HEALTH

FLU SHOTS AVAILABLE

You can get them at a pharmacy if you have insurance. Otherwise the clinics usually get them by mid-October.

Reactions to the flu shot are your body fighting the flu virus pieces in the vaccine. There is no complete virus in the vaccine. Those who don’t get the flu shot put themselves at risk for getting one of the 3 or 4 flus that may be lethal this next flu season. Also, it puts those around you at risk since you may infect them before you know it.

MENTAL ILLNESS PROFILES ON GAME OF THRONES
Of course, it is impossible to examine characters who are not real people, but a psychiatrist has associated diagnoses with certain characters based on what is seen:
Arya: Paranoid Personality Disorder. She is mistrustful of everyone and assumes their motives are evil.
Bran Stark: Schizoid Personality Disorder. He lacks emotion, dissociates, his thoughts paralyze him as he retreats deeper into himself. He cannot have close relationships.
Aerys II Targaryen: Schizotypal Personality Disorder. He is overcome by cruelty and paranoia. His acts are very defined and strange. He is obsessed with fire and feels he is not vulnerable to fire. He is eccentric and has strange beliefs and magical thinking
Joffrey Baratheon: Antisocial Personality Disorder. He cannot obey social rules, uses others for personal benefit, very impulsive, can’t seem to plan, is irritable, aggressive, lacks remorse.
Ellaria Sand: Borderline Personality Disorder. Committed to vengeance, impulsive, emotionally variable to the extreme, argumentative, paranoid, anxious.
Tyrion Lannister: Histrionic Personality Disorder. Loves those who praise him, seeks attention, overly theatrical, melodramatic.
Daenerys Targaryen: Narcissitic Personality Disorder. She thinks she is destined and deserves to rule. Needs to be appreciated and validated and seeks these goals with laser focus. She
Jon Snow: Avoidant Personality. He doesn’t seem to want to rise above his second class status. Keeps to himself, insecure when making decisions, unsure, timid.
Jorah Mormont: Dependent Personality. He must have Daenerys’s favor at any cost.
Brienne of Tarth: Capable, decisive, faithful, detail-oriented, perfectionist, demanding, rigid, stubborn, inflexible, avoids delegating tasks

GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY HELPED DIABETS UP TO 12 YEARS LATER
Looking at more than 400 patients weighing an average of 300 lbs who had their stomach stapled and a part of their intestine bypassed had lost on average of 59lbs 12 years later had improved: diabetes control, blood pressures, and blood fat levels. Half of the 84 diabetics didn’t have it anymore. Those not needing insulin prior to surgery were more likely to be cured. Now, diabetes in these cases probably is postponed in these “cures” since as we age we are at higher risk for diabetes.
Good News: This reminds me that fatty liver improves much with only a 15% wt loss and these people, on average, have lost 27% of their pre-surgical weight.
Bad News: I can’t imagine this mild weight loss dramatically helps their exercise-limiting joint pain they have or will have if they are still obese; exercise is such an important part of overall health. I am seeing many obese people get joint replacements in their 50s and 60s; it almost seems routine. All that weight pushing on their joints for years wears them out. Will it reduce their cancer, gallstone, sleep apnea, asthma, and gout risks? What about the slow weight gain this study shows after the initial loss?

DO YOU NEED ANTIBIOTICS FOR PINK EYE?
If you have these 4 symptoms, you are 92% positive to have a viral eye infection that antibiotics don’t treat: no sticky eyelids in the morning, over 6 years old, it hits between April and November, and no discharge or watery discharge. The more of these you have, the more likely you have a viral infection and the drops will not help. Using antibiotics when not needed contributes to resistance, e.g. the world is worrying about gonorrhea that is resistant to many of our therapies that has started with a few patients and we expect it to become widespread as history shows.

PRESIDENT PLANNED TO CUT GLOBAL AIDS MONEY BY 1 BILLION, BUT
Congress kept the funding the same; it is effectively less due to inflation, but not by a billion dollars.
On the other hand, the treatment costs about $24,000 a year in the US. However, the Gates Foundation has made a deal with a generic company that guarantees the price for the poor of the rest of the world to cost only $75 a year. Our country has the highest drug prices since our leaders are very pro-business. In other developed countries, e.g. in Europe and Canada, drug prices are much lower; they put a high priority on their people’s wallets and the drug companies still play nicely with them.

HIV+ MOM CAN BREASTFEED?
The risk is about 1% if the mother’s viral load is undetectable and breast feeding has many advantages to behavior and health of the infant. The US wants that risk to be zero so they don’t recommend it. In countries where formula is very expensive and the water you mix it with is infected and causes diarrhea, then, logically, breast feeding is preferred.

TRIPLE TARGET ANTIBODY PROMISING FOR HIV
A new antibody targeting 3 places on the virus is being manufactured for testing. This shows promise for treatment and prevention. We are years away from proving if it is helpful.

Daniel Pearce, D.O., FACOI, AAHIVS
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Loma Linda University School of Medicine Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine and HIV, Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine and Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine HIV Specialist, Assistant TB Physician, Riverside University Healthcare System, Public Health (Department) Member, Coachella Valley Clinical Research Initiative

REFERENCES: Medscape®