Good Health

Been Awhile

2009-02-28T13:08:00.003-07:00

Missed a month here, again. Same old same old, seeking answers to pain, this time on the right side, from neck to lower back. Been visiting the student physio clinic at the Uof A, since the last post here.

Geoff, Karol and Kerri have done allot of head scratching. Every time I show up, there is a new issue. Undaunted, they've collectively designed some basic, small support muscle exercises, to correct the imbalance.

The route cause is massive over use of my right side, caused by complications from hip surgery.

The adage; if it doesn't kill you, it can be good, fits here. The surgery didn't fix my problem, actually created more. Now 'we' are learning what to do. There will always be issues, always an opportunity to fix them.

Student Clinic ReOpens

2009-01-29T12:30:00.002-07:00

The student staffed Physiotherapy Clinic, at the University of Alberta has re-opened. I was introduced to the clinic a year ago. The students did a wonderful job on me, then, reducing pain, increasing strength, and mobility, on my troublesome new left hip.

The clinic shut down last spring. It re-opened, two weeks ago. Good news for me. I'm back. This time working on troublesome right side issues. The result of over use and complications from the original surgery.

In just two sessions, " we've " identified some issues, devised new therapies. All I have to do is follow the regime. Best part, it's working.

The biggest benefit to the the student clinic, for me, is time and attention. It's a one hour appointment, with two students and a supervisor. Collaboration and consultation amongst the four of us is enabling. The sessions consist of assessment, to monitor progress and issues, treatment, and exercises.

The down side is the teaching environment. The patient needs to be patient, as the students work through their analysis. Not an issue for me, I enjoy the interaction. Patient gets to make the odd suggestion. Better patient gets a hearing! We all learn!

Find out more from Geoff Bostick PT PhD Candidate
Rehabilitation Science
Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine
3-48 Corbett Hall
Edmonton AB CAN
T6G 2G4
bostick@alberta.ca

Being in Sorts

2009-01-22T12:09:00.003-07:00

People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abe Lincoln

Feeling a little 'off' these days. Must admit I am.

Some may say that's my natural state. No problem, then. Ya ya.

Not so sure about happy, as good Abe wrote. Flip side of 'happy' is unhappy.

Attitude is always a challenge, and a choice.

Find Bugs here

Here's 25 tips to quiet the mind. The source of 'sorts'. Be it, in or out of them.

1) Go to the gym and exercise: it cleans your head out!

2) Step away from the big picture and ask yourself, what's the next right thing I can do now? Go do it. Repeat this process until good spirits return.

3) Do some charitable service work, and help someone else out. Sometimes this reminds us
others have it worse and we have a lot to be grateful for.

4) Write out a list of 10 things that you are grateful for…

5) Go for a walk and notice everything as if it were the first time you saw it.

6) Get out of the city/town/office/your house and spend sometime outdoors.

7) Have coffee with a friend who you haven't seen in a while.

8) Spend some quality time with your loved ones and family members.

9) Plan a vacation!

10) Watch the sun rise or set. It's hard not to see the beauty there!

11) Watch a movie. That's an instant two hour form of captivated attention that will take your mind off things.

12) Eat a good meal deliberately. Take in the whole experience - appearance, taste, company.

13) If you are spiritually or religiously inclined, meditation and/or prayer can calm the mind.
14) Meet new friends. One of the best ways to renew how we think about ourselves is to have a brand new chance to make a different first impression.

15) Read more, especially good fiction. There is nothing better than a well-written story to get your creative juices going.

16) Be more available for last minute meet ups with colleagues, friends, and peers. Sometimes the best events are unplanned.

17) Write down your ideas. Put pen and paper in easy-to-reach places. You might be pleasantly surprised at the number that has potential.

18) Think positive! Use this as your new mantra: "Blame no one. Expect nothing. Do something."

19) Ask for help. You'll be amazed at how a collaborative effort energizes you.

20) Slow down. Sometimes we miss all the good stuff that happens in between point A and point B.

21) Discover classical music. Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Albinoni, Chopin tell amazing stories with their body of work.

22) Take an improv class. Learning a new skill that can help you in presentations and public speaking will increase your confidence.

23) Listen more, speak less. It will help you learn to appreciate others in whole new ways.

24) Teach a class at the local community college/school/library. Sharing knowledge is very satisfying.

25) Sing along while you drive.

via Conversation Agent

One in Seven

2009-01-14T14:03:00.007-07:00

This diagram was a piece of my report to my surgeon, a year ago, today. Severe debilitating referred pain, in my Gluteus muscle, was consistent and constant from January 2007 , until January 2008.

My intention, with my hip surgery was to eliminate pain, thought to be emanating from my hip, and regain diminished capacity. The surgery exasperated my condition.

In six weeks, starting January 15, 2008, with the help of a group of physiotherapists and fitness trainers, we reduced the pain on the operative side, my left hip, from 9 to 2, on a 10 point scale. Resolving a mystery which befuddled my surgeon and the Alberta Hip and Knee Clinic, for over a year.

My rehab team identified my pelvis, and the muscles around it, as the source of the pain. My pelvis was, is, out of alignment. That's posture, a core strength issue. The muscles reacting to the misalignment over compensate, become stressed, wear out. The warning is pain.

Now we are working, on my right side, which was over used during my rehab. The symptoms are similar.

The take away...

Surgeons and physicians are not rehab experts.
Plan for issues arising, when you sign up for hip surgery.
There's a one in seven chance there will be a problem.
Find rehab specialists to help you through it.
Physiotherapists, Fitness Trainers, Active Release Chiropractors, Message Therapists.
No, or don't know, is not the answer you 'need'.

Think Form and Function

2009-01-12T15:01:00.006-07:00

A reminder, all the core strengthening techniques we're demonstrating can be done, anywhere. Our focus is form that begets function. Location and apparatus are secondary.

I go the gym, at Grant MacEwan College. I enjoy the outing, and interaction with the staff.

Yesterday, we demonstrated a simple side step. We were using a functional trainer device. There was an 10 pound weight, attached to my ankle.

You can do this exercise at home, without any weight, using a chair for balance. That's the only way, when you are just starting your rehab. I used the kitchen counter allot, during the first 12 weeks of my rehab. Still do.

The critical piece is 'function'. Executing on form, yes suck, squeeze, and squeeze is most important. That's what will get you functioning.

We'll show you some of the basic techniques from the Alberta Hip and Knee Clinic's, red book, over the new week.

It's All Core

2009-01-11T21:30:00.003-07:00

Recently, I've been having some issues, well pain, on my right side. Over use, favoring my right side, from the long rehab process, is causing some grief on my so called good side.

Just discovered the importance of the Gluteus Medius Muscle. It's a little difficult to find. Strengthening it and learning how to fire it takes a little work too. Well worth it though. Take a look.

Ryan's Roar

2009-01-07T13:46:00.005-07:00

Meet Ryan Hyland, my 'grand' nephew. Ryan's got, Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia.

His prognosis is good.

That's because his,18 month old sister, Alexandria,is a match, for a complete bone marrow transplant.

The sibling match is an every day miracle. There was a 25% chance of that happening.

Long odds, but improving, just the same.

An operation is planned, for the end of January.

Hard to imagine how two tykes and their parents will fare.

Makes some of the issues, discussed here, previously, rather tame.

Perhaps you'd consider helping other Ryans. Here's how you can do that.

Might be one way to enable, one of those New Year's resolutions.

Ryan and Mon Suzanne
Hope is a wonderful thing

Thanks

Help Is Good

2009-01-06T17:24:00.001-07:00

Core Matters

2009-01-01T23:42:00.004-07:00

Suck, Squeeze, and Squeeze is a core strengthening technique , I picked up at the Student Physiotherapy Clinic, at the University of Alberta, last January, yes, 2o08.

The terminology belongs to Assistant Dean, Dr. Dave Magee. " I use it ( suck squeeze and squeeze) so the students can visualize the technique", Magee told me, in a phone conversation, recently. "We start with the core. Build it up. Then move to strengthen the extremities, with static and dynamic exercises," he said.

It works. While attending the clinic, the students stabilized my core. More importantly, the exercises they prescribed reduced my hip pain by 50%.

Over the last year, I've become a suck, squeeze, and squeeze evangelist. You may have noticed! It's the fundamental piece of my current rehab effort, at Grant MacEwan College. Currently, I'm working on strengthening the extremities, Dr Magee referred to. It's a work in progress.

Local Resources

2008-12-30T19:18:00.002-07:00

People, organizations and companies who helped me recover, from hip surgery.

Physician
Curt Vos Nor Med Clinic Sherwood Park

Physiotherapy
Audrey Bjronstad Normed Physiotherapy Clinic Sherwood Park
Gord Ariza Physiotherapist and Acupuncturist
Sarah Pearce Physiotherapist

Flo Stomp FJS Rehabilitation Consulting Hydro Physiotherapy

Student Physiotherapy Clinic University of Alberta

Dr Dave Magee Assistant Dean Faculty Rehabilitation Medicine University of Alberta
Barb Norton Clinical Assistant Professor Physical Therapy
Sylvia Ciurysek Physiotherapist Teaching Assistant
Avaleigh Wanger Student
Janice Lo Student

( Clinic is closed as of this post)

Acupuncture
Dr Stephen Ung Medical Acupuncture

Personal Trainers
Grant MacEwan College
Fitness and Wellness Trainers
Katie Metez
Jeff Calkins
James Lingthrone

Melany James Target Your Energy Personal Trainers

Chiropractor
Derek Lampshire River Valley Health Chiropractor Active Release Edmonton

Nutrition
Grant Derkatz Health Works Nutrition Center Sherwood Park

The list also includes family, friends, and neighbors, who remain anonymous here. Without their inspiration and help the journey would be longer.

Magic Bullet

2008-12-15T15:43:00.013-07:00

There aren't any quick, or magic fixes, when it comes to rehab, for hip surgery. You are on your own, for the first six weeks. Its difficult. Body needs rest. It's reacting to all the drugs. Sometimes not well. You are trying to do the basic exercises. Trying to move.

It is not an easy time. You are pretty vulnerable, then. Make sure your physician will take your phone calls. At best, you'll be sore, at worst have pain, hopefully, not allot of it.

I did. It was intense. I was unable to sleep. Sleep is critical, throughout rehab, vitally so in the first six weeks. You can not, will not, heal without it.

My pain baffled the medical experts, I consulted for help. I had a gallium scan, a bone scan. Two nuclear medicine tests for post operative infection. No infection was identified. Surgeon and physican were happy. Infection after hip surgery is a big problem. It can cause permanet disability.

Despite the tests, I still had pain. My surgeon told me, twice, he didn't know what was causing my pain. The last time, he said that was January 5, 2008, 13 months after surgery. He also said, he didn't know anyone who could help me. I didn't and don't believe him, on that.

To eliminate the pain I tried acupuncture, physiotherapy, water physio, no physio, yoga, and Qi Gong.

None of those therapies worked. Yet, they all did. It took 24 months. Although each one failed, individually, to solve the riddle. Collectively they did, over time, by providing a base, from which to proceed. With the exception of acupuncture, I practice the rest, regularly. No magic bullets!

My salvation is "SSS"- suck squeeze and squeeze, a core strengthening technique. There's a universe of information, on core strength. Google it. You get 1.5 million pages to review. That's Overwhelming.

Here's a primer for Suck Squeeze and Squeeze

click to see larger image

click to see larger image

click to see larger image

I highly recommend it to everyone. Hip surgery patients no matter where you are on the rehab time line, it will shorten the rehab process, dramatically. For anyone else suck,squeeze,and squeeze, can relieve back pain. Provide the base for better posture. Make it easier to do every day tasks.

24 MONTHS IN REHAB

2008-12-13T12:24:00.006-07:00

I'm making a comeback.....

5 Considerations for Successful Re-Hab from Hip Surgery

Give yourself time. Rehab is a process.

Strengthen Core Muscles

Be Mindful of Posture

Rest

Eat Well

Options are Good for Hips

2007-03-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

There's several ways to deal with malfunctioning hips.

Once you've determined surgery is an appropriate course of action.

Know there's more than one option.

Hip resurfacing is one.

Actually the procedure involves resurfacing of the socket.

The implant is smaller.

Recovery time can be shorter. There's greater potential for resuming an active life style. Less chance of in accurate length post operation

The video offers some insight into the procedure. If your are contemplating hip surgery, in Edmonton, ask the surgeon what procedure he's going to use. Look at your x rays to see how much damage there is and what the options to total hip replacement might be.

Link Hip Replacement Surgery

High Tech in the O.R

2007-03-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Satellites in the OR, well not quite, but close . OK modified GPS, instead of satellites. cameras hooked to computers to enable surgeons to get it right. Right means precise. Precision is mission critical, in hip replacement surgery.

Cameras triangulate implant positioning.

The computer maps the area and helps the surgeon determine the correct size for the implant. There's lots of Geometry in in hip replacement surgery.

Precise measurement=Less wear

Patient Benefits

The patient is unlikely to end up with one leg longer than another. Less muscle tissue is damaged shortening recovery time . There's the possibility of more robust activity post operation because the the melding of the implements with bone. As my surgeon said post op, bone is gold.

Unfortunately, hip replacement patients in Edmonton's Capital Health region won't see anything like this. At least I didn't. I also ended up with an a longer operative leg and an insert in my shoe to make me level. Procedures performed here, in comparison, are light years behind what's going on in the US and Europe. For anyone considering hip replacement , watch the video below. It's 60 minutes, however at the end you'll have a true understanding of the procedure. Know, there's nothing dainty about it.

Three Key Questions to ask you surgeon prior to surgery.

What method are you using?
What materials are the implements made of?
How do you know the measurements are precise?

Click the pic to see the video

Still Hurts At Week 8

2007-02-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

The pain has been most severe at night. I'm unable to sleep more than two hours at a time. The pain shoots from the lower glute, at the bottom of my butt, down the IT band , into the quad muscle and then into the groin. I tried a short term fix, a cortisone shot, didn't work. There was no change in the pain level.

I've had two physiotherapy sessions a week for the last three weeks. There is progress in terms of function and strength. Despite, the pain, I am doing more repetitions of the exercises than when I started, three weeks ago.

Two alternative therapies Active Release and Message are working. The active release is part of the physio regime. performed by my physio Sarah Pearce. Weekly message, is from Leslie Olsen at Healthy Balance, in Sherwood Park. Seven treatments in combination, in the last two weeks, with limited impact is on the pain cycle.

I waited too long to seek alternative therapy. Post Operative pain should diminish over the first four weeks of rehab. Expect to be told pain is normal It isn't. If you aren't sleeping due to post operative pain, in your butt, look into message and active release. Tell your Doctor. You know more about your pain, than he or she ever will.

Active Release Practitioners in Alberta

Sore Groin Sore Glut

2007-01-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

If your butt, groin and thigh muscles hurt like mine, it's likely the adductor muscles need attention.

There's five of them. They extend from the pelvis to the thigh bone and the pelvis to the knee.

The adductors main function is to pull the legs together.

I find the lateral extension difficult to do, however I'm doing it better now than I did six weeks ago.

There are two lateral extensions in the Hip and Knee Clinic booklet. If you are just starting the program I recommend you do those as much as you can prior to surgery.

Six Week Check Up

2007-01-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

My six-week check-up didn’t start well. My surgeon took expectation to this letter to the editor of the Edmonton Journal.

“ Let's not get carried away with the Hip and Knee Program. The current protocol is myopically focused on systemic, non patient outcomes. Twenty weeks from pre-operation to surgery does not account for 12 weeks of ( post op) patient convalescence. I am four weeks into convalescence. I haven't seen a physiotherapist since I left hospital December 15th. The protocol of the new hip and knee centre should recognize patient outcomes don't end when the hospital door closes behind you.”

I had several issues going into the consultation. It took some time to resolve them.

Five things I learned at my six week consultation.

Rehab is a home based patient directed process for 6-8 weeks. (It takes that time for the healing process to take hold)
Physiotherapy will not be prescribed during this period.
My operative leg is longer, than it used to be, longer than my non operative leg. (This is considered a normal outcome of total hip replacement. It can be mediated with a shoe insert. I over used my non operative leg, in the initial rehab period. My right knee swelled. My right hamstring over stretched. I had more pain than I expected.

My operative leg adductor muscles are very weak
Physiotherapystarts, January 24th.

I need it

My surgeon and I intend to have lunch to compare notes.

I 'll let you know how we do.

Editorial disclousre, the first draft of this post was written January 17th 2007.It was completed February, 1. The healing process is longer and more painful than anticipated, preempting regular postings. My intention is to create a chronology of this process, by event date, not posting date. Hopefully, it will help future hip replacement patients.

SHUT OUT

2007-01-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

Twenty weeks to get a new hip, or knee, is the goal of the new Orthopedic Centre planned for Royal Alexandria Hospital, in Edmonton. The Edmonton Journal has editorially embraced the protocol.

(Note: the link may not be live, as Journal does not 'permalink' its’ stories)

Prematurely, I say! I got my new hip in 12 weeks. That is impressive. I am quite pleased; I got in and out that quickly.

There is a problem. The current program is, myopically, focused, on the front end of the process. Twenty weeks from pre-operation to surgery is fine. Then what? The surgeon is done. The patient is not.

Capital Health, may want to talk to some patients. Patient feedback could prove enlightening. Six hundred orthopedic surgeries, a month, are performed, at the Misericordia and the Royal Alexandria hospitals. That is a massive database of patient experience begging to be tapped!

Hip Flex 24 hours after sugergy

Here is a summary of my post operation experience. Support from the Hip and Knee Clinic is sparse. My two-week post operation appointment was a perfunctory, fifteen-minute, visit to remove stitches. I expected a physiotherapy assessment of my progress, then.

I entered the program active, healthy and determined to shorten the rehab cycle, as much as possible. My pre operation preparation has morphed into a self administered, home based, convalescence, bereft of professional guidance. Program sponsored physiotherapy has been denied. I will launch my own post operation exercise plan, shortly. Watch for it.

Rail Walking 24 Hours after Surgery

Contrary to my current experience, all orthopedic patients need a professionally designed, personally managed, four week, postoperative rehab program. It should include; a progressive exercise plan, physiotherapy, and a dietary advice, recipes even!

Eating the right food, in appropriate portions, provides the energy to heal. I found it hard to eat, for two weeks. It took that long for the operational drugs to depart my system.

There's an important soical interaction component to convalescence. It is acceptable to be shut in, for two weeks. After that, there's a keen desire to 'get out' and socialize. Social interaction is a panacea a key element in the healing process.

The proposed new Hip and Knee Centre could be just the place to facilitate post operation interaction. It could become a 'patient experience ' laboratory. Information gathered could be catalogued and "paid forward". Use patient wisdom to benefit patients. That will only happen when "convalescence" is recognized as a key component of the process. Currently it isn't!

What is your experience? Let's talk.

24 HOURS POST OP

2007-01-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

Click to Play

This is day 22 of recovery. It is proceeding well. Here's a clip from physiotherapy, 24 hours after surgery. Thanks to therapist Sherry Rioux for helping me through the exercises.

14 DAYS OF RECOVERY

2006-12-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

It's day 14 today. Starting to feel better. That's Good. The worst day was day 4. It wasn't the hip. It felt sore. That was expected.

It was the rest of me, reacting to various drugs and hospital therapy. Specifically, I was extremely nasuated. Sought help from my "GP", who made a home vist. That's pretty special stuff. The diagnosis was mild sinus infection, swollen glands. plus a digestive system reaction to medications.

The solution, part his, part mine. I took enzymes and acidophlius for the digestive system. Backed off the pain killers. Reduced the dosage in half. Drank a 'gallon' of fluids, daily, water, plus pop, and juice with sugar, in it. Don't usually drink much of the latter, however all of the above worked. It took a couple of days though.

Is is crtical to have your GP, availabe to you, post operation. Don't botther calling the Hip and Knee Clinic, on medical issues. Deal directly with your GP.

Do all that you can to feel well. For me the objective is to shortern the incapacity stage, as much as possible. Feeling well is best way I know to do that.

Rehab session 24 hours after surgery

RECOVERYING

2006-12-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

Just about now 7 days ago I was 'in theatre' for hip replacement. So far, recovery is going well. Standing up typing this post, with a modicum of weight on the new hip. There's been some moments, and no doubt there'll be more, however , it's good to be home, recoverying. Stay tuned for some patient perspective , "wisdom" from this crowd of one.

Guiding Hand from Therapist Sherry Rioux 24 hours after surgery

Three Tips to Recover from Hip Surgery

2006-12-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Click to Play

Jan Remier is a fomrer Mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, and proud user of a 'bionic' hip. She's had hip replacement surgery.

Her advice. Listen to your body. Rehab with professional supervision and do what the phyisotherapist says.

We'll be able to compare notes real soon !

Donating My Hip Bone

2006-12-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Remember the song hip bone?

Prety good

... not it!

This one. althought not a great rendition. I expected to find more. I did learn it's a Negro Spiritual. I just remember it as a fun tune.

Well my hip bone is causing me grief. When it comes out, I've decided to let some one else have a go with it. The Comprehehnsive Tissue Centre, at the University of Alberta, is the agency that goes around chasing for bones.

That's a little hyerpobyle. They ask you to donate. Ninety percent of the folks approached do. That's impressive. They use the 'old bone' for hip, and spinal cord surgeries. Here's a link to the Centre. It's a little dated , however, you'll understand what they do. Expect to hear from these folks, if you're getting a joint makeover.

I'll trust that mine old bone makes a little better connection.

Signed the Contract

2006-12-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

There's quite a process invovled in acquiring a new body part. It's not a decision to be taken lightly.

Eighteen months ago, here in Alberta, the provincial government created a pilot project for hip and knee replacement surgery. The goal was to create a platform of specialists to deliver joint replacements more efficiently.

It's now called the Bone and Joint Clinic. I signed my contract today. We've all got roles and responsibilities.

If anyone wants to share their experience, I'd love to hear your story, or any tips you might have on the recovery side. Anything to ease my pain is really appreciated!

Learn how the pilot project has morphed into a fully integrated program, here.

Not Taking It Anymore!

2006-12-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

The Pain that is. In my Butt, left gluteus maximus to be exact. Maybe more info than you need. I've had it for some time, 8 years. Tried just about every thing I know to lose the pain.

Read Back Pain Books. Tried herbs, supplements, accupuncture, message, phisotherpay and yoga. Changed my diet. Rolled the dice on the Egoscue Method. There is merit in all the therapies I tried . They work to some extent, not enough, just can't shake the pain.Gave the alternatives a good shot.

I'm losing capacity to do things, like walk the dog, I don't sleep well. Don't work as well as I know I can. Not all that enthuisased about give up a body part, however, on December 13th, will get a new hip. Stay tuned intend to document the process. It's been around for a while.

Click here or on the picture to see a 'virtual rendition' of the process

Biogen Intersitial

2006-11-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Click to Play

This video was key element in an awareness program for Multiple Sclerosis therapy

Snooze To Win

2006-05-17T09:47:00.000-06:00

There are no coincidences, right? Two New York Times' pieces caught my eye. One debunking the myth that lactic acid causes muscles fatique. Unfortunatley, it took a hundred years for the establishment to recognize the old 'science' was wrong. Begs the question, how many other old theories need to be scrapped?

The coincicdences, We can train the brain, to let it all go; imagine learning to sleep! A little
aerboic excerise, 6 hours before hitting the pillow, creates muscle
fatique, so we can let it all go! Ah the simplicity of it all.You can . Just in case you, perhaps like me, might be having a problem with quality shut eye time.

Dear Iris--Ease My Pain

2006-03-22T12:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Erudite Editor, Sherwood Park News please pass this on to the Minister of Health.

Hello Iris:

I went to see your pal Curt Vos, the other day. He's fine, me not so much. I've this pain in my butt. It goes into my back, my legs and is messing up my kness. It really is annoying. So am I, when I have it. That's probably more detail than you need. Perspective is important though!

So Curt books me an MRI to get to the bottom, so to speak, of all of this. One problem, I can't get it till July 26th. It'll be six months before, I'm on the road to recovery. Time is scare. Function is pretty important, with a finite and declining number of days left, on the planet.

I know you're up to your butt, in Third Way dilberations, so I don't want to take up much of your time. However, as a representative "underwriter" of the current government supplied health care insurance system. I ('we') pay for it through taxes, premiums, and out of pocket for delisted services or alternative therapies not covered, at all.

Why does it take 4 months to get an MRI in the system?

Why can't I use my 'public system' insurance to pay for a MRI, at a private clinic? "They" tell me I can get an MRI there, in two days.

How much does an MRI cost, in the public system?

How will the third way shortern wait times? Reduce costs to me? Increase benefits to me (us)?

How will de listing services, declaring hip and knees as non essential, benefit those with hips knees, and other things that need to be fixed?

How does de listing benefit anyone? In 2005 Alberta Health dropped physiotherapy coverage from 6 to 4 visits. Iris, Why did you do that? Who benefited from that?

What's the benefit in third party Health Insurance? As I see it, subject to clarification of course, I'll pay a premium to a private insurance company, 'they'll' create a deductible, and "they'll" either de list me, or increase my premium when and if I use the insurance, just like the automobile insurance guys do.

Iris, I look forward to discussing this. I trust the Erudite Editor and August Publisher of this weekly journal will be happy to accommodate your response.

Regards Bruce Winter

PS
Friends of Medicare, and anyone who needs something fixed and can't get it, feel free to join in this discussion, here, or at wwww.selfheath.blogspot.com

School Days Stress Reliever

2005-08-22T14:44:00.000-06:00

In the wanning of summer and falling ahead, it's the time of year when resolutions are revisited. School starts, routines bump up to accommodate an array of activities, not the least of which is keeping active. Here's an easily incorporated exercise approach via LifeHacker For more concentrated resource in getting rid of the stress around clutter try Get Organized Now .

TECHNOLO-GEE

2005-08-03T10:06:00.000-06:00

How do they do that, is the medial question of the day. Check this out.

This is a heart monitoring pill It's being used by the NFL to monitor players, during training camp, in the wake of a couple of fatalities. It is rather amazing, however scary too. Imagine the dark side every pill contains a monitoring device hmmm. It's now possible. Thinking a little further, this technology could go along way to resolving the mystery around herbal therapies and what they do or don't' do. At the same time Vioxx might not make it. However no doubt someone can figure out how to 'tweak' the monitor.

And this is an interface for a laser surgery procedure that can be done and has been done over the Internet.

"In an effort to combine sophisticated laser and Internet technologies, scientists in Australia have successfully performed laser surgery and “optical trapping” in a Southern California laboratory via the Internet.

...In a proof-of-principle series of experiments, the scientists from UC Irvine, UC San Diego and the University of Queensland employed RoboLase to produce surgical holes in a distinct pattern of less than one micron in diameter (1/1000th of a millimeter) in single cells"

Waiting List For Herbs

2005-07-27T08:53:00.000-06:00

Macleans reports Canada Health Food Directorate has approved 522 of 8180 applications for certification since its inception 2 years ago. All alternative health care products must be licensed by June 2006. There are 30,000 applications in the pipeline.

How do you spell boondoggle? The Health Food Directorate, arbitrarily created by Health Canada monitors the alternative medicine industry. It creates and applies standards similar to those applied to drugs, manufactured from synthetically created chemicals.

Alternative products are not drugs. They are food, plants, or minerals, which have medicinal properties established by practice as opposed to patent.

"Edmonton-based CV Technologies Inc. has a hit with its COLD-fX capsules, made from an extract of chemicals found in North American ginseng. ... For a new natural product like COLD-fX, scientific support is required to show that it does what it's supposed to and is safe to use -- similar to what's demanded for the approval of non-natural drugs and prescription medicines. "

Ginseng is not a chemical. Blending natural ingredients does not make them chemicals.

Compare alternative product policy regulation to this Health Canada advisory . Regulations that create waiting lists and statutory bias are impediments to good health.

Knee TV - update

2005-07-15T12:42:00.000-06:00

A couple of clarifications are required from yesterday's Knee TV post. Dale Alton, from AMMS, says the extremity MRI is focused on foot- ankle-knee- hand- wrist and elbow. Also, internet distribution of the images will come via local internet providers, not Alberta Teleheath.

"The term Telehealth is used to describe the delivery of health services, educational programs, or collaboration in research using interactive video, audio, and computer technologies. It allows instantaneous consultation, physical examination, study of x-rays and laboratory findings, supervision of treatment or educational discussions among participants in diverse locations." Alberta Telehealth

Joint TV

2005-07-14T17:01:00.000-06:00

Imagine, 'Knee TV' watching your own MRI, with instant commentary, from a radiologist 300 kilometers away

Knee TV' isn't going to generate 'Survivor' type ratings. However, if you've got a 'joint' or some other extremity, in need of repair, there's a leading edge Alberta solution designed to get you back in the game, quickly.Alberta public policy, in health care and communication, has intersected two image technologies-- digital image distribution and medical imaging.

The health care policy is Alberta's third way. Internet distribution comes via Alberta Telehealth Consider it a heath care dividend, for your portion of the $400 million invested in Alberta Supernet. The medical imaging technology comes from Advanced Medical Mobile Services, an Edmonton based medical imaging company.

AMMS is testing its' extremity MRI machine, at the NorMed Rehab centre, in Sherwood Park. Extremity MRI technology focuses on body parts: knees, shoulders, elbows, ankles.

The service isn't licensed yet. Capital Health is sorting out some issues. When it is, here's how you'll be able to use it. You'll need a medical referral. Your doctor or physiotherapist can provide that. Once you have it, you'll be able to book an appointment directly, or through Alberta Health. The direct service will be available on demand. It costs $395 for a single joint MRI.

"This will change physiotherapy procedures", says Audrey Bjornstadt, owner of NorMed Rehab. Currently, the first couple of sessions of physiotherapy are typically assessment and program development. " With this, we'll be able to condense rehab time", Bjornstadt says.

Imagine, what "Knee TV" may do for your health and well being. Looks good to me.

Supreme Court Champions Choice for Medical Care

2005-06-12T14:57:00.000-06:00

"Access to a waiting list is not access to health care."

That is the key message from the Supreme Court's ruling this week.

The duplicity of Canada's (non) Universal health care system has been exposed. Not only is there private service delivery in the current system, there is privileged service too. Mindelle Jacobs reported there are four medical care tiers not two.

Monopolies do not foster innovation. They limit choice and charge high prices. Canadians have been duped. Government measures it success by how much of your money it spends. Then turns around and restricts access to what you can receive from so called universal medical care coverage by de-listing or creating approved services lists. On top of that, it creates criteria for clinically approved waiting periods, entrenching wait lists as opposed to eliminating them. Just a few weeks ago health Canada said it was spending $15 million to determine what is acceptable waiting time.

There is no acceptable waiting time. There is no need for it. Waiting list were created by politicians for their benefit. The next election is shaping up as more than just a referendum on political integrity it will determine the future of your accesss to medical care.

Half a Billion Dollars to market Vioxx

2005-06-03T09:30:00.000-06:00

In the year 2000, Merck spent $590 Million marketing Vioxx. Total sales of $40 Billion, of which Vioxx's category comprised $2.3 Billion. These are just two pieces of financial data uncovered by Elisa Camahort in a piece called Pharmaceutical Marketing Costs.

Most of the marketing effort is targeted at doctors. So when the drug companies say "consult your doctor", know they already have. Transparency and the ethics of marketing might be good point to make to Health Canada. It has opened the floor to you, as part of a public hearing into Cox-2 Inhitibtors, anti inflammatory drugs. The public hearing is slated for June 9th . You can participate through a Health Canada website. It is rather detailed process to get to the survey form. However it is your chance to influence some health care policy. It is worth the effort.

Dandelion Good for you and your Garden

2005-06-01T17:00:00.000-06:00

It may sound incredulous however, Dandelions are good for you, and your garden.

Pesky Weed

Perhaps the lesson is in the fact that all the effort to eliminate the plant has not worked very well. Juli Knight has insight on how to prepare the pesky weed for the salad bowl. Dealing with Dandelions is for those willing to consider options in the garden. Dandelion Wine may be worth a
try.

Dandilion Cures my Itch

2005-05-30T10:25:00.000-06:00

So on my early morning constitutional with my canine companion on Saturday morning I picked up a skin rash following him through the grass. By this morning the itch was quite annoying. So I went for the dandelion. I read somewhere awhile ago that the old "weed" is good for a number of things and promptly unconsciously dismissed the notion.
However while venturing through the same field this morning I took the dandelion cure. Three applications later and no itch. I rubbed the flower on the itchy area. In the event this anecdote doesn't reach the new England Journal of Medicine, you may consider giving it a try for whatever psoriasis you stumble into this summer. It works for me on mosquito bites too.

So while Canadian science seeks ways to elminate the plant by killing it, harvesting it offers less invasive alternative uses wine and salad come to mind.

Sources:
University of Maryland Medical Center
Holistic Online

Organic Food Resource

2005-05-30T10:20:00.000-06:00

If you are looking to eat a little better, and to learn what it takes to do that , click here

West Nile Headlines = Deet Commercial

2005-05-27T08:31:00.000-06:00

Newspaper headlines can sure be misleading.

"Camp life can make you sick"

"Risk is Lower in the north but West Nile Virus is still out there"

Conditions ripe for outbreak of West Nile Virus health officials say

"West Nile Virus panel prepares for o5 on onslaught"

The best punch line to a headline ..."if you go out, make sure you wear products that contain DEET." Is there a better commercial than" expert" endorsement, in the news ?

There are lots of natural alternatives to Deet. It is not good for your skin and is bigger threat to your health than West Nile.

“But to put it in perspective, if 100 people were bitten by a mosquito that had West Nile Virus, 80 of them would show no symptoms. Out of roughly 20 percent that would show symptoms, about one percent of those would have serious symptoms.”

The West Nile 'buzz' is generated by concocting an issue. Mosquitoes are dangerous to your health. That effort induces you to buy repellent and local municipalities to use your tax money to buy mosquito eliminating pesticides. The campaign is adroitly marketed under the guise of public health and safety. It is repeated every spring and summer, producing guaranteed royalty revenue for Johnson&Johnson a health care company.

Will Rogers got it right

Just a sample of today's West Nile News ... Where's Amanda Congdon?

"Camp life can make you sick"
"Risk is Lower in the north but West Nile Virus is still out there"
Conditions ripe for outbreak of West Nile Virus health officials say
"West Nile Virus panel prepares for o5 onslaught"

Waiting Lists Befuddle Supreme Court

2005-05-25T11:14:00.000-06:00

You may not have heard of Dr. Jacques Chaoulli, however you may very soon. He's a Montreal Doctor. Last June, he got a Supreme Court hearing challenging the constitutionality of the public medical system. He claimed waiting lists are unconstitutional . For some mysterious reason in the last week, this case has garnered the attention of a host of vested interests, the media, the Council of Canadians, and the Fraser Institute. The latter two are polar opposites, when it comes to what should be done to shorten waiting lists.

The Supreme Court creates its own waiting list. It has taken just about a year to make a decision on this case. It began7 years ago. Will it rule in favor or choice or in favor of publicly funded monopoly? Depends which vested interest is to be served. Remember each Justice notwithstanding their credentials and experience in law, is a Prime Ministerial appointee. That's the way it is in Canada and that may not necessarily be beneficial to your health.

Meanwhile Health Canada confirmed it is putting up 15 million over 4 years to study determined standards for "clinically" approved waiting periods. Translation the bureaucracy is going to tell you how long you will wait for service depending on what your medical condition is. If the public medical care monopoly is ruled constitutional, your options are removed you wait.

RAIN TODAY MOSQUITOES TOMORROW

2005-05-17T10:51:00.000-06:00

We're into the very brief warm weather season in Northern Alberta. For the next 16-20 weeks, Albertans will make the most of the very short spring and summer. Given that most of northern Alberta is mainly a giant bog, mosquitoes are a problem. A big problem for me, if there is one in 500 hundred miles it'll get me. If you want to know why those ornery little critters bite some people and not others, and what you can do to to prevent them from doing it, check out Mosquitoes and Mosquito Repellents.

Here are some plant based products that have proven to work for some people.

Repel Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent (WPC Brands) – 120.1 minutes protection time

Fite Bite Plant-Based Insect Repellent (Travel Medicine) – 120.1 minutes protection time

Soybean Oil
Bite Blocker for Kids (HOMS) soybean oil – 94.6 minutes protection time

Citronella
The citronella-based repellents tested protected for 20 minutes or less.

Mineral Oil

Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil (Avon) - 9.6 minutes

If you got a remendy feel free to add it in the comments and we'll update the list

Reference

Bugs and Home
New England Journal of Medicine

Globe and Mail's Misleading Headlines are Bad for Your Health

2005-05-05T08:59:00.000-06:00

Lazy journalists, complacent editors combine to perpetuate an eastern Canadian myth. Alberta is about to dismantle publicly funded medical care.

"Alberta denies picking fight with Ottawa", screams the Globe and Mail's head line for its' report on Alberta' Health Care Symposium. If you were looking for analysis, insight and trends in medical care service delivery, from the just concluded international conference sponsored by Alberta Health, you won't find it in the Globe and Mail.

You will find inflammatory language used to misinform. ... "pick a fight .. controversial plans to transform the province's health-care system' . Who is picking a fight? What controversial plans? There is in nothing in the report to support the fighting allegation. Mythology masquerades as journalism.

There is no Globe and Mail 'reporting' on Alberta's medical care pilot programs. Last month, Alberta Health created Alberta Joint and Bone to test new methods of delivering deliver orthopedic surgery, within the publicly funded medical care system. Nothing in the Globe and Mail on that program. However there is a fight going on somewhere!

To foster the great eastern Canadian medical myth, semi- erudite national reporters and their compliant editors, blithely attach Holy Grail status to the Canada Health Act. Have any of them read it? If so where's the analysis of the benefits it creates for Canadians?

What the Canada Health Act, does is to perpetuate the monopoly of government supplied medical care service. A service which governments can no longer deliver. So they ration it, creating barriers to getting it, called waiting lists.

The fundamental principle of the Canada Health Act is to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers.”

Here's an example of an unintended consequence of the Canada Health Act. It is illegal under the act for a patient to use Canada's leading edge telephony and Internet telemedicne technology for intra- province consultation. A patient cannot go outside their province to reference a Canadian medical expert. That is a barrier to receiving care. The act contravenes itself. So instead of embracing change and innovation, the act inhibits the development and application of leading edge technology that can improve medical care, create employment, and provide options for Canadians in their medical care decisions.

It is time Canada's lethargic national journalists and their smug editors, actually took the time to analyze the Canada Health Act. They and you, assuming they tell you, may conclude it has many unintended consequences for your medical care. The most important is; it limits your ability to choose what is best for you.

Parents Switching to Altnerative Therapies

2005-05-03T11:37:00.000-06:00

Dr. Sunita Vohra, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta has published a study about parental use of alternative therapies for their children. She makes a couple of keen observations. Parents are reluctant to confide in their physician about the use of natural products. They have lost confidence in traditional medical treatments including vaccinations, which in some cases they view as harmful. What is impeding the physician/ parent dialogue is lack of natural health care product knowledge on the part of the general medical practitioner and an unbridled trust in 'natural' products. That latter may have more to do with distrust of pharmaceutical products.

Here's a short list of resources that examine Alternative Therapies for children

Motherisk - A Web based resource for evidence-based information about the safety or risk of drugs, chemicals and disease during pregnancy and lactation. Motherisk is produced through a program at the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) in Toronto. The site includes studies and information on several NHPs, including Folic acid, and Echinacea.

Sick Kids Foundation - Proceedings from the first Sick Kids Foundation forum can be found at: http://www.sickkids.on.ca/Foundation/pdfs/grt_Proceedings_CAM1.pdf

HolisticKids.org - a US Web-based resource created in collaboration between Children's Hospital Boston, and other centres of health research in Massachusetts as a tool for educating pediatric medical residents. Its range of high quality resources is limited at this time, but under development.

UNFILTERED HEALTH CARE NEWS

2005-05-03T10:30:00.000-06:00

Unleashing Innovation in Health Care Systems starts this afternoon. The Alberta Government is the sponsor of an international gathering of health care practitioners. The objective is to tap the expertise of 400 international delegates with the intent of improving the delivery health care services to us, the people who pay for it. You can watch or listen to it on the net. Get your unfiltered conference news here. No need to check with the Globe and Mail for an interpretation.

Eat Well- Be Active- Live Long- Live Well

2005-04-25T08:59:00.000-06:00

Cook you own food, eat your vegetables, junk the junk food, including the daily double double at "Tim's, Starbucks, Second Cup et al ." Keep in touch, exercise a little, that's the mantra of the Adams siblings all 7, aged from 76- 90 . They've celebrated 582 collective birthdays, so from experience they speak, if we listen and hear, there's a useful message.

Source Edmonton Journal

There's a pretty good chance we'll all live a little longer, if we chose to make the investment, now. See yourself at 90, what's the picture? It's bright if we can walk, talk, read, and connect. Small adjustment now leads to productivity, living well, at the back end of the timeline.

Research Sources
Senior Peer Mentoring
Older Women and Excerise
Attitude and Aspirations of Older People

Media Bombast =Distortion= Bad for Your Health

2005-04-18T09:02:00.000-06:00

Thomas Wolkom is influential writer for the Toronto Star. He's an apologist for Canada's failing medicare system. He uses his Toronto Star pulpit to distort and disparage . He had this to say about Canada Strong and Free, a policy paper on Health Care in Canada presented, last week, by Mike Harris and Preston Manning.

Mr Wolkom wrote... the pamphlet is classic Preston Manning, with funding and research much of it dubious provided by British Columbia's right-of-centre Fraser Institute.

Who says the research is dubious? That statement is columnist opinion presented as fact. The international research presented in Strong and Free, measuring how effective Canada's medical system is, and how it ranks in the world, came from the OECD.

Mr. Wolkom wrote .... Manning and Harris want to get rid of universal, comprehensive, public health insurance and replace it with a pared-down system that covers only catastrophic health problems and so-called "core" services.

Here is what the report said.

"... Most importantly, you and your family will be fully insured against catastrophic illness, just as you are now, and will have continued access to all medically necessary services regardless of ability to pay. These features of our current system will not only be reretained. They will be made far more sustainable. But in addition, you will have more choice in health-care services resulting in shorter waiting times, access to the latest medical technology and better care"

Mr Wolkom wrote ...Everything else would be paid for out of pocket or through private insurance. Even the slim-line public scheme would be financed in part by user fees. The Canada Health Act, the federal law governing medicare, would be scrapped.

Here is what the report said.

"In most provinces, when you are sick you will still most likely enter the health-care system through the door to a doctor’s office, clinic, or a hospital that is part of the public health-care system. But if your needs cannot be attended to promptly or satisfactorily, you will have the option of being referred to another facility offering equivalent or more specialized care where you can be treated sooner, and that facility, while licensed by the government, may well be financed and operated by a qualified private operator."

"If the services provided by the private facility are core services covered by your provincial health-care insurance plan, upon presentation of your Health Care Card the cost of your treatment will be covered by the province in accordance with the same fee schedule used at publicly run facilities. If the services you require or desire are not covered by your provincial health-care insurance plan, they may be paid for directly or through any private supplementary health-care insurance plan (which is the case now)."

Core services and user fees, for services not covered by the public insurance program, are in play now. Alberta, just de-listed physiotherapy from six medicare covered visits to two. Physiotherapy is provided by private practitioners operating for profit business, within the medicare system. Government insurance pays for very little. You may have private insurance that pays for more. That insurance policy carries a deductible, which keeps the premium cost at the level you choose. Those who can't afford private insurance, and are not covered by an employers program, are restricted to two medicare paid physiotherapy sessions, in Alberta.

Mr Wolkom wrote ... It's similar to the kind of scheme that former Alberta Social Credit premier Ernest Manning, Preston's father, pushed in the 1960s. And it is straight out of the play book of the Fraser Institute, which has long had a true hate on for Canadian medicare.

Currently, Canadian Medicare makes Canadians less healthy, as they wait for government supplied services, which take longer and longer to deliver.

Alberta Health's website says waiting times in Calgary are as follows:

- 62 weeks for a hip replacement at Peter Lougheed Centre;

- 62 weeks for general surgery at Rocky- view General Hospital;

- 30 weeks for MRI scans at Foothills Medical Centre;

- 54 weeks for knee replacement surgery at Rockyview General Hospital;

- 11 weeks for cardiac surgery at Foothills Medical Centre.

The impact of waiting is completely dismissed by Canadian Health Act propagandists. The apologists stifle reform by trying to scare you.

Medicare Time Bomb- Media Bombast

2005-04-16T12:39:00.000-06:00

Canada Strong and Free is worth a read. The report, co authored by Former Ontario Premier Mike Harris and Reform Party Leader Preston Manning, was presented April 13 the and brought all the health care nationalists, who perversely wrap Canadian Culture and Canadian values into the delivery of a essential service. A service that is not being delivered very well.

The Prime Minister said: "The Conservative agenda is no longer hidden, it is no federal role in health care, it is no Canada Health Act, it is no one saying no to the privatization of health care.''

The report has one major premise. Canadians need more freedom of choice in their lives. The concept promotes, greater use of private insurance to cover the costs associated with health care, incentives for those who take care of themselves, and a guarantee of universal access.

Here are the main recommendations..

Remove jurisdictional roadblocks to better health care for patients by subsubstantially amending or replacing the Canada Health Act and transferring responsibility for health-care delivery and financing, including federal tax points, entirely to the provinces. Make Freedom of Choice a fundamental principle of any future health-care legislation.
Expand health-care facilities and cut waiting times by removing all federal restrictions that prevent provincial governments from using private capital, non-governmental providers, and market-based pricing mechanisms in the development of health-care facilities and the delivery of health-care services to Canadians.
Focus federal support for health care in the areas where it can do the most good: health-care science and research, no-strings-attached equalization payments to have-not provinces to enable them to meet national standards, and the collection and dissemination to health-care users of information on the performance of the Canadian health-care system including the portability of benefits between provinces.
Reduce the federal personal income-tax rate from 6% to 5% for the lowlowest bracket, eliminate the next two brackets, and reduce the top rate from 29% to 25%. The reduction and elimination of these brackets would equal the current federal spending on health care and allow the provinces exexpanded tax room to finance health care. The equalization forformula will provide additional revenues to those lower income provinces for which a tax point is worth less than for higher income provinces.

What will the adoption of these measures mean to you and your family in practical terms? Most importantly, you and your family will be fully insured against catastrophic illness, just as you are now, and will have continued access to all medically necessary services regardless of ability to pay. These features of our current system will not only be reretained. They will be made far more sustainable. But in addition, you will have more choice in health-care services resulting in shorter waiting times, access to the latest medical technology, and better care.

In most provinces, when you are sick you will still most likely enter the health-care system through the door to a doctors office, clinic, or a hospital that is part of the public health-care system. But if your needs cannot be attended to promptly or satisfactorily, you will have the option of being referred to another facility offering equivalent or more specialized care where you can be treated sooner, and that facility, while licensed by the government, may well be financed and operated by a qualified private operator.

If the services provided by the private facility are core services covered by your provincial health-care insurance plan, upon presentation of your Health Care Card the cost of your treatment will be covered by the province in accordance with the same fee schedule used at publicly run facilities. If the services you require or desire are not covered by your provincial health-care insurance plan, they may be paid for directly or through any private supplementary health-care insurance plan (which is the case now).

Source
Canada Strong and Free

Team Approach - Health & Business Sense

2005-04-16T10:29:00.000-06:00

There has been some quantitative movement this week in reorganizing medical care delivery services, Canada

Ontario has announced a Health Team approach, integrated facilities which incorporate doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and possibly pharmacists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, dietitians, and nutritionists.

Health Canada and Canadian Nurses Association are coordinating an effort to re-evaluate and upgrade the role of Nurse Practitioners, registered nurses, who can diagnose and treat common illnesses, prescribe medication, order tests and refer patients to other health-care professionals.

The intention is to reduce wait times for those who need treatment, more importantly including dietitians and nutrionists preventative therapy emerges as part of medical practice.

The Health Team model could be the harbinger of a new medical care business model. Rather than these professional being employees of public institutions, these emerging health care teams may present themselves as integrated corporations, that includes both medical and diagnostic services. The benefit is the potential for a significant reduction in 'administrative costs', no contraction of service, with all services billed, as they are now, to public health insurance program.

Take Control -Self Care- Be Healthy

2005-04-11T14:14:00.000-06:00

Bill C420 is a piece of legislation intended to amend the Canadian Food and Drug Act. It has disappeared into the amending stage, the legislative abyss of committee review, where the vested interests tell the government what they think, we need.

The Non Prescription Drug Association , NDMAC , sees some value in specific amendments that Bill C420 has to offer. NDMAC is on side with the natural health products industry in revamping Schedule A section 3 of the Act.

"Many self-care health products have been scientifically proven proven to either treat or reduce the risks associated with a specific Schedule A disease, are prevented by passing on that knowledge to Canadians in the most direct way possible: advertising "

St John's Wort is one of several products, cited as a product that is prevented form advertising its proven health claims by the current edition of the Act.

"All self-care products should fall under the same regulatory framework and the regulations should be consistent with the lower risk profile of products intended to be used without requiring the intervention of a physician. ..."

"Furthermore, it is incomprehensible that some aspects of the drug regulations are less onerous than the NHP regulations. PABA sunscreen can be approved in less than 45 days, while the zinc formulation has a 60-day standard. The regulatory requirement should be the same and they should be simplified. All self-care products should be regulated in the same way and distinct from prescription drugs."

NDMAC does not support the notion that NHP's should be regulated as food. Its' brief to the Standing Health Committee offers several valid reasons why categorizing NHPs as food may be not serve Canadians best self-care needs. NDMAC seems to be supportive of a third category, something between food and and prescription drugs. However the Association does not amplify this notion. It should.

Supplements Get Reprieve

2005-04-09T20:20:00.000-06:00

A European Union plan to eliminate natural l ingredient based supplements and replace them with synthetic versions has been stalled.

The Alliance for Natural Health has won the support of the Advocate General of the European Courts of Justice (ECJ . The Alliance vigorously opposed the The Eu Food supplement Directive, which if passed would replace natural ingredient products with synthetic versions by banning natural ingredient products from approved EU Food Supplement lists.

There is a Canadian connection. Last January, ( 2004), Health Canada issued a directive, by passing Parliament, and declared all natural ingredient products, were to be classified and regulated as drugs. The impact of that regulation is the herbs and vitamin you are now able to purchase at a health food store may be restricted to purchase through prescription only. One possible effect is higher prices.

In Canada Bill C-420 is equivalent legislation, to the Health Alliance EU legal challenge. Bill C-420 when passed will rescind the Health Canada Directive and restore supplements to the food category for regulatory purposes. Bill C-420 has passed two stages and is currently in Committee for review.

Canadians - Need to Lose Some Weight

2005-04-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

Statistics Canada says we are a little on the hefty side and have been putting on the poundage for a sustained period.

"Canadians who had been overweight in 1994/95 had become obese by 2002/03. On the other hand, only half as many, about 10%, who had been overweight were in the normal weight range eight years later."

cbc photo

The reason we are bursting around the midriff is what we eat. Tthe ingredients, in what we eat can be short on nutrition and large preservatives that enhance product taste and product shelf life.

Health Canada thinks the solution lies in product labeling and created new regulations in 2003 to deal with the issue. Here is
what the Food and Consumer Products of Canada requires its' members to do.

"Provide Nutrition Facts information on all pre-packaged foods (with minor exceptions). The Nutrition Facts table has a standardized format that is consistent from product to product and includes a mandatory list of calories plus an expanded list of 13 core nutrients. The list includes:
Calories, Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Carbohydrate, Protein, Fibre, Sugars, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron."

Labeling is a small issue, literally. They are difficult to read. Label reading is a confounding experience.There is too much information crammed into a small space. A label may tell you what is in the product. It doesn't tell you what effect the ingredients have on you. Success, in battling the bludge and associated serious side effects, is knowing what the ingredients do.

Enriched food may not be nutritious food. Enriched is a marketing message implying an enhancement has been made. We need a better understanding of what the benefit of the enhancement is. Does the process create a more nutritious ffood? We need to be assured by regulators and industry the process and ingredients are nutritious, not shelf life and taste enhancers.

Post Script
Trans Fatty Acid
Essential Fatty Acid
Know Your Labels

A short list for more information

Efficacy - Economic Benefit of Vitamin Supplements

2005-04-07T12:13:00.000-06:00

A major self care issue confronting the aging population is the use of vitamin supplements by the elderly. There are a several of key questions. Do vitamins compensate for what may be missing in a diet? What health risks does supplementation reduce? On the business side, what is the saving to the health care system? What are the opportunities in this market place? A recent study by the Lewin Group shines a bright light on the issue.

WHAT'S IN A LABEL?

2005-04-06T15:32:00.000-06:00

Apparently lots, and it may not be good for you, if you, like me, thought that a soy was a useful dietary supplement. That notion is worth re-examination. For a definitive review of the issue you may want to read Soy the Whole Story .

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The issue is further complicated by what government regulators approve on product labels. This is where the science gets pretty murky, and marketing takes over. "Soy protein may reduce the risk of certain cancers". Says who, would be an appropriate question? However, from a marketing perspective 'reducing a risk' suggests soy protein is beneficial to your health.

What is really important for consumers is the concentration of the ingredients . The word natural on a label can be misleading too.

Watch for media campaigns trumpeting the benefits of soy, as Solae a major manufacturer, seeks to have labeling requirements revised. This is at odds with recent regulatory policy demanding more stringent evidence based labeling for vitamins and herbs and the intent to classify those natural products as drugs,
under a public health policy of consumer proection. Buyer be very aware.

Canadian Medical Care - study - talk - more waiting

2005-04-05T10:54:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard about the Wait Time Alliance? A group of Canadian medical associations has issued a report on how the government should deal with the time it takes for you to get medical care.

"No More Time to Wait" - identifies wait time thresholds for these five areas, beyond which best available evidence and clinical consensus indicate patient health is likely to be adversely affected. The report also provides governments with recommendations on establishing a framework to improve access and reduce wait times.

Here's the report.

Here's an index of media reports on the report.

The Minister of Health says his department 'Health Canada' will have it's own bench marks ready for December of this year with a goal towards seeing significant reduction in wait times by March or 2007 . How many Canadians will get seriously ill, before the system delivers on the bench marks.

The Minister is quoted; "When you put yourself in the position of being a patient, you want to make sure that the health-care providers on the front lines are able to tell you, based on medical evidence and clinical requirements, what the wait times ought to be" .
The Globe and Mail

Confirmation, wait times are endemic to the government delivered medical care system. The objective of this exercise is to reduce wait times, as opposed to creating a patient centered system, with multiple delivery options, to be used at the discretion of the user. What Canadians get is a continuation of a fundamentally flawed government controlled, rationed service, in which wait times maybe reduced, however they remain systemic. The best a monopoly can do is ration service while charging higher fees. One of the highest costs is your well being as you are forced to cue. That is hardly universal access.

Canadians are once again being duped to accept waiting, as simply part of the medical care process in Canada. Political leadership presents the public medical care system, as an uniquely Canadian institution. Canadians. naively. believe universality in medical care, equates to compassion. A trait that hits a Canadian nerve. We seem eager to trade the perception of compassion for access to medical care when we need it. Compassion doesn't go far on, while one waits for care.

Death Notice Canadian Medical Care Is Terminal!

2005-04-04T14:13:00.000-06:00

Here's an excerpt from a news piece from Brunswick Hospital that tells a sorry tale.

"If the person named on this computer-generated letter is deceased, please accept our sincere apologies."

The patient wasn't dead. He was advised it would be three months to get an electrocardiogram. That little mis- communication gem has been picked up news services around North America. The Canada Health Act not withstanding, Canada's medical care system, as currently constituted, is very dangerous to your health.

The Canadian medical care egalitarian myth is exposed. It's an illusion that makes Canadians feel good about a system that offers, but does not provide, timely universal medical care insurance coverage. Coverage that theoretically can be converted to service when is needed. One of the key principles of the Canada Health is : All insured residents are entitled to the SAME LEVEL of insured care. Our medical care system doesn't provide that.

From its inception Canadians have been deluded by government, that government supplied single payer medical care insurance is a bromide that reflects our compassionate nature.

"Ever since universal health insurance was first proposed by William Lyon Mackenzie King back in 1919, Canadians have been witness to an ongoing debate about how health services should be organized and funded. Over the course of some twenty-five years, starting with Saskatchewan in 1946,Canadians made a series of democratic and deliberate decisions that gave Canada its system of universal hospital and medical care --Medicare. The obstacles were formidable and at times seemed insurmountable, but we succeeded."

"Canadians have become accustomed to the notion of a perpetual health care "crisis". Health care systems are prone to emotional debates because they involve two things that we care a lot about: health and money --in fact, a great deal of money. Mix this with the mostly single-payer, publicly funded approach that Canada has adopted, and you have already-made recipe for an ongoing debate among governments, health providers and the general public. There is also something distinctively Canadian in all of this: Medicare is more than a health care system --it reflects a shared commitment to fairness and compassion."
Source: The Public and Private Financing of Canada's Health System, National Forum on Health, Sept. 1995.

Call it the 'culturalization' of medical care a feel good notion that is detrimental to your health. Since that report was published wait times have doubled from 9 weeks to 18 weeks for surgery, according the Fraser Institute. Does waiting exacerbate a medical condition? It doesn't help that's for sure. How fair and compassionate is that?

Canada and North Korea are the only two countries, in the world, that do not allow their citizens to insure themselves for hospitalization and medical surgery. Why? If the system can't deliver, which it can't, why does the government insist on maintaining its medical care monopoly. The government collects the fees, your taxes, to underwrite the insurance coverage. It licenses all the practitioners. It decides what procedures are insured, a so called 'list of eligible services. If you can't get the service, when you need it, what kind of access do you have? Further you can't take measures to insure that you pay for the service, even if you wanted to chose that option.

Self care, a preventative strategy, is also discouraged by keeping alternative products and therapies, outside the government medical insurance program. Self care is private health care in action. Despite what you may read and hear. Canadians are voting with the pocket books in ever increasing numbers that self care is an option they want and need. Canadians are taking independent action to be healthy, to stay off the waiting lists. The government should recognize the obvious benefit of reduced demand on the medical system, and reward those who have the knowledge and the ability to look after themselves. This does not jeopardize those who are unable to do so.

It would seem logical that governments would embrace that concept, they don't. They make it harder to get those products and services. Health Canada did just that in January 2004, when it re-classified all supplements minerals and vitamins as drugs, complete with an expensive, time consuming, process for licensing labeling. It also seeks to limit dosages to render these natural products just about useless. Why is the government making it difficult for us to take care of ourselves?

The argument against privatizing medical care service is bogus. It implies private delivery will divert resources from the public system.

All Canadians physicians are private contractors. They bill the medical care insurance program for a set of predetermined 'approved' services. All the laboratories that do the diagnostic testing 'prescribed' by physicians are private companies. The only thing public, about the relationships, is they both bill the government for the services they provide. The government is the single payer insurance company. You pay the bill through your taxes.

Medical care rationing is insidious. It has many forms. There is creeping downloading, called de-listing. Alberta, which is redesigning its medical care system, just did that. It de-listed physiotherapy reducing insured coverage by 66 % from 6 treatments to two. That's from a government that has an $8 billion surplus. In Ontario which has $4 billion deficit, if the government doesn't increase funding, up to 10,000 health care professionals will get pink slip notices, in the mail, economic death, which may or may, not be terminal! The best the current system can do is to ration. For some reason the Canada Health Act proponents seem to think that's ok!

Ironically, the current medical care system is providing a giant subsidy to wealthy Canadians. When they need special treatment, in a hurry, they can get it anywhere. That group with the ability to pay, receives the same service, at the same price, as those at the bottom of the scale with limited meager resources. Currently neither group has 'timely' universal access. Access when it is needed.

Despite what you hear and read, there is a growth in private delivered medical care in Canada. Quebec and British Columbia are leading the way. Any Canadian physician can opt out of the system and create a private practice, with in the purview of the Canada Health Act.

There is a solution to the current crisis. Take the system back to where it was intended to be a universal medical insurance program.

Codify the Hippocratic Oath.

Retain universal access. Universal so that all Canadians have access to insurance coverage, which entitles them to medical care, when they need it.

No resident in Canada will be refused medical care, when they need it.

Premiums are based on taxable income, starting at $50,000 for a family. As in any insurance program there are deductibles, at the discretion of the insured. Similar to auto insurance the insured chooses a deductible up front, and that effects the cost of the premium.

If the government can't deliver, then it pays to send the patient to where it can be done.

Invest in preventive care expand the list of insured service to include alternative therapies.

The premium is paid by taxes, not in addition to current taxes.

Allow Canadians to purchase either private insurance against hospitalization and surgery. This will create medical insurance competition.

Allow Canadians to create medical savings plans on the RRSP model. These plans would be funded with after tax funds. There would be no tax deduction. Earnings in the fund would be not taxed, when used for medical and alternative products and services.

Invest in prevention, by expanding the list of services eligible to include alternative therapies and products.

Open the system allow Canadians to use their medical insurance, either private or public, on alternative products therapies, at their discretion.

Turn over testing and diagnostic services to private contractors, who can operate those very expensive machines 24/7 , at less cost than is currently the case. Operate those machines around the clock, 'they' don't tell time.

As you get set to file your taxes this month, remember 40% of every tax dollar goes to medical care that more and more you can't get!

References
The Commonwealth Fund
Fraser institute

Vitamin D The Sunshine Vitamin

2005-04-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of heading out doors, those of us in the Northern part of North America are full of it. We can also expect dire warnings about exposure to the sun, perhaps that should be over exposure. That latter is not a good thing; the former is. There is a whole range of issues around the sun, not the least of which is we can't live without it.

It seems rather silly to subscribe to the notion that avoiding the sun is good for you. The intent of the various advisors on the subject is help you avoid sun burn, and other more serious ailments, which may or may not be, linked to exposure to the sun. Actually, a sun burn like any other burn is your body's way of telling you that you've had enough!

For a definitive look at the topic you may want to read The UV Advantage; written by Dr Michael Hollick Ph.D., M.D. Professor of Medicine, Dermatology, Physiology and BioPhysics, Director of the General Clinical Research Center and Director of the Bone Health Care Clinic at Boston University Medical Center.

What you'll get is; what's good and not so good about how you expose yourself to the sun.

Off the Couch...

2005-04-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

... And outside we go. If we inspired you with Coach Potato Procrastination, it follows that we should help out a little, by sharing what we've learned along the way. If you decide to give yoga a try, it is always best to enroll in a class, to learn the basics.

Community recreation programs, private health clubs, community colleges, and university outreach programs offer instruction. It is important to learn the postures and breathing under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor. The 'law of least effort" produces the best results

Here's an index to help you sort out the terminology. As you move forward Sissel, the global exercise equipment company, has an extensive library of free exercises, that allows you to customize your own program.

Couch Potato Procrastination

2005-04-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

So how has that New Year's resolution been going? Remember that January first, commitment to get up off the coach, loose a few pounds, get in shape, feel better, change the diet. It's April 1, the day of fools, practical jokes, and jokers.

From now on nature offers the incentive, warmer and longer days, to get outdoors to work the garden, fix the house play golf, slow pitch, jog cycle, hike, swing, ski, camp, et al, are we ready? The mind maybe, however is the body. That's where those unfilled resolutions can comeback to haunt us. Perhaps this is a better time to revisit that January strategy, refine it, focus on one element, and see it through.

For me golf is the warm weather activity of choice. The goal is to play to my ability level, which has been stymied over the last few of years by back pain and lack of flexibility. The back pain is still around although Dr. John Sarno , and Neil Wolkodoff have provided insight and knowledge to manage it, and weekly yoga class and practice, at Grant McEwan College has made a significant impact on flexibility, enough to say meeting the goal will not be hindered by physical capacity or lack their of.

To get here has taken time, effort, determination to stay the course, particularly, when progress was less than expected, more often than not! Patience is the key virtue. Setting a realistic goal is critical starting point. Flexibility, the mental variety, is paramount to staying with it. Initially my goal was to be pain free. I was quickly admonished by one health care practitioner, asking if that is realistic? So the short term goal morphed to increasing function to be able to 'play'. The long term objective is to be pain free, most definitely a work in progress.

The residual is, the knowledge that's been gained, and the changes that have been made. I'm the least likely 'guy' I know to be practicing yoga! However if you want to learn to quiet your brain, increase your strength, and gain more function through increased flexibility, I recommend it, as a precursor to what ever your favorite activity is.

Self Care Archive

2005-03-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

Whole Health MD, bills itself as a leader in Complimentary and Alternative self care education. It is. A key issue for self care practitioners is the need to obtain pertinent verifiable information, quickly. The Whole Health reference library meets that challenge. It is easy to use. It provides comprehensive, clearly presented, extensively researched analysis of diseases, treatments and expected results for those seeking options in managing their own care.

2005-03-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

In "Oh Canada " Mathew Holt presents an authentic, detailed, and extensive( it's a long read) analysis, about US and Canadian medical care systems.

It dispels perceived myths, creates perspective, and provides context for the issues and beliefs, surrounding the systems that deliver medical care on both sides of the border.

Medical care systems are not immune from the economic integration process already engaged. It is logical they will be become part of the trend. In that milieu, separating fact, fiction, hypobole, and rhetoric will be a benefit to your health.

Vitamin E - Efficacy- Historical Record- Last Post... For now

2005-03-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here are two historical perspectives on the value of Vitamin E to our health.

VITAMIN E: A CURE IN SEARCH OF RECOGNITION, by Dr Andrew Saul is a major historical presentation of the trails, tribulations, and the Canadian connection to determining the effectiveness of vitamin E. In compelling detail, Dr Saul lays out why it does what it does. More importantly, he proves it.

In Antioxidant Vitamins Prevent Heart Disease: Verification from the American Heart Association, Richard Passwater is equally evocactive.

There is no doubt about Vitamin E efficacy.

Vitamin E- More of The Rest of the Story

2005-03-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Heart disease is primary cause of death in US. In "Vitamin E Safe- Effective- and Heart Healthy", Chris Gupta says:

"If all Americans daily supplemented with a good multivitamin-multimineral, plus extra vitamins
C and E, it could save thousands of lives a month."

His commentary is vociferous. There is absolutely no doubt where he stands on the issue of supplementation.

"Instead of regulating toxic and dangerous drugs
we have our regulatory bodies chasing innocuous
nutrients so their pharma buddies can continue
making obscene profit from sickness and death!"

Once you get past the vitriol, there is a body of pertinent well researched evidence to support his claims.

Bill C-420 - Why Care

2005-03-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

Here's two reason why Bill C-420 is important to you. We are aggressively, in steadily increasing numbers marching down the preventative self-care path. Bill C420 provides a critical option for those Canadians who have decided self-care is a key health care strategy. It also creates a modicum of competition for the drug companies.

When passed, Bill C-420 will re classify supplements, herbs vitamins and minerals as food, as opposed to their current listing as drugs. A key side effect of the legislation is to maintain current dosages. If it is not passed, proposed dosage restrictions will severely impair the efficacy of many common supplements.

Vitamin E ... The Rest of the Story

2005-03-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

... Yes I do like that quote from Broadcaster Paul Harvey. A couple of weeks back there was a great hue and cry in mainstream media about a Vitamin E study. The hue was Vitamin E was not a panacea for preventing heart disease. The cry was Vitamin E is not as useful as 'we' think.

We said the reported results were incomplete. They were. Here's a resource you want to consult to help you sort out the facts, when it comes to medical research studies.

Bill C-420 -- What is it Anyway

2005-03-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

Bill C-420 is a private member's bill, drafted as a response to a 'directive ' issued by Health Canada, in January 2004. The directive was an aggressive unilateral action to classify all supplements and herbs as drugs. It was 'deemed' necessary to protect Canadians from purported un-substantiated medicinal claims made by food based products.

Health Canada's intention with the directive is to keep Canadians safe, an important, but narrowly focused public health policy. Simultaneously, the directive is detrimental to our health. Restricting access in the self-care genre is not a strategy to keep Canadians well. It exacerbates the current crisis in the Canadian medical care system. A system paralyzed by systemic service rationing, and high drug costs.

Self care is preventive. It keeps people out of the medical system, shortens waiting lists, and by doing so, lowers costs in the medical system. That's one of many reasons why Bill C-420 is important to your health.

The bill is in committee for final drafting. Three readings are required to pass a new law, in Canada. If approved without amendments, Bill C-420 will re-classify supplements, vitamins, minerals and herbs as food. It will reinstate a critical self care option.

Imagine Radio -- No Screaming -

2005-03-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Check out World Talk Radio . Here's the internet at its best delivering on demand information that you are not likely to get from your local station. The program schedule is an eclectic array of pertinent, personal, practical information, including several self health themes .

Most importantly they are delivered in a intelligent, rational style, with a low decibel level, a welcome reprieve from main steam talk radio. Radio you can program yourself.

Here Comes the Sun...

2005-03-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

...Hopefully very soon, for those of us living in the northern half the continent, as the dregs of a dreary winter linger too long.

As we head outdoors, come warnings about over exposure to the sun. The key issue is full spectrum protection. Protection from difference spectrums of sun light- UVC, UVB, UVA .

Current products to do a pretty good job of protection against skin burns, from radiation in the UVB spectrum. Consumers need to know that Sun Prevention Factor numbers or SPF, the numbers commonly found on product labels, ranging from 4- 40, are not a very good barometer of full spectrum protection.

The key ingredients to look for in full spectrum UVA protection are avobenzone (also known as Parsol 1789), Mexoryl SX, zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. There is on going research into the efficacy, or effectiveness of the ingredients.

There is also some dispute about the immune depressing factors of sunlight. As we move into spring and summer, there is a consistent public health advisory, to stay out of the sun between peaks hours, 10 Am-4PM. Such admonition pretty much precludes getting outside at all, if taken literally. And there is another school of thought, with a much more different perspective, exposure to sun light is crucial to the body's production of vitamin D

As Paul Harvey says ... Now the rest of the story... In a series of posts we'll cast a ray intending to gleam a "sun strategy"!

Evidence in the Numbers

2005-03-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

Statistics Canada says Canadians are using more complimentary and alternative health services and therapies.

More Alternatives

The trend has been up for the last 5 years, since the first major study on Complimentary and Alternative Health, CAM was completed. Most, if not all of these services are paid 'out of pocket'. They are not covered by provincial health care plans. Nor are they tax deductible . Few are insured by private insurers with the exception of corporate group plans.

Despite that Canadians have determined, there are benefits in alternative therapies and services they are willing to pay for. One reason could be because they can get them. They don't have to wait in line.

The numbers say, self health care in the alternative sector is growing, is privately financed by Canadians individually, is creating business and employment, and generating tax revenue, a panacea indeed!

Bill C-420 Update

2005-03-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Check out Chris Gupta for update on the current standing of Bill C 420 . There is a wealth of background material on the history of the bill, as well as some strident commentary on the issue surrounding it. One of those being your ability to manage your own self care, as you're accustomed.

Headlines Misleading

2005-03-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

"Vitamin E supplements may be 'detrimental' to your heart..."

"High Levels of Vitamin E Cut Prostate Cancer Risk"...

Two headlines designed to get your attention.

The Heart study concluded, "after seven years, those taking the (VitaminE) supplements had a slightly higher rate of heart failure. Although no one knows why. Conclusion presented "It ( vitamin E) does not reduce the risk of these diseases if you take supplemental vitamin E."

Did the study prove that? What does a slightly higher rate mean? Vitamin E was given to people who already had heart conditions and diabetes to see if it would prevent them. How can risk be reduced, when the disease is prevalent?

The news reports on the study do not reveal, how prevalent the diseases were in the subjects studied. Were the subjects severely incapacitated, mildly so, or in the middle? The news reports did not discern the type of vitamin E used or what bearing that may have on the results.

A supplementary regime is intended to prevent a disease condition, not cure it Current drug therapies are designed to manage such conditions not cure them. The study proves that in the boundaries of its focus , Vitamin E may not be a curative therapy. However, there is a body of evidence that draws other conclusions. This is an important distinction, mostly ignored by news reports, for people actively engaged in self care.

On the Prostrate cancer study, report here's the lead line: "High blood levels of the major vitamin E components, alpha- and gamma-tocopherol, seem to cut the risk of prostate cancer by about 50 percent each, a study shows"... That would seem to be good news. This study concludes the antioxidant activity of Vitamin E is the catalyst in reducing the risk of prostrate cancer.

Conclusion, just like that car you buy, check under the hood of medical studies, particularly the conclusions drawn by headlines, your health may depend on it.

INSTANT SUCCESS=10 year AND $15 MILLION

2005-03-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

CV Technologies, the Alberta based manufacturer of Cold-fx is emerging as one of those 'instant' 10 year success stories. The company recently held its annual meeting in Edmonton and probably got more notoriety for its master Promoter Don Cherry than for the accomplishment embedded in its business plan. However the plan and track record are worth a hard look. The company has embraced the current prove it regulatory culture and is emerging as a leader in " developing evidence-based natural therapeutics for disease prevention and health maintenance"

The company has a 'pipeline of products' and perhaps more importantly a research technology that took $15 million, and a decade to perfect. Going forward that process, known as ChemBioPrint technology may be more valuable than the product line. Chem Bio Print is a proprietary tool that allows the company to meet evidential standards demanded by regulators. It could very well be the catalyst to a dominant position in the market place.

Codex 6 - ELUCIDATION

2005-03-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

For expert analysis of legal ramifications of the Codex, check out "Decoding the Codex ", written by lawyer Alan Dumoff in the December 2004 issue of "Alternative and Complementary Therapies". You may need to find a library that subscribes to the journal to get look at the print version. Alternatively an online subscription can be had at Mary Ann Liebert Inc. Publishers..

Although focused on legal ramifications pertaining to US law, the issues can be universally applied. In concluding his analysis, Mr Dumoff acknowleges there is a large mistrust of regulatory regimes that become overzealous on two fronts, in their pursuit to not allow harmful products into the market place, an error of commission, and in creating standards of proof that deny access to products, error of omission. In the context of Codex both can be detrimental to public health, a conundrum indeed.

Codex 5 - A Reference

2005-03-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a sampling of websites that address codex issues.

Codex Official Website

International Sites and Position Papers
European Commission International Affairs
National health Freedom Organization
Alliance for Natural Health
Council for Responsible Nutrition
American Holistic Health Association

Canadian Sites, Canada is the chairman of the food labeling committee.
Health Canada Food Program
Chairmanship of Codex Committees
Canadian Representatives to Codex Committees
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Canadian Dairy Information Center
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food

A few Related Sites
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Chris Gupta
Citizens Voice for Health Rights

Codex 4 - Bill C-420 Health Outsourcing!

2005-03-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

Your favorite vitamins herbs and supplements are about to re-classified, again!. Currently all vitamins in Canada are considered drugs. That may come as a surprise. Bill C-420 seeks to put neutraecuticals, supplements and vitamins back into the food category. That's a good idea according to the Non Prescription Drug Manufacturers Association.

The association is uring it members support the change to the definition of natural health products because of the confusion and costs associated with changing the regulatory status of NHPs. As NDMAC sees it Canadians will retain the right to choose their supplements with good selection and affordable prices if Bill C-420 succeeds. Natural Health Products are a sizable portion of a $3.6 billion the self-care industry, in Canada.

The bigger picture affecting Canadians be they consumers, or business is confusing . It involves international trade and the agreements Canada has concluded. Health and business are inextricably link to CODEX. Once CODEX becomes law, it already has in Germany, all signing countries (Canada included) must comply to these "world" regulations. That means Bill C-420 could be trumped by international trade agreements. The impact is Germany which classifies its natural health care products as drugs could issue a complaint against Canada which classifies them as food. The consequences of that is imports and exports of the raw materials for natural health care products could be curtailed. Or Canada could be forced to adopt European standards in Natural Health Care Products to preserve other trading relationships.

Codex 3 - Lots of Action In Canda

2005-03-10T21:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a summary of political activity on Codex in Canada.

Second Opinion

2005-03-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Distortion is the bane of mainstream journalism. Objectivity has long ago given way to advocacy. The reportage of the World Health Ogranization's policy on Traditional Complimentary and Alternative Medicine and their application for self care is a case in point.

Codex 2 - Self Care - Not So Good

2005-03-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

There's confusion about how Codex Alimentarius Commission standards and a European Union Dieteary Supelement initiative affects Canadian consumers and business. Codex in Canada is managed through several government departments. Health Canada says the standards are voluntary. However in creating of the Natural Health Products Directorate, Health Canada has effectively classified all of those products as drugs with requisite licensing requirements. Next could be the adoption of Codex dosage standards. Those standard are very low. Simply put you might not be able to get 1000 mg dosage of Vitamin C, if these standards are enforced through international trade agreements. A portion of self health care is about to be outsourcing!

Codex - Your Health Managed in Europe

2005-03-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a global organization that is going to play major role in your life. Actually it has been doing that since 1963. In Canada, the effects of the Commission's activities can be seen in the new licensing requirements for natural health care products. These new policies bring Canada into line with global standards.

The regulatory intent is to bring these products into a regulatory regime that creates standards and tests for medicinal and health claims. Standards are fine. However there is growing concern that under the guise of public health safety proposed regulations may have rather serious implications for the type of food you eat, the vitamins you take, and the ingredients for the medicines you use

Over the next few posts we'll take a look at what's going on

Jerry McGuire Syndrome

2005-03-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

"Evidenced Based"

"Show me the money" from a punch line in the 1996 “Jerry McGuire” to an idiom today. Type it into Google and you get 25 million that’s right, 25 million results. It’s' meaning has morphed to mean: ‘prove it,’ ‘show me’, where's the evidence?

In health care Jerry's admonition is "what's the evidence base?" Governments everywhere are demanding practitioners and companies show them the evidence. One could say not any too soon! In the complimentary, alternative, self- care genre, in Canada, two new government bureaus have been setup. Health Care Network is mandated to understand the policy dimension of complementary and alternative health care. These include: educational approaches, regulatory options,consumer utilization, information and informed choice issues. The Natural Health Products Directorateis the body that now licenses all natural health care products.

For consumers informed choices are critical in self-care management. For business, in this environment, there's a demand for companies who create processes, products, and services that meet the 'evidence' test. Given recent controversies in prescription drug regulation, credible may well need to be added to the evidence based lexicon.

For consumers an evidence based system has the potential to deliver vetted unbiased standards, which embrace safety and efficacy. For regulators it means rules need to be crafted with a patient /consumer based public health focus. There is a danger. Regulation can mean restriction, which benefits the status quo, while potentially disabling innovation. Consumer/patient diligence in the process needs to be high, remember Jerry's admonition, “show me", applies across the board when it comes to preserving our health, through unfettered access to a spectrum of therapies.

Nasty Business

2005-03-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

So I as watching the Brier, and up popped a commercial for Strauss Herbs. There were several messages in the 30-second spot. The product is presented as safe, scientific, and evidence based. All intended to make you feel secure in using the product. Evidence-based is a term we hear and see a lot, in health care. Not everyone agrees with the Strauss Herbal message. Dr Terry Polevoy for one, Health Canada for another. Although the government has been satisfied following a court case in British Columbia. Dr Polevoy seems undeterred. This is the nasty side of the Alternative-Care debate. However it is encouraging that with an Internet connection and a few mouse clicks consumers, patients, companies and regulators have the ability to sort things out for themselves. "Evidence-based" can be applied to rhetoric, as well as therapy.

Healthy Home

2005-03-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

Good health starts at home. Canadians are engaged in managing their own health care! An Ipso Reid study in 2004, conducted for the Non Prescription Drug Manufactures Association indicated 54% of Canadians intend to be more pro-active, in self care. In the last 5 years Canadians have concluded proactive health management is one way to stay off 'waiting lists'. Interestingly, the study indicated more would do so, if a source of reliable un-filtered information were readily available. Self-care places high emphasis on choice, options, and alternatives. Former Prime Minister Trudeau once said governments had no business in the bedrooms of the nation. Perhaps a similar admonition, can be applied to facilitating Canadians' ability to manage self care.