Wikipedia claims they stay fresh for 25 days. When I was younger I used to get a hankering for Twinkies once every five years or so. I've graduated to Chili's molten chocolate cake thingy, which I made the grievous error of learning to make myself.

I'm down to one Twinkie in my cabinet. I had two, but I took them out one night planning to eat them, never ate them, but the cat opened one...

I've had a Heath bar for months that I haven't gotten in the mood to eat. Even when I go scrounging for something to eat while watching a movie I'm never in the mood for it. I think something is wrong with me!

Nothing is wrong with you. Heath bars are awful.

thank you, well said!

you're not paying attention!

the intent was to find out who visits their doctor/hospital to get a quick fix, rather than taking the safe, gradual road to wellness. no question some docs recommend exercise and try drugs/surgery as a last resort, but some patients would sooner take a pill and be on their way. and there ARE MDs out there that will allow patient dictation in this manner.

again you are crediting modern medicine w/ extending life. show me proof! AGAIN...better sanitation, safer work conditions, safer cars, advanced medical SCIENCE(not drugs), ALL(and more) contribute.

intellect w/out execution is worthless. we can fire back w/ links all day, but at the end of the day, what happens on paper stays on paper. millions across the globe get or stay off drugs to live long lives. and millions are injured and have shortened lives because of them. it can NOT be denied. i'm not suggesting drugs never save lives, however.

i have acknowledged traditional medicine, but you do not accept alt methods at ALL. i truly hope when ill, you do not put ALL of your trust in a pill or surgery. the truth of our debate lies somewhere in the middle, and i have reached that way. you have not.

once again, i'm suggesting to use alt methods when lives are not at stake. blood pressure, cholesterol, acid reflux, etc are NOT life threatening in the short term. if you'd put YOUR bias aside for a moment, maybe you'd see that i'm trying to help people, NOT push a biased agenda.

i've been there(doubting alt medicine). i was in so much (back) pain, that i reached out to something that i couldn't get from traditional medicine(treating the cause, not the symptom). i do not expect you to understand if you've never been there. it's funny how well i began to feel OFF medication. my kidneys and breathing got better...so began my journey and research for ways beyond drugs and surgery. i've got more of my story but this post is too long already...

Either pseudoephedrine HCL or phenylephrine HCL they have too strong a diuretic effect on me, and I can't seem to drink enough, and can't sweat easily.

Pseudo--- seems to just dry everything out in my nasal passages after a couple of doses, which isn't helpful, works best in combo with guaifenesin, phenyl-- is okayish on it's own, but hard to find on it's own.

Body also reacts to the diuretic effect by trying to hoard fluids, ie, swelling my legs up.

I can remember when my great aunt lived with my family for about 2-3 years before she died. She always complained about the pills, and she claimed that the pills made her feel awful. The first thing I did, was create a pill schedule so that she only took a few with each meal, instead of taking them all at once. This was an incredible improvement. I then evaluated what each drug was for. It turns out, that many of the meds were for symptoms that were side effects of other meds she was on. My sisters & I (I was an EMT, and my sister is a nurse, and my other sister was a Paramedic) went into the doctor with her, with a suggested list of changes to her meds. After the Dr. reviewed our suggestions several meds were dropped all togeather, and others were changed. When we were finally done she felt much better, and was taking far fewer pills/day.

Now, not everyone has the medical experience that my family does, but I feel that older patients on several meds should probably have their meds re-evaluated on a yearly basis. When you have several Dr's prescribing meds to the same patient there needs to be better communication. The cardiologist doles out pills, then her regular dr. does.... and so on... its nothing for geriatric patients to be seeing 4 or 5 doctors on a regular basis.

Jay, i think(hope) you are giving some credibility to my view. apparently we both agree that too many meds are prescribed/consumed.

certainly there are side affects to any medication, we just need to choose the lesser of 2 evils. i wouldn't have considered taking away my dad's pain medication before he died. the ill affects were second to his comfort.

we live lives of convenience, and often times it takes many years to sustain an illness or disease. for those non-life threatening, lifestyle change is not the easy choice. the ironic thing is, sooner lifestyle change could prevent many life threatening issues.

Yes, over time you end up with meds being prescribed for side effects of others, meds that have outlived their usefuleness with that particular patient, and eventually some meds that you don't even know why they're on it, but they've been taking it for years, and the Dr. just keeps renewing the prescription.

With carefully monitoring her diet, we were able to get her off of injectible insulin, and onto an oral diabeties med that was much more tolerable than daily injections. My mom was good at making "treats" that were safe for diabetics. Lots of angel food cake with fresh fruit on top. With her daily intake of pills reduced (and spaced out with meals), she no longer needed ulcer medication. It took a lot of work, but she was far more comfortable in her final years.