Category / Reports

by Nirupam Biswas

Maybe Pizzas and Subways have caused some allergies in me

Like many I have feasted over many Pizzas and ‘healthy’ Subway burgers. Infrequently and sporadically I have seem to get allergy attacks where hives form on your skin [1].

Hives will cause lot small swellings to form on your body, as it happens in case of insect bites, but all throughout the body. Many of the swelling may merge to form bigger islands. Along with that you will get extreme burning sensation throughout your body over your skin and incessant itching, but itching only spreads the hive formations.

I remember, I had this for the first time in my life, more a year ago. I had a Domino’s Non-veg pizza and after 15-20 mins I went to a local market, where it was hot and sweaty. I started having itchy sensations over my head and arms, along with some hives. The hives were not red and looked like it happened as a result of some mosquito bite. Then when I started scratching them then the situation aggravated. In half hour I was back home and my body was full with hives and islands and it was burning my skin. I took a cold shower, even though it gave a little relief, but it felt like thousand stings. My roomies grew concerned about my situation so we went to a doctor and took a shot of an anti-allergy medicine. It took about an hour to recover after that.

Later I called Dominos to query about any ingredients they put which is known to cause allergy, but as I expected they did know of anything. I had the dreaded thought that I have developed allergy of chicken! Finally I concluded may the heat, sweat and dirt caused this. Time passed and I had many more pizzas and I never had such an issue except for one another day. This time I was at home and was cool and dry. This time I tired not to scratch and in 15-20 mins I recovered.

It has been now one year and today after having Subway burger that same hive allergy struck me. Today also I was cool and dry and I tried not to scratch myself and I recovered in 15-20 mins, but now I could not ignore this anymore. So, I googled and found loads of information. So my final conclusion is I have developed allergy against corn syrup.

Conclusion

It seems I have developed allergy against High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). This is a very dangerous substance and unfortunately, as I found out today, it is present in almost all fast foods. Including Subway burgers and Domino’s Pizzas [2][3][4]. This is also known to cause allergies, like hives [5].

Links

by Nirupam Biswas

The HDFC scumbags.

I got a call from HDFC saying that I am being offered a Credit Card which has no renewal fees. I needed one but only for international online transactions like paying for this server, but didn’t want to incur any additional maintenance charges. Well so, I inquired and was assured that there are NO MAINTENANCE charges.

But the telemarketing scumbags of HDFC didn’t reveal then that there is indeed an annual charge for dormant cards of Rs.400. Well as it turns out if you do not make total transactions of minimum Rs.50000 per year then your card is dormant! This is exact reason for which I turned down ICICI credit card even though I have bank account there, but at least they were very clear and truthful about this.

HDFC you got me. Now I am now thinking of getting other bank’s credit card (maybe ICICI, even though it costs Rs.100 more), and will get out of this shitty bank.

by Nirupam Biswas

Important links for HDFC Credit/Debit Card owners.

HDFC Credit Cards are good but their site suck, at least the site navigation and the number of places you need to register. Below are the vital links that every HDFC Credit Card users must bookmark.

Credit Card Important Links:-

Debit Card Important Link:-

by Nirupam Biswas

Imitinef Mercilet – Free Blood Cancer Medicine ~ is a Hoax

Many of you might have a received mails similar to the one below.

Subject: Free Medicine for Blood Cancer!!!! Please don’t delete this without forwarding

Dear all,

I have forwarded it to the maximum I can.

Let it reach the 110 crores Indians and the remaining if any.

Put yourself, if you or your brother or sister or your mom and dad or any x, y, z near you, got affected, then how u would have reacted, think it, Forward it.

‘Imitinef Mercilet’ is a medicine which cures blood cancer. Its available free of cost at “Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai”. Create Awareness. It might help someone.

Forward to as many as u can, kindness cost nothing.

This seems to be a hoax, as it is in most such mails. Quoting this report from www.hoax-slayer.com.

According to this message, India’s Adyar Cancer Institute is distributing, free of charge, a medicine named ‘Imitinef Mercilet’ that cures blood cancer. The message is circulating rapidly via email and is also making its way around the Internet via blogs, forums and social networking websites.

The Adyar Cancer Institute is a real health facility located in the city of Chennai, India and, as its name implies, it indeed specializes in cancer treatment and research. The Adyar Cancer Institute has achieved great results in the treatment and research of cancer since its establishment in 1954.

I contacted a spokesperson at the Adyar Cancer Institute to ask about the veracity of the message. He sent me the following reply:

Only the Part of this message is true. The medicine Imitinef is available free for only qualified persons and not for all. It is free for those who have admitted in the hospital for treatment.

‘Imitinef Mercilet’ is apparently an alternative spelling of the drug Imatinib mesylate which is used in the treatment of some forms of leukemia along with other types of cancer. Imatinib, often referred to a “Gleevec”, has proved to be an effective treatment for some forms of cancers. However, “blood cancer” is a generalized term for cancers that affect the blood, lymphatic system or bone marrow. The three types of blood cancer are listed as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. These three malignancies require quite different kinds of treatments. While drugs (including Imatinib), along with other treatments such as radiation can help to slow or even stop the progress of these cancers, there is currently no single drug treatment that can be said to actually cure all such cancers.

Moreover, it should be noted that Imatinib is available for cancer patients in many different health facilities around the world, not just the Adyar Cancer Institute.

Thus, although there are some elements of truth to this message, its is also potentially misleading and contains inaccurate information.