DiagnosTEX August 2015 Newsletter
August 2015
Clinical Café Newsletter
By: Ronda Polansky M.S. CCC-SLP
Monthly Motivator
Your work is to discover your skill and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. That’s the mark of a true professional.
IT’S HERE! DiagnosTEX Summer CEU course
Alzheimer’s and Dysphagia/Feeding Difficulties. Who Does Not Understand? Us or Them?
When: Friday August 28, 2015
Location: Holiday Inn Express at 820 Thousand Oaks Dr. Hurst, Texas 76054
Time: 9-4pm
Cost: $70.00 for 6 CEU hours! Cost includes lunch!
$60.00 for those who use DiagnosTEX for their MBSS services
Call to Register, do not delay!
Other Texas August CEU courses –
Deciphering Dysphagia with Ampcare’s ESP (Effective Swallowing Protocol)
August 14 – Denison, TX
August 29 – Longview, TX
Visit www.ampcarellc.com for more information
Upcoming Holiday – DiagnosTEX will be closed on Labor Day, Monday September 7, 20115. Please keep this in consideration when scheduling your studies. We will operate Tuesday – Friday that week.
Interesting fact: The first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade of 10,000 workers on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. By 1893, more than half the states were observing “Labor Day” on one day or another, and Congress passed a bill to establish a federal holiday in 1894. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill soon afterward, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
What are we celebrating? 146 million people 16 years and older in the nation’s labor force in June 2014. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Legislators make bipartisan call for landmark increase in Alzheimer’s research funding The House Appropriations Committee today approved the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) bill, including an additional $300 million for Alzheimer’s disease research. The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee approved a 60 percent increase — approximately $350 million — for Alzheimer’s research. The Alzheimer’s Association applauds these efforts in recognizing the unique triple threat that Alzheimer’s disease poses with its soaring prevalence, enormous cost and lack of treatment. The National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease, which was mandated by the National Alzheimer’s Project Act signed into law in 2011, has a primary goal to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s by 2025. Currently, Alzheimer’s disease receives $586 million a year in federal funding for research. Leading scientists have said it will take a ramp up to $2 billion a year to reach this goal of the national Alzheimer’s plan. An Alzheimer’s Association report earlier this year, Changing the Trajectory of Alzheimer’s Disease: How a Treatment by 2025 Saves Lives and Dollars, stated that achieving this goal would reduce the number of individuals affected by the disease by 2.5 million people and save the nation $220 billion within the first five years of a treatment being available.
Dysphagia Tidbit – Acid reflux is one of the most common diseases in the world
Acid reflux disease affects about 30% of the Western world and in the United States alone it is estimated that 60 million Americans have acid reflux disease. Unlike the acid reflux commercials of yore where an individual with a pot belly and male-pattern baldness is sitting on the edge of a bed complaining that he “ate the whole thing”, today’s acid reflux does not respect body type, age, gender or creed. The traditional type of acid reflux disease is characterized by the symptoms of heartburn and regurgitation. However there is another type of acid reflux called “throatburn reflux” or LaryngoPharyngeal Reflux (LPR) where the primary complaints are throat-related such as a lump-like sensation in the throat severe enough to cause difficulty swallowing, or dysphagia. Other common symptoms are chronic cough, defined as more than 8 weeks of cough, hoarseness, frequent throat clearing, and sore throat. Because acid coming up from the stomach can swell and numb the adjacent esophageal tissues often those with throat burn reflux have no heartburn complaints, only throat complaints. Therefore when you have persistent throat burn reflux symptoms it may mean that acid reflux has been going on unchecked for quite a long time, so you should have your esophagus examined. In the mid 1970’s America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced a law called Title 21 which mandated that any food in a can or a bottle needs to be acidified to act as preservative to prevent food poisoning. The unintended consequence was that food items we all thought exceedingly safe, are now actually harmful. For example, take a whole banana. The pH, or relative acidity, of a banana is near neutral, however, baby banana food, in a bottle, is about 100 hundred times more acidic than a whole banana. The explosion of processed foods since the mid to late 1970’s has also contributed to the acid reflux epidemic. For example, SUGAR, went from more expensive cane and beet sugar to less expensive corn-based sugar, specifically high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). What’s the problem with HFCS? First of all, it has sulfuric acid in it, which is an extremely acidic substance. In addition, the chemicals used in the processing of the HFCS have the physiological effect of loosening the lower esophageal sphincter which is the muscle that separates the stomach from its adjacent organ, the esophagus, which then allows caustic stomach contents to rise unchecked into the esophagus and throat. Another example is SOFT DRINKS, specifically carbonated, sugary sodas. In 1975 soft drinks surpassed coffee as America’s favorite beverage, and we never looked back. Soft drinks are the most acidic substances we consume, similar to our car’s battery acid. In summary, because of events from several years ago, acid reflux disease is ubiquitous, and throat symptoms can often herald significant disease without any heartburn complaints. So pay attention to seemingly innocuous throat symptoms and have the esophagus examined, which now may include office-based techniques that do not require sedation and its attendant risks.
Dr. Jonathan E. Aviv MD is the Clinical Director of the Voice and Swallowing Center for ENT and Allergy Associates in New York, Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and author of Killing Me Softly From Inside: The Mysteries and Dangers of Acid Reflux And Its Connection to America’s Fastest Growing Cancer with A Diet That May Save Your Life. He writes a blog called AcidWatcher.com. Connect on social media via Facebook, Twitter. Visit the Voice and Swallowing Center for ENT and Allergy Associates in New York.