Are CDC's Swine Flu Stats Hogwash?

Seems like every time I check the news, headlines abound touting the latest deaths from swine flu. Some sources have said that the H1N1 virus is the most prevalent flu virus in the world. In. The. World. It's also reported that if you have or have had the flu, it's most likely H1N1, which therefore makes you immune from further outbreaks, so you needn't worry about getting vaccinated. But, they say, if you haven't already gotten sick, then you should rush to your doctor and get your vaccine. Now. Immediately.

Wait a minute. Before you roll up your sleeves or consider yourself immune, get a shot of this: Odds are good, according to a three-month-long CBS news investigation, that if you've had the flu, it wasn't H1N1. It might not even have been the flu.

CBS's bullshit-meters went into the red zone in late July, when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advised American state's health departments to stop testing for H1N1. They also stopped calculating individual cases. The reason? Why bother, when we already have an epidemic?

But several intrepid and suspicious health officials (members of the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) kept testing and counting. They told CBS investigators that continuing to keep an eye on this virus – which was new, affected different age groups than seasonal flu and could continually be changing – was important.

Because the CDC made their decision to put the kibosh on testing so hastily, the CSTE wasn't given time to offer their feedback or opinions. When they posted questions on the CDC website, they were ignored. Even filing a Freedom of Information act request went unheeded. After two months without a response, they went to all 50 states to get their individual breakdowns prior to the CDC advisory to stop testing.

Their findings? Of those people who were tested for H1N1, the vast majority turned out to be negative. According to the statistics released by CBS (and questions linger why they only released data on a few states) negative H1N1 tests accounted for 97% of the cases in Georgia. 93% of cases tested in Alaska. 83% and 86% in Florida and California, respectively.

Yes, this virus can be deadly. But if you've already been sick, and have been told based on a description of your symptoms that it was "highly probable" that you had H1N1, you may not have…and you may not be immune from the actual virus.

Deciding whether or not to get vaccinated? That's up to you. But it helps if we're given accurate data to make that decision.

This just makes me wonder if the exaggeration was simply statistical, was caused by a shortage of resources, or was an attempt to push more vaccine.

My bullshit meter is in the red zone, too. What do you think?

Scent-Sational New Study

Think about the scents that have stuck with you the longest from your childhood. Perhaps a whiff of cinnamon brings back the cinnamon toast your mother made you when you were sick. (I know that was my favorite!) Open a new box of crayons for your child and you become a child yourself, coloring outside the lines on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Peanut butter, oranges, Play-Doh…these have been identified as the strongest memory-joggers in a poll done years ago.

I've worked with scent as a writing prompt…once, a writing teacher passed a box around the table and had us withdraw one item. We'd have a whiff and then write about whatever the scent stirred up. It was amazing the memories, good or bad, that one good inhale provided. I can't pump gas without being reminded of camping with my family on the islands of Lake George each summer, and stopping the motorboat to fuel up before we took off for our site.

So I wasn't too surprised that a medical study done in Israel confirmed the link between scent and memory.

According to Israeli scientist Yaara Yeshurun at the Weizmann Institute of Science, "We found that the first pairing or association between an object and a smell had a distinct signature in the brain." The study appears in the journal Current Biology. "This 'etching' of initial odor memories in the brain was equal for good and bad smells, but was unique for odor."

First, they exposed volunteers with a group of objects, linking them with a particular odor and also a sound – some pleasant, some not so pleasant, like rotting fish or a power drill.

A week later, the subjects were tested again, and could still recall the smells…and more frequently, the bad ones.

MRIs done of the volunteers' brains showed that very specific parts of the brain lit up when associations were made between object and odor…but not sounds.

More study needs to be done, but the scientists were enthusiastic that the results could one day lead to better treatment for trauma patients.

What's your favorite smell from your early years? Your least favorite? What memories do they trigger?

Tired of Hearing Insomnia Will Make Me Fat

Did you know that according to a recent health survey, West Virginia is the most sleep-deprived state in the US? It's up there at double the national rate - probably a side effect of health problems like obesity, the researchers concluded. Or the residents' sleeplessness caused the obesity. One of those chicken-or-egg things, they said.

Excuse me, but if I read one more article about one more study that concludes that (horror upon horrors) skimping on sleep will make me gain weight, I'm going to bust a gut.

Not that I'm snubbing America's appalling obesity problem, but to focus so tightly on weight gain until the public perception becomes that a pudgy belly is the sole side effect of staying up late to watch Letterman discounts the devastation that chronic insomnia can wage…on your health, on your relationships, on your family, on your job, even on the public good.

And I should know.

About four years ago, a combination of health horrors blended together to leave me chronically sleep deprived. I'm not talking about losing couple of hours here or there, but sleeping 2-3 hours a night (if I slept at all) for a period of 3-4 months.

Nothing seemed to alleviate my nightly agony. Any medication I was prescribed would only work for a few hours, if at all. Family, web sites and professionals recommended remedies that also fell flat. Valerian root? Had the opposite effect on me, leaving me too hopped up to sleep. Same with Benadryl. At the very least, the women's magazines suggested I sneak in an afternoon nap. But I'm not a napper. I'd just lie there, staring at the ceiling and cursing my odd lot of DNA and fate.

At the time, I had recently returned to work after a back injury put me out on four months of disability leave. My physical therapist recommended, and my boss approved, a gradual schedule that started me part-time and eased me back into a full-time schedule over a period of a month or so.

But I was so dazed and weakened by lack of sleep that I could barely make it through the four-hour shifts I'd promised. Most days I struggled to get in by 9:30 and staggered out at 12:30 or 1:00. When the images on the monitor began to swirl, I had to leave even earlier. Some days I couldn't make it in at all. Some days I'd suddenly find myself at work, and couldn't remember how I got there. Also, I got sick, lost my appetite and a lot of weight (so much for that theory that sleep deprivation makes you fat…at least in my case.)

In retrospect, I shouldn't have been behind the wheel during those months. I could have killed someone, or myself. At one point I realized this, and limited my driving to days when I felt most alert. My therapist (whom, I realized later, wasn't helping me) agreed to phone sessions instead of making me drive to her office.

Eventually, it seemed clear enough to my boss that at the rate I was "progressing," I'd never make it back to my full-time schedule. My work performance, once stellar, turned pathetic. I was too ashamed to tell my boss, a woman I greatly respect and admire, about my health problems. So I could hardly blame the company for letting me go.

My last day was on a Friday in October. On Sunday morning, I broke down. Literally, I felt like I had broken. I was having trouble forming words. My lips formed the beginnings, but that's all I could get out. Then the convulsions started. Husband took me to the emergency room because he thought I'd had a stroke. In the ER, I started crying and couldn't stop. By that afternoon, I was admitted to the hospital.

Some good things resulted from that. I got a better therapist, and appropriate treatment. I learned some behavioral strategies that helped with negative thinking and depression.

And I started sleeping. It took a while, but my health, and healthy weight, returned.

I still have the occasional bad night, but I consider myself lucky. During those sleepless months, I could have nodded off behind the wheel and crashed. My sleep deprivation could have triggered serious health problems, like diabetes, heart disease, worsening depression, cognitive impairment, hallucinations, or a severely compromised immune system.

And, yes, like everybody's been warning us about, obesity.

If you've been cheating your sleep to get more done, you're only cheating yourself. If you can't sleep despite all the usual things people tell you to try, then get help. Please. Please.

So…how's your sleep? Do you conk out and sleep through the night? Do you toss and turn? Are you a light sleeper? Wake up a few times? When you can't sleep, what's worked for you?

Thank You!

This is a belated but glorious "thank you" both to PNN for giving me the honor of being your "Health and Well-Being" featured author, and to all of my readers for, well, reading, and supporting me.

And that's one of the things I like best about writing for PNN - the supportive environment.

It's been shown that surrounding yourself with positive, supportive people - physically, and, as more studies are proving out - on the web as well - is great for your health. Social contact can reduce stress, provide important outlets during times of duress, and even help you live longer!

So, I raise a virtual glass (of sparkling apple juice) to our health-to our individual health, the health of our nation, and the health of our world.

To all of you writers, keep writing. To all of my readers, please keep reading-I welcome your comments with an open heart and an open mind. And maybe more of you will want to express yourself here as writers, too.

It's a good place to be.

Namaste.