Do you have the "shakes"?

Do you or someone you love have problems with "the shakes" – a condition where your/your loved one's hands, head, or even legs shake uncontrollably?

Some might immediately (mis)diagnose it as Parkinson's disease --or perhaps an emotional disorder (since the tremors would worsen if the person is stressed, nervous, fatigued, or anxious). However, in reality it may be a case of essential tremors -- a tremor caused by no apparent underlying factor. Unfortunately, the tremors don't "become apparent until midlife and then worsens with age."

This condition is a result of a genetic mutation for which there is a 50% chance that it would be passed to the person's offspring. This is the reason it is so important to try to discover our genetic information – we don't have a full picture of ourselves and our loved ones until we see the entire panorama.

There are treatments such as "beta blockers like propranolol, marketed as Inderal, used mainly to control high blood pressure; primidone, found in Mysoline; and topiramate, or Topamax, used mainly to treat epilepsy."

For further information, please reference the Wall Street Journal article, Finding Some Calm After Living With 'the Shakes'

Over 70 and still driving? Read this…

According to a recent study by Yale university researchers, drivers over the age of 70 who did 15 minutes of daily calisthenics (ie. exercises to develop muscular tone) "such as neck and shoulder rotations, arm stretches, and simple walking, maintained and even slightly improved their driving skills compared with drivers who didn’t do the exercises." (Wall Street Journal, Calisthenics may help elderly drive better) "Critical errors, such as changing lanes without looking or disobeying traffic signs, occurred 37% less frequently among those who did the physical conditioning than among those who didn't."

So what does this mean?

Basically, by doing simple daily exercises and staying active, you can keep doing in your 70s, 80s, (and maybe even 90s) what you were doing in your 50s, and 60s. If 40 is the new 20, than 70 is the new 50.

Clinton's new health care agenda

Presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton, unveiled an outline of her health care agenda (the full plan will not be disclosed until later this year) which includes:

• a requirement for insurers that cover federal employees to pay for preventative care. Based on past experience, this practice is expected to spread to the private sector.
• "Cutting payments to private manage-care Medicare plans." Mrs. Clinton believes the "government overpays them to participate."
• "changes in the malpractice arena that would give liability protection to doctors who disclose errors and enter into mediation with injured patients."

Mrs. Clinton's overall plan will also include ideas for improving the quality of health care and a plan for universal health insurance. She has also proposed "insurers be required to sell coverage to anyone who wants it and said companies should be barred from charging sicker people higher premiums."

As the Wall Street Journal stated, this is the "first step" toward her health care agenda; however, we would be extremely interested in the details of her plan. Presidential candidate, John Edwards, has already unveiled his plan for universal health care coverage and Presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, is expected to do the same next week.

The great news is...healthcare is at the top of the democratic candidates' agendas. We've been gouged for too long... Americans will finally get better health care.

Sometimes nagging is a good thing

Ladies how many of you have had to push your husbands to go visit the doctor? Men, how many of you would do anything else BUT go to the doctor?

One might laugh at the age old difference between men and women – but this can be a serious matter. "Because men put off going to the doctor, they typically are diagnosed with diseases at a later stage when they are more serious and difficult to treat. And that has major implications for a woman's long-term well-being. Seven out of 10 female baby boomers will outlive their husbands and can expect to be widows for 15 to 20 years. More than half of the elderly widows living in poverty today weren't poor before the death of their husbands, according to the U.S. Administration on Aging." (Wall Street Journal, Health Matters).

According to the Wall Street Journal, when men finally do go to the doctor, it's as if they feel they need to hide behind "their wife made them make an appointment."

Why is this? Do men think going to the doctor is not manly? Do they not care about their health? Even if they didn't, they should at least care enough about their families to care for their own health. Perhaps this is the reason why typically it is the woman caring for her husband – and rarely the husband caring for his wife.

Taking a stand on overpriced pharmaceuticals

We already know how ridiculously high some brand name drugs are in the United States. Now countries that import these drugs are taking a stand - specifically, Brazil is taking a stand against Merck's anti-retroviral AIDS drug. Brazil's president signed a compulsory license allowing Brazil to break the patent Merck hold for this specific drug. (According to rules established under the Word Trade Organization, these licenses allow a country to "manufacture or buy generic versions of patented drugs while paying the patent holder only a small royalty" in cases of a health emergency or abusive pricing by pharmaceutical companies.)

Some may argue this is against rules and regulations, others may same it is against the spirit of capitalism. However, Brazil is not the first country to have done this. Thailand had previously "moved to override patents on three anti-AIDS drugs, including those made by Abbott Laboratories and Merck."

Isn't this a wakeup call to the pharmaceutical companies that their days of high prices are over? Just because they can charge high prices in the US due to a president who is biased in their favor, it does not mean they can do it internationally – especially with countries who WANT to help their low income people. As the president of Brazil said, "Between our trade and our health [interests], we chose to protect our health."

After numerous meetings with Merck and Merck's refusal to lower the cost per pill further (Merck was offering to lower the anti-retroviral AIDS pill to $1.10 per pill), Brazil decided on signing the compulsory license because "the price is unjust considering it can acquire the drug for $0.45 from generic manufacturers." Just imagine ... Brazil can acquire it for $.45 yet Merck wants to sell it to them for $1.10 -- almost 2.5 times the price they would pay if they acquired it from generic manufacturers!

Perhaps more countries – and us in the US – should take a stand against the high prices of pharmaceuticals.

Are you satisfied with your hospital?

According to a survey of 2.3M patients, there are more of you who are satisfied now compared to 5 years ago.

However, "room conditions, food quality and discharge process" are still a problem with many patients: more than 50% were not satisfied with their rooms, and more than 33% were not satisfied with their meals and discharge process.

Now, what we would like to know is what questions were asked of those surveyed and where were the hospitals located? According to the Wall Street Journal, there were more than 1,700 hospitals represented in this survey.

To find out how your hospital is rated by the government, you can check out the Hospital Compare tool on Medicare.gov.

Are you satisfied with your hospital?

Beware of scam artists

After losing a loved one, the last thing you are thinking about (or want to think about) are creditors—much less phony creditors. Unfortunately, the grieving are the prime targets for scam artists. In Sunday's The Wall Street Journal, there was a great article, "In Times of Grief, Scam Artists Arrive", regarding how these funeral scam artists read obituaries to find their next victims. (Utterly despicable!)

Some tips as outlined in the article:

• Designate one person, probably not the surviving spouse, to screen claims.
• Take charge of the conversation, by asking follow-up questions.
• Get written proof of the claim.
• Confirm that the person truly represents the company or organization cited.
• Don't make payment immediately; take time to think.

We should ALL take this advice -- not just those grieving and vulnerable. No one is safe from funeral scam artists.