Drs. Oz & Roizen: Simple blood test can detect lead in body

By DRS. MEHMET OZ AND MIKE 

 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 

My doctor wants me to join a group appointment for my diabetes checkups and another before I head into knee-replacement surgery. Is this a scam to generate more income for the docs and less one-on-one time for me?

— Gregory F., San Bernardino, Calif.

Quite the opposite. Shared medical appointments are a growing trend that’s good for you. Dr. Mike’s Cleveland Clinic is the leader in this innovation, and 70 percent of the patient visits in his Center for Lifestyle and Integrative Medicine in the Wellness Institute are SMAs.

SMAs are used to manage chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease — even opioid addiction — because they benefit the patient medically and emotionally, increase compliance and improve outcomes. You join seven to 15 people with the same or similar medical issues to meet with a doc and often a medical assistant, an expert in stress management, yoga or physical activity and/or a nutritionist/chef. They teach you techniques to manage your condition, and group members support and teach one another, too.

SMAs also are used to help joint-replacement patients prepare for and recover from surgery more effectively. They have cut post-op pain medication use in half at the Cleveland Clinic. And every insurance plan to date has covered these without a co-pay.

Also, with an SMA you get to spend MORE time with your doctor. For example, your solo diabetes checkup might be 15 to 30 minutes every six months; a group session can run 120 to 180 minutes every three weeks. One patient who participated in the Cleveland Clinic’s diabetes SMAs credits the group with his 48-pound weight loss: “When I see my stats up there on the board during group, they’re my responsibility. I have to look at them and say, ‘What am I doing right, and what am I doing wrong?’”

How were people in Flint, Michigan, exposed to super-high levels of lead in their water supply, and how serious is the health crisis?

— Jamie G., Detroit

It’s a very serious and completely man-made problem. We, along with the whole country, are concerned for the welfare of Flint’s citizens, especially the children.

In 2014, Flint’s municipal water system switched its supply to water from the Flint River in order to save around $2.5 million a year (about what a nearby Detroit Tigers shortstop makes annually). But that water contained higher-than-expected levels of salts. The salts corroded the city’s old pipes so that they leached lead into water supplied to homes, hospitals and businesses. Many children in Flint now have dangerously high levels of this neurotoxin in their blood.

The body can store lead for weeks in blood, months in soft tissue and years in bone. In the brain, especially a child’s developing brain, lead can cause widespread damage that triggers mental retardation, behavior problems, nerve damage and possible neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Unfortunately, while adults with mildly high lead levels often recover without problems, in children even mild lead poisoning can damage the brain and lower IQ permanently. Though children with lead levels above 45 mcg/dL can receive chelation therapy to remove lead from their blood, that process cannot remove it from the bones. Over time, it leaches back into the body and brain.

A simple blood test can ID a problem: A level higher than 10 mcg/dL is a definite worry, though some experts say 7.5 should be the threshold. And any level between 2 and 10 should be discussed with a doctor.

Anyone, anywhere — if you have old pipes, flaking paint or think your child is at risk for exposure to environmental lead, get the blood test. And for more information, call 800-RID-LEAD and the National Lead Information Center at 800-LEAD-FYI.

Mehmet Oz, M.D., is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Email your health and wellness questions to Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen at youdocsdaily@sharecare.com.

http://onlineathens.com/health/2016-02-08/drs-oz-roizen-simple-blood-test-can-detect-lead-body

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Link between lead and Parkinson's worries Flint residents

go to:   https://shar.es/14unc6

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Neurologist: High Exposure To Lead Increases Adult Risk Of Parkinson’s Disease

Fred the handyman at the Shiloh Commons installs a new water filter in a residence January 21, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. The city's water supply had been contaminated by lead after a switch from Lake Huron to the Flint river as a source in April, 2014. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Feb. 9, 2016

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) – National attention has been focused on the children in Flint, with an unknown total who could be affected by the city’s lead-tainted water.

But are there long-term effects on adults?

Dr. Peter LeWitt, a neurologist with Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield, says there is a link between lead poisoning and Parkinson’s disease.

“What has come out of research in exploring people with higher or lower exposures of things includes lead. The more lead over your lifetime that you are exposed to, it seems that it increases the risk for Parkinson’s,” said LeWitt.

LeWitt says not everyone with high exposure to lead will get Parkinson’s — but it is a risk factor.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/02/09/neurologist-high-exposure-to-lead-increases-adult-risk-of-parkinsons-disease/?