Monthly Archives: February 2012

Not Down with ‘D’

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I am in a quandary over the dose of Vitamin D I was prescribed in early January and I wrote about in Vitamin D(on’t). As I wrote, I wish I went armed with more information before agreeing to take this 50,000 IU weekly for 3 months prescribed by my physician. I have been taking this dose for 3 weeks now and without going in for a blood test I won’t know if there has been an increase in my 25-hydroxyvitamin D level. That test isn’t supposed to occur the end of March.

Further discussion and research having me raising a red flag to this “vitamin” and I am not sure my physician is out for my health. Instead of getting clarity on the situation I am more confused. How do I tell my physician I don’t want to take his recommendation, backed with studies and information I have gleaned from the Internet?

Just because I was not trained in the medical field doesn’t mean I need to agree with my doctor. Without his consent I took myself off a statin last year and I am very close to taking myself off the Vitamin D. With or without him agreeing. I wish I had multiple blood test results to compare my 25(OH)D levels, but I don’t. December, 2011 was the first (and not the last) time this level had been measured. I do believe I can attribute it to my job. I spend approximately 10 hours in darkness considering I am up at 4am and don’t leave work until 2pm.

Over the course of 5 years I can think my 25(OH)D level has decreased, again because of my job. During the summer time I will end up spending more time outside, in the sun but making soaking up the sun can’t be a seasonal thing and must occur year around.

From the National Institutes of Health, “Practically all people are sufficient at levels ≥50 nmol/L (≥20 ng/mL); the committee stated that 50 nmol/L is the serum 25(OH)D level that covers the needs of 97.5% of the population.” My 25(OH)D level was recorded as 23 in December, 2011. By way of comparison, my wife was recorded at a level of 16 last month. The nurse practitioner prescribed her to take 1000 IU a day. Yet I am taking 50000 IU weekly for an 25(OH)D level of 23 or approximate 7142 IU daily! The numbers just don’t work for me.

“A vitamin D deficiency can occur when usual intake is lower than recommended levels over time, exposure to sunlight is limited, the kidneys cannot convert 25(OH)D to its active form, or absorption of vitamin D from the digestive tract is inadequate. Vitamin D-deficient diets are associated with milk allergy, lactose intolerance, ovo-vegetarianism, and veganism” (source). I don’t think I have been following a plant-based, whole food lifestyle long enough to see my level as a “deficiency.” Two abstracts agree, “people with occupations that limit sun exposure are unlikely to obtain adequate vitamin D from sunlight.” (source, source).

As with ANY medication prescribed the list of side effects are rather appalling. This list is courtesy of the Mayo Clinic.

Late symptoms of severe overdose

  • High blood pressure
  • High fever
  • Irregular heartbeat
  • Stomach pain (severe)

Check with your doctor as soon as possible if any of the following side effects occur:

Early symptoms of overdose

  • Bone pain
  • Constipation (especially in children or adolescents)
  • Diarrhea
  • Drowsiness
  • Dryness of mouth
  • Headache (continuing)
  • Increased thirst
  • Increase in frequency of urination, especially at night, or in amount of urine
  • Irregular heartbeat
  • Itching skin
  • Loss of appetite
  • Metallic taste
  • Muscle pain
  • Nausea or vomiting (especially in children or adolescents)
  • Unusual tiredness or weakness

Late symptoms of overdose

  • Bone pain
  • Calcium deposits (hard lumps) in tissues outside of the bone
  • Cloudy urine
  • Drowsiness
  • Increased sensitivity of eyes to light or irritation of eyes
  • Itching of skin
  • Loss of appetite
  • Loss of sex drive
  • Mood or mental changes
  • Muscle pain
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Protein in the urine
  • Redness or discharge of the eye, eyelid, or lining of the eyelid
  • Runny nose
  • Weight loss

Remind me, WHY should I be taking this? For my healthy? To support my physician’s wallet? To date, I haven’t noticed any “early symptoms” to speak of. I have been reading C: The Blog, there are some interesting comments from other individuals using Vitamin D at varying levels.

February 2012 North American QSO Party – RTTY

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Contest:North American QSO Party
Date: February 25-26, 2012
Mode: RTTY
Period: Starts 1800 UTC Saturday; ends 0600 UTC Sunday

BAND/QSO/MULTS
20 / 29 / 23
15 / 3 / 2
TOTAL: 32 QSO / 25 MULTS
SCORE: 800 (TIME ON: 42 Mn)

SOAPBOX: I didn’t plan any sort of real operation for NAQP RTTY. Not sure I have completely figured out the loaner rig I am on when it comes to diddles. I have all sorts of adjacent signal noise. Might be lacking a narrow filter to fit the bill for RTTY. Regardless of that challenge, I only spent 42 minutes with my BIC.

I had no intention of even turning on the rig when I got home from work, but I hate not participating in a contest, especially if I had nothing going on, like I did for NAQP. So I figured I would play radio until my XYL and son got back. I was hoping for a bit of activity on 10M, but a few spins through the band yielded nothing.

It was then a quick spin through 15M, but there were not many signals at 2330z, so I moved to 20M. I made one partial trip through the band before I found a quiet frequency, so I called ‘QRL’ and with no response I started running. I was having some good luck on 20M, but nothing I had not worked using RTTY before, so I was just hoping to hand out a few points and make some QSOs before I shut the shack down. Maybe when NAQP rolls around in the summer I will have more time to put in a stronger effort.

Words Monitored by DHS

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Ah yes, Big Sis and the DHS is at it again, turning the United States of America into a more police state. Jawohl! The following is from the DHS and their “binder.” Wonder if I will get DHS knocking on my door anytime soon.

In the latest revelation of how the federal government is monitoring social media and online news outlets, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has posted online a 2011 Department of Homeland Security manual that includes hundreds of key words (such as those above) and search terms used to detect possible terrorism, unfolding natural disasters and public health threats. The center, a privacy watchdog group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request and then sued to obtain the release of the documents.

The 39-page “Analyst’s Desktop Binder” used by the department’s National Operations Center includes no-brainer words like “”attack,” “epidemic” and “Al Qaeda” (with various spellings). But the list also includes words that can be interpreted as either menacing or innocent depending on the context, such as “exercise,” “drill,” “wave,” “initiative,” “relief” and “organization.”

Assassination Attack Domestic security Drill Exercise Cops Law enforcement Authorities Disaster assistance Disaster management DNDO (Domestic NuclearDetection Office) National preparedness Mitigation Prevention Response Recovery Dirty bomb Domestic nuclear detection Emergency management Emergency response First responder Homeland security Maritime domain awareness (MDA) National preparedness initiative Militia Shooting Shots fired Evacuation Deaths Hostage Explosion (explosive) Police Disaster medical assistance team (DMAT) Organized crime Gangs National security State of emergency Security Breach Threat Standoff SWAT Screening Lockdown Bomb (squad or threat) Crash Looting Riot Emergency Landing Pipe bomb Incident Facility HAZMAT & Nuclear Hazmat Nuclear Chemical spill Suspicious package/deviceToxic National laboratory Nuclear facility Nuclear threat Cloud Plume Radiation Radioactive Leak Biological infection (or event) Chemical Chemical burn Biological Epidemic Hazardous Hazardous material incident Industrial spill Infection Powder (white) Gas Spillover Anthrax Blister agent Chemical agent Exposure Burn Nerve agent Ricin Sarin North Korea Health Concern + H1N1 Outbreak Contamination Exposure Virus Evacuation Bacteria Recall Ebola Food Poisoning Foot and Mouth (FMD) H5N1 Avian Flu Salmonella Small Pox Plague Human to human Human to Animal Influenza Center for Disease Control (CDC) Drug Administration (FDA) Public HealthToxic Agro Terror Tuberculosis (TB) Agriculture Listeria Symptoms Mutation Resistant Antiviral Wave Pandemic Infection Water/air borne Sick Swine Pork Strain Quarantine H1N1 VaccineTamiflu Norvo Virus Epidemic World Health Organization (WHO) (and components)Viral Hemorrhagic Fever E. Coli Infrastructure Security Infrastructure security Airport Airplane (and derivatives) Chemical fire CIKR (Critical Infrastructure& Key Resources) AMTRAK Collapse Computer infrastructure Communications infrastructure Telecommunications Critical infrastructure National infrastructure Metro WMATA Subway BART MARTA Port Authority NBIC (NationalBiosurveillance IntegrationCenter) Transportation security Grid Power Smart Body scanner Electric Failure or outage Black out Brown out Port Dock Bridge Cancelled Delays Service disruption Power lines
Southwest Border Violence Drug Cartel Violence Gang Drug Narcotics Cocaine Marijuana Heroin Border Mexico Cartel Southwest Juarez Sinaloa Tijuana Torreon Yuma Tucson Decapitated U.S. Consulate Consular El Paso Fort Hancock San Diego Ciudad Juarez Nogales Sonora Colombia Mara salvatrucha MS13 or MS-13 Drug war Mexican army Methamphetamine Cartel de Golfo Gulf Cartel La Familia Reynosa Nuevo Leon Narcos Narco banners (Spanishequivalents) Los Zetas Shootout Execution Gunfight Trafficking Kidnap Calderon Reyosa Bust Tamaulipas Meth Lab Drug trade Illegal immigrants Smuggling (smugglers) Matamoros Michoacana Guzman Arellano-Felix Beltran-Leyva Barrio Azteca Artistic Assassins Mexicles New Federation Terrorism Terrorism Al Qaeda (all spellings) Terror Attack Iraq Afghanistan Iran Pakistan Agro Environmental terrorist Eco terrorism Conventional weaponTarget Weapons grade Dirty bomb Enriched Nuclear Chemical weapon Biological weapon Ammonium nitrate Improvised explosive device IED (Improvised ExplosiveDevice) Abu Sayyaf Hamas FARC (Armed RevolutionaryForces Colombia) IRA (Irish Republican Army) ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) Basque Separatists Hezbollah Tamil Tigers PLF (Palestine Liberation Front) PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization Car bomb Jihad Taliban Weapons cache Suicide bomber Suicide attack Suspicious substance AQAP (AL Qaeda Arabian Peninsula) AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) TTP (Tehrik-i-TalibanPakistan) Yemen Pirates Extremism Somalia Nigeria Radicals Al-Shabaab Home grown Plot Nationalist Recruitment Fundamentalism Islamist Weather/ Disaster/ Emergency Emergency urricane Tornado Twister Tsunami EarthquakeTremor Flood Storm Crest Temblor Extreme weather Forest fire Brush fire Ice Stranded Stuck Help Hail Wildfire Tsunami Warning Center Magnitude Avalanche Typhoon Shelter-in-place Disaster Snow Blizzard Sleet Mud slide or Mudslide Erosion Power outage Brown out Warning Watch Lightening Aid Relief Closure Interstate Burst Emergency Broadcast System Cyber Security Cyber security Botnet DDOS (dedicated denial of service)Denial of service Malware Virus Trojan Keylogger Cyber Command 2600 Spammer Phishing Rootkit PhreakingCain and abelBrute forcing Mysql injection Cyber attack Cyber terror Hacker China Conficker Worm Scammers Social media

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

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INGREDIENTS:
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
3 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

Stir the basil and oregano into the yeast mixture, then mix in 3 cups of the whole wheat flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in a bowl. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

When the dough is doubled in size, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.

Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.