heart healthy?, does it or doesnt it

HEART HEALTHY?

if you look at our family tree and trace back some medical history

youll see that there is a lot of strokes and heart attacks as the 

cause of death or disability 

this is because we have high cholesterol and have a tendency to have

hypertension and yes if you look at old photos youll see some degree

of obesity 

in fact my father had high blood pressure high cholesterol and had

a bypass graft done at 68 and was slightly overweight

in his last years he developed some issues that when i look back i 

think he probably had some dementia that was probably alzheimers 

disease

knowing that vascular dementia and alzheimers disease gets intertwined

sometimes

ive thought of his health and i have the same risk factors except for the 

obesity

now that im on aricept (donepezil) for possible alzheimers disease which

slows down symptoms of the disease but not the disease itself

and i have blood pressure and weight and cholesterol and exercise and 

diet under good control 

i think sometimes well im just making myself live longer so that the 

alzheimers can just reach its full effect

although in some studies not controlling your blood pressure can increase

production of that beta amyloid that may be the cause of alzheimers disease

which can make the disease occur earlier in life

my dad died in his mid 70s of a heart attack sparing us and my mom and 

himself the last years of a demented life

which is worse i wonder

dying early with a heart attack to get it over with or 

dying later with alzheimers allowing your family to suffer with you as the

alzheimers disease takes you away 

if i could chose i would go for early heart attack every time

i always tell my wife she if you ever come home and find me lying face

down here at the country n know that i died happy and died where i 

wanted to die and the way i wanted to go  

then this week i read about how aricept (donepezil) actually may be good 

for your heart

if i have alzheimers disease i could be on aricept (donepezil) for over

15-20 years if im  lucky?

it may decrease the heart attack and death rate by 35%

thats a significant number folks

but

it does somehow seem cruel if we cant at the same time come up 

with a prevention or treatment for alzhemers disease

so for now ill just take my aricept (donepezil) and keep everything under

control but when or if i get alzheimers disease and i get more advanced

my wife she has been instructed to take me off all my medications

so everything will speed up and get it over with 

DOES IT OR DOESNT IT

im always being asked about coconut oil

does it help or not with alzheimers disease

my response had been probably not but it doesnt really hurt to 

take it 

my younger brother took it and it didnt help him any 

there is a medical food 

(thats a category thanks to good lobbying by

pharmaceutical companies to bypass the fda since their products arent

medicines but food-doesnt quite sound right does it)

thats called axona it a medium chain triglyceride that in some early studies

appeared to maybe help improve memory which have not

been able to be duplicated by followup non drug company sponsored 

research

i actually tried this for a month and decided to not take it 

i decided to put my efforts to controlling those things mentioned in the 

above section on heart healthy?

so coconut oil is similar to this stuff

the thinking is that by taking this stuff axona you get ketosis 

think acetone

which the body can use as an energy source so those alzheimers 

damaged cells can use this stuff for a food source instead of sugar which 

it cant seem to be handled well by these damaged cells

so thats the thinking

now a researcher has gotten money to do an actual 

controlled scientific study using placebos in one group and then using 

coconut oil in another group and then will follow them over time to see if 

it works

(you can go to this link also to get information to be in the study)

simple experiment thats not really ever been done

why 

you can get this stuff cheap at walmart target your grocery store health food store

so no drug company can make millions off it 

so its never been scientifically tested 

just anecdote stories

so we should know soon does it or doesnt it

folks we just need a cure dont we

the organicgreen doctor

disk followup, he meant 2013

DISK FOLLOWUP
its been three weeks since the pain became so severe in
my right buttocks down my right leg that i coudnt walk
somehow i got into my old beat up black pickup truck
that looked like it was from the samford and sons tv show
and drove the 25 miles home
all i could think was i sure wish i had an automatic transmission
it was hard to drive with just the left leg
you know shifting clutching and pressing on the accelerator
luckily there werent many stops i had to make

i made it to the house
crawled up stairs like a 3 year old might
and fumbled through my medicine cabinet and found
that 3 year hydrocodone from my wisdom teeth removal
note dont get your wisdom teeth removed when you
are 60 years old cause it hurts like hell afterwards
at least i thought it was the worst pain until i got this disk thing

i took it like it said 1-2 every 4 hours
if i did that when i was not having pain i think i would have slept
for days
interesting sometimes with the pain medications when you hurt
bad with pain it doesnt knock you out

i was sure i was having triplets that day

eventually after not getting better as the night went on
i went to the er and got more pain medication and he
talked me into some valium for muscle spasm

my sister and her family came to visit me that weekend
i didnt tell her i was injured since i was afraid they would
not come to visit

the valium i never usually ordered for people as it is a
drug that people can become addicted to with long time use
when it first came out years ago it was given out like xanax
or ambien is today
a lot of people were hooked on it and its a medicine thats
real hard to wean people off of it
almost impossible

so i didnt want to take it but the doc talked me into it

so this week my wife she had this coffee cup that was new
that someone gave her
i presumed it was from an end of school gift
i have sort of taken it over for my morning coffee
its got a wide bottom to it and its just the right size for
the amount of coffee i drink at a time

so this week i told my wife she i sure like this cup
can i keep using it
where did you get this

she just looked at me funny
she said turn the cup over and look at the bottom
there was the engraving from the state park where my sister lives
she gave it to her along with other things in a bag
all of which i have no recollection of seeing them before
in fact i have little recollection of their visit with us
i was one stoned organicgreen doctor

after a week i got off that stuff

this has all been a humbling experience for me
being a patient
really like a disabled patient
having to rely on my wife she and others for all my care
not something i enjoyed

it did make me think as i tried to shower shave and get dressed
that there are people who do this everyday of their lives
and have for years
i do have a lot of respect for those people who are disabled this way

i had a mri which showed a ruptured disk pressing on the L5S1 nerve
and yes i definitely know the path the nerve takes

i had a 2nd week of false improvement since i was on high dose steroids
and pain meds
when the steroids kicked in good i was able to at least do the
landscape project at the last habitat house
boy did i pay for those two long days working there

then the next week the steroids began to wear off
i almost got back to where i was at the beginning
well maybe just 1 baby instead of triplets
i thought this is not going to be a good thing i have

now on my third week i have been able to completely
taper off my crutches as of yesterday
take only one pain pill a day along with prescription strength
naprosyn full time for pain and lyrica for nerve pain

i think im on to the road to recovery
i have to make myself not overdo since i look around my ten acres
and see all this stuff i need to get done
and the future landscape projects i will need to do at habitat
and i realize i gotta take this slow

again like with having to see the neurologist and doing the
alzheimers research study its humbling to be a patient
and again i think all doctors should have to be patients sometimes
it makes them more patient friendly

then when i look at all the bills that come in like for my mri
my er visit my primary care visit i think a lot about how expensive
our medical care system is

no wonder the insurance companies dont want you to use the er
but luckily for me i guess i was always interested in insurance coding
and billing so digging through everything and figuring out what
i really owe on each bill is probably easier for me to figure out
than most people

pity those people who dont have insurance since they pay full price
and dont get the big discounted rates that the insurance pays
my total cost so far would pay my insurance premiums for 6 months
without insurance the cost would be 12 months premiums
since they get no discount

there does seem something wrong with all that
someone without insurance probably would have returned to the
er for followup instead of using a clinic
which is many fold more expensive

so in summary
it is humbling to be a patient
our healthcare system is expensive
having a ruptured disk hurts like hell
im sorry for not being more sympathetic
i dont ever want to take valium again
i hate crutches
i wish i didnt have an upstairs to my house
i wish all my vehicles were automatic
i can see why people with chronic pain not relieved with
medication like naprosyn or tylenol need pain management
i wouldnt hesitate if i were in that situation
if i was in practice now i would be more freer with giving out
pain medication
and definitely be much better at managing someone with a
ruptured disk or bugling disk with its resulting sciatic pain

i today seem to be crutch free and hydrocodone free
i will have to hold myself back from overdoing

and a special thank you to my wife she for taking care of me

HE MEANT 2013

the george orwell novel 1984 has had a surge in sells on amazon
and barnes and nobles and at most book sites and stores
all since the nsa stuff came out about them looking at all our
emails and cell phone calls and text

so yes big brother is watching us
my plan is to reread this book again since its been years since ive
read it

maybe we all should reread and think more about 2013

the organicgreen doctor

garden stuff, bunny ears

GARDEN STUFF
you know you can garden wherever you live
and raise vegetables if you have 6 hours of sunlight
me i got way too much sunlight on my garden
in fact here pretty soon ill be putting up shade cloth
over some of my stuff to block some of the late
afternoon sun

this photo is from a friend who lives in chicago
she along with a young neighborhood friend planted
this garden at their condo

its real easy to do
they took 5 gallon buckets in this case as you can see
they are visually attractive to the eye
you would want to cut holes in the bottom for drainage
in central texas you would want to put some screening
material like window screen in the bottom to keep
fire ants out
you then add a good potting soil
in this area the best is lady bug vortex potting soil
which has everything in it already
i would also add a small layer of good compost on the top
if the potting soil you use doesnt have it

then add a layer of mulch to hold in moisture
then twice a month use a good liquid organic fertilizer
not that miracle grow stuff fertilizer at the recommended
concentration
i use johns formula since it has seaweed molasses humates and
fish emulsion in it

then regularly i would check one of two finger methods of
watering
first stick the index finger down to the first knuckle
if its wet dont water
if tis dry water it
its that simple
sometimes in the hot summer it may need watering every day
remember over watering will kill the plants just as fast as
not watering it

then the second method is using the middle finger
if none of this works just raise that finger and say heck with it

usually like i said not watering it enough or watering it too much
or not having 6 hours of sun is the reason this doesnt work

after the bucket is all ready
just plant the plant
water it in
and take good care of it and enjoy the crops

they should have a good crop from their 3 different
tomatoes and eggplant and peppers
good luck

last week i wrote about the tatume squash that
was used to replace the yellow squash and the
zucchini squash that gets wiped out by that old
squash borer
here is the first two that i harvested
you pick them at baseball size
they are just as good as the yellow or zucchini
i expect any day now to see those two plants
collapsed and dead from the boerer
but im ready this year since ive got plenty of these
tatume squash that are growing

BUNNY EARS
i was known for my duct tape and my donald duck talking for
the kids when i was in practice
in fact im researching a duct tape coffin to use when i die
black of course or maybe donald duck yellow and blue

also those of you who know me very well know that ive ruined
many a photo op with my bunny ears
in fact my sweet daughterinlaw forbid me to do any bunny ears
for their wedding pictures
well thats not true she did allow me one picture where i did
bunny ears
except for some reason it didnt come through when all the pictures
were produced

my niece thanks at
sent me this  picture and wondered if i had drawn it

the organicgreen doctor