Marnie
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 773
posted
Doctors offices can now be equiped with HAND HELD ultrasounds to check if a patient has clogged arteries that may ultimately lead to a heart attack or stroke...before they happen.
(A lot of people have "silent" problems - a partially blocked artery that they are not aware of.)
Star Trek technology is here! The doctor simply waves this hand held device over the patient's body.
Then the doctor can take appropriate measures = advise about diet, exercise, and Rx the drugs to help clear the arteries.
How does this apply to lyme? With a LOT of "oxidative stress" i.e., too many free radicals...this oxidizes LDL (low density lipoproteins = lousy cholesterol)and it turns "rancid". Then oxidized LDL combines with calcium to form the plaques along our arteries and lead to "hardening of the arteries".
These placques are not smooth, but are rough and jagged. Blood cells can attach to those rough edges and form clots. These clots can then break off and cause a heart attack or stroke.
So it is important to...go back to the beginning...prevent excessive damaging oxidative stress = reduce the number of free radicals to stop LDL from oxidizing.
While we DO need some free radicals to rid MOST pathogens...without a doubt...too many are very bad for us.
It is a fine line.
Even our OWN defense system (neutrophils, etc.) makes additional free radicals to destroy pathogens.
MOST pathogens (potential co-infections) CAN indeed be destroyed by these additional free radicals (lone oxygen molecules which combine with other elements like hydrogen to ultimately make H2O2 and nitrogen to make NO), but guess which pathogen has its own defense mechanisms in place to prevent being destroyed by H2O2, NO, etc.
If you guessed Bb, you're right.
The use of sound wave technology (and light technology) to diagnose AND to treat diseases is rapidly being developed.
Ultimately these technologies can be somewhat safer than drugs or surgery, but...
we MUST understand that soundwaves and lightwaves (part of the electromagnetic spectrum) are very powerful too!
Case in point...shattering kidney stones (calcium) with a LOT of directed sound waves has been found to trigger diabetes about 2 years later.
This happened to a friend of mine.
Still...I am blown away by the use of sound waves and light waves to diagnose and to treat diseases.
What's next? "Beam me up, Scottie"?
Posts: 9481 | From Sunshine State | Registered: Mar 2001
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tailz
Unregistered
posted
The problem is artificial electromagnetic fields, such as those coming from cell phone towers, are causing the build-up of these free radicals - but nobody wants to give up their walkie-talkies.
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-------------------- "Sometimes trouble just follows a man" - Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales Posts: 40 | From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
I've undergone five surgeries "shattering kidney stones with directed sound waves"
So far no diabstes.
-------------------- Neil Posts: 697 | From Tucson, AZ USA | Registered: Apr 2002
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Marnie
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 773
posted
Diabetes From Kidney Stone Blaster?
April 10, 2006 -- Pulverizing kidney stones with shock waves raises a person's risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, a new study shows.
In the early 1980s, getting a kidney stone kidney stone often meant painful open surgery. Then came shock wave lithotripsyshock wave lithotripsy.
This revolutionary technology uses sonic waves to blast kidney stones into tiny grains of sand. No surgery is needed.
It's always seemed to be safe. But now there's disturbing new data from a Mayo Clinic study. The study appears in the May issue of the Journal of Urology.
Shock Wave Damage The study compared kidney stone patients treated in 1985 with shock wave lithotripsy to patients given other nonsurgical kidney stone treatments that same year. Nineteen years later, the shock wave patients were nearly four times more likely to get diabetes. And, if both kidneys were treated, they were 47% more likely to have high blood pressure.
It's not yet clear how shock wave treatment might cause these problems, says researcher Amy E. Krambeck, MD. What seems to be happening is collateral damage from the shock waves.
"The theory is that the shear forces related to shock wave lithotripsy can cause
tissue damage,"
Krambeck tells WebMD. "Damage to the pancreas could put patients at risk for diabetes." Patients who got the most shock wave treatments -- at the highest intensity - had the highest risk of diabetes.
Don't Suspend Treatment The shock wave machine used in 1985 is an older model. It's still in use at the Mayo Clinic, Krambeck says.
Newer shock wave machines give a more focused shock -- but also provide stronger shock waves.
Because the Mayo study is the first to link diabetes to shock wave treatment, it's not at all clear whether newer machines provide less risk, the same risk, or more risk.
Krambeck says much more study is needed. In the meantime, she says, there's no reason to stop using the machines for patients with large kidney stones.
There's no immediate danger for people who've had their kidney stones treated by shock wave, says Glenn Preminger, MD. Preminger chairs the American Urological Association's kidney stone treatment panel. He's professor of urologic surgery and director of the comprehensive kidney stone center at Duke University.
"Prudence -- and the need for surveillance -- is warranted," Preminger tells WebMD. "But we do not need to suspend shock wave lithotripsy or rush to the doctor at this point.
Any stone-forming patients should have routine follow-up with their physicians. As part of that routine care, we would look for the possibility of high blood pressure and diabetes. So what I recommend is prudent follow-up care."
Treatment Options
There are different kinds of kidney stones -- and different treatment options.
"There are 101 ways to form a kidney stone," Krambeck says. "It all has to do with genetic makeup, diet, and lifestyle. Once a person forms a stone, he or she needs a complete metabolic evaluation to understand why.
Then we can give medication to prevent a second stone." Some kinds of kidney stones can be prevented with medication or proper diet. But when a stone can't be prevented or easily passed in the urine, treatment is necessary. The options:
� Shock wave lithotripsy. No surgery is required, although some machines require general anesthesia.
� Ureteroscopy. A small scope is passed through urethra and bladder into the ureter, which is the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder. Lasers in the scope can break up the stone, and a tiny basket-like attachment pulls out the stone or its fragments.
� Percutaneous nephrolithotomy. A small tunnel is made through the skin in the back to the kidney. A scope is used to break up and remove the stone.
� Open surgery, which now is rarely done. The surgical options are a lot less invasive than in the past -- but they are still more invasive than shock wave lithotripsy," Preminger says. "It is a terrific alternative to standard surgery. It is essential that patients be made aware of these possible new risks. But we should not discontinue shock wave treatment."
SOURCES: Krambeck, A.E. Journal of Urology, May 2006; vol 175: pp 1742-1747. Amy E. Krambeck, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Glenn Preminger, MD, professor of urologic surgery and director, comprehensive kidney center, Duke University, Durham, N.C.; and chairman, nephrolithiasis panel, American Urological Association
Simply a "heads up"!
Posts: 9481 | From Sunshine State | Registered: Mar 2001
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Greatcod
Unregistered
posted
I recently had my kidney ultrsounded by a hand held device..
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