Manns Medium

Dear Rockford Health Physicians ROCKFORD, IL- After coming to you in hopes that you would be able to help me understand my physical pain and especially with my second trip which manifested itself into such a severe headache that I felt my head was going to explode.   It appeared that many there were much more concerned with whether I had any insurance than what was going on.   They asked the questions but never stood still long enough to receive the answers except for one.   Since you appeared to be just as complexes and stumped as I were as to the cause of my suffering, my insistence for an MRI was honored and to my relief there were no bleeding in the brain or busted vessels.   As with the first visit, you subscribed strong headache medication well outside of my affordability range and sent me on my way.   I left there not feeling satisfied but feeling more like some product on a conveyor belt.   It seemed that you were more concerned with getting us i...

Michelle Kessel and Jessica Hopper presented a story for Rock Center on the North Carolina sterilization program that targeted women, young girls and blacks.   I the article they speak about Elaine Riddick who was raped at the age of 13 and without her knowledge was sterilized.   Talk about the over-reach of government. In the article they spoke with now Governor of North Carolina who said “From my perspective, and as a woman, and as the governor of this state, this is not about the money.   There isn’t enough money in the world to pay these people for what has been done to them, but money is part of the equation.”   The main issue right now is reported to be just how much money should be awarded to the victims of this state government over-reach.   The decision on who should be sterilized was the job of what was called “a five-person state eugenics board in Raleigh, Eugenics was a scientific theory that grew in popularity during the 1920s.   Eugenicists...

For so long so many have had to live with the threat of AIDS and helplessly watch a friend or family member die because of this disease.   Now there may be an answer to this problem and instead of everyone pulling together, the report by Kate Kelland of Reuters News Service titled Special Report: An end to AIDS? seems to suggest the opposite.   In the article she reports that “f or his doctors, Timothy Ray Brown was a shot in the dark. An HIV-positive American who was cured by a unique type of bone marrow transplant, the man known as "the Berlin patient" has become an icon of what scientists hope could be the next phase of the AIDS pandemic: its end ” but leave it to those who did not come up with this idea to find nothing but negativity . ”   F rancoise Barre Sinoussi won a Nobel Prize for her work in identifying Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and was even quoted as saying that “we have to think about the long term, including a strategy to find a cure."   ...

We are often times inundated with nothing but what people does wrong and seldom hear of the small but significant victories.  This is one which sad to say, were not found in this nation’s news venues. According to an unknown author in an article titled US stem cell research funding ban lifted by court, retrieved from www.bbc.co.uk , “The US Court of Appeals in Washington ruled 2-1 on Friday that a 1996 US law against federal funding of embryo destruction was "ambiguous", and "did not prohibit funding a research project in which an ESC (embryonic stem cell) will be used".  This clears the way for more research into cures for such things as “treatments of spinal cord injuries and diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's”, while the opposition deserves nothing less than to be heard and their views respected, it should come as no surprise that in this case the majority did rule. Not every battle joined can be a “mission accomplished” but each and every ...

I had often wondered about the statement made at the healthcare town halls of those who decried that “they wanted their country back”.   I think now the actions of some governors and state house may provide us with a clue of what they meant.   Very few have reported on the recent invasion of Benton Harbor by the new governor of Michigan but mainstream media has been all over the uprising in Wisconsin.   I could not help but see how these and all of the other things happening around this nation was linked and nothing made it even more cleared than this Jennifer Page article titled Martial Law Now a Reality in Michigan which reported that “t he Michigan   AFL-CIO   released a   press release   in response to Benton Harbor: "This is sad news for democracy in Michigan. It comes after the announcement of Robert Bobb in Detroit ordering layoff of every single public school teacher in the Detroit Public School system," says Mark Gaffney, President of Michig...

What does it say about a country and its leaders when a group of lawmakers are able to pass draconian bills like the one written about in Andrew Taylor’s article for the Associated Press titled House passes $6T spending cut plan?   More important what does it say about the people who put them into office?   It says that the excellence of a nation is at stake and if the people fail to correct this problem, the economy will not be the only thing that falls flat on its face. According to the article “t he House has passed a Republican budget blueprint proposing to fundamentally overhaul Medicare for future beneficiaries while combating out-of-control budget deficits. It would impose sharp spending cuts on social safety net programs like food stamps and Medicaid.   The GOP proposal passed 235-193, with every Democrat voting "no." The nonbinding plan lays out a fiscal vision cutting $6.2 trillion over 10 years from the budget submitted by President Barack Obama.   It cal...

As a former United States Marine my heart goes out to my fellow marine and his family as profiled in this article by Kimberly Hefling of the Associated Press titled Veterans advocate kills self after war tours .   I can not claim to feel exactly what his family feels right now but I can say that any military member or uniformed person who loses their life through any means, especially a fellow marine, makes me feel empty because even though we may not share the same blood we do share something greater. The article read “ Clay Hunt so epitomized a vibrant Iraq veteran that he was chosen for a public service announcement reminding veterans that they aren't alone.   Hunt found an outlet to help improve the system by doing work with IAVA. He helped build bikes for Ride 2 Recovery and participated in long rides.   Using his military training, he went to Haiti several times and Chile once to help with the countries' earthquake relief efforts. He proudly told his parents of spl...

As parents many of us wish to explain and explainable action by our child and in so doing, we search and search.   During this search we sometimes come upon a good enough reason and if they reason could provide us an even slight excuse, we take it.   Could we be doing the same with autism? According to MSNBC there has been an increase of 57% in autism cases from 2002-2006.   The report said that there has been a 600% increase in the disorder and it affects 1 in 110 kids in America.   While this information is astounding it should not be so alarming that we do what we so often do and that is over-react.   We over-react like we did with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and began to prescribed medication for our children which today results in more than average amount of children, teens and young adults now hooked on some type of drug and rely solely on the medical community to solve their aches and pain instead of themselves.   We leave all of our health dec...

After years of thought and observations, I believe that there is a single cause of why most people lie.   We tell our kids how important it is to tell the truth yet in certain situation we find ourselves circumventing that truth for one particular reason.   What is that reason you may ask, it’s fear. Now let’s not imply or pretend that I am some sort of expert in this because I am not.   I am just a regular person with time enough on my hands to try and figure out why we do what we do.   I say lying is caused by fear because when you think about the times that you lied, think about the truth of why you lied.   I broke a window in the house when I was growing up and when asked who did it, my response was “I think I did”.   Now we all know that this was a lie because I was the only one in that room and I clearly know that I broke that window but I was afraid that my mother would yell or discipline me and I gave her as much of the truth as I could.   I g...

David Schwartz of Reuters has alerted us to something that sticks to high heaven in his article titled Arizona enacts ban on abortions based on gender, race .   It reports that “ Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Tuesday signed into law a controversial bill that makes the state the first in the nation to outlaw abortions performed on the basis of the race or gender of the fetus.   Under the new Arizona statute, doctors and other medical professionals would face felony charges if they could be shown to have performed abortions for the purposes of helping parents select their offspring on the basis of gender or race.”   If truth be told, I think that any parent who wishes to abort because the child is not the race or gender that they want should be held responsible for that ignorant decision but not by man.   She will be held responsible for that decision by a much higher and more just power than any which could be found in the state or federal government. I say Governor...

When I came across this article by Matthew Perrone, Associated Press Health Writer titled Medicare to pay for $93,000 prostate cancer drug , I was overwhelmed by not only the cost of the drug but also by the inhumanity of those who make this drug.  They are not inhuman to make it but they are inhuman to charge so much as if trying to put a price tag on life. The article reported that “Medicare officials said Wednesday that the program will pay the $93,000 cost of prostate cancer drug Provenge, an innovative therapy that typically gives men suffering from an incurable stage of the disease an extra four months to live.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said the biotech drug made by Dendreon Corp. is a "reasonable and necessary" medicine. The decision ensures that millions of men would be able to afford the drug through the government-backed health care coverage.”  Personally I think that is the best decision considering a life really does not have a price tag and no ...

It did my heart good to read this article and realize that there were indeed some adults on the bench but then with any good news there has got to be some bad.   The bad news is that it occurred to me that the only place I can hear about this type of news is from print or maybe a few cable news shows but never from the mainstream media. Why would this not be news to carry to locals on local channels?   Could it be because it provides no controversy and therefore does not add to the rating numbers?   It’s as if Corporate America only wishes to do things that will add to their bottom line and media only wants to do things that add to their ratings.   Is it any wonder why there are few if any truly trusted journalist left?   Ryan J. Reilly’s article for Talking Points Memo titled   Federal Judge In D.C. Upholds Health Care Reform, Says Some Arguments 'Ignore Reality' says that a federal judge on Tuesday upheld the health care reform law signed last year by P...

For years now, I have been trying to get a handle on my depression and even though I think I have it mostly figured out, it was recently discovered that the main cause of my depression comes from disappointment. It appears that when my hopes are the highest is when I sink the lowest when those expectations are not met.   It is no one’s fault and the only real way to change it has to come from within.   I had attempted to try and lower my expectations on what I wished to happen but still disappointment seems to have a mind of its own.   The toughest disappointment does not come from expectations that I have in others but from those expectations that I have for myself.   As much as I would like to find others to blame for this disappointment, the ultimate offender is me. As far back as I could remember I had always wanted to own my own business and when the day came that I did, it was like the heavens had opened up and I could hear the angels singing.   In the m...

Lately there has been stories that not only touched our heart strings like the unnecessary shooting spree of Jared Loughner in Tucson, Arizona where Dem Rep Gabby Gifford and so many others were injured, killed and traumatized but this story about the family practice doctor who murdered and injured so many in Philadelphia.   If we look closely enough though we can also see how one story can show us where we are lacking in other areas.   With the shooting in Tucson, we see that we are lacking in providing mental health services to the lowest and middle class families as well as the need for certain parts of limiting the amount of rounds magazines can carry.   With this story of the Pa doctor we are made aware of the need to include abortion coverage in the healthcare reform for this same group so that they can get proper medical care “The "Women's Medical Society" opened in 1979 and was inspected by the state Department of Health only sporadically. The last inspection was...

I have been waiting so long to be able to share this information with you and implore you to pass it on to everyone you know or hear of.   In this economy and with the pressure of tightening your belt, look no further than Barrar Hypnosis Centers.   She is great and I should know because after 19 plus years of drinking, she helped me stop after one 30 minute session.   Image the money that I saved since 2001.   “The Barrar Hypnosis Centers Board Certified Master Hypnotherapist,” Diana Barrar, “since 1971 with immense success and response have helped, celebrities, athletes, executives, students, families and people of all ages stop smoking, lose weight, control anger, alcohol and drug addition, over come fears/phobias, guilt, reduce stress/anxiety, improve sports activities, memory, public speaking and study skills.”   “These are just a few topics that our professionals can help you accomplish.”   “Our highly successful Group Hypnosis Sessions , One to One...