Celebrity Illness - Quote - 2min with Hippocrates - Your Health - Lifestyle Tip - Web Watch - Just for Fun

Have you ever scratched on a computer screen?
Try it and win great prizes.

Click the picture and the scratch & win card will appear. Good luck!

George Michael's Marijuana

George Michael smokes five or six marijuana joints a day, a level which suggests a strong dependence on the drug.

George, 40, admitted in NW magazine to smoking marijuana to help him deal with the pressure of releasing the album “Older’, at which point he was smoking 18 joints a day. He has since cut down, but still smokes five or six joints a day.

The main recognized medical hazard of marijuana taken at this level is respiratory irritation and disease. It is know that marijuana contains more tars than tobacco smoke that is almost certainly going to increase his risk of lung cancer and other bronchial diseases.

It’s difficult to say what all this pot may be having on his mental state. George confesses to suffering from depression at times. Whether his heavy pot smoking could be symptom or a cause of depression is one those medical issues still under debate.

 Quote

"There are only two reasons to sit in the back row of an airplane: Either you have diarrhea, or you're eager to meet people who do."
(Henry Kissinger)

"My girlfriend always laughs during sex - no matter what she's reading."
(Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple Computer)

 2min with Hippocrates

Stomach Ulcers Caused by Bacteria

One in Ten Americans can be expected to develop a ‘Stomach Ulcer’. These are medically referred to as Peptic ulcers that can occur as sores in the stomach or further down in the beginning of the small intestines (duodenum).

Peptic ulcers are not caused by stress or eating spicy food, a common misconception.
The biggest culprit recognized today is a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori). Some ulcers are caused by long term used of common pain killers drugs (NSAIDs).

Not everybody with the bacteria gets ulcers. About 20% of people less than 40 years old have H.pylori, and half of those over 60 years have it. Researchers are not certain how people contract H. pylori, but they think it may be through food or water.

What are the symptoms of an ulcer?
Abdominal discomfort is the most common symptom. This discomfort usually:

• is a dull, gnawing ache • comes and goes for several days or weeks • occurs 2 to 3 hours after a meal • is relieved by eating • is relieved by antacid medications • weight loss

• poor appetite • bloating • burping • nausea • vomiting

For more information on ulcers:
National Digestive Disease Information Clearinghouse

 Your Health

Fish Oil for Psoriaisis?

You may have heard about the variety of health benefits of ‘omega-3’ fish oil, including protecting the heart and reducing arthritis. Sufferers of the skin condition psoriasis should also take note.

Increasing the amount of the long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated oils, commonly found in fish, is known to reduce the inflammation process in the body, including some of the symptoms of psoriasis.

Some medical trials have found that psoriasis suffers given fish oil supplements had a lessening of symptoms such as itching, flakiness and redness of skin, as well as a reduction in the amount of the body affected.

The disease is not cured by the omega-3 polyunsaturated oils, but it probably can make it much easier to live with.

 Lifestyle Tip

Melted Icecream Cake

Have you ever suffered the frustration of finding the ice cream has melted by the time you get it home on a hot day? Don't get mad, look to the positive!

It’s a perfect opportunity to bake an ‘ice cream cake’. Not an ice cream cake in the usual sense, but a real cake using the melted ice cream in the mix to give your cake that extra moist and fluffy texture. It’s so good you may even want to deliberately melt ice cream to try it!

A basic recipe:
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
2 cups melted ice cream, your choice of flavor
3 large eggs

Blend all ingredients together well and bake in a cake pan in a preheated 350 F oven for approximately 40 minutes.

Email us your lifestyle tips. Please include your name and state if you wish to be acknowledged.

 Web Watch

 Just for Fun

 Hot Dates

National Scleroderma Awareness Month (US): More info: www.scleroderma.org

Flag Day (US): June 14. More Info

Father's Day: June 20. More Info

 Next issue