Enneagram Test Results

I come out as a blend of the following Enneagram Types:







What type are you?

Envy of the Medical Specialist

I used to envy meteorologists because no matter how wrong their forecasts, people continue to listen to them. They have no qualms about predicting snowfall amounts "anywhere from three to nine inches." That's like following a recipe that tells you to bake for about an hour, give or take 30 minutes! Then, the day after said storm, in which about one inch fell, they'll just blame it on "the computer model."

But my weather-person envy ended when my wife went on the "find a doctor to cure this crushing, relentless fatigue and endless, sickening nausea" odyssey. Now, I envy medical specialists.

Fatigue and nausea are frustrating symptoms for a doctor to treat. There are no blood tests or radiographs that can quantify how tired a person is, or how close that person is from lurching toward the exam room's wastepaper bin and retching in it. No matter. If the primary care physician refers his patient to you to test for a disease, all you have to do is order a blood test. If it comes back negative, you're in the clear. If it comes back positive (which is unlikely), you can prescribe meds and reorder the blood tests until they come back negative. Or you can just report the outcome of the test and let the referring physician prescribe treatment. Either way, you don't actually have to relieve the patient's symptoms! Because when it comes to fatigue and nausea, it's your word against that of your blood test. And who's the doctor going to listen to?

Yes, I dream of a career in which I can cure blood tests.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20090708

Waist = 36.25"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20090701

Waist = 36.25"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Inflammation -- Friend or Foe?

We've been taught that inflammation is bad. First aid for a sprained joint, torn ligament or a strained muscle is RICE -- Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation, all of which is meant to inhibit inflammation. A NSAID (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) also is recommended.

I've always wondered about this. After all, our bodies have the ability to heal themselves, don't they? If you cut yourself, the initial bleeding flushes out
infectious agents. Then the blood coagulates and forms a tough covering, a scab. After a week or two, the scab becomes itchy, and we scratch it off (but only when our mothers are not watching).

Our body's inflammatory response to injury also promotes healing. The pain causes us to rest the area. The inflammation keeps the joint immobile while the increased blood flow brings about repair.

So it's not surprising to me that there's an injury treatment that involves intentionally bringing about inflammation to promote healing. It's called "Prolotherapy".

But what is surprising and interesting is that in order to induce inflammation, the therapy involves injecting dextrose directly into the affected area. What's so interesting about that? Well, dextrose is a ubiquitous food additive made from plant starch, most likely corn here in the USA. So if dextrose causes inflammation when it's injected, what does it do when it's ingested?

All I can tell you is what happens when I eat things that contain dextrose, such as certain deli meats and Doritos. I get brain fog, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, and even runny nose.

My advice is this: run away from "food" that contains dextrose. Or any processed food, for that matter.

Read This if You've Been Screwed by Your Health Insurance Provider

Some are lucky to be healthy and rarely need to visit even a primary care physician, let alone a team of specialists. Or if not that, they have great health insurance with low deductibles and access to a huge network of doctors (such as our elected Congressional body, who is now crafting health care reform).

The remaining 99.99% of us can rejoice in witnessing Wendell Potter's testimony before Congress.

Here's how he started out on June 24, 2009:

My name is Wendell Potter and for 20 years, I worked as a senior executive at health insurance companies, and I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick – all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.

Hopefully this will throw a monkey wrench into any ideas about making health insurance mandatory. Or setting as the lone goal of health care reform that every adult and child have health insurance. All this does is help the health insurance industry by enslaving its customer base.

Anyway, please comment on Mr. Potter's blog if you appreciate his telling the truth.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20090624

Waist = 36.50"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.