It seems it’s difficult to overcome the effects of binge drinking no matter how long one has been sober: “The more we have binged — and the younger we have started to binge — the more we experience significant, though often sutble, effects on the brain and cognition.”
Much of the evidence for the impact of frequent binge-drinking comes from some simple but elegant studies done on lab rats by Fulton T. Crews and his former student Jennifer Obernier. Dr. Crews, the director of the University of North Carolina Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, and Dr. Obernier have shown that after a longstanding abstinence following heavy binge-drinking, adult rats can learn effectively — but they cannot relearn.
When circumstances change, they lack the ability to respond appropriately to new circumstances. They’ll keep going back to what worked before even though time after time it no longer works.
As Shakespeare once pointed out without the benefit of studies on lab rats, “O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!”
Psychiatrist Paul Steinberg offers some realistic and possible resolution for the New Year:
- Stop after one or two drinks. Studies of the Mediterranean diet have shown that one or two drinks on a consistent basis leads to a longer life than pure teetotaling.
- If you must binge, start at age 40, not at age 16… Just as youth is wasted on the young, so perhaps is alcohol.
- If you have binged excessively when younger, follow it up with some regular exercise. Get those brain cells regenerated.
I think I’m getting better. I got an appointment at the clinic yesterday and am on a different kind of antibiotic.
I have a tendency to bash military health care at times, but I have to report two good recent experiences. First, a visit to the Urgent Care Clinic at Moncrief Army Community Hospital, where I was seen quickly, given some relief immediately and sent away with medicine - no extra trip to a pharmacy.
Unfortunately, the medicine didn’t work well enough, or the strain of the 850 mile drive home simply made me worse. So, the day after Christmas I call Barksdale and my description of symptoms (and the fact that they could electronically access the visit to Moncrief) got me an appointment yesterday morning.
I’ve learned that you don’t simply call and ask the appointment person for an appointment. They rarely have any, but they will always get you a call back from a nurse who has much greater appointing powers.
This makes twice, yes that’s TWICE in a row that I’ve seen my assigned PCM! Maybe things are settling down there and she will be around for a while.
No. Does not “secular” basically mean “not religious” rather than “atheist”? A secular society has a place for everyone, from the most faithfully regigious (of any creed) to the most unreligious atheist.
A secular society is the one I want to live in.
Whether I believe in a Supreme Being of the Jewish, Christian, or Islamic faiths matters not, it is the human organization and interpretation of religion that I distrust. I certainly do not want someone else’s interpretation of religion to inform my government.
I agree with Roger Cohen. “Where Kennedy said he believed in a “president whose religious views are his own private affair, Romney pleged not to “separate us from our religious heritage.”"
The Weight Story No One Wants to Talk About
The implication of these finding, which barely registered in the news cycle, are significant. They suggest that most American need not worry about being too fat, since most mortality is associated with BMI’s in excess of 35. Even mine is nowhere near that!
The findings suggest that the continual message from the government and the public health community to lose weight or to be as thin as possible lacks a credible scientific basis. And they suggest that it is those who weigh too little whose plight deserves attention.
Not that I couldn’t stand to lose a ::cough:: few pound ::cough:: but I’m fairly healthy for my age. I have slightly elevated blood pressure which would probably be normal if I quit smoking, no heart blockages (confirmed by a cardiac cath, because I did flunk two stress tests. The cardiologist informed at the time that many women flunk those tests because their breasts interfere with the readings.)
My main health problem is still the benign meningioma which I chose to treat with radiation instead of surgery. The symptoms will have to get much, much worse before I’ll let anyone drill into my skull and play around with what little brain I have left.
It’s not like I planned it this way. I grew up with the idea that one had a family doctor they saw regularly for checkups, shots, broken bones, and skinned knees. That’s what I looked for when I was older. I have no opposition to specialists, but I would have preferred the continuity of seeing the same doctor each time I go. I really would like to have a primary care manager.That’s not happening under Tricare Prime. I’m assigned to an MTF (military treatment center) and since I’ve been in the plan - 2 years now - I’ve been assigned to five different PCMs. I had 3 visits with the first, 2 with the second, 0 with the third, 3 with the 4th, and one with the current one. Two of these assignments have lasted less than 6 weeks. Three of these visits were for actual illness, the others were to get medication refills. Each new PCM wants to “see” me before refilling scripts I’ve been on for years, or before putting me on an alternate generic because the DOD has made a new deal with a different drug company.
None of these doctors ever had the chance to get to know me, or for me to know them. The MTF has a nice electronic medical records system, but it’s time-consuming and limiting. The doctor or PA is facing the computer, not me.
Before a visit, I do or consider all the things Christine recommends in Preparing for a Doctors Visit. My list of medications includes OTC stuff, meds I previously took, who prescribed them, why I no longer take them, dates of the above, etc.Not only do I write out questions I want to ask, but I include objectives I want to meet during the visit. Those are most often, get a refill written or get a referral to a specialist. Never have I discussed long-term medical goals with any of them. They know as well as I that we may never see each other again.
The closest I’ve come to having continuity of care is always getting the same internist when I’m hospitalized (luck of the draw) and the ongoing relationship I had with my radioncologist. But who wants to go the hospital or have radiation treatments to get a little continuity of care?This is why I am my own PCM. As Christine writes, “You know your body best, and you need to be your own advocate in the doctor’s office.”
I’m going to give this blogging thing another go after neglecting Pajama Pundits for so long. That name is so 2004, ya know?
