Certainly we have made progress in heart disease and cancer, but not nearly as much. For all the money we have spent on cancer, I have to say that I think the return on that investment has been disappointing.
About seven years ago, number three son of my parents had a heart attack and, for two minutes or so, was dead. He was 38, in spectacular shape (for a guy who’s 5’5”, a 54” chest, always ate properly, worked out, no smoking/drinking). He’s since recovered, and if possible, lives a better life than he once did. At work ever since, when coworkers might complain of some small genuine or imagined slight in conversation, he would start off by asking, “You know what kills me?” And invariably his audience would say, “what?” My brother would finish: “heart attacks,” smile, and walk away. ;)
I know this hasn’t much to do with your good post, but it reminded me of his doing this. Life is short, and precious.
The differential in cancer is astounding. Of course, dying from one of the other diseases first probably precluded death from cancer in 1900.
Considering medical knowledge in 1900, I would bet that the cause of a great number of deaths were mis-diagnosed.
Could the fact that cancer is now more prevalent be because of our longer life spans? Could it be simply that we live long enough to get it?
Government was the biggest killer in the 20th Century: Hitler, Stalin, Mao, et. al.
Islam is working hard to become number one in the 21st.
Perhaps we need more Diptheria. Perhaps those who are suicidal are upset about that.
A couple of years ago I read a study that said among the Top 3 killers was drug overdose. Not heroin etc but people (mostly older) being over prescribed.
I think that dying is Nature’s way of telling us to slow down.
bkmk
For those of you interested in the cancer differential, hold your nose and watch the PBS documentary “The Truth About Cancer.” Its available online.
It was made, in part, to counter the Komen/Livestrong fueled mentality that if you fight hard enough and don’t give up you can beat the odds. The bottom line is that if cancer is metastatic when found it’s going to kill 9 out of 10 within 5 years.
An oncologist also makes the point that Lance Armstrong got lucky - as lucky as you can be with cancer anyway - in that testicular cancer is one of the only types of cancer that responds very well to chemo even after its spread to distant organs.
If nothing else kills you, your heart will eventually give out. So, shouldn’t the goal be for heart disease to overtake all other causes of death?
The majority of elderly people who die of “natural” causes never get an autopsy. Is it just convenient for their physician to sign off on whatever they were treated for? My uncle died last year. He was diabetic, had arteriosclerosis and had just started dialysis. His doctor put down cause of death “renal failure”. Which was it really? Diabetes ruined his kidneys but his heart just gave out in his sleep.
WHAT KILLS US: The Leading Causes Of Death From 1607-1895
Being kicked by a horse-
source: San Francisco Geneological society, Volume on Colonial New England death statistics.
How many of the 2010 numbers categorized as Suicide, Nephropathies, Diabetes, and to a far larger extent Cerebrovascular disease, Noninfectious airways disease, Heart disease and even Cancer, that are directly related to alcoholism in its tertiary stage?
How many of the 2010 numbers categorized as Suicide, Nephropathies, Diabetes, and to a far larger extent Cerebrovascular disease, Noninfectious airways disease, Heart disease and even Cancer, that are directly related to alcoholism in its tertiary stage?
I don’t see abortion on the list.
Sadly, one the most dangerous places to be in America is in the womb.
I don’t see war or genocide on those lists. Ideology is a cause of death too.
There may now be a simple and highly effective way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Just brush your teeth with powdered baking soda once or twice a week!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2769347/posts
I showed this to a dentist friend who had spent his early career vetting medical research and he was very impressed. He noted that baking soda is a specific against the common types of oral spirochetes that may be to blame, killing them in just five seconds.
He added that dentists have long suspected a connection between chronic gum inflammation and Alzheimer’s; and on reflection he noted that the current upswing in the total number of Alzheimer’s patients began not too long after the public started using commercial toothpaste instead of baking soda.
He also noted that the “old formula” was baking soda mixed with table salt. Doctors have long known that warm, salty water (or saliva, I suppose in this case), is one of the most effective *general* treatments for oral problems, as well as the sinuses, Eustachian tubes and throat, including infections, both bacterial and viral.