Causes Of Hand Tremors

Heartworm drugs for pets; Big Pharma's cash cow

(NaturalNews) In a seemingly diabolical plot, veterinarians and pharmaceutical companies have teamed up in a marketing campaign to frighten pet guardians into giving year-round heartworm preventatives to their cats, as well as dogs. These so-called experts say they're doing this to improve protection for individual pets, but the facts say their motives may be less pure.

With few exceptions, heartworms (Dirofilaria immitis) are a completely seasonal problem, so there is no reason to give heartworm medicine to ANY pet year-round-except to make money for those who make and sell it! Those financially-motivated folks say the number of cases will rise unless everybody gives the medications. They rationalize this by citing statistics on how most people don't use the products, and proclaiming that the number of unprotected dogs will surely cause even more disease. However, despite years of many animals being given unnecessary drugs and many more who aren't, the prevalance of heartworm has not really changed.

In fact, a recent headline in a veterinary publication trumpeted, "Heartworm now found in all 50 states"--as if it was a triumph! While that statement may be technically true, the survey did not differentiate between all dogs testing positive for heartworm, and dogs testing positive for heartworm that came from somewhere else! The increase in positive-testing dogs may be attributable to the widespread dispersion of heartworm-infected dogs after Hurricane Katrina, rather than a true increase in the level of disease.

Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes. Heartworm larvae, called microfilaria, live in the blood and are sucked up by the bug. Once inside the mosquito, they must further develop before they can infect another dog. For that to occur, outside temperatures must remain above 57 degrees F, day and night, for a certain period of time (but at least 8 days).

The warmer the temperature, the faster the larvae will mature. If the temperature drops below the critical level, larval development will stop, but the larvae don't die, development will re-start at the same point when the weather warms back up. Larvae reach their infective stage in 8 to 30 days (the latter being the insect's entire lifespan-if the larvae haven't matured by then, they will die along with the mosquito).

It should be obvious that during seasons and in areas where there are no mosquitoes, there is no risk of heartworm. Evidently that little fact escaped the attention of the veterinarian who prescribed heartworm protection -- in December-for a puppy living high in the Colorado mountains. At that altitude, temperatures are never warm enough for heartworms!

My brother,a diagnosed alcoholic, has hand tremors which he says ...

Pam H Asked: My brother,a diagnosed alcoholic, has hand tremors which he says is Parkinsons Disease. True?

He takes no medication and,unfortunately, has no intention of stopping his drinking. This entire scenario has recently become more serious since my Mom (who always referred to AA as a "group of religious fanatics", stating more than once, he "didn't NEED to go to AA because he wasn't an alcoholic") passed 3mos. ago.He has received SSDisability for 10 years based on a diagnosis of "mental illness"; and my mother's ability (and influence being a politician) finding a psychiatrist who would say this and the fact he was getting a divorce, moving back to my parents, and hadn't worked in years! My mother and I parented in very different ways, but I still loved her; I just didn't understand her.In addition to his alcoholism he is also a pathological liar and actually collected SSDisability AND worked a full-time job for 3 yrs…until he was caught. Of course my Mom blamed the guy at SS who "lied" to my brother…oh, well.

Before she entered the hospital for surgery, Mom appointed my twin brothers, the youngest brothers, as co-executors. I'm the oldest and only daughter, but my Mom was a feminist who was a chauvinist and it really didn't matter to me anyway…until now. My brother(the one with the drinking problem) in the meantime, had found someone on the internet, remarried and, of course, both he and his wife moved in with my parents. Previously to Mom going to the hospital, she signed over the house and $60,000 to my brother already living there (let's call him "g" from now on).G and his wife, who took EXCELLENT care of Dad, paid the house taxes, insurance, utilities, fuel oil and maintenance bills out of the $60,000. Due to a medical snafu, Mom never returned home and spent the next 3 yrs in a nursing home; Dad, already suffering from dementia, was put into the same nursing home and died a year TO THE DAY before my Mom.Now enter my brothers, the co-executors.

My Mom died in March, but the twin who was really handling things (the other twin was in court-ordered rehab for heroin addiction) had "g" sign over the house and the remaining $43,000 to HIMSELF, saying how it was done to hide Mom's assets from the State (not a very good story considering these "assets" hadn't been in my Mom's name for almost 3 years); "g" at the time of the funeral STILL couldn't understand why he "didn't have the key to Mom's house anymore"!!He had no idea he had even SIGNED OVER the house and money and, conveniently, never requested or was given a copy of what he signed.

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