Yearly Archives: 2020

Men's Health, Opinion, Women's Health

THE DOCTORS 101 CHRONIC SYMPTOMS & CONDITIONS #11: “SWALLOWING TROUBLE”

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I am defining SWALLOWING TROUBLE as the difficulty in transport of food to the stomach, once clear of the throat. Problems with the initiation of the swallowing process are discussed separately.

PAIN in the mid-chest ON SWALLOWING is a worrisome symptom which can be due to inflammation of the lining of the esophagus from a variety of causes. An esophageal yeast infection, which can also involve the throat (called ‘“thrush”), often warns of immune deficiency and can be a sign of AIDS, or be caused by immune suppressing medication. If persistent, pain on swallowing can be a warning sign of CANCER.

If in the presence of GERD, it can be a sign of chronic inflammation or ulceration. In-coordination of the normally smooth muscular propulsive wave can cause a cramping, muscular pain.

Normal “peristalsis” is so efficient, that food can be swallowed without the help of gravity, when UPSIDE DOWN. I wouldn’t recommend trying this, even to cure hiccoughs. There is a muscular “gate” at the bottom of the esophagus, just as it enters the stomach. This gate is often too relaxed, and allows for the reflux of acid and food from the stomach, or GERD. It can also Fail to open, called achalasia, and hold up the food in its journey to the stomach.

The area can be scarred by repeated acid reflux, and become NARROWED; this is called a STRICTURE, and can cause a blockage in swallowing. One of my Doctor friends had to go to the Emergency room when some Steak got stuck in the esophagus.

The ER Doctor removed the steak with a fiberoptic Scope, and then proceeded to DILATE the stricture with a “bougie”, an instrument of a precisely calibrated size designed to STRETCH the constricted area. This uncomfortable procedure had to be done repeatedly, a caution to those who would wait too long before getting such a problem evaluated and corrected.

EOSINOPHILIC ESOPHAGITIS has been diagnosed with increasing frequency, and can cause Pain in the middle of the chest, trouble swallowing, and even regurgitation of food. This special type of inflammation is more common in allergic patients, and can be caused by certain foods.

So as you can see, swallowing trouble, if persistent, is nothing to fool around with, and should be checked out by a competent doctor. Don’t wait too long.

–Dr. C..

Men's Health, Opinion, Women's Health

THE DOCTORS 101 CHRONIC SYMPTOMS/CONDITIONS#10: MACULAR DEGENERATION

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Macular Degeneration is the most common cause of blindness in the western world.as you get older, it becomes increasingly common, and almost 20% of people older than 85 years have this disease.

It comes in 2 types, dry and wet. Mostly it starts as the milder dry type, which develops slowly and has no definite treatment. The dry type can develop into the more rapidly progressive wet variety, however, and is important to notice and report to your ophthalmologist.

The MACULA is the center of the visual field, and has by far the most photoreceptors. It yields the sharpest vision, and is essential for reading, and even recognizing faces.

LOSS OF VISION is the commonest symptom, but is hard to notice in a slowly developing condition. A neurologist friend of mine alerted me to the AMSLER GRID, which helps in picking up the subtle distortions of this sneaky problem.

Checking your vision every few days-it takes only a few seconds- is a good idea as you age. You might be healthy in every other way, but if you are blind, the quality of life in your final years will suffer. The mechanics of the wavy lines generated by macular degeneration are deposits beneath the macula, raising it up.

The deposits are fatty in the case of the dry, and fluid in the case of the wet macular degeneration; and fluid from the abnormal blood vessels in the wet MD can collect very rapidly indeed.

Even though the cause of MD is unknown, prevention is by the same old healthy habits tiresomely mentioned in all my other postings: DIET and EXERCISE. I’m sure that good sleep doesn’t hurt either, No cigarette smoking of course, and there are some vitamins and minerals mentioned, such as lutein, zeaxanthin, zinc, and copper.

The wet MD does have a treatment to slow down the disease. Since blood vessel growth is important in causation, antibodies to VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor, are injected into the macular area. I’m sure that more help is on the way. Some treatments to support the protective pigmented layer of the retina are currently in progress.

–DR. C

Men's Health, Opinion, Women's Health

THE DOCTORS 101 CHRONIC SYMPTOMS & CONDITIONS #9: “Choking” (Food-Related)

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DYSPHAGIA covers a wide range of troubles, symptoms and diseases, as indicated from the excellent Infographic posted August 21, 2020. I have already discussed GERD, or trouble with the food coming back up after being swallowed.

This post will be on “choking”, or getting the food into the Airway instead of the Esophagus, or swallowing tube. In the future, I will develop a post in “swallowing difficulties”, or trouble getting the food to pass easily and freely down the esophagus into the stomach.

CHEWING the food properly is rare in our rushed, fast-food society, but it is very important, the first part of the digestion process. Mastication breaks the food into smaller particles that are easier to digest, and also EASIER TO SWALLOW. Saliva flows as you chew, and contains Ptyalin, an enzyme which breaks down starch into absorbable sugars.

Chewing also SLOWS down the rate of eating, improves enjoyment, and allows more time for the stomach to send Satiety signals to the brain. This leads to less overeating and weight gain. In children, chewing is said to aid in jaw development and to reduce dental crowding and need for Orthodontia.

Some people have trouble in Initiating the swallowing process. This can be caused by neurological problems like Parkinson’s Disease. It can also be Psychological, a reflection of fear of discomfort on swallowing.

I have the opposite problem, a tendency to swallow too eagerly and rapidly, causing me to choke on liquids, sometimes even on water. I went to an ENT specializing in swallowing problems. He checked the sensitivity of my throat to touch, and found it normal.

Apparently LESSENED sensitivity is the main concern, which would
lead to Aspiration of food. The only guidance he gave me was to eat and drink more slowly. I find that I am most likely to choke when I drink wine, or a tasty beverage which I tend to “slurp” so as to fan the aroma out broadly in my mouth. I am having a hard time breaking myself of that habit.

Sometimes I find that residual amounts of food builds up in the back of my throat, probably by my epiglottis. I worry about nuts especially. If I don’t drink some water to flush it away, I am likely to choke on it. I guess that is the reason people are told to offer some water to a person who is choking.

I seem to be choking more as I get older, which is reasonable. Swallowing requires an amazingly intricate coordination and motion in the throat area, especially in getting the epiglottis, the little door that closes off the windpipe, to close properly.

My other dexterities are fading, why should swallowing be an exception? Pill swallowing is getting more frequent and more problematic at the same time.

Tablets are worse than capsules, maybe because they are not as slick. There is one size in particular that tends to get stuck in the back of my throat just above the uvula. I sometimes have to cough a lot and choke the offending object back up. One more reason to constantly try to cut down the number of pills.

There is one good thing about this problem, however. I now take the pills separately with a big swallow of water, improving my Hydration.

–Dr. C.

Men's Health, TELEMEDICINE, Women's Health

Surveys: Telemedicine Surges With “Chronic Condition” Patients

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‘Though people living with a chronic condition have a vast range of experiences, our data show that the most common way they managed their condition between March and May 2020 was through telemedicine (45 percent). Only 8 percent had used it before… ‘

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Dr. C "Comments", Medicine, Studies

STANFORD: RESEARCHERS FIND WAY TO “REGROW” NEW CARTILAGE IN JOINTS

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The Stanford researchers figured out how to regrow articular cartilage by first causing slight injury to the joint tissue, then using chemical signals to steer the growth of skeletal stem cells as the injuries heal. The work was published Aug. 17 in the journal Nature Medicine.

“Cartilage has practically zero regenerative potential in adulthood, so once it’s injured or gone, what we can do for patients has been very limited,” said assistant professor of surgery Charles K.F. Chan, PhD. “It’s extremely gratifying to find a way to help the body regrow this important tissue.”

STANFORD MEDICINE (Aug 17, 2020): Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a way to regenerate, in mice and human tissue, the cushion of cartilage found in joints.

Loss of this slippery and shock-absorbing tissue layer, called articular cartilage, is responsible for many cases of joint pain and arthritis, which afflicts more than 55 million Americans. Nearly 1 in 4 adult Americans suffer from arthritis, and far more are burdened by joint pain and inflammation generally.

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COMMENTARY

Stanford has come up with a Promising new approach to the surgical treatment of osteoarthritis. Unfortunately for the suffering public, this approach is still in the rodent experimental stage.

The pain of osteoarthritis is caused by the LOSS of the CARTILAGE which insulates the bone of the joints. The wonderful cartilage coating prevents the pain which would result from the rubbing of bone on bone. The best solution in osteoarthritis would be to replace the cartilage, and I have no doubt that this will be possible some day.

STEM CELLS is the theoretical method most commonly imagined when it comes to replacing lost tissue.. Brain cells, cardiac muscle cells, and pancreatic islet cells are some of the research areas. The development of stem cells from the cells of the Patient herself (iSCs) obviates the need for immunosuppression, which plagues allographs ( stem cells or organs from other humans).

Recently, in situ transformation of neighboring cells has been described, which sidesteps the need to introduce any cells. For instance the transformation of astrocytes (a type of brain cell) into neuronal stem cells of the dopamine lineage would be a great boon to Parkinson’s disease.

The Stanford method somewhat resembles this last-mentioned technique. An injury is created where the cartilage is desired. Like any injury, bleeding, clotting, and cell infiltration follows, destined to form a scar. However, the researchers added BMP-2, which in this milieu causes the pro-fibroblasts to head toward the bone (osteoblast) lineage. Since cartilage forms first in a tissue destined to be bone, they then added a VEGF antagonist, which interrupts the transformation in the desired cartilage stage. Both BMP-2 and anti-VEGF have already been approved for use, facilitating the development of this attractive therapy.

The researchers have even identified an excellent potential Patient Population: Osteoarthritis patients scheduled for surgical removal of the first metacarpal articulation with the wrist. They could do their procedure on this area, and if there is no benefit, They could just go ahead with the original plan of removal. The thumb happens to be one of my most painful arthritic areas.

I will most interestedly follow their research.

–Dr. C.

Dr. C's Journal, Medicine, Opinion

Dr. C’s Medicine Cabinet: Benefits Of “Nootkatone”

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INSECTS are mainly pests. Except for the very commercially valuable Pollinators, Honeybees, the other useful insects, like ladybugs, dragonflies and spiders are beneficial because they eat other insects. It is very exciting, then, to hear about a pleasantly-smelling insect repellent that is quite harmless to Humans.

NOOTKATONE, after you get used to its ugly spelling, has an aromatic, Grapefruit-like smell. It was discovered while researching the CEDAR family. We all know of the association between Cedar and storage. One of my prized possessions was a Cedar chest for storing our families ski clothes.

Whenever I hear of a non-toxic chemical that repels and sometimes kills mosquitos, ticks, bedbugs and fleas, and yet is so harmless as to be used in perfumes, I like to hear of a proposed MECHANISM OF ACTION.

Nootkatone is thought to work by stimulating octopamine receptors, which insects use to make their muscles work. The muscles just keep on contracting and the insects die. The only problem is that Nootkatone is mainly a repellant, and a weaker insecticide.

Another good quality of Nootkatone is that the effect lasts several hours, in contrast to citronella and the other plant oils. Interestingly, the substance was isolated from grapefruit some 25 years ago, while looking for a repellant for the tick of Lyme disease.

Anaplasmosis and Rocky mountain spotted fever are 2 other tick-transmitted diseases present in America. Nootkatone is particularly effective against ticks, and is now EPA-approved.

–Dr. C.