Kevin Tarr wrote: > > At 04:56 PM 1/18/2003 -0800, you wrote: > >--- Kevin Tarr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ><snippage> > > > But the most > > > important, while he's fine now, my brother had a > > > episode at work Thursday. > > > Out of nowhere his right shoulder was throbbing with > > > pain. He was literal > > > crying. Of course, he refused any help and offers to > > > go to a hospital or an > > > ambulance. Instead he finished his day and drove > > > three hours back home. > > > >Downright muley, some men... :P > > > >He of course should have gone to get it checked (and > >still should), since it is possible for R-sided pain > >to be related to the heart, even though it's most > >often L-sided chest/shoulder/neck/jaw pain. Another > >thing to consider includes passing a gallstone. > > > >"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him > >drink!" Maru > > Can you answer a not related question? My friend's father, brother, and > sister (when she was pregnant I'd assume so may not be related) all have > gall stone trouble. Serious trouble. His brother drinks a lot of ice tea so > that may be a cause, not 100% sure on the father's habit. My question: my > friend drinks a lot of beer and water and never had trouble. Does drinking > beer and water make it less likely for him or is it an unrelated > coincidence? Because my brother drinks a lot of beer, so I'd hope he'd be > less likely to have stones. Me too.
OK, I'm not a medico, but I can use a search engine sometimes. :) I found on WebMD.com the following page: http://my.webmd.com/content/healthwise/81/20211 It lists factors that may increase the risk of gallstones. Being female wouldn't account for the men listed. Age over 55 probably wouldn't account for the younger ones, at least that's my impression of ages from your post. Rapid weight loss -- you tell me. Low levels of HDL ("good" cholesterol) -- that would be a medical evaluation. Diseases of large or small intestine -- you tell me. Family history of gallstones -- that's a winner, but doesn't help your friend. Multiple pregnancies irrelevant for the men. Taking esterogen after menopause or high-dose birth control pills, ditto. Ethnicity, you didn't say, and that would affect all of the siblings equally, anyway. Having had multiple blood transfusions -- you tell me. Taking some medications (listed on the webpage, I'm not going to transcribe them all) including some cholesterol-lowering ones. Now, as far as the beer goes, I don't know what beer does to cholesterol levels, but red wine helps lower the bad cholesterol levels. I know that there's been a study recently that suggested that beer consumed IN MODERATION has health benefits. The reports I read of that cautioned not just starting drinking beer if you weren't already in the habit of drinking it, but if you were already drinking it and limited your consumption, it could have some health benefits. I'm guessing from what I found and what I've read that the tea isn't really a factor, *unless* it turns out that the beer is good for that problem and drinking excessive quantities of tea to the exclusion of beer is worse than drinking less tea and a little more beer. :) > But thanks for the info. He should go to the doctor for many things. But > heart trouble isn't in our family. I have low blood pressure and I think > others are normal. We die of old age and cancer. (Caused in part by the six > million cigarettes they all smoked.) > > Kevin T. > Of course obesity can certainly make heart trouble more likely. > > Thank you for the reply. Family history vis-a-vis smoking and cancer: my grandmother had 6 siblings that survived infancy. Of the 7 sibs, 3 of them started smoking at some point and never quit until medical necessity stopped them (in at least one case, that medical necessity being *death*). 3 never smoked. The last one smoked but then quit after her husband's smoking started killing him. Of the 3 smokers, 2 died of cancer. None of the others had cancer that I know of. (My grandmother was one of the ones who never smoked. Funny, it was the 3 oldest that never took it up. And their grandparents were tobacco farmers.) Enjoy the low blood pressure, but *really* watch out for going off caffeine cold-turkey; you might start fainting a lot! (Happened to someone I know.) Julia _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
