The Medical News Report

#127

August, 2022

Samuel J. LaMonte, M.D., FACS

www.themedicalnewsreport.com

If you are already getting my reports monthly, you are subscribed! My mailing list has grown enormously, thanks to the interest in my reports over the past 12 years. The subscription is free, there are no ads, and I don’t sell your name, etc. to anyone, like business, and some hospitals do. This is my ministry, and my way of giving back for 30 years of a fabulous private practice. Just email me at samlamonte@gmail.com, and I will add you to my confidential list. I will confirm you are on the list when you request it. Put me on your contact list to prevent me from being blocked. Share with your friends and family. Thank you, Dr. Sam 

Subjects for August, 2022:

1. Socialism and worse--Wokeism, CRT, Cancel Culture, One World Order, and the attempt to destroy our healthcare system, Part 1

2. Stroke--risks and signs; treatments; blood thinners

3. COVID-19 updates; President Biden has COVID-19!! Review of the Pandemic

4. Autoimmune diseases-Part 7—Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Temporal Arteritis; Atopic Dermatitis (Ezcema); Vitiligo

5. Childhood adversity-- illness and dealth as adults

IMPORTANT REMINDER!!!! PLEASE READ!!!

  I remind you that any medical information provided in these reports is just that…information only!! Not medical advice!! I am not your doctor, and decisions about your health require consultation with your trusted personal physicians and consultants.

  The information I provide you is to empower you with knowledge, and I have repeatedly asked you to be the team leader for your OWN healthcare concerns.  You should never act on anything you read in these reports. I have encouraged you to seek the advice of your physicians regarding health issues. Feel free to share this information with family and friends, but remind them about this being informational only. You must be proactive in our current medical environment.

  Don’t settle for a visit to your doctor without them giving you complete information about your illness, the options for treatment, care instructions, possible side effects to look for, and plans for follow up. Be sure the prescriptions you take are accurate (pharmacies make mistakes) and always take your meds as prescribed. The more you know, the better your care will be, because your doctor will sense you are informed and expect more out of them. Always write down your questions before going for a visit.

                                         Thank you, Dr. Sam

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS

I HAVE RECOVERED NICELY FROM A CAROTID PROCEDURE (3^RD ONE ON THE SAME BLOOD VESSEL) DUE TO RADIATION STENOSIS FROM 1991-2. IT WAS A TOUGH 2 ½ HOUR PROCEDURE, BUT YOUR PRAYERS AND GREAT CARDIOLOGISTS, A SECOND STENT WAS SUCCESSFULLY PLACED, THANKS BE TO GOD!! I KNEW GOD HAD MORE FOR ME TO DO INCLUDNG MY MINISTRY OF MY REPORTS, MY BIBLE CLASS, AND MORE.

WE NEED GOD TO HELP US THROUGH HARD TIMES, MEDICAL OR NOT, AND THIS COUNTRY NEEDS GOD MORE THAN EVER.

WE NEED MORE PEOPLE THAT LOVE THIS COUNTRY. PATRIOTISM, PRIDE, AND RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER.

I AM HUMBLED BY THE PRAYERS AND EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE AND CONCERN THAT HELPED ME THROUGH THIS CHALLENGE. DR. SAM

P.S. I have attached a prayer for healing that might be of value to you at some time. I respect everyone’s higher power.   Dr. Sam

Prayer for Healing

                LORD JESUS CHRIST,

HEALER of all diseases,

and our GREAT PHYSICIAN OF ALL TIME,

Please intercede for all those who are in a

traumatic condition not knowing the depth

of their illness,

We pray and ask YOU to come and take Your

place in spirit in the doctors, nurses, and

specialists who will aid those in their

medical needs.

          We believe nothing is impossible

in YOUR hands of POWER,

in YOUR hands of HEALING

and in YOUR heart of

LOVE, MERCY, and COMPASSION

As we just celebrated the independence of our country on July 4^th, it is high time for so many spoiled, over served Americans to be proud of our country, and show it. The polls are appalling regarding the percent that don’t appreciate we still live in the best country in the world and should thank our founding fathers for putting their lives on the line (and the military to this day) so that we enjoy the freedom and amenities of this great country.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND BE PROUD OF AMERICA!

1. Socialism and worse

Wokeism, CRT, Political Correctness, Globalism, and One World Order and threats against our Healthcare System

Inflation now 9.1% (was 1.4% when Biden took over); how healthcare suffers

  The economy and the costs to live are the most important reasons the need for a dramatic change in the leadership of our country is necessary. I will report on the many reasons for change!

  The average family is now paying $6800 a year more than before this administration, according to Fox Business News.

  The percent of Americans who can’t afford their medication, and likely don’t keep refilling it, was 18.9% in 2019, and now is 22.9% as of September, 2022, representing 58 million adults.

  It is obvious how their health suffers, and many of these are the same people who aren’t seeing a doctor regularly. Critical factors include access to care, taking treatments, having adequate insurance coverage for procedures, lack of doctors, delay in screening for diseases, and treatment are just some of them.

  These issues create medical complications which likely will occur, raising the cost of healthcare, suffering, and disability. If we support socialized medicine , we will have Medicaid for all…..not Medicare for all.

  How can we support anyone who turns their head and blames others for the current  inflation record (9.1%---41 year high)? This is one more reason I continue to harp on the mismanagement and lack of concern by this administration for our fellow Americans.

  This is all in the plan to destroy the middle class, one of Saul Alinsky’s factors in turning us into a socialist country. 

  I will report on the factors necessary for a country to become a socialist state, based on Alinsky and Karl Marx. I am discussing this, because this ideology will destroy our healthcare system, and is the key in developing a socialistic society, as a central totalitarian government takes over the lives of every American. Take the time to read what I have to say.

President Biden’s neuro-cognitive health

  Since I will report on the progressive’s attempt to totally change America to a socialistic country, understanding the health of our president is critical at this juncture. I will discuss his COVID infection under that topic later in this report. I am concentrating on his ability to be president.

  This is a very difficult subject to address, but with Biden’s ability to start a nuclear war with the flip of one switch, most of us should be more than a little concerned, regardless of political affiliation. He does have the power as president, even though others in the White House are running this country.

  To say, President Joe Biden has had a colorful history as a politician for more than 50 years, we have all had plenty of opportunities to experienced his eccentricities, his plagiarisms, his lying, his speech blunders, his family full of very questionable characters, and his ability to manipulate countries to do what he wants even using a son to do it, but has it put our country in jeopardy as well? We have seen a clear deterioration of his neurocognitive ability over the past decade, especially since being more in public gaffing his way through speeches and going off his lines written for him.

  Fox News has had plenty of videos to verify exactly what I am talking about. If you have not seen any of them, and are in denial, take the time.

  With the Russian/Ukraine war still ongoing, and the Chinese licking their chops watching us make fools of ourselves in the eyes of the world while overtaking us handily as the most powerful country in the world, and Taiwan in peril, I would be extremely concerned with President Biden’s ability to handle emergency situations that appear to be quite possible over the next few years. China seems to have Biden right where they want him.

  Nuclear threats are clearly an issue, as Biden is following Obama’s failures to bribing Iran out of developing a nuclear weapon (when we know it is happening at the present). Putin can’t be trusted, especially with his closeness to Iran and China.

  We have lost all respect around the world, and many Dems are ok with that??? It could cost us a world war and worse!!

  Forget Biden’s Parkinson-like gait, that he can’t say two sentences without a cue card to remind him what to say with little memory or even know which direction to walk off a stage after a speech. His stuttering does make his speech worse, but when his fugue states occur, that is cognitive decline, plain and simple, and that is coming from a doctor who is quite versed in neurological conditions.

  His lack of concentration, his memory loss in the middle of a sentence, his temper, his total loss of knowing where he is at times, tells me the man has early dementia, regardless of cause.

  I am embarrassed for the doctors that have to turn their head and lie about his health. Dr. O’Connor, Biden’s personal physician, talks about his COVID infection and medical conditions, without mentioning his neurocognitive status. He is not allowed to take questions about his health, because you know what will be asked!

  I am appalled his wife can watch him display such behavior and mannerisms in front of the world, and has to guide him often when they are out in public.

  The radical left is taking full advantage of a disabled president with a White House staff that is running the country, (almost all from the Obama administration), clearly trying to destroy the current country we live in.

  But who would replace him?? I know who will try in 2024…Michelle Obama. There is no one else to gain popular votes.

  Power and greed is a powerful drug, and President Biden finally made president on his third attempt, so don’t expect, in his current state, that he would voluntarily step down to help our country, with his narcissistic personality.

  HERE IS WHAT WE ARE FACING!

The Radical Left

   The radical left are full steam ahead supporting socialism (56% of Dems support socialism) and worse for our country. Sadly, the power over the Democratic Party by the radical leftists are clearly creating the policies of the current administration. We had a president that ran on a moderate ticket, wanted to unite the nation and that was a lie!! It is so sad the moderate person is fading away in both parties.

  I will discuss Biden’s COVID health later in this report!

  We currently are living with so many ongoing crises, they are too numerous to count, and yet, we are held hostage by those who want to change every aspect of this country at a time when we need to recover.

  Radical leftists are using special racial groups as pawns to allow the media and high tech people, the media, Hollywood, and many of the ultra-rich running big companies to lie every day. Many of these groups are less educated and easily bought with free stuff and lies only to gain votes.

  Thank God, Senator Joe Manchin, D-West Va., would not support funding for the green energy bill and financing of it. The “green new deal” is at the epicenter of the drive for a socialist country.

  Some may wonder why I am writing about this political disaster….it is because the first principle of socialism/Marxism is “control the health care and you control the people”, according to Saul Alinsky, a professed socialist/Marxist.

  Many philosophers and academicians have had a great influence on promoting socialism and Marxism, which usually progresses to communism.

  How far the radical left can push this agenda will be up to the voters in November, but President Biden’s executive decisions will continue to deteriorate the quality of our country until 2024. We need legislators and leaders to unite us, but the factors to split us apart are powerful.

  We are already losing our place in the world (most are laughing at us and wonder why we are so stupid), while diminishing our status to form one world order and globalism, and destruction of principles, our constitution, and the reason we were founded in the first place.

  Biden’s visit to Israel, Palestine, and Saudia Arabia was a “nothing burger”. These revolutionaries want to make us a third world country, easily controlled by a totalitarian government, and they are well on their way.

Saul Alinsky

Karl Marx

Two of the people responsible for promoting this counter society are Saul Alinsky and the original philosopher, Karl Marx, who was the author of the progression from socialism to communism through his ideology.   

  In his “Rules for Radicals”, a well known Marxist community organizer, Alinsky wrote, “A reformation means that masses of our people have reached the point of disillusionment with past ways and values. They don’t know what will work, but they just want change, and then the time for revolution is ripe”. With activism, there are short steps to political pollution, and destructive protests (BLM, Antifa, etc.).  Want to creat a socialist state:

Principles of Radical rule—Saul Alinsky

  The 8 levels of control for radical rule of a society come from Saul Alinsky, a true follower of Marx and look very familiar, when you see what is happening in our country right now. We must not let them succeed.

  The media is a perfect place to dispirit the public and undermine American institutions, traditions, and history. Cancel culture is just one way it has begun.

  Any country that does not learn from its mistakes of the past, is destined to fail. Even our first founding president’s houses are being attacked openly by the radical left. Statues and names of schools are fading fast. Our history is not being taught while CRT and gender identification is being strongly pushed.

  In socialism, all issues must be polarized with a center for attacks and action will follow. Climate change is one of the easiest vehicles to use, and anyone who denies it are “deniers”, so says Chuck Todd from NBC, one of the most radical left journalists.

  Critical race theory (CRT) is another easy vehicle to promote and is very effective in separating the races. MSNBC and CNN are side by side with the major networks (except Fox) all ignoring the obvious issues in our country and first family, being able to lie at will.

Martin Luther King at Lincoln Memorial 1968 giving his “I have a dream” speech.

  Gone are the days of Martin Luther King, and his “I have a dream” speech, which by the way, I was incidentally in attendance in 1968 in Wash D.C. when I heard part of that speech first hand. I was attending a medical meeting at the time.

  Trying to get along and respect each other is over, sadly. Those who want to protect our current society must wake up, as the radical left is much more aggressive, and it is time, conservatives wake up and get active, locally, statewide, and nationally, but always peacefully. It takes more than a vote. Support our candidates at all levels og government.

Mark R. Levin-American Marxism, page 214-216

Supreme Court Justices

  If you want to live in my country, leave our Supreme Court Justices alone! Nothing is more disgusting than to realize these lifetime servants are in peril. And people in this country want to either pack the court or do away with it. OMG!

  I don’t care who is paying a person to defame our country, and our constitution, you will not win!! We will survive your attempts!!

  The Shut Down DC.com group is paying up to $200 for a tip locating the presence of the conservative justices out in public.

  Justice Cavanaugh had to leave a restaurant out the back door because of a crowd intimidating him and his family, and AOC made fun of the situation. My God, we must not stand for it.

  The Attorney General of the U.S. will not enforce the laws protecting our Supreme Court, our southern border, and criminals are getting away with so much lawless behavior. The criminals are cottled and the victims suffer.

  The Obama judges placed throughout our country are turning their back on the victims. Crime is out of control. Rudy Giuliani, former NYC Mayor proved that “stop and frisk” drops crime rapidly, and now the crooks don’t even have to post bail when arrested. What keeps these crooks from repeatedly breaking the law??? NOTHING!

  Congressmen have been shot, hit, and harassed, and what do you hear about it? Where is the outrage?

  Republican candidate for New York Governor Zelden had his life threatened with a crazy, right on stage, was arrested, and released without any bail.

  Bad behavior will reach new heights as the Repubs take over the Congress in November. Dems have no defense for their actions, except they don’t care about peace, security, police protection, and the constitution. Prepare for more tyranny, revolt, and destruction.   

  We must stand up for those we support and elect, even if they don’t vote our way or decide in our favor. If we don’t, we don’t have a democracy….and we don’t have a country.

  Both Trump and Biden have overused executive privilege. That needs to change. The Congress must make these monumental decisions with honest and thorough debate.

  We are the laughing stock of the world, as so many activists make fools of themselves, with third world tactics. The future looks grim America. Russia and China will have us in the palm of their hands soon. Don’t believe it?? Without great change, you will!!

  Pride in our country must be felt, and if it is not, analyze why. We are so blessed and unfortunately listening to haters in our country will contaminate your mind and you will regret it eventually.

AMERICA—LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT.

2 REFERENCES for turning our country into a socialist, Marxist country, next page.

CRT—Critical Race Theory

   Herbert Marcuse, a follower of Marxism is the author of Critical Race Theory. He professed that the tolerance for the current policies, attitudes, opinions, are no longer acceptable and should be outlawed or suppressed. “Those in our current society do not realize they are being oppressed and their existence is at the service of the rich, white, and powerful who control our society”, according to Marcuse.

  This theory states that the U.S. social institutions (criminal justice system, education, labor and housing market, and healthcare system) are laced with racism, embedded in laws, regulations, rules, and procedures that lead to differential outcomes by race, according to Brookings Institute.

  The origins of CRT came from 2 movements—critical legal studies and radical feminism, which began in the 1970s, according to Nicholas Harlep, M.S., Ed. from the University of Wisconsin, who wrote a paper on the past, present and future implications of CRT. The radicals against the Vietnam War became the radicals in our colleges as professors, and they were very effective in spreading their poison.

  The 5 components of CRT are:

 1) the notion that racism is ordinary and not abnormal

 2) the idea of an interest convergence 

 3) the social construction of race

 4) the idea of storytelling and counter-storytelling

 5) the notion that whites have actually been recipients of civil rights legislation and have oppressed the other races, especially the Black people.

  Color blindness legitimizes racism’s need for the oppressed, and promotes the theory that white supremacy has an elitist control over other races.

  The “haves always oppress the have-nots”, according to Harlep.  CRT promotes to serve and distort certain cultures and groups of people. It allows those in power and control to encourage those groups (whites) that they should feel good about and have a clear conscience for promoting

 racism.

  The fact is that numerous rules and regulations in 1930s and 1940s benefited whites are all now gone from our laws.

  The CRT supporters contend that school’s curricula continue to be structured around mainstream middle class white values, putting the people of color at a disadvantage. That is why you have seen the word “equity” instead of “equality” lately everywhere (certainly in the medical journal articles and medical institutions being greatly promoted). CRT promotes equity not equality. Everyone gets the same regardless…. UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE.

  I hope I have given the reader some idea of this Marxist principle that has already brain washed many of our college students, those running the military, the administration, and academic medicine.

  Now, these revolutionists have infiltrated our elementary and high schools, following one of the major principles of socialism/Marxism….separation of races and groups with different ideologies.

  These two philosophers, Marx and Alinsky, are responsible in the 19^th and 20^th century for promoting socialism and the natural progression to Marxism and communism. For success, it requires governmental control of the entire lives of the country’s residents. We must not let this happen!!!

  There is a book that is a MUST READ, to understand what I am espressing in this report, and does a great job of defining all these woke and socialist issues. It is a NY Times Best seller for a reason.

Mark R. Levin,  Fox News host of his own fantastic Saturday night show by the same name, should scare the heck out of you when you read it, unless you have already converted to a socialist ideology (and won’t read it anyway, because they don’t want to hear the other side), as many of the younger generation and adults have already been brain washed by such social projects as CRT in school, cancel culture, political correctness, climate, green energy, etc. especially in colleges. Now they are after our young children, and it is time parents get involved with their children’s school curricula, taking an aggressive role in school board meetings.

  The academicians are in favor of equity (not equality) for all, except only less than half of the country who pay taxes for these radical ideologies are footing the bills, and radical politicians sit on their….takng money from very rich groups funding this trash.

  It is all about POWER AND CONTROL at the federal governmental level……control of us!

  This includes your healthcare including all federal insurance programs (Medicare, Medicaid, VA, military, those with fedral contracts, and federal employees—over half the people in the country.

  This is why I am reporting on this dangerous theory and its components this month and next.

  Socialized ideologies are firmly gripping many groups (including social media, large corporations, television media, academic institutions medicine, especially in the articles published in medical journals, all written by universities and major medical academicians. I am proud that my 13 years of teaching at LSU Medical School were free of this kind of indoctrination.

  The politicians tell you how to live with all these regulations that seem reasonable on the surface….but it is the regulations that create the equity, meaning everyone gets the same from the government from top to bottom. Read Levin’s book!! He explains it very well.

  Levin’s book educated me far beyond my level of understanding, and his writings are backed up with facts….not fake news.

  He is excellent in describing the extreme dangers and deceit with the ideology. Most people need to be more knowledgeable about this movement. This is no time to ignore the news and stay uninformed, because it is too painful. Knowledge is power!!! Use it!!

  Those who profess to socialism and worse (and believe me it is a progression to communism), don’t care about us, just as they don’t care about all the illegals coming across our borders (over 200,000 per month now, as they just want votes to control us), the homeless, the drug addicts lining the streets, or poor people especially the Black neighborhoods in such need, who are just pawns for them.

  The Repubs must embrace the Black and Hispanic communities much more, and with adequate education, they would switch parties to some degree. Only 32% of Blacks are affiliated with one of these 3 political groups. There is a lot of work to do.

A recent poll in the Wall Street Journal reported that 37% of Hispanics would vote for Democratic congressional candidates and 37% for Republican candidates. That shows a marked increase of Hispanics already switching to conservative candidates, but it will take many more to vote against this disastrous ideology.

Illegals and Got-a-ways

  140,000 people crossed our border in April alone, and that does not count the got-aways, which was 389,000 in 2021 and this year already 500,000 (with a double estimate of another 500,000) according to Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas. That is a 1 million potential criminals running all over our country, and we are going to pay for it (more correctly…Biden).

  The Cartels are running the borders!! They make over $100 million a week with their human trafficking, bringing thousands of pounds of fentanyl and other drugs laced with it to kill over 110 million Americans in the last year. China is quite happy with their influx of a drug they produce and sell to the Cartels. Has anyone heard Biden mention cartels, fentanyl, and human trafficking??

  The Cartels have created that worst slave trade in the history of our country, according to the former Homeland Security Chad Wolf. What has happened to our country??? My God!!

  We have close to 4 million illegals in our country since Biden opened the borders. They are counting on their votes in the future, and buying their loyalty with free lodging in motels* around the country, free transportation, free phones, free healthcare, and lots of free products (and diapers) and food.

*A dear friend of mine was recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and wanted to go into a major chain hotel to use the bathroom, since the gas station across the street closed theirs. They were met by armed guards, stating the hotel was housing illegals, and were not permitted to come in. This is America, folks!!

  Close to 100 people on our terrorist’s list have been captured…can you imagine how many we missed in the 1 million got aways? Can you imagine the number of people in the got-away group here to kill us? I thought we had a Homeland Security chief responsible for keeping our country safe??? Mayorkas must go!!

  This is going on as our citizens are standing in food lines across our country. We are paying for it with our tax dollars ($billions of COVID dollars are paying for them). And on his worthless trip to the Middle East, Biden stated he was providing $billion of dollars to Palestine for food, healthcare, and subsistence. Spend, spend, spend!! And we are selling oil to Europe and China, when we are in total energy crisis.

  76% of Dems would support a socialist president today, so now you know why Biden was told to drop his moderate ideology, according to Gallup poll.

  55% of Americans have a negative view of socialism, according to a Pew poll. This scares me to death that there are not more educated Americans about the evils of socialism. Education is the key for those who will take the time to read this report..

  Now we add a pandemic that fits perfectly into this process of federal control and power, needless spending, paying people to sit on the couch to move the process even faster. Just this week, the administration declared that the pandemic was still a crisis and extended the emergency regulations policies, while allowing 200,000 illegals, crooks, and terriorists to cross our border. Can you believe it??

  Never Forget Afghanistan (and Bengazi) and those left behind, plus $83 billion worth of military arms left in Afghanistan, including vehicles, helicopters, guns, cannons, etc. and abandoning the best airport in that part of the world (Kabul and Kandahar). Would they not be more valuable in the hands of the Ukranians instead of ISIS?

And JUST MAYBE our government had something to do with the origin of that pandemic virus (unproven), because it is on record that the NIH has been funding “gain of function” COVID-19 research since the early 2000s, and they deny it. It has become clear that the leaders of the CDC, NIH, and FDA have had enough political pressure from this administration, and some are leaving. And the FBI has stopped their investigation.

  Critical race theory in our schools, is now required in 23 of 25 medical schools, the military, all federal employees (half the country), not to mention hundreds of businesses throughout the country. Why do we have mandates when the current virus is no worse than the flu???

Woke Medicine

  I thought the woke people were just trying to create trouble with the school children and the military, but it has become “woke” to provide mandatory sessions for many businesses’ workers includng medical students. The medical journals are publishing so many woke articles in the last year, especially regarding racism and inequity in healthcare. 

  National organizations in medicine are just as left as most of the federal government (even the FDA and CDC), in that, it is about power and control…more than half of physicians don’t belong to them anymore, because they do not represent the private practitioner anymore, even if they are an employee.

  Is there racism in medicine? Of course, there has always been discrimation among sexes, LBGTQ+, races, religions, and ideologies. And certainly, it could be improved and has. These are perfect groups to use to promote socialism and worse.   

  Creating dissention with discrimination is front and center with socialist principles. Anger and separation from these groups fits perfectly.

  With 10 years of medical training, 2 years as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force, 30 years of private practice, and 12 years teaching surgical residents, I have never discriminated on any one, and I saw very little of it while actively in medicine.

  The CRT Marxists would disagree, but trying to change or erase history and make current people pay (retribution) for the sins of the past will put us into a smoldering revolution if it is not stopped soon, while the rest of the world is watching us destroy ourselves from within.

Cancel Culture

  The cancel culture have been successful by threatening businesses, getting cities to remove statues, changing the name of schools, removing books, videos (China monitors every movie and program allowed in China). One of the concepts of socialism is remove the history of our country and not teach patriotism, love of country, and pride in America (less than half the public has a poor opinion of the U.S., and that is just one more factor to encourage socialism) This has got to stop. We learn from our mistakes and have changed with time, but it will always be a work in progress. Equality is the answer, not equity. A person has to work for what they get in this country, and those who receive handouts do not appreciate it and want more….just what the socialists want!

Religion is suffering

  Removing religion in our country (creating secularism) has massive consequences. Without having a higher power to respect and honor, makes us so selfish and narcissistic. We need the humility of religion of any kind to remind us, there is someone or something bigger than us. Secularism is another necessity in creating socialism and worse.

  Next month, I will report on the great benefit of spirituality and healthcare with a solid study on this issue and its increasing need. 

Workplace and personal relationships

  Respect is where it begins. Even love thy neighbor as thyself, as difficult as it is these days, with our political parties as far apart as ever, is still a virtue we must strice for. Politics has separated families at a rapid pace.

  Today, with the exposure of sexual harassment spreading throughout our country, requiring us to walk on eggs 24/7, the relationship of people has changed. And that change separates us. Can you imagine dating???

  People have been taught they can treat others according to strict company rules, and working together has never been harder, encouraging home based jobs, and lack of contact and socialization with their fellow employees.

  Working at home away from the office separated people and workers forgot how to interact. This may be a factor why many people quit working because they didn’t like certain issues at work, and that is fine, but now they think they can find better work with better pay without putting in a maximum effort in many cases. Changing jobs is at all time high!!

  The government is licking their lips watching the 11 million job openings sitting there, and “workers needed” signs in every window.

   That is not to say that the overwhelming number of dedicated tax paying employees are keeping our country going. But the shortages are being fueled by Biden shutting the fossil fuel industry down, and bragging about the fact that we are just going to have put up with high gas prices (even with recent drops in prices due to less driving), food, and other household products and “deal with it”.

Globalism-One World Order

  To create one world order, there can be few leaders. Who said we would even have one of the leaders? You think China would give us a seat at the leader’s table, even with our current president’s (and son) cozy relationship with President Xi Jinping? China has been buying our country right from under us. Where are solar panels, medicines, rare minerals for computers being produced? Who owns much of our pork and chicken companies? They are buying up property near our military bases and many of our national treasures.

  Our university medical centers have invited hundreds of doctors from China to join them, and have been found to steal our technologies. There is nothing safe.

  Climate change is the engine that fuels globalism (and will be covered next month in my report), and just look how it has already affected our economy with disastrous results, and the “green new dealers” are just fine to have us suffer for the next 20+ years transforming us to green energy, while Russia, India, and China are increasing their fossil fuel mines and wells. What charges batteries?? Coal! How many can afford a $63,000 car.

  With the heat of the summer, Biden formed a “heat” task force to deal with the temperatures. The AMA endorsed it, and there goes millions more toward a climate aspect promotion.

  But the factors necessary for a socialistic state apply to all the world, and this world doesn’t have that many non-socialistic countries already, so we are ripe for globalism, especially if the country is poor, does not have its own food and fuel source, and proper education for all (not college—industrial schools.

  Only 17 out of 100 people globally have a higher level education. Watch America join the third world countries, as our students are “dumbed down” in public schools. And Biden wants to forgive student loans to gain votes.

  Globalism promotes equity, not equality. That means everyone should get the same of everything. We earn what we have. Without it, the U.S. will no longer exist as we know it.

 Elements for Globalism

     1—abilty to communicate in real time-already happening

     2—accessibility to common markets-already here

     3—rapid transportation-long way to go

     4—global security-not even close

     5—acceptance of cashless society; common currency—Crptocurrency is a known entity, although is suffering when inflation and a bad economy exist as it does today

     6—abandonment of national sovereignty and individual rights for the greater good of humankind. There goes our Declaration of Independence, our constitution, and our freedom.

   
  Acceptance of globalism starts with free stuff!! That includes some type of mediocre medical care with no deductibles, no co-pays, and no personal responsibility for bad behavior with someone else paying for it. The cost of healthcare now 17.8% of GDP. The economy is the single most important factor for most Americans, and healthcare, food, transportation, and housing follow closely. Lets not forget safety in our borders.

  Below is a graph from USA Facts showing the cost of healthcare, almost 20% of every dollar spent.

Next month, part 2, I will continue the discussion on the radical left’s progression to socialism/Marxism, focusing on the climate change movement,  the abortion controversies, and more concerns for the welfare of our healthcare an dour nation.

  I hope you understand  I am taking the time to write this article, because I love this country, and I want it to prosper!!

  I want to continue to energize my readers to encourage everyone to vote in November, putting these radicals in their place, for my children, grandchildren, and yours! 

2. Stroke-Part 1--signs, risk; treatments; blood thinners

  Strokes occur in 795,000 patients per year-new or recurrent per year in the U.S.

  87% are ischemic (blood clot), while 10% are hemorrhagic (intracerebral usually from a ruptured aneurysm), and 3% from a subarachnoid hemorrhage (lining of the brain from injury).

  Stroke is the second leading cause of death, and the third leading cause of disability in the U.S.

  The mortality approaches 50-100 deaths per 100,000 people, and 9% of deaths around the world.

  A second stroke will occur in 25% of patients.

Signs of a stroke

These above symptoms are the most common, but there are others—dizziness, fainting, double or reduced vision, clumsiness walking, and difficulty in forming speech (aphasia), sudden mental confusion, numbness of the face or body.

TIA—Transient Ischemic attacks

  If any of these symptoms occur but disappear within minutes to a few hours, it is a TIA. 200,000 cases occur in the U.S. However, these patients are an emergency as well, because when these symptoms appear, no one knows whether it is a TIA or stroke. Call 911 immediately. 

  2-17% of those with a TIA will lead to a stroke within 90 days, and must be seen as an emergency and being evaluated by a stroke team. Time is very important, if treatment is considered—within 4 plus hours.

New information about aphasia

  Aphasia means there is difficulty in speaking either from not being able to actually speak words or there is difficulty expressing what a person wants to say, called expressive aphasia.

  If speech is totally lost  it is called aphasia, and is partial it is called dysphasia.

  1 million people are currently suffering from aphasia in the U. S., with 180,000 additional diagnoses per year, according to the National Aphasia Association.

  Aphasia occurs when there is damage to the areas of the brain that involve language (left parietal, temporal and frontal lobes with the frontal area known as Broca’s area—see drawing below).

  Thoughts must be formed, which sends this signal to another area for developing the words to speak, and then stimulate the motor cortex to form words with the mouth. This is new information published by Johns Hopkins in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Feb. 17, 2022. Speech is clearly a complex integration of neurological steps, which can be affected with any type of problem with the blood supply, tumors, infections, and injuries.

  Other types of aphasia includes people having trouble understanding what is told them, or lose the ability to write (agraphia) or read. Some may speak complete sentences but fill them with non-understandable words, or make up words, according to the NIH, called Wernicke’s aphasia. Wernicke’s aphasia are often unaware they are making mistake in their sentences.

  Patients may have aphasia but their intelligence is intact. Bruce Willis, 67, has aphasia, however, the cause has not been divulged.

There are special types of aphasia –Broca’s aphasia, which is an area in the frontal lobe called Broca’s area. These patients can understand words better than they can speak them. They tend to speak in very short sentences and omit words. The other name is expressive aphasia. These patients often have right sided weakness or paralysis, because the left brain controls the right side of the body and the right brain controls the left side.  

  Global aphasia have severe communication trouble speaking and understanding and involves extensive areas of language and speech.

  Aphasia may occur in a TIA (transient ischemic attack, which is a temporary blockage of brain blood flow).

Diagnosis

   An MRI is necessary to diagnose a stroke, or a CT scan. A complete neurological exam is necessary with blood tests (CBC, platelets, lipids, chemistries, EKG to look for arrhythmias, carotid ultrasound, cerebral angiogram looking for a clot in a major brain blood vessel, and echocardiogram to look for a clot coming from the heart-embolus.

Common risk factors for a stroke

  Older age, male, family history, race (black more likely), genetic factors, heart disease, high cholesterol (triglycerides), high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, overweight, diet high in fat, and lack of exercise.

  According to the JAMA, obesity is now the most modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Our health care industry has taken too much responsibility of their patient’s bad behavior making causing an epidemic of being overweight, diabetic, hypertensive, and physically inactive. The cost of health care is rising and medical insurance is in the process of becoming more and more selective in paying for elective procedures in these patients, including age.

  Rehabilitation and long term care for stroke and other neurological issues are being severely tested, and I expect the quality will continue to diminish as these facilities can’t even adequately staff them anymore. Nursing personnel don’t want to man these places, with all the federal regulations making them impossible to run.  

Treatment of a stroke (thrombolysis and thrombectomy)—what is best?

  If treatment is recommended, for it to be effective, it must be performed ASAP, and at least in the first 4plus hours for intravenous therapy to possibly dissolve the clot.

  TPA-Activase or TNkase (thrombolysis) is the gold standard for an ischemic stroke, therefore, a hemorrhagic stroke must be ruled out. These drugs restore the blood flow to the brain by dissolving the clot.

  Endovacular therapies may be indicated. Medications can be delivered right to the site in the brain, by passing a catheter near the clot and to dissolve it. This may be effective for 6 plus hours.

  For large clots not responding to clot busters, a stent can be introduced to the clot and remove it (thrombectomy) and may be performed in combination with the clot buster medication (thrombolysis).

  Thrombolysis plus thrombectomy better than thrombectomy alone

   A study was just published that reported that using an intravenous clot buster (alteplase) plus thrombectomy is superior to thrombectomy alone (96% vs 91%--this is significant). With the combination therapy, more patients achieved functional independence with the modified Rankin scale score at 90 days post treatment (65% vs 57%).

  Reperfusion with dye studies were significantly better in the combination group.

  There was no significant difference in risk of symptomatic intracranial bleeding (3% vs 2%).

  Death rates were essentially the same (24 vs 22 deaths out of 408 patients).

Lancet online, June 22, 2022 reported in Medscape Medical News, July 14, 2022 

Prevention is the key

  These risk factors are very common and most patients have several of them.

  The metabolic syndrome* is very common, and evaluation of the carotid arteries with a stethoscope is a start listening for bruits (noise caused by partial blood flow narrowing), heart murmurs of the valves, irregularities of the heart beat, abnormalities on EKG (since patients with heart disease have higher risk of strokes).

*metabolic syndrome=hypertension, overweight, heart disease, high blood sugar, and high lipids….they all go together  

  A view of the blood vessels inside the eye (retina) may indicate underlying diseases*, and even yellow deposits in the eyelids (xanthelasthma indicated high cholesterol). Swelling of the lower legs may indicate heart failure.

*central retinal artery occlusion, central veing occlusions, diabetic retinopathy wit retinal aneurysms with microbleeds, optic nerve abnormalities, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and premature cataracts.

  If a TIA occurs, there is a risk of a stroke in about a 2-17% within 90 days, therefore time is of the essence to completely evaluate the status of the blood vessel system, with ultrasounds of the carotid arteries, echocardiogram, and CT arteriograms to check the status of the major carotid and major cerebral artery vessels.

  Patients with minor strokes or TIAs are placed on blood thinners for some time after the event. Plavix is a common anticoagulant prescribed.

  A study found that the combination of clopidogrel (Plavix) and aspirin should be taken for 3 weeks. Of course, the exact amount of time for these blood thinners is still in question, but overtime dual therapies are going to cause more bleeding. This study followed these patients for 90 days, and found fewer cardiovascular and bleeding events the first 3 weeks. The difference disappeared after 3 weeks.

  The science behind the decision was that a certain number of patients have genes (alleles) that make Plavix less effective. There is a test to look for these genes, and if present, an alternative such as ticagrelor (Brilinta) might be suggested, but is much more expensive (60 tabs $450). Adding aspirin to Plavix would be much less expensive, but the choice is up to the treating physician.

Enzyme test for effectiveness of Plavix--CYP450-2C19; Reflux medicines can reduce effectiveness of Plavix!!

  A blood test to check the effectiveness of PLavix is available--the CYP450 enzyme 2C19.

  Patients with genetic variants may metabolize the drug clopidogrel (Plavix) slower or faster. The metabolism is dependent on the cytochrome P450 enzyme 2C19.

  With less active enzyme, Plavix can’t prevent platelet clumping as well, thus not preventing clotting as effectively, which means a cardiovascular or cerebrovascular event is more likely.

  For stents placed, Plavix prevents clots from forming inside the stent. It is important it is working.

  Talk to your doctor about testing for this enzyme and is present in normal amounts.

Don’t take reflux meds with Plavix!

  A recent study found that proton pump inhibitors (i.e. Nexium, Prilosec, etc.) and acid reducing drugs (H2 blockers- i.e. Tagamet also can block the enzyme CYP 2C19 and can reduce the ability of Plavix to inhibit platelet aggregation.

  These are the 2 main classes of reflux meds, so this is serious business. Talk to your doctor about taking antacid pills instead such as Maalox. Taking too many Tums can raise the calcium level.

  This is new information, so please talk to your cardiologist about what to do, because it is clear, these reflux meds should not be taken with Plavix, without approval from your cardiologist.

  The alternate anticoagulant is Brilinta, but extremely expensive. After researching the internet, Nexium can be taken with Brilinta, but it cost $450 for 60 pills, a month’s supply and Plavix is generic, and cost less than $20 a month with insurance. There are no other generic anticoagulants.

Surgical or stent therapy for a carotid obstruction

  If a carotid artery is found, a carotid endarectomy or catheter removal of the blockage with dilation (angioplasty) and a stent placement.

  I have had both an endarectomy in one part of the internal carotid artery almost 10 years ago, a stent placed in my common carotid artery 2 years later, and in July a second stent in a different place that obstructed 80%.

My obstruction was discovered before I ever had any neurological symptoms, by accident, after injuring my neck and, with X-rays demonstrating severe carotid artery calcification (occurred from radiation therapy several years before for a throat cancer). An ultrasound demonstrated 70% obstruction, which is usually the percentage needed to qualify for surgery or a stent. Of course, if a person has neurological symptoms, temporary (TIA) or prolonged, treatment might be indicated sooner.

  Having had an enarderectomy, and 2 stents in the same vessel, I remain asymptomatic. Prevention is the key, and the risk of a stroke from these procedures is extremely rare. I am taking Plavix.

Blood thinners (anticoagulants)

  Blood thinners may be required to prevent clots in the heart and brain when partial obstructions are present (in my case), and after these procedures to prevent clotting afterward. They may be prescribed for a few months or longer.

Different types of anticoagulants

  There are different ways to anticoagulate the blood and prevent clots and in some cases dissolve clots

  a--Heparin is intravenous for acute clotting issues, short term.

  b --Clot busters at the time of a stroke (TPA) to dissolve the clot. The most common oral thinner was Coumadin, and still needs to be used in patients in those with artificial valves. It competes with Vitamin K, but the dose must be adjusted often by getting a weekly blood test (prothrombin time).

  c--DOACs (direct oral anticoagulants)

  More recently there is a new class of oral anticoagulants being used, since they don’t require monitoring the blood (prothrombin time). Oral meds such as Xarelto, Eliquis, etc. work by blocking Factor Xa, an enzyme needed to form clots. These are more potent than the third class of thinners-antiplatelet drugs, and are better, but very expensive, and Plavix has a generic and is cheap. These meds are preferred for atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias and blood clots coming from the lower extremities.

  d--Anti-platelet therapy

  Platelets in the blood are required as well as other blood factors to form a clot. Aspirin and Plavix are the most common that interefere with platelet function (these drugs block the stickiness of platelets which is required in forming the clot, by clumping together and allowing other blood clotting factors to stick to them).

  A newer antiplatelet med is ticagrelor (Brilinta) and is more potent and has better results than Plavix according to some studies, but very expensive. Physicians should consider these prices and relative effectiveness in these cases. Adding aspirin to Plavix or Brilinta is often prescribed, but do not take aspirin or any NSAID (ibuprofen, Aleve, Nuprin, etc.) with these drugs without a doctor’s supervision, as bleeding can occur more often.     They can help heart and stroke patients, however, if a person has an artificial heart valve, one must use Coumadin.

  Blood thinners do not thin the blood and do not dissolve clots (ecept TPA) but prevent new ones.

  This is a lot of information to digest, so discuss these different blood thinners, price, and side effects before just accepting a prescription with out discussion. Doctors need to research every drug’s cost vs value before prescribing them, since a good percentage of patients will stop taking expensive drugs and never tell their doctor.

Treatment of a hemorrhagic stroke

  Although ischemic strokes are far more common, bleeding into the brain is still a great concern in patients who are hypertensive, on blood thinners, hit their head, or have a congenital blood vessel abnormality such as a berry aneurysm (a dilatation of an artery in the brain), an arterovenous malformation (a combination of a vein and artery that is connected abnormally at the capillary level).

  Below is an example of a normal artery and vein, as it connects in the top right drawing, and just below it is an example of an AV malformation (arrow)  

 Below is an example of a berry aneurysm on the left (a weakness in the vessel wall that balloons out and can rupture.

Berry aneurysms can be hereditary, and ypertensive hemorrhagic strokes can occur when the blood pressure is just too high to prevent small vessels from rupturing. Hypertensive people also have more ischemic strokes than hemorrhagic strokes.

  If the area of hemorrhage is large, a neurosurgeon may need to remove the blood and relieve pressure on the brain.

  If there is an aneurysm, it can be clipped, or a coil with a stent placement in the aneurysm will plug off the bleed potentially

Emilia Clarke

Angie Dickinson

Emilia Clarke, Game Of Thrones Queen, and Angie Dickinson, famous movie star, both have had berry aneurysms. Ms Clarke has had 2.

  If there is a malformation present in the ruptures blood vessel, the AV malformation may be removed or a new noninvasive procedure using sterotactic radiosurgery can repair the congenital malformation.  

Other necessary preventative measures

  Of course, losing weight, stop smoking, limit alcohol, maintaining normal levels of blood fats, eating a low fat diet, and vigorous exercise are necessary as well.

  Men are so apt to deny and ignore suttle symptoms, but it could cost them their life.

  Rehabilitation is mandatory and patients should be sent to such a facility for lengthy post stroke therapy from physical, speech, occupational, and psychological and group  therapies. Without this critical therapy, recovery is very low, and patients do not fare well.

Mayo Clinic   

3. COVID-19—updates; Biden; review of the pandemic

President Biden has COVID-19

  Our president has developed mild to moderate symptomatic COVID-19, which he apparently caught the virus from his trip to the Middle East, but as of this writing (7/26), is not hospitalized and is not receiving any IV therapy that has been mentioned.

  I am sure he was tested very early and was a candidate for Paxlovid (a very effective antiviral oral medication reserved for older individuals, however, it is currently be ing used by all ages), which is available at pharmacies and clinics along with testing, which can be prescribed without a doctor’s order, however, all patients who are test positive and take any medication should contact their doctor to let them know, and have them follow the illness. Sadly, rural America does not have access.

  Biden also has been prescribed an bronchodilator, Albuterol, used in an aerosol nebulizer connected to an air compressor with good air flow. This is used for asthma and bronchitis, so we know he has pulmonary involvement, which makes the degree of illness a little more serious, but very manageable.

  Unfortunately, taking Paxlovid does not allow patients to take cholesterol meds and blood thinners. Therefore, he stopped them since he takes Crestor for high cholesterol, and Eliquis, to prevent blood clots from atrial fibrillation, which he has had for years. He can resume them after the 5 days (3 pills twice a day). Eliquis is very good to prevent clots from COVID, as well, but his doctor obviously felt the Paxlovid was more important.

  There is also a problem with Paxlovid in some. They rebound with new symptoms after they stop the anti-viral medication. It is thought that 5 days in some people is not enough, and lets the virus re-surge, perhaps even more aggressively. No news on that.

  Another concern will be long COVID syndrome, which usually includes cognitive issues. 20% of people report some long term symptoms.

  All these factors were considered by Dr. O’Connor, his personal physician with consultations with infectious disease experts.

  We certainly hope and pray he does well, politics aside.

Medical management of the pandemic from the White House; current vaccine little help for BA.5 Omicron variant

  Before discussing the management quality of the pandemic, I wanted to report that a new study was just released stating that our current vaccine is of little value against the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, currently the predominant viral variant in the U.S., and unless a person is immunosuppressed, elderly, or suffering from an active medical disorder, consider waiting for the FDA approved subvariant vaccine which will be out in the fall.  

Origin of COVID-19

  Since China and the WHO (World Health Organization) lied about the coronavirus for over a month that it was a serious infection, and then after 2 of their Wuhan Virology researchists died of COVID, they announced the virus came from a bat infecting food in a local outdoor deli (many think that dead bat was stolen from the lab and sold as food, which is very common in China). 

  The Chinese closed their inner borders but allowed, during their big annual holiday, to travel all over the world, especially the USA. Later it was questioned if the virus was leaked from the Wuhan Virology Lab, which was experimenting on “gain of function” research to make the known coronavirus bat virus more transmittable to humans. This was classic anti-terriorism experimentation to protect against other similar infectious agent forms of germ warfare.

NIH grants for “gain of function research” in the U.S. and China

  It is now known that our NIH funded this research in part through a non-profit organization, EcoHealth, in the U.S., Wuhan labs, other labs. Dr. Fauci denied it, and with the other “silent” relationships going on with China, all issues with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been quite soft without any pressure on investigations of the Wuhan Lab.

  As China continue to steal our intellectual properties from our universities, Biden just dropped the investigation regarding the same. Could it be China has something on Biden, as suggested by the dealings with his son, and has been able to prevent the U.S. from being tougher on China. Just a theory, but seems plausible.

   Today, it was announced that the Federal Reserve has discovered some of their members may have been compromised (this has not been verified) by the Chinese government.    

  When the WHO asked to investigate the Wuhan labs, they were stonewalled for sometime, and eventually allowed a walk-through (worthless) visit without any research data to investigate. The WHO lied about the virus for over a month, with pressure from the CCP. That month cost the world plenty.

  The U.S. has been denied entry to the Wuhan Labs to this date, and the U.S. has been very silent about the  possibility of a lab leak until just recently, Fauci on CNN stating that it was possible. All of this is theory, and is certainly worth more investigation considering the million of lives this pandemic has cost the world.

How the Pandemic got to the U.S.

  In the meantime, the NIH was consulted to aid in the management of the pandemic by the Trump White House, including the head of the Allergy and Infectious Disease Department, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Dr. Deborah Birx, an epidemiologist and physician, who had worked with Fauci on AIDS.

  As the Chinese were allowed to fly to the U.S., cases began in the State of Washington, and when it spread so rapidly, it became obvious how serious this virus was. And this was the bat virus was not supposed to be easily transmissible, but when the DNA sequencing of the virus was different, it became the gain of function research created this monster.

  Within a month, it was clear, that we were in for a serious viral infectious outbreak, very transmittable, and deadly in those with underlying medical conditions, immunosuppression, and folks in nursing homes (6.4 million deaths globally and over 100,000 in the U.S.).

Lack of preparedness

  The federal government was totally unprepared to handle this pandemic, including a severe lack of protective gear for first responders, adequate ventilators, and ICU beds, etc., a vaccine, and therapies to treat the virus early. We had already had 2 SARS virus outbreaks, one in 2002-2004 again out of China. We have had major infectious outbreaks since 1918, and they have been coming more often. Why wouldn’t our government not figure out, we were ripe for more, and get better prepared?

  The leading public health authority is the CDC, and normally spends their time doing surveillance of disease, not being in front of the action (and it is Johns Hopkins who have been the real number crunchers). This became very obvious when mixed messages confused the public from both Trump anf Biden’s adminstrations. No one had dealt with this virus before, but should have had a better plan earlier, if China was honest, especially closing our borders, which Trump did once he realized how serious it was, but was still at least a month later than it should have been.

  The standard of care for public health is contact tracing, which has not been followed very closely because of the huge amount of the manpower necessary, and people not admitting they were infected.

  Let’s face it, with all the over-zealous methods placed on the public (closures of public places, shutdowns, over sterilizing surfaces, which were found to be a very unlikely source, etc.).

  Million of dollars were spent in schools and businesses which were for plexiglass everywhere, ventilation system overhauls which had been neglected for years, and closure of outside areas even beaches. So many things were done out of concern without scientific proof to show the public, they were doing everything they could do, regardless of the $billions of dollars spent. The masks have been a joke with 90% near worthless to protect transmission. Why would we not have human experiments to prove what it takes. KN95 masks an surgical masks were declared safe, and yet it was proven 95% of the KN95 masks, made in China no less, were fake.  

  Many early measures boldly stated and mandated during this pandemic have proven not to be of much value and have caused serious consequences reported by me many times over the past 2+years. It had taught us all, we were not properly prepared to fight this pandemic.

Dr. Birx, just published a book, explaining the controversies, uncertainties, guessing, etc. that the White House Task Force implemented, since they trusted these experts’ knowledge and advise. Trump/Pence and Biden found themselves listening to experts that were admittedly flying by the seat of the pants at time. And Dr. Birx admits it. Fauci would never admit to any mistake with his ego. He has become a politician, not a doctor.

  The new woke president of the AMA, Dr. Jerry Faust, had a lengthy interview with Dr.Birx, trying to do his best to defame Trump and their attempts while defending Biden’s. It was pathetic, in my opinion, and I have to read the JAMA. This is what is happening in medicine and the medical journals with academicians spreading their socialistic propaganda as well as the college professors and other school teachers.

  Unfortunately, politics got in the way of sound judgment, when later it became obvious that decisions were not made based on solid scientific research data. Where was the integrity in these doctors and admininistrators??

  The CDC was caught in the middle, in my opinion, and was forced to provide guidance that sounded ok at first, but created great havoc, misunderstanding, unnecessary deaths, over-run hospitals, death certificates stating the person died of COVID, because they were reimbursed 15% higher in reimbursement from the federal government.

  $Trillions of dollars were spent covering the enormous expense (over $10 trillion), and in part were the reason for the current inflation. Of course, the spending for COVID has been grossly misused, partially for political reasons, and safety measures that were untested.

  Most of the experts have found funds diverted for illegals at the southern border, funds misused by states for non-COVID reasons, and a host of other non-COVID purposes.

  It is clear to those of us who have spent countless hours following and reporting on the pandemic, that most of the management was not as good as it could have been, had the U.S. been better prepared. It is the fault of at least 4 presidents, in my opinion, that preparedness was put on the back shelf.

The vaccine was overplayed

  Dr. Deborah Burx, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and others who were members of Trump’s COVID Task Force admitted they overplayed the value of the vaccine, and as we know now the Omicron variants are resistant to the vaccine to prevent infection, but still does reduce the risk of hospitalization and death. The $billions earned by Pfizer and other companies were necessary but with the emergency use authorization, the type of vaccines offered could have been much better, and certainly side effects could have been studied much better.

  The U.S. was so inept with research, most of our decisions were made from research in Israel, which thankfully were high quality. 

  There have been so many guesses and political contamination in decision making at the FDA and CDC because of White House political influence, which played right into the hands of radical leftists, while they have been brain washing our country with factors to promote socialism, previously mentioned.

Vaccines still work

  Regardless of where each a person stands, we now have sound evidence that vaccination, even though limited in some respects regarding the length of immunity, is vital in diminishing the number of hospitalizations and deaths, not necessarily transmission and number of cases, which were over glamorized by the media and the White House to scare everyone into getting vaccinated.

   The key today is to get vaccinated especially if over 65, and those with medical risk factors, regardless of age, and certainly those in nursng home facilities, dorms, and close quarters.

  Until the new Omicron variant bivalent vaccine is available in the fall, masking (with safe masks) in large close crowds, less human contact, and testing early if any respiratory symptoms occur is very wise.

  It is well known that Paxlovid does not work well after the first few days of symptoms, and most of the treatments that were touted early were found to be ineffective—convalescent serum, monoclonal antibodies, etc.). Lack of research early for treating milder disease wasa mistake.

  President Biden should recover just fine, but still is at risk for long COVID (20% get it), and close monitoring will be mandatory for recovery.

  Although, the White House said he would not get back in public until he tested negative, we know that the CDC does not recommend it, since a person may stay positive long after the 5 days recommended to wait (no fever for 48 hrs. without fever lowering meds, ans symptom free).  

  Minimizing exposure is still valuable as are vaccines, and everyone who is older and has medical conditions that could increase the severity of COVID should be cautious but without fear.

  Those who have followed my reports, know that I have tried to provide the best medical data from the best medical journals, but it has become clear that the political contamination by this White House has greatly influenced the medical community, especially those in academic institutions and the medical journals, just as college students are being brain washed by their woke college professors.

The “pandemic” update (the November election variant)

  Dr. Fauci and company are already sounding the alarm about the latest variant of Omicron COVID-19, just as we get closer to the elections in November with little data to prove much difference in severity. The Dems want to scare people to stay home and vote by mail, when we know mail in ballots and hacking of computers are the primary technique in manipulating elections…believe it or not!!

  We need proper identification to vote, and if not able to vote in person, properly request a mail-in ballot. And now Biden is trying to get people to vote without an ID. How do you think that would turn out??

  Dr. Fauci and most the advisors to the president have created political chaos, and it has damaged our country, and made the public lose confidence in the FDA, CDC, and other governmental agencies.

Preventive medication for COVID-19—new

There is a new approved preventative for COVID-19—Evusheld, a combination of tixagevimsb and cilavimab, 2 long acting monoclonal antibodies can prevent COVID-19 that binds with the spike protein to prevent COVID from infecting human cells.

  It can only be given for adults and children ages 12 and older who weigh 88lbs. and are moderately immunocompromised due to a medical condition or immunocompromising medication.

  It is given as 2 separate injections during a single office visit with close monitoring for side effects for 1 hour. If necessary, it can be repeated in 6 months. If the patient is qualified, there will be no cost to the patient.

  Research is ongoing, since the latest subvariants may not be as sensitive.

  Side effects can be localized, but also systemic allergic reactions can occur, including pulmonary symptoms (wheezing, shortness of breath, etc.), swelling of the face, lips, mouth and tongue. Previous allergic reactions from the vaccine would increase the risk. Cardiac risk factors can occur too.

  As usual, the length of study on this and most of the COVID treatments have been shorter than desired.

  If you qualify, talk to a infectious disease expert or personal doctor, if he has the medication and is willing to provide the injections and monitoring.

JAMA Network, July 25, 2022

Medical Staff at the NIH and CDC leaving after excessive political pressure from the White House and their medical consultants led by Dr. Tony Fauci.

  Although not confirmed, Fox Business News announced that some of the medical staff of the NIH and CDC have had enough of the strong arm tactics from the White House and their medical consultants pressing the need for vaccines, mandates, isolation, lockdowns, etc. over the past 2 plus years.

  The NIH has been funding the COVID 19 “gain of function” research not only in the U.S., but in China. I suspect that has upset some true professionals in the NIH. There are documents now that the NIH and BioHealth had great concern about the danger of this research, and yet continued for some time.

  Some of the doctors are leaving the federal organizations, because they have been taking all the heat from the public constantly changing recommendations regarding the pandemic and losing the trust of the public. Unfortunately some their techniques, methods, and mandates are right in step with a socialistic state creation.

  The school boards and teacher’s unions are quite in tune with this movement of socialism, and we have been able to observe their power given by this administration.

  I have seen the mismanagement up close in the medical journals, and know that physicians are not trained to be changing the course of action without serious scientific backup, and we have seen this lack of sound data on numerous occasions.

  These doctors are being manipulated at the expense of the country. We will have to keep on top of this breaking news to further verify this information and the reasons for their exit.

  Dr. Marty Makary, M.D., Public Health at Johns Hopkins Medical School announced this information on FOX Sunday News, July 17. He has been one of the most honest and reputable physicians from the university that has been doing most of the CDC’s surveillance. He has shot down many of the guidance criteria by this administration.

  I thought physicians were above this kind of ideology, but I was wrong. Trust is becoming a serious issue in our country.

Natural immunity far better than 2 doses of vaccine

  One of the gravest sins of the CDC’s recommendations came from not recognizing that infection from COVID gave strong durable immunity, and a study just came out that natural infection was close to being as good as 3 doses of vaccine, and if a previously infected person got vaccinated, their immunity was better than 4 doses of vaccine.

  A previous infection gave 50% protection and 2 doses of the vaccine gave 4% against the Omicron variants and subvariants!!!

  If you got two doses of vaccine, it is recommended you get at least 1 booster. It will give you 59% protection. A 4^th dose is not necessary unless the immune system is compromised or the patient is ill or medically impaired.

  With this data in the NEJM, mandates should be dropped immediately!  How can we stand to watch all these executive orders come out with the lack of scientific data to back them up……? POLITICS, NOT MEDICAL DECISION MAKING!! DISGUSTING!

NEJM, June 15, 2022

  These tactics must be condemned. There is absolutely no scientific evidence the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants currently spreading across the country are any different in lethality, hospitalization, and transmissibility than the previous variants. But as mentioned above, the current vaccine lends little protection against BA.5.

Medscape General Surgery, July 25, 2022

  There will continue to be surges in areas of the country. However, as will continue, more mutated subvariants are occurring, and now BA.2.75 is coming soon (2 cases in the U.S.), but more prevalent in Europe, India, Europe, and Asia. No reason to panic about any of these subvariants unless high risk. Will the fall vaccine covering BA.4 and BA.5 cover BA.2.75??

  Be cautious about believing the public health officials yet, as they get excited just like weathermen do when they see a possible tropical storm half way around the world, trying to scare Americans that this one could be worse than the rest.

  So far, there is no evidence these new subvariants are worse, but it is known if someone had an infection over a year ago or got vaccinated, their immunity has waned and they should get vaccinated and have one booster (some say 2, but very few).

  Those with waning immunity are also responsible for reinfections in those with full vaccination, including those with early infections of alpha, delta, and the original Omicron variant.

  Spread tends to be even faster as most have shown, and because of that, more cases are being picked up, and as expected the CDC broke their promise to not get excited with numbers, but only hospitalizations and deaths, which are not increasing in great numbers.

  Since there will be a new Omicron vaccine booster out in the fall, it would seem smarter to wait for that one rather than getting a 2^nd old vaccine dose, which is not covering the Omicron variants very well, except to decrease the odds of a more severe infection for older and medically concerned individuals. For those who have recently had an infection, people should feel comfortable about exposure to these new subvariants, unless at high risk, as these people will have good immunity against the new subvariants.

  The monoclonal antibodies used to treat outpatients have not been effective against the Omicron subvariants, but the a virologist in London, stated that Paxlovid, the oral antiviral pill that can be obtained from the pharmacist with a positive test, is still effective against these new subvariants.

Medpage Today, July 8, 2022  

  There will be scare tactics coming, not to vote in person, and overstate the risks, but I hope there are still enough voting Americans that will not put up with this attempt to manipulate this election, BUT BE REST ASSURED THEY WILL TRY!! Wear a mask and wash your hands before and after voting! That is what you should do….not let the meida scare you into staying at home. But for sure….VOTE.

Medscape Medical News, July 5, 2022

JAMA Network, July 8, 2022

Vaccines for those 6 months and older

  The latest study published in the JAMA, reported that of 1884 children that were infected with COVID-19, 5.8%, after 90 days, still had some fatigue or weakness, fever, and other less common symptoms.

   9.4% of these 1884 were hospitalized because of associated underlying diseases. Only 4% that were outpatient had any long standing symptoms.

  The main conclusion from these authors was to follow these children until they totally recover.

  Is this enough data to encourage you to have your very young child be vaccinated? So far only about 5% of that age group have received at least one dose the COVID vaccine.

JAMA Network, July 22, 2022

Federal reimbursement for healthcare providers being lowered after 2½ years of pandemic

  The first responders, doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and other healthcare professionals have worked night and day over the past 2½ years fighting the pandemic, and the thanks they get is lowering the reimbursement from all federal insurances as the inflation rates continue to rise, greatly increasing the cost of running a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office. I have no words……..! The impact in the quality of healthcare will feel the result of this!! And that is without socialized medicine.

  However, considering the radical liberals on the west coast, the CDC recommended masks be worn even inside in multiple counties in California, Oregon, and Washington. The West coast states love to place restrictions and scare their residents, which is just what the administration wants to hear, because they can more easily blame the tragedies in our country on the pandemic. From COVID to Putin….anybody but the poor management from our administration, and continued mixed messages from the FDA and CDC.

New vaccines coming to counter the new Omicron variants; more bucks for Big Pharma

  As expected Big Pharma is trying to capitalize on the need for a vaccine that works for the summer variants. This is still not the universal vaccine promised. It is only countering (theoretically) the more recent subvariants of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

  There is no proof the new vaccine being approved by the FDA will do anything but to lessen severe cases, which the current vaccine does a fairly good job of. But they will contain better protection against the BA.4 and BA.5, the current viral mutants accounting for 80% of the cases.

  Pfizer has made over $83 billion off their vaccines and therapies. And the U.S. government, who lies nicely in bed with Big Pharma, is planning on paying them $3.2 billion for 105 million doses of vaccine, having already been paid for 750 million doses in the U.S. 

  I would be surprised to see a high percent of healthy people accepting another vaccine dose, but with scare tactics and those at risk, everyone should strongly consider it and talk with their doctor.

  After a year, immunity does wane from vaccines and or infection (natural immunity), so this is another point of consideration.

  Are we going to be gullible enough to take another dose every time a new variant comes to the U.S.? It would depend on the lethality of a new subvariant and a person’s health condition.

  So far, only 5% of children 6 months-5 years have had the new FDA approved vaccine, which does not have the new variants well covered. Why consider another vaccine when most people are just getting bad colds, when they get infected? Polls have reported a firm 40% of parents will not subject their children to these vaccines.

  It must be understood that those who have not had a vaccine dose for over a year, or had an older COVID infection have waning immunity, and should take that into consideration regarding annual updated vaccine boosters.

Herd Immunity here?

  Another consideration is that during this year, millions of people have been exposed and developed immunity without symptoms, so we all may have been exposed by now. That is why I still stand firm on our country being in herd immunity. Even the experts say 95% of the population has been exposed, and it only takes 80-90% by definition. Another flaw of the administration not acknowledging it, as they think our country is too stupid not to understand it.

  They noted that the current vaccine (2^nd booster) has been a disappointment, and the immune response was not great and waned even faster with the new variants. The fall booster just approved still has little data about its actual effectiveness.

Medscape General Surgery, July 22, 2022

  It certainly would be nice to trust those scientists who work for the government, but the fact is emergency use authorized vaccines just don’t have long term data to prove efficacy and side effects. Trust is a big factor, and I think the government blew that to a large extent.

  Always in making medical decisions, trust your doctor!!

  Will this mean mandated federal employees will be required to receive this booster too???? After all, we have no information how effective this new Omicron sub-variant vaccine will be. We are already losing 40,000 National Guards and 10,000 in the reserve, and 3,400 active military.

   A study found that only 20% of the COVID funds went to small businesses with the majority going to big businesses. Money buys influence, control, and power.  Once COVID money was given to the states, there has been enormous abuse of these funds, especially footing the bills for the illegals.

Medscape General Sugery, July 5, 2022

Medpage, June 30, 2022

Cancer drug reduces COVID deaths by 55%

  Sabizabulin, an oral anti-cancer drug for prostate cancer has been found to reduce the death rate by 55% in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a phase 3 clinical trial. These patients were at high risk, and comparing those with the drug vs not receiving the drug, the death rate dropped from 45.1% to 20.2%.

  There was a 43% reduction in ICU days, a 49% reduction in days on a ventilator, and 26% reduction in the days in the hospital.

   The drug company (Veru Pharmaceuicals) is applying for an emergency use authorization by the FDA.

NEJM Evidence, July 6, 2022

Autoimmune Long Term Effects of COVID-19

  This subject is near and dear to me, since I have been suffering from the same syndrome, only not from COVID-19 (mine came one week after a senior flu shot a few years ago--unproven).

   The NEJM reported a small case study of people developing hypotension, tachycardia, fatigue, dizziness when standing up, and visual changes with low blood pressure. They also had cognitive symptoms.

  It is called POTS—postural orthostatic, tachycardia, syndrome, and is a well known autonomic dysregulation disorder. I have reported on this syndrome, and if you are interested, click on www.themedicalnewsreport.com/87

  The body has two types of nerves—musculoskeletal nerves and the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic).

  This second system innervates the organs including blood vessels, and the system is constantly changing based on the needs of our body’s organs.

  Below, demonstrates the innervation of the organs from top to bottom.

When we stand, the blood vessels increase tone from the muscular lining of blood vessels, so that more blood can rush to the brain to prevent dizziness. When we eat, more blood is sent to the gut to handle digestion. When we exert ourselves the heart beats faster and the blood pressure rises.

  There are chemoreceptor and other types of receptors constantly monitoring the body to maintain good function of all systems.

  With POTS, thought to be autoimmune (including in cases after COVID-19 infections), the system can’t respond fast enough.

  A tilt-table test will verify the syndrome.

  In my case, I also developed post-prandial hypotension. After I eat, the receptors in my stomach overrespond, and my blood pressure routinely drops to 65/50, with dizziness and if I didn’t sit or lie down, I would pass out. With medication, however, it is prevented. Fortunately for me, I have no associated cognitive symptoms.

  Fortunately, there is a medication that reverses this syndrome raising the blood pressure—midodrine, similar to amphetamines, without the high. I must take this pill three times a day when I eat. Adjustment of dosage my be necessary.

   For those without the eating issue, they should take the medication first thing in the morning and every 8 hrs. Sudafed, the decongestant, may be of some value if taking the midodrine is difficult,

  Whether the people in this study continue to have these symptoms is not known yet, but I am still stuck with this syndrome after months.

  If you have dizziness, fatigue, cognitive issues, and exertional rapid heartbeat, please discuss this with a cardiologist, and get an exam and a tilt test if indicated.

American College of Cardiology, June 14, 2022

Long term COVID cases seeking blood filtering techniques

  Long term COVID patients have become frustrated with little help for their prolonged symptoms, and people in the UK and U.S. are seeking essentially plasmaphoresis procedures, similar to those who have it performed for autoimmune diseases.

  The blood is removed, the immune proteins removed from the plasma, and reinfused back into the patients.

  The procedure is performed for acute cases as well. There are certain cases that are emergency use authorized in the U.S.

  I have yet to find a reliable report on its effectiveness, but technically, it makes sense, and there must be some who get better, or it would not be utilized. 

4. Autoimmune diseases Series—Part 7--Polymyalgia rheumatic and temporal arteritis; Vitiligo, and Atopic dermatitis (Ezcema)

  A. Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)

  Another type of inflammatory disease caused by unknown factors that turn our oue own immune system against is 2 related diseases that also can have additional autoimmune diseases.

  Polymyalgia rheumatica is another musculoskeletal disease that affects the upper arms and shoulders, the hips and at times even the eyes (giant cell arteritis also called temporal arteritis). It can also occasionally be associated with dermatomyositis, another autoimmune disease that affects the skin, muscles, etc.

  This disease begins in the older people, over 50, with the average sudden onset at 70 years of age requiring immediate attention.

The arms and even the hands stiffen and make extending them above the shoulders very difficult. The hips and buttocks can tighten and make it difficult to stand up straight, often making it difficult to get out of a chair. Combing hair, putting on a shirt, etc. is not uncommon. Neck stiffness is not uncommon as well.  This differ from rheumatoid arthritis, a joint disease, but can occur in these patients.

  These episodes can be very severe requiring corticosteroid therapy to combat the inflammatory reaction in the areas reported.

  In some cases mild fever, fatigue, malaise, and loss of appetite, and depression can all occur from the inflammatory response and results of pain and stiffness.

  There is also a chance of these patients developing an inflammatory disease in the arteries of the temple and eye. This is called Giant cell arteritis or temporal arteritis. In up to 20% vision loss can occur and if it develops, the vision is permanent.

  Ophthalmology consult by the rheumatologist is highly recommended. The vessels on the retina that feed the optic nerve disc in the middle of the retina can cause ischemia and permanent damage to the nerve causing vision loss, and even double vision. It is usually only on one side, with headache, jaw pain, pressure and tightness in the scalp mimicking migraine.

  Below in the photo below of the retina shows edema and discoloration of the optic nerve (arrow), and fluffy whiteness in the retinal itself if retinal artery occlusion occurs causing vision loss (arrow to right).

As many as 200,000 Americans are diagnosed annually. Family history increases the risk, as there are genetic abnormalities. More women are affected as in all autoimmune diseases, and white people tend to be more involved although all races are affected.

  Laboratory results include an elevated sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein. Other autoimmune tests as in other immunologic diseases can be positive. Ultrasound can differentiate PMR from other musculoskeletal diseases.

  Corticosteroids are used to combat the inflammation and pain, usng 40-60 mg a day. This is decreased over time to the lowest dose possible.

  If corticosteroids are needed for extended periods, calcium and vitamin D may be recommended to prevent osteoporosis caused by the steroids.

  Physical therapy to learn proper stretching is necessary to prevent loss of motion of the affected areas. It is important to see a rheumatologist and ophthalmologist and keep surveillance on the progess or progression of these diseases. There is no cure, therefore, it is important for patients to maintain an active life, eating good foods, avoiding foods that frequently cause trouble (some proteins, gluten, and starches). Weight must be maintained, as these symptoms tend to make a patient less active.

Mayo Clinic, Arthritis Foundation

B. Vitiligo

This cross section of the skin (above) show a depletion of meanocytes, in an irregular pattern. This hereditary autoimmune disease can vary from a few areas to throughout the body, which allows for 2 classes of vitiligo.

  Michael Jackson was probably the most famous person with the disorder.

  Symptoms include white well demarcated oval macules and patches. There is an unpredictable rate of spread with enlargement of these patches. There may be premature whitening of the hair, or graying with changes of color in the mouth and inside in the nose.

  As in many autoimmune diseases, stress and sunlight might bring on the disorder.

  Anemia and diabetes are more common, therefore, these patients need a CBC and blood sugar test.

  Treatment may include corticosteroid creams to counter the antibody response and allow repigmentation.

  Tacrolimus is an immunosuppressive used to prevent kidney transplantation. Oral and injectable are available.

  A combination of psoralen and a tanning bed or office ultraviolet therapy in some dermatologist’s office.

  Prevention of sunlight using a 30SPF sunscreen outside is helpful. It seems contrary that sun can bring on vitiligo but it is a well known therapy just like in psoriasis.

  Alternative medical treatments may help—gingko biloba, alpha lipoic acid, Vitamin C and B-12 in addition to uptravioet therapy.

Mayo Clinic

  C. Atopic dermatitis (eczema)

Excematoid dermatitis can occur locally or more generalized, which itches, and can cause a leather like appearance shown above lower left.

  Another autoimmune disease with over 3 million cases diagnosed annually. Inflamed skin can occur from various causes, and if there is a history of allergic asthma or hay fever with it, it is called atopic dermatitis. Ezcema or ezcematoid dermatitis is more common.

  Ezcema occurs in 15-20% of infants, and about 7% of adults in the U.S., most often associated with asthma and hay fever. Most infant grow out of it, but there is a percentage that will be plagued by it off and on their entire lives.

  Red spots, dry spots, cracked skin, and the development of leathery patches (lichenification) from chronic dermatitis and rubbing the area because it itches. Think of it as an allergic inflammatory skin rash with variable presentations.

  Children have the rash more in the bends and folds of the arms and legs, on the face, neck, wrists and ankles, with drying and scaling. The back of the knees is one of the worst areas.

  Various chemicals and metals are often an irritant. Jewelry with nickel is common. Rubber, latex, and preservatives (thimerosal).

  A rarer form can affect the palms of the hands and feet from sweat and metals—dyshydrotic eczema.

  Neurodermatitis is another form caused by mental issues, especially anxiety and OCD-obsessive complulsive disorder. Nape of the neck, arms, and legs are the most common areas affected. It is more common in women 30-50 years of age.

Nummular excema are coin sized lesions and can occur after trauma to the skin area and affects those with allergic hay fever and asthma. See below!

Seborrheic dermatitis can be put in this category by some. It is extremely common and occurs in the oily areas of the body, especially scalp and face. Some implicate a common yeast on the skin malassekia yeast. It is not uncommonly associated with psoriasis, acne, and rosacea.

  Seborrheic dermatitis is very common in the scalp, and may cause “pimple-like” lesions as well as skipped areas of rash. Most people know this as dandruff, and dandruff shampoos are fairly effective when they contain zinc pyrithione or selenium sulfide. Salicylic acid, sulphur, and coal tar preparations. Doctors may prescribe psoriasis topical meds for more resistant cases, and corticosteroid creams (fluocinolone). Others are tacrolimus (Protopic), and pimecrolimus (Elidel).

Testing

  Because allergies are often associated, allergy testing by an allergist is recommended, if severe enough. Great care on what is put on the skin as these people are “allergic” to a lot of things, animals, etc.

Treatment

  Preventing itching is critical. Topicals containing hydrocortisone (fluocinolone) are often recommended and antihistamine sprays and ointments. Colloidal oatmeal baths may help. Wet wraps when flares occur, care for laundry detergent and bed cloths and sheets is important.

  Coal tar still can be helpful and has been around for 2000 yrs. Calamine lotion refrigerated helps. Stress reduction, meditation, etc. can help.

  There are 2 FDA approved medications—Elidel and Protopic are prescription meds that reduce the inflammation, also mentioned under seborrheic dermatitis. There is a black box warning and should not be used before age 2.

  Dupixent is an immunosuppressive, is reserved for severe resistant cases. Adbry can be injected. Other medications are included (Methotrexate, Azaprin, Eucrisa ointment, ec.

WebMD

5. Childhood adversity and effect on illness and death as an adult

Most people realize how we are brought up, our experiences, our traumas, our neighborhood exposures, our friends, and family all have “environmental” influences on how we mature.

   Financial status also has a significant influence on our choices, our opportunities, and education. There are congenital issues, illnesses during formative years, and the quality of healthcare that all shape medical outcomes.

  JAMA Pediatrics reported on this issue, reviewing 19 studies of 21,000 participants. The childhood adversities were responsible for an increase in deaths from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory disorders. 1 in 3 suicides were attributable to childhood adversities. It certainly correlates with mental disorders (anxiety, depression, and addiction).

  Below is a long list of adversities that often mold a person’s future growth, per Psychology Today

This concludes the August Report.

Next month, the September, 2022 Medical News Report will include:

1. More on Socialism/Marxism, Abortion controversy, and the threat to the future of healthcare in the U.S.

2. Laser therapy and other treatments for ED

3. Autoimmune diseases Series—Part 8—Dermatomyositis, Wegener’s Granulomatosis, Autoimmune Vasculitis, and Pernicious anemia

4. Ob/Gyn Series—Part 5—Pre-eclampsia, maternal death rate, Rh factor disease in pregnancy

5. Date rape drugs

6. COVID updates

Enjoy your summer (if you can handle the heat), and your friends and family. Stay healthy and well, my friends, and vote in November.                                                  

Dr. Sam