Nutritional musing: April 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Lasik and chronic pain

I'm scheduled to see a retinal specialist about a retinal hole my ophthalmologist spotted during my last exam, and while waiting for this appointment I've been reading up on the web about this, and this has invariably led me to a number of sites about Lasik (since the retinal hole will be fixed with a laser). And in regards to Lasik, I've been fascinated to find some sites listing out the under-reported side-effects of Lasik, side-effects that go largely unmentioned by pharma-propaganda sites like WebMd (that instead just post wonky and debatable stories about how Lasik is potentially safer in the long term than contact lens wearing.... yeah right - inserting a clean contact lens daily doesn't pose the same risk of potentially burning away an optic nerve with a laser beam!)

Anyhow, I remain skeptical of laser surgery so I'll keep reading prior to my retinal exam. As I once heard someone in an optometrist office comment, "there isn't a lot of room for 'whoops!' in a procedure like laser surgery..." I think I prefer my optic nerves unsinged.

Here's one site listing out a comprehensive amount of information about the potential dangers of lasik surgery, and definitely worth checking out. Lots of good information, including this video...

9 Ingredients to avoid in processed foods

An excellent, and surprisingly thorough, article on Shine listing out food additives to avoid in foods, including potential health side effects. Of course the list could have gone further: I would have included homogenized dairy products and any wheat products with processed, bleached flour, but all things considered, this was a good, comprehensive list.

Bravo to the author for including all of the variations of artificial sweetners as well. I would have liked to see all of the derrivatives of MSG listed, though, such as autolyzed yeast, yeast extract, etc.

I thought it ironic that the advertisement on the page featured an image of a cupcake that likely contained ingredients violating most of the ingredients listed in the article...