Authored by BlueAngel on
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
THIS IS ANOTHER EPISODE OF THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF A STROKE. WE NEED TO HAVE A REFRESHER COURSE EVERY SO OFTEN.
This may save a life...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and getting to the patient within 3 hours which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE - A true story
Susie is recouping at an incredible pace for someone with a massive stroke all because Sherry saw Susie stumble - - that is the key that isn't mentioned below - and then she asked Susie 3 questions. So simple- this literally saved Susie's life - - Some angel sent it to Suzie's friend and they did just what it said to do. Suzie failed all three so 911 was called. Even though she had normal blood pressure readings and did not appear to be a stroke as she coulconverse to some extent with the Paramedics they took her to the hospital right away. Thank God for the sense to remember the 3 questions!
Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.
Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a
stroke by asking three simple questions:
1.. *Ask the individual to SMILE.
2.. *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3.. *Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE.
(Coherently) (ie. It is sunny out today)
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911 immediately
and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people, you can bet that at least one
life will be saved.
BE A FRIEND AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH AS MANY FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE, it could save their lives
Jo Ann Moore
Assistant to Marty Moe
Vice President and General Manager
Personal Finance, Research & Learn, and Small Business
703-265-6494
703-265-3910-fax
Read Comments »
Authored by BlueAngel on
Sunday, October 31, 2004
HISTORY OF THIS YEARS FLU SHOTS
I knew about the shortage, but DID NOT know the 'rest of the story' (as
Paul Harvey would've said...)
Quite interesting especially the End.
How the vaccine works:
Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs. The virus
is killed and processed to create the vaccine, which is given by injection
under the skin. The body then produces antibodies to the virus over the
next two to four weeks. If the immunized person then comes into contact
with the influenza virus, the antibodies attack and kill the virus before it has a chance to cause infection. The vaccine contains the 3 most likely strains to be active during the "flu season"
Why the shortage:
Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this
year. Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be distributing
any influenza vaccine this flu season. Chiron was to make 46-48 million doses vaccine for the United States. Chiron is a British company. Recently British health officials stopped Chiron from distributing andmaking the vaccine when inspectors found unsanitary conditions in the Labs. Some lots of the vaccine were recalled and destroyed.
Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US?
The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of the
nations flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very low profit
margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor. In the late
80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the
flu.The strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine made
by a US company. What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded
almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US
pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine. The liability out
weighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such
frivolous law suits UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine
in the US.
By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law
suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.
Read Comments »
Authored by BlueAngel on
Saturday, August 07, 2004
Diagnostics Research Group resides here in San Antonio, Texas Medical Center. This particular group is an independently organized group of internal medicine, pumonary, allergy, and womens researchers. The group's physicians have quite an impressive array of experience in their related fields.
We have taken the liberty of copying their website's home page & related pertinent information.
DXRG.COM is the name of the site and the format is quite easily navigated.
HOME
Research Patients
Sponsors & CROs
News
Home Page
CLINICAL RESEARCH
Thank you for your interest in Diagnostics Research Group.
We are a consortium of clinical research facilities, each specializing in a particular therapeutic area of medical science as it relates to the research of drugs and medical devices.
Our web site is divided into two distinct areas:
Research Patient Information
For our current research patients, as well as potential patients, it is our hope that the information provided here will provide a better understanding of the nature and purpose of clinical research.
Sponsor and CRO Information
For our research colleagues that may be Pharmaceutical Sponsors or CROs, we have included detailed information on our facilities as it relates to our clinical research expertise and capabilities.
Research Patients
What Is A Clinical Trial?
Frequently Asked Questions
Volunteering
Current Clinical Trials
Physicians/Investigators
How To Contact Us
Directions To Our Offices
Dining & Lodging
Privacy Policy
Sponsors & CROs
News
Research Patients
Diagnostics Research Group is located in the South Texas Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Our facilities conduct full-time clinical research in the following therapeutic areas:
• Allergies
• Respiratory Disorders
• Sleep Disorders
• Women's Health
• Internal Medicine
We are continually seeking patients to participate in our clinical studies. If you have an interest in participating in a clinical trial, we encourage you to review the information contained within this site. An informed understanding of the clinical trial process is important to you, our research facility, and, to the ultimate success of any clinical study.
Louise Feuge, Director, Women's Health & Internal Medicine
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The following are the most frequently asked questions we receive when talking with potential clinical research participants.
What Happens In A Clinical Trial?
What Are The Benefits Of Participating In A Clinical Trial?
How Do I Qualify for A Clinical Trial?
How Safe Are Clinical Trials?
What Must I Understand Before Volunteering For A Clinical Trial?
What Happens In A Clinical Trial?
There are many types of clinical trials. The research purpose of each trial dictates the specific procedures followed. Detailed information on each trial will be provided in the form of "informed consent documents" distributed to all participants prior to signing as volunteers. Verbal review of the trial, as well as question and answer sessions, are also conducted by the research staff.
Once you have been accepted to participate in a trial you can expect a comprehensive review of your medical history, physical examinations, specific instructions on medication and treatment you will receive during the trial, and close monitoring on the effects of any medication and treatment you are receiving. You may also be required to take certain tests to quantify and verify results of your treatment. You will be required to meet for periodic checkups and review at the research facility, and to maintain communication with the research team. Participants should expect to be working with an experienced team of doctors, nurses and clinical research specialists.
What Are The Benefits of Participating in a Clinical Trial?
First, participation in a clinical trial may be based upon a research patient having a condition that the new drug or treatment being researched might be able to improve. The possibility of the clinical study producing an improved drug or treatment for your particular condition is motivation for many. Second, through a clinical study, participants may gain access to new treatments that are not yet available to the general public. Third, many participants appreciate the fact that they may be helping in the development of a drug or treatment that could literally benefit thousands of people. Another important factor is that during the clinical trial, participants will receive medical evaluation and treatment related to the clinical trial at no charge. Many clinical trials also provide time and travel reimbursement to participants.
How Do I Qualify for A Clinical Trial?
Each clinical trial has a distinct set of guidelines and requirements for participants. Such things as age, condition being researched, medical history, and present medical condition are all considered. Remember, you can only participate in a clinical trial if you meet the specific criteria required for that study. The FDA also specifies that you can participate in only one clinical trial at a time.
How Safe Are Clinical Trials?
Clinical trials are very highly controlled to ensure the utmost safety for the participants and are conducted under the direction of a pharmaceutical company that is responsible to and under the authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The federal government requires specific laboratory research and other designated studies on any drugs and treatments that will be tested prior to approving the clinical trials on research volunteers. All clinical trials are conducted under the close supervision of experienced physicians and generally take place in medical offices, hospitals, certain accredited universities and research centers. Another important safety requirement is all research facilities that conduct clinical trials involving people must, by federal regulation, have an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that approves and reviews the research to ensure compliance and safety standards. And finally, prior to making a decision to participate, informed consent documents that detail all procedures and possible risks that may be involved in the trial must be provided and discussed with potential participants.
What Must I Understand Before Volunteering For A Clinical Trial?
It is most important that you understand that you should not hesitate to ask the research team any questions you have.
You should also understand what "informed consent" is. The research staff is required to provide informed consent documents prior to your volunteering for the trial. The documents provide many details about the study. Please read these documents carefully and ask the research staff any questions you might have.
Topics that you should clearly understand before participating in a clinical trial include:
The purpose of the research being done.
What the researchers hope to find out.
What type or phase of clinical trial it is.
Drugs, treatments or tests that will be given during the trial.
What you are expected to do during the trial.
How long the trial will last.
The location of the study site and how often you must be on-site.
Whether an overnight stay at a clinic or hospital is required.
What information you should provide your regular doctor about the trial.
Clarification on whether you should continue on your current medication during the trial.
Whether placebos are part of the clinical trial.
Why this treatment might be better than the treatment you're currently on.
Risks that might be involved with the research.
The possible short and long term effects of the research on you.
Benefits you might expect from the trial.
Other treatments, not being tested that are available.
Your right to leave the trial.
Any costs associated with the trials.
Any reimbursements associated with the trials.
Any effect on your health insurance.
How your privacy is protected.
Whether you can talk about the trial with other people.
If you can find out the results of the trial.
Whether continuing treatment is available after the trial ends.
Who is sponsoring (paying for) the clinical trial.
It is critical you make an informed decision before participating in a clinical trial. Please do not hesitate to ask questions.
PHYSICIANS/INVESTIGATORS
Our Clinical Researchers, known as "Investigators" in the research industry, are a group of highly trained medical professionals. They possess a wide range of medical practice and clinical research skills.
We are proud to have such an experienced group of clinical researchers working with Diagnostics Research Group.
Charles P. Andrews, MD, CCRI
Director of Clinical Research: Diagnostics Research Group
Principal Investigator: Lung Diagnostics
Certified Clinical Research Investigator (CCRI)
View Medical Background
Randall C. Bell, MD
Principal Investigator: Allergy Diagnostics
View Medical Background
Louise K. Feuge, MSN, FNP-C
Investigator: Women's Diagnostics
View Medical Background
Carlos F. Morales, MD
Investigator: Lung Diagnostics, Allergy Diagnostics
View Medical Background
John R. Holcomb, MD
Investigator: Lung Diagnostics, Allergy Diagnostics
View Medical Background
Nora L. Walker, MD
Principal Investigator: SleepWalker
View Medical Background
Charles J. Burch, MD
Investigator: Lung Diagnostics
View Medical Background
Research Patients
HOW TO CONTACT US
Please complete and email this form if you are interested in learning more about our clinical trials. A medical representative will contact you within three work days.
Please see our Privacy Policy for details on how your information is protected.
Please fill in the following:
Name:
Email Address:
Phone:
2nd Phone:
Best time to call:
Over Age 18?: Yes No
I am interested in
these types of studies: ALLERGIES
ASTHMA
COPD
CHRONIC BRONCHITIS
EMPHYSEMA
HYPERTENSION
SLEEP DISORDERS
WOMEN'S HEALTH
How did you hear about Diagnostics Research Group? Postcard or Letter Newspaper Radio TV Other Physician Friend or Family Member
DIRECTIONS TO OUR OFFICES
Diagnostics Research Group is located in northwest San Antonio in the South Texas Medical Center Complex.
We are located at 4410 Medical Drive, Suite 360, in the TNI Building (The Texas Neurosciences Building), at the corner of Medical Drive and Ewing Halsell Drive.
Our phone number is 210-692-7157.
DINING & LODGING
Many of our patients ask us to recommend restaurants and lodging close to the South Texas Medical Center Complex and downtown on the Riverwalk.
We suggest you consider the following establishments when in the Medical Center area or when visiting downtown San Antonio:
Restaurants Within A 1/2 Mile Of Diagnostics Research Group
Restaurants On The Riverwalk
Restaurants On The Market Square
Other Notable Restaurants
Fun Places
Hotels Nearby
Hotels On The Riverwalk
Restaurants Within A 1/2 mile Of Diagnostics Research Group:
ALDOS
8539 Fredericksburg Road, 210-696-2536
Italian/Continental Food
Moderately Expensive
BISTROTIME
5137 Fredericksburg Road, 210-344-6626
Continental – Great Owner/Chef
Expensive
JASON'S DELI
9933 W IH 10, 210-690-3354
Sandwiches and Salads
Inexpensive
CHA-CHAS
2026 Babcock Road, 210-615-7588
Mexican Food
Moderately Expensive
CHACHOS
7870 Callaghan Road, 210-366-2023
Mexican Food – Great Margaritas
Moderately Expensive
FUJIYA JAPANESE GARDEN
9030 Wurbach Road, 210-615-7553
Excellent sushi and Japanese specialties
Moderately Expensive
MARIO'S RESTAURANTS
4841 Fredericksburg Road, 210-349-0188
Unique Mexican Food
Moderately Expensive
MENCIUS'
7959 Fredericksburg Road, 210-615-1288
Chinese Food with a Flair
Moderately Expensive
SARIKA'S THAI RESTAURANT
4319 Medical Drive, 210-692-3200
Superb Thai dishes
Inexpensive to Moderate
Restaurants On The Riverwalk:
BIGA ON THE BANKS
203 S. St. Mary's Street, #100, 210-225-0722
Continental Food
Expensive
PAESANOS RIVERWALK
111 W. Crockett, 210-227-2782
Italian/Fish
Expensive
RIO RIO
421 E. Commerce, 210-226-8462
Mexican Food
Moderately Expensive
KANGAROO COURT
512 Riverwalk, 210-224-6821
Variety of Foods (Best cheesecake on the Riverwalk)
Moderately Expensive
Restaurants On The Market Square:
MI TIERRA CAFE & BAKERY
218 Produce Road, 210-225-1262
Mexican Restaurant – Bakery
Inexpensive
LA MARGARITA RESTAURANT & OYSTER BAR
120 Produce Road, 210-227-7140
Mexican Restaurant – Oyster Bar
Moderately Expensive
PICO DE GALLO
111 S. Leona, 210-225-6060
Mexican Restaurant
Inexpensive
Other Notable Restaurants:
LOS BARRIOS
4223 Blanco Road, 210-732-6017
Regional Mexican Food – Superb Service with a Smile
Inexpensive
LA FOGATA
2427 Vance Jackson
Mexican Food – Margaritas
Inexpensive
PAPPASITOS
10501 I-10W, 210-691-8974
Mexican Restaurant
Moderately Expensive
Fun/Notable Places:
THE ALAMO
300 Alamo Plaza, 210-255-1391
DICK'S LAST RESORT
406 Navarro Street, 210-224-0026
On the Riverwalk (Bar, Restaurant, Live Bands)
THE AQUARIUM
8826 Heubner Road, 210-691-3474
Night Life and Dancing
LA VILLITA
Bounded by South Alamo, East Nueva and South Presa on the Riverwalk,
210-207-8610
Unique Shopping
IMAX THEATER
Rivercenter Mall on Crocket Street, 210-247-4629
MCNAY ART MUSEUM
6000 North New Braunfels Avenue, 210-824-5368
Excellent Impressionists
MAMMA'S CAFE
7710 IH 10 W, 210-349-9367
Bar, Restaurant, Karaoke
BUCKHORN SALOON AND MUSEUM
318 East Houston, 210-247-4000
Texas memorabilia and trophies
DAVE AND BUSTERS
440 Crossroads Blvd., 210-515-1515
Bar, Restaurant, Game Room, Pool Tables. Loud, Young, Fun Crowd
Inexpensive
SPURS BASKETBALL
SBC Center, 210-444-5000
SIX FLAGS FIESTA TEXAS
Loop 1604 and I-10 West, 210-697-5050
SEAWORLD SAN ANTONIO
Off of State Highway 157, 210-523-3611
Hotels Nearby:
MARRIOTT COURTYARD
8585 Marriott Drive, 210-614-7100
EMBASSY SUITES
7750 Briaridge Drive, 210-340-5421
Hotels On The Riverwalk:
MARRIOTT RIVER CENTER
101 Bowie Street, 210-223-1000
HYATT REGENCY HOTEL
123 Lasoya Street, 210-222-1234
WESTIN RIVERWALK HOTEL
420 West Market Street, 210-224-6500
Pharmaceutical Sponsors & CROs
Diagnostics Research Group is an independent consortium of full-time clinical research professionals based in the South Texas Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Our physician investigators have been involved in clinical research trials for over 20 years. We have been conducting full-time clinical trials, with dedicated staff, for four years.
Each member of our group concentrates on a specific therapeutic area of clinical research. Expertise includes, but is not limited to, the following study areas:
Allergy Diagnostics
– Allergic Disorder Studies
Lung Diagnostics
– Respiratory Disorder Studies
– Health and Disorders in the Realm of Internal Medicine
SleepWalker
– Sleep Disorder Studies
Women's Diagnostics
– Women's Health Studies
Diagnostics Research Group is an independent consortium of full-time clinical research professionals based in the South Texas Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Our physician investigators have been involved in clinical research trials for over 20 years. We have been conducting full-time clinical trials, with dedicated staff, for four years.
Each member of our group concentrates on a specific therapeutic area of clinical research. Expertise includes, but is not limited to, the following study areas:
Allergy Diagnostics
– Allergic Disorder Studies
Sponsors & CROs
SPONSOR AFFILIATIONS
Diagnostics Research Group has been privileged to work with the following Pharmaceutical Sponsors:
• Alcon
• Alkermes
• Altana
• AstraZeneca
• Aventis
• Bayer
• Boerhinger Ingelheim
• Bristol Meyers
• Centocor
• Eisai
• Eli Lilly
• Encysive
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Inspire
• Merck
• Novartis
• Novum
• OrthoMcNeil
• Pharmacia
• Pfizer
• Schering Plough
• Sepracor
• West Pharmaceutical
• Wyeth
Sponsors & CROs
TNI Building
FACILITIES
Diagnostics Research Group is conveniently located in the Texas Neurosciences Institute (TNI) in the South Texas Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas.
The research clinic facilities are located on the first and third floors of the TNI Building, with our clinical practice offices on the fourth floor. Our facilities have a combined space of 12,000 square feet.
We offer:
• On-Site Complete Pulmonary Function Testing
• Oximetry
• Chest X-rays
• Allergy Testing
• Phlebotomy
• Electrocardiograms
• Women's Health Care Including Paps, Pelvic and Bone Mineral Density Testing
Our Sleep Lab rooms are electronically monitored:
• Digital Sleep System
• Video System
Within the Neurosciences Institute, there is a complete imaging center.
We have three satellite clinics located in the rural South Texas towns of Seguin, Gonzales and Uvalde.
PRIVACY POLICY
THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW IT.
Our duties: We are required by law to maintain the privacy of your PHI (Protected Health Information). We must abide by the terms of this notice or any update of this notice.
Your rights: You have the following rights concerning your PHI:
- To request restricted access to all or part of your PHI. To do this, ask for, complete, and return to this office a privacy restriction form. We are not required to grant your request.
- To receive correspondence of confidential information by alternate means or locations. To do this, ask for, complete, and return to this office a privacy restriction form
- To inspect or receive copies of your protected health information. To inspect your PHI, set up an appointment for the inspection. To receive a copy of your PHI, ask our office to copy and mail your records to you.
- To request changes be made to your PHI. To do this, complete a change of protected health information form and return it to this office. We are not required to grant your request.
- To receive an accounting of the disclosures by this office of your PHI in the six years prior to your request. To do this, notify this office in writing that you would like a list of all individuals and organizations to which your PHI has been sent.
- To get updates or reissue of this notice, at your request.
- To complain to this office or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if you feel your privacy rights have been violated. To register a complaint with this office, complete a protected health information complaint form and return it to this office. The law forbids this office from taking retaliatory action against you if you complain.
Uses and Disclosures: We will use and disclose elements of your protected health information (PHI) in the following ways:
Treatment - Payment - Health care operations
When law, including in judicial settings and to health oversight regulatory agencies and law enforcement, requires release.
In emergency situations or to avert serious health/safety situations.
To medical examiners, coroners or funeral directors to aid in identifying you or to help them in performing their duties.
To organ, tissue and other donations organizations, upon or proximate to your death, if we have no indication on hand about your donation preferences (or a positive indication).
To contact you about appointment reminders, treatment alternatives and other health related benefits and services.
All other uses and disclosures by this office will require this office to obtain from you a written authorization in addition to any other permission you will provide this office.
Read Comments »
Authored by BlueAngel on
Sunday, June 20, 2004
This entry is pertinent to many people who have "back " problems. It is planned to also have some information regarding the anatromy of the back and spinal column from brain to the so called"tail" bone. Hoping that this information will be of help to most people. This information is from the site of Back.com site.
Back.com - Treatment Options - Non-Surgical - Physical Therapy
Physical therapy is an important treatment option for most back pain sufferers. A physical therapist is trained to carry out your doctor's orders to stretch, strengthen, and exercise your back in a safe and effective way. It is important that physical therapy is coupled with education, so that patients can be empowered to take charge of their own recovery.
Physical therapists are trained to give instruction on posture, educate patients about basic anatomy and physiology, and instruct patients in body mechanics, stretching, strengthening and conditioning exercises. The physical therapist also works with the physician to determine if other types of treatments including ultrasound, heat, diathermy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), electrical stimulation, hydrotherapy, massage or spinal manipulation may be indicated.
What should you expect from a visit to the physical therapist?
The physical therapist will do an evaluation and will determine if there are any joint limitations or muscle weakness as well as pinpointing the pain distribution in your back. Heat therapy and massage, as well as ultrasound may be used to ease back pain. In the past these types of treatments, which demanded little from the patient, and soothed the pain were used as the mainstay of treatment. Unfortunately, while these "modalities," as they are called by physical therapists, feel good at the time, the pain relief produced by massage and ultrasound treatments are often only temporary.
More recently physical therapists have demanded physical activity from their patients, which may cause minor pain at the beginning of the course of treatment, but has longer lasting therapeutic effects: strengthening the back and relieving pain in the long run. Physical therapists that treat patients with movement, exercise, strengthening and conditioning, encouraging gradual increase in activity, are usually the most success.
Read Comments »
Authored by BlueAngel on
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Today I rec'd an e-mail from the editor of The Elder Care Team Newsletter and was sent the following web site information from http://www.snopes.com/toxins/coughcpr/htm talking about urban myths that gives documentation of the dispelling of the "myth".
So, to be on the safe side, I decided to delete the article "How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone" . The article has you coughing rhthymically repeatedly as the mechanism to perform the initial CPR by squeezing the heart muscle to stimulate the beat to restart the heart.
Claim: Doctors generally recommend that one attempt to rhythmically cough during a heart attack to increase the chance of surviving it.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1999]
This one is serious . . . Let's say it's 4:17 p.m. and you're driving home, (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job. Not only was the work load extraordinarily heavy, you also had a disagreement with your boss, and no matter how hard you tried he just wouldn't see your side of the situation. You're really upset and the more you think about it the more up tight you become.
All of a sudden you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home, unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to perform it on yourself.
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article seemed in order. Without help the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel Faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating.
The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a phone and, between breaths, call for help.
Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!
From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240's newsletter. AND THE BEAT GOES ON... (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response)
Origins: This
helpful e-mail began its life on the Internet in June 1999. Those kindhearted souls who started it on its way likely had no inkling the advice they were forwarding could potentially be harmful to someone undergoing a heart attack, but that is indeed the case.
If you knew exactly what you were doing, this procedure it might help save your life. If, however, you were to attempt cough CPR at the wrong time (because you misjudged the kind of cardiac event being experienced) or went about it in the wrong way, it could make matters worse.
Cough CPR is not a new procedure — it has been around for years and has been used successfully in isolated emergency cases where victims realized they were on the verge of fainting and about to go into full cardiac arrest (their hearts were about to stop) and knew exactly how to cough so as to keep enough oxygen-enriched blood circulating to prevent them from losing consciousness until help could be sought, or they were under the direct care of physicians who recognized the crises as they were taking place and were on hand to instruct patients step by step through the coughing. Even were the afflicted to correctly recognize they were experiencing the sort of cardiac event where cough CPR could help, without specific training to hit the right rhythms their coughing could turn mild heart attacks into fatal ones.
This is not to say cough CPR couldn't be effectively taught to patients deemed at risk of further heart attacks. According to a widely circulated news report surfacing in September 2003, a doctor in Poland has been attempting exactly that. Dr. Tadeusz Petelenz of the Silesian Medical Academy in Katowice Province claims to have successfully instructed a number of his patients in the procedure, but it should be noted his results have not been independently confirmed. While a September 2003 Reuters article detailed the Polish doctor's championing of cough CPR, a similar Associated Press report on the same subject noted that "Experts said while the concept is provocative, it needs more study" and that "Dr. Marten Rosenquist, professor of cardiology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and an expert in heart beat abnormalities, said the concept is interesting but that Petelenz showed no evidence his patients actually had arrhythmias."
It is unclear from the news reports whether the Polish heart patients who supposedly experienced success with cough CPR were doing so under strict medical supervision in a hospital or were going about their private lives at the time of the cardiac events that prompted them to attempt the procedure. It is one thing for success to be achieved in a hospital setting where patients know intervention will swiftly follow if problems are encountered, and quite another when patients are in unscripted settings (at home, at work, or while driving in a car). Would such instruction hold up in field conditions, where those about to go into full cardiac arrest know there's no net under the tightrope?
Yet even if cough CPR can be effectively taught by physicians, it's not going to be learned from an e-mail, at least not well enough to be safe. Even if Dr. Petelenz's findings prove out, there's a wide (and dangerous) gap between in-person one-on-one training by a professional on hand to quickly correct a patient's mistakes before they become habit and generic printed instruction wholly lacking in direct feedback and guidance. Thinking one is a valid substitute for the other would be akin to believing studying a typed set of instructions is all it takes to learn how to drive a car well enough to take it down the freeway and back.
The e-mailed advice about coughing during a heart attack leaves the impression the "cough CPR" technique is endorsed by Rochester General Hospital and Mended Hearts. Rochester General had nothing to do with any of this — how its name came to be attached to this message is a mystery. See their web page which denies their having endorsed this e-mail
Mended Hearts (a support group for heart disease patients and their families) is not nearly so blameless.
Although the text of the e-mailed advice was published in a Mended Hearts newsletter, the organization has since disavowed it and for a time had a page on its web site asking readers not to take the e-mail seriously because they didn't stand behind it. The piece on cough CPR found its way into that publication through a blend of too much enthusiasm and a dearth of fact checking. From there, other chapters picked it up, spreading the notion to an even wider audience. Attempts now to distance the organization from it don't begin to undo the damage done by the piece having been picked up from there.
Darla Bonham, Mended Heart's executive director, has since issued a statement about cough CPR:
I've received email from people all across the country wanting to know if it is a valid medically approved procedure. I contacted a scientist on staff with the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiac Care division, and he was able to track a possible source of the information. The information comes from a professional textbook on emergency cardiac care. This procedure is also known as "cough CPR" and is used in emergency situations by professional staff. The American Heart Association does not recommend that the public use this method in a situation where there is no medical supervision.
Dr. Richard O. Cummins, Seattle's director of emergency cardiac care, explains that cough CPR raises the pressure in the chest just enough to maintain some circulation of oxygen-containing blood and help enough get to the brain to maintain consciousness for a prolonged period. But cough CPR should be used only by a person about to lose consciousness, an indication of cardiac arrest, he cautions. It can be dangerous for someone having a heart attack that does not result in cardiac arrest. Such a person should call for help and then sit quietly until help arrives, he says.
In other words, the procedure might be the right thing to attempt or it might be the very thing that would kill the afflicted depending on which sort of cardiac crisis is being experienced. Without a doctor there to judge the situation and, if cough CPR is indicated, to supervise the rhythmic coughing, the procedure is just far too risky for a layman to attempt.
Forget about coughing — key to surviving a heart attack is obtaining proper medical assistance within a very limited window of opportunity. Once an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been diagnosed, speedy injection of thrombolytic agents to dissolve clots is of the utmost importance — the more quickly those drugs are delivered, the better the chances of survival are. It's a race against the clock.
Most patients who present with minor chest pains usually look healthy and show no signs of a heart attack. Electrocardiogram (ECG) results tell the story though, so be sure to insist upon one being performed if you've any doubts at all. Often mild heart attacks are left untreated and undetected because hospital staff mistake a heart attack for something more benign because the presenting symptoms are minor.
Rather than risk killing yourself with cough CPR, those experiencing a heart attack should heed the advice of physicians the world over — down a couple of Aspirin as an emergency remedy. Doctors believe that during the early stages of a heart attack, Aspirin — which is known to prevent blood platelets from sticking together — can prevent a clot from getting bigger. In 1991 Dr. Michael Vance, president of the American Board of Emergency Medicine, recommended that people who think they are having a heart attack should "Call 911, then take an Aspirin."
Oh, and it probably makes a great deal of sense to chew the Aspirin before swallowing. The sooner it is dispersed by the stomach, the sooner it gets to where it is needed. During a heart attack, waiting for the enteric coating surrounding the pill to break down naturally could be a mistake.
In 1993 The American Heart Association began recommending a 325 mg Aspirin at the onset of chest pain or other symptoms of a severe heart attack. That bit of advice is going unheeded though — a follow-up report published in 1997 shows as many as 10,000 American lives a year could be saved if more people who think they're having a heart attack took an aspirin at the start of chest pains.
In terms of the drama of it, swallowing an Aspirin seems quite a come-down from bravely trying to induce a perfectly timed coughing fit. Less flamboyant is better, though; Aspirin saves lives, whereas coughing might well cost them.
Barbara "from coughing to coffin?" Mikkelson
Additional information: Cough CPR
(Red Cross)
Cough CPR
(American Heart Association)
Heart Attack Treatments
(American Medical Association)
Heart Attack information
(American Heart Association)
Last updated: 2 September 2003
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Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2004
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
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Sources:
Brody, Jane. "Personal Health: Saving a Life With CPR Can Be As Easy As ABC."
The New York Times. 30 March 1994 (p. C13).
Graedon, Joe and Teresa Graedon. "FDA OKs Aspirin Against Heart Attack."
The Houston Chronicle. 6 July 1996 (p. E8).
Linn, Virginia. "Coughing Is Not the Way to Stop a Heart Attack."
[Pittsburgh] Post-Gazette.com. 27 July 1999.
Ross, Emma. "Coughing - One Way to Hold off a Heart Attack."
Associated Press. 2 September 2003.
Siegel-Itzkovich. "Cough to Survive a Heart Attack."
The Jerusalem Post. 27 June 1999 (Health, p. 9).
Associated Press. "Many Fail to Take Aspirin During Heart Attacks, Experts Say."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 22 October 1997 (p. A9).
Toxin du jour
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Authored by BlueAngel on
Saturday, April 10, 2004
"Ocular Health and Pulmonary Assist Machines"
by Richard E. Hector, MD, FACS, Bradenton, Florida
(www.DrHector.medem.com)
This article is reprinted from Polio Network News, now--Post-Polio Health, Winter 2003, Vol.19, No. 1, with permission of Post-Polio Health International. Any further reproduction must have the permissions of the copywrite holder. Post-Polio Health International;4207 Lindell Blvd. #110: Saint Louis, Missouri 83108-2915, USA; www.post-polio.org E-mail info@post-polio.org.
Maintaining good ocular health and comfort is a challenge even under "ordinary" conditions. It is especially difficult when you use a pumonary assist machine, such as C-PAP, BiPAP, etc with a face mask, because such use can affect the stability of your tear iflm. A stable protective three layer tear film is particulary responsible for good vision and comfortable, healthy eyes.
We are most familiar with reflex tears, those watery tears you experience while watching a sad movie or cutting onions. If these reflex tears are present for no particular reason, the culprit is usually a dry eye condition. This exists when the other, more protective and less familiar "tear" is absent, either due to producation or increased evaporation.
Numerous small glands in your eyelids produce the protective three layer film that is necessary for the health of the external surface of your eyes. If the tear film is absent, the external surface breaks down , which can be very painful and increase the risk of severe infection, scarring and loss of vision.
Using a pulmonary assist machine with a face mask can increase the rate of evaporation os your natural tear film, and will, at first, stimulate your rweflex tears, causing your eyes to tear inappropriately. If other conditions are present that reduce the production of the very valuable tear layer, an advanced dry eye condition can develop to the point that your eyes will not tear or water at all. The use of hormone replacement therapy that includes estrogen, allergy medications such as antihistamines and diuretics, and Rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson's Disease are all associated with advanced dry eye condition.
The treatment is similar in most cases. Over-the-counter artificial tear solutions of various compositions and thickness need to be used. The frequency of applying these solution depends on the severity of the dry eye condtition. Avoid those that "take the red out" and look for a bland lubricating product such has Refresh Tears/Gel or Thera Tears/Gel; Bion Tears or Tears Naturel Forte Hypotears or Tears Naturel Free; Genteel Tears/Gel; Refresh Endura. If artificial tears are needed more than five times a day, preservative free solutions should be used.
In very severe conditions of dry eye, the tear drainage system can be modified; either temporarily or permanently, by using small plugs that fit inside eyelids and/or the eyelids themselves can be sutured partially closed to further protect the surface of the eye from exposure and drying.
"Blog" Author's Comment:
PLEASE, ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER BEFORE USING ANY OVER THE COUNTER MEDICATIONS.>
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Authored by BlueAngel on
Sunday, March 28, 2004
LEARN TO RECOGNIZE A STROKE.
Because time lost is brain lost!
CALL 9-1-1 IMMEDIATELY IF YOU EXPERIENCE SYMPTOMS:
Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
Sudden severe headache with no known cause.
More Information? Call: 1.888.4.STROKE.
Visit StrokeAssociation.org
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