Great.

Just happened to read about a few new things for folks to worry about. In the news today it was revealed that for people who have engaged in oral sex with more than 5 partners during their lifetime would experience an increase in the possibility for oral HPV (human papillomavirus) and perhaps throat cancer. If HPV were indeed present in the mouth & throat, the person would be “32 times more likely to develop one form of oral cancer than those free of the virus.” I can just imagine the women (and men) across this country that are reading this in their morning newspapers and spraying out their coffee across the breakfast table. This is certainly going to cause the phones to ring off the desks of physicians across the U.S. today.

Also, I read on the “Worst Pills” website (http://www.worstpills.org/) that several of the medications & supplements that I take daily are on their “DO NOT USE” list: Advair (& therefore, Serevent), Glucosamine & Chondroitin (haven’t started this one, but the bottle is sitting right in front of me), and my beloved, Coenzyme Q-10. Green tea is on there, but probably in pill form & more of a notice that it doesn’t do the things it’s purported to do (as with CoQ-10). Zelnorm is also on there which has been prescribed for me (for IBS), but I never took.

Now, I LOVE science. Give me the cold, hard facts. But this is a bit harsh. Enough data has been collected on CoQ10 to know that it is somewhat helpful for use with heart failure patients. Or, at least that’s what I have read elsewhere. But this group is an arm of Public Citizen & I have a lot of respect for them, so I’m conflicted. Plus, my pulmonologist swears by Advair & has told me time & time again that it is necessary for my asthma control for me to take it, & I have a lot of confidence in his opinion, seeing how he is one the drug recommendation board of every major pharmaceutical manufacturer that makes asthma drugs (they go to him for advice when designing asthma meds, he’s that famous in his field). So, what gives?

Update from last post:

From the Mayo Clinic site: (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-e/NS_patient-vitamin-e) “Neurologic : In rare cases, vitamin E supplementation has been associated with dizziness, fatigue, headache, weakness, or blurred vision (particularly when used in high doses, such as 800 IU/day).” Given my sensitivity to all substances I take, I think this may be what’s been happening to me, even though I only take 400IU/day. I’m going to pass on the vitamin E for a few weeks to see if this is the case. Taking the CoQ10 with the fish oil & food, should be enough “fat” to help it do its job.

BTW, my doctor looked all the way back to 1994 on my test records yesterday & said that my liver & kidney functions have been consistently normal, although my blood count is lamentably low (& she said there was nothing that I could really do about that because of my thalessemia minor). She also said that I had been tested for hemachromatosis in the past (when my mother was diagnosed with it, but she couldn’t tell if I had been tested for the porphyria (which my mother also has & can be hereditary), although my liver tests look totally normal. I will ask Dr. S about this in a few weeks when I see her. (The reason I have been wondering about this is because I have been noticing that the backs of my hands have become heavily pigmented recently (hyperpigmentation). The dermatologist said that this could be caused by washing one’s hands often with strong cleansing solutions. Yesterday, my gastro. said that it could be caused by taking certain medications as well.) (http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec10/ch123/ch123d.html)