Aspartame and Sudden Cardiac Death

I've written about aspartame before. This is a serious poison found in diet drinks and NutraSweet. I just saw a reference to Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) being caused by aspartame. This is a sensitive subject for me since my cousin, a healthy young sailor, died of SCD. So I did a little research. Here's an excellent article about the relationship between SCD and aspartame.

Here's a link to a site dedicated to the horrors of aspartame and the commercial interests that fight to keep it legal.

Read about the bizarre arrest and trial of a Sunday-school teacher who was sentenced to life imprisonment after her husband died of aspartame poisoning.

Please folks, don't eat or drink anything that contains aspartame!

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

Women and heart attacks

I received an email recently with the text below. I hope you'll share it with your friends.

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction).

Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack—you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest and dropping to the floor that we see in the movies? Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack:

“I had a heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, like when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation—the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. 'AHA!!' NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening—we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we?

I said aloud to myself and the cat, 'Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!'

I lowered the footrest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, 'If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else—but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up.'

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics. I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open my right coronary artery.

I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents.

Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail?

Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body—not the usual men's symptoms—but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act).

It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up—which doesn't happen.

My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can, take an aspirin.

Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER; you are a hazard to others on the road. Do NOT have your panicked husband, who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT call your doctor; he doesn't know where you live, and if it's at night, you won't reach him anyway. If it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there.

Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive. Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male & female) you care about!”

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

Plastics and Disease - Bisphenol A

According to a report by a large expert panel, Bisphenol-A (BPA) causes abnormal penis development, early sexual development in females, an increase in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, childhood and adult obesity, type 2 diabetes, a decrease in sperm count, and an increase in prostate and breast cancer.

The report estimates that 95% of people in western cultures have too much BPA in their bodies.

Yes. You have too much BPA in your body. If you’re pregnant, your fetus has too much BPA in its body.

Other research has shown that the level of BPA that the US government considers safe may be too high. In other words, the number of people who actually have too much BPA in their body may be even higher than 95%. Experts have asked that the government reevaluate the safe level.

The plastics industry, of course, claims that BPA is safe at current levels of exposure. They sell six billion pounds of the stuff per year. They paid for eleven studies that all found that there wasn’t a problem. However, the government-funded studies found that there was a problem 90% of the time.

Surely all of us have noticed an increase in the health issues in the first paragraph. We can’t blame all of the increases on BPA, but it would be crazy to continue to expose ourselves to this dangerous chemical regardless of what may be considered a safe level.

What to do?

Use glass, ceramic and steel in all food preparation, storage and serving.

Learn how to use plastics safely. Only plastics with recycle codes of 2, 4 and 5 should be used at all. Plastics should never be used in the microwave. Don’t use canned food or drinks because the cans are lined with plastic. Especially don’t drink hot drinks in plastic cups or paper cups that are lined with plastic. (Sorry StarBucks!)

Look for products that don’t contain BPA. You can find BPA-free products on Amazon.com, from Nalgene, from SC Johnson who makes Saran-wrap and Ziploc bags, and many other manufacturers who are recognizing the problem and taking responsible action.

There are sources on the Web; The Environmental Working Group, BisphenolAfree.org, HealthyChild.org, Consumer Reports, and Z-Recommends have information about products that don’t use BPA.

Do it now

The good news is that BPA leaves your body, and your children’s bodies, very quickly once you stop using the products. Choose plastic products consciously. If you don’t know the product is safe, put it back on the shelf. If you don’t know how to choose safe plastics, now is the time to learn.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

Cellphones Kill You--sometimes

Here's an important article on cellphone use. I've talked about this before but I'm really getting concerned about kids using cellphones.

It's important to realize that we're not being told the truth about wireless devices. Basically they all harm us every time we use them; the degree to which they harm us and our individual ability to heal the damage are variable. That's why we're not all dropping dead from brain tumors--just some of us.

Some very bad research is being done which I assume is funded by the cellphone industry. An example study recently asked people how they felt after using cellphones. Not surprisingly, in this simplistic study there was no statistically significant difference between cellphone users and the placebo controls. Here's an article about how the cellphone industry has manipulated the research, the US government, and the public.

Reports of cellphone danger are not new; scientists began warning us of radiation exposure in the 90s. What is new is our increased exposure to the devices and the marketing of cellphones to younger and younger children.

Note that there seems to be more damage to children and teens who use cellphones, and this is troubling because they seem to use the devices more hours per day than adults.

Here's a website with some of the current non-US research and public articles.

Here's a UK article about the likelihood of producing a child with behavior problems after using a cellphone while pregnant. The doctors that did this study don't want people to panic and overreact. However it would be prudent to limit cellphone and other wireless exposures while pregnant.

Personally I use a headset whenever possible. It's also good to use the cellphone as a speakerphone so you don't have to hold it next to your head.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

French Documentary on Monsanto Products

Folks, you should be aware of what Monsanto is doing to control food production around the world. A French company produced an enlightening documentary we probably won't be able to see in the US on commercial television. (Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10).

Please watch the entire program; at the end is a section that describes the pollution of ancient strains of Mexican corn by Monsanto's industrial corn. The result is that the corn which has traditionally not needed fertilizer or pesticide, now needs both. The Mexicans believe that Monsanto is intentionally polluting their corn crops because they have outlawed the use of genetically-modified corn.

There's a similar article in Vanity Fair that discusses this problem.

To see what other problems Monsanto is causing around the world, look at the website of the Organic Consumers Association. They have been tracking the damage that this company is doing to our health, to our planet, and to our future.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron