Archive for January 3rd, 2008
Well controlled bipolar disorder can run into double trouble when a woman with the disorder becomes pregnant.
Tough choices need to be made by the patient and treating physician concerning the continued bipolar treatment into and through pregnancy. Often the decision is made to discontinue treatment through pregnancy to avoid any impact that the anti psychotics may have on the fetus.
This opens a Pandora’s box of sorts. I trust this won’t be taken out of context, but there is some evidence that mood swings are not uncommon in women who are pregnant. When a bipolar patient discontinues treatment, even just for the term of the pregnancy, the symptoms of bipolar can return with a vengeance. Seems like kind of a dangerous combination.
Previous studies had indicated that pregnancy had a stabilizing effect on the disorder. This is no longer considered to be true.
Life insurance underwriting of bipolar disorder has made significant strides in the past few years with more and more favorable approvals. I suspect that there might be a tendency, given the possibility for problems during pregnancy, for insurance companies to postpone approvals for women with bipolar until after childbirth.
Bottom line. Risk assessment of this situation is a tough call for both doctor and patient and is something that needs to be considered carefully before and during pregnancy. The potential for bipolar relapse needs to be weighed against the impact of medication on the fetus. A tough call.
January 3rd, 2008
We’ve often discussed that from a life insurance standpoint, breast cancer caught in the in situ stage, confined to a single milk duct, offers the best options for insurability post treatment. Early stage and grade lead to better rates, quicker.
It has been thought that that DCIS is essentially stagnant, but if the tumor contains “motile” cells, the cancer cells start to wander along milk ducts and can potentially start new tumors within the same breast as they go.
This new evidence makes regular screening even more crucial, as skipping a screening could potentially allow time for a confined DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) to become mobile and create a larger, harder to control problem. Certainly with the standard treatment for DCIS being a lumpectomy, the idea of numerous sites could raise the level of the needed treatment to a mastectomy that may not have been needed if caught earlier.
“Approximately 16% of DCIS patients treated with lumpectomy alone develop recurrent breast cancer growth within 5 years of treatment.” There is some thought that, even if there is no evidence of migration, if the DCIS contains the “motile” cells, there may be enough reason to consider radiation in addition to a lumpectomy.
Bottom line. As much as it is a imposition to have to schedule and follow through with regular screening, breast cancer, any cancer, caught early can save your life. The difference between early detection and high stage and grade cancer can mean the difference between getting good rates for life insurance in the future and not getting life insurance at all.
January 3rd, 2008
Back when I was growing up I don’t think they had anything but whole milk. I only remember two kinds of milk when I was a kid….milk and sour milk.
Somewhere along the way someone decided to create lower fat options of milk, so now you have your 1%, 2% and skim milk. I don’t drink a lot of milk these days, but I have noticed that the lower the percentage, the more it doesn’t taste like milk.
Now there is some indication that skinnier milk may be linked to prostate cancer. For a long time there was concern and study about the possible link of calcium intake and prostate cancer, but recent studies show that those who drink reduced fat milk versus whole milk or other dairy products, are more likely to get prostate cancer.
With prostate cancer being the second most common cancer in men, all aspects of lifestyle and diet are being studied for links to the disease. While prostate cancer has a very good survival rate, any means of avoiding or slowing down the possibility of contracting it are, and should be looked at. Being survivable is relative when you are going through treatment or if you are the 1, in the 1 in 8 that don’t survive.
Bottom line. From a life insurance underwriting standpoint, the high survival rate for low stage and grade prostate cancer is good news. Better than standard rates post treatment are obtainable.
As for low fat milk! I don’t remember when low fat milk and diet sodas started taking over the market, but it seems eerily close to about the time when the obesity epidemic started here in the US.
January 3rd, 2008
