The Health Plus Letter
October 28, 2003, Vol. 1, No. 14
By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher

Table Of Contents:
What’s New
Quote of the Day
Fast Facts
Medical Freedom Alert
Health News and Commentary
Suicides and Homicides in Patients Taking Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft by Dr. Jay Cohen
The Power of A Human Spirit (Part 1)
Recipe of the Week: Red Curry Shrimp
Reader Feedback: Shingles and the Chicken Pox Vaccine
Recommendations
Humor


What's New

Back to a full-length issue this week. Thanks to all of you who welcomed me back with emails after last issue.

I begin with a correction. Last week I touted the website www.healthyskepticism.com. The only problem was that the correct URL is http://www.healthyskepticism.org. I’m grateful to Taty from Belgium, who alerted me to my mistake. And for my French-speaking readers, I recommend you visit her natural cuisine website, http://www.taty.be.

This week’s issue features what I believe is an important caution on the dangers of antidepressant medications classified as SSRIs, written by Jay S. Cohen, author of the book Over Dose, and publisher of the website, http://www.MedicationSense.com. Despite the alarming dangers that Dr. Cohen documents are related to SSRI drug use, the pharmaceutical industry has so far resisted all honest inquiries into the matter.

Also in this issue, I am beginning my tribute to my sister Andrea with a multipart feature entitled The Power of A Human Spirit. Hopefully you will find it the way she lived her life following her initial diagnosis of cancer as instructive and inspiring as it was for all of us who knew her.

Finally, I would like to call your attention to the recent and sudden passing of John Lee, M.D., who, more than any other physician I know, warned women about the inherent health risks posed by synthetic hormone therapy, while educating them about safe and viable natural alternatives. John, author of What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause and What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer, was one of the very first physicians I had the honor of meeting during my original tenure as writer/editor of Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide. His down-home ways belied his Harvard education and brilliant mind, and I greatly benefited from the gentle guidance he gave me as I immersed myself in researching the holistic health field. John’s was a compassionate wisdom and he will be greatly missed.

As always, please send me with your comments and suggestions. You can email me at larry@1healthyworld.com. And, if you like it, please spread the word about The Health Plus Letter.


Quote of the Day

"We are not permitted to linger, even with what is most intimate. From images that are full, the spirit plunges on to others that suddenly must be filled; there are no lakes till eternity."
- Rainer Maria Rilke, from his poem, To Holderlin


Fast Facts

Each year in the United States:
12,000 people die from unnecessary surgery;
7,000 people die from medication errors in hospitals;
20,000 people die from other hospital error;
80,000 die from infections contracted in hospitals; and
106,000 deaths from properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs.

In other words, an estimated 225,000 deaths are caused by U.S. health-care system annually.

Source: These figures come from Dr. Barbara Starfield, of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, and were recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).


Medical Freedom Alert

Please do your part to ensure that the misleadingly named "Dietary Safety Supplement" Act (S. 722) is defeated. To become informed about S. 722 and to take action to help defeat its passage, please visit: http://capwiz.com/nnfa/S722.html.


Health News and Commentary

Scientists Say Human Evolution Can’t Cope with Fast Food

Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce. On second thought, hold the entire Happy Meal. That’s what we should be doing if we care about our health, according to scientists whose research shows that human evolution has not made us equipped to handle "calorie-packed" fast foods. Nutrition experts Professor Andrew Prentice and Dr Susan Jebb point out that that "humans are designed for conditions in which food is relatively scarce and low in energy." But, because fast food is typically "energy dense," we don’t need to eat much of it to consume a lot of calories. "The result is people accidentally over-eat without feeling particularly full."

Prentice and Jebb identified this problem posed by fast food by combining British and African diet study data with information on the ingredients in fast food. According to Prentice, who is head of the Medical Research Council's International Nutrition Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, "We all possess a weak innate ability to recognise foods with a high energy density. We tend to assess food intake by the size of the portion, yet a fast food meal contains many more calories than a
similar-sized portion of a healthy meal. Since the dawn of agriculture, the systems regulating human appetite have evolved for the low energy diet still being consumed in rural areas of the developing world where obesity is almost non-existent. Our bodies were not designed to cope with the very energy dense foods consumed in the West and this is contributing to a major rise in obesity."

For more on this story, see: http://snurl.com/1in1.

[Comment: Obesity is only one of many major health conditions that can result from a steady diet of fast foods.]

Clinical Trial of New Breast Cancer Drug Cut Short After Benefits Found

Researchers halted a clinical trial of a new drug for breast cancer after early results indicated it could reduce by 43% the incidence of recurring breast cancer among women who’d already been treated for the disease. According to an article in The Independent, "The reduction in risk - equivalent to one cancer prevented among 100 women treated per year - led the researchers to abandon the trial of 5,200 women halfway into its five-year term so that those on placebo could be offered the drug, called letrozole." Letrozole is one of a new class of drugs for breast cancer called aromatase inhibitors. Full results of the trial, which was conducted in Canada, will be published in the November 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Although Professor Ian Smith, head of the breast unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, said: "This is one of the most important advances in the treatment of postmenopausal women with breast cancer, and is a further valuable step in preventing disease recurrence," he and other cancer researchers criticized the decision to halt the study early "because the long-term effects of letrozole may no/w nev/er be known. Researchers fear it may carry risks to the bones and cognitive performance."

According to the same article, "Recent experience has demonstrated the importance of long-term studies. A US trial of tamoxifen in preventing breast cancer in high-risk women was stopped 14 months early in 1998 after results showed it cut cases of the disease by one third. But a parallel British trial was continued for the full five years until 2001 and the results showed that the benefits of tamoxifen were almost cancelled out by an increased risk of blood clots and endometrial cancer. Tamoxifen is today not routinely recommended for the prevention of breast cancer in the UK."

For more on this story, see: http://snurl.com/1j4u.

[Comment: So let’s get this straight. A reduction in risk "equivalent to one cancer prevented among 100 women treated per year" - in other words only 1% - is deemed enough to cause a halt to a clinical trial initially designed to last for five years, thus making researchers unable to determine what potential side-effects may result from long-term use of the drug. Is this sound science? No, but it certainly enhances the ability of the drugs manufacturers to rush the drug to market to great fanfare and huge pro/fits despite the fact that any looming dangers the drug may pose remain unknown. Imagine the wrath that would be heaped upon researchers of nonpatentable natural remedies for cancer by the various regulatory agencies if they took a similar tack. I can see the outraged editorials in the medical journals already, not to mention the bills that would be introduced in Congress to ban such remedies outright. But for a potentially toxic drug that might harm bones and diminish cognitive function, we get, instead, a no-doubt glowing review in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

Sad to say, I’ve heard this story before. Too many times. Once again a drug (in this case for cancer; it happens regularly for other disease too) is being touted with great fanfare, despite shoddy science. Will it actually work as it is hoped it will? Time will tell, but I wouldn’t bet my lunch m^ney on it.]

Bush Administration Sides with Pesticide Industry Against Farmers

According to an article that ran earlier this month in the New York Times, " The Bush administration is siding with the pesticide industry to make it harder for farmers to sue manufacturers over product labels," via a recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that reverses a 1999 decision by the same agency that said "federal law did not prevent walnut farmers with crop damage from suing pesticide makers over labeling that did not warn of the risks of mixing chemicals."

Commenting on the EPA’s recent decision, Erik Olson, a senior attorney for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, said the policy change reflects "the pesticide industry getting its way with EPA."

For more on this story, see "EPA Shift Limits Pesticide Maker Suits" New York Times Monday 06 October 2003.

[Comment: Yet one more incident of the EPA siding with industry. This is something it did under previous administrations, as well, but the trend does seem to be accelerating under the current administration.]


Unabashed Plug

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http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Heart-Book-Info.cfm.


Suicides and Homicides in Patients Taking Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft: Why They Keep Happening --And Why They Will Continue. Underlying Causes That Continue to Be Ignored by Mainstream Medicine and the Media. by Jay S. Cohen, M.D.

From almost the day that they were introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, sudden, unexpected suicides and homicides have been reported in patients taking serotonin-enhancing antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. I'm not surprised this problem hasn't disappeared, nor will it unless we look deeper.

I never hesitate to say that these drugs -- selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) -- help mil/lions of people. But any drug that can cause positive changes in people's brains can also cause negative ones unless care is taken to avoid it. We do not take such care. So it was no surprise to me when, in August 2003, more headlines appeared. These were based on reports by British authorities and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about unpublished studies showing an increased risk of suicide in children and teenagers taking Paxil (1-3).

Prior reports of suicidal and homicidal acts in adults taking SSRIs have been explained away by drug industry defenders and mainstream doctors, who claim that suicide is common in depression anyway. And that no type of antidepressant helps everyone. Some depressed patients don't get better and choose suicide. That's true sometimes, unfortunately. But these reports describe more impulsive, violent acts than expected. As I said fifteen years ago at the time of the first reports and again in my book Over Dose in 2001 (4), SSRIs could create a unique combination of side effects that might severely impair judgment and impulse control. This has been described by others as well (5-16).

Psychosis After Three Days of Treatment

One of my first cases with Prozac involved a 35 year-old woman with a job and family, who had a mild depression with no suicidal tendencies. This changed after just three days on Prozac, when she became acutely psychotic. Any psychiatrist will tell you that excessive doses of antidepressants can cause brain dysfunctions including disorientation, confusion, and cognitive disturbances. This was commonly seen with old-time antidepressants like Elavil and Tofranil (17). But more than the older drugs, SSRIs can also cause a severe degree of agitation or restlessness that may become intolerable and reduce impulse control (5-6A). Impulsive behavior, especially if coupled with impaired cognitive functioning, can be dangerous.

Antidepressants can also trigger similar, manic-like symptoms in people whose depression is part of a manic-depressive syndrome, which often gets overlooked when people are given SSRIs. "Some of these individuals may have serious adverse reactions to antidepressants including irritability, aggression, and mania," wrote Dr. Ronald Pies, professor of psychiatry at Tufts Uni/versity (18).

The Devil Is in the Dosage

My book Over Dose opens with a man whose anxiety and depressive symptoms got much worse rather than better with the standard 20-mg starting dose of Prozac (4). A letter to the editor in the August 11, 2003, issue of the New York Times described a similar reaction to Celexa:

"During the first month, I experienced extreme, almost manic tendencies. My mind raced, I was restless, I couldn't sleep. Eventually that restlessness subsided (18)."

Sometimes the symptoms don't subside. Sometimes the symptoms get out of hand. The writer of the letter made an another important point: "They need new dosing and treatment strategies to counteract the manic effect." Exactly.

These reactions are occurring because the standard starting doses of many antidepressants are excessively strong for many people. One clue is that most of these reactions occur shortly after people have been started on SSRIs or after the dosage has been bumped up. These are called "first-dose" reactions by mainstream medicine, and they almost always indicate a mismatch between the patient and the dosage. With the Paxil study, the New York Times reported:

"Some experts suspect that in the first few weeks of therapy, drugs like Paxil can shove a small number of patients toward a mental precipice, perhaps because they can cause a severe type of restlessness known as akathisia. Patients who make it through the first weeks of drug therapy uneventfully do fine on the medication on the long term, these experts say (3)."

But it doesn't have to be a sink or swim situation. Merely reduce the dose awhile, allow patients to adapt to the medicine, and then increase it again gradually. Sometimes it doesn't need to be increased, because lower doses work for many patients.

When my patient became psychotic in 1988, I researched the problem and found an article that shocked me. This large study, published before Prozac was marketed, showed that 54% of the patients with severe depression improved with just 5 mg -- one-quarter of the standard 20 mg starting dose (19). But Prozac wasn't marketed with a 5 mg recommended dose. 20 mg was the recommended initial dose for everyone -- 400% more than many people needed -- a huge difference pharmacologically. No wonder these reactions were occurring.

I wasn't the only expert to recognize the problem. A 1993 study concluded "that starting fluoxetine [Prozac] at doses lower than 20 mg is a useful strategy because of the substantial fraction of patients who cannot tolerate a 20-mg dose but appear to benefit from lower doses (20)." Similar dosing problems have been seen with and other SSRIs.

Informed Consent Means Having Enough Information to Make an Intelligent Choice

Unfortunately, most doctors don't understand that many problems with SSRIs are caused by standard doses that are excessive for substantial numbers of patients. And although Prozac, Zoloft, and other SSRIs now come in lower doses, many doctors still start patients on the stronger, standard doses.

As I've said when invited to speak at the FDA and at other major conferences, drug companies must define the lowest, safest, effective doses of drugs. They must include this information in package inserts and the Physicians' Desk Reference, and they must market pills that make lower dosing possible. And they must do it from the start. Unfortunately, marketing trends in recent decades have gone in the other direction. Many drugs are marketed one-size-fits-all. Many drugs are dosed exactly the same for big and small, young and old, healthy and frail. The same strong doses are prescribed to people taking no other medications and people taking a dozen. Such methods defy medical sense and common sense.

Shortly after the reports from the British authorities and U.S. FDA about higher incidences of suicide in youngsters taking Paxil, Dr. Richard Friedman, director of the psychopharmacology clinic at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, wrote:

"For too long, drug companies have been allowed to tell us only the good news about their products. Now we're ready for the whole story (21)."

The whole story begins with patients and their doctors knowing about the lowest, safest, effective doses of drugs. Most people don't like taking medications. If they must, they prefer taking as little as possible. But this isn't possible if we aren't given adequate information. Informed consent is denied when information is withheld. We need to know the full range of effective doses, and we need enough pill sizes to make individualized dosing possible. Prevention begins with complete information.

In the meantime, you have to be your own researcher, using books and the Internet, learning enough to choose selectively from the information you see. Since 1996, I have published 15 medical journal articles and Over Dose to help inform you and your doctor about lower, safer, proven-effective drug doses because such information was unavailable to most people. Using all of the resources available today, you can learn a lot, and when you do, tell your doctor -- doctors respect good, scientifically-based information -- so that your doctor can inform others following you.

References
1. Waechter, F. Paroxetine must not be given to patients under 18. BMJ, June 14, 2003;326:1282.
2. FDA statement regarding the antidepressant Paxil for pediatric population. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, June 19, 2003: www.fda.gov -- accessed 9/18/O3.
3. Harris, G. Debate Resumes on the Safety of Depression's Wonder Drugs. New York Times, Aug. 7, 2003:nytimes.com.
4. Cohen, JS. Over Dose: The Case Against The Drug Companies. Prescription Drugs, Side Effects, and Your Health. Tarcher/Putnam, New York: October 2001.
5. Medawar, C, Herxheimer, A, Bell, A, et al. Paroxetine, Panorama, and user reporting of ADRs: consumer intelligence matters in clinical practice and post-marketing drug surveillance. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 2002;15:161-169.
6. Donovan, S, Clayton, A, Beeharry, M, et al. Deliberate self-harm and antidepressant drugs. Investigation of a possible link. British Journal of Psychiatry, 2000;177:551-6.
6A. Rogers, L, Waterhouse, R. Prozac Makers Told to Warn of Side-Effects. The Sunday Times [Britain], July 8, 2001: www.sunday-times.co.uk/news.
7. Glenmullen, J. Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Other Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives. Simon and Schuster, March 2000.
8. Healy, D. The Antidepressant Era. Harvard Uni/versity Press, Sept. 1997.
9. Hickling, L. Questions Persist concerning Prozac's Role in Suicide Risk. www.drkoop.com Health News, May 11, 2000: www.drkoop.com/dyncon/article.asp?at=N&id=11009.
10. Teicher, MH, Glod, C, Cole, JO. Emergence of intense suicidal preoccupation during fluoxetine treatment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1990;147(2):207.
11. Fichter, CG, Jobe, TH, Braun, BG. Does fluoxetine have a therapeutic window? Lancet 1991;338.
12. Anderson GM; Segman RH; King RA. Serotonin and suicidality: the impact of fluoxetine administration. II: Acute neurobiological effects. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 1995, 32(1):44-50.
13. Lancon, C, Bernard, D, Bougerol, T. [Fluoxetine, akathisia and suicide]. Encephale, 1997 May-Jun, 23(3):218-23. Abstract.
14. Liu, CY, Yang, YY, et al. Fluoxetine-related suicidality and muscle aches in a patient with poststroke depression [letter]. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 1996 Dec, 16(6):466-7.
15. Jackson, A. Drug Turned Loving Man into a Killer, Says Judge. Sidney Morning Herald, Fri., May 25, 2001: www.smh.com.au/
16. Donovan, S, Clayton, A, et al. Deliberate self-harm and antidepressant drugs. Investigation of a possible link. British Journal of Psychiatry, 2000;177:551-6.17. American Society of Hospital Pharmacists. American Hospital Formulary Service, Drug Information 1999. Gerald K. McEvoy, Editor. Bethesda: 1999.
18. The Debate Over Antidepressants (5 Letters). Letters to the Editor. New York Times, 8/11/O3:nytimes.com.
19. Wernicke, JF, Dunlop, SR, Dornseif, BE, et al. Low-dose fluoxetine therapy for depression. Psychopharmacology Bulletin 1988;24(1):183-188.
20. Louie, AK, Lewis, TB, Lannon, MD. Use of low-dose fluoxetine in major depression and panic disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 1993;54(1):435-438.
21. Richard A. Friedman. What You Do Know Can't Hurt You. New York Times, 8/12/O3:nytimes.com.

Copyright © 2003 by Jay S. Cohen, M.D. This article was reprinted with permission from http://www.MedicationSense.com.


The Power of A Human Spirit (Part 1)

My sister Andrea was diagnosed with cancer in the first half of 1999. Normally a dynamo of energy, she had been experiencing fatigue and, after consulting with her physician, it was discovered that she had a cancerous tumor in her breast. At the news, a wave of fear and uncertainty swept through my family (I am the oldest of 12 children), which also, of course, affected Andrea’s children, Bryan and Alyssa. Only my mother, a retired nurse with long experience with end-stage patient care, took things fairly well, for at the time Andrea’s chances of a full recovery seemed high, given that her diagnosis was borderline stage 2-3 and there was no evidence of metastasis. But, as was typical of her, the one who took the news best was Andrea herself. Though at times, privately, she may have felt that same fears we did for her, if she did so, not once did I ever see evidence of this. As far as Andrea was concerned, this was just a challenge Life had presented her with, and like all the other challenges she had faced previously, her response was a cheerful determination to do whatever was necessary to get to the other side of it. And so she set to work.

On the afternoon that Andrea received the news of her diagnosis, I paid her a visit, bringing along a number of books from my library that showcased the various viable alternative treatments I knew from firsthand experience have helped others triumph over cancer. Between the information they contained and my contacts within this field, I was certain Andrea would welcome my help and I was eager to provide it. But she didn’t want it. Casting the books aside without a glance, she looked at me and said, "Larry, I love you and I know you believe in this stuff, but you’re not a doctor. I have faith in my physician and I need you to respect my decision."

I couldn’t have been more unprepared for her response, and what she asked of me was very difficult for me to accept, but I did so nonetheless, promising her that whatever she chose to do, I would be there for her to support her choice. Only much later was I to realize that my doing so was in accordance with what I recognize today as Andrea’s "Soul purpose."

Grateful for my acquiescence, Andrea set to work, after assuring her children that they needn’t worry about her. And though they did so nonetheless, the example she set them (and all of us) made their situation much easier to deal with. And so those first days passed, with Andrea conducting her own investigation into her treatment options. In short measure, she transformed herself into a lay expert about all that conventional medicine had to offer her. Though well aware of her intelligence before this, I was amazed by how rapidly she gathered and absorbed the fruits of her research. As she did so, I also noticed that her energy level was back to normal (far beyond my own at the best of times), which I knew was due to how proactive she had become about educating herself in this new arena. She was taking responsibility for her condition and her positive attitude and powerful will were fully engaged.

Before long, she’d decided upon her course of action. Rather than risk recurrence in her other breast, she would have a full, radical mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy. Never one to waste time, she scheduled her surgery and purchased two different wigs, knowing she would most likely lose her hair from the chemo. To hear her talk about it, all that lay ahead for her was a grand adventure. And Andrea always loved adventures, so that is how she prepared herself. With excitement and eagerness to explore another unknown.

[To be continued next week.]


Unabashed Plug

Discover and Gain Control of Your Human Energy Field. Read Dr. Valerie Hunt’s eBook Mind Mastery Meditations: A Workbook for the "Infinite Mind," the empowering guide created by one of the world's foremost researchers into the human energy field, energy medicine, and the relationship between consciousness and health. Each of the meditations this eBook contains is designed to give you mastery of your mind and to empower you to discover the answers to why you are the way you are, your soul's needs, your unique talents and capacities, and your self-designed destiny. By practicing and mastering these meditations, you will become able to live your life with greater ease and success, speed your self-healing, and dramatically increase your ability to manifest your deepest goals.

To order this life-changing guide, visit
http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Mind-Mastery-Book-Info.cfm.


Recipe Of The Week

Red Curry Shrimp

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk1 8-ounce bottle clam juice
1 1/4 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled, de-veined
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges

Stir red curry paste in large skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add coconut milk and clam juice and bring to boil, whisking until paste dissolves. Boil until sauce is thick enough to coat spoon, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. Add shrimp to sauce. Cook until shrimp turn pink and are just opaque in center, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes. Stir in cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide shrimp and sauce among 4 shallow bowls. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.

This recipe comes from http://www.epicurious.com.


Reader Feedback: Shingles and the Chicken Pox Vaccine

Last week, I included a news item about the benefits of Tai Chi for boosting immunity to the virus that causes shingles. In response, I received the following from Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D.

Study Reveals Important Side Effect of Mass Varicella Vaccination of Healthy Children: Reduction in chickenpox may increase incidence of shingles

PEARBLOSSOM, Calif. (October 22, 2003) – The results of a new study published in the October 1, 2003, issue of the European journal Vaccine indicate that a higher than expected number of shingles cases was reported among children with a previous history of chickenpox. The rates observed approach those normally seen only in older adults. Results of the study suggest mass vaccination with varicella (chickenpox) vaccine may be responsible for this adverse effect. Complications from shingles, which is caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus that lies dormant in the body, result in about three times the number of hospitalizations and five times the number of deaths as those from chickenpox disease itself. Shingles, usually mild in children, can be severe in adults.

On March 17, 1995, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the live varicella vaccine, and shortly thereafter 38 states mandated that every infant be inoculated at twelve months of age. The CDC-funded Varicella Active Surveillance Project (VASP) of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services was established to study trends in varicella disease among the 300,000 residents in the Antelope Valley health district. Because this high desert community, including the primary cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, is geographically distinct with few individuals seeking healthcare outside the region, it is nearly ideal for scientists to detect preliminary disease trends.

"Because the vaccine is eliminating chickenpox disease, children and adults no longer receive the natural boost to their immune systems that they received from periodic exposures to the disease," says Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., author of the study and former research analyst with VASP. "Due to the dramatic decline in chickenpox, children are no/w experiencing a higher incidence of shingles."

To compensate for this, vaccine manufacturers plan to license a booster "shingles" vaccine to substitute for the natural boost in immunity that occurred when chickenpox disease was previously circulating in the population. Goldman expresses doubts about the effectiveness of this approach to the impending problem.

"This will likely lead to endless disease-and-cure cycles," says Goldman. "Varicella vaccination would have been less problematic if all children had the opportunity to gain natural immunity and only those still susceptible at twelve years-of-age were vaccinated."

Previous research shows that Japanese pediatricians who were exposed to patients with chickenpox demonstrated shingles incidence rates one-half to one-eighth that of the general population. In 2002, researchers in England and Wales also found a lower incidence of shingles among adults living with children compared to those living without children.

According to a spokesperson from the FDA, "There is no legal precedent requiring a vaccine manufacturer to perform studies on individuals who have not received their product."

However, Goldman insists that, "To assess the safety of chickenpox vaccine, continued study of the effect of widespread vaccination on increasing shingles incidence is critical." Goldman hopes this study encourages other investigators to examine shingles rates not only among vaccine recipients, but also among those who have not received vaccine.

Dr. Goldman concludes, "If a clear vaccine-associated increase in shingles is confirmed in further studies in broader populations, this should be considered by public health authorities in evaluating vaccine use strategies."

For more information on the current study, see the three reports published on 18 consecutive pages in Vaccine (Volume 21, Issue 27/28) or contact Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D., at (661) 944-5661 or via e-mail at pearblossominc@aol.com.

About Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D.:
From 1995 to 2000, shingles was not studied, and positive aspects of vaccination contributed by Dr. Goldman were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and other medical journals. In 2000, after hearing reports of school nurses observing cases of shingles in children for the first time, Goldman suggested shingles be added to the active surveillance project. After two years of shingles data collection, Goldman documented the adverse effects that might well be associated with the universal varicella vaccination program.


Recommendations

Websites:
http://www.citizensvoice.org/index2.html - I just discovered this wonderful resource that provides in-depth information about a wide range of issues affecting medical freedom worldwide. Includes a selection of free video and audiotape presentations that you can view and listen to right online. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know more about what the holistic health movement is facing from the vested "powers-that-be."

http://www.burzynskipatientgroup.org - this website is maintained by cancer patients successfully treated by Stanislaw Burzynski, M.D., Ph.D., using his innovative antineoplaston therapy. I’ve met Dr. B, as he is affectionately known, and toured his clinic in 1994. He’s a brilliant man who has helped many end-stage cancer patients achieve full remission (including one of my friends). For his efforts, the FDA has subjected him to 4 or 5 (I’ve lost count) criminal trials. Fortunately, Dr. B. prevailed each time, at great financial expense.

http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf - I know it’s a long URL, but you’ll enjoy it when you get there. Be sure your computer speakers are on, then click your mouse on each of the figures from left to right.

Books:
The Golden Age by Gore Vidal. Written in a breezy, almost gossipy, tone, this novel concludes Vidal’s series of historical novels that profile the transformation of the United States from a young republic into a dominant world empire. In The Golden Age, Vidal, drawing in part from his firsthand knowledge of the people and events involved, reveals the behind the scenes machinations of the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman that led first to our entry into World War II and then to the Cold War and the national security state the U.S. to this day still remains. Though Vidal’s point of view of these events is easily gleaned, he weaves his tale with an objectivity that allows for an understanding of the motivation of all the players involved in it, bringing history alive in a way that few nonfiction books have ever achieved.

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, edited and translated by Stephen Mitchell. Rilke is one of my favorite poets. This volume provides an excellent sampling of his work and the wisdom and mystery his words open the doorway to.


Humor

This is an actual conversation that occurred between a teacher and one of her students:

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher repeated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said,"When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".

The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"

The little girl replied,"Then you ask him".


See you next Tuesday.

Health and Blessings!

Larry Trivieri, Jr (larry@1healthyworld.com)


Disclaimer: The Health Plus Letter is a weekly eZine published by Larry Trivieri, Jr. and Library of Health, LLC (dba www.1healthyworld.com). It is made available without charge for information purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care. If you are experiencing a health problem, seek prompt medical attention.

Legal Notice: The information in this eZine may be freely and widely disseminated so long as full attribution is made as follows: The Health Plus Letter, October 28, 2003, Vol. 1, No. 14. Copyright © 2003 by Larry Trivieri, Jr. All rights reserved.

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