For the first time in history, prescription medications have now surpassed illicit drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, as the leading cause of drug-associated deaths.  Deaths associated with prescription drugs have tripled in the last 10 years.   Prescription drugs are not inherently dangerous if taken as prescribed under the direction of a physician.  The problem is that patients take the drugs in quantities not prescribed, or without a proper indication.  These medications, when mixed with alcohol, are particularly dangerous, and can be deadly for a variety of reasons.

Narcotics – Morphine, MS Contin, Dilaudid, Fentanyl, Oxycontin, Oxycodone, Percocet, Codeine, Methadone. Demerol:  These drugs are pain-killers with various analgesic intensities.  They are all, independently, excellent painkillers, and are sometimes used in combination.  At increased doses, taking into account that different people have different tolerances, these medications can be deadly.  They can cause respiratory depression (meaning you can stop breathing) and they can have significant effects on cardiac conduction (meaning you can have abnormal heart rhythms).  Both these side effects are considered toxicities, and can lead to death in otherwise healthy individuals.

Benzodiazepines – Ativan, Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Librium:  This class of drug is notorious for causing respiratory depression at high doses.  The other dangerous effect with benzodiazepines is that stopping them suddenly, if previously on a high dose, can lead to seizures.

Each drug has its own individual side effect and, when combined with others, the cumulative effects can potentiate or accelerate those side effects.  Mixing alcohol with these meds is a cocktail for death, especially in the setting of chronic liver disease.

So, the bottom line is, IF you have to take any of these meds, you should only be taking them short term, as prescribed by your physician;  and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, scrupulously avoid alcohol while taking them.

Detecting dementia may not always be easy, but there are signs and symptoms that one can look for in order to identify if early dementia is indeed occurring. Here are ten signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease that are good to keep in mind, especially with older family members, friends and colleagues.

1. Do memory changes disrupt daily life? Some forgotten information is always normal for most people, but if the person needs information repeated over and over again—and still forgets—this may be a sign.

2. Are planning or solving problems more and more difficult? Balancing the checkbook or following a simple recipe are two examples.

3. Have very familiar tasks become difficult to complete, like playing a favorite game or finding the way to a store that one has frequented for many years?

4. Has losing track of time, the seasons, or the day or date become more common?

5. Have spatial relationships and images become difficult? Is reading, judging distance, or judging color or contrast increasingly challenging?

6. Are there new problems with speaking, writing, understanding language or holding a conversation?

7. Is the person frequently misplacing things, losing things, or putting things in strange places? Are they unable to retrace their steps and find things that they have put down?

8. Is there evidence of increasingly poor judgment, like giving away large sums of money or making poor decisions that are very unlike this person’s usual way of being?

9. Is the individual withdrawing socially, avoiding social interaction, or otherwise not engaging with others?

10. Are there mood changes that seem more pronounced, like irritability, depression, anger, suspicion or paranoia?

While these are only some of the signs of early dementia or Alzheimer’s, they are considered hallmark symptoms that are relatively easy to track and identify in the home environment.

If a loved one is exhibiting these sorts of signs and symptoms, begin keeping a journal of the observed symptoms right away, and make an appointment with a medical provider for further evaluation and screening. There is no cure for dementia, but early detection is important, and some treatments can slow disease progression and enhance quality of life during the slow decline that is so common in dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Arthur Zang, a 24 year-old Cameroonian engineer, has invented the Cardiopad, a touch screen medical tablet that enables heart examinations such as the electrocardiogram (ECG) to be performed at remote, rural locations while the results of the test are transferred wirelessly to specialists who can interpret them. The device spares African patients living in remote areas the trouble of having to travel to urban centers to seek medical examinations.

According to Zang, the CardioPad is “the first fully touch screen medical tablet made in Cameroon and in Africa.” He believes it is an invention that could save numerous human lives, and says the reliability of the pad device is as high as 97.5%. Zang says he invented the device in order to facilitate the treatment of patients with heart disease across Cameroon and the rest of Africa. So far, several medical tests have been carried out with the Cardiopad which have been validated by the Cameroonian scientific community.

According to Radio Netherlands, which broke the story of the Cardiopad earlier this week,

“the tablet is used as a classical electrocardiograph device: electrodes are placed on the patient and connected to a module that, in turn, connects to the tablet. When a medical examination is performed on a patient in a remote village, for example, the results are transmitted from the nurse’s tablet to that of the doctor who then interprets them.”

According to Zang, “software built into the device allows the doctor to give computer assisted diagnosis.”

Cameroon, a Central African country with a population of some 20 million people, lays claim to only 30 heart surgeons. To make matters worse, these heart surgeons are mainly concentrated in Douala or Yaoundé, the country’s two most important economic hubs. This severe deficit of medical personnel means that patients with heart ailments usually have to travel long distances to undergo heart examinations and consult with doctors. Even at that, it is still not easy. On some occasions, patients must make appointments months in advance, and some even die in the process of waiting for their appointment.

Zang believes his invention will cut down the cost of heart examinations. The Cardiopad is already generating a lot of interest in African tech and medical circles. The inventor is currently looking for venture capital to commercially produce the device.

• Pucker Up:  Lips, like our hands and body, get chapped in cold winter weather. Be sure to keep some lip balm in your pocket, purse, desk, car, etc., and use throughout the day. I like Vaseline, Chapstick, Aveeno or Burts Beeswax, as all of these balms are more moisturizing than licking your lips (licking your lips only dehydrates them more!). Look for lipstick and lip balms that have SPF built in as your lips can get sunburned.

• Drink red wine instead of white wine or champagne: If you’re celebrating with dinner and drinks tonight, have a glass of red wine as it contains antioxidants, which are good for overall skin health.  Be sure to stay hydrated and drink water before you going to bed.

• Cupid’s Chocolate of Choice: Eat dark chocolate instead of milk or white chocolate: Again, dark chocolate has antioxidants.

• Sprinkle some ‘red’ on your meals: Berries (especially blueberries) are loaded with antioxidant compounds that are very effective in neutralizing damaging free radicals (that lead to skin cell damage and premature skin aging) generated in the skin by excessive UV exposure or from other sources.

• Natural glow: Brush on a little blush with some shimmer. I like Colorscience and Nars liquid bronzer as both have illuminating properties. One simple swipe on your cheekbones and you’ll have a sparkling complexion.  

The Obama Administration is trying to convince a judge that the federal government has the right to force cigarette makers to place disturbing images on the top half of cigarette packs, including pictures of a cancer-ridden mouth and a pair of diseased lungs next to a pair of healthy lungs. A bipartisan congressional agreement had informed the FDA that these labels were to be implemented, but the tobacco industry sued the federal government prior to the rules going into effect, rules that are already implemented in neighboring Canada.

From recent reports, it appears that the judge is not necessarily favoring the government’s arguments and may side with the tobacco industry against the enforced use of these warning labels. The government contends that this is necessary for the protection of the health of many Americans who would otherwise continue—or begin—a very decidedly unhealthy habit.

What do you think?

Talk show host and newlywed, Sherri Shepherd, got emotional during a heated conversation on “The View.”  The topic was abortion and a new Texas law that requires women to get sonograms before aborting their children.  The law requires doctors to play fetal heartbeats and describe features of the fetus.

Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Barbara Walters didn’t support the law, with Behar calling it “totalitarian.”  Conservative Elizabeth Hasselbeck didn’t agree.

Sherri Shepherd weighed in on her disagreement as well.  She felt that it is hypocritical for those who oppose food stamps and welfare to be against the right to have an abortion.

“We stop at the picket signs and we don’t help you past that!” she said. “I’m speaking as a girl who had a lot of abortions and I swear to God, if they had shown me a picture of the fetus… I would have put my child in a lot of situations that wouldn’t have been good because I didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with having a child.”

Unfortunately, some African American young women use abortion, mistakenly so, as a means for birth control.  Blackdoctor.org has compiled some tips in order to begin the conversation about a young woman’s options when it comes to pregnancy.  Click HERE

Hold the mystery meat: Military bases will soon be serving more fruits, vegetables and low-fat dishes under the first program in 20 years to improve nutrition standards across the armed services.

First lady Michelle Obama and Pentagon officials planned to announce the effort Thursday during a visit to Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, where the military has been experimenting with the idea through a pilot program designed to improve the quality and variety of foods served on base.

It’s not just about giving members of the armed services a more svelte profile.

“The Department of Defense considers obesity not only a national problem, but a national security issue,” said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

“About a quarter of entry-level candidates are too overweight to actually either enter the military or sustain themselves through the first enlistment.”

The Pentagon spends an estimated $4.5 billion a year on food services, and $1.1 billion a year on medical care related to excess weight and obesity.

Under the Military Health System’s new obesity and nutrition awareness campaign, more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lower-fat entrées will be coming to the 1,100 service member dining halls in coming months. Healthier choices will be turning up in base schools, vending machines and snack bars, too.

Mrs. Obama, who has been leading a campaign against childhood obesity, said the military effort would send a message to the whole nation.

“When our service members make healthy eating a priority in their lives, the rest of us are more likely to make it a priority in our lives,” she said in a written statement. “Simply put, this is America’s entire military once again stepping forward to lead by example.”

“We are intent on focusing on preventable illnesses to help our people stay out of our clinics and hospitals by improving their physical condition,” Woodson said in a statement. He said surveys in the mid-1990s found that about 1 out of 50 members of the armed services had weight problems. By about 2005, the figure was 1 in 20 service members.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Watching these ladies live it up in the lap of luxury in Atlanta, Miami and wherever their many spin-offs have launched, can only mean one thing; the drama continues.

The drama that I speak of is none other than, The “Real” Housewives or basketball wives or whatever kind of wife-but-no-longer-married.

When I hear about episodes of women–GROWN women– that do who-knows-what to what’s-her-name, I can’t help but to think, WHY?

Why have the word “Real” in the title of a show that is supposed to depict how well-off women, who mostly aren’t married, live.

Aren’t we tired of this yet?

I don’t even watch the show and I know I’m tired of flipping past channels that show clips of these women (did I say they were GROWN women) making a fool of themselves. While the show is still very popular, it makes me wonder, do we really only want to see these “beautiful train wreck” shows that are celebrated the more fights and foul language that are shown?

Do we want more??  Or better yet, will the REAL ‘real’ housewives stand up to tell their story of what REALLY goes down.

While we could talk about all manner of issues regarding weight loss and obesity, this post is concerned specifically with portion sizes.

Did you know that, in 1970, the average bagel weighed 3 ounces and delivered 230 calories? And would you believe that the average bagel in 2012 weighs 6 ounces and delivers 550 calories?

And in the 1970s, a portion of french fries contained an average of 30 fries and 450 calories, compared to 2012 when the average serving of fries contains about 50 fries and 790 calories!

Portion sizes are definitely out of control, and we can assess that simply by looking at the sizes of sodas and other drinks that are now so widely available. Movie theaters, convenience stores, and many restaurants (especially fast food restaurants) now serve enormous sodas to consumers who accept those ballooned sizes to consume more.

In the 1950s, a 12-ounce can of soda was considered “king size”, and now 32-ounce sodas are very common. And don’t think that these sodas of today have less sugar than they did in the 50s. They have more sugar, in fact, and a lot of that sugar now comes in the form of high fructose corn syrup, a synthesized form of sugar that is blamed by many for fueling America’s current epidemic of obesity.

With so many over-sized choices at our disposal, it’s up to us to make the right choices. When you’re asked to “supersize“, “upsize“, or otherwise enlarge your order, say no. And when you’re at home, use smaller plates, smaller glasses, and smaller serving spoons to serve up your homemade meals (research supports this tactic). There are many steps you can take to control serving sizes and portions, and making the right choice—the smaller choice—is the first logical one to make.