by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer

     Do we take life for granted? When you’re young you have the feeling of invincibility and you see yourself living for a long time and retiring at an age where you can still enjoy the fruits of all your labor. You expect your health to be at a point that while you may feel the early stages of arthritis, it’s nothing that’s going to incapacitate you. But what if life throws you a curve ball and right at the time you were ready to retire, you have a stroke? My sister-in-law was the unfortunate victim of a "apoplexy", better known nowadays as a stroke, at the age of 67. On November 21, 2013 the person that we all knew, the person that was so full of fun and laughter, the person who kept us amazed at the way she could emulate Patsy Cline at her impromptu concerts at the kitchen table, was unable to communicate.

     Sandra Kaye Lambdin was the last person we thought would become a total invalid and as a matter of fact, we thought she would be the one rocking on the front porch telling the old stories to the grandchildren long after most of us had gone.. There were no signs of heart trouble prior to the stroke so needless to say we were all caught by surprise. Truth is, more than 200,000 Americans die of strokes each year and hundreds of thousands are incapacitated by this sudden “striking down” affliction.  It’s times like these that we really come to grips with our vulnerability and realize just how fragile the human brain is. Each part of the brain is involved with a different part of human activity; one part controls speech, one part controls the arms and legs on one side of the body, another controls the muscles in the mouth and so on. A stroke is the stoppage of blood to certain parts of the brain and it can be caused by a number of disorders or malfunctions in the blood vessels. There are different kinds of strokes and they go from mild, little strokes, to massive in which it may not be fatal, but it will immediately be reflected in some parts of the body. It is said that a non-fatal massive stroke patient has a life expectancy of 3 to 5 years of unrecognizable faces, lost memories and constant seizures.

     Sandy was the one spoiling all the grandchildren and knew exactly what each one wanted for Christmas. Grandchildren who now are just shadows in her mind. She spends her days  straining to understand what her daughter Tina is trying to tell her, but after a while she becomes so frustrated that she lashes out in what can only be described as a damnation of her solitary confinement inside of a now irreversibly damaged brain. She cannot speak and for us to see someone who spent her life as a saleswomen, and who possessed the proverbial “gift of gab” with a singing voice that could give Dolly Parton a run for her money, it’s heartbreaking. And even though it looks like Sandy’s brain is permanently afflicted, there is the thought that she can think clearly but she just doesn’t have the ability to communicate. That could be the main reason for her bouts of anguish and despair that has become her constant companion. Recovering from a massive stroke sometimes requires months or even years of intensive physiotherapy to prevent the deterioration of muscle. Sandy now requires constant care which required moving her out of her home where she lived alone and into her daughter’s house where she could be easily cared for. That officially gives her daughter Tina the title of caregiver and we all know, especially military families, the gamut of difficulties that goes with that title.

     Are there warning signs that a stroke is imminent?  They say that many of us have warning signs in the form of unnoticed “little strokes”. Dr Walter Alvarez, an authority on these little strokes once stated ; “One of the commonest diseases of man, is that in which, over the course of 10 or 20 years, a person is gradually pulled down by dozens or scores of thromboses (clots) of little arteries in the brain .” In reality these little strokes are common but physicians are not familiar with all the peculiar things that happens to individuals who have these little strokes, and therefore they go unnoticed. Little strokes are an indication that all is not well inside the blood vessels that feed oxygen to the brain. Recognizing little strokes  and acting swiftly could prevent the “big stroke”, the one which leaves the permanent injuries including paralysis.. Strokes do not discriminate and age makes very little difference so everyone should be familiar with the warning signs of a possible stroke. The American Heart Association uses the acronym F.A.S.T., Face drooping, Arm numbness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 911. Time is the enemy here, and you want to get medical attention immediately if you feel any symptoms that you think is associated with a stroke.. Whether one recovers from a stroke depends on the severity of the stroke and how long the brain was without oxygen.. Sandy survived the stroke in the sense that she is still breathing, and her heart still beats, but how do you define her quality of life? We are all happy that she is still with us, but it shows in her face everyday that she is not. We may call it a blessing, but knowing Sandy as I do, she’d be quick to call it a curse. And I would have to agree with her.


     DLTPONCH33

     

by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer

You see them in just about every store you go into, and they are becoming increasingly popular for people who's  get up and go has got up and went and they begin to feel tired and drawn out.  Now all they have to do is reach in a store's cooler and get an energy drink. After a can of this powerful elixir, the eyes widen and the heart begins to race, and the next thing you know, you can’t find enough things to keep you occupied.

But what’s in these cans of dynamite that recharges and gives the body an energy make-over? Well according to researchers, it’s a "high" dose of caffeine, and with such high doses, they are seeing an increasing number of emergency room visits from "caffeine junkies". The number of visits have doubled in the last 4 years, the same period of time in which these supercharged drinks have gained popularity in convenience stores, bars, and college campuses. From 2007 to 2012, the number of emergency room visits went from 10,000, to more than 20,000. That has forced the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services to declare energy drinks a health problem. Depending on the amount consumed, high doses of caffeine can cause insomnia, nervousness, headaches, rapid heartbeats, and seizures that are severe enough to require emergency care.

Emergency room physicians have seen an increase in patients suffering from irregular heartbeats, anxiety, and heart attacks. If you drink 3 16oz cans of an energy drink, that’s equivalent to drinking 15 cups of coffee. Now the makers of these drinks call them completely safe, and drinking them in moderation will not cause any ill effects, but of course they are all profit motivated. And the most recent drink that’s becoming more and more popular is "5 Hour Energy." That little bottle of "go fast" promises 5 hours of pure energy with no ill effects once the "jet fuel" wears off. But the catch here is that not every body has the same metabolism, and what’s okay for one person could be a problem for some one else.

So now the choice is yours but I will say this, if you have medical problems, or if your heart is questionable, I would ask your doctor about drinking energy drinks to be safe.

by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer

Well now let’s say that it’s been 30 glorious days of bliss, and he or she is all your dreams wrapped up in one beautiful package and you couldn’t be more happier. You decide to let the whole world know that this is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with so you do what millions of others have done in the glee of the moment…. you get a tattoo. And you just didn’t settle for a small discreet tattoo, you had to have one to let the public know that you are here-by dedicating your life to this person.

Now in a perfect world, the love will last forever until "death do you part" and in that case all is well, but what if by some chance it didn’t turn out like that fairy-tale you had envisioned? Getting over the heartbreak and misery is bad enough, but now you have to look at that permanent reminder etched on your skin when you shower, or go to the beach, and if you happen to pursue another relationship, the other party might not take to kindly to you advertising another "brand" so to speak. Getting the tattoo had it’s own risk such as getting hepatitis C from dirty needles being used by numerous unregulated tattoo parlors, and now you have changed your mind and tattoo removal, is a whole new nightmare.

Dr. Suzanne Kilmer, a clinical professor at the University of California-Davis, and the founder of the Laser & Skin Surgery Center, has seen more than her share of "tattoo regrets." She has removed more than 20,000 tattoos, and that’s no small accomplishment. Dr. Kilmer is no run of the mill dermatologist, she is a world-renowned, pre-eminent expert in the field of laser tattoo removal and laser skin care. And just knowing that about her qualifications should also tell you that tattoo removal is not going to be cheap. Dr. Kilmer’s work has opened up possibilities for better and faster ways to remove tattoos in a world filled with people obsessed with etching body art on their outermost organ.

Tattoo removal is difficult, lengthy, and painful. You can compare it to hot bacon grease spattered on your skin. Or someone smacking you with a stretched rubber band up close. One patient described it as hot oil running under the skin. Lasers deliver hot, powerful pulses through the upper skin to a deeper layer where a tattoo artist has embedded the pigment. And if you think that’s pain, how about the $150 to $1,000 each for the multiple appointments it’s going to take for you to finally get rid of your mistake. So the moral of the story is, find another way to confess your love besides getting a tattoo because if it falls short of forever, the pain of trying to forget the relationship could be two-fold.


Photo courtesy of wikimediacommons.com

by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer

We hear it all the time from our doctors, " you are healthy but you could stand to lose a few pounds," which tells us that while we feel good, chances are, we are overweight. If you take a look at one of those charts that shows what you’re suppose to weigh at a particular height, many of us can describe ourselves as obese. And let’s face it, if you are more than 50 pounds over the standard weight for your height, you fit the definition of fat according to the chart.

And for some of us, if we are fortunate enough to get down to that "target" weight, we feel noticeably weak for some reason. We all have different densities in bone structure and therefore while the chart says you should weigh 200 pounds you would feel comfortable at 220 pounds. You are the perfect judge of how well you feel and you should relay that to your physician. I am not a doctor and I can only use myself as an example, so make sure you voice your concerns with your primary care physician.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about obese children and the campaign to get them to be active 60 minutes a day which is a good thing. A child’s metabolism burns calories at a far higher rate than adults and therefore the 60 minutes of active play could be all that is needed to keep your child at a good weight. Of course a proper diet is also essential and for far too long we have allowed our children to consume massive quantities of junk food if you’ll excuse my use of "conehead" analogy.

It may be quite difficult to deprogram your child from junk food and reprogram them to a healthy diet, but it can be done if you make it a family mission. And if your health allows it, you too can join your child in that target session of 60 minutes of activity a day. Eating healthy and being active together not only provides the benefits for which it was intended, but it also allows family bonding which so many families have lost in this digital world we now live in.

And there’s one more thing that you might be interested in, and that’s learning to make the most of your mornings. That means eat a healthy breakfast everyday not only because it’s the most important meal of the day, but studies have shown that when you eat a real fortified breakfast, it will boost your energy level a lot more than them so called "breakfast bars." Remember, you are the best judge of how you feel and what you think is healthy for you and your family and diet and exercise is something you can control.

by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer  

With advances in medicine, we have made great strides advancing the life expectancy in the world, but there are still some diseases that are stubborn and require aggressive treatments such as the current Ebola virus. Scientists work feverishly to come up with new medicines to battle these hard to cure ailments, and usually they do, but the trouble is that when they do come up with these miracle cures, they can’t be used right away because The Federal Drug Administration, FDA, requires a certain amount of testing before these new drugs can become available to the masses, and then, can the masses afford it?

For each new drug that scientists come up with, it could take years before the FDA deems it safe for human application. This is very discouraging to families with a loved one with only so much time to live, who is suffering, and a medicine that has just been produced to ease the suffering, and perhaps maybe even cure the disease, can’t be administered because the drug must go through a battery of testing.  Now there are some patients who are eligible for what they call “clinical trials”, but these patients are usually from well to do families because the new drug, most of the time, is very expensive. That in itself is a travesty because to lose one’s life just because they don’t have enough money for the newest medicines is unconscionable. This is a problem that must be addressed because all scientific research is funded by the government to which we all pay our taxes. One group of people should not be considered better than any other group, and to play God with someone’s life because of the amount of money one has is just not right

My belief is that the newest forms of treatment should be allocated to patients whose time is short, and there is no other options available. Regardless of the amount of money they have or the type of insurance they carry, every life is precious. Hospitals, doctors, scientists, and researchers make enormous amounts of money for all they do, and I for one do not deny that they undoubtedly deserve it, but somehow we must not forget about the people who’s lives are at stake just because they can’t buy a little more time to live. To be compassionate enough to put forth whatever effort it takes to save a human being is not only the right thing to do, but it would also define who we actually are.

by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer

As far back as 350 B.C., Aristotle theorized that sleep provides physical renewal, yet in the age we live in with our fast paced environment, technology driven timelines, and our quest to be all we can be, a good nights rest has fallen by the wayside.

The body’s clock runs roughly on a 24 hour cycle known as the circadian rhythm. It’s influenced by the amount of light that enters our eyes, which triggers our brain to produce more or less of the hormone “melatonin”  which causes drowsiness. Sleep is a far more active process than once thought. While you’re sleeping, your brain and body are hard at work.

Let’s study this “body clock” more closely. We’ll start at noon. You are hard at work or doing daily task at home or just hanging out at the beach. Your fastest reaction time during the day is 3:30 pm. Next you’re at home having dinner, watching the television, or working outside. Your highest blood pressure occurs at 6:30 pm.

Having finished your day you turn in for the night at 11:30 pm after watching your local news program. While you may drift off to sleep at around midnight, your deepest sleep won’t happen until 2:00 am. From midnight to 2:00 am you are in what’s known as a “light sleep”.

In a light sleep, your eyes stop moving, your body temperature drops, and both heart rate and breathing are steady, and brain activity slows. Your brain is also at the point where it tunes out external noises. but it also shows burst of activity called “sleep spindles” which plays a role in learning and incorporating new memories. In your deepest sleep, your muscles relax, blood pressure drops, and breathing slows.

This is the condition that you would experience if you were to take a long space journey in suspended animation and waking during this phase often leads to grogginess. Deep sleep is the most physically restorative phase of the sleep cycle and is thought to be important for maintaining memories.

This part of sleep is also associated with Rapid Eye Movement, or REM, the part of sleep where dreams occur. To have a restful sleep you must be in the REM phase, and you must dream. You may not remember them, but if you woke up totally refreshed, then you did dream. Unless you didn't reach the deep sleep phase meaning you didn't dream and that's why you woke up still tired.

Now back to the body clock. At  4:30 am your body reaches its lowest temperature, and at 6:45 am your blood pressure jumps drastically. A great number of heart attack deaths have happened at this point of the day and that’s why taking caffeine at this point should be done so with extreme caution. Ease into that first cup. Recently it was concluded that one of the functions of sleep was to help cleanse cellular waste that naturally builds up in the brain during the day.

Oh, and by the way, after years of research, dreams are still a mystery. Any explanation is piecemeal and as Patrick McNamara, who is a dream specialist says, “We want one theory that could elegantly account for everything we see in our dreams and whether or not that’s ever going to be possible is up for grabs.” Something to sleep on, wouldn’t you say?

by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer

There are 165 million coffee drinkers in the United States alone, and sometimes we wonder how many cups a day can we drink without worry. The worry is a conditioned response because the caffeine in  coffee has been blamed over the years for everything from heart disease to cancer.

I myself sometimes wonder about this because without my "cup of Joe" in the morning, I don’t feel motivated to get my day started. I’ve been a truck driver for the past 29 years, and I dread to think of how many cups I’ve had over that period of time. But after doing some research, I found out that coffee can actually be good for you,....imagine that.

There have been over 19,000 studies over the past decade that has looked into the dangers and benefits of coffee and research has shown that drinking moderate amounts can cut the risk of cancer and other diseases, and is a popular source of antioxidants. The next question you may ask is what is considered "moderate."

For most people, drinking 3 cups a day does more good than harm but remember however that our tolerance to caffeine varies from person to person, and for some, even a small amount can make them nervous and irritable. This is especially true if you are consuming additional caffeine, found in certain energy drinks, colas, tea, chocolate, and various cold and headache remedies. Research has found that most of coffee’s side effects occur when we consume "massive quantities".

In addition to antioxidants, coffee contains a host of antibacterial compounds that protect against infections and other ingredients that may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Just remember to check with your doctor and get his take on how much you can safely drink if you have any health problems. 

The benefits of coffee has affects throughout the entire body from preventing gallstones, to reducing the symptoms of Parkinson‘s disease, and even preserving cognitive functions. Also doctors at John Hopkins Hospital even found that 5 cups a day will not raise the blood pressure in a healthy person. I must say that if your doctor tells you that you must switch to decaffeinated coffee, then in my opinion, you lose the main reason people love to drink it, the caffeine.

So here’s the bottom line for you coffee lovers, most side effects occur at high doses and people with heart disease, cardiac rhythm problems, high blood pressure, active gout, or stomach ulcers, should reduce or eliminate their intake based on the advice of their physician. As for the rest of us who look forward to our morning cup of coffee, we should have no qualms about drinking it. Moderation is the key and for some of us, moderation means to the point where we couldn't thread a needle if our life depended on it.

by Dennis Townsend, Contributing Writer

Well, we all know the damage common  cigarettes can do to the human body, but now comes the debate over e-cigarettes. E-Cigarettes are battery operated products that look like real cigarettes but  turn liquid  nicotine into a vapor inhaled by the user. They came onto the market a decade ago and are said to be a less harmful alternative to the real thing. Not only that, they come in flavors like cinnamon, vanilla, and cherry... yummy!

In a recent study, the e-cigarette  was said to be just as effective as the nicotine patch in helping smokers "kick the habit." Among smokers who hadn’t managed to quit on their own, 60% of those using e-cigarettes had cut down on the number of real cigarettes smoked by at least half versus 41% of those using nicotine patches. While the e-cigarette is touted as a safer alternative, it still has one thing in common with real cigarette: giving the user  breathing problems.

The European Union and Britain are planning to regulate e-cigarettes as medical devices, which has provoked criticism from some scientists that say that would limit their availability to help chronic smokers to quit. It is the tar and other toxins in real cigarettes which is deadly, not the nicotine. This is the main reason that everyone is jumping on the e-cigarette band wagon. For those who are hopelessly addicted to nicotine, everyone agrees that we’ve got to provide them with a safer alternative. They say this is it.

Here in the United States, there is another problem that concerns the masses: the number of teens using the e-cigarettes. The number of middle and high school students who are using  e-cigarettes doubled in 2012 from the previous year. In total, 1.8 million middle and high school students say they smoked the e-cigarettes in 2012.

Twelve states have laws preventing the sale to minors, but that leaves a lot of states with the go ahead to sell them to students. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said they were going to regulate e-cigarettes two years ago, but have yet to do it.

Another big concern among health officials is that the e-cigarette may become a path to smoking the real thing among the younger set, who may not have even thought about  smoking at all  if they didn't have the e-cigarette to experiment with.  Among high school students, 7 percent  who had tried e-cigarettes said they never smoked a traditional cigarette prior to that.

The hope is that once the FDA sees the increasing numbers of students using e-cigarettes, they will move quickly to regulate them. Let’s hope so, because something has to be done to protect the children and teens who are risking a lifetime addiction to "look cool" and it has yet to be determined if e-cigarettes are safe or not.