werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (06/30/85)
First I would like to thank the Net itself for furthering my Medical education. (Not by neccessarily teaching me anything directly but by allowing me to more carefully read the various journals I receive by constantly reminding me as I read through the titles and abstracts - "Yeah, I better read that article - somebody was asking about it on the Net.) For this I will probably be eternally grateful, even though none of my med school classmates know waht I'm talking about when I say 'the Net.' I would also like to thank those people who mailed me letters of thanks and support, and also to those people, who while attacking my writing publicly, turned out actually to be quite civil in private communications. NOW FOR THE REQUEST: Since I only keep an eye out for things that 1) I personally consider interesting, or 2) have already been mentioned in net.med, it has occurred to me that I might be missing, shall I say, the sense of the meeting in some circumstances. So, from the people who are silent, if there is anything that you are concerned or curious about, or would want me to look up or keep an eye out for, let me know. I'll try to do my best. Thanks in advance. -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "The world is just a straight man for you sometimes"
nose@nbires.UUCP (Steve Dunn) (07/02/85)
> So, from the people who are silent, if there is anything that you > are concerned or curious about, or would want me to look up or keep an eye > out for, let me know. I'll try to do my best. > > Thanks in advance. > > -- > Craig Werner I have some questions concerning high blood pressure. I am a 29 year old man who has had moderate hypertension since age 26 (aprox 160/90). I am taking thiazide (sp?) diuretic and my pressure is controlled to 130/70. I am in excellent physical condition (I run and climb mountains regularly), I do not smoke and never have, and I am not overweight. My questions are as follows 1. Is taking this diuretic likely to have long term bad effects? 2. I have heard it rumored that there has been a study showing INCREASED heart disease amoung hypertensives treated with diuretics as compared with untreated hypertensives. Is this only a rumor or is it true? 3. Are there any nutritional treatments with proven value? I am of course aware of sodium restriction and eat relatively little salt (Which as far as I can tell doesn't help in the slightest). Is there any evidence that restricting sugar or fats would have an effect? 4. It seems to me unusual that someone my age in my physical condition should have hypertension. Is it and are there any unusual causes that I should check? 5. I just don't like taking drugs and if anyone has any advice for other methods of lowering blood pressure I'd be quite interested. I did try bio-feedback. I found that skin warming had no effect even though I was quite good at it. I found that alpha-wave bio-feedback did have a significant effect but only when I was actually doing it. -Steve Dunn (Insert silly statement here)
abc@brl-sem.ARPA (Brint Cooper ) (07/08/85)
Thank you for your kind offer. As I indicated in private mail, I have had myasthenia gravis for over six years. Last year, I had the thymectomy. I've had nearly-total exchanges of plasma via plasmapheresis on six occasions--three during a March hospitalization and three during November. I take prednisone (60 and 40 mg on alternate days) for immune suppression and mestinon for symptomatic control. I am a 46 year-old male. The disease, at present, restricts my already-sedintary lifestyle by weakening my breathing and talking. What I would like to know: 1. The probabilities of improvement and/or worsening of the disease. 2. Effects of myasthenia on my life expectancy. 3. Successes with newer forms of therapy such as monoclonal antibodies to the myasthenia antibodies and the use of Cyclosporin in place of prednisone. Risks associated with same. 4. Statistical risks associated with use of Immuran as an immunosuppressant. Please, Craig, treat this only with the priority it deserves. Many more folks are threatened with cancer and diabetes. Only about 250,000 of us have MG. But if you run across anything in your reading, a citation would be appreciated. Best wishes, Brint
hsf@hlexa.UUCP (Henry Friedman) (07/08/85)
> > > So, from the people who are silent, if there is anything that you > > are concerned or curious about, or would want me to look up or keep an eye > > out for, let me know. I'll try to do my best. > > ..... > > Craig Werner (I didn't see Craig's original request; so I'm hanging this off Steve Dunn's reply.) Am interested in seeing CONTINUING UPDATES on the latest research and approved drugs/therapies in the following areas: 1) Chemotherapy (especially colon/rectal) and other cancer research findings (especially CAUSAL mechanisms). I'm not particularly interested in the anti-chemotherapy issue; just want the latest research updates. 2) Alzheimer's (understand that Merck has a crash program) 3) new antihypertensives and comparisons of pros and cons of various drug therapies. Includes long-term tolerance effect. --Henry Friedman
plw@drutx.UUCP (KerrPL) (07/13/85)
I have seen recently on television a report on high blood pressure. They claim that a pet drops it to normal or below norm for the age of that person. The program had people with high blool pressure being taken during a- a normal setting and talking (their normal reading) b- stressful thinking (went up) c- back to normal talk (back to their norm) d- talking about their pets (lowered it) e- bring in their pets (pressure dropped to average for that age group) BTW, most stutterers will talk fluently to their pets. Patti