This week Dr. Jeffrey S. Bland's book The Disease Delusion has come out. I recommend this book to all my patients, family and colleagues. He talks about the interaction between our genes and the environment that we put ourselves in. We may have a genetic predisposition to disease; but we can modify it by lifestyle choices. What we eat, think,believe, feel and do determine what genes are expressed. He says, and I agree that the epidemic of chronic diseases; diabetes, heart disease, arthritis autoimmune diseases need different approaches than acute illnesses where drugs can be curative. Chronic diseases are an interaction of many factors and are different for different people. The type of medicine he describes is truly individualized care.  

Recently read that Dr. Willet at cancer prevention meeting did not find that diet effects  were not as great as expected. I think I know why.Environmental chemicals overwhelm the effect of diet in susceptible people. My son watched a youtube video on how jaw breakers are made. They use rubber and carnuba wax to make them shiny. Kids are basically eating chemicals. REAL cancer prevention needs to be political.   

This year has seen major changes to the healthcare environment. These changes have been developing over time, but their effect is now apparent. In medicine. We have the ability to personalize medical care. There is much talk about prevention and patient centered care. However, when you look at the reality, medicine has been reduced to the seven minute medical visit for primary care. Recommendations are being based on populations, not on individuals. Primary care doctors are seeing upward of 150 patient visits a week. A doctor CAN NOT give a patient individualized care and decent medicine.

As a doctor on the Upper West side I am concerned.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131007094229.htm

In an established, peer reviewed medical journal, The Archives of Internal Medicine, the chemical perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been associated with heart disease as an independent risk factor. PFOA is widely used in the manufacturing of industrial as well as consumer products such as lubricants, polishes, paper, textiles, food packaging and fire retarding foams. Alot of exposure is through the water supply in some areas. The primary solution to this is political however ,until this occurs, the risk can be managed with traditional medicine aimed at other risk factors and gentle methods of detox which hopefully will help the body deal with this exposure. 

Fact: People are exposed to a wide variety of toxins in the environment, mercury being one of them.
Fact: We know that mercury poisoning is extremely toxic to the brain and other organs in the body.

Fact : scientists are just beginning to look at chronic low dose exposure and various medical conditions:heart disease,hypertension and  neurological impairment.

Fact: The New York City Board of health has a pamphlet listing fish with varying degrees of mercury .Pregnant women and young children have to avoid  the very high mercury fish. The other fish which have lower levels of mercury can’t be eaten more than a few times a week.

Fact: We do not know the effects of other chemical exposures and their interactions with mercury.

Fact: Paper in the British Journal of Pharmacology  showed that exposure of blood vessels in-vitro to mercury caused endothelial dysfunction; ,blood vessel damage;, which is a precursor to cardiovascular disease.

After seeing the Board of Health pamphlet, I began testing patients for mercury in their blood. I have found about 50% of my patients having mercury present in their blood samples. The range of values is 3.2 to 21. Generally, a large percentage had a history of eating fish which were high in mercury. Most levels became undetectable after a few months of abstaining from eating these fish. I did have some patients who’s levels took a long time to become undetectable.These patients were treated with  nutraceuticals to help their bodies detoxify mercury.

In 2008 when I first began checking levels , one of my patients was called by the Board of Health because his level was 19. At the time I spoke to people at the Board of Health who told me that they were raising their norms for mercury, because so many people had elevated levels.

In New York State it has recently become very difficult to obtain RBC mercury levels. Only serum levels are easy to get. The RBC mercury is more accurate because it measures exposure of three months.I can only conjecture that this pollution is not something that the health agencies are interested in ameliorating. 

For information about electromagnetic problems from cell phones, visit http://environmentalhealthtrust.org/,