Men's Brains vs Women's Brains

Well Done and funny!

FRAUD: Plain $ Simple

Let's say you went to a car dealer and bought a new car that included a CD player that you paid for, as listed on the spec sheet. When the car was delivered there was no CD player.

Mistake, or fraud?

Let's say that this happened not just this once, and not just to you...but, that car dealers were doing this 10 million times per year.

Mistake, or fraud?

Now, let's imagine that in some bizarre way the car dealers not only kept the money, but blamed their customers for this problem. What do you think would follow? I'm thinking national news and prosecution for fraud.

Where's this going? Hold that thought, and read on....

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10 Million Women Who Lack a Cervix Still Get Pap Tests

NYTimes By GINA KOLATA
Published: June 23, 2004

As many as 10 million women who have had hysterectomies and who no longer

have a cervix are still getting Pap tests, a new study finds.

The screening Pap test looks for precancerous cells in tissue scraped from a woman's cervix and can prevent what would otherwise be a common and deadly cancer. But testing most women without a cervix makes little sense, leads to false positives and wastes money.

The women in question do not include the 1.1 million who had a hysterectomy and still have a cervix, which is at the base of the uterus, nor the 2.2 million who had their uteruses and cervices removed because they had cancer or precancerous cells in their cervix. In both of these groups, Pap tests are warranted.

These women are being screened for cancer in an organ that they don't have.

No professional organization recommends Pap tests for most women without a cervix. The screening guidelines ''either have not been heard or have been ignored,'' the investigators wrote. No one is suggesting fraud or mendacity on the part of the doctors or laboratories (WHAT? WHY NOT? This isn't only unmitigated FRAUD, but also malpractice, and sexual assault!). Instead, Dr. Sirovich and others say,the situation seems to reflect doctors' habits (what about standards of care?!) and women's expectations.(Say what?! = blaming the patient!!)

When a woman does not have a cervix, a doctor scrapes cells from her vagina instead, sending them off to be examined. And that, cancer experts say, is problematic.

Vaginal cancer is exceedingly rare, and tests of vaginal cells are much more likely to result in false positives than they are to find vaginal cancers. A result is unnecessary vaginal biopsies that can result in their own false positives. As a result, women can end up having vaginal tissue removed to treat a cancer that is not even present. (Not to mention unnecessary procedures causing adverse events, psychological harm, and death!)

Dr. Alfred Berg, the former chairman of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which issues medical practice guidelines, said Pap tests in women without a cervix has been a longstanding issue. Since 1988 (23 years of fraud, and counting!), Dr. Berg said, the task force has issued more and more adamant statements against it, to little avail. (charge the docs with fraud, and it would stop tomorrow!)

''We're all fascinated as to why this should be,'' Dr. Berg said. In part, he said, it might be because the American public is convinced that cancer screening is an unmitigated good, making women and their doctors reluctant to give up a test as simple and popular as the Pap.

''We have a thing in this country about cancer screening (A thing? Medical disease screening, of all types, is their largest recruitment tool for care.) ,'' Dr. Berg said. ''It has a deep social value, and when evidence points in another direction (BS! There never was ANY evidence supporting the use of Pap tests in women without a cervix!) , people are very skeptical.''

Another possibility, Dr. Sirovich said, is that evaluations of doctors and health care systems count the percentage of women who have Pap tests, giving little incentive to advise against the tests. (treating the wallet and not the patient)

Gynecologists are also puzzled.

Dr. Kenneth Noller, an author of the cervical cancer screening guidelines issued by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which does not recommend Pap tests for most women who have had hysterectomies, said he suspected that a reason the test was being done in these women anyway was that doctors were used to it.

''It's a relatively cheap (at about $100 per test x 10 million/year = $ 1 billion dollars. That ain't cheap.)and easy procedure,'' he explained. ''It's sort of become a habit.'' (They're kidding, right? FRAUD: pure and simple, and generating big $$$)

Dr. Alan Waxman, another author of the obstetricians and gynecologists' guidelines said women expected the test. ''Many women equate the Pap test with the pelvic exam,'' Dr. Waxman said. ''So they come in every year for their Pap test even if they don't need it any more.''(Blame the patient! Who's in charge here?!)

Instead, he explained, doctors worry about the consequences for themselves if they counsel against a Pap test for the rare woman who turns out to have vaginal cancer. ''If the doctor didn't do a Pap test, then there's the litigation threat,'' he said. (Not true: the standard of care does NOT recommend a PAP test for women without a cervix)

Dr. Noller said he tried to dissuade women who do not need Pap tests. ''I will present the facts to them,'' he said. ''I will try to talk them out of it.'' But, he said, ''if they still insist, I would probably do it.'' (Say What?!! What self-serving nonsense and bad medical judgment! If they insisted on a leg amputation or kidney transplant, would he just go ahead and do it?)

Beyond Neurofeedback

The following is a brief, and fascinating, glimpse into the future of brain imaging and neurofeedback

The Irony of Alternative Health

The Irony of Alternative Care

As a chiropractor and LENS neurofeedback practitioner for many years, I have observed an interesting, and bizarre, irony related to many patients making a first time foray into alternative health. Fed up with years of invasive medical testing and procedures, unsuccessful care, and a plethora of drug cocktails (and their side effects), they enter the office apprehensive and skeptical.

And therein lies the first bit of irony.

I embrace their apprehension and skepticism, and wonder why it didn’t kick in years ago relative to their ongoing complaints and years of failed medical care; not to mention the more significant risks they accepted associated with that care.

But the real irony lies in their expectations of alternative care. They tend to hold alternative care in very low esteem (hence its last resort status), but at the same time, they expect it to fix them quickly; as in a matter of days, at most. In short, they expect a miracle. This always makes me wonder…if they thought it would help them that quickly, why didn’t they try it first?!

However, the ultimate irony, as I see it, must be from the patient’s perspective because a large number of them, with these chronic complaints, respond extremely well to a short course (within 4-6 weeks for chiropractic patients, and 4-6 visits with LENS patients) of non-invasive, extremely low risk conservative care in combination with practical self-help measures (with acute cases, most often, responding faster)....and leave wondering: "why didn't I try this a long time ago?"

Pure Joy!

Pure Joy, A Magical Moment in Life...My beautiful daughter got married!

April May & Eric Schwarz

It doesn't get any better than this!

Optimizing the Brain

LENS: Optimizing the Brain

The following is an article from the Berkshire Eagle:

Optimizing the Brain: process goes after negative effects of mental illness

By Amanda Korman, Berkshire Eagle Staff, Feb 28, 2011

The brain is a complicated country, the tools for treating its maladies always in rapid evolution. One man here has been utilizing a "low-energy" neurofeedback system, or LENS, since October to treat patients with mental illness. The apparently simple program of receiving frequencies to "correct" the brain's negative patterns, gaining ground in the medical community, has also yielded largely positive patient response.

North Adams practitioner Peter May said that LENS is applicable to problems including attention deficit, autism, migraines, insomnia, brain injury and anxiety.

"The brain sometimes gets stuck in maladaptive patterns," said May, a chiropractor by training. "[LENS] acts as a catalyst to activate your brain's self-regulatory capacity to optimize brain function."

May wields the LENS computer program and series of sensors that attach to the patient's earlobes and around the skull over a series of treatments.
Dr. Mary O'Malley, a psychiatrist at Berkshire Medical Center who has trained in neurofeedback, said LENS has a good reputation in her field. Its practitioners need not be physicians, she added.
"These [neurofeedback] are potent tools, and it's great to see that they're getting more use out in the medical system and elsewhere," she said.
O'Malley explained the process simply: "It looks at how the brain is a little bit stuck ... then asks the brain to shift out of being stuckusing low-impulse frequencies."
LENS won't help everybody, May said, but out of the 60 or so people he's treated since he started in October, only about 10 percent haven't seen improvements.
O'Malley pointed out that LENS is often used in conjunction with other clinical diagnosing techniques -- which May doesn't do. However, she said, even just the technology itself can be helpful.
That said, not all those who work with the brain feel as confident in LENS's potency on its own.
Beth Adams, a neuro-trauma rehabilitation specialist in Salem, is more circumspect that neurofeedback alone could create lasting change in a patient with a brain injury, which is one of the ailments May lists as being able to treat.
Adams, who is also on the board of directors for the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts, wasn't familiar with LENS specifically, but said that a combination of therapy, medications and neuro-psychological evaluation are methods that could better facilitate brain-injury healing.
"If somebody is wanting to facilitate neurofeedback, look at the big picture to encompass all types of therapies," she said.
May feels that the patient responses speak for themselves.
May's patient Ashley, 17, who requested not to have her last name printed to protect her privacy, came to May for LENS treatment after years of poor luck treating ADD, depression and anxiety. She dropped out of high school after her junior year because of emotional problems that medications like Wellbutrin and Paxil weren't ameliorating.
As of this week, Ashley has received four LENS treatments, and her mother said her improvement in mood was almost instant.
"She used to say, ‘I just want to know what's wrong with my brain,'" her mother said. "When we left his office [the first time], she said, ‘I feel like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders."
At May's request, patients write a record of their feelings after treatment, and the compilation has a litany of stories like Ashley's -- the somber, difficult child who suddenly is willing to rake leaves with his siblings; the parents who stop yelling at their children; the depressive kid who begins to take an interest in a sick relative. People also reported negative effects, like spikes in anger, which May believes is the brain's way of beginning to address its dysfunction.
"This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," May said, gesturing at the book of comments he keeps in his office. "I could read this forever."
Ashley's mother said she is still somewhat dubious of the method. However, she pointed out, the price of treatment -- $160 the first time; $60 after that -- is on par with what she'd spend on her daughter's medications anyway, and May never promised her instant healing.
In short, it doesn't seem like a gimmick, she said -- that, and it seems to be working.
"I was very skeptical, and I still am," her mother said. "But I can honestly say that I have seen a change in [Ashley] since we started the program."
Ashley said that her anxiety is gone, she's more comfortable in social situations and is having an easier time concentrating while working toward her GED and looking for a job. She's still seeing her psychiatrist but is off all her medications, her mother said.
"This has helped me more than any medication or any therapy session has in my entire life," Ashley said.
O'Malley, the BMC psychiatrist, said that LENS and neurofeedback is a treatment alternative that she views as a useful tool in the difficult terrain of mental illness.
"In general, I think people should be their own judge and not look to this as a panacea, obviously," she said. "But very plausibly it could be a better solution to existing problems if they haven't gotten relief elsewhere."

LENS: Up Close & Personal

LENS: Up Close & Personal

I continue to be amazed at the results I am getting with patients using LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback System).

Most recently, I am most amazed by my own experience.

In early October 2010, I was trained and certified as a LENS Practitioner. It was also the last time I was treated. Since then patients in my office often ask; “Were you treated with LENS? And, what did it do for you?”

Up until recently, my response has been:

“Personally, I am sleeping much better. I had been waking up every 90 minutes throughout the night. Since LENS, I wake only 1-2 times a night. My dreams have become incredibly vivid to the extent that when I do wake at night, I can go back to sleep and pick up my dream where I left off…and, there is nothing better than me as an action hero, in tights, all night long. Also, my reading retention has improved.”

That’s all well and good, but nothing compared to some of the profound life-changing results many of my patients are experiencing. It’s almost the more dysfunctional the brain is, the more ‘like-wow!’ the response to LENS.

My improvement, like that of my patients, has been consistent after treatment, with one new, quite shocking, personal realization.

In the past 4-6 weeks I have encountered a major life stressor. For several reasons, I had to close my practice in Northampton, MA. As you would imagine, deciding to close, facing up to my decisions and choices, confronting co-tenants, and walking away from a big investment were all very stressful. About two weeks into the close/move, I realized something remarkable. I was going through the process without any of the anxiety and insanity that have characterized me in the past in similar stressful situations. No second guessing, anxiety, or depression about my decision. No bolting awake at night. No minor panic attacks, cold sweats or nervous stomach. And, no irritability, or acting-out, at home.

It took me ‘hitting a wall of stress’ to unveil my personal ‘like-wow’ experience, to realize the profound ways in which LENS has helped me.