Truth In Medicine

The Americans

There are few series I watch on TV. I'm not a "TV snob" - there are many good things to watch, like Book TV on the weekends, which is how I find out about non-fiction books to read. But once in a while something catches and holds my attention - in this case for six years!

The last episode of the entire series The Americans just aired a week ago, and I'm still thinking about it - the series and the last episode. I'm planning to watch the entire series again, and I NEVER have done this before. It's based on a true story - Russian spies lived in the U.S. as Americans during the Reagan years. One who was caught appeared on 60 Minutes a couple of years ago. 

The Jennings are Russian spies living outside Washington D.C. They are not married, but have two children, and own a travel agency. An FBI agent who works in the Russian unit moves in across the street. The story is about politics, the work the Jennings do, but even more important, the people they are, the conflicts they have, and life. It's a realistic portrayal of things that can happen in this scenario. The teenaged daughter joins a fundamentalist church which is a problem for her atheist parents. She starts dating the son of the FBI agent. While Elizabeth and Phillip are cold-blooded killers, they are humans, and sometimes this gets in the way of their mission. 

The series had to end when it did, and the writers get credit for not degenerating into insane, unbelievable episodes. Instead, the story ran its course, the U.S. and Russia began to force a relationship, Elizabeth and Phillip were reaching a decision-point, and it was time for it to end. 

Don't let the violence in the beginning scare you away. It really is a necessary part of the the story and it ends up being a minor part as it unfolds. 

This series is full of surprises and things do not always happen the way you think they will. Eerything is not good/bad or right/wrong - lots of shades of gray. I think you will enjoy it.

 

More Books!

I know I should  post more often - I receive requests from people asking me for more book recomendations regularly.  This year I've been busy writing a book, which will be released this summer, along with a film called Diet Fiction. I just finished it a week or so ago. But I still have had time to read - my job involves reading, and recreational reading is the way that I relax. So here's an updated list of what I've been reading:

Dreamland by Sam Quinones. It's about the opiate epidemic, and how a major drug company (Purdue Pharma) paved the way for the Mexican heroin dealers to sell enormous amounts of heroin to people addicted to opiate drugs. The book reads like a novel -only it's true. Great, horrifying book that everyone should read.

The End of Food by Paul Roberts. The first part of this book is an historical account of the birth and growth of both agriculture and food processing.  The rest of the book deals with the consequences of our current food system, and some of the barriers to change. This book is frightening because Roberts does not make doomsday predictions, or demand solutions that are impossible to achieve (everyone must become vegan or the planet ends in 20 years, etc.). Instead, his scenarios are realistic and he offers some direction for realistic solutions. 

The Salt Fix by James DiNicolantonio. I checked the references and the author is right. salt-bashing has become great sport and restricting salt in the general population has most likely caused many more health problems than it has prevented. This book confirms what I already knew to be true. DO NOT REPEAT WHAT OTHERS TELL YOU - CHECK OUT EVERYTHING FOR YOURSELF.

The Forgotten Therapy by Anna Kuchment. This book is the fascinating history of bacteriophages, which may be the answer to our growing problem of antibiotic resistance.

Enough of the worl books, now for some great recreational reads...

A Brilliant Death by Robin Yoakum. Robin is a local author who was a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch and now writes novels. He is amazing - I think better than Grisham and others who are more well-known. This is the second of his books we read in my book club. Last Thursday, we all had dinner wtih Robin and had the opportunity to learn more about him and his writing career. Great evening, and I was so inspired I bought 3 more of his books. I'm starting The  Essay today, which he says is the best one he's written. Support this author - he's really good. 

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Love this author, have read all of her books now (I think). This is her latest, about a vet with PSTD who moves his wife and daughter to Alaska. Great story about love, dysfunction, and survival.

The Trophy by Steffan Jacobson. The story takes place in Scandinavia, and involves a wealthy family with a terrible secret. Disturbing but very good and an ending I would not have predicted.

After Anna by Lisa Scottoline. Love this author, and this book. It's an emotional thriller about a happily married woman who takes in her estranged adult daughter after years of separation. What follows is an emotional nightmare, and a roller coaster ride to find the truth.

Ill Will by Dan Cheon. I think I'm going to choose this book for my selection for book club this year. A great suspenseful book.  The book opens as Dustin Tillman, a psychologist, finds out that his adopted brother is being released from prison. The brother was given a life sentence of murdering Dustin's parents, aunt and uncle, but new evidence has resulted in his release. Dustin was the primary witness in his trial, but what if Dustin's recollections about what happened were not right? What if Dustin's ideas about other things, like his children, and a patient who claims several deaths of young men are related, are also not right too? A real thriller - could not put it down!

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. If you liked the Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, you will like this psychological thriller too.

Reversal by Michael Connelly. Another in the Lincoln Lawyer series. Pure brain candy. Great way to pass an afternoon. 

There are more but these are the highlights. And one day I will follow through on my promise to post more often!

 

Update on HHS Religious Exemptions Concerning Vaccines
Pamela A. Popper
Wellness Forum Health

A couple of weeks ago I reported that an Executive Order issued by President Donald Trump called for the establishment of a new rule by the Health and Human Services Department protecting the rights of healthcare workers to decline to participate in any healthcare process or procedure based to their conscience or religious beliefs. HHS published its proposed rules which now includes specific language concerning vaccines.

Not only are healthcare workers covered, but the requirement to receive vaccinations as a condition of education is also covered under the proposed new rule.

"Despite the longstanding nature of the Federal health care conscience and associated anti-discrimination laws that this rule proposes to enforce, discrimination and coercion continue to occur. Relevant situations where persons, entities, and health care entities with religious beliefs or moral convictions may be coerced or suffer discrimination include:
• Being asked to perform, participate in, pay for, counsel or refer for abortion, sterilization, euthanasia, or other health services;
• engaging in health professions training that pressures students, residents, fellows, etc., to perform, assist in the performance of, or counsel for abortion;
• considering a career in obstetrics, family medicine, or elder care, when one has a religious or moral objection to abortion, sterilization, or euthanasia;
• raising religious or moral objections to participating in certain services within the scope of one's employment; and,
• being required to administer or receive certain vaccinations derived from aborted fetal tissues as a condition of work or receipt of educational services."

The rule supports the rights of patients to seek out doctors who share their point of view concerning vaccines, with this statement:
"PATIENT BENEFITS FROM CONSCIENCE PROTECTIONS
In supporting a more diverse medical field, the proposed rule would create ancillary benefits for patients. The proposed rule would assist patients in seeking counselors and other health-care providers who share their deepest held convictions. Some patients will appreciate the ability to speak frankly about their own convictions concerning questions that touch upon life and death and treatment preferences with a doctor best suited to provide such treatment. A pro-life woman may seek a pro-life ob-gyn to advise her on decisions relating to her fertility and reproductive choices. A pro-vaccination parent may seek a pediatrician who shares his views. Open communication in the doctor-patient relationship will foster better over-all care for patients."

To be clear, this rule does not supersede state laws (California, West Virginia, and Mississippi do not allow religious exemptions), and it does not apply to educational institutions. But it does set up a process whereby people can complain about organizations that receive federal funding and that coerce vaccination or discriminate against those who object. And it specifically addresses the issue of coercion in educational settings. It states, “"Third, providers of pediatric vaccines funded by Federal medical assistance programs must comply with any State laws relating to any religious or other exemptions."

Please visit the website below, which includes information about how to comment. It is imperative that we overwhelm the system with supportive comments in order for this rule to take effect:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/01/26/2018-01226/protecting-statutory-conscience-rights-in-health-care-delegations-of-authority

Books I've Been Reading

Those of you who follow me know I read a wide variety of things ranging from "brain candy" to medical textbooks. I'll share a little of all of this with you and then hopefully update more often during 2018. It seems that there is never enough time to get to all of the things I want to do.

Let's start with brain candy - the books I've read just for fun:

Origin by Dan Brown is a quick page-turning read. I think it took me only 2 days to read this book. It's the usual Dan Brown story line - Robert Langford ends up in an adventure with a young beautiful woman that involves murder, suspense, and the search for religious truth.

Harlan Coben's Don't Let Go is also a quick and fun read. I have read everything this author has written and wait anxiously for each new book! By the way, I watched a series on Netflix created by Coben called The Five which was fabulous - great for keeping me on the treadmill in the winter time since it is too cold to run outside.

The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye by David Lagercratz is the latest in the series that started with the Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. After the author of the original series died, Lagercrantz took over and continued  to write book based on the same storyline. Great, fast reads and this one did not disappoint.

Nelson DeMille's latest is The Cuban Affair. Although I love this author, I have to say this book was a bit disappointing. I think his previous books were a lot better, the best being Gold Coast.

Michael Connelly's The Late Show was fabulous, as was John Grisham's The Whistler. If you're familiar with these authors, their books are always page-turners.

and Paula Hawkins book Into The Water (she wrote The Girl on the Train) was a great mystery written in her very unique style.

Now, for some of the more serious books I've read recently:

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward tells the story of living life poor in the south, under the worst of circumstances, which include drug addiction, biracial marriages in a society that is not accepting, children who are neglected and take care of each other while being raised by their grandparents.  I enjoyed reading this book in a horrified kind of way as the story unfolded, and I could feel the heat and humidity and the stress of the characters in the book. Great book.

The Weight of the World by David Joy is similar to Ward's book, but in a different setting (North Carolina), involving disadvantaged people who use drugs to escape their lives, experience unspeakable harm and violence, and face futures filled with failure and hopelessness. You'll feel like a very lucky person after reading these two books. 

John Glenn by John Glenn is an older book - the biography of an American hero from Ohio. I had no idea what being an astronaut involved - the training, the risks these men took. This is a great book to read after watching the film Hidden Figures. Glenn also was a principled politician, and there are not many of those around these days. As I read the portion of the book about his time in the US Senate, I thought to myself that he would be horrifed to see what is going on in American politics today. 

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston is the  true story of a group who found the remains of a highly sophisticated ancient civilization in the rain forest in Honduras. I bought this book for a book club member for our holiday exchange because he loves adventure books and decided to read it myself. I could not put it down!

The Smear by Sharyl Attkison is about the now common practice of using false information or information that is based on a sliver of truth but signficantly enhanced to destroy other people. As a rather high-profile person it scared me a lot, and I do not scare easily. Almost anyone can destroy anyone this way. I'm a fan of Attkisson and invited her to be the keynote speaker at our fall conference in November. Don't miss this one - Attkisson is an investigative reporter who prides herself on providig information others do not want you to see, including information about health and medicine.

If you're in the mood for something fascinating but more textbook-like, read Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia by Bertram Karon and Gary VandenBos.  You'll find out that everything you think you know about schizophrenic people is wrong, that there is little reason to drug them, and that most can be restored to health by understanding the cause.  I watched a two-hour conversation between my business partner Dr. Peter Breggin and Dr. Karon and ordered the book right away. It's expensive (textbooks always are) but as good a read as any novel I've read lately. 

 

 

With Gratitude
Pamela A. Popper
Wellness Forum Health

About a month ago, I listened to one of most inspirational talks I have ever heard in my life on the opening night of our conference. It was delivered by D. Anthony Evans. If you saw the documentary Food Choices, you probably remember him – his story is hard to forget.

D. Anthony was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis at the age of six, a genetic disease that causes tumors to grow on nerve tissue all over the body, including in the brain, and on the spinal cord and nerves. Most of the time the tumors are benign, but they can be painful and cause complications like loss of hearing, cardiovascular disease, and they sometimes can become aggressively cancerous. Like other NF patients, tumors grew all over D. Anthony’s body, and he has endured hundreds of surgeries to have them removed.

A horrific disease was not D.’s only problem. His mother died when he was a teenager, and his very promising athletic career ended when he was unable to recover from a surgery to remove a tumor on his knee in time for basketball season.

As an adult, he became a power lifter and ate a typical power lifter diet – whey protein 3 or 4 times per day, 40 pounds of chicken per month, and lots of protein – most of it animal protein. His genetic disease, combined with his animal foods-based diet resulted in the development of malignant cancer and D. was given 6 months to live. He had nine surgeries any of which could have resulted in paralysis, and had 325 tumors removed, one of which weighed over two pounds.

Through a mutual friend he met Buddhist monk and vegan chef Dave Choi, who taught him how to save his life with an optimal diet and a different outlook on life. It worked; it’s been over 5 years since D. was given 6 months to live.

Because of his genetic disease, D. has a very high risk of recurrence of aggressive cancer. In order to stay alive, he must remain extremely diligent in maintaining his health. He works out 3-4 hours per day, and is extremely disciplined about his diet. He eats and trains to live; in fact every day during his visit to Columbus he trained for several hours.

I interviewed D. for the Food Choices book, which will be released next year, and I enjoyed our conversation. I invited him to speak because his story was so compelling. I expected him to be good. But “good” does not begin to describe the experience we all had on Friday night when he opened the conference and again on Sunday morning when he closed it. I’m not sure there are words that can convey how powerful the message was that we heard from D. Anthony Evans, but I’ll try my best to give you some highlights here.

D. Anthony Evans is a happy guy. He exudes happiness. He smiles – not just a smile but that BIG grin that tells you this guy loves being alive and he is having a great time. What makes this so amazing is that this energetic, can’t wait to jump on the stage and get it started guy is in constant, unrelenting pain from his disease. The reason is that the tumors grow on nerves, and it feels like bees are stinging all over the body – all the time. In addition to several hours of exercise per day, he’s in constant motion, and he does all of this in spite of the pain. Most people would take drugs and sit down to rest but not D. He takes no drugs and powers through, mentioning the pain almost as a side note – it does not define his life. Not one ounce of self-pity is expressed in the story he tells about his life, his challenges, and how he has overcome them.

What is perhaps most remarkable about D. is that he has a frightening disease, he is in constant pain, and living takes up a lot of his waking hours. Yet his reason for getting up in the morning is to help others. In addition to delivering talks all over the world, he spends time with children who have neurofibromatosis. He attends conferences sponsored by government agencies and organizations that are searching for better options for helping people like him. And he is laser-focused on showing others the power of a plant-based diet and fitness. There’s no sense that this guy thinks he’s a victim – he’s powerful and determined and uses his story to motivate people to join him in practicing optimal habits. In D.’s world there are no excuses. There are only opportunities which you seize and capitalize on or not. The choice is yours. And he makes you feel like you can do it, you want to do it, and you will do it.

Just as important, D.’s gratitude is front and center. The guy is even grateful for cancer – he says that the prospect of dying of cancer led him to the secret of how to live his life. I’m awed by a guy who can be grateful for the most frightening thing that anyone can ever face.

It is therefore not surprising that a room full of people jumped to their feet for a standing ovation both on Friday night and Sunday morning and there was not a dry eye in the room. What followed for me (and I suspect for the others who heard him) was some much needed introspection about myself and my own life.

I am a person who was born with every advantage a person can have. I was blessed with educated parents and doting grandparents who taught me that I could do and have anything I wanted as long as I was willing to work. I had the opportunity to explore dance and music and culture and to travel. I had no real health challenges. Like everyone, as an adult I’ve had my share of disappointments and situations that I’d like to not encounter again. But compared to D., and in fact compared to most people, I’ve had an easy life.

And yet…I abused my body with bad food and too much alcohol and partying, and invested no effort in my health as a young adult. I smoked four packs of cigarettes per day for 14 years. I allowed myself to gain weight and become a sloth. And as I look back, I spent a lot of time complaining about…nothing. Things like my plane being late, financial stress, silly disputes with family members, heavy traffic, and other nonsense – these are the things that I’m embarrassed to say I’ve complained about over the years. I’ve been a lot better in recent years but after this conference, I can say with assurance – no more. I’ve got no real reason to complain about anything.

Here’s another thing. While having so many blessings and opportunities, and what would be considered by almost anyone a great life – I failed most of the time to express gratitude and sometimes to even notice how wonderful things are. No more of this either. Since November 12, I’ve found myself fascinated with the sunrise and sunset, I take more time to appreciate and play with my cat. I realize that my back yard literally looks like a metro park and it’s mine to hang out in all the time. And most of all, I am so grateful to be blessed with a healthy body and a sound mind. I’m really living in my body right now, appreciating how strong it is, and enjoying health-promoting food and exercise in ways I never have before.

And I have a renewed sense of purpose. While I’ve always been a driven person, I’ve had a habit of just converting to “automatic pilot mode” to get work done, check things off the list, and move on to the next task. Activity will move things forward, but purpose results in great big leaps. I now think every day about my/our BIG HUGE GOALS and the bigger picture of what achieving them will mean. I have more energy, more clarity, and I’m more unrelenting than I have ever been. (A bit scary, I know!)

Thank you D. Anthony Evans, for coming to Columbus and touching all of us in such a profound way. I am forever changed, and I will never take anything, including my health, for granted again. I will not allow myself to become complacent, or to fail to appreciate how fabulous life on this planet really is, how blessed we all are to be connected to one another, and how much we have to look forward to every morning when we are lucky enough to have been given another day.