Quote of the day:  Quit now, you'll never make it. If you disregard this advice, you'll be halfway there.

Good morning! 

Find and index card. Write on it anything that you really want. Make it your heart's desire. It could be a better job, harmony in the home, financial independence, to loose 20 pounds...just about anything.  Make it something that you really want. On the opposite side of the card write these 3 phrases: Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you.

For the next 30 days keep this card with you and look at it frequently during each day. Don't give up. Keep striving toward your goal. At the end of those 30 days write back to me and tell me if you feel more successful than you did when you started the exercise. You may only loose 5 pounds or be getting along better at home. You may have an interview or just starting to network. Your bank account may not be overflowing but you may have saved a few dollars. Whatever it is that you write on the card and however far you get may just be a factor of setting a goal.  I am serious about writing back to me. I won't use your name (unless you want me to). Just tell me your desire and how well you did. If you accomplished it then GOOD FOR YOU. If you did not do too well... give yourself another 30 days. Keep trying! The journey of 1000 miles starts with but one step!

1) Activists Against Crestor…..

Click here-crestor busters

British may see new warning that certain antidepressants (SSRIs) can lead to more gastrointestinal bleeds. Could this be adding to the numbers of people taking proton pump inhibitors? We already know that some of the most expensive people to have in a drug plan are those who are treated for depression. Could it be that depressed people produce more acid in response to the psychic stress? While there may be a relationship between these antidepressants and GI trouble there does not have to be a cause and effect relationship. Sounds like another study to me?

Click here- SSRI linked to GI in UK

FDA launches a searchable database on drugs to "help consumers and health professionals find information about FDA-approved drug products." While it won't replace the PPP for opinions on the new drugs, it is supposed to provide some good basic information.

Well…. I went to the site and could not find the information I needed for either consumers or health professions on new drugs. (Latest Drug Approvals brought me all the way up to August 15, 2002…WOW! ) -  However, when I entered BENAZEPRIL into the SEARCH BOX I found a reference to the recent approval from 03/04/04. If you know what you are seeking then you can reach it (sounds like the ppp intro). The lists are not the most recent. It may need some work to be really useful but a good start.

Click here- FDA drug info search

 New Bush initiative aimed at abuse of prescription drugs. Did you know that the street value of an 80mg pill of OxyContin is about $80? That is a dollar a milligram. Medicare drug bill would only cost about $400 Billion dollars over 10 years. 

$400,000,000,000/$80/milligrams= 20,000 million milligrams

 20,000,000,000 milligrams/1000milligrams/gram = 20,000,000 grams

 20,000,000 grams/1000grams/killogram = 20,000 Killos. 

At roughly 2 killos per pound this means that 5 tons of the drug sold on the street would pay for the drug plan for seniors   If the general public took that much OxyContin then maybe they would be loopy enough to believe that Congress will leave the bill alone. (ps estimates are now over $540 Billion over 10 years)

Click here for Rx drug crackdown

For year the Centers for Disease Control have discouraged the use of antibiotics in viral infections. Now they are urging no antibiotics for most bacterial ear infections. The word is getting out but it will continue to be hard to resist the weary parents that the societal good will outweigh the pain that their tikes will endure. In the long run the children are more likely to develop resistance to infection as their bodies learn to cope with bacteria without antibiotics. The most serious infections (and probably the loudest parents.) will still warrant antibiotics….

Click here-earaches_antibiotics

Estrogen study stopped after 7 years.

Study finds hip fractures were reduced. There were no increased cardiovascular problems or breast cancer rates but strokes were increased.

This article is in a Q&A format and includes discussion of the mental effects of estrogens. I'm glad I don't have to choose…..

Click here - WHI study stopped

Consumers have had access to lists of physicians who have been named in practice related legal actions (meritorious or not). Some have trouble finding patients after listing.

Physicians are now keeping track of patients who sue physicians (meritorious or not). Some have trouble finding a physician after listing.

Does this seem unfair to you?

Click here- suit registry