Bug Chasers

This video was recently shown to me and I honestly could not write my reaction out because it would not be school appropriate. The idiocy of the people that participate in this sort of subculture is astounding. The film maker in the video claims that the people that are taking part in this activity do so because they are looking for acceptance and because they think its not a very big deal to be HIV positive. The one man the film maker says thought he could just take a pill and be cured. This all amazes me because I know that HIV is a very serious illness that has absolutely no cure. The information has been presented to me time and time again so I do not know how someone could be clueless about that. The other reason mainly presented is that the men that want to be HIV positive want to be so because they're in a relationship with someone who already is and want to be able to continue that relationship. This is a very noble idea but the thought of giving yourself a life ending illness to maintain a relationship seems incredibly naive. Were I infected with a life threatening illness and dating someone, I would not want to inflict them with the same terrible thing that I have, I would want them to have an easier life. I really hope the film that is talked about in the video is enough to educate people and end this ridiculous subculture. It is truly the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time and needs to be ended immediately.

More information on bug chasing can be found here.

The Common Cold Cure

I know this was shared in class but this article is something I've been thinking about quite a lot this past week. In my mind the possibilities from this are seriously endless. Being able to alert a cell that it has a previously undetectable foreign object in it so that it can destroy it is a very exciting advancement. Being able to do this could lead to an eventual cure for AIDS and Cancer. The only hinderance to being able to cure these disease's is finding the anti-body that will attach itself to the AID's virus or the specific Cancer cells. With great leaps forward in medicine like this happening it is a very exciting time for us.

Imagining a future where we do not have to worry about the common cold fills me with a lot of hope. Not having a 'flu season' every year sounds like a truly magical thing. The possibility of a cure for AID's is another very promising thing that could change the lives of literally millions of people. These sort of medical advancements seemed to be the thing of science fiction only years ago but now it seems that a future where we keep a specimen of the common cold in a vial like the small pox virus is a very real thing.

The health benefits to this are enormous. According to the CDC estimates on the number of people that died from 1976 to 2006 ranged from 3,000 to 49,000 a year. That is an enormous number of people that could be saved by this simple drug. There are about 1 million people in the USA living with AIDS and if this vaccine could be adapted to eradicate the AIDS virus then this break through will be much more profound.

Regardless of what happens this is a huge leap forward in the world of medicine that will definitely be beneficial to a lot of people. I know I'm excited to see this drug move through animal trials and then onto first in man trials. The future is an exciting place!

Stress Time

Its always this time of year when stress really gets bad. All of my classes have huge assignments due and finals are fast approaching. As added stress this year I'm taking the GRE's and starting the application process for Graduate school. All this stress of course has had negative effects on my health. Because of all this stress I haven't been sleeping as much as I normally would be and have not been eating as well as I normally do because of my lack of time.

The normal way I deal with stress is either listening to music or going out and taking pictures. Because a lot of my work involves studying or research listening to music is not always a viable options, and because of the time consuming nature of all of this work going out and taking pictures is nearly impossible. All of this is leading to a very stressing fall. Thankfully I have great friends and an amazing girlfriend to help me deal with my stress.

Because my normal coping mechanisms are not really working now I can feel myself getting worn down easier than usual. I have been trying to eat lots of fruits and take a vitamin every day to prevent my immune system from letting me down. So far it seems to be working but I anticipate my stress picking up in the coming weeks so hopefully I can weather the storm.

Concussions in Sports

Last week in the NFL there were 6 hits that were considered Helmet to Helmet hits. Most of these led to a concussion for the player that was hit. The most severe of these was the Eagles Desean Jackson. Desean was hit so hard in the head by another player that not only did he have a concussion following the hit but he also had memory loss from the hit. The helmet to helmet hits have gotten more attention as the effects of concussions are more widely researched. Typically now players are forced to sit out the next game after their concussion and sometimes two games. With the seriousness of Desean Jackson's injury the NFL is no longer taking helmet to helmet hits so lightly as talk has turned to suspending players for such dirty hits. NFL players are resisting this because they claim most helmet to helmet hits are accidental as a persons natural reaction is to bring their head down to their chest when hit which actually causes the helmet to helmet contact. Suspension seems like the best option as many former players have stated that the only way to effectively get the message across that hits of that nature are not allowed is to suspend the offending player. Concussions are becoming a more and more serious issue for the NFL as some high profile former players have died due to complications caused by brain injuries. The NFL does not want to kill off its work force so they have begun taking a more serious stance. As more and more research is coming out regarding the seriousness of concussions and the prolonged effects they can have on players it will be interesting to see what sort of rule changes and policy changes develop.


The NFL is not the only sport that has had serious issues with concussions as it is a large problem in the NHL as well. Eric Lindros is a prime example of this, suffering 8 concussions while playing for the Flyers, being forced to end his career prematurely for fear that were he to suffer any more he would end up brain dead. Sports are started to be more and more cautious because not properly protecting their players puts them at liability for lawsuit as well as preventing future players from joining for fear of the violent nature of the games.


Its refreshing to see both the NFL and NHL taking concussions so seriously given the violent nature of both sports. I'm sure players and fans alike are relieved as no one wants to see one of their favorite players severely injured. I know im pleased that something so obviously detrimental to people is finally a concern.

Alcohol

Recently a friend linked me this article on twitter. I think he was really just trying to justify his recent increase in drinking by saying that intelligent people did it but thats beside the point. The article has brought up a lot of debate with anyone that I have shared the article with, and I dont expect this time to be any different. One of the things that has been a major topics of debate is why do the people deemed intelligent drink more. The article says that it is a persons intelligence it's self not correlates of intelligence that cause people to consume more alcohol. To emphasize their point they present with graphs that control for most factors such as economic status, sex, and education. They even controlled for frequency of socialization with friends which was one of my guesses as to why more intelligent people drank more, that they had better social skills and therefore socialized more.

This then leaves the question of why in fact to more intelligent people drink more? What is it about intelligence that makes them drink more then their less intelligent peers? One explanation that I can come up with is that intelligent people know about the benefits of alcohol, such as red wine being good for your heart and overall health. The study also controls for education which is what I used to base my second explanation off of. While I originally thought that more intelligent people would attend college and would drink more while at college then their less intelligent counterparts who would be working. As I thought about it more my explanation changed into intelligent people would know how to manage their time better and because of this would spend less time on school work and studying and would have more time to imbibe alcohol. Im curious if anyone else can come up with better explanations, let me know in the comments.

Colds

Unfortunately this week I came down with a cold. It wasn't a very serious cold just some sinus congestion and a bit of a sore throat. While it wasn't I did try and do everything possible to get over it as quickly as possible. This got me thinking about what other people do to try and 'heal' themselves from colds. For me I use Vick's vapor rub to help clean up my sinus's which my girlfriend had never heard of and thought I was incredibly strange for doing. This seemed odd to me as I had been using Vick's my entire life. When ever I would get sick at all as a child the bottle of Vick's would come out to make me feel better. Another tool in my get quick arsenal was my bag of Halls. This was something else that my girlfriend thought was strange as she had never used them. My dad has always broken out the bag of Halls whenever I had a sore throat and its been kind of a crutch when my throat hurts. My final trick in my arsenal was hot tea. This really helped with both my stuffy nose and my sore throat. This is one that seems almost universal as everyone I have talked to has either suggested that or commented that it was a good idea. Last year when I'm almost positive that I had swine flu it was these three things that definitely got me through that. Im curious what other people do to help fight off their colds. Tell me in the comments how you try to make yourself feel better when you're sick.

Snacking

Recently I've found that I've been snacking more and more I'm not sure if its the changing of the seasons or im just pregnant. Either way this is not the best thing for me because when I snack its usually not the healthiest foods such as Swedish Fish and potato chips. I've been trying to switch to sunflower seeds because they have a lower calorie count but they're much higher in sodium. This week I brought back with me some kiwi's and some bananas in the hopes that ill be choosing to snack on those as opposed to my usual choices.

I find my main hang up with snacking on fruit as opposed to the others is simply location. I live in a three story house so I keep my fruit on the first floor in the kitchen and the other food up in my room on the third floor. Its much more convient for me to just grab some sunflower seeds or chips because I dont have to venture down two flights of stairs to get to them. I realize this is some pretty extreme laziness but when you're hungry its what happens.

Im really resolving this week to make the effort to go down to get the fruite rather than the unhealthy snacks because kiwi's and bananas are some of my favorite fruit. Hopefully my resolve stays through out the week and into the next.

Music is Simply Amazing

Ever since I was a little kid music has been a large part of my life. Some of my earliest memories are eating lunch with my parents while listening to AC/DC and my parents making pizza and listening to the same Erasure album every saturday. Even to this day I listen to music almost constantly. I have an impossibly large number of songs in my iTunes (35000+), a full 80gb iPod, an iPhone almost filled with music, and a CD collection in excess of 300. Even as I'm typing this there is music by my favorite band blaring from my cheap stereo system, the song where I got the name for this blog actually just finished playing. I've also been to way more than my fair share of concerts with almost 40 just in the last year alone.

All that being said I'm sure some of you are curious how this is going to be health related and not just me espousing on my love for music. For me music is integral to my health. Whenever I'm down I know the kind of music that will make me feel better, whenever I'm happy I know the type of music that will make me even happier. Theres also music to help me write, to help me concentrate, to make driving easier and so many countless other things.

With out music my life would be a lot more chaotic and upsetting. Music while it wont help me get over a cold or help me recover from a heart attack is quite important to my mental health. I wont say I need it to be in a good mood but it really does help. I cant how many times music has gotten me out of a funk or helped me deal with something depressing or just made a good day better. Some might find it weird but the music that calms me down is some of the hardest stuff out there that my parents and alot of my friends hate. Theres just something about someone screaming lyrics that makes me feel like they understand where I'm at in my life.After a particularly bad break up my freshman year of college one album by my favorite band really helped me deal with it because every song felt like the lead singer understood what I was feeling and knowing that someone else out there had gone through the same thing really helped me out.

Most people wont think of music as a part of mental health but to those people that are involved in it or have a deep love for it they know it is and they know how important it can be to people.

My Allergies Are Killing Me

It wasn't till about 9th grade that my allergies got bad but once they did it was like a snowball down a mountain. It really only started with itchy eyes which for a while was something I could deal with. After that the roof of my mouth started to get itchy. Once it got to that point I couldn't just suck it up so I decided to take some sort of allergy medicine. Because it was the most advertised at the time I decided to try Claritin-D. I decided to go with the D because my nose was getting stuffy at the time and I hopped it would help clear that up for me. When I first started taking it, it worked perfectly. It would last all day and all of my allergic reactions would disappear. After a while though my allergies started getting worse and the Claritin would stop working as much. It wouldn't last all night instead it would just last for 8-12 hours when it was supposed to last for 24. I decided that it was time to switch to something else so I decided to try Zyrtec. That to worked for a while but I again built up a tolerance so I tried switching back to Claritin last winter. Thats when my allergies started getting worse. The Claritin wouldn't take care of all of my allergic reactions. My eyes would stay itchy and start watering and the roof of my mouth would be constantly itchy and nothing I could do would stop it. I remember one particular day as I was walking to class there was what looked like a pollen tornado. I of course had to walk through it to get to class and that made my allergies go berserk. In class it literally looked like I was crying because the pollen had gotten into my contacts and behind them and the Claritin couldn't handle it. When I got home later I washed my contacts off and the solution was yellow from all the pollen. Just today I switched back to Zyrtec in the hopes that it can better fight my allergies. If this doesn't work like I want it to I might have to start looking into allergy shots because I'm sick of suffering from my allergies.

My Ears Are Ringing

When most people think of health, hearing is probably not one of the first things that comes to mind. For me though being obsessed with music my hearing is one of my main concerns. As a concert photographer I'm exposed to really loud music a few times a week. Usually I end up standing right next to the giant speakers that are playing the music loud enough to shake the venue.

My first concert where I was shooting and not just attending was the '09 Warped Tour. As I was new to this whole experience I was rather unprepared for that day. When I first got into the photographer/press pit I immediately realized just how loud the speakers were. When you're right next to them then can actually push you back if they're up loud enough (which has happened to me). Thankfully one of the security guards was nice enough to give me a extra set of ear plugs but the damage was done none the less. When I got home after spending all day by the speakers my ears were ringing incessantly. Luckily this stopped early the next day but some damage had been done. From then on I always tried to remember to bring ear plugs with me to limit the ear damage. I remembered to bring them most of the time but occasionally because I'm only human I forgot from time to time. Most times I could get away with this by hanging back from the stage when I wasn't shooting or covering my ears.

One time though neither of these worked because I was on stage and had no choice but to be next to the speakers. The Fall of Troy were on their Farewell Tour and they had a stop at The First Unitarian Church that I was lucky enough cover. After being on stage for all three bands I had to leave because my ears were hurting already. When I was over a friends house after the show I could barely hear what they were saying the ringing was so loud. This was the worse I ever hearing damage that I have experienced, it went on for three days, and even at the end of the third day my hearing wasn't what it was before the show, the ringing had just stopped. This really solidified in my mind that I needed to have ear plugs in at every show I attend wether its for entertainment or I'm taking pictures.

Hearing loss is something I've become terrified since that experience and ever since then I've done everything that I can to ensure that I wont go through that again. Not being able to hear a person sitting next to you talk even though you can see their lips moving is a fairly frightening experience. I'm hoping my ears can remain healthy for years to come.