Thursday, January 21, 2010

Bugs and UPS

January 21, 2010

Institute For Medical Wellness Health and Wellness Report

First a Health Update:

I am often asked, "Hey Doc, are there any infections going around?'

My usual answer is, "There is always something going around" , but today I will mention a few and how you can hopefully prevent "going around with them."

There are three infections that I have seen over the past few weeks, including:

•a nasty stomach virus
•a respiratory virus that sometimes contributes to also contracting pneumonia.
•The emergency rooms have been reporting an increase in RSV, respiratory synctial virus, which is another nasty respiratory virus. And for many years, the seasonal flu becomes a problem soon after RSV peaks.

So how can you avoid these "nasty bugs"?

1.Wash or rinse your hands if you are in contact with someone who may be sick or just recently recovered from an illness. Surprisingly, soap is not always necessary. Just rinsing your hands under running water is usually enough. The reason being that our skin has many defenses against infections, including the many natural oils it produces. These oils on our skin act as a barrier to infections getting through into the body. Let me give you an example. If our hands contact an infectious organism, it first lodges on the oils of our skin. As oil and water do not mix, if we can run our hands under water, the organism will be rinsed away, hopefully down the drain.

2.Our skin also is populated by many beneficial bacteria that aid in our defense by keeping the bad bacteria under control. If we continually use soap or anti-bacterial soaps, we kill off these beneficial bacteria, thereby lowering our ability to prevent repopulation with the bad bacteria.

3.Respiratory Viruses are usually contracted by airborne particles that we breathe in through our own respiratory tracts. Avoiding breathing in air that has been recently coughed out by someone with a respiratory infection is important. But you need to be on guard, as you never know when someone will be coughing on or around you. Do what I do in the exam room. Act like a boxer trying to avoid a punch, by being ready to move quickly.

4.The simplest way to avoid these bugs is to increase your bodies own immune systems. Healthy lifestyles are important, but as there are many conflicting opinions as to what constitutes a healthy lifestyle, I will instead suggest a few supplements, such as Vitamin D and probiotics. Both of these supplements are available at the Institute For Medical Wellness, and for the remainder of January, Vitamin D is available for $15, a $5 discount from its regular price.

5.If you have not yet been vaccinated for the seasonal flu, we still have a limited amount of vaccinations available, at first come first served.
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Healthcare Reform Update:

What can Brown do for you?

No, I am not talking about UPS. I am talking about Scott Brown, the Senator-elect from Massachusetts.

By winning the special election in Massachusetts, his election may have tipped the scale to ending the present healthcare reform bill, and allowing a "reboot" of the entire process of healthcare reform. In my view, that would be good news for you, and good news for the country. But we have to wait and see what happens in Washington, D.C. I still worry that this reform bill will be jammed down our throats by some mechanism. Let's hope my worries do not become reality.

Even if this reform bill is defeated, it should not end the quest for healthcare system reform. As I have written about in past newsletters, we still need to reform the system. But first. it must be based on the fundamental principle of individual responsibility, that would allow healthcare decisions to be made by yourself and your doctor or other healthcare provider. That would mean no insurance regulator and no political bureaucrat getting in your way to better health and wellness. For this to occur, we need to stop equating access to healthcare with health insurance. If we return to the health insurance of our parents and grandparents, with higher deductibles, much lower premiums, and individual responsibility, the costs of healthcare will drop dramatically, opening up the system to millions of uninsured.

At the Institute For Medical Wellness, your healthcare needs are not determined by your insurance. Our practice encompasses individuals and families from all socioeconomic groups, some with, and some without insurance. Yet it does not matter, as everyone gets the same care, with no third party intrusion. At the Institute for Medical Wellness, we only answer to you!

To Good Health!


Steven Horvitz, D.O,
Board Certified Family Practice
Founder of The Institute For Medical Wellness
128 Borton Landing Road, Suite Two
Moorestown, NJ 08057
Phone 856-231-0590
Fax 856-294-0311
www.drhorvitz.com

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