Ladies and Gentlemen, Relationships Are Important
So Take Heed!

The session on “improving your relationship” at the Men’s Health Conference was an eye opener for me and many others. Here are a few pointers given by Dr. Hooper that are worth mentioning: 1. Know and love yourself. 2. Accept your partner as they are. Don’t try to change them. 3. Be sensitive to each other’s needs. 4. Trust each other. 5. Share with each other. 6. Recognize that children are people, too. 7. Always be up front with your partner. 8. Don’t have unreal expectations of your partner or the relationship. 9. Don’t expect your partner to have all the positive attributes that you have. 10. Don’t expect your relationship to fulfill your financial needs. 11. Don’t compete with your mate. 12. Balance time spent together and apart. 13. Develop good conflict resolution skills. 14. Develop a sense of connection to your partner.

As you can image each of these point generated a lot of good, intense, and often humorous discussion. New research shows that men who are lonesome don’t live as long as men who have a good relationship with someone.

Seat Belts Save Lives

Seat belts save lives and that is the bottom line. However it appears that some Africans Americans don’t believe this so we die more frequently in severe auto crushes. There are two kinds of seat belt laws: primary and secondary. South Carolina is a primary seat belt law State. The primary seat belt law means that if one is observed not wearing a seat belt, a ticket can be issued. The secondary seat belt law means that if you are stopped for an auto violation, you will be ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt in addition to your auto violation. African Americans use seat belts less in states with secondary seat belt laws. African Americans have all kinds of excuses as to why they don’t use seat belts but research shows that in primary seat belt states, African Americans use seat belts as much as whites. Be thankful you live in a primary seat belt state because wearing your seat belt could save your life.

Smoke-Filled Rooms

Recently, I described a condition called non-smokers lung disease that happens to a small number of people who develop lung disease from being exposed to many hours of smoke. Recently I saw a patient who had been diagnosed with lung disease from second hand smoke. He worked in a nightclub environment that he said was always full of smoke. He never smoked cigarettes. If you do a lot of “PARTYING”, you may want to stay away from smoke-filled rooms. In Charleston, South Carolina there is a major push to stop smoking in public areas where people eat and socialize. When you are young, the possibility of developing Lung Cancer does not cross your mind, but be warned that secondary smoke can cause chronic lung disease, emphysema, asthma and non-smoker lung Cancer. I guess if you are always in smoke-filled rooms, you CAN party yourself to death.

Sweet Tea - It tastes good but…

Did you know that iced tea is South Carolina’s “State Drink”? Sweet tea, as tasty as it is, isn’t good in large amounts. In fact, the way most Black folk drink it is not good. Most of the time the sweet tea that we consume is not healthy because of the large amounts of sugar in it. Therefore, sweet tea is a major cause of weight gain and uncontrolled diabetes. If you drink sweet tea it can elevate your blood sugar making it difficult for long term control which leads to complications such as Heart Attack, Stroke, Amputations, Erectile dysfunction, End Stage Kidney Disease or Blindness. If you are a diabetic and drink a lot of sweet tea, check yourself. Remember Diabetes is a major health problem in South Carolina among African Americans. All I can say is sweet tea is good in moderation.

Syphilis-What is it?

Several weeks ago I heard Michael Bassoon ask one of his listeners to spell syphilis. He couldn’t, but asked, “what is syphilis?” I have not seen a case of Syphilis in more than 10 years so I guess it is possible that the younger generation could not know about Syphilis. Well, the CDC is saying that Syphilis is on the rise, particularly in urban areas among Black homosexual men. Risky behaviors, such as the use of crystal methamphetamine and other vein injected drugs, are also driving the increase in Syphilis. Syphilis can be contracted through oral sex. Right now, the disease is hot in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Baltimore. No reports about South Carolina yet. Gonorrhea, often a running partner of Syphilis, is on the decline for reasons I don’t understand, but Chlamydia, another venereal disease, is alive and well.