Rather than directly visually inspecting the colon and intestines, a virtual colonoscopy is a CT scan (or CAT scan) of the inspection areas. It’s non invasive, requires no sedation, and uses x-rays to create a detailed picture. The non-invasive nature makes it very appealing but the downside is that you are subjected to radiation, the x-rays, so repeated exposure can increase your risk of cancer.

As it turns out, the original Pepto Bismol was pink because of its ingredients, bismuth subsalicylate. But it soon became a branding issue, “Pepto Pink,” and Pepto now has a lot of colorants that give it that uniform pink color. Bismuth subsalicylate by itself has only a slight pink color.

If you look at the list of ingredients, you’ll see certain color additives (this is for 1 mL):

• Active Ingredient: bismuth subsalicylate 17.6 mg
• Nonmedicinal ingredients: benzoic acid, D&C Red No. 22, D&C Red No. 28, flavour, magnesium aluminum silicate, methylcellulose, sodium saccharin, salicylic acid, sodium salicylate, sorbic acid and water.

D&C Red No. 22 and D&C Red No. 28 give it that pink color.

(photo: nauright)

Cold turkey, patches, sprays, gum, and all sorts of home remedies have been made to help people quit smoking but so many don’t work because they don’t focus on the reasons why we smoke, they only focus on our biological need for nicotine. While it’s important to focus on that, you didn’t start smoking because you craved nicotine, your body hadn’t learned that yet. You smoked because you thought it would make you look cool or you thought it would relieve your stress. You continued because you were worried that quitting would make you fat or you felt depressed without the social connections you made with other smokers.

That’s why this program on how to quit smoking is so powerful. In addition to tackling the biological aspects of smoking, the program offers information on how to overcome the other reasons we smoke like weight loss and stress reduction.

Take a look and let me know what you think!

As a little background, I wear contacts, the disposable ones you wear during the day for an entire month, and I was 28 at the time. I, like everyone else, wearing them too long (15 hrs a day?) but I didn’t think wearing them for such an extended period of time was going to cause too much damage.

Fast forward to a month later – I went in to see an optometrist to see if this was an issue. He said my eyes looked OK so he referred me to an ophthalmologist, which is pretty much a hardcore eye surgeon. We ran a few tests and one of them was a dry eyes test.

They take small strips of paper, put them underneath your eyelids, and ask you to close your eyes. The paper soaks up your tears and measures how lubricated your eyes are. Mine, apparently, were very dry. Unfortunately, there’s no cure for dry eyes but there are plenty of things you can do. Here’s what we settled on:

• Installed plugs. The ophthalmologist installed tiny little plugs that blocked the lower tear ducts in my eyelids. This prevented my tears from draining and kept more of my tears on my eyes. At first it was a little uncomfortable, I’d feel a poking sensation if I looked very far to the right or left. Within a day or two, I couldn’t feel them anymore.
• Change contacts. I went to a 24-hour wear contact lens, a day & night variety, so that I had increased permeability. I still take them out at night, just out of habit, so I’m almost 100% safe here.
• Change contact lens solution. I went from an all in one solution, which cleans using enzymes and other chemicals, to one that uses hydrogen peroxide and a special case. Over the course of six hours, the case converts the hydrogen peroxide into saline and cleans the contacts in the process. No enzymes means my sensitive eyes won’t be bothered.

While it sucks that I have dry eyes, fortunately the steps we’ve taken to deal with it aren’t horrible. One downside is that this episode delayed my ability to get Lasik, as the doctor didn’t want to do it while my eyes were unstable. Maybe this year we can give it a shot!

Anyway, when it’s in the 80s or 90s, even standing perfectly still out in the sun at 6PM will get me sweating and so it’s important to remain hydrated for our two and half long double headers. This usually means just a 1 quart bottle of Powerade or Gatorade (not Powerade Zero Mixed Berry though) throughout the first game.

What happens when you don’t get proper hydration? (we’re talking mild dehydration, not the headaches, muscle craps, death-type of dehydration… don’t ever let yourself get that far) I’ll tell you what happens to me, I get really irritable, sluggish, and my reaction time slows. When you’re playing in a work softball league, you’re really out there to get a little exercise, have a good time, and hang out with your friends. If you’re irritable, sluggish, and your reaction time is slow, it’s hard to have a good time. If you’re losing, it’s even worse.

The first few games of the season I didn’t bring my bottle of Powerade/Gatorade and so I felt like I wanted to go to sleep every time I stepped up to bat. Now, armed with my sports drink, I feel great and have been playing better, enjoying the game better, and overall been happier out there.

I mentioned a few days ago that I’d be taking a break because my elbow was sore. Well, my elbow and my wrist were both sore and I felt that taking a break would help it. Well, a few days later, I have to report that both are feeling much better. This is despite my setting up a practice golf net on my back deck and still playing softball on Tuesday (we won twice!).

One thing I have learned that is taking a break helps. I was always the type to try to power through adversity. If things hurt or were hard, that just meant I wasn’t working hard enough. If I kept fighting through, eventually it’ll get better and things will go back to normal or even improve. That’s the case for some things in your body, but it’s not for others.

When you are running and you hit that wall, you need to power through. That wall is when your body runs out of sugars and carbohydrates and starts consuming fat. That changeover is difficult but long distance runners overcome it and are able to push through. That’s where you need perseverance.

My elbow was sore because I strained it the wrong way. There was no powering through that and luckily I recognized it. I was disappointed that I couldn’t continue the 100 push up challenge but I think the break will do me good. I’ll start from the first week again, repeating it, and see what happens.

Another benefit of rest is that I really miss going to Body Pump. For the last few weeks it was becoming routine, almost boring (despite changing routines), but I’m looking forward to next week.

Now, you may also remember I started the 100 Pushup’s regime last week. I made it through the first week without incident except my elbow started intermittently clicking and was starting to get sore. I mentioned to Nickel, who started his own fitness blog at fit36.com, and he said it could be bone rubbing on bone. I think I just stretched out some tendons and need to just rest it a little.

As such, I think I’m going to take a one week break from the pushups (which is really the only activity that strains the elbows) to see if my elbow gets back to normal.

Here are the top myths:

• Having sex can cause a heart attack in men – Whew!
• High blood pressure causes headaches
• Diabetics crave suger
• Women need to examine their breasts – This is a big one I had to comment on. They say that self-examinations aren’t sensitive enough to lumps, so don’t rely on it. Get regular checkups.
• Diets cut cholesterol
• Headaches alone can be a sign of a brain tumor
• You shouldn’t mix antibiotics and alcohol – Wow! I thought this reduced the effectiveness, but apparently it doesn’t with the only exception being metronidazole. Another related myth is that you should finish your course of antibiotics – that makes no difference! (but you already paid for the antibiotics, might as well use them)
• Your tiredness may be caused by anaemia – just sleep more.
• Flu jabs give you flu – Flu jabs refers to vaccinations, those Brits have crazy words huh?