Category: Medicine Hat News

Posted on

Longevity

If you are born in 1920, then your life expectancy is 59 years. Well, you should be dead by now. If you are born in 1940, then your life expectancy is 65 years. You are probably reading this column. If you are born in 1993, then your life expectancy is 78 years. You are out somewhere having fun.

The 20th century has seen many medical inventions that have completely changed our lives. Not only we live longer than our forefathers but we are healthier and perhaps better looking as well.

Canadian researchers have contributed quite well to our health and longevity. Here are some examples.

In 1922, Canadian researchers: F. Banting, C. H. Best, J. R. R. McLeod, and J. B. Collip discovered insulin. This has revolutionized the treatment of diabetes. Normally, the pancreas produces insulin. Diabetes is a condition when there is not enough insulin in the system to metabolize sugar.

In 1926, J. B. Collip also discovered the hormone – parathormon – that controls the calcium balance in our body. Four tiny glands behind the thyroid normally produce this hormone. If these glands fail, the calcium level rises resulting in many complications.

In 1972, another Canadian made a significant contribution to improve our health. William Bigelow had a role in the introduction of cardiac pacemaker. This is needed to stabilize cardiac rhythm. More than half a million people worldwide are fitted with pacemakers.

Scientists from all over the world have helped us stay healthy. At the dawn of the 20th century, we were struggling with typhoid, malaria, syphilis, tuberculosis and yellow fever. All these conditions are now under control. Now we are struggling with AIDS.

In 1929, Alexander Fleming of UK recognized penicillin. When he discovered the bacteria-eating mold, he failed to capitalize on his discovery. It was in 1938, that two Oxford University scientists, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, found ways to produce penicillin. In 1942, they showed that penicillin could be used for treating infections. For this they won the Nobel Prize.

Vaccinations, blood typing, contact lenses, the pill, and minimally invasive surgery have changed the way we think about medicine. Body scanners have allowed us to look at the minutest structures of our anatomy.

In 1963, Alan Cormack, a South African physicist working at Tufts University, demonstrated a crude prototype of computerized tomographic (CT) scanner. But it was England’s Godfrey Hounsfield, an engineer at the music company, EMI, realized he could get an image of a slice inside an object by sending x-ray beams through it from a variety of angles.

In 1979, Commack and Hounsfield shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for the invention of CT scan.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is currently the most talked about and sought after modern day invention. CT scan is based on exposure to radiation. It cannot make images of the inside of bones. But MRI reconstructs images from data generated by protons inside the nuclei of hydrogen atoms. It can get details within the bones themselves. That is why it is so exciting!

These are just few examples out of the hundreds of inventions and discoveries of this millennium. It is wonderful to think what human minds and hands can do. We know more exciting times are ahead of us. It will be fun to be part of the new millennium!

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!

Posted on

Peanut Allergy

Sharon and Kevin Pudwell are worried parents. Their three-year-old daughter Janessa has had eczema since she was four months old. Since then Janessa has had blood tests which show allergy to all the main food groups.

The Pudwells are worried that when Janessa goes to public school system next year, she will be exposed to food that she is allergic to. They feel that there is limited awareness to allergic problems in children in the school system.

Sharon is also worried that in an emergency situation, not many people in the health profession and others know how to use auto-injection Epi-Pen (epinephrine).

A recent news item in this paper heightens this anxiety: Allergic girl misses bus. A photograph shows Lori-Ann Wilburn drives her daughter Allison, 6, to St. Michael’s School each day from Redcliff with her Epi-Pen kit because Tot-Em Transportation has refused to drive her to school due to her severe peanut butter allergy.

A survey report in The Medical Post says: Primary care physicians are not well prepared to instruct patients about the auto-injector system as an emergency treatment for anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis means severe allergic reaction that can be rapid and deadly.

Administering one dose of epinephrine in a preloaded syringe auto-injector (EpiPen) is felt to be the best method of treating accidental exposure to an allergen. It is a lifesaver.

Dr. Masoud Grouhi, an immunologist, allergist and pediatrician in Toronto who did the survey, says he is disappointed by the findings. Those prescribing EpiPen should be certain they know how to explain its use properly as it is quite often used in a “panic situation”.

Sharon belongs to Anaphylactic Network of Canada. But there is no local chapter. Sharon has tried to start a support group in Medicine Hat but the response has been very poor. Sharon feels that children with food allergies (e.g. peanuts) should carry EpiPen in their pocket. They should know how it works. She wants parents to be aware of this.

Canadian School Boards Association in conjunction with Health Canada has a booklet called: ANAPHYLAXIS: A Handbook for School Boards. The book deals with different aspects of anaphylaxis. It says that a growing number of school boards across the country are developing policies to help principals, teachers and the school community protect anaphylactic children.

The book says in 1994, a student on a field trip to Algonquin Park in Ontario died from trace amounts of peanut butter, which had been transferred to a jam jar. A child attending camp in Montreal died after eating a cheese sandwich that had been packed in the same bag with a peanut butter sandwich.

Dr. Dave Beresh, Superitendant of Medicine Hat School District No. 76 says that the Board has no specific policy on dealing with food allergies. This is left to the individual schools to establish “Best Practices”. The Board has policy E-32 (Medical Treatments for Students) which addresses the subject of allergies in a minute e way.

But the Ontario Allergy Society suggests that schools should develop a system of identifying children with life threatening allergies in order to prevent anaphylaxis.

The pamphlet says that children should have their own epinephrine auto- injector device labeled by name and expiry date.

Avoidance of specific allergen is the cornerstone of management in preventing anaphylaxis. If you are interested in joining a support group for severe food allergies then Sharon Pudwell is waiting for your call (527-0997). Please call her today.

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!

Posted on

Stress

What are we doing to ourselves?

A recent newspaper headline said: “Workaholic Canadians battle time stress. We’re working harder, enjoying ourselves less.”

Statistics Canada surveyed 11,000 Canadians and found people were more stressed for time last year than they were six years earlier.

Men and women aged 25 to 44 struggle most to balance paid work, unpaid work and personal life. But only 25 percent in this age group plan to slow down in the coming year. Are you one of them?

One way to beat stress is to take part in leisure activities on a regular basis. But how many of us have time for that. Not too many. For example, only 30 percent of small-business owners surveyed took time off for leisure activities, according to data compiled by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and American Express. Are you one of them?

Do you feel trapped in the rat race? You are not alone. Five million Canadians in the age group 25 to 44 and 40 percent of Canadians aged 15 to 24 feel trapped in the daily routine. It is a rat race. Lily Tomlin once said, “Even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat!” Is that how you feel?

Statscan’s survey shows that relief from stress comes with age. Time-related stress virtually disappears among the oldest age groups. Only 14 percent of women aged 55 to 64 reported high stress levels in 1998. Over the age of 65, time-related stress almost disappears. Some of my senior patients tell me that they have more time than money.

But do they have enough of good health?

Most illnesses like heart disease and cancer start to creep into our life as we cross 50. For example Canadian Heart Health Surveys (1986-1992) recently reported that 52 percent of Canadians 55 to 74 have high blood pressure, and 30 percent have a high cholesterol level.

Overall, 87 percent of men and 78 percent of women in this age group who are current smokers smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day. Only slightly more than 50 per cent exercised at least once a week for at leas 15 minutes. Only 4 percent have no major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. That’s scary!

The good news is most of the risk factors can be changed to create a positive impact on our health. But we need to find time to see our doctor, do more exercise, plan our diet, and quit smoking.

It all boils down to time. Time for ourselves, our family, our health, our work, and time for healthy recreation. But how can we win the “struggle to juggle” for time if we have to meet deadlines, beat the competition, be one step ahead of everybody, and be the best in what we do?

Stress is part our life. It is not going to go away. What matters is how we deal with it.

Are you time stressed? How do you juggle your time? Does it work for you? If you like to share your ideas with the readers of this column then send them to me via e-mail or mail to 821A – 5th Street, S.W., Medicine Hat, T1A 4H7. New ideas and the ideas that will work for the next millennium!

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!

Posted on

Anesthesia and Painless Surgery

Painless surgery is taken for granted by most of us who are in the business of doing surgery. But the history of painless surgery started 153 years ago.

On October 16, 1846, Dr. William Morton, a young Boston dentist, administers ether to Edward Gilbert Abbott, so that Dr. John Collins Warren can do painless surgery.

This is an important day for patients and surgeons. Prior to that the operating room was seen as a torture chamber. Patients would scream with pain until they fainted. Surgeon and his assistant had only a minute or two to complete their procedure. Amputation took less than two minutes.

“Very few operations were done and they were dreaded by all,” says Dr. Robb Rutledge, attending surgeon at Fort Worth, Texas, in an article in Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons.

Before 1846, there were some isolated attempts to make surgery painless. In 1800, nitrous oxide (laughing gas) was used by Humpry Davy to relieve pain of surgical operation. There were some unpublished reports of ether use as well. But it was Morton’s success at Massachusetts General Hospital that changed the practice of surgery.

Both ether and nitrous oxide became well known in social circles. There were “ether frolics” and “laughing gas parties.”

During one of these laughing gas parties, Horace Wells, a successful young dentist, observed that one of the guests had bruised his leg but felt no pain. Next morning, Wells had his colleague use nitrous oxide to pull Wells’ own wisdom tooth. Wells was impressed.

Dentists and surgeons used nitrous oxide and ether to do more cases. It was Oliver Wendell Holmes who suggested etherisation be called anaesthesia, which means insensitive to objects of touch. “This name caught on and was adopted around the world,” says Dr. Rutledge.

But there is a sad end to this wonderful story. Some of the individuals involved in the discovery of anaesthesia started to fight over priority and financial gain. The battle raged in front of the U.S. Congress. But nobody won. “No one ever received any financial governmental award for the discovery,” says Dr. Rutledge.

Horace Wells was so disappointed that he left his wife and son and moved to New York City. He became addicted to chloroform. Was jailed on his 33rd birthday for throwing sulfuric acid on prostitutes. In 1848, while in prison, he committed suicide.

William Morton destroyed himself trying to get recognition for his role in the discovery of anaesthesia. He was censured by the American Medical Association for unworthy conduct. He died of apoplexy at the age of 48.

Sad endings. But things have not changed in the last 153 years. Money and recognition continues to be at the heart of many battles – big or small. Some things in life never change!

Same as the fear of pain. Every individual I have “surgerised” has had fear of pain and needles. Needles are painful. When we discuss surgery with patients, their first question is: Is this going to hurt? Rarely a patient wants to know about complications, risk of permanent damage from the procedure or the worst of all complications – death.

Pain is scary. Pain is a complex experience. Response to pain is physical as well as emotional. Response to pain varies among individuals because the emotional component is variable. Nobody likes to be in pain.

So, next time you have painless surgery, remember it was pioneers like Wells and Morton who made this possible.

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!