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Fran Larson

Making the Right Decision about Medications

Posted Saturday, November 07, 2009 (4 hours 31 minutes ago.) Viewed 11 times.

Medicine can do wonderful things. Our lives are better in the last 50 or so years because of medical advances. We have birth control pills, vaccines for childhood illnesses and medications for blood pressure and cholesterol. These are only a few of the "miracle drugs" that now are life-changing and sometimes even save our lives. However, because there are now so many different types of drugs, we have a new challenge. It is to make sure the medications we are taking to not interact with each other.

Your pharmacist can give a quick and educated answer for any problem that you may have with medications. If for some reason you do not want to talk with your pharmacist, you can call your physician's office or search on line for a drug interaction site. This site will also advise you what medications you cannot take with grapefruit juice.

If you have an inflammatory condition such as arthritis, the doctor may want to prescribe a narcotic drug, which may be habit-forming. The reason for this is that most of the anti-inflammatory drugs that will help these conditions also produce serious side effects.

However, it is up to you, as a consumer to figure out your quality of life without the anti-inflammatory medications, as opposed to the possible side effects. If you do decide to take NSAIDS, your physician will administer tests about every three months for liver and stomach problems.

You can help your physician decide what is best for you by the following:

Every time you visit your doctor, make sure he or she knows what drugs that you are allergic to.

When a physician prescribes a medication, do your own research about that drug.
Always ask about drug interaction.
If you have side-affects from a drug, stop taking it immediately and call your doctor.
Keep a list of your medications.

Drugs are sometimes necessary, but if you could find a doctor or pain clinic that is open to all types of treatment, such as acupuncture, counseling and physical therapy, you would have more options to choose from.

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A Letter To Jon and Kate: Your 15 Minutes of Fame Are Up

Posted Saturday, November 07, 2009 (11 hours 50 minutes ago.) Viewed 20 times.

Dear Jon and Kate,

I watched your show a couple of times. I was completely mesmerized because of your unusual circumstances. Having twins, followed by sextuplets is indeed an accomplishment (as shown below).

What are the odds of having a multiple birth?

According the the Centers for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics Report Births: Final Data for 2006:

32.1 twin births occur per every 1,000 total live births
1.533 triplet or higher order birth occur per every 1,000 total live births

In 2006, 143,625 live multiple birth babies were born in the United States:

137,085 Twins
6,118 Triplets
355 Quadruplets
67 Quintuplets and Above

However, my question to you is, what were you thinking when you decided to allow 6 births at once, following the birth of your twins? You really took a chance on health issues with your babies. Note the following statistics from Wikpedia:

4 Risks

I am assuming that your sextuplets are in good health. In my research, I did not find anything to tell me otherwise. However, some parents are not so lucky and the odds fall against them. Fox news, June 27, 2007 cites this example:

In regard to the births of sets of sextuplets in Minnesota and Arizona; four of the six babies born June 10 to a Minnesota mother have died, and the others are in critical condition. In Arizona, the mother was treated for acute heart failure after giving birth.

"I think that these instances give the whole question of fertility treatment a black eye because the results are so tragic, and the costs are so enormous," said Dr. Theodore Nagel, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of Minnesota June 27, 2007, Fox News.

Then, there is the question of the mental health of your children, Jon and Kate. Do you really realize what you are doing to these kids? Some would even say it is child abuse. This is what Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatry correspondent for Fox News Channel and a New York best-selling author had to say:

That's why Jon and Kate aren't just a bad idea for one another; they also shouldn't be raising children. Hijacking your sons' and daughters' lives and casting them as ready-for-TV versions of themselves while "playing" their parents is a new form of child neglect or abuse. It's bad enough when stage mothers and fathers commandeer their kids' existences to fulfill their own narcissistic desires to be stars. Turning life into a stage is even worse. If nothing else, at least there's a videotaped record of the psychological assault on these children for them to refer back to with their psychiatrists later in life.

Here's the real reality: The eight kids need a guardian ad litem - a substitute parent appointed by the courts - to assess them and protect them from psychological harm. Now is the perfect moment for the state to insist on it, in the context of a divorce that won't be simple and amicable, unless that kind of split seems like it would "rate" better than a knock-down, drag-out fight.

Jon and Kate, who paid for the birth of your children,

The cost for a cesarean delivery of septuplets could be around $175,000, per Most on Line) and who will be footing the bill for rearing them, once your 15-minute claim to fame is over. Have you heard how much it is going to cost?

I guess you now realize how much money it will take to give these kids a fair chance in life: (a middle-class family can expect to spend at least $64,000 on housing, food, clothing, transportation, health, education and other expenses for septuplets during the first year, more if their infants were born very prematurely. (This would include over $6000 in diapers alone.)* From Most on Line

Now that these sextuplets are here, I want them to have the best. They are innocent and beautiful children. This letter is in no way a cut at them. In fact, it is because of them that I write this letter to you.

Get over yourself. Just because you decided to have sextuplets, it doesn't mean the world owes you money or fame.

I am not foolish enough to believe that this letter will keep you from continuously going on television for interviews or seeking fame in other television programs.

I end this letter with this quote:

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character. Horace Greely, An American newspaper Editor who is know especially for his articulation of the North's vigorous antislavery sentiments during the 1850's (1811-1872)

A more modern thought from Oprah Winfrey is: If you come to fame not understanding who you are, if will define who you are.

Sincerely,

A fan of your precious children.

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I Don't Have To Be Perfect, Do I?

Posted Friday, November 06, 2009 (1 day ago.) Viewed 8 times.

When I mentioned to my husband, Jim that I was just about out of coffee, right away he offered to go to the store for coffee. He looked kind of frightened. You see, I don't function too well without coffee. I can get really grouchy if I have to talk before sipping my coffee. I don't want to be that way, I just am.

I am a few pounds overweight and sometimes I eat high calorie foods. I like to take naps at weird times with my dog, Sunny accompanying me. Yes, I suppose it is a waste of time, but such refreshment it brings.

I don't dust as often as I should. In fact, when I am dusting, Sunny knows someone must be coming over soon. I am tidying up and plumping pillows. Sunny knows. He knows I just put off these things and then when someone comes, well, I guess I want them to think I am perfect.

I don't always like to talk on the phone, so I screen my calls sometimes. I don't always want to look my best. Sometimes I want to wear something comfortable and not put on any make-up.

How about you? Are you driving yourself crazy by trying to be perfect? Are you worrying about something than you mistakenly said? Do you want your face to be perfect, flawless, unwrinkled? Do you strive for your life to be perfect or your family to be perfect?

Can you accept yourself as you are? Can you accept your weight and how your body looks? How about your house..does it have to be just perfect every moment? Why not leave a few newspapers scattered just for the heck of it.

"Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human." Anthony Robbins quotes (American advisor to leaders)

What is perfect anyway?

Webster's Dictionary lists a variety of definitions for the word "perfect." The first is "being entirely without fault or defect." The second is "satisfying all requirements, or accurate." Next is "corresponding to an ideal standard or abstract concept," followed by "faithfully reproducing the original." The last is "legally valid."

I think women, especially are programmed from an early age to be perfect. We are so hard on ourselves. I propose we let our hair down once in a while, at least and don't try so hard to be perfect. We're not Stepford Wives.

. Anna Quindlen said: " The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

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My View

Making the Right Decision about Medications

A Letter To Jon and Kate: Your 15 Minutes of Fame Are Up

I Don't Have To Be Perfect, Do I?

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