The Dr. B Health Blog

Once upon a time then a student in Mexico, I lay dying from an abscess of pathologic amoebas (not the ones you look at in elementary school) in my liver. I was in great pain and VERY toxic. I was diagnosed in a few hours of the onset of symptoms and treated with two drugs- emetine and what was then a new drug called metronidazole (Flagyl)- a drug not yet approved in the United States at that time. The combination of drugs and prompt diagnosis saved my life.

Most people with this infection do not have symptoms. If symptoms occur, they are seen 7 to 10 days after being exposed to the parasite.

Mild symptoms:

• Abdominal cramps
• Diarrhea
• Passage of soft stools with mucus and occasional blood
• Fatigue
• Excessive gas
• Rectal pain while having a bowel movement (tenesmus)
• Unintentional weight loss

Severe symptoms:

• Abdominal tenderness
• Bloody stools sometimes 10- 20 times a day
• Fever
• Vomiting

Amoebas can cause abscesses in the liver (that was me) and/or in the brain (My brain is was and is messed up that even amoebas find it inhospitable!)

The age of pharmacologic medicine continues its’ downward slide. If you are or have taken a class of drug called an alpha blocker it can cause serious complications years later during cataract surgery called floppy iris syndrome (pictured above). Perhaps the most common alpha blocker used today is tamsulosin (Flomax). Remember the ad? “If you gotta go, you gotta go!!!” Flomax helps men with enlarged prostates with symptoms of urgency. There are yet others that can cause floppy iris syndrome including Coreg (carvidilol) and Trandate (labetalol)- both with alpha blocking effects. Even if you stopped taking the drugs right now, the syndrome could occur years from today because of atrophy of the muscle that dilates the pupil.

As the radio show in Phoenix, my website (www.DrSamBenjamin.com), Twitter, Linked In and Facebook picks up so many more viewers/ participants are asking more and more questions that are quite specific: “What do you think of product X or service ? My sister has Z (followed by either enormous detail or no information at all and so what would you do to treat her?  Do you use the quaroponic niskionic luperdomfer machine in your office and do you think that it will help me? Have you ever heard of tomper lumper pills? Should I take them in the morning or at night? What do you think of this brand or that?"

Depending on the amount of email traffic that day I either do not answer at all or I respond with a brief “no I can’t help you or ask your doc”. I am not insensitive to your need for good information and the lack of it around that can be relied on. I am appreciative of your trust in me so that you would ask. That is why I am working as hard as I can to get reliable information to you. BUT, the ONLY way to make SPECIFIC recommendations is if you are my patient. There are many, many variables and it takes a lot of time and thought to come up with a preventive, diagnostic and/or treatment plan. There are drug-drug and drug- herb and herb-herb interactions. Rarely does the person writing give me ALL of their history, etc. (Why should they? They are not docs and are often not aware of what might be pertinent to their treatment plan). For instance, a gentleman called the show once to ask if fish oil would be “good for him”. My urge was to say, of course, ALMOST everyone would benefit from fish oil, but, reason prevailed and I told him that I could not determine this without knowing much more about him. He actually made an appointment and I discovered that he takes Plavix and Aspirin (blood thinners) and has had ulcers twice with substantial bleeds. Well, fish oil would increase that risk substantially, and the answer to his question was, in fact, that fish oil would have been a really bad choice for him to take as a supplement daily. You might notice that my blog entries and radio show responses deal with broad areas. I try to equip YOU to get the right answers and right kind of help. It is a big RESPONSIBILITY to be a physician and I take it seriously. Providing you with information is something that I take seriously as well. I treat lots of people weekly. I know what could happen were I to make a mistake. I mean no disrespect at all to others, but I am a general practitioner who is involved in every aspect of my patients’ lives- the front lines. Lots of media personalities are removed from this reality and it makes a difference because they do not see the results of their advice on another’s life. I do.Lest you think that I am reticent to respond to you because of issues of liability, let me say that liability is definitely a factor, but not the primary reason for how careful I am. It’s RESPONSIBILITY- that’s the key factor.

I have reached a decision with regard to my practice direction. It comes out of the frustration of treating patients for diseases without getting to the core cause of their problem or dancing around th...e real elements of disease prevention and getting nowhere. Heart disease is the number one killer in this country. It is associated with peripheral vascular disease, stroke and erectile dysfunction. The causes are multifold but relate to cholesterol, triglycerides, the different kinds of cholesterol, the inflammation of your blood vessels and the viscosity of your blood to name but a few causes.

Heart (cardiologists) and vascular surgeons focus their attention on those things that they are reimbursed for like bypass surgery, stents, cardiac catheterizations, etc. That is where they make money (big money) and can enjoy the social/community recognition for their skills as “specialists”. They are, as well, brainwashed by the companies that make the devices they use and supported by institutions where these procedures are done (hospitals and outpatient surgical centers) because likewise there is a lot of money (hundreds of billions) to be made. Of course, these same physicians prescribe, prescribe, prescribe because after procedures that makes them money they have been trained to use medications to lower your cholesterol, to dilate constricted arteries, change your heart rate, increase the pumping action of your heart and on and on.

Here is the problem, all of this does next to nothing to prevent cardiovascular (CV) disease, REALLY treat it and to reverse it. What we do is throw very expensive band aids at a life altering and life threatening situation. With some exceptions, stents DO NOT prolong your life if you have CV disease. Furthermore, they often need to be replaced over time and there are complications including infection and bleeding associated with their placement and subsequent medications required to keep them patent (Keep the blood flowing through them without clotting). Bypass surgery has its place but there are many possible complications- none the least of which is death. A great concern in heart surgery is possibly permanent cognitive changes and depression as a result of effects on the brain during the procedure. I do not need to discuss with you the myriad of side effects of the CV medications- too numerous to discuss here. If you are taking nitroglycerin for chest pain and you have erectile dysfunction which is not uncommon in men with heart disease, you cannot take Viagra because it could kill you! BANDAIDS!!!!!!!!!

This is the beginning of a series on Vitamin D. Every day here in my blog there will be at least one entry pertaining to Vitamin D. It’s that important! You really need to get an idea of what having a good Vitamin D level might do for you. I have read original articles, borrowed from NaturalDataBase.com, ConsumerLabs.com and NaturalStandard.com in what I hope will be a clear, consumer friendly review. I am trying to give you information that your health care provider should be giving but does not- either because s/he has no time, lacks the information or is poorly equipped in this information age with the kind of communication tools s/he ought to have. I am not trying to be original. I just want you to know. It’s still true, knowledge is power. In this case it’s the power over your body, your health and your happiness.

Finally, American medicine has awakened to the importance of nutrition. Taking a vitamin, in fact, results in a number of biologic effects downstream. We have noted a very significant “epidemic” of low Vitamin D and this has an enormous number of ramifications for each one of us and for our society as a whole. Can maintaining good levels of Vitamin D cut the cost of care? Could it save your life? Prevent disease? Let’s take it from the top.

Vitamin D regulates the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the body, partly by controlling their levels of absorption. Vitamin D treats and prevents rickets (leg bowing) in children and osteomalacia (bone softening) in adults. Given to breast-fed infants, vitamin D may help increase bone density.