Educational Information from our Members
Are
you getting enough vitamin D?
Vitamin D, commonly known as the "sunshine vitamin"
has been in the news lately. Best known for its role in keeping bones healthy, new research suggests that vitamin D plays
an important part in many other aspects of health including cardiovascular disease, neuromuscular disorders, prostate cancer
and diabetes. Vitamin D is found in a number of foods including fish, eggs and milk in addition to being synthesized in the
body as the result of exposure to the ultraviolet-B rays from the sun. Changes in the sun exposure patterns of the American
public though has led to an alarming number of individuals with vitamin D deficiencies. Current guidelines recommend 400 IU
for 50 to 70 year olds and 600 IU for individuals older than 70.
Read more from the Institute of Medicine to see if you are getting enough of this important vitamin.
Greetings: I am passing along a link that I personally feel every dental practitioner should watch.
This HBO documentary shows you aspects and real life situations of Alzheimer's
patients in the various stages of the disease. Geriatrics is an obvious
topic
that medical and dental students cover but very little is taught or
known about Alzheimer's
from the reality standpoint. One of my co-workers
who is my age, is married to a woman
who is 8 years his senior. She is 59
and has Alzheimer's. She is (was) a
highly educated RN who was on our
disaster team. A couple of years ago she and several
members of our
disaster team traveled to Nashville to a symposium. On the day we were
to
leave she got disoriented, lost and confused. She was frustrated and
embarrassed. I mentioned this to her husband who was not in the immediate
vicinity. A couple of months later tests were done and the tentative
diagnosis
was early Alzheimer's. Even with good medical care and medications
I have seen this
beautiful person slide mentally over 3 years. Her husband
said to me this week...
"Jim you can't imagine what it is like. Let me give
you an analogy.
You are married and have two fine daughters you have
'raised up'. Your wife
is a successful hygienist and you are a successful
EMS Manager. The two of you will
grow old together barring any unforeseen
problems. My wife and I have no children.
However, I am going to go
backwards and 'raise down' my wife to a childlike state
in my old age!"
What a sad scenario. But Jim has gone back to special courses
for nurses
and now he is trained to teach others about Alzheimers and more importantly
he is a RN too and is readying himself to take care of his wife medically!
Jim
works for me and he is also my friend and I am going to support him as
best I can and spread
the word about Alzheimer's Disease to those that will
listen. The following is
free and there are more resources at the HBO site.
http://www.hbo.com/alzheimers/memory-loss-tapes.html
Article submitted by Jim Eads