Please Don't Contaminate Me

It is flu and cold season and Ebola is looming around as well. I got my flu shot. My immune deprived body does not handle germs well these days. My husband got a flu shot too

 It is a good practice for everyone to get a flu shot these days. It can save you time off, your health, etc. I was asking co-workers the other day if they get flu shots. One of them said she never gets flu shots but if she got sick, she would stay home and not come to work. Another one  has a thing about needles and never gets shots if she can avoid it. I think she would stay home as well. One sniffle in the office and I could end up sick for two weeks.

I can live with that.

It greatly irritates me when I see people using public restrooms and not washing their hands. Especially at the gym. Icky poo!!! That's another no-no as far as I am concerned and common sense. I wash my hands when I arrive at the gym and after working out - and after using the bathroom.

And Ebola. That's a nasty one. I think I'll stay off airplanes for a while.

But in the meantime, just get a flu shot and wash your hands.

Germs, germs, germs, and more germs

Germs are everywhere. We need the good germs to build our immune systems. I am not a germaphobe..... You will not find me using hand sanitizer unless there are absolutely no other choices. I do practice the basics. I wash my hands regularly and especially when cooking, before and after the gym, after using the bathroom and all that. But 100% germ killers aren't good. They kill the good and bad germs.

 With my immune system I am told that I should avoid sick people and blah-blah-blah. I ignore that part and live my life. I refuse to live under a rock. I go out in public. I don't hang out with people with a cold.

But there are a few germs which concern me. The flu so I get a flu shot. Maybe I'll get a pneumonia shot as well. I also have gotten the booster for whooping cough and the others. I am concerned that if Ebola got here, we would have problems. That disease that is affecting children all over the Midwest is not a good thing.

We need to have ways to get rid of the bad germs but keep the good germs in life.

I can't decide

No this isn't about cancer. It does say 'breast cancer blog' but my life isn't all about cancer - which is a good thing.

My problem/decision today is - allergies or a cold. I flew back from DC last week and was exposed to all sorts of people. As I blogged on Saturday, I am not feeling that great. But after sitting on my butt for two days instead of getting exercise and not feeling better, I have decided I need to go to plan B. Ignore it.

I can't decide if its a cold or allergies so I am going to ignore it. I have too much to do this week to be sick so I am going to pretend I am not sick. If I get sicker, maybe I'll do something about it. But right now its a stuffy nose, a sore throat and generally feeling blah. And no, please do not recommend Benadryl or other antihistamines because I am allergic. But thanks for the concern.

I am going to work this morning and then the gym, provided I don't turn into a pumpkin in the meantime....

Immune systems and all that.

I guess I have a crappy immune system.... Or that's what they tell me. Nothing to do with cancer but that pesky chemo crap probably did something to my immune system during treatment. Now I have RA and the methotrexate definitely has messed up my immune system. Someone else's sniffles can make me sick for weeks.

But I usually just ignore my immune system and do what I feel like. Call me a rule breaker if you want.

When I was in chemo, they (the proverbial 'them') said I should avoid crowds and not to go to the mall, movie theaters etc. I didn't go to the mall or movie theaters. But I did work for the local community ed program in the office of a local high school. I am sure there are barely any germs in a high school. Just a few thousand teenagers. I wasn't concerned. I worked with a paranoid germaphobe and let her be concerned for me.

This week I took my immune system compromised body through two airports (twice - there and back again (as Bilbo would say)) and sat in meeting rooms with other immune systems. I was probably exposed to about 10,000 other people, give or take 5,000. And I even rode the subway to minimize exposure.

Now that I am home, I feel tired and my back hurts (that's nothing new there).

I might have a sore throat but I am sure that is just be allergies. I'll may get to the the gym later. In the meantime I am doing many loads of laundry.

A very real problem

Drug resistant bacteria are now a real problem world wide. Think of the world before antibiotics where a simple cut could kill someone if it became infected. I find this very scary. As someone with multiple health issues, I am deeply concerned about getting a germ that can't be cured because it is antibiotic resistant.

The causes of this are multiple (from my layperson understanding):

• Doctors over prescribing antiobiotics for ailments that do not require them.
• Patients not taking entire doses of antibiotics so that the germs are not destroyed but adapt and become resistant to the antibiotic.
• In the food industry, livestock is given antibiotics for some silly reason - this leads to low level exposure that help build resistance.
• Discarded antibiotics end up in the water supply - this also leads to low level exposure that help build resistance. 

Now the problem is much more rampant. The World Health Organization recently released a report on this topic.

"Antimicrobial drugs are one of the foundations of modern health care – something we all hope to rely on when we get sick with ailments including pneumonia, urinary tract or blood infections, diarrhea or sexually transmitted diseases, Fukuda says. These infections occur worldwide on a daily basis.
But because of overuse or misuse or improper use of existing treatments, the ability to fight these infections is getting harder and harder, he says.

In its first global report on antimicrobial resistance, released Wednesday, the WHO says " a post-antibiotic era – in which common infections and minor injuries can kill – is a very real possibility for the 21st century."..."

"Conservative estimates in the United States alone suggest 2 million people get antibiotic-resistant infections each year, and at least 23,000 die because current drugs no longer stop their infections."

This is the part that is most scary to me:

"Some people may wonder why they should worry. Fukuda says that anyone who gets a serious infection, develops cancer and needs chemotherapy or requires any kind of surgery could be in a bad situation with no drugs left to treat them. The same is true for premature babies or malnourished children.

After two cancers and eight surgeries, and penicillin allergies, am I going to end up this way?
 
"Bottom line," says Fukuda, "we should expect to see that there are going to be some people who have untreatable infections."

The WHO says there's a need for a global action plan, including:
– better use of vaccines;– basic hand hygiene to reduce infections, such as washing hands;– reduction of non-health uses of antimicrobial drugs;
– support of research that will lead to new and better diagnostic tests;– and better surveillance, to get a better overall global antimicrobial resistance."
 
A lot of this is up to the patient/consumer. We should not demand/expect antibiotics unless they are for an infection. If given them, we should use them properly and finish the entire dose. We need to demand meat that has been raised without antibiotics. We need to go back to the basics and wash our hands and take care of minor injuries before they become infected.

Its too scary a world for those of us with not the best health.

Please Don't Contaminate Me

It is flu and cold season and Ebola is looming around as well. I got my flu shot. My immune deprived body does not handle germs well these days. My husband got a flu shot too

 It is a good practice for everyone to get a flu shot these days. It can save you time off, your health, etc. I was asking co-workers the other day if they get flu shots. One of them said she never gets flu shots but if she got sick, she would stay home and not come to work. Another one  has a thing about needles and never gets shots if she can avoid it. I think she would stay home as well. One sniffle in the office and I could end up sick for two weeks.

I can live with that.

It greatly irritates me when I see people using public restrooms and not washing their hands. Especially at the gym. Icky poo!!! That's another no-no as far as I am concerned and common sense. I wash my hands when I arrive at the gym and after working out - and after using the bathroom.

And Ebola. That's a nasty one. I think I'll stay off airplanes for a while.

But in the meantime, just get a flu shot and wash your hands.

I was never a believer

Okay this is not along the lines of my usual blog posts. But this news crossed my attention span this morning so it is my topic of the day. In my opinion the best antiseptics known to man are:

1. Alcohol - Scotch and Vodka might disinfect your insides but I mean the kind for the exterior of your body.
2. Soap and water.
3. Mother's spit - when they spit on a tissue and clean their child's face and hands.

No where on this list is antibacterial soap. I never believed in them. I have friends who buy them by the caseload and use them to disinfect everything in range. They use antibacterial soaps in their kitchens and bathrooms and use antibacterial wipes on everything else.

I never believed in them. I always thought they were either too harsh or creating mega germs. It was a marketing ploy. "We have the really good soaps, they kill more germs so you must buy them".  I think of the antibacterial wipes as just moving the germs around....

Now the FDA wants the soap manufacturer's to prove it. There are concerns about some of the ingredients affecting humans:

"Further, some data suggest that long-term exposure to certain active ingredients used in antibacterial products -- for example, triclosan (liquid soaps) and triclocarban (bar soaps) -- could pose health risks, such as bacterial resistance or hormonal effects."

About 2,000 individual products contain these products, health officials said.

"Our goal is, if a company is making a claim that something is antibacterial and in this case promoting the concept that consumers who use these products can prevent the spread of germs, then there ought to be data behind that," said Dr. Sandra Kweder, deputy director of the Office of New Drugs in FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

"We think that companies ought to have data before they make these claims."

Studies in rats have shown a decrease in thyroid hormones with long-term exposure, she said. Collecting data from humans is "very difficult" because the studies look at a long time period.

Yes if they say something they should be able to prove it. I'm glad I was not a believer.

Germs, germs, germs, and more germs

Germs are everywhere. We need the good germs to build our immune systems. I am not a germaphobe..... You will not find me using hand sanitizer unless there are absolutely no other choices. I do practice the basics. I wash my hands regularly and especially when cooking, before and after the gym, after using the bathroom and all that. But 100% germ killers aren't good. They kill the good and bad germs.

 With my immune system I am told that I should avoid sick people and blah-blah-blah. I ignore that part and live my life. I refuse to live under a rock. I go out in public. I don't hang out with people with a cold.

But there are a few germs which concern me. The flu so I get a flu shot. Maybe I'll get a pneumonia shot as well. I also have gotten the booster for whooping cough and the others. I am concerned that if Ebola got here, we would have problems. That disease that is affecting children all over the Midwest is not a good thing.

We need to have ways to get rid of the bad germs but keep the good germs in life.

A very real problem

Drug resistant bacteria are now a real problem world wide. Think of the world before antibiotics where a simple cut could kill someone if it became infected. I find this very scary. As someone with multiple health issues, I am deeply concerned about getting a germ that can't be cured because it is antibiotic resistant.

The causes of this are multiple (from my layperson understanding):

• Doctors over prescribing antiobiotics for ailments that do not require them.
• Patients not taking entire doses of antibiotics so that the germs are not destroyed but adapt and become resistant to the antibiotic.
• In the food industry, livestock is given antibiotics for some silly reason - this leads to low level exposure that help build resistance.
• Discarded antibiotics end up in the water supply - this also leads to low level exposure that help build resistance. 

Now the problem is much more rampant. The World Health Organization recently released a report on this topic.

"Antimicrobial drugs are one of the foundations of modern health care – something we all hope to rely on when we get sick with ailments including pneumonia, urinary tract or blood infections, diarrhea or sexually transmitted diseases, Fukuda says. These infections occur worldwide on a daily basis.
But because of overuse or misuse or improper use of existing treatments, the ability to fight these infections is getting harder and harder, he says.

In its first global report on antimicrobial resistance, released Wednesday, the WHO says " a post-antibiotic era – in which common infections and minor injuries can kill – is a very real possibility for the 21st century."..."

"Conservative estimates in the United States alone suggest 2 million people get antibiotic-resistant infections each year, and at least 23,000 die because current drugs no longer stop their infections."

This is the part that is most scary to me:

"Some people may wonder why they should worry. Fukuda says that anyone who gets a serious infection, develops cancer and needs chemotherapy or requires any kind of surgery could be in a bad situation with no drugs left to treat them. The same is true for premature babies or malnourished children.

After two cancers and eight surgeries, and penicillin allergies, am I going to end up this way?
 
"Bottom line," says Fukuda, "we should expect to see that there are going to be some people who have untreatable infections."

The WHO says there's a need for a global action plan, including:
– better use of vaccines;– basic hand hygiene to reduce infections, such as washing hands;– reduction of non-health uses of antimicrobial drugs;
– support of research that will lead to new and better diagnostic tests;– and better surveillance, to get a better overall global antimicrobial resistance."
 
A lot of this is up to the patient/consumer. We should not demand/expect antibiotics unless they are for an infection. If given them, we should use them properly and finish the entire dose. We need to demand meat that has been raised without antibiotics. We need to go back to the basics and wash our hands and take care of minor injuries before they become infected.

Its too scary a world for those of us with not the best health.

I can't decide

No this isn't about cancer. It does say 'breast cancer blog' but my life isn't all about cancer - which is a good thing.

My problem/decision today is - allergies or a cold. I flew back from DC last week and was exposed to all sorts of people. As I blogged on Saturday, I am not feeling that great. But after sitting on my butt for two days instead of getting exercise and not feeling better, I have decided I need to go to plan B. Ignore it.

I can't decide if its a cold or allergies so I am going to ignore it. I have too much to do this week to be sick so I am going to pretend I am not sick. If I get sicker, maybe I'll do something about it. But right now its a stuffy nose, a sore throat and generally feeling blah. And no, please do not recommend Benadryl or other antihistamines because I am allergic. But thanks for the concern.

I am going to work this morning and then the gym, provided I don't turn into a pumpkin in the meantime....

Immune systems and all that.

I guess I have a crappy immune system.... Or that's what they tell me. Nothing to do with cancer but that pesky chemo crap probably did something to my immune system during treatment. Now I have RA and the methotrexate definitely has messed up my immune system. Someone else's sniffles can make me sick for weeks.

But I usually just ignore my immune system and do what I feel like. Call me a rule breaker if you want.

When I was in chemo, they (the proverbial 'them') said I should avoid crowds and not to go to the mall, movie theaters etc. I didn't go to the mall or movie theaters. But I did work for the local community ed program in the office of a local high school. I am sure there are barely any germs in a high school. Just a few thousand teenagers. I wasn't concerned. I worked with a paranoid germaphobe and let her be concerned for me.

This week I took my immune system compromised body through two airports (twice - there and back again (as Bilbo would say)) and sat in meeting rooms with other immune systems. I was probably exposed to about 10,000 other people, give or take 5,000. And I even rode the subway to minimize exposure.

Now that I am home, I feel tired and my back hurts (that's nothing new there).

I might have a sore throat but I am sure that is just be allergies. I'll may get to the the gym later. In the meantime I am doing many loads of laundry.