Wine Drinkers

I was at a grocery yesterday and there was a wine-testing booth. So naturally, for everything that may come as free people will surely hover around, especially if it has alcohol in it! When I got to the counter, I saw a brochure where it said abstainers are more likely to die from all-cause mortality and cancer than drinkers. That surely made me laugh.

So I searched medline, google scholar and Bandolier. Guess what, I was the one to be laughed at. Light to moderate wine and beer drinking do seem to confer a protection against death and cancer.

Hmmm.... But should we start advocating wine during meals? I can't drink alcohol without looking like a drunkard after one drink. I'm allergic to ethanol.

So to everyone else, Cheers

Ginseng

I really don't go out and buy or endorse supplements for my patients. However, there are a few exceptions and one of them is this Ginseng I got from my patient.

What is different from other Ginseng product? Well, for one, this Ginsengs seemed to have a detoxifying effect, and patients (not only one) had a sort of "healing crisis." At first, I was a bit skeptic and waited for the effect if any.

The liver cancer patient was almost gone, he couldn't stand up, poor sleep, no appetite, extremely dehydated. He then was introduced to this ginseng product that was farmed in a temperature-controlled area. He claimed it made him stronger, sleep better. But still I was a bit hesistant. 

But this morning, I saw him and he showed me his lab work-up and it was a surprise! His HBV DNA count was lowest in 3 years but he still takes Hepcera. What really suckered me in was his SGOT, SPGT going back  to normal levels. AFP was 5.86 almost normal.

Lets see now if it works for my mother. I hope she follows my instructions.

Cancer complications

I've been closely monitoring my breast cancer patient for the past 2 weeks now. Its hard for me to see her having a difficult time breathing every and then. All the test done on her showed all normal except for the lungs with multiple multi-nodular densities. So most likely the cause of her dyspnea is the tumor infiltration to the lungs.

She is very brave. I don't think lesser persons can be able to handle the stress and difficulty of always catching their breathes, literally. But I do expect, not hope but really expect her symptoms to improve very soon.

I hope I am right!!!

A refreshing start

For whatever reasons that my subconscious mind has given me, I'm quite ok now I could say. Seems like the gloom over my head has slowly dissipated and disappeared. I'm quite optimistic of seeing patients.

Speaking of patients, one of my patients was trying to convince me of buying one of her "new found" products.

There's such a great number of supplements out there and you cant really say which is good, very good, or its just a load of crap. Frankly, I'm quite a pessimist unless I see the actual results.

For example, there are a lot of products in the market that has green vegetables that you mix with water and drink it. Now, how do we know which is the best?

And how about those that are certified "5-star" organic? Sheesh!!!