Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Health News

Exercise improves the memory. Well, there's always something that does that. Personally I favour Pelmanism, now only know as a solitary card game but once the wonder of the world. Junkies are taking Valium. In my experience junkies will take anything that isn't actually screwed down. 'A few vallies can buy a bit of time and ease the symptoms of withdrawal,' says a Torquay drug worker. It's not encouraging when 'drug workers' talk like this. Finally, statins increase the risk of cancer. No they don't; yes they do. Who knows? Everything increases the risk of cancer, not least being born which, in health and safety terms, is A Bad Move. I am not well disposed towards this life business today. Or I wasn't until this - yes, Prezza: My Story, a moving personal account of one man's battle with inappropriate career advice, is the most discarded book in hotel rooms. The sun breaks through the clouds.

7 comments:

  1. Why is it "not encouraging when 'drug workers' talk like this"? While nothing to do with drugs is remotely encouraging, at least their statement acknowledges the reality that for addicts it is not a question of on it or off it but that taking anything is better than taking nothing.

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  2. And "Fish oil outperforms statin in heart failure study."

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  3. I think it was the word 'vallies', Mark, and thanks as ever, Dave.

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  4. The problem is that too many of us forget to exercise. Anyway, surely the best way to improve your memory is to use it. I can't remember which philosopher it was who, if he couldn't remember something - the price of cabbage or a proof for the existence of god - would never give up until his memory yielded the piece of knowledge he was after. Nowadays, we store so little in our memories and are too busy to retrieve what is there. I can't remember the last time I really racked my brain.

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  5. NF: My 75 year old mother does the same thing, often in the middle of a story. It's irksome to listen to her stop in media res to say, "What *was* that dog catcher's name? Was it Floyd? Rufus? Oh my heavens, I can see him plain as day, but I just can't say his name." Better to let some stuff go, methinks, especially if it impedes the narrative!

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  6. "It's not encouraging when 'drug workers' talk like this."

    A lot of drug workers are ex-junkies so they tend to keep the lingo.

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  7. My name is Paul Harris and i would like to show you my personal experience with Valium.

    I am 55 years old. Have been on Valium for 20 days now. I decided to get off of all benzos after much reading and having a friend who was abusing Xanax kill himself (may have been other issues, too). I was taking about 4 mg of Klonopin daily. I read a lot of the reseach on benzos by Dr. Heather Ashton, one of the world's leading authorities on benzos. I was shocked to see her equivalency table for Klonopin and Xanax. 1 mg of Klonopin or Xanax is equel to 20 mg of Valium. That's right, 20!! Plus, Klonopin and Xanax have nasty side effects. That did it for me. No more benzos!! Because Valium has the longest half-life of any benzo and the least side effects, I'm using it and water-titration to get off Klonopin, a method widly used in Europe. 10% reduction every 10-14 days. So far so good.

    I have experienced some of these side effects -
    Headache, drowsiness in the morning. Hard time getting my Dr. to prescribe and go along with treatment program. Valium supposedly is far less addicting than some other benzos, with far fewer side effects. I hope that turns-out to be true.

    I hope this information will be useful to others,
    Paul Harris

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