I recently had a change in health benefits and Pacificare was the provider. I am using the corporate names because it is unconscionable what they have done and I do not wish to protect the guilty. To be brief my wife suffered a stroke 3 years ago and takes seizure medication 5 times daily.
health
"Transition In Coverage" Was Transition To Insurance Hell For Seizure Patient Running Out Of Pills
By 6.27.07
Watch Out! It's Hot!
By 6.26.07
As you can see by some of the temperatures out there, it’s mighty hot in some places where it isn’t always hot. So, to keep senior citizens like Brett Favre from getting ill up there in 90 degree Green Bay, WI, here are some tips on staying healthy in the heat from the CDC.
FDA: New Dietary Supplement Safety Rules
By 6.22.07
The FDA has announced new manufacturing standards for vitamins, herbs and other dietary supplements in order to help ensure quality throughout the manufacturing, packaging, labeling and storing process.
McDonald's Email: Don't Tell Your Customers If They Are Still Eating Trans-Fat
By 6.21.07
McDonalds has announced that all New York City restaurants are serving trans-fat free fries, but if you eat McD’s fries in the rest of the country, you’re taking your chances with the trans-fat. You might get the trans-fat free fries, you might not. If you ask the people at the restaurant, they’re not supposed to tell you.
Colgate: Phony Toothpaste Poses Little Health Risk
By 6.15.07
Colgate has released a statement on the four-state counterfeit toothpaste scare, saying that the quantities of diethylene glycol (a chemical more often used to give flavor to antifreeze) are not high enough to pose a significant health risk. Diethylene glycol is the same chemical, sources say, found in toothpaste imported from China that was recalled just two weeks ago. According to MSNBC News, “consumers who have purchased 5-ounce toothpaste under the Colgate label can return them to the place of purchase” to get their ninety-nine cents back.
Watch Out For Poison Colgate
By 6.14.07
The 5 oz of poison can be identified by these tell-tale package misspellings:
Today's Helpful Tip From The FDA: Throw Out Poisonous Chinese Toothpaste
By 6.2.07
Remember how the FDA said there was “no evidence” that Chinese toothpaste tainted with diethylene glycol had made it to the U.S.? That was wrong.
Jamba Juice "Milk In The Non-Dairy" Mystery Solved
By 6.1.07
Now we know the real reason for the “Jamba Juice actually has milk in the non-dairy mix!” balderdash back in early April: bad typesetting.
USDA To Meatpackers: You Have No Right To Test For Deadly Diseases
By 5.31.07
The USDA has vowed to safeguard your meat by fighting reckless meatpackers that want to test their dead cattle for mad cow disease. The USDA’s current policy of testing less than 1% of cows is clearly succeeding since none of you have caught Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of mad cow disease.
The Myth Of Salads: Why Why Fast Food Salads Aren't Necessarily Going To Help You Lose Weight
By 5.31.07
Ah, salads. The food of the perpetual dieter. You all know a few fast food salad eater. She’s the girl at your office who eats nothing but salads and yet never seems to lose any weight. He’s the guy who eats a salad because he’s on Atkins, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Why is that?
Evian Water Rejected By China For Containing "Excessive Amounts Of Bacteria"
By 5.30.07
118 tons of Evian mineral water has been seized and impounded by Chinese Health Inspectors because it contained “excessive amounts of bacteria.” China has a different standard for bacteria than the one set by the World Health Organization and Evian does not make the cut.
Air Traveler With Drug Resistant TB Quarantined By CDC
By 5.30.07
Drug-resistant TB is both extremely contagious and potentially fatal, and the CDC would like to speak with anyone who sat near a passenger who has since been quarantined with the illness. The passenger was on a May 13, Atlanta to Paris, Air France 385 flight and another Czech Air 0104 from Prague to Canada on May 23.
Sodium Benzoate Messes With Mitochondria?
By 5.29.07
[An] expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the “power station” of cells known as the mitochondria.
Ok, we know its hard to take news seriously when it comes from a guy named Peter Piper, but sodium benzoate is no joke. It’s in a lot of beverages. Coke, Pepsi, 7 Up, you name it. Constant readers will remember it as one half of the recent “sodium benzoate plus vitamin C = benzene = cancer” debacle. —MEGHANN MARCO
Drug Company VP Admits New Diet Drug Made Him Crap His Pants
By 5.24.07
“You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of your treatment effects, it’s probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work. “
There’s nothing to be ashamed about. Even GSK VP Steve Burton admitted to having “one experience like that.” Oily rectal spotting, you are just the price we must pay for thinness. Well, that… and $1 a day. —MEGHANN MARCO
FDA Approves Birth Control That Eliminates Periods
By 5.23.07
The FDA has just approved a new type of birth control pill that totally eliminates your period, according to the WSJ. Trouble is, that idea freaks some consumers out. According to the WSJ Health Blog about half of women polled “agreed with the statement that their period comforts them because ‘it lets me know I am not pregnant.'” Poppycock, we say! Buy a pregnancy test.
Is Drinking 12 Diet Cokes A Day Healthy? Coke Thinks So.
By 5.22.07
“Great taste. No calories. Wholesome ingredients. How could you drink too much?” said Diana Garza, the communications director of Coca-Cola North America.
We don’t know, Diana. We’re just guessing that it’s possible, and that we should drink soda in moderation. It’s just a hunch.—MEGHANN MARCO
Is Your Doctor's Bad Handwriting Dangerous?
By 5.18.07
If you’re like us, you’ve always assumed that pharmacists had a magical power that allowed them to decipher whatever was written on your prescription. But what if they don’t? Can your doctor’s bad handwriting lead to costly medical mistakes? Sure, according to the USDA there are 7,000 deaths a year caused by drug errors, and a quarter of those are likely caused by drug name mix-ups.
