By Kurt Perkins

I was asked to write a piece on keeping kids ‘prescription free’ for the summer.  Before we talk about the logistics, I have to make 2 disclaimers.  One, I’m not a parent.  I’ve been married just over 2 years with kids being planned for the future.  I do take care of and consult with a lot of kids in my private practice and coach parents on ways to optimize their health so they don’t have to be put on drugs.

Two, I’m not a medical doctor.  I’m a wellness expert with a background in biochemistry and genetics.  I cannot legally tell, inform, or instruct you to get off prescription drugs.  What I can say is that the body is intelligently designed to live an abundant life without the use of drugs, both legal and illegal. 

In my 6 years of practice, seeing thousands of families, I can honestly say that I have never had a parent enjoy putting a child on medication, no matter the condition, whether it’s ADHD, asthma, allergies, headaches, infection, and even cholesterol.  Parents want to feel like they have done their best and by putting a child on medication, many often times feel like they have failed. 

I want to make it loud and clear that you are NOT a bad parent for putting your kid on drugs.  What I can say is that you may be an uninformed parent.  You are constantly getting bombarded with messages from only one side of the scenarios regarding symptoms and treatment options to create ‘health.’

What I would like to challenge is the notion and belief that there is disease.  To explain this, I need to get a little sciencey and make you pull out your mental library of physiology; how the body works.  If you remember back to biology, in order for a cell to stay healthy, it must stay balanced.  To stay balanced, you have to provide good things and avoid the bad things. 

I will refer to the bad things as those that are toxic or deficient.  For example, if a plant is wilting, you know to give it sunlight, water, and nutrients.  If the plant was missing the appropriate amount of sunlight, it would be deficient, therefore causing it to wilt.  Your job as the plant keeper is to make sure it stays sufficient. 

Your other job as the plant keeper is to make sure your neighbor isn’t dumping diesel fuel on your lawn, poisoning the plants.  You could be doing a perfect job of creating sufficiency but if your neighbor is poisoning the plant, there will be problems.  You must create purity as well. 

The division in paradigm is that medicine calls those problems ‘disease.’  In my world of wellness physiology, I call them ‘intelligent adaptive physiology.’  If you address what is causing the adaptations, the cell (your child) will return to balance (health).  Medicine will label that problem with a diagnosis and most likely prescribe a chemical (a toxin) to treat that diagnosis.  Never in the history of the world has adding toxic chemicals to the human body, produced a being to be well.  In my world, I ask what the person is deficient or toxic in and address those. 

Forget about this summer, if you want to keep your kids drug free, you MUST learn to ask a different set of questions.  Instead of asking, “what does my kid have, how do I treat it?” ask “in what area is my child deficient or toxic?”

People will express that adaptive physiology differently.  In one kid, it could look like behavioral problems.  For another child, it could look like asthma.  And for another, it may be a acne.  The diagnosis or label doesn’t matter, it’s figuring out what you and your child are missing and creating purity and sufficiency. 

To figure out how to create purity and sufficiency, let’s go back to the plant analogy.  If your plant is wilting, you instinctively give it water, nutrients, sunlight, and avoid poisons to nurse it back to health.  But how do you keep a healthy plant healthy?  The exact same way.  You give it water, nutrients, sunlight, and avoid poisons. 

You and your kids are no different.  What we as humans require are the same for all humans.  There’s a physical component, a chemical component, and a mental/emotional component.  When we are not providing these in sufficient and pure levels, the body adapts.

If it’s hard to remember physical, chemical, and emotional, just remember health is based on how we move, eat, and think.  Summer is the perfect time to start these changes but for changes to occur in a child, it begins with the parent.  YOU MUST ROLE MODEL!!!  

To begin the journey of role modeling behavior, start by adding, never taking away.  Think of the fight you have when you take away your child’s favorite toy.  It’s a disaster and nobody is happy.

If you want your kids to eat vegetables, you must eat more than you feed them.  If you want your kid to get off the couch and go play outside, you must play more and more enthusiastically outside.  If you want your kids to say ‘thank you,’ you must thank them for all great actions they perform.  If you don’t want your kids to eat the cake and ice-cream, don’t buy it for yourself. 

How I start each morning is by adding.  I start with a glass of water.  Then I add my exercise.  Following my workout, I do my daily reading and then write in a journal for which I am grateful.  Don’t start your day by depriving yourself.  This type of change is fleeting.

For behavior to change, you must first change your beliefs.  To change your beliefs, you must learn to ask the right questions.  If you need help, contact me.  This summer won’t be your greatest because you accomplished a lot but because it’s the summer you made a decision to change for a lifetime of summers.  Have fun, be safe, and create purity and sufficiency.

According to Mayo Clinic, there is a new version of CPR that can be done on anyone who isn’t a drowning victim.

To do it

Ask if patient is okay – if they are conscious, don’t start CPR

Try waking them

If no response, place hand on sternum

Put other hand on top of first hand

Then push rapidly

I highly recommend watching the youtube video.  It does show how to place one’s hand and how fast to push.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5huVSebZpM

Legal Exemptions To Vaccinations
 www.janethull.com/newsletter/1009/legal_exemptions_to_vaccinations.php

Reprinted from National Vaccine Information Center. http://www.know-vaccines.org/exemption-legal.html.

Medical, philosophical or personal belief exemptions are worded differently in each state. To use an exemption for your child, you must know specifically what the law says in your state.

Philosophical Exemption:
The following 18 states allow exemption to vaccinations based on philosophical, personal or conscientiously held beliefs: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

In many of these states, individuals must object to all vaccines, not just a particular vaccine in order to use the philosophical or personal belief exemption. Many state legislators are being urged by Federal health officials and medical organizations to revoke this exemption to vaccinations. If you are objecting to vaccinations based on philosophical or personal convictions, keep an eye on your state legislature as public health officials may seek to amend state laws to eliminate this exemption.

Religious Exemption:
All states allow a religious exemption to vaccinations except Mississippi and West Virginia.

The religious exemption is intended for people who hold a sincere religious belief opposing vaccination to the extent that if the state forced a vaccination, it would be an infringement on their right to exercise their religious beliefs. Some state laws define religious exemptions broadly to include personal religious beliefs, similar to personal philosophical beliefs. Other states require that an individual who claims a religious exemption to be a member of The First Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science) or another bona fide religion whose written tenets include prohibition of invasive medical procedures such as vaccinations. (This kind of language has been ruled unconstitutional when it has been challenged in state Supreme Courts.) Some laws require a signed affidavit from the pastor or spiritual advisor of the parent exercising religious exemption that affirms the parents’ sincere religious belief about vaccination, while others allow the parent to sign a notarized waiver. Prior to registering your child for school, you must check your state law to verify what proof may be needed.
Due to differences in state laws, the National Vaccine Information Center does not recommend or provide a prewritten waiver for religious exemption because it may not conform with what is required in your state, and may actually draw attention to your child, and you may be singled out and challenged.

If you are challenged, you could end up in litigation brought by your state or county health department to prove your religious beliefs. The religious exemption is granted based on the First Amendment of the Constitution, which is the right to freely exercise your religion. Because citizens are protected under the First Amendment of the United States, a state must have a “compelling State interest” before this right can be taken away. One “compelling State interest” is the spread of communicable diseases. In state court cases that have set precedent on this issue, the freedom to act according to your own religious belief is subject to reasonable regulation with the justification that it must not threaten the welfare of society as a whole.

However, parents have successfully obtained religious exemptions to vaccinations. The constitutional right to have and exercise personal religious beliefs, whether you are of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim or other faith, can be defended. If you exercise your right to religious exemption, you must be prepared to defend it. It is always best to define your personal religious beliefs opposing vaccination in your own words when you write a letter defending them. If you do belong to a church and take the time to educate the head of your local church about the sincerity of your personal religious beliefs regarding vaccination, obtaining a letter from your pastor, priest, rabbi or other spiritual counselor affirming the sincerity of your religious beliefs may also be advisable.

Medical Exemptions:
All 50 states allow medical exemption to vaccinations. Proof of medical exemption must take the form of a signed statement by a Medical Doctor (M.D.) or Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) that the administering of one or more vaccines would be detrimental to the health of an individual. Most doctors follow the AAP and CDC guidelines. Most states do not allow Doctors of Chiropractic (D.C.) to write medical exemptions to vaccination.
Some states will accept a private physician’s written exemption without question. Other states allow the state health department to review the doctor’s exemption and revoke it if health department officials don’t think the exemption is justified.

Proof of Immunity:
Some states will allow exemptions to vaccination for certain diseases if proof of immunity can be shown to exist. Immunity can be proven if you or your child have had the natural disease or have already been vaccinated. You have to check your state laws to determine which vaccines in your state can be exempted, if proof of immunity is demonstrated.

Private medical laboratories can take blood (a titer test) and analyze it to measure the level of antibodies, for example, to measles or pertussis that are present in the blood. If the antibody level is high enough, according to accepted standards, you have obtained proof of immunity and may be able to use this for an exemption to vaccination.

This is from an email I receive today.  I don’t know who the author is.  And, I want to credit whoever is for sending this common sense, not fear-based email on how to prevent MOST flu and viruses.  ~ The Editor

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital , Bombay Hospital  ,  Saifee Hospital  , Tata Memorial etc.. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).
       
The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know (Who is this wonderfully caring person.)

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat.  In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.
       
While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):
       
1. Frequent hand-washing – This is well highlighted in all official communications.
       
 2. Hands-off-the-face” Approach – Resist all temptations to touch any part of face, unless you want to eat, bathe or slap.
       
 3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water  – Use Listerine if you don’t trust salt.  H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms.  Simply gargling prevents proliferation.  In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
       
4. Clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water  -  Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti, both very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities.  Blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.
       
5.  Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C such as Amla and other citrus fruits -   If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
                
6. Drink warm liquids – Drinking warm liquids (tea, coffee, broth, etc) has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction.  Warm liquids wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.
        
I suggest you pass this on to your entire e-list.  You never know 20 who might pay attention to it – and STAY ALIVE because of it.

By  Dr. Mercola

(Editor’s Note: Low Thyroid is a condition that many people suffer from. It’s symptoms can be fatigue, inability to lose wieght, hair loss, Inability to sleep.This is a very interesting article on what could be a great breakthrough in Thyroid health. Hope you enjoy it)
Bromides are a common endocrine disruptor. Because bromide is also a halide, it competes for the same receptors that are used in the thyroid gland (among other places) to capture iodine. This will inhibit thyroid hormone production resulting in a low thyroid state.

Iodine is essential for your body, and is detected in every organ and tissue. There is increasing evidence that low iodine is related to numerous diseases, including cancer.  Various clinicians and researchers have found iodine effective with everything from goiter to constipation.

Bromide can be found in several forms. Methyl Bromide is a pesticide used mainly on strawberries, found predominantly in the California areas. Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) is added to citrus drinks to help suspend the flavoring in the liquid.

Potassium Bromate is a dough conditioner found in commercial bakery products and some flours.

by Sherry Dell, PhD, CN 
Certified Nutritionist

Boo-boos happen.  Headaches happen.  Sore throats happen.  Bee stings happen.  Every so often, everyone has an owie that needs attention.  If you happen to have several people living under your roof, this might be a daily occurrence.
Look in the medicine cabinets in most households and you can find a wide variety of over-the-counter medicines that are designed to attend to these daily boo-boos.  While these medicines may do the job to some extent, sadly most of them have additional side effects.  Pain killers often slow metabolism resulting in constipation.  Antacids can give temporary relief to heartburn but can’t stop the heartburn from happening again and worse, and often contribute to making sure the heartburn happens again.  Bug repellents can help prevent mosquito bites but can also contribute significantly to the body’s toxic burden.  On and on.
The good news is that long before there was a counter for over-the-counter medicines to be sold from, there was a need for home care.  Of course, for most of human history, only home care existed, since there would have been no other place to go for care.
Here are a few examples of items you can use for self care that are likely already in your cupboards:

Apple Cider Vinegar
As a gargle for sore throat (either diluted in water or straight).  As a gargle when coming down with a cold (either diluted in water or straight).  As a disinfectant for cuts and scrapes (a little on a wet cotton ball works well).  As a digestive aid for heartburn, hiccups, chronic belching  (dilute 1 tablespoon in ½ cup water and drink with food).
Ginger Powder
Dissolve ½ to 1 teaspoon in hot water and cool to preferred temperature.  Use it for: Nausea, colds, chills, aches and pains, motion sickness, morning sickness, intestinal and stomach gas
Raw Honey
As a syrup, mix 1 tablespoon honey with ½ tsp fresh lemon juice; take once every hour or two for sore throat relief.  As a natural antibiotic ointment, apply a thin layer of honey over cuts or other puncture wounds or burns to promote healing.  As a food, can be helpful to reduce allergy symptoms.  As a food, can be helpful to reduce ulcer symptoms.  As a moisturizer, apply to skin or hair for short period of time, rinse with clear water for improved softness.
Olive Oil
Make an ear oil remedy by adding 5 drops tea tree oil to 1/8 cup olive oil.  Good as lubricant for sexual intercourse.  Rub on skin underneath any herbal poultice.  Great as a hair moisturizing treatment; add 1 egg to ¼ cup olive oil (adjust amount of oil according to length of hair) and mix well; rub in well to wet hair, cover in saran wrap and then a heavy towel; leave on for 30 minutes.  Shampoo out with normal shampoo.

Peppermint & Chamomile tea bags
Drink a cup of peppermint tea, brewed in hot water, to relieve indigestion, intestinal gas pains, or cramps in general.  For babies, a few drops of peppermint tea on your finger for them to suck can help relieve a tummy ache or symptoms of colic.  Sometimes, just rubbing the tea on the outside of their tummy can help.  Or if you are a nursing mother, drink the tea yourself.  Again, brewed in hot water, a cup of chamomile tea can relieve stomach aches, menstrual cramps, anxiety, tension headaches, and the inability to fall asleep.  For babies, ¼ to ½ cup of chamomile tea may be added to a bath (test with a few drops first) to help a baby relax and fall asleep.  A few drops on the finger for them to suck may also help with sleep, colic, tummy aches, or any kind of indigestion.
Sea Salt
As a gargle to reduce sore throat pain.  Made into saline solution to wash out eye or nose:  Add ¼ tsp sea salt to ¾ cup boiling, non-chlorinated water; cool.  Use this saline solution to rinse out mildly irritated or infected eye or in neti pot  to flush out sinuses when congested.  Add to olive oil with a few drops of lavender oil to make a wonderful salt glow exfoliant.  Rub all over skin while in shower, wash off and enjoy your baby-soft new skin.

Witch Hazel
Witch hazel with alcohol must not be used internally.  It can be used externally to: soothe irritated skin, rashes, cuts; to use as a deodorant; to soothe bruises; to soothe insect bites; to relieve shaving irritations; to use as a facial toner.

By Barbara Royal

Barbara Royal is the founder of The  Soul Restoration Process. She is certified by both the Center at Benet Hill Monastery as a Spiritual Director and Doreen Virtue, Ph.D., as an Angel Therapy Practitioner. She is a BioSpiritual Focusing facilitator and a Master Prayer Practitioner. Barbara offers a free initial consultation and provides her services in person, by telephone and workshop settings. View www.barbararoyal.com for more information.

As I woke up from dozing in my chair the evening of July 27, I caught the tail end of a story on Nightline where a man had lost 135 pounds in 14 months because he had changed the way he looked at food. The commentator said more would be discussed on Good Morning America. So, I turned on the TV the next morning to catch the rest of the story.

It seems research has discovered that compulsive overeating can be controlled by changing the lock your brain has on food, which can be accomplished by looking at food in a different way. According to David Kessler, former FDA Commissioner who reinvented the food label and tackled the tobacco industry,  a national advertising campaign can change our relationship with food, just as his anti-smoking campaign helped change the relationship we had with tobacco.

It is great news that research is showing we can change addictions — in this instance, our dependency on food by looking at it differently – which, as many of us know takes lots of will power and is very exhausting. A national advertising campaign will surely help, but will take many years and many dollars to effect change. Can we afford to wait, considering obesity is the number one health problem in America? Will a national advertising campaign change the sabotaging beliefs and underlying issues that fuel the addiction?

In my work as a Spiritual Director, and based on my personal experience, I am aware it takes more than media and will power to change sabotaging beliefs and core issues. I have come to learn that change comes from a deeper level – it comes from the level of the soul.

God gave each of us the creative attributes of thought, feeling and word. We have available to us prayer, spiritual laws and the wisdom of nature and the human body. With all these gifts and tools at hand, we can change from the level of the soul — and then easily our mind — anything that keeps us from having greater wholeness and healthy, joyful, abundant living.

I was fortunate to discover this during my seeking to overcome childhood trauma, extreme depression, workplace stress and chronic illness; and through formal and informal training. As a Spiritual Director, I have been blessed to teach people how to harness their gifts and tools to heal relationships with friends, family and money; overcome trauma, abuse and physical injuries; achieve wellness; find purposeful work; claim their power over food dependency; and so forth.

So, yes, it is great news that research is showing we can change addictions by changing our mind. This is a major step. But, I believe the world will soon recognize changing the mind is an inside job, and a national advertising campaign will not be necessary for us to know we have all the gifts and tools needed to create a better way of life for ourselves and our world.

Barbara Royal
Spiritual Director
719-687-6823
barbara@barbararoyal.com
www.barbararoyal.com

By Barbara Royal,Spiritual Director
Founder of The Soul Restoration Process

Forty-nine years ago, as a teenager, I felt excluded from my peer group and was seeking ways to be part of the crowd. Everyone I knew smoked. Something inside convinced me smoking was a way I could be accepted. So, thinking smoking was the key to belonging, I lit my first cigarette and continued for 30 plus years. I did not mind that I had to give up sports due to shortness of breath, coughing and congestion. It didn’t bother me that I wreaked of smoke – we all smelled alike and maybe my new perfume was a way for me to fit in. – or so I thought. In later years, I realized that being like others by smoking didn’t make people like or accept me – rather, acceptance of my SELF was the key. But, that is another story.

My smoking habit began before the Surgeon General declared smoking was bad for your health. When that declaration was made, I ignored the cautions, the changing cultural view about smoking, and the seemingly negative comments of my co-workers, friends and family. I stood firm – I was not going to “quit” smoking. However, I was told by an alternative health care practitioner I needed to stop smoking if I wished to accomplish a dental/physical health goal. Wanting to heal my dental/physical situation (but not wanting to “quit” smoking), I began a spiritual process that I had recently learned. In this process, I used intentional prayer and affirmed and felt in my body that my intention for dental/physical health was already accomplished. A SHIFT occurred, and while I had not intended to “quit” smoking, the habit left instantly. This is why I say I never “quit” smoking – I had no cravings for a cigarette or withdrawal symptoms, nor did I have the expenses incurred by most people to reinforce “quitting” – I just became smoke free! That was 17 years ago, and I haven’t smoked since. And the dental/physical health issue was changed as well. By the way, during that period I was also going through a divorce and purchasing my home. No stress there! The universe in its infinite wisdom knew exactly what had to be changed in my mind and body for me to achieve what I needed in my life at that time.

While the method I used has changed, the spiritual principles and the wisdom of nature and the human body have not. They are timeless and always available to us.

I call my updated method The Soul Restoration Process, which has evolved over the past 17 years of personal and spiritual seeking, and formal and informal training. The Soul Restoration Process assigns the same functions to the soul as science assigns to the subconscious mind, in that the soul and the subconscious mind are a creative medium. They retain negative and positive memories put into them from the conscious mind.

Science tells us that 95% to 99% of our life’s experiences are a demonstration of those memories. The Soul Restoration Process is a synthesis of science, intention and spirituality. It is a proven method for changing negative, self-sabotaging memories and beliefs and creating healthy, joyful, abundant living.

The Soul Restoration Process is affordable and easy to learn. All you have to do is be willing to:

•    create a healthy life
•    think outside the box
•    learn, and work in harmony with certain spiritual principles
•    receive and accept your blessings
•    commit to self-treatment to reinforce your intention

View www.barbararoyal.com for more information. You may also contact Barbara for a free consultation at 719-687-6823 or barbara@barbararoyal.com.

By Amy Cook-Porter

In today’s economy who can afford to be sick?  And prescription medication – those overpriced drugs – are ranging anywhere from $1 – $10 a pill.  So is it a wonder that patients do what they can to make them last?

Now the FDA has issued a warning about splitting tablets.  They say it could be dangerous.  With that I agree.

The pharmacies selling Viagra and other male meds, made buying a larger dose and “cutting it down to size” popular.  Buy a handy pill cutting kit at the local pharmacy for $5.00 and voila, a 1 month supply (from what I hear is 9 pills) turns into 36 pills.

Now here’s the first dilemma.  Not all pills are cut alike.  Some are bigger; some smaller.  So that means the dose varies.  For the sensual male, this isn’t a big deal.  The smaller ones are good for an Afternoon Delight; the larger, for going at it all night.

But, what if we are talking about other medications that need equal doses?  Uneven cutting could be a problem.

Here are other concerns:

Forgetting to cut the pills.  This happens.  Get busy, run out of cut pills, and then need one.  Would taking a whole pill hurt.  If the original prescription dosage called for 15 mg; and this dose was 30 mg, the dosage is way too much.  Will it hurt?  Why risk it?

Being lazy or forgetful is not a good thing.  Nor is being creative.  Don’t try breaking a tablet with your teeth, hoping lessen the dosage.  Once the pill is wet with saliva, chemistry interactions begin.  Not a good thing for the half not being swallowed.

This is especially a concern if the pill or capsule has a time-release coating.  Once you break the outer seal, you’ve compromised the time release and the content inside.

So my advice, find a good health care provider who works with plants, not chemicals.  That way you won’t have to worry about time-released coatings, splitting pills and chemical interactions.  Herbs work as effectively, cost much less, and most don’t require a long term commitment.

To read the full FDA article that was posted on July 21, 2009 go to http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm171492.htm

This is an important message for all seniors with a pacemaker. Please read carefully if you have one of these and please go to the FDA website link to read more.

On June 11, 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alerted patients to the Class I recall of certain Medtronic Kappa and Sigma pacemakers.
Why was this recall necessary?

The recalled devices may fail due to a separation of wires that connect the electronic circuit to other pacemaker components, such as the battery.
Which pacemakers are being recalled?

The recall affects only 21,000 of the more than 1.7 million Kappa or Sigma pacemakers implanted in patients worldwide. Most of the devices affected by the recall have been implanted in patients five years or longer.

The affected pacemakers are
• Kappa Series 600/700/900
• Sigma Series 100/200/300
What is a Class I recall?

A Class I recall indicates reasonable probability that the use of the device will cause adverse health consequences or death.
How will patients know if their pacemaker is being recalled?

Patients with the cited models of Kappa and Sigma pacemakers should determine if their pacemaker is part of this recall by contacting Medtronic at 1-800-505-4636 or going to the firm’s Web site.

Patients who have these recalled pacemakers and those who are unsure if their pacemakers are affected should follow up with their primary care physician or cardiologist.
What symptoms should patients be on the lookout for?

Patients with malfunctioning pacemakers may experience a return of symptoms associated with abnormal heart rate, such as fainting or lightheadedness. In rare cases, pacemaker-dependent patients may experience serious injury or even death.
What overall actions have FDA and Medtronic taken in regard to these pacemakers?

Through standard medical device reporting requirements, FDA became aware of possible problems and worked with the company to address them. On May 18, 2009, Medtronic Inc. issued a letter to physicians, alerting them to the problem. The company followed up with a patient letter on May 27, 2009.

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

If in doubt please contact your Doctor for more information.