Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy Holiday

During this holiday season it seems appropriate that we have a miracle in Colorado, a reminder that modern medicine doesn't have all of the answers. I'm sure you're familiar with the story by now of Tracy Hermanstorfer dying during labor on Christmas Eve. Her doctor says there was no blood pressure, no breathing, she was in full cardiac arrest. The doctors delivered the baby by Cesarean section but it was limp with a very slow heartbeat. Their attempts to revive her failed.

But Tracy wasn't done in this life. The new mother began breathing again on her own and baby Coltyn also revived. Today they're both healthy with no ill effects from the experience.

The doctors cannot explain the cardiac arrest or the recovery. Dr. Stephanie Martin, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs said "We did a thorough evaluation and can't find anything that explains why this happened."

Let's simply appreciate and enjoy this miracle.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Positive Attitude is Best Medicine

Optimism is good for you according to a study of 100,000 women published in Circulation magazine. They have a 16% lower risk of heart attacks. This research confirms similar findings in a 2004 Danish study.

Pessimists had a 19% higher risk for early death according to a 2000 Mayo Clinic study.

Optimists have better immune system functioning, quicker recovery from heart surgery and greater ability to handle life-threatening illnesses like cancer. The good news is everyone can learn to be more optimistic, even pessimists. Wouldn't you prefer to wake up on the right side of the bed every morning?

Optimism is its own reward.

Monday, December 7, 2009

NCCAM 10th Anniversary Symposium

Today, Dec. 8th, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine will hold its 10th anniversary symposium at Washington, D.C. Those unable to attend can catch the webcast of the activities at videocast.nih.gov

Did you know that over 11% of all out-of-pocket expenditures for health care were for complementary and alternative medicine? The field continues to grow in popularity today as more information becomes available.