Are Metal Hip Replacements Endangering People’s Health?
Have a family member with an artificial hip?
Then you need to read this article from the New York Times, detailing some serious concerns patients are facing.
Metal-on-metal hip replacements are failing at an alarming rate and surgeons who are replacing these failed hip prostheses are finding that the flaking metal is biologically active, causing muscle and tissue damage in the surrounding area (leading to muscles that can no longer contract and other very serious complications).
Many patients are experiencing pain, but some are not; read more here: A Scramble for Solutions as a Hip Device Fails.
UPDATE: A very quick Google search also shows that DePuy (a division of Johnson and Johnson) recalled its ASR XL Acetabular metal-on-metal hip replacement device on August 24, 2010.
Page quote: “DePuy identified reasons for the failure of the hip replacement system as component loosening, component malalignment, infection, fracture of the bone, dislocation, metal sensitivity and pain. Additional complications from the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular hip replacement system may include increased metal ion levels in the blood, bone staining, necrosis, swelling, nerve damage, tissue damage and/or muscle damage.”
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Originally published elsewhere 10/2/11
Generation Y Becomes Generation Why Bother?
Here’s a TERRIFIC opinion piece from March 2012, published in the New York Times, exploring the counter-intuitive Demographic Twist of our time: kids aren’t moving out, moving on, and getting on with life. And it’s NOT just about the economy.
For example, this piece cites the fact that in 1980, 80% of teens proudly had their Drivers Licenses in hand. In 2008, that number is a paltry 65%.
I blogged a little about this phenomena earlier (“Failure to Fledge“) –check out Todd and Victoria Buchholtz’s fascinating piece in the NY Times right here.
Great Article All Parents Should Read
Is it possible? Can you really love your kids TOO much?
Here is a terrific article from The Huffington Post that gives some fabulous free advice to “cockpit parents.” What’s a “cockpit parent”? A step above the helicopter hovering so prevalent in the Baby Boomer generation, these parents are unintentionally controlling their child’s life to such a point that the child really HAS no life of their own.
I see this all the time, even in my own extended family (and I’m sure a lot of you do, too).
I’ll ask a college kid “What’s your major?” and the mother or father will jump in: “He’s an English major.”
I’ll ask the kid “What do you want to do when you graduate?” and before the college student can answer, I get a 10 minute dissertation from the parents about all the “child’s” plans.
Ask the child about their hobbies, and be prepared for a 30 minute diatribe from Mom or Dad.
Sheesh! Give the poor kids a break–so many of them today are totally and completely smothered and handicapped by their parents. There are even statistics cited in this piece from American Express market research to demonstrate it.
I call it “Failure to Fledge” syndrome, and it’s all around you.
Kids are living with their parents even AFTER obtaining an all-expenses-paid college education (and sometimes even multiple advanced degrees) and yet still find themselves dependent on their parents’ bank accounts for even the most basic needs. I even know a couple who regularly fund their married, unemployed, adult daughter’s “Savings Account” (yes, she’s 27 and still lives at home for free, too). Some of these live-at-home-with-mom-and-dad’s are even married with children of their own.
Long term, the price these childlike adults actually pay in personal self-respect is terribly sad.
It’s a type of personal paralysis that’s very painful to watch and leaves an adult child wracked with self-doubt (though often successfully camouflaged with an appearance of utmost confidence).
They have all the credentials, but no career. No motivation. No aspirations. No desire. No ambition. No self-direction.
Here are a few warning signs to look for in your own parenting (if your child is over 18, of course).
Have you ever:
Filled out an application for your child?
Written their resume?
Called in favors from professional friends, requesting internships, etc.?
Listed yourself as a reference on your child’s resume? [Please, tell me you didn’t!]
Provided groceries, laundry services, etc. free of charge?
“Straightened out” a cell phone or other bill or interceded in a phone call to customer service?
If you think there’s the slightest possibility you might be handicapping your children while trying to help them (in other words, are you out of the denial phase yet?), please do yourself a favor and read this insightful article by Christine Hassler at the Huffington Post: “Cockpit Parents: How They’re Flying 20-Somethings Into the Ground.”
I strongly urge you to take some time to read through some of the readers’ comments at the end of the article so you can see how some of these “kids” (and their competitors in the real-world marketplace) feel about the situation.
Here’s a bit of sage advice from the conclusion of the piece:
“Get your own life. This is a tough one for many parents who pride themselves on being friends with their children. Please don’t be their friend on Facebook and comment on all their photos. Give them some space, and find your own as well. Invest in yourself, spend time with friends and start doing the things you put off because you were investing so much time into making your child what you think he or she could be. Let them be who they are, and discover who you are.”
Words of Wisdom, if you’re ready to receive them yet.
Do you love your children enough to let them go?
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P.S. If you’re one of the kids on the receiving end of this parenting “style,” Christine Hassler has written a five-star rated book, 20 Something Manifesto: Quarter-Lifers Speak Out About Who They Are, What They Want, and How to Get It, available at Amazon.
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Update from ABC News: 60% Parents Providing Financial Support to Their Adult Children
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(this article was originally published elsewhere, 3/18/2011)
Blogger Addresses Disease Called Perfection
A friend forwarded me a link to a stunningly honest blog post at Dan and Noah’s Single Dad Laughing blog. The post is about the disease called Perfectionism, and it’s a wonderful piece of brave and thoughtful writing. The kind of brutally honest piece you’ll never read in a commercial magazine.
You owe it to yourself. Then give yourself permission to be less than perfect today. Have a great week!
Surprise! Calorie Restriction Study Results Shock Researchers: IT DOESN’T MATTER
Researchers, some of whom were restricting calories in their own diets to reap the expected results of this study, were SHOCKED to find that severe calorie restriction doesn’t actually lengthen life span as anticipated.
To quote Texas Governor Rick Perry: “Oops.”
The study, begun in 1987, involved rhesus monkeys.
You can read more here at the NY Times while I celebrate with another dunk of my biscotti. Cheers!
(originally published elsewhere, 9/1/2012)
Is Ikaria the Anti-Aging Island?
In my personal experience, the key to good health is a successful combination of very tiny improvements to DAILY HABITS: mental habits, eating habits, exercise habits, and spiritual habits.
So I was particularly interested by this FASCINATING story from the New York Times about Ikaria, an island in the Aegean Sea, that has the world’s highest concentration of long-lived people.
It contains an engaging story about a native Ikarian who lived in the US and returned to his homeland after being diagnosed with lung cancer. But only a New York Times writer can tell that story as it needs to be told, so I’ll let you read it yourself.
Here are just a couple of quick quotes from the piece:
Over the span of the next three days, I met some of Leriadis’s patients. In the area known as Raches, I met 20 people over 90 and one who claimed to be 104. I spoke to a 95-year-old man who still played the violin and a 98-year-old woman who ran a small hotel and played poker for money on the weekend.
So, how do the natives themselves explain their unusual longevity?
Ask the very old on Ikaria how they managed to live past 90, and they’ll usually talk about the clean air and the wine. Or, as one 101-year-old woman put it to me with a shrug, “We just forget to die.”
In Samos, they care about money. Here, we don’t. For the many religious and cultural holidays, people pool their money and buy food and wine. If there is money left over, they give it to the poor. It’s not a ‘me’ place. It’s an ‘us’ place.”
You really owe it to yourself to set aside a relaxed ten minutes to read this great story:
The Island Where People Forget to Die by Dan Buettner.
Surprising News: Yoga Can HURT You
It’s the time of the year everyone gets re-inspired to get back in shape. If you’re into Yoga, Pilates, or Fusion Workouts, you owe it to yourself to read this article in the New York Times (How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body).
The article details quite a few instances of serious injuries (strokes, cerebral hemorrhages, cartilage and muscle tears, spinal stenosis, etc.) that are much more common than I ever realized.
Yoga aficionados, you owe it to yourselves to learn what poses are particularly risky. Here’s the link again.
You’d never think that by working to insure your health, you could risk it completely. Stay healthy, stay informed!
Serotonin from Niacin?
If you’re not a nerd who engages in massive coding check projects, serotonin still helps you feel relaxed, confident, and calmly happy.
The amino acid L-Tryptophan (and its cheaper precursor, 5-HTP) do this quite well.
But there may be an even cheaper alternative: Vitamin B3 (niacin). IF you can handle the heat of its well known side effect, skin flushing.
Niacin has been shown to effectively lower cholesterol levels, but it seems to have the terrific additional benefit of raising serotonin levels in the brain.
Dr. Abram Hoffer did some well-known studies showing niacin’s amazing benefits for schizophrenic patients. Looks like it is highly beneficial for the rest of us–
MelaFind: FDA Approved Technology for Early Detection of Melanoma
In 2011, the FDA approved MelaFind, a new technology for use by dermatologists that uses specialized light waves for earlier detection of suspect lesions.
Knowledge is Power. Empower yourself.
Learn more here at the Huffington Post.
And here, in more detail, directly from MELA Sciences.