I read some exciting information in a New York Times Health Feed written by Donald G. McNeil Jr. It published in GoUpState.Com on Tuesday, March 17, and was titled:

‘After a Stroke, Freeing Muscles with Botox’

The heart of the matter is Botulinum toxin; known best by the brand names:

• Botox – manufactured by Allergan
  
• Myobloc – manufactured by Solstice Neurosciences
  
• Xeomin – manufactured by Merz Pharmaceuticals

Botulinum toxin has far more medical uses than smoothing out a few wrinkles, but some uses are unofficial and not yet approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

Here’s The Good News

Botulinum toxin has not been approved for use by stroke victims, but has been proven so effective that Medicare and other insurers under certain circumstances will consider reimbursement for its use.

Most stroke victims have never heard of the treatment from their neurologist or primary care doctors, because those physicians often are not aware of the benefits of the treatments.

It’s Up To You To Inform Your Doctor

Even if they have heard of the treatment, many doctors are not trained to administer the deeper injections that are required; the procedure is a bit more involved than procedures dermatologists perform, to erase wrinkles.

According to Mr. McNeil’s article, “most neurologists are in the habit of prescribing anti-spasticity drugs like tizanidine and baclofen, which are oral and inexpensive, but which cause drowsiness and weaken every muscle in the body, not just the target ones.”

Therefore, according to Dr. David M. Simpson, Clinical Neurophysiology Director at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, a leading Botulinum toxin researcher, 95 percent of the stroke victims who could benefit, never receive the injections.

Botulinum toxin is not a miracle drug and will not heal every problem caused by stroke, but it is worth a look.

See what Donald G. McNeil Jr. has to say here in his excellent article concerning Ms. Francine V. Corso, a software engineer who has to go out of her way to receive regular treatment but claims, “I’m completely transformed — I drive, I volunteer, I take art classes.”

How great is that!

As always, there’s one caveat. Be sure to find the right neurologist. Dr. Mark Hallett of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, says he uses ultrasound and electromyography when treating patients.

When an uninformed physician performs the necessary injections, close isn’t good enough.

Thanks for investing your time to read this article. Hope it gives you something to think about.

If you liked this article, share it with a friend.

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Thanks for reading.

“Good Health and Success are a Lifestyle . . . Let’s Choose to Live Well,”

CK Dillon

Contact: Charles@CreateVitality.Com

On the Web: Http://CreateVitality.Com

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The March of Dimes has issued a reminder of Five Common-Sense Health Tips for the arrival of a Healthier Baby.

Are you or do you know someone who is, may now be, or plans to be pregnant?

You can help yourself or someone else, by giving her gentle health reminders. She may be your daughter, grand daughter, friend, aunt, cousin or maybe even your mother. She’s someone you care about and want to have a healthy baby.

This is your opportunity to pass along sage advice. Most women, pregnant or not, know this already but gentle reminders along the way can do nothing but help the newborn baby.

The March of Dimes recommends that all Pregnant Women Should follow these five key steps:

• First and foremost, get early and regular pre-natal care. It will reduce the risk of having a low birth-weight baby and ward off any undue surprises.
• Eat nutritious foods, supplemented with vitamins if need be. Make sure that you and your baby get all the protein and nutrients you need through a proper diet.
• Please Don’t Smoke! Women who smoke increase their chances of having a miscarriage or a low birth-weight baby.
• Here’s a No-Brainer … Don’t take drugs! If not prescribed or approved by a doctor who is familiar with the pregnancy, the wrong drugs can cause severe disabilities, or worse, the death of your baby.
• Don’t drink! Hard liquor, wine or even beer can cause birth defects. If you follow these five reminders, the chances of your bundle of joy arriving healthy increase dramatically.

Thanks for investing your time to read this article. Hope it gives you something to think about.

If I said something that helped you, click on the RSS icons and/or share it with others.

Till Next Time, To Your Good Health and Success … Live Well,

CK Dillon

http://LiquidVitaminsOnline.Net

support@createvitality.com

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Colorectal Cancer, colon cancer for short, the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S., originates in the large intestine or rectum.

Early stage cancer can often be cured and regular testing should begin after the age of 50.

Check out the article at http://cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/basic_info

There you will find Colorectal Cancer is the second leading cancer killer in the United States.

Colorectal Cancer:

• affects men and women in all racial and ethnic
  groups
• is most often found in people aged 50 years or
  older
• is the third most common cancer after prostate
  and lung cancers in men
• is the third most common cancer after breast and
  lung cancers in women

It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

If all men and women aged 50 or older had regular Colorectal Cancer screening tests, as many as 60% of deaths from colorectal cancer could be prevented.

What Is Colorectal Cancer Screening?

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), screening is when a test is used to look for a disease before there are any symptoms.

Cancer screening tests, including those for colorectal cancer, are effective when they can detect disease early.

Detecting disease early can lead to more effective treatment.

In some cases, screening tests can detect abnormalities such as polyps, (extra tissue that grows inside the large intestine and can potentially become cancerous) before they have a chance to turn into cancer. So removing polyps prevents colorectal cancer from developing.

I have had three Colonoscopy tests in the last 7 years. In my first test 3 non-cancerous polyps were found so I had to schedule another test within three years; in my second test 3 non-cancerous polyps were found again, thus another three year scheduled test.

In my last exam six months ago no polyps were found. I had actually resigned myself to the fact that 3 polyps were going to be there, lurking.

Hooray! Now I have five years before I have to schedule another test. It is well worth the effort in my opinion to be consistently tested.

Free or Low-Cost Colon Cancer Screening is Available

According to the CDC, if you live in one of the following locations…

Suffolk County, New York: Call (631) 444-7644

Baltimore, Maryland: Call (410) 767-1617 or 1 (866) 632-6566

King, Clallam, and Jefferson counties, Washington: Call 1 (800) 756-5437

Nebraska: Call 1 (800) 532-2227 or 1 (800) 833-7352 (TDD)

St. Louis, Missouri: Call (314) 879-6392

… you may be eligible for free or low-cost colorectal cancer screening through the CDC-funded screening demonstration program. To learn more contact the numbers above.

If you live elsewhere in the United States, please call 1 (800) 4-CANCER or 1 (800) ACS-2345 to learn more about screening options in your community. You may also be able to find information about free or low-cost screening by calling your local department of health.

If you have Medicare coverage, various tests may be covered. Go to http://medicare.gov/health/coloncancer.asp.

Hope this information helps. If it does pass it on to someone you care about who could use it.

Till Next Time, To Your Good Health and Success … Live Well,

CK Dillon

http://LiquidVitaminsOnline.Net

mailto:support@createvitality.com

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Baby Boomers, when it comes to our health, some of us are suffering from an inflated ego.

If you have reached the qualifying age, I strongly recommend you a sign up for an AARP™ membership.

AARP sent applications for about five years before I was eligible and I took it as an insult. I remember thinking, “I’m not THAT old!” You know … the Boomer thing; 50 being the new 30, and so on.

One friend (you know who you are Coop) still refuses to join and he is 69 years old now. In his mind, he’s STILL not THAT old.

I strongly recommend we shelve our ego and sign up for  the membership. I’ve learned a lot from AARP and thoroughly support the cause.

For instance, the winter issue of ‘Strive For Healthy Living’ mentions that:

• March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
• April is Foot Health Awareness Month
• May is National Arthritis Month

I for one had no clue until I read the articles. My next article will be an in-depth report on Colorectal Cancer, or Colon Cancer for short.

So, if you have not already looked into the benefits of joining AARP, give it a good going over. I think you’ll like what you see. It provides the best value for $12.50 that I’ve ever invested in.

Hope this information helps. If it does pass it on to someone you care about who could use it.

Till Next Time, To Your Good Health and Success … Live Well,

CK Dillon

http://LiquidVitaminsOnline.Net

mailto:support@createvitality.com

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Did I Mention Early Screening is the Key?

Also in September 2004 there was a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. After interviewing over 67,000 men over the age of 65 it was determined that black men were 35% less likely than white men to be tested for PSA (prostate-specific antigen)

The fact is Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death by cancer among men in the U.S. We black men are at a much higher risk of premature death caused by prostate cancer, so we are the group who should benefit the most from PSA screening.

There are myriad reasons why black men hesitate to get screened. We don’t have medical coverage insurance; we lack the personal finances to pay for tests; we don’t have or seek out the educational knowledge; medicaid is not always the answer because some of us do not qualify for assistance.

In 2004 the American Cancer Society estimated that nearly 30,000 men would die from the disease and that 230,000 cases of prostate cancer would be diagnosed. We are now five years down the road and the numbers are not much better.

Granted, the prostate cancer mortality rate for blacks has declined somewhat during the last ten years, but it is still more than double the rate for other races.

It has been noted that younger black men have begun to be diagnosed with the disease at a much earlier age, so the need for testing is even more of a necessity.

Maybe with the new administration in the White House the plight of the less fortunate will gain more attention.

Meanwhile there are clinics in most states that provide testing for free or for a nominal fee. I Googled ‘Free Prostate Cancer Screening’ and found Zero – The Project To End Prostate Cancer.

Check out this link. http://www.zerocancer.org/site/PageServer?pagename=drive_home.

I also found an excellent site today. This site caused me to go ahead and post this article. She provides a lot of good information and links to even more. http://www.a1prostatecancertips.com/

Hope this information helps.

Till next time,

To Good Health and Success, Live Well

CK Dillon

http://LiquidVitaminsOnline.net
support@createvitality.com

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“Is It Because I’m Black?” “Unnh……Yes … and No.”

All too often I read headlines like, “African-American men are more likely to get prostate cancer.” And it is usually followed by something like, “They are also more likely to die from the disease due to lack of proper screening.”

So there we have it. Problem, or rather Challenge, and Solution.

I heard it on the news again this morning as I was mulling over what to write about. Just a blurb, two seconds, but it stuck in my mind this time.

Lately mental images and thoughts keep returning to this, or a variation: ‘CK, You need to be writing about health issues specific to our community.’

My mental argument has been, ‘but it’s very uncomfortable for me to write about it, and besides my brothers and sisters don’t want to hear this, so they won’t bother to read my articles’, etc. Just excuses. Any excuse to not follow my first mind.

Grandma always demanded I follow my first mind, so here goes. In her honor, I’m giving it a shot, beginning with this article which hits close to home.

My Brothers, We Need To Be Screened

Even though we are the most at-risk demographic, we black men are significantly less likely to undergo prostate cancer screening until it’s too late.  Too late to spare us the pain and suffering of advanced prostate cancer.

Most likely someone close to us, a spouse, or loved one, will mention that we need to be tested for some uncomfortable probability; it doesn’t even have to be as serious as cancer and we immediately say something like, “I’m ok. There’s nothing wrong. I know how I feel. If something was wrong I’d know it.”

Unless they are persistent the moment will pass and we’ll get on with our life. We know we should get tested, we think about it briefly, put it on the back-burner and move on, content with the knowledge that we will ‘get around to it.’

While writing this article, just now, I bounced it off my wife and she immediately leaped on the opportunity. “Yeah, YOU need to go get tested. You need to do it annually. That’s why they have testing honey. So when are you going to set the appointment?”

I kid you not. That’s the conversation that just went down. Whoa! That was a ‘can of worms’ best left unopened. I just got ‘test jacked’, followed up with ‘honey.’ Now I have to get tested, live the life I write.

I’ve lost friends and relatives to cancer and a few specifically to prostate cancer. In every case they were not diagnosed until the cancer had advanced.

Yet Another Study 

September 27, 2004 — Although black men in the United States are more likely than white men to be diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and have a two-fold greater risk of dying from it, they are significantly less likely to be screened for prostate cancer, according to a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital study.

Again Early Screening is the key

Success Is A LifeStyle, Live Well

CK Dillon

http://LiquidVitaminsOnline.Net

Support@CreateVitality.Com

See Part 2: Screening is The Key…

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We Baby Boomers have entered our retirement years; an era of which many of us are totally unprepared.

Even though a majority of us have reached retirement age, or are being forced out of our jobs early, we still need to supplement our income.

Downsized, Rightsized, Capsized; these are names companies use to soften the word fired. Many of us have been dismissed by companies that promised to ‘take care of us’ if we worked for 30+ years.

While we should be relaxing in the sunshine of our ‘Golden Years’ some are looking for new employment, wondering if they will ever enjoy any semblance of retirement.

I live in a state where generations of hardworking families worked for textile mills that have shut down or moved out of state.

Now what do these people do?

Many have resorted to competing with teens for a minimum wage. That’s fine if what you want is another J.O.B. (Just Over Broke).

Many who worked for thirty years, worried about bills, had too much month at the end of the money and lived with the reality that we were one check away from desperation. Trust me, I’ve been there.

There is a Solution to Underemployment

As Baby Boomers we have been known to ‘fix it’ when a challenge comes along and I have found a way to ‘fix’ my lack of finances.

Within the last three years I have totally changed professions. I am now a Network Marketer.

I just lost some readers because Network Marketing is not for everyone, but I truly believe in this industry. Unfortunately some people with no knowledge of the profession prejudge and miss an opportunity for financial freedom.

It takes being open to new information. You’re still reading so you understand that.

When it comes to Network Marketing many of us have a bad taste in our mouth. Some Network Marketer may have botched a presentation, made lofty promises, or left us hanging after we signed on with him.

Maybe we joined a disreputable company, lost a lot of money and vowed ‘never again.’ There are many reasons Network Marketing has a negative image. Those reasons have kept us from exploring a perfectly legitimate profession and that’s a big mistake.

Find the Right Company …

… and the right mentor and you can achieve your dreams, even those that have been put on hold.

My aim is to provide Boomers and others the direction to achieve their financial and natural health goals, allowing them to be financially independent within a few years by applying basic techniques.

I’m not going to lie and claim Network Marketing is ‘Get Rich Quick’ or for everyone, but if you feel it may be for you, I urge you to check it out.

Today I’m writing to Baby Boomers specifically, but this profession is perfect for anyone in any age group.

Thanks for investing your time to read this article. Hope it gives you something to think about. If I said something that helped you, click on the RSS icons and share it with others.

If you have questions or just want to contact me, email me.

Till Next Time,

To Your Good Health and Success … Live Well,

CK Dillon

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