Five Myths Your Doctor Believes According to Dr. Oz.

Hydrogen peroxide (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I only got four of the five, so if anyone has the fifth, email me.  Here they are:1)  Green Snot means you need antibiotics.

The longer your body digests bacteria, the greener the snot gets, according to Dr. Oz.

Antibiotics will not cure colds or sinus infections.  They also increase cell destruction and can make the viruses more available to infect other cells.  Other antibiotic resistant bacteria also gets a chance to take over.

Comment:  Yes, doctors do prescribe based on clinical picture, including mucus color, throat inflammation, length of illness, and presence of fever.  This situation is world wide, and is likely to continue.  The reality is that by the time a patient approaches a doctor for an upper respiratory infection, they will only get turned away if there is no fever, only clear mucus, short duration and no other symptoms.  Otherwise, the fear is that a bacterial secondary infection will set up on top of the viral infection.  Every year we lose thirty to sixty thousand people in the U.S. to pneumonia secondary to getting influenza.  Antibiotics prescribed as prophylaxis has a purpose:  it keeps more people from dying.

2)  Hydrogen peroxide is good as a disinfectant for wounds.

The hydrogen peroxide dissolves tissue and increases the size of a wound.

Run it under cool water for five minutes instead.

Comment:  Concentrated hydrogen peroxide does indeed lead to wound damage.  But lower doses (diluted) can aid in would healing by killing off bacteria.  The amount in honey can vary, but does show increased wound healing.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12804080

3)  Menstrual cycles synchronize when women hang out together.

Tons of research points to it being a coincidence.  Menstrual cycles tend to overlap, about 30% on average.

Comment:  I wonder about the studies on this, because they seem to be on monkeys, and do not show synchronizing among those primates.  What they did find was synchronizing of the sexual cycle:  “you mate, I mate.” So if that is synchronized, we would expect menstrual cycles to be somewhat aligned over time.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22022541

4)  The five second rule:  food dropped within five seconds is safe to eat.

“God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt.” According to a doctor who is the child of a pediatrician.

She back pedaled to just in her office space, should be cleaner than the bathroom.

Least filthy.  Kitchen floor.  254 on the meter.

Shoe. 363 dirty.

Desk. 897 filthy.

Most filthy. One thousand eight hundred and four.  The computer keyboard.

Comment:  salmonella transfer was very high on wood or tile.  It was statistically lower from carpet.

 

 

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