GERD! James Gerd!

We used a college homecoming weekend dinner to hold a staff meeting and the question of why no GERD stories arose. We couldn't think of any reason other than the lack of recent studies on the subject. Lo and behold we find a recent H1N1 death attributed to symptoms that included GERD:

"A 52-year old man is Santa Rosa County’s first confirmed death associated with H1N1 Swine Flu, according to the county’s health department."

"The man died September 11, according to information released Tuesday from the Santa Rosa County Health Department. Health officials were notified of his death September 28, when the results of additional lab tests were received. The man had hypertension and GERD (gastroesophogeal reflux disease). In keeping with Florida Department of Health policy, no additional information was released."

“The death of a loved one under any circumstances is always a tragedy,” said Sandra Park, A.R.N.P., interim administrator for the health department. “Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.”

"The man was admitted to the hospital on September 4. At that time, a rapid flu test for H1N1 was performed and the result of that test was negative. Additional testing, however, confirmed that the man was ill with H1N1."

We're not trying to be the "flu police." We're concerned about the lack of information being presented to us by our local jurisdictions when we have proof positive that the information is false in relations to the flu. What we don't understand is why the jurisdictions refuse to give us the full and unvarnished truth. Reading daily obituaries shows deaths that the local health departments don't or refuse to report. Most disturbing are the reports that the standard H1N1 test return negatives when autopsies reveal positives results. That type of information is better presented to the living than the dead.

CBS News reports what a doctor tells his patients in this two (2) week old report from Dr. Jonathan LaPook: "Smoking and obesity both increase acid reflux and must be addressed. I tell my patients to limit alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, peppermint, and fatty foods (I know, basically anything that gives them even an iota of pleasure in life). I also suggest keeping a food diary to try to identify culprits such as tomato-based products or certain spicy foods. If their symptoms resolve then they can try to reintroduce the things they miss the most. Elevating the head of the bed can sometimes help."

Research physician, Dr. Ronnie Fass, reported in Renal and Neurology News on the latest drug treatment for GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease: “Patients with diabetic gastroparesis and symptomatic documented GERD may have trouble adhering to treatment because of difficulty swallowing, the need for treatment when they do not have water available, or the need for a portable way to take medication...”

The new drug treatment evaluated by the doctor: "...Metozolv ODT, which rapidly melts on the tongue, gives these patients a new choice that may be more convenient than traditional metoclopramide tablets, Ronnie Fass, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Arizona added. “Patients with diabetic gastroparesis and symptomatic documented GERD may have trouble adhering to treatment because of difficulty swallowing, the need for treatment when they do not have water available, or the need for a portable way to take medication.”

The National Post's Dr. Yoel Abells writes that: "Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is quite common. Epidemiologic studies suggest incidence rates are increasing and that up to 20% of the adult population suffers from this condition to varying degrees..."

"...Complications associated with acid reflux disease arise from the irritating effect the stomach contents have on anatomical structures. For example, the acidic contents can inflame the vocal cords, resulting in hoarseness, or spill into the lungs causing hyperreactivity of the airways and an ensuing cough. Asthma can worsen as a consequence of GERD. Up to 5% of individuals suffering from chronic GERD develop Barrett's esophagus, characterized by changes in the cells lining the esophagus. Although rare, over time, this condition can lead to esophageal cancer."

That such a common occurrence can be present in an uncommon virus seems more than a matter of chance. From its first typing by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have maintained that pre-existing conditions can present opportunities for the relatively harmless virus can cause complications that could lead to death. Originally the time line for infections to complications that could lead to death was over ten (10) days. Current deaths have reduced that timeline from ten to five (5) days with the fifth day being the date of death for some individuals. Most individuals do survive - this isn't about the relatively healthy - this is about those who are most susceptible. You and I.

Staying Alive!

We don't want to be accused of promoting fear. What we have always asserted is information is power. The more you know the less fear you should have. To contribute to less fear we thought we'd highlight the positive as well as the negative in yesterday and today's news. We also don't wish to be the "flu police!" Our concern is health care not disease care. Focusing on the disease of the season isn't our raison d'etre.

First things first, in our jurisdiction, the District of Columbia still publicly maintains no deaths to the H1N1 virus though privately the number of deaths reported to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for flu or pneumonia from the first week of 2009 to the thirty-ninth week of 2009 (last week) is 94 as compared to 60 in 2008 during the same week and 44 in 2007. That's the official report to the government. While Maryland seems to be the hotbed of flu reporting to the feds 585 though the official count is ten (10). It's the unreported that begs to be counted.

Baltimore adds three more infections in a single location from their police department. Again we have to point out this isn't the beginning of the flu season which "officially" begins in November. This is indeed a pandemic. Though not unexpected.

Current news reports from other parts of the country suggests that seniors are largely immune to this virus and need no be concerned with it because they've developed an immunity because the strain (H1N1) isn't substantially different from previous strains. Following the report released yesterday from Canada - that would appear to hold true:

"Unlike some previous flu pandemics, which saw high death rates among the very young and the very old, "severe disease and mortality in the current outbreak is concentrated in relatively healthy adolescents and adults between the ages of 10 and 60 years," the authors write. The observation that Canadian women were at higher risk of severe illness is "striking," the authors said, noting that other swine flu studies have not noticed such a pattern." "The explanation for increased risk of severe disease and death among females in this report is unclear but the role of pregnancy as a risk factor has been noted in previous influenza pandemics," the authors noted. While the authors call the patients studied "healthy," it should be noted that 95 per cent had some underlying risk factor, such as asthma, smoking, obesity or high blood pressure. The researchers found that once swine flu patients were sick enough to need hospital care, they declined very fast, usually requiring ventilators and advanced "rescue" treatments. Patients who become severely ill had symptoms for about four days before going to hospital and then often required intense care in the ICU within one or two days; their average ICU stay was 12 days. Shock and multi-organ failure were common; 81 per cent of the patients they studied needed to be put on ventilators."

Using our "every living individual is sacred" credo playing a numbers game isn't good enough. While the stats may be in your favor you might not "want to be in that number." Get the shot - don't take the risk.

BizJournal was the ONLY article written about the affect of the flu on the non-human "corporation" - which in theory we find distasteful. In practice we can understand and would even suggest, distasteful, the loss of employees due to the virus could or would create new employment opportunities for the current and large numbers of unemployeed. Seeing the pandemic as a natural way of "thinning the herd" to paraphrase Bill Maher is in direct opposition to our very existence.

We do support the South Florida's publication's "warning." We just wish it was more humanly rather than fiscally addressed. Though in their defensive that's how a corporation shows its concerns. It just survive so that the people whom it employs can continue to thrive.

Believe it or not some paper's columnist are prompting the people should just say NO to vaccine - from California no less. Promoting oxygen therapy as a pancea for all things that ail you Lynne Gordon's article says:

Just Say NO to The Swine Flu Vaccine of 2009! & Ten things you're not supposed to know about the swine flu vaccine "I personally am NOT going to take the Swine Flu vaccine for several reasons. There are too many 'firsts' with this vaccine and because it contains Squalene..."

"...This is the third vaccine made with Squalene. (The first was the Swine Flu Vaccine of 1976 which killed 25 people and paralyzed and crippled thousands. Lawsuits from the after-effects reached 1.3 billion dollars)"

Thankfully the "informer" is misinformed and one commenter to the article point by point refutes Gordon's accusations. Most glaringly in error is that the vaccine contains "Squalene." When critics are so much in error it makes it easier to dismiss the quackery of the uninformed.

What's noteworthy of the article is that we've found a kindred in the commenters blog with which we hope to develop an association and that squalene ingested orally in olives can actually be a preventative and makes our list as what you can do for a dollar to protect yourself in this viral season. While your flu shot might not be the real deal - olives are a natural. A/H1N1 Influenza Outbreak Timeline which we highly recommend for an international view of the flu.

"...[T]he current stock of U.S. swine flu vaccines does not contain adjuvants, according to Anne Schuchat, MD, in an informational video produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Schuchat does acknowledge that there is an emergency provision to use them — should the pandemic accelerate.

Adjuvants are being used in swine flu vaccines in countries outside of the United States, including Canada, Europe and Australia. However, even though Canada is using an adjuvanted vaccine, it has also ordered 1.8 million doses of the unadjuvanted vaccine for use in pregnant women and children under the age of 3."

Protect yourself - be informed and forearmed. You can survive this! Let's let not be apart of the thinning herd. But do NOT be afraid. You know what to do and now what must be done - and OLIVES plenty of olives! What could it hurt? Buy 'em from the dollar store and pop 'em like grapes!

If you feel ill or if your children are ill take your: "...children to the hospital if they have difficulty breathing, their skin turns gray or blue, are difficult to wake up or become irritable and can't stop crying."

"Warning signs, respiratory symptoms and high fever are reasons to seek care or talk to your health care provider," Schuchat said."

How Long Before You Die - Updated

We don't really want to be the flu police. We were tempted to raise alerts from the news from Las Vegas on KTNV-TV connecting obesity and the flu. What it did point up was that we'd have to change our UK suggestions.

What caught our eye was the age and sex of latest death from sin city: "Nancy Simon says she was completely blindsided by her husband's death back in May. She says their family doctor thought it was bronchitis and UMC thought it was pneumonia or a pulmonary embolism..."

"...Only five days after coming down with what initially seemed like a bad cold, Gary Simon died with no preexisting medical conditions other than high blood-pressure..."

"According to Simon, her husband was in fact tested for the H1N1 virus the day before he died. She says the culture later came back as negative. It wasn't until after his autopsy that she learned the truth. "The fact that there are so many false negatives from these tests, you can't settle and say okay, the test came back negative. You have to keep pushing to be retested." She says her husband's death is proof that the healthy aren't immune to the complications that can come with swine flu."

When we saw his photo and found this article on the Associated Press (AP) and reported by the SunTimes and the Examiner we thought we'd investigate: "In Mexico and Canada people who are obese are having a difficult time with the H1N1 swine flu virus, and are having rapidly worsened breathing problems. The death rate for the obese with H1N1 swine flu is higher than other people inflicted with the virus, and the recovery was more difficult. In Mexico and Canada many inflicted with the flu were younger than in a regular flu season. The death rate in Mexican patients is 41% which is much higher than other countries."

The story was also carried by the TwinCities: "It's unclear whether obesity itself causes more complications, but the rate of deaths and hospitalizations among obese people is notably higher, said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, a Minnesota epidemiologist. This trend is surprising because obesity hasn't been a risk factor with previous seasonal influenza, Twin Cities reported."

From Vegas to Minnesota across the border to track down: "A new study suggests many of the Canadians who have died of swine flu or were placed in intensive care during the "first wave" were relatively young, healthy women whose condition deteriorated quickly. While the number of patients studied for the research was small, the lead researcher, Dr. Anand Kumar of St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, Man., said the results shocked him." What kept us from making the leap from flu to obesity to death was this statistic: "17 per cent died within 90 days."

Which is fine if you're a part of the 83 per cent who live past the 90 days. We believe every life is sacred and living shouldn't be percentage game. Our solution - new guidelines. We've said in the past that after ten (10) days head to the hospital and demand the shot. We'd like to amend our timeline.

• Select a someone to fight for you now while you're well
• Don't be sick in secret - have someone check on you.
• You've got four (4) days to feel better
• The H1N1 test can be negative and you still have the H1N1 swine flu
• Find a facility that has or will overnight the treatment to you
• Demand appropriate care - Or have your someone do it
• Day five (5) you must be feeling better