I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

I remember distinctly feeling like this war, this war we were lied into, would cost American taxpayers more than they would be prepared to pay, financially.  Everytime I hear someone complain about the debt, I scream inside "Then why were you for invading Iraq?!!"  

Happy Spring!!!

Statins may increase risk of kidney problems:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health-navigator/statins-may-increase-risk-of-kidney-problems/article9965366/

I was prescribed Crestor after chemo and took it for about a year.  I stopped, after reading about the benefits of aged garlic and any of the allium family (I love garlic and onions!).  My HDL levels are in the right proportion to LDL, and while both are in the upper range, the doc says to keep on doing what I'm doing!

Weather update:  Here in Niagara, we had a dusting of snow last night and the already blooming crocuses didn't like it one bit!  It's cold but sunny here for the first day of spring.

yorkie and Linda, I would be concerned about the liver damage that the statin drug often produces, so you are right.  Every good effect may be countered by a negative one. When I was being trained as a Medical Corpsmen, many, many years ago that is what I was taught.....to carefully weigh the need for ANY drug and that the longer you were able to not use any, the better off you would be.  I take too many, but not actually out of the question for my age. 

Jackie

Jackie and Linda, agree on trying to avoid excess pills whenever practical. It bugged me after I started femara how the docs poo-pooed possible problems like high cholesterol, bone loss or blood sugar. Their stock answer was for me not to worry about those things, because if they happened, I could just take another pill for whatever it was. I may have to one day, but meanwhile I diet and exercise in the hope of postponing that day as much as possible. My onc finally got on board and told me to keep doing whatever I am doing. The orthopedist I saw the other day told me the same thing.

Sandy, that is a VERY good point.  The problems that may come from the medications you take could take years to show themselves.  Also, I think the older drugs, if you must take them at all, are probably wise to consider.  The biggest reason for that......more is known arount individual response and long term effects.  When I had to leave my local PCP due to Ins. loss and go to the V.A. they switched the few medications I was on at the time.......and I was switched to older, long established drugs which in fact gave me better numbers. 

The Pharma Reps taught to push it all in the Dr's offices...have helped fill them all up with new drugs with track records only going so far.  The newer drugs I always took were ok, but the older ones turned out to be better and the few I need I feel much more comfortable using. 

Drives me nuts too, Lindasa.

Wlcome back, navygirl!

There is also "ecological niche" used in the life sciences in the USA and academicians have always taught this word in the Americanized version.  In fact, after 6 years of french in school, and that many or more in biology/botony, I've always said nitch, and I'm one to see a word of french origin and naturally apply my french phonetics first - always getting a quizical look when I do so.

If anyone saw that CNN documentary "Heart Attack," Dr. Esseltyn (Forks over Knives fame) and others have said that not all LDL is bad.  If your other overall heart risk numbers are good - fatty acids and blood pressure, but have a high LDL, you might want to have this checked:  Small LDL molecules will stick to the sides of arteries and cause plaque, but large LDL molecules don't.  If your other overall stats are bad, I've read then the test might be moot - they'd treat your cholesterol no matter what (assuming cholesterol numbers bad), though I'm not sure of the logic there and just researching myself.  Presumably, the test for LDL molecule size is a blood sample, but I've yet to find what it's called or the price, or if it is a current Standard of Practice.  I plan to ask my PCP next time I see her.

Oh, Lewing, I shall challenge thee to a duel. I also get annoyed with Americans pronouncing names like Colin or Collin COW-LIN. It's CAA-LIN.

This purist also gets pissed off when people say "like" every other word. It makes them sound stupid. For too many Americans - especially teenagers and college studies, that is, sadly the goal. Our culture is anti-intellectual.

I'd hardly offer Des Moines (aka "De Moyne") as an example of French pronunciation! 

Seriously, we Americans are all over the map with our place name pronunciations.  There's a river and city in Illinois, Des Plaines, that I believe is pronounced Dess Plains.  And in Detroit, where there are lots of French place names, we smile when someone says Ca-Dieux instead of Cadjoo (that used to be my exit off I-94, so I had to school a lot of out-of-town friends in its pronunciation). 

A very weird one is another major road, Lahser. That h-before-s thing is very rare in English, so most Detroiters transpose the two and call it Lasher.  A few affected souls call it Lah-zher.  Hardly anyone calls it Lah-ser.

Linda

The language discussion has me giggling. I'm from Detroit but I say "niche." I do get strange looks though. Lindasa, your story about your BIL and the word "sortie" had me laughing out loud and remembering my father-in-law. My in-laws went camping in Canada one year. He didn't get a shower for about a week. Just couldn't bring himself to go into a building labeled, "douche." 

Edited to add: I meant to say I say "neesh" for niche.

Lindasa - you have a problem with "no problem" but I could never figure out how "de rien" made sense as a reply to "merci."  Isn't that sort of analogoust to "no problem?"   Of nothing, from nothing.....ok, it's nothing, though I never did understand the "de" part.

As a native Buckeye, I can attest to further odd pronunciations:



Lima, Ohio is LYE-ma, not LEE-ma, as in Peru. (yeah, yeah, I know, LYE-ma bean)



Russia, Ohio is ROO-sha, not RUSH-a.



And never, never, ever get me started on NOO-cue-ler. DAMMIT, if you can say NEW-clee-er, just say NEW-clear. Sounds almost right -- there is NO DAMN CUE IN NUCLEAR!!!



Now that has crowded out all of the other strange Ohio pronunciations. Off to home I go.



L

Hah, Yorkie, my mom (another native Buckeye) always said Cincinnatuh. I used to ask her where the "uh" was.