You can read in newspapers and magazines or be told about problems by friends, but it often isn’t till you experience the problems first-hand that you take them to heart. I was recently referred to a passage in the book, “Living Green”, in which author Greg Horn recalls visiting a huge lettuce farm in California.
“As I was marveling at this vast field of green, I noticed that the field workers wore thick gloves, long sleeves and rubber boots. Some wore masks over their faces. I asked the owner of the farm why the protective clothing was needed…He told me that the lettuce was sprayed an average of 12 times with up to 50 different pesticides, fungicides and herbicides …Rubber boots and gloves were to protect the workers from the chemicals that you and I eat everyday!…Cause and effect was clear: I was creating demand for pesticides and poisoned soil every time I bought lettuce that used these chemicals. Worse yet, I had been feeding them to my family!"
This description reminded me of a visit I made to Costa Rica seven or eight years ago. I got a ride from the resort where I was staying to a nearby town from one of the resort’s workers, who it turned out also owned a small banana plantation. He was trying to grow and sell organic bananas. As we passed large banana plantations, I asked him why the bunches of bananas always had big blue plastic bags covering them. (By the way, you never see these bags in any commercial photos of bananas, including the one on the left here.)
The bags were filled with fungicide, he explained. The workers on these plantations, owned by major corporations, often became ill.
That the workers became ill was disgusting enough, but it also suggested that some of the fungicide must permeate the banana skins. I thought of all the bananas I had eaten till that time, and resolved to limit myself to not only organic bananas, but organic produce as much as possible.
It seems as if films that show how animals are treated on factory farms can have a similar effect, since films are as close to personal experience as most of us can get in appreciating what’s happening on the huge farms that predominate.
It makes me wonder, as well: do the people who run these operations eat the food they produce?
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The idea of using home tests is one that’s been around for a long time, yet somehow never seems to take off. I had never thought about it in the context Anna explains (following my previous post)–that the doctors and hospitals want to keep control, and revenues. Being able to self-administer tests, such as by use of saliva or urine, would certainly help deal with the concern both Anna and Ron raise about test results being potentially misleading, either because they are one-time affairs or because different labs might be involved, or might screw up. Self administering solves a lot of these problems.
There’s also the issue of which tests are "acceptable." I know some alternative practitioners use urine pH tests as a measure of overall health–something the establishment scoffs at. I wonder if the disagreements are over substantive issues, or lack of knowledge/familiarity.
Also yesterday, a coworker happened to stop by my desk holding a bottle of V8, the popular vegetable juice. I noticed this headline printed on it: "THREE FULL SERVINGS OF VEGETABLES PER BOTTLE". Why, I wondered, would we believe that liquified, pastueurized, and otherwised processed vegetables (no information given about how they were grown) are equivalent to garden vegetables? Why aren’t we concerned about unpredicatable consequences resulting from altering natural nutritional processes? Why do we presume that we can safely tinker with the infinitely complex biological machine that is our body?
Well, I think that the average Joe would be very willing to accept that unnatural food could be dangerous in ways that we might not predict, but Joe is influenced mostly by what he sees in the grocery store, and on television. Joe is far too distant from his food sources to give the idea of health consequences a second thought. He simply accepts that "food" is "food." The massive gap between food production and purchaser has allowed our hugely influential and ubiquitous government-industrial complex to redefine what "food" is.
Education is the only way to fix the problem–education more powerful than the omnipresent lies and half-truths emanating from our food business industry and its government accomplices.
David writes of one of those educational experiences on a Costa Rican banana farm. He alludes to the effects of showing films of factory animal farming, and notes that "films are as close to personal experience as most of us can get…"
It’s a great idea. Any filmmakers out there looking for a cause?
Regarding home testing – when I had severe anemia I went to a midwifery catalog and bought a hemoglobinometer for about $150. I could then do home testing on my iron. Having no insurance, it was far cheaper than doing multiple conventional blood draws. (Which had to be authorized by an MD or DO anyway).
I also get immediate results. Friends and family have used it occasionally as well. It seems like every MDs office should have this quick and easy device so that you can know right away if there is anemia. I’m guessing the reason it isn’t more common is it is messier (you have to stir the drops of blodd with a stick to break up the cells), and there is no print out – it is based on light penetration and you have to judge it visually. But when I verified it with lab tests it was spot on accurate.
I feel empowered I can do home blood pressure, blood sugar, iron, and of course the other tests you can buy in the store. Interpretation is still a concern – but having information is powerful!
In a clinical lab setting controls and standards are run. If the controls do not come out with a reasonable result, the lab results are not accepted. Troubleshooting is done with the machines when not functioning correctly and QC is not working. Lab results are not accepted until QC works.
Regarding the people running the lab tests, there are well-educated people working in the lab trying to ensure the quality of the results. The State of CA, where I live has pretty high standards for the Clinical Lab Scientists who interpret the lab results. A Bachellor’s degree, a 1-year internship in a clinical lab (I had a pathologist say to me that this is like medical school crammed into one years time), and the passing of the State Board Exam is all required to get a license. In addition to this it is required to get continuing education every year.
It is convenient and cheaper for everyone to have it done at the doctors office or at home, but it is not always better. It’s convenience vs. quality. I worry more about the home testing results and doctor’s office results than I do about lab tests run in the lab. Is QC regularly run at home on little instruments that you can buy online? You dont have to because nobody is inspecting your QC. Does your average Joe really know enough to know if a lab value at home is realistic or not? How about my recent experience where a result being off by only 1.7 g/dl in a doctors office determines whether a child is treated or not treated? The doctor trusted it and treated my child without doing further testing until I actually requested it.
As a side note, the post above says the hemoglobinometer tests iron- it actually tests hemoglobin which is a good indicator of whether you are getting enough iron if you already know that you have iron deficiency anemia. Iron testing is completely different.
That’s my 2 cents. Thanks for reading.
You raise some good points, and why I added in my post that interpretation is still a concern. Even an MD can’t always figure out what the test results really mean.
If I heard that a child was anemic my first question is why. I would want an answer to that before any treatment, even OTC iron pills.
I had a friend come help who was a Dr. I suspected Anemia, the home test showed a value of less than 7. I absolutely insisted that he see a physician to verify the results, which by the time he got in were even lower.
We figured out the likely cause, addressed it herbally, and he recovered quickly and with no recurrance after many years.
The lab system is good, but not perfect. My story includes a CBC looking for what was happening to me – thyroid or anemia were the prime suspects. The panel came back with everything OK but no hemoglobin or hematocrit results. There red blood cells were oddly shaped, the lab figured it was their error but didn’t notify my doctor.
But a quick glance at the report showed everything was fine. A second look and the missing info was noted. He had to reach someone in the lab to find out why it was missing, reorder the test, and request special treatment of the sample. The results came back critical.
When I went to the ER I explained what had happened and asked them to not leave my samples out but run them right away. I saw the tubes of blood sit there for over 3 hours and sure enough, they couldn’t be used and blood had to be redrawn.
After the transfusion, they did final blood work to ensure there was no kidney or liver damage or anythign else. I went home, they said they would call if there were any problems. No call, everything must be OK. When my DO asked me what the final numbers were I didn’t know – he tried to find out and discovered the blood samples had never reached the lab. The head of the hospital was contacted, he sent someone to search the trash for the whole weekend, my samples had vanished.
The hospital sent a phlebotomist to my home to draw the blood which thankfully came back normal.
Three critical errors in lab testing within just a few days? Seems impossible. The hospital apologized – to my Doctor.
When I got the bill for nearly $2,000 I said I was concerned about paying for what was substandard care. They didn’t agree, but put it in "non collections".
That’s when I bought the home test kit.
Home testing isn’t the only answer, neither is relying on a lab and doctors. Used together, the patient has more information and choices.
My anemia was caused by a very large fibroid tumor. I waited until insurance would cover the alternative proceedure of Uterine Artery Embolization, had it done, and 7 years later all symptoms and problems are still gone. But is that treatment well known or used as much as it could be to preserve women’s reproductive organs? no. Are women told the recovery is 4-5 days vs. 6 weeks? not often.
To say I learned a lot from my experience would be an understatement. Including if the hospital says a test is covered by insurance and it isn’t something you actually require at that moment have them put it in writing, or refuse the test. I wish I had known that one.
Also, not long ago I did a 3hr Glucose Tolerance Test at this same lab. I had done this 9 years ago (& flunked it) when I was pregnant so I knew what to expect. Sure enough, mid-morning, when the lab waiting room was filled with people, my blood draws got off schedule by a significant amount. In fact, if I hadn’t started standing "ready" near the "patient call zone" when it was nearing time for another draw, I don’t think any of my draws would have been even close to on-time. Also, each time I had a draw, I asked if they were also running insulin levels (because simultaneous insulin levels is what my doctor hand-wrote in on the lab order); I was assured they were. Sure enough, when the results came back, only a fasting and 3 hr insulin level were in the results. Also, one of the glucose draw results wasn’t even reported.
I had three hours to kill during the GTT test and have become far more curious of late so I did my own glucose testing with my glucose monitor kit at the same time, with a test every 15 minutes. I also wanted to see how it would compare to a lab value (quite accurate). So, except for the insulin levels (which is what I really needed to know), I left the lab with *my* glucose results already in hand.
I made a graph comparing my results to the lab’s and my more frequent and regularly-timed numbers are far more useful as a image (I understand such frequent draws would raise the test cost tremendously). The lab missed the glucose peak I caught at 45 minutes, so reported a high glucose measurement that was about 50mg lower. It also missed a strange little surge near the end of the 3 hrs. And the 3 hr GTT completely missed a very hypoglycemic level later at home at 4.5 hrs, when I felt really dreadful (should have had a 5 hr test perhaps).
Additionally, because of the missing insulin data, it is hard to say what was going on with my initial insulin phase and secondary phase, which would give some indication of insulin storge and production capability. That’s the information I was there for! But because my glucose is well-controlled with a low carb diet, my endocrinologist is reluctant to run the test again now, so I have to wait 6 months to try to get it right again.
This year, between the sticks to monitor my thyroid treatment and the GTT and a few other things, I’ve been to the lab a lot. I’ve also learned to be picky about who does the draws, noting which lab tech causes pain and bruising with every draw she does, and who can do it painlessly and nary a mark every time. I made a quick note for myself or asked for a card from the good techs and ask for the good ones now. I can’t always get my favorites, but I always let them know when I check in which tech I don’t want (I’m willing to wait a bit longer for anyone else). There really can be a huge difference from tech’s draw to the next. Even my husband noticed the difference the last few times hes went when I brought it to his attention.
Just another area where the patient has to be ever vigilant, knowledgable, and on top of things. Zheesh! It never ends :-).
In my post I just wanted to give some perspective from behind the lab bench. I agree that the lab is not perfect- that is why it can be scary to work in the lab. Mistakes can be deadly. I also agree that as a patient you definately have to be on top of things, which is why I’m thankful that I have the little bit of medical knowledge that I do when my family needs to go to the doctor.
I think it is a good idea to get a hard copy of your lab results to keep in your personal files. Often they are not given to patients unless requested.