you into thinking you know everything about something, though--don't forget to talk to people, too! This column uses a different format than usual. It's a "Baker's Dozen"...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: gastrointestinal symptoms and childhood abuse.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)
November 1, 2004... Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology describes the unity of mental, neurological, hormonal and immunological functions, addressing the impact of cognitive images of the mind (whatever its elusive definition) on the central nervous, endocrine and...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: upper abdominal/chest pain and childhood adversity.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)
November 1, 2004... In 151 consecutive new patients with upper abdominal or chest pain, adjusted statistics found that these complaints were most frequent in unmarried patients (p Biggs AM, Aziz Q, Tomenson B, Creed F. Do childhood adversity and recent social...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: obesity and childhood abuse.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... One hundred overweight women on a very low caloric diet were compared to 100 always-slender controls in regard to a history of family-of-origin abuse and dysfunction. There was a highly significant correlation of adult obesity to the prevalence...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: illness and perceptions of childhood caring.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)
November 1, 2004... The Harvard Parental Caring Scale (HPCS), the SCL90R, and the Marlowe-Crowne (MC) scale (a measure of defensiveness) were administered to 400 college students including both men and women. Individual interviews tabulated the number of positive...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: cancer and childhood events.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... This case control study compared 508 women with and 1,563 women without cancer (controls) in regard to four different life events as indicators for an increased malignancy risk: (1) death of the father during childhood; (2) death of the mother...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: miscarriage and stress.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Using 970 subjects in an emergency department to measure stress with a life event inventory and drawing from subjects in an early pregnancy study, the odds ratio for spontaneous abortion at [greater than or equal to]11 weeks was 2.9 for...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: pre-eclampsia and stress.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Preeclampsia occurred in 180 of 3,321 working, pregnant Norwegian women who completed a questionnaire sorting them into a cohort reporting a highly stressful and hectic work pace vs. those who never or rarely worked at a hectic pace. RR for...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: hypnosis and breech conversion in late pregnancy.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... One hundred pregnant women with fetuses in breech position at 37-40 weeks of gestation had [greater than or equal to]one sessions of hypnotherapy with suggestions for general relaxation and release of anxiety and fear. They were also asked in...

Women's health, breast and pelvic disorders: chronic pelvic pain and childhood events.(Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology Review And Commentary)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Forty-three women with chronic pelvic pain, 40 women with chronic low-back pain, and a female pain-free control group (n=22) were investigated by completion of the Beck depression Inventory and undergoing a semistructured interview assessing...

Acupuncture & Anovulatory Infertility.(Acupuncture and Moxibustion)
November 1, 2004... Keywords: Chinese medicine, acupuncture, gynecology, anovulatory infertility, amenorrhea ********** Over nine million women per year in the US consult or use infertility services. (1) It is an unfortunate truth that most of these...

Calendar.(Calendar)
November 1, 2004... OCTOBER 22-24: CONTACT REFLEX ANALYSIS in Houston, Texas. Taught by D.A. Versendaal, DC; Brian Sanborn, DC; Corey Cameron, DC; and Loren Marks, DC. Also, NOVEMBER 13-14 in Hanover, Maryland; NOVEMBER 20-21 in Reno, Nevada; NOVEMBER 27-28 in...

American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) conducts its 62nd educational conference on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine (CAIM).
November 1, 2004... ACAM's 62nd educational conference on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine (CAIM), takes place November 17 through 21, 2004 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in San Diego, California. It features health professional...

"These are a few of my favorite things".(Women's Health Update)
November 1, 2004... Green Tea and its Effects on Breast Cancer Metastasis and Recurrence Abstract/summary: 472 women were studied who had invasive breast carcinoma. 117 had stage I, 273 stage II, and 82 stage III and all had undergone a partial or total...

Nutrients in the treatment of dysmenorrhea.(Nutritional Influences on Illness)
November 1, 2004... Niacin In the 1950s, Hudgins reported the results of open trials which suggested that niacin supplementation provided relief of menstrual cramps for about 90% of women whose cramps had been severe enough to require bed rest, heavy sedation...