Maropitant for treatment of pain in cats

Final report, Winn grant 10-009
Treatment for visceral pain with the new NNK-1 receptor antagonist "maropitant" in cats
Investigators: Pedro Boscan, Eric Monnet, David Twedt, Sirirat Nyiom
Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Colorado State University

Maropitant (Cerenia, Pfizer Animal Health) is a new drug approved for the treatment of nausea in cats and dogs that also has the potential for analgesia. The investigators examined effects of two parameters on the amount of inhalant anesthetic drug required to maintain the anesthetic state during surgery. During surgical procedures like ovariohysterectomy (spay), the abdominal organs are manipulated. Notably, the ovaries and uterus are touched and moved, which can cause pain. This pain can affect the amount of anesthesia needed in order to prevent the pain sensation for the cat. However, extraneous factors may affect the levels of anesthesia needed as well. Some can actually decrease the amount of anesthetic drug needed to maintain the pain-free state. Since the goal of any anesthetic is to use the minimal amount needed to maintain the state, it is important to know how certain factors affect the drug level required.
     The parameters they evaluated were pregnancy (as many cats presented for spaying are pregnant) and the use of an antiemetic drug, maropitant  (many anesthetics can cause nausea and vomiting, thus it is important to know if these medications affect the amount of anesthetic drug needed). The investigators found that both parameters, pregnancy and the use of the anti-emetic drug decreased the amount of anesthetic required. This finding indicates that levels of anesthesia needed during spaying can be decreased in cats that are pregnant, as well as in cats receiving this anti-emetic drug. Additionally, in terms of the antiemetic drug, these findings may indicate that this drug is also useful in awake cats as an analgesic. Its apparent ability to minimize the pain of surgical manipulation could indicate that it will be useful as a pain medication for cats. This drug has very few side effects, and is approved for use in cats; thus, this study has added a safe drug to the choices available for treating pain in cats. As an aside, this study allowed the spaying of cats that likely would not have been possible otherwise, including feral and homeless cats. [MK] 

Related articles:
Hickman, M. A., S. R. Cox, et al. (2008). "Safety, pharmacokinetics and use of the novel NK-1 receptor antagonist maropitant (CereniaTM) for the prevention of emesis and motion sickness in cats." Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics 31(3): 220-229.

More on cat health:
Winn Feline Foundation Library
Join us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

Final report, Winn grant 10-009
Treatment for visceral pain with the new NNK-1 receptor antagonist "maropitant" in cats
Investigators: Pedro Boscan, Eric Monnet, David Twedt, Sirirat Nyiom
Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Colorado State University

Maropitant (Cerenia, Pfizer Animal Health) is a new drug approved for the treatment of nausea in cats and dogs that also has the potential for analgesia. The investigators examined effects of two parameters on the amount of inhalant anesthetic drug required to maintain the anesthetic state during surgery. During surgical procedures like ovariohysterectomy (spay), the abdominal organs are manipulated. Notably, the ovaries and uterus are touched and moved, which can cause pain. This pain can affect the amount of anesthesia needed in order to prevent the pain sensation for the cat. However, extraneous factors may affect the levels of anesthesia needed as well. Some can actually decrease the amount of anesthetic drug needed to maintain the pain-free state. Since the goal of any anesthetic is to use the minimal amount needed to maintain the state, it is important to know how certain factors affect the drug level required.
     The parameters they evaluated were pregnancy (as many cats presented for spaying are pregnant) and the use of an antiemetic drug, maropitant  (many anesthetics can cause nausea and vomiting, thus it is important to know if these medications affect the amount of anesthetic drug needed). The investigators found that both parameters, pregnancy and the use of the anti-emetic drug decreased the amount of anesthetic required. This finding indicates that levels of anesthesia needed during spaying can be decreased in cats that are pregnant, as well as in cats receiving this anti-emetic drug. Additionally, in terms of the antiemetic drug, these findings may indicate that this drug is also useful in awake cats as an analgesic. Its apparent ability to minimize the pain of surgical manipulation could indicate that it will be useful as a pain medication for cats. This drug has very few side effects, and is approved for use in cats; thus, this study has added a safe drug to the choices available for treating pain in cats. As an aside, this study allowed the spaying of cats that likely would not have been possible otherwise, including feral and homeless cats. [MK] 

Related articles:
Hickman, M. A., S. R. Cox, et al. (2008). "Safety, pharmacokinetics and use of the novel NK-1 receptor antagonist maropitant (CereniaTM) for the prevention of emesis and motion sickness in cats." Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics 31(3): 220-229.

More on cat health:
Winn Feline Foundation Library
Join us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

Read More

Should Boys Be Given the HPV Vaccine? The Science is Weaker than the Marketing

Merck’s promotion of Gardasil, its vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), has a complicated history. First there was the exuberant claim about its reputedly great effectiveness in preventing cervical cancer. Now comes the recommendation last month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that all 11- and 12-year-old boys should be given the vaccine.

Of Science and Truthiness

The vaccine for boys is important, say advocates, because reducing HPV in boys will reduce transmission to girls and women—only 32 percentof whom have been getting the shots to date. Giving the shots to boys, they say, promotes gender equity. As a bonus, the vaccine may protect against oral and anal cancers in men who have sex with men.

Since a key part of the rationale for vaccinating boys is to protect girls, it’s worth a moment to examine the claims about reducing cervical cancer deaths. Merck won approval for Gardasil from the Food and Drug Administration in June 2006. On May 10, 2007, Merck published the results of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that claimed an astounding 98 percent efficacy in preventing changes in the cervix used as a marker for cervical cancer.

But that statistic begs closer examination.

To achieve the 98 percent efficacy claim, Merck excluded from analysis anyone who “violated” the study protocol. In other words, all real-world problems that arose were excluded from analysis. Problems like girls who refused to take a second or third shot after they became sick and (correctly or incorrectly) blamed the vaccine. Or doctors who incorrectly gave the vaccine to someone who shouldn’t have received it.  While it’s worth knowing how effective the vaccine is when it’s used exactly as it should be, for a public-health decision, it’s not as relevant as its real-world effectiveness.

To Merck’s credit, they reported that when all women in the study were analyzed, the vaccine’s efficacy dropped to 44 percent. Still, 44 percent might be considered a smashing success when you’re talking about saving lives. Except for one thing: the numbers get worse. The 44 percent benefit included only those women with the two specific cancer-causing HPV strains found in the vaccine. But when the researchers looked at negative cervical changes from any causes, they found that changes occurred in unvaccinated women at a rate of 1.5 events per 100 person-years, while vaccinated women had 1.3 events—dropping the benefit to 17 percent.

Moreover, most of the cervical changes tracked by the researchers weren’t even indicative of cervical cancer in the first place. Most were innocent cellular abnormalities that either disappear entirely on their own, or never progress to cancer. In fact, when they looked more closely at advanced cervical changes most likely to progress to cancer versus more innocent changes that go away spontaneously, it was the innocent changes that accounted for the decline.

Whether Gardasil will reduce cervical cancer deaths in real-world conditions has simply never been answered. It might—but that would take a long-term study, and one that should be donebefore it’s widely promoted.

A Cure in Need of a Disease

Now, come the boys. If cervical cancer prevention and gender equity don’t have you jumping out of your seat to grab every preteen boy to get a shot, what about the claim that Gardasil might prevent anal and oral cancers men may get from having sex with other men?

Merck says that in males, the vaccine is 89 percent effective against genital warts and 75 percent effective against anal cancer. On closer inspection, some of the numbers don’t just deflate, they evaporate. First off, let’s define the problem: The annual number of deaths from anal-rectal cancer among all men in the U.S. is 300. And how did Merck get its happy statistics on efficacy? Once again, they reported an idealized benefit by excluding from analysis 1,250 study violators out of 4,055 total test subjects. When the real-world analysis was conducted, the numbers plunged—right down to plum nothing. After evaluating tissue changes in male genitalia that were suggestive of a cancer precursor, Merck reported that vaccine efficacy against such lesions “was not observed.”

Given this, is it worth the risk of exposing millions of youth to the as yet uncertain harms of the vaccine? The CDC states that in rare instances, some vaccines may trigger the potentially fatal and paralyzing condition Guillain-Barré, and Nizar Souayah, MD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, says he and his colleagues found “clear evidence from our database of an increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome in the first six weeks, especially the first two weeks, after [HPV] vaccination.” Guillain-Barré is very rare, even among people who are HPV vaccinated, but the problem is emblematic of the downsides of subjecting millions of people to any medical treatment.

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money

So how did the HPV vaccine become a multi-billion-dollar winner for Merck? Well you might not be surprised to hear that the company happily lavished money on doctors, professional societies, and over 100 legislators. Of course, there is no tie between the recipients of this largesse and their promotion of the vaccine, say beneficiaries like presidential candidate and current Texas governor Rick Perry. In 2007, Perry signed an executive decree mandating that all girls in Texas receive the vaccine. The $28,500 Perry received was minor compared to his other connection to Merck: Perry’s chief of staff, Mike Toomey, became a lobbyist for Merck, championing the HPV vaccine. Once in that position, announced his plans to raise over $50 million for Perry’s presidential campaign.

In any case, the marketing certainly doesn’t seem to have hurt the adoption of Gardasil, which has been administered to millions of girls around the country. Caught up in the joy, some 41 state legislatures have initiated bills to promote or mandate the shots for all girls. With the CDC’s new recommendation for boys, one can imagine that promotion or mandates for them might come next.

Fortunately, some researchers don’t believe the hype. Dr. Diane Harper, one of the lead researchers in the development of the HPV vaccine, recently told the Kansas City Star, the vaccine for boys is “pie in the sky…We’re short of health care dollars. Why should we spend it on that?”

Indeed. There are better ways to spend the billions of dollars currently being spent on HPV vaccines. First, we already have a pretty terrific way to prevent most cervical cancer deaths, and it’s called the Pap smear. Since poor women are less likely to get Pap smears and more likely to die from cervical cancer, we could start by extending medical services to them. Second, many oral cancers are caused by smoking, and men and women who smoke are more likely to die of oral and cervical cancer, so we could invest in smoking cessation efforts.

As Angela Raffle, a specialist in cervical cancer screening, told the New York Times‘ Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Oh, dear. If we give it to boys, then all pretense of scientific worth and cost analysis goes out the window.”

Unfortunately, the hope that we would undertake low-tech, high-yield public health efforts might be the real pie in the sky thinking.

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

Merck’s promotion of Gardasil, its vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), has a complicated history. First there was the exuberant claim about its reputedly great effectiveness in preventing cervical cancer. Now comes the recommendation last month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that all 11- and 12-year-old boys should be given the vaccine.

Of Science and Truthiness

The vaccine for boys is important, say advocates, because reducing HPV in boys will reduce transmission to girls and women—only 32 percentof whom have been getting the shots to date. Giving the shots to boys, they say, promotes gender equity. As a bonus, the vaccine may protect against oral and anal cancers in men who have sex with men.

Since a key part of the rationale for vaccinating boys is to protect girls, it’s worth a moment to examine the claims about reducing cervical cancer deaths. Merck won approval for Gardasil from the Food and Drug Administration in June 2006. On May 10, 2007, Merck published the results of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that claimed an astounding 98 percent efficacy in preventing changes in the cervix used as a marker for cervical cancer.

But that statistic begs closer examination.

To achieve the 98 percent efficacy claim, Merck excluded from analysis anyone who “violated” the study protocol. In other words, all real-world problems that arose were excluded from analysis. Problems like girls who refused to take a second or third shot after they became sick and (correctly or incorrectly) blamed the vaccine. Or doctors who incorrectly gave the vaccine to someone who shouldn’t have received it.  While it’s worth knowing how effective the vaccine is when it’s used exactly as it should be, for a public-health decision, it’s not as relevant as its real-world effectiveness.

To Merck’s credit, they reported that when all women in the study were analyzed, the vaccine’s efficacy dropped to 44 percent. Still, 44 percent might be considered a smashing success when you’re talking about saving lives. Except for one thing: the numbers get worse. The 44 percent benefit included only those women with the two specific cancer-causing HPV strains found in the vaccine. But when the researchers looked at negative cervical changes from any causes, they found that changes occurred in unvaccinated women at a rate of 1.5 events per 100 person-years, while vaccinated women had 1.3 events—dropping the benefit to 17 percent.

Moreover, most of the cervical changes tracked by the researchers weren’t even indicative of cervical cancer in the first place. Most were innocent cellular abnormalities that either disappear entirely on their own, or never progress to cancer. In fact, when they looked more closely at advanced cervical changes most likely to progress to cancer versus more innocent changes that go away spontaneously, it was the innocent changes that accounted for the decline.

Whether Gardasil will reduce cervical cancer deaths in real-world conditions has simply never been answered. It might—but that would take a long-term study, and one that should be donebefore it’s widely promoted.

A Cure in Need of a Disease

Now, come the boys. If cervical cancer prevention and gender equity don’t have you jumping out of your seat to grab every preteen boy to get a shot, what about the claim that Gardasil might prevent anal and oral cancers men may get from having sex with other men?

Merck says that in males, the vaccine is 89 percent effective against genital warts and 75 percent effective against anal cancer. On closer inspection, some of the numbers don’t just deflate, they evaporate. First off, let’s define the problem: The annual number of deaths from anal-rectal cancer among all men in the U.S. is 300. And how did Merck get its happy statistics on efficacy? Once again, they reported an idealized benefit by excluding from analysis 1,250 study violators out of 4,055 total test subjects. When the real-world analysis was conducted, the numbers plunged—right down to plum nothing. After evaluating tissue changes in male genitalia that were suggestive of a cancer precursor, Merck reported that vaccine efficacy against such lesions “was not observed.”

Given this, is it worth the risk of exposing millions of youth to the as yet uncertain harms of the vaccine? The CDC states that in rare instances, some vaccines may trigger the potentially fatal and paralyzing condition Guillain-Barré, and Nizar Souayah, MD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, says he and his colleagues found “clear evidence from our database of an increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome in the first six weeks, especially the first two weeks, after [HPV] vaccination.” Guillain-Barré is very rare, even among people who are HPV vaccinated, but the problem is emblematic of the downsides of subjecting millions of people to any medical treatment.

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money

So how did the HPV vaccine become a multi-billion-dollar winner for Merck? Well you might not be surprised to hear that the company happily lavished money on doctors, professional societies, and over 100 legislators. Of course, there is no tie between the recipients of this largesse and their promotion of the vaccine, say beneficiaries like presidential candidate and current Texas governor Rick Perry. In 2007, Perry signed an executive decree mandating that all girls in Texas receive the vaccine. The $28,500 Perry received was minor compared to his other connection to Merck: Perry’s chief of staff, Mike Toomey, became a lobbyist for Merck, championing the HPV vaccine. Once in that position, announced his plans to raise over $50 million for Perry’s presidential campaign.

In any case, the marketing certainly doesn’t seem to have hurt the adoption of Gardasil, which has been administered to millions of girls around the country. Caught up in the joy, some 41 state legislatures have initiated bills to promote or mandate the shots for all girls. With the CDC’s new recommendation for boys, one can imagine that promotion or mandates for them might come next.

Fortunately, some researchers don’t believe the hype. Dr. Diane Harper, one of the lead researchers in the development of the HPV vaccine, recently told the Kansas City Star, the vaccine for boys is “pie in the sky…We’re short of health care dollars. Why should we spend it on that?”

Indeed. There are better ways to spend the billions of dollars currently being spent on HPV vaccines. First, we already have a pretty terrific way to prevent most cervical cancer deaths, and it’s called the Pap smear. Since poor women are less likely to get Pap smears and more likely to die from cervical cancer, we could start by extending medical services to them. Second, many oral cancers are caused by smoking, and men and women who smoke are more likely to die of oral and cervical cancer, so we could invest in smoking cessation efforts.

As Angela Raffle, a specialist in cervical cancer screening, told the New York Times‘ Elisabeth Rosenthal, “Oh, dear. If we give it to boys, then all pretense of scientific worth and cost analysis goes out the window.”

Unfortunately, the hope that we would undertake low-tech, high-yield public health efforts might be the real pie in the sky thinking.

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

Read More

This Simple Supplement Can Cut Your Risk of Dying in HALF

Taking vitamin D supplements in order to overcome a deficiency in the vitamin could cut your risk of dying by more than half. An analysis of more than 10,000 patients found that 70 percent were deficient in vitamin D -- and those who were, were three times more likely to die from any cause.

However, once the deficiencies were corrected by supplements, the risk of death dropped by more than half.  In addition, the researchers found that patients with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, and diseased heart muscle.

According to the study:

“In conclusion, vitamin D deficiency was associated with a significant risk of cardiovascular disease and reduced survival. Vitamin D supplementation was significantly associated with better survival, specifically in patients with documented deficiency.”

Sources:

  American Journal of Cardiology November 10, 2011 

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

Taking vitamin D supplements in order to overcome a deficiency in the vitamin could cut your risk of dying by more than half. An analysis of more than 10,000 patients found that 70 percent were deficient in vitamin D -- and those who were, were three times more likely to die from any cause.

However, once the deficiencies were corrected by supplements, the risk of death dropped by more than half.  In addition, the researchers found that patients with low levels of vitamin D were more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, and diseased heart muscle.

According to the study:

“In conclusion, vitamin D deficiency was associated with a significant risk of cardiovascular disease and reduced survival. Vitamin D supplementation was significantly associated with better survival, specifically in patients with documented deficiency.”

Sources:

  American Journal of Cardiology November 10, 2011 

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

Read More

Exposing the hidden epidemic of crippling, painful neurological adverse effects of antibiotics

(NaturalNews) The adverse reactions from a certain specific class of antibiotics resemble the crippling adverse reactions of the vaccine injured. But there is much less notoriety among these agonized and debilitated victims of the Medical Mafia, except for one PBS Nightly News special from June 16th, 2011. (PBS, source below)

Most antibiotic victims are adults with no one to look after them. Unlike unfortunate autistic or paralyzed vaccine injured kids who have parents dedicated to taking care of them. Thanks to social networking and internet forums, these victims have some support.

Unfortunately, most of them are locked into the Medical Mafia system of harmful drugs and brain washed medicine. Their complaints are often disregarded as delusional, or they're misdiagnosed for rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, or MS. And that's because their symptoms are similar, and worse. They often suffer from the constant pain of extreme neuropathy.

Very few adverse event reports make it to the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS). It's estimated by even the FDA that less than ten percent of actual adverse events make it into this system. It's not advertised to patients as the complaint department of choice, and doctors tend be averse to reporting adverse events from drugs they've prescribed.

So the forums and social network systems such as a facebook "wall of pain" containing personal stories and photos of current victims are their sole recourse and support. Most of them are motivated with the desire to warn others and curse the FDA. They don't have ambulance chasing attorneys - yet.

The most troublesome antibiotics

Fluoroquinolone antibioticsappear to be the most pernicious class of antibiotics causing the worst adverse effects. They are prescribed and sold asCiprofloxacin (Cipro), Levaquin, Avelox, and Tequin. Apparently enough adverse event reports have gotten through, causing the FDA to issue a black box warning for Levaquin specifically and fluoroquinolones in general.

The black box is the FDA's most severe warning, but it goes only to whoever is prescribing the drug. It's up to physicians and pharmacists to sound the alarm for their patients and customers. But usually those alarms don't get sounded, even, according to many victims, when queried about their safety.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics seem to be popular. They are dispensed for minor infections when they should be used only for extremely serious infections, though there could be problems there too. At least the ratio of benefit to risk would be closer then. A professor of pharmacology at Indiana University was quoted as saying "you don't use big guns to kill mosquitoes."

Fluoroquinolone adverse effect symptoms

An unusual side effect, exclusive to this type of antibiotic, is tearing tendons. They may literally fall apart within days of using a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The others are crippling losses of motor abilities, difficulty thinking, tinnitus, chronic insomnia, depression and anxiety among others.

The constant pain is the most difficult to bear. Neuropathy can be restricted to tingling, twitching, and numbness. But the level of neuropathy for many of the fluoroquinolone victims causes constant extreme pain throughout the joints and body. Oddly enough, these symptoms are similar to Lyme disease victims who clamor for life-long antibiotic use.

Adverse effects may show up after only one pill or not begin until a year or more after taking a series of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. If not treated, the adverse effects last long enough to ruin lives completely.

Perhaps alpha lipoic acid, especially combined with extra potent B vitamins, could do wonders for their comfort and recovery. Skilled homeopathic doctors could help them also. Unfortunately, most of these victims are stuck in a system that makes huge profits from selling solutions to problems they've created.

Sources for this article include

PBS report and individuals' videos here:http://healthmaven.blogspot.com/201...

"Wall of pain" - click photos for their storieshttp://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034384_antibiotics_neurological_effects_toxicity.html#ixzz1gOW4c0m4

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

(NaturalNews) The adverse reactions from a certain specific class of antibiotics resemble the crippling adverse reactions of the vaccine injured. But there is much less notoriety among these agonized and debilitated victims of the Medical Mafia, except for one PBS Nightly News special from June 16th, 2011. (PBS, source below)

Most antibiotic victims are adults with no one to look after them. Unlike unfortunate autistic or paralyzed vaccine injured kids who have parents dedicated to taking care of them. Thanks to social networking and internet forums, these victims have some support.

Unfortunately, most of them are locked into the Medical Mafia system of harmful drugs and brain washed medicine. Their complaints are often disregarded as delusional, or they're misdiagnosed for rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, or MS. And that's because their symptoms are similar, and worse. They often suffer from the constant pain of extreme neuropathy.

Very few adverse event reports make it to the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS). It's estimated by even the FDA that less than ten percent of actual adverse events make it into this system. It's not advertised to patients as the complaint department of choice, and doctors tend be averse to reporting adverse events from drugs they've prescribed.

So the forums and social network systems such as a facebook "wall of pain" containing personal stories and photos of current victims are their sole recourse and support. Most of them are motivated with the desire to warn others and curse the FDA. They don't have ambulance chasing attorneys - yet.

The most troublesome antibiotics

Fluoroquinolone antibioticsappear to be the most pernicious class of antibiotics causing the worst adverse effects. They are prescribed and sold asCiprofloxacin (Cipro), Levaquin, Avelox, and Tequin. Apparently enough adverse event reports have gotten through, causing the FDA to issue a black box warning for Levaquin specifically and fluoroquinolones in general.

The black box is the FDA's most severe warning, but it goes only to whoever is prescribing the drug. It's up to physicians and pharmacists to sound the alarm for their patients and customers. But usually those alarms don't get sounded, even, according to many victims, when queried about their safety.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics seem to be popular. They are dispensed for minor infections when they should be used only for extremely serious infections, though there could be problems there too. At least the ratio of benefit to risk would be closer then. A professor of pharmacology at Indiana University was quoted as saying "you don't use big guns to kill mosquitoes."

Fluoroquinolone adverse effect symptoms

An unusual side effect, exclusive to this type of antibiotic, is tearing tendons. They may literally fall apart within days of using a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. The others are crippling losses of motor abilities, difficulty thinking, tinnitus, chronic insomnia, depression and anxiety among others.

The constant pain is the most difficult to bear. Neuropathy can be restricted to tingling, twitching, and numbness. But the level of neuropathy for many of the fluoroquinolone victims causes constant extreme pain throughout the joints and body. Oddly enough, these symptoms are similar to Lyme disease victims who clamor for life-long antibiotic use.

Adverse effects may show up after only one pill or not begin until a year or more after taking a series of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. If not treated, the adverse effects last long enough to ruin lives completely.

Perhaps alpha lipoic acid, especially combined with extra potent B vitamins, could do wonders for their comfort and recovery. Skilled homeopathic doctors could help them also. Unfortunately, most of these victims are stuck in a system that makes huge profits from selling solutions to problems they've created.

Sources for this article include

PBS report and individuals' videos here:http://healthmaven.blogspot.com/201...

"Wall of pain" - click photos for their storieshttp://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034384_antibiotics_neurological_effects_toxicity.html#ixzz1gOW4c0m4

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

Read More

Monday, December 12, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) You might be reassured to learn that the buttery flavor in microwave popcorn typically comes from a chemical actually found in butter, but you shouldn't be. This chemical, calleddiacetyl, is so toxic that it commonly destroys the lungs of workers in microwave popcorn factories, afflicting them with the crippling and irreversible disease known asbronchiolitis obliterans. Bronchiolitis obliterans is so rare outside of this context that it has become more commonly known as "popcorn lung," after the primary cause of the disease.

Regulators and health professionals have known of this risk for decades, but always assumed that it would only affect people breathing in especially high concentrations in factory settings. Then in 2007, a man who regularly ate two bags of microwave popcorn every day was diagnosed with popcorn lung, indicating thatdiacetylenters the air and lungs when microwave popcorn is cooked. Anxious to reassure consumers, most microwave popcorn companies phased out diacetyl -- only to replace it with chemicals that have the same effects.

Today, you can still finddiacetylin many flavored snack foods and even in some so-called "natural" foods. Make sure youread the ingredientsof any food you intend to consume, and make sure it contains no diacetyl (and no "yeast extract" for that matter, either).

Sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/024460_p...
http://www.naturalnews.com/023771_p...
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034386_microwave_popcorn_diacetyl_lungs.html#ixzz1gOVmQVda

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

Monday, December 12, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) You might be reassured to learn that the buttery flavor in microwave popcorn typically comes from a chemical actually found in butter, but you shouldn't be. This chemical, calleddiacetyl, is so toxic that it commonly destroys the lungs of workers in microwave popcorn factories, afflicting them with the crippling and irreversible disease known asbronchiolitis obliterans. Bronchiolitis obliterans is so rare outside of this context that it has become more commonly known as "popcorn lung," after the primary cause of the disease.

Regulators and health professionals have known of this risk for decades, but always assumed that it would only affect people breathing in especially high concentrations in factory settings. Then in 2007, a man who regularly ate two bags of microwave popcorn every day was diagnosed with popcorn lung, indicating thatdiacetylenters the air and lungs when microwave popcorn is cooked. Anxious to reassure consumers, most microwave popcorn companies phased out diacetyl -- only to replace it with chemicals that have the same effects.

Today, you can still finddiacetylin many flavored snack foods and even in some so-called "natural" foods. Make sure youread the ingredientsof any food you intend to consume, and make sure it contains no diacetyl (and no "yeast extract" for that matter, either).

Sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/024460_p...
http://www.naturalnews.com/023771_p...
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034386_microwave_popcorn_diacetyl_lungs.html#ixzz1gOVmQVda

About Dr Kevin Lau

Dr Kevin Lau DC is the founder of Health In Your Hands, a series of tools for Scoliosis prevention and treatment. The set includes his book Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment, a companion Scoliosis Exercises for Prevention and Correction DVD and the innovative new iPhone application ScolioTrack. Dr Kevin Lau D.C. is a graduate in Doctor of Chiropractic from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia and Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health in USA. In 2006 I was awarded the "Best Health-care Provider Awards" by the largest Newspaper publication in Singapore on October 18 2006 as well as being interviewed on Primetime Channel News Asia as well as other TV and Radio. For more information on Dr Kevin Lau, watch his interviews or get a free sneak peek of his book, go to: http://www.hiyh.info.

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A new feline medicine textbook

“The Cat: Clinical Medicine and Management” is a new, comprehensive feline medicine textbook just published by Elsevier Saunders. Edited and co-authored by Winn board member Dr. Susan Little and containing a chapter by Winn board member Steve Dale, “The Cat” is an essential resource for anyone who provides complete, state-of-the-art care to cats.

     In one convenient volume, you'll find authoritative, clinically-focused information enhanced by full-color illustrations, tables, boxes, algorithms, key points, and much more - all in a format designed for quick access. Dr. Little and more than 60 expert contributors address the unique concerns and challenges facing the feline practitioner, including the latest advances in feline medical diagnosis and management and their clinical applications to everyday practice. 

     User-friendly and complete, “The Cat” is also available as an e-book, giving you easy access to the complete, fully-searchable contents online. “The Cat” is endorsed by the Winn Feline Foundation and contains a foreword written by Past President and current board member, Betty White.
     The cover cat is Muffi, a beautiful orange tabby and white male belonging to Mats Hamnas in Sweden. You can see more pictures of Muffi and his feline friends on Flickr.

Available from: Elsevier Health and Amazon.

“The Cat: Clinical Medicine and Management” is a new, comprehensive feline medicine textbook just published by Elsevier Saunders. Edited and co-authored by Winn board member Dr. Susan Little and containing a chapter by Winn board member Steve Dale, “The Cat” is an essential resource for anyone who provides complete, state-of-the-art care to cats.

     In one convenient volume, you'll find authoritative, clinically-focused information enhanced by full-color illustrations, tables, boxes, algorithms, key points, and much more - all in a format designed for quick access. Dr. Little and more than 60 expert contributors address the unique concerns and challenges facing the feline practitioner, including the latest advances in feline medical diagnosis and management and their clinical applications to everyday practice. 

     User-friendly and complete, “The Cat” is also available as an e-book, giving you easy access to the complete, fully-searchable contents online. “The Cat” is endorsed by the Winn Feline Foundation and contains a foreword written by Past President and current board member, Betty White.
     The cover cat is Muffi, a beautiful orange tabby and white male belonging to Mats Hamnas in Sweden. You can see more pictures of Muffi and his feline friends on Flickr.

Available from: Elsevier Health and Amazon.

Read More