Talking About Health; Why Health Communication Matters

Personal control… the ups and downs as illustrated by Dr. Oz advice

April 4, 2012

In the research I discussed in my last post, I noted that there are different styles, so to speak, for predicting how we might want to communicate about our health. The personal control folks believe that their personal behaviors determine how genes relate to health. The participants who fit this style did not want to much communicate about their health. In fact, they were least likely to want to talk about their conditions. Perhaps they believe they have everything under ‘their control’. But what if not talking means that they miss a chance to prevent a poor health outcome?

Here is an example. On Dr. Oz today, he was giving advice about reducing fat in various parts of the body. He advised in one case to use red clover tea. He did not add that it should NOT be used if you are taking Coumadin/Warfarin–a blood-thinning medication. It interacts with the medication and can cause excessive bleeding. Someone in the facebook exchange about the advice noted this important fact.

Others noted that no one should take anything suggested by Dr. Oz without first consulting a physician. And so, the idea of personal control does not mean we should NOT talk about our health. In fact, in trying to have control over our health, we need to be sure that the advice we think makes sense for us fits based on our pesonal health history and current medications and therapies.

Weighing in on…’pink slime’

March 23, 2012

I am sure that you’ve all heard about it. But just to be sure we are on the same page, let me share a brief story about ‘pink slime’ below so you know what I am talking about. I guess one of my favorite comments I’ve heard during this discussion came from a vegetarian who stated, “If I knew where my meat was coming from, I might eat it.” For me, it is the use of the word “lean” that gets me. Count the number of times it appears in the news story here. It really makes me wonder how often I have purchased really ‘lean’ ground beef in the past and got it at a good price–but really wasn’t getting what I thought I was buying.. Hmm. And when did pink slime first get added to our meat supply? Anyone know?

A stark reminder to check your prescriptions…closely

March 8, 2012

I heard the story about a pharmacy mix-up the other day that reminded me how important it is to inspect my medications closely before taking them. As the clip shows, a medication was given that looked the same in color and size, but very much was not the same. A cancer drug instead of fluoride tablets.

I found an error once. The pill was a different color than my prescription but the same size. So I looked closer and it wasn’t my medication. You can check your prescription by going to http://www.drugs.com/imprints.php and enter the number on your pill to be sure that it is what was prescribed according to the label.

What we can learn from bald eagles about our health…

March 3, 2012

Last night was the annual dinner of the Juniata Clean Water Partnership group [www.jcwp.org]. The evening’s speaker is a biologist working in the field. He spoke about the comeback of the bald eagles to be removed from the endangered species list. It was fascinating. It sent me on a hunt for children’s books about this topic. I found some but if any of you can recommend such books, please share here. But I digress.

When a species becomes endangered, efforts to save them depend on identifying the cause. Often, it relates to a loss of habitat. For the bald eagle, it turned out to relate to the use of DDT–an effective pesticide that, as is usually the case when we find something to solve one problem, has costs as well as benefits. Here is a summary of science and policy relating to DDT: http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/ddt-ext.html

DDT use was banned from use in the U.S. the same year that I graduated from high school, 1972. Note the caveat relating to use. If we faced a public health emergency, such as an outbreak of malaria, it might be used. Tipping the scales toward benefit over cost.

Those costs? For use as humans–nerve damage and other significant health harms summarized in the link above. For the bald eagle–The shells of the bald eagle’s unborn became so thin that just the act of the parent bird sitting on them caused the shell to crack. Hence, the new generation of eagles was eliminated.

Once the cause was identified, the efforts to bring the bald eagle back and restore their population involved humans climbing large trees to remove young eagles from a nest [nests that average six feet wide and 8-10 feet deep]. If there was only one young eagle in a nest, the bird was left in place. If there were 2 or more, one was carefully removed and taken to another location where bald eagles used to exist. With care and effort to assure that they had habitat to survive, the transplanted birds thrived. In 2007, the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list. A success.

Let’s hope we aren’t creating conditions in some parts of our planet that will lead to us being the endangered species…

‘AfterShock’–Jessie Gruman’s book….giveaway

February 27, 2012

I’ve enjoyed reading Jessie Gruman’s book. Not because the topic is one I enjoyed. It is about ‘what to do when the doctor gives you — or someone you love — a devastating diagnosis’. I like this book because it uses published research to reach concrete suggestions. Even the appendices are loaded with specific ideas about things to do. Things like ‘how do I start my doctor search?’ and ‘choosing a doctor’. The latter has a list of questions, including ‘does the doctor have the right expertise?’ and ‘does the doctor particpate in your insurance plan?’ and ‘at what hospital does the doctor have privileges?’

For anyone who hasn’t read the book and might like to, I am once again attempting to offer some of my library to others. Just let me know in the comment section that you are interested. I will randomly pick someone and follow up to get your information to mail it to you…

Here is what the reviews on Amazon.com have to say about the book:

http://www.amazon.com/AfterShock-You-Love-Devastating-Diagnosis/product-reviews/B001H31NIC/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Celebrate the day…with a little love of the environment…

February 14, 2012

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

Health communication about noise pollution and health

February 11, 2012

I talked about visiting a Marcellus Shale drilling site last spring. I didn’t say much about the noise. But it was …loud. I guess the noise starts well before the drilling begins. And we know quite a bit about the effects of noise on human health. The Environmental Protection Agency summarizes it at this link: http://www.epa.gov/air/noise.html …things like increased blood pressure, hearing loss, sleep loss, and then loss of productivity…

http://youtu.be/g_95vu-J6Vs

Why?

February 10, 2012

Why do we talk in “either” “or” terms when we know better?

It is not “either” we drill for Marcellus shale “or” we will remain energy dependent.

It is not “either” we quit drilling for Marcellus shale “or” we will destroy the environment.

As long as we keep talking and thinking that way, here is the story…

When the rubber meets the road and a health message includes numbers

February 8, 2012

I am reading some research about how math anxiety leads us to avoid doing things that might have math or numbers included. I read one study where it all came rushing back to me. I was a freshman at the University of Michigan and taking the first of three classes in calculus. I didn’t quite understand some of the homework, so I visited the graduate teaching assistant’s office and was told, “If you don’t understand this, you better get out while you can ‘cuz it only gets harder.” I wasn’t feeling anxious about math until that meeting. In fact, I have always loved math and have a high aptitude for math. But worry and anxiety washed over me. There was no one to ask about this that I knew. It was my second week at a huge university with 10s of thousands of students. The TA must know what he was talking about. I dropped the class. Only to pick it up again and complete the three calculus courses with success later.

Still, I read the research conducted by Jackson and colleagues and that experience came flooding back, as the researchers found that at the college level, especially freshman year, “Students were told to leave class if they did not understand the material.”

Perhaps such experiences and our own love for math and science leads us to spend time with our granddaughter and grandson doing math. Making it a game more often than not, with me playing with my grandson–who will be 4 years old in the next week–counting and arranging and rearranging.

The magazine…Baby Talk… and the topic–childbirth classes

February 4, 2012

April 1982, my friend had an article about the birth of her twins in baby talk: THE FIRST BABY MAGAZINE where she described her experience and mentions me, her “second childbirth coach, a close friend”… Her other coach was her husband. As her labor progressed, my friend tells the story about how the nurse put an I.V. in her arm ‘just in case’ and how her two coaches looked away, leading the nurse to remark, “If you can’t watch this, how do you expect to watch these babies get delivered?” But we did. And the babies were beautiful.

I persist in believing that such classes are beneficial. Here is someone who says just what I would say about how such classes help with the process http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/preparing-for-labor/childbirth-classes/

But here, too, is one of those videos… http://www.parents.com/videos/m/32086618/birthing-101.htm

And another…

One more with Jimmy Kimmel’s spin…