Too many Americans can’t afford to and simply do not–take their medicines as prescribed. That estimate is based on information from the (American!) Centers for Disease Control). I have had patients come into my office who take their medications –in both cases, for life-threatening infectious diseases — only every other day, simply because that is all they can afford. I explained to each one individually the idea of the half-life of a drug. They only stay in your body for a certain length of time, then they leave your body in waste products. That is why taking a drug every other day is not really effective. They both gave me almost exactly the same response — It was all they could afford, and it was probably better than nothing. Read more on Big Pharma Is Capitalism Out Of Control…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Education, Government, Hepatitis C, medicine, News, politics, prescription drugs, Psychiatrists, Psychotherapy by on May 29th, 2017. Comment. 
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Brain, depression, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, medicine, Mental Illness, News, Nutrition, Research by on May 7th, 2017. Comment.
Filed under Aging, Brain, depression, Disease, End Of Life, Family, News by on Mar 2nd, 2017. Comment.
Filed under Disease, News by on Feb 25th, 2017. Comment.
She was, and is, a close and cherished friend. Someone decided she had Alzheimer’s. At least somebody said she did. She had wonderful plans for retirement. Now the retirement community she had been dreaming of did not seem to want her and her husband around. She has just made the decision (I don’t know with who’s help) that it is a better idea she does not drive. She would surely not remember the details of how the diagnosis was made. I wonder if it had been made properly. Probably not.
Filed under Aging, Alternative Medicine, Alzheimer's Disease, Diagnosis, Disease by on Jan 9th, 2017. Comment.
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Brain, Diagnosis, Disease, Family, Mental Illness, News by on Nov 16th, 2016. Comment.
Everyday health advice. If I read any more “health advice,” mental or physical, that is supposed to be practical advice but is totally wrong and built on mythology, I might explode. Given the “mainstream” unproven drivel that gets reproduced in popular magazines, I think it is pretty amazing any Americans are still alive at all. A little relaxation (deep breathing and focused meditation) — I am doing a lot better. After all, we still have freedom of speech, although it sometimes gets fragile and needs loving protection. And you have me, the Renegade Doctor, to tell you what is truthful and right. I didn’t start out to trash “Reader’s Digest” (RD). My parents of blessed memory had some kind of lifetime subscription, and kept it with a very few cherished books by their bedside, on top of my mother’s premarital “Hope Chest,” which she told me contained clothes she could only “hope” she would fit into again one day. She never did. Read more on Everyday health advice drives me nuts!…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Disease, Doctors, medicine, News, Nutrition, prescription drugs, weight by on Oct 27th, 2016. Comment.
Anaphylaxis is frightening — it can and does kill people. It is an acute allergic reaction that affects about 0.5 to 2% of the population, at some point in life, and the frequency seems to be rising as we speak. Symptoms include hives and itches and swelling, which about 20% of the time can affect the upper breathing system and close the windpipe.
In theory any substance that is not included as part of the body can cause it. I have heard about it being caused by bee stings, snake bites, foods and drugs and such. I have actually treated people for post-traumatic stress disorder caused by an allergic attack. It is a serious stress to find your windpipe closing up and not know why. The lifesaving immediate emergency treatment is injected epinephrine (adrenaline) and getting the victim to a medical center to follow up with antihistamine and steroids as needed. My own allergies have given me some weird things over the years — lots of positive skin tests. I used to suffer through “desensitization” protocols — allergen injections that made me sick, and prize-winning hay fever attacks. Read more on The EpiPen Mess and How To Work Around It…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, Education, FDA, Government, Healthcare reform, medicine, News, prescription drugs by on Sep 6th, 2016. Comment.
I was chatting with an M.D. woman friend, and told her my medications and my natural supplements and herbs and my “numbers” — my blood sugar and my blood pressure — when I still was convinced that I had those things.
My blood sugar was 120 mg/dL. My blood pressure with medications was around 140/85.
She surprised me with her reaction. Read more on What The Heck Has Happened To Medicine?…