SodaHead - Health & Wellness Blogs

4 simple rules to live by for a happier life.....

2008-09-05T04:13:12Z

0 raves

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love. 2. Don't Take Anything Personally Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune tothe opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering. 3. Don't Make Assumptions Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings,sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life. 4. Always Do Your Best Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret

Cholesterol Drug Scare Shenanigans (www.junkscience.com)

2008-09-04T22:15:12Z

art.and.apples

0 raves

Cholesterol Drug Scare Shenanigans By Steven Milloy September 4, 2008 Why is the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine encouraging a cancer scare over the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin? Is he overcompensating for past bad behavior? Prescribed for millions of patients, Vytorin is a single pill combining the cholesterol-lowering medicines Zocor and Zetia. Its popularity declined in early 2008 after several studies questioned whether Vytorin produced any health benefit and a panel of cardiologists recommended that the drug be used only as a last resort. Then, in July, a Norwegian researcher reported that, in a clinical trial known as SEAS, 102 patients taking Vytorin developed cancer compared with 67 patients taking a placebo -- a statistically significant result indicating that chance could be ruled out with some degree of confidence as the cause. Drug companies Merck and Schering-Plough, the makers of Zocor and Zetia, respectively, subsequently commissioned famed epidemiologist Richard Peto of Oxford University to evaluate the SEAS results. Those findings were published this week on the web site of the New England Journal of Medicine. Based on his review of SEAS and two other ongoing Vytorin trials (called SHARP and IMPROVE-IT), Peto concluded that the trials provided no credible link between Vytorin and cancer risk, although follow-up would be needed to make a more reliable determination. Peto based his conclusion on the fact that in the SEAS trial, there were no statistically significant increases in any specific type of cancer the statistically significant result occurred only by adding all cancers together. Moreover, for the three specific cancers with reported risks closest to attaining statistical significance in the SEAS trial -- skin, stomach and prostate -- the results were precisely the opposite of what occurred in the SHARP and IMPROVE-IT trials. That is, in those trials, placebo patients had higher rates of cancer at those sites than did Vytorin users. Additionally, Peto found no increase in risk of cancer over time in the three trials -- generally, cancer risk increases with increasing exposure to a cancer-causing substance. This observation, he acknowledged, will also require more follow-up since the patients in the trials have only been followed for a few years. Although more Vytorin users than placebo patients died from cancer in all three trials, the result was only statistically significant in the SEAS trial. But Peto dismissed the SEAS result since it was what had generated all the controversy in the first place and so couldn’t be used to verify the validity of a link between Vytorin and cancer. More telling than overall cancer deaths, however, was the lack of a statistically significant excess number of deaths from any specific type of cancer. Though the available data don’t absolutely prove that Vytorin doesn’t increase cancer risk, there seems to be no good reason to think that it does -- unless you’re the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. In an editorial accompanying the Peto analysis, editor Jeffrey Drazen wrote that, “Although the Oxford group may ultimately prove to be correct, it is appropriate to raise a note of caution.” Without providing any back-up scientific data, Drazen then speculated that since Vytorin works by interfering with the gastrointestinal absorption of cholesterol, it might also interfere with the absorption of other unnamed molecular entities that “could conceivably affect the growth of cancer cells.” Drazen also was unwilling to cede that higher cancer death rate of Zetia patients was simply due to chance “until further data are in.” But the main reason that Drazen is simply wrong about keeping the Vytorin cancer scare on life support is that there’s no evidence whatsoever that the drug is associated with any specific form of cancer at any specific site. For example, excessive smoking is associated with lung cancer and occupational asbestos exposure is associated with mesothelioma. But given a specific route of exposure, no potential carcinogen is known to cause cancer at multiple sites on a random or haphazard basis. Aggregating different cancers into a catch-all “all cancer” category simply lacks demonstrable biological plausibility. Drazen’s insistence on waiting for more data on cancer deaths is similarly nonsensical. Vytorin would first need to be associated with an increased risk of a death from a specific form of cancer -- a notion clearly contradicted by the data so far. None of this should be controversial or new to Drazen. So what’s up with him? Prior to becoming editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Drazen had close ties with many drug companies -- and once got into trouble because of them. In March 1999, the Food and Drug Administration found that Drazen made “false and misleading” statements about the safety and efficacy of the asthma drug levalbuterol made by Sepracor -- a drug company that hired Drazen to review two studies on the drug and then to comment to a company interviewer. Needless to say, given this past, his NEJM appointment was somewhat controversial. So since becoming editor, Drazen has seemingly gone out of his way to turn on the hand that once fed him. In a May 2005 Wall Street Journal article entitled, “Medical Editor Turns Activist On Drug Trials,” former NEJM editor Marcia Angell said that, “[Drazen’s] been converted. Through painful experience, Jeff is learning what these companies are about. He sees the ugly side that he hadn’t seen before -- the bias that company-sponsored research contains, the suppression of results that they don’t like, the spin of unfavorable results.” Dr. Angell would apparently have us believe that Sepracor forced or tricked Drazen into say “false and misleading” things about their drug. So now it seems that instead of pro-drug company bias and spin, Drazen now leans toward anti-drug company bias and spin. Imagine if Drazen were just to stick to science in the first place, he wouldn’t have worry about shifting alliances to atone for past mistakes. Steven Milloy publishes JunkScience.com. He is a junk science expert, and advocate of free enterprise and an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

this is a blog.....ohhh the irony

2008-09-04T19:31:48Z

MIss Placed

0 raves

this day this time these people i ryme ill tell you a story about a young girl who llived in a hurry and forgot the whole world she could care less about you could care less about me and yes she most definatly could care less about the bum on the street she was a blank young girl oh such a waste he parents often yelled at her for eating paste she lived in such a hurry for such a slow mind she was not the brightest child from mankind she was stupid and dumb she couldnt talk let alone run her life was a blur but what could she do? she was stuck in this world just like me and you her name of course was shelly though most people called her smelly such a poor girl such a waste shell never amount to anything she stays in the same place if only she knew what the real world was like shed be gald for bein the way she is shed deal with the names the funny way she walks the odd was she sounds when she tryes to talk and this is the end of our pathetic story of a retarded girl in a fucked up world

Vegetarianism

2008-09-03T23:59:23Z

Poet003

0 raves

Vegetarianism is not proper diet in my opinon.Both men and women need meat including red meat or they will eventually become ANEMIC. Perhaps this symbolizes the ultimate sacrifice Jesus the fattened calf and us the prodigal son.We should unite our sufferings to Jesus our father , brother, husband, and friend.He is all things to all men.

Chantix

2008-09-03T12:41:29Z

chantix

0 raves

A perfect drug used as a smoking cessation medicine, Chantix is best treatment for the people who smoke. It is used together with behavior modification and counseling support to help you stop smoking cigarettes. Chantix works in the brain to block the pleasurable effects of smoking. This helps to decrease your desire to keep smoking chantix: http://www.chantix4u.com

Obama NO WAY

2008-09-03T12:22:48Z

sdkid

0 raves

If Obama becomes our next president I have already deceided that I will stop working. No income, no taxes, no income I can then collect food stamps, get my rent and utilities paid for, no hospital bills. What more can I ask for???? I have good friends in Canada and they said since their healthcare became nationalized thing have gotten terrible. No mater how sick you are that you can even be bleeding inside it takes 2-3 months to get to see a doctor. The people that have the money and live close to the US border will come here and without an appointment thet see a doctor in 2 hours. Is this what you people want??

gah the pain, the pain of it all!! (some swearing)

2008-09-03T06:27:19Z

Sweetness

0 raves

ok so you see i had this week, well last week actually, where the only thing keeping me alive was caffine and so i was having sort of 4-6 coffee's a day only for like 5 days but still and so i'm guessing you all know that caffine is a drug a very legal drug but one all the same and so i got addicted to caffine and this week i've had to stop drinking it all together because people have noticed i've been a bit... paranoid... to say the least and so i told myself to stop and you know what? I HAVE WITHDRAWAL SYMTOMS AND IT FUCKING HURTS LIKE THERE IS A LITTLE MAN IN MY HEAD WITH A FUCKING CHAINSAW RIPPING MY BRAINS TO SHREADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it hurts and the paracetamol product i have doesn't work and thats the only painkiller i have access to and i don't wanna od on THAT so i'm not gonna take to much but it hurts and i never thought caffine was capable of such a thing and i feel betrayed by it and i have a guitar lesson in... half an hour and my head hurts LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER gah... so yeah, just complaining to you guys about it... and warning you caffine is just out to get you it'll stab you in the back when you need it the most... O.o

Social Vibe

2008-09-03T01:30:47Z

Miss Kellyy

0 raves

It's for a good cause and you should help me out.

Ick

2008-09-02T02:50:36Z

TwilightPrincess(Arison-san)

+7 raves

First off, thanks to everyone who left me nice comments about my video ^___^ Secondly, having allergies sucks. It's allergy season for me, and I'm hating it. T____T

i need advice...

2008-09-01T23:00:02Z

Lexi

0 raves

I think my freinds doing drugs and iam worried about her shes getting addicted!! every half an hour shes got to go for "a walk" but everyone nos what shes doing!! :( iam worried about her not like anyone really cares iam just venting! but anyone have any suggestions.. what would you do?? Please help, -Lexi-