Sneezing

When we were college sophomores, my roommate, Susan, and I were housed in a room that was next to a sleeping porch. The porch was at the corner of the dormitory building. (This was 1959. The sleeping porches have since been removed, more’s the pity.) On warm nights, we’d sleep out there. In the mornings, as soon as the sun came into the porch, Susan would start sneezing. I thought it was simply an odd quirk.

Many years, later, I learned that her sunlight-induced sneezing is a genetic trait, one shared by 18 to 35 percent of the population. It even has a name: “photic sneeze reflex;” or, even better, “autosomal dominant compulsive helio-opthalmic outbursts of sneezing syndrome,” aka ACHOO. The number of sneezes, usually two or three, is constant. Even though sunlight-induced sneezing is rather common, scientists don’t know its exact mechanism.

Sneezing is an important part of your immune system. The sneeze reflex clears your nose of bacteria and viruses. Here’s how it works: a stimulant triggers the “sneeze center” located in your lower brain stem. The sneeze center sends signals to muscles, causing them to tightly close your throat, eyes, and mouth. Next your chest muscles vigorously contract, after which they quickly relax. As a result, air is forced out of your mouth and nose: you’ve sneezed.

Here are some sneezing factoids:

• Besides sunlight, eyebrow plucking, exercise, and having sex triggers sneezes in some people.
• Sneezes travel at about 100 miles an hour.
• A single sneeze can send 100,000 germs into the air.
• You don’t sneeze in your sleep (your sneeze center is also asleep).
• Iguanas sneeze more than any other animal. (Who counts such things?)

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.

Forget your daily aspirin regimen

If I’m feeling achy, I sometimes take a couple of aspirin before bed. I can’t really tell if it does anything, what with being asleep and all. Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory. It’s also a blood thinner, so lots of people take a small dose—as recommended by their doctors—in the hopes of staving off heart disease. Now it turns out that the daily aspirin has no benefit as a preventive measure and can in fact be harmful.

From 2010 through 2014 scientists in the US and Australia conducted a major study of more than 19,000 people aged 65 and older who had no dementia, cardiovascular disease, or physical disability. Half got 100 mg of aspirin (baby aspirin is typically 81 mg) and half got a placebo. The result: taking the aspirin did not lower their risks of cardiovascular disease, dementia, or disability.  In fact, it increased the risk of significant bleeding in the digestive tract, brain or other sites, sometimes requiring transfusion or admission to the hospital. Or, in the conclusion of the report, “Aspirin use in healthy elderly persons did not prolong disability-free survival over a period of 5 years but led to a higher rate of major hemorrhage than placebo.” (Researchers are quick to point out that the new findings don’t apply to those who have already had heart attacks or strokes, which usually involve blog clots. As I said above, aspirin is a blood thinner.) What’s more, the death rate was higher in those taking the aspirin than those on the placebo, mostly because of a higher rate of cancer deaths. The scientists wonder if excess bleeding could have contributed to these deaths. 

I like the idea of aspirin. It’s been used medicinally as far back as ancient Egypt, where people concocted the medicine from willow bark. A natural remedy!  It’s been manufactured synthetically since 1899. The problem for me is that it doesn’t work as well as Advil (ibuprofen). In fact, I discovered that Advil plus gin works best. (Need I write a disclaimer here?)

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.

Proteomics: the latest thing

Proteomics is the study of proteins—the ones in your body. Collectively they’re called your “proteome” (similar to genome). You have 20,000 or so of these. Proteins are constructed inside cells and are in constant flux, unlike genes, which are static. That is, proteins can appear and disappear or shift in concentration in response to what’s going on in your body or the environment. For this reason, they can indicate incipient diseases well before any symptoms appear and can, if detected, serve as a diagnostic mechanism.

Some diseases, such as H.I.V. and prostate cancer (the PSA test) have long been diagnosed by detecting a single protein. Pregnancy is also detectable by a single protein. In this case, it’s a do-it-yourself pee stick that measures a hormonal protein produced by the placenta. But the newer research is focusing on diseases with protein “fingerprints” that can involve thousands of proteins, as is the case with diabetes. Such diagnostic ability has only recently become possible, thanks to powerful and sophisticated computers.

Using enormous banks of computers and thousands of blood samples associated with thousands of health records, a couple of companies are developing algorithms that are beginning to identify some of these disease-related protein fingerprints, such as for lung and pancreatic cancer and heart disease. The fingerprints convey your odds of getting sick, the current state of your disease, and its trajectory. 

The journalist, whose article inspired this blog post, and whose super-fit 71-year-old mother had died suddenly of a heart attack, had his protein fingerprint analyzed. The results told him that he had an 11 percent chance of having a heart attack within five years. He immediately started taking cholesterol-lowering drugs and avoiding red meat. After one year, his blood was tested again. He did not drop a single percentage point. (As an anti-cholesterol-lowering drug person, I love this result.)

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.

Summing up 2018

One of the two doctors in our town mentioned to his wife, a fellow Jazzerciser, that most of his patients are the “worried well.” I saw him for the first time last summer when I became alarmed that a tiny wound on my finger kept getting bigger instead of instantly healing, as usually happens with me. I started thinking of flesh-eating bacteria and even looked up images on Google. Horrifying! The doc, who may have lumped me into the worried well category, acknowledged that my finger was infected and prescribed an antibiotic ointment that had no effect. The wound kept getting larger so I quit using the ointment. After two months, it finally healed unaided—except by my immune system. (I think it really was a variety of flesh-eating bacteria. The spot is still tender.)

I was definitely in the “worried well” category when I went to the ER in the middle of the night because my heart was pounding. I’d been having these types of episodes off and on, usually when lying down and usually only for a few minutes. I'd been somewhat concerned. But on this occasion the pounding didn’t stop after a few minutes. Plus I was wakened from sleep! Anyhow, after the exam, which included an EKG, the conclusion was ordinary heart palpitations. The ER even had a prepared handout for people like me who turned up at the ER. I was embarrassed (although glad to know my heart was fine). Interestingly the palpitations have pretty much abated.

It’s hard to know when to seek medical attention. I’m not a very fearful person, but even I have my moments, as explained above. I think most of us try to avoid doctor visits: they're often so unsatisfying and the charges are so outrageous that you want to stay away. Of course there are times when you’re glad medical treatment is available. I guess the trick is to have sufficient body awareness to discern when medical attention is called for. Even so, it’s still kind of a crapshoot. Come to think of it, whether you’re blessed with good or poor health is also pretty much a crapshoot.

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.