Have you been told that you have high cholesterol? Or at least that you have to watch what you eat so you don’t get high cholesterol?
Of course you have! This is like a mantra – every health care professional and the writers who cover healthcare join in the party line. Everywhere you turn, it seems like everybody is on the “low-cholesterol” bandwagon.
Everybody? Hmm … (looking around) Well, there are exceptions.
Pardon me while I clear my throat and say in a loud, confident voice (and – might I add – a well-informed, scientifically and medically educated voice) – Bunk. Read more on ‘Tis The Season For Bad Dietary Advice…
Filed under Uncategorized by on Dec 2nd, 2011. Comment. 
I was trying to remember when prescription drugs were allowed to advertise on television (called “Direct To Consumer Advertising, or DTCA”). Fortunately, I didn’t have to bust my memory cells – I just had to “Google it.”
1995. The year all HHHHell broke loose. At least if you were a doctor.
Suddenly, patients could make their own diagnoses and prescriptions and just phone the order in to their doctor. At least, that’s how most patients thought it should work. And – hoo boy! – were they upset when it wasn’t quite that easy.
Comedian Dennis Miller has a hilarious line: “I divide medical practitioners into two camps. Those who will give me a scrip for Vicodin over the phone, and those who won’t.”
Hilarious if you aren’t a doctor, that is. Read more on RX Package Insert — Just Read It!…
Filed under Diagnosis, medicine, News, prescription drugs by on Dec 1st, 2011. Comment.
I am not going to repeat the lurid details of Jerry Sandusky’s crimes against young boys and the whole of humanity. I suppose what he was able to accomplish was a pedophile’s dream — The specific charity (the Second Mile) for “helping young boys” that brought him a steady flow of victims, the who judge had been a volunteer for his charity.
Now, there are allegations that his own family contained alleged victims – possibly his grandson.
It’s not that nobody knew — People had complained and reported many times over many years.
Some how it never got out. Read more on Sandusky-Penn State Revelations Keep Coming…
Filed under abuse, Celebrities, News, Sexual Misconduct, Sports by on Nov 30th, 2011. Comment.
Thanksgiving day parade. Patriotism. Christmas spirit. Since I was a very little girl, I noticed a sort of hypocrisy in all these things. Troops coming home? Yeah, sure. Try this — try shaking hands with a veteran, thanking him or her for putting on the green monkey suit and submitting to the arbitrary hierarchy that makes a military function. Read more on Keep The Holiday Spirit — Please!…
Filed under Holidays, News, politics by on Nov 26th, 2011. Comment.
I’ve had it with photo opportunities — the kind of superficial and symbolic action that politicians do as election time approaches.
I’ve dealt with street-people in various clinical settings over the years, and it is great when there are resources for referring them to get food, clothing and even shelter. The holiday season usually means cold weather no matter if you are in New York or Los Angeles, and it is even more critical for people to get shelter from the elements during the cold months.
But isn’t it the height of cynical politicking to have the President to show up at such a facility and “work?” Even worse, to bring his wife, children, mother-in-law and the brother-in-law (an athletic coach) and his entire team? Read more on A Cynical Thanksgiving Photo Op…
Filed under News, politics by on Nov 25th, 2011. Comment.
Wouldn’t it be fun to just sit in front of the TV all day and watch your favorite shows?
Actually, it’s pretty darn depressing. Anyway, that’s what I have noticed, and now it’s official.
I cannot begin to guess the number of people I have diagnosed as depressed who watch television all day. I’ve noticed it for a long time, and part of my standard examination is to find out what people do with their daily lives.
Short answer – couch potato.
Most of the time these folks aren’t actually trying to change their lives or get better. This isn’t just a simple, “Oh, I gotta catch Jerry Springer!” or “Oprah is supposed to be good today!” Read more on TV And Depression…
Filed under depression, News by on Nov 25th, 2011. Comment.
Seventh grade science class at my prep school featured some basic knowledge and definitions that had to be memorized. I aced it, of course, but I don’t think anyone else even liked it.
Over the course of my education (many, many years) I had a lot of science classes. And after I went to medical school, I was all scienced-up. Some of the classes were simply a waste of time – things required by law but not taken seriously by the school. Others were fascinating and formed my blossom love of science that led me to study medicine.
But I did get a lot of basics in that seventh grade class. Things like definitions. Words like “solute” and “solvent” held no mysteries for me. Water was, of course, the greatest solvent ever invented, but there were others. Like when we sent clothes to the dry cleaners, we had to remember the rhyme “Your best bet is carbon tet” a reference to carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Funny little doggerel, I know, but it was even on the final test.
Carbon tetrachloride was not part of the chemistry of living things, so it is not terribly much of a surprise that I haven’t heard much about it until today. I also recognize the names of its close cousins; trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene.
Sure sounds as if carbon tet and some related solvents in paints and adhesives are related to Parkinson’s Disease.
Filed under Parkinson's Disease by on Nov 23rd, 2011. Comment.
This is one of those stories that I find very difficult to write. My anger is great and clouds my mind. Yet if I do not, there may be some kind of eruption – tears, shouts, or pounding on the wall.
The headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer read, “4 ex-pharma execs face possible jail time.”
“Possible” jail time? This is murder.
In brief:
Synthes received FDA approval bone cement for use only to fill bony voids or defects in some parts of the body, but not in the spine.
In 2003 and 2004, the company is accused of having its representative train surgeons to use this cement for the very thing they were forbidden by the government to do.
For those who don’t know, many surgeries are performed by people who aren’t technically allowed to practice medicine. A lot of times, people who didn’t complete medical school or people who have had their medical licenses taken away for various disciplinary reasons can get employment with a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals or medical appliances (like replacement hip joints) and will train doctors on how to utilize these new products.
This isn’t widely discussed and is shady, at best. It’s probably criminal, but that’s another column.
Synthes executives are charged with conducting illegal clinical trials in which 200 patients were treated for ways not approved by the FDA.
Of those 200, three died.
Filed under big pharma by on Nov 22nd, 2011. Comment.
The patient was no Paris Hilton, and the clinic where I saw her is not someplace Ms. Hilton would ever frequent. But one thing the two women had in common was carrying a dog in a handbag.
I often see ladies carry in more than one bag – a standard handbag and perhaps a sack full of medical records. I’d never had anyone bring a purse-dog in to an interview, though. Read more on Is There Anything A Service Dog Can’t Do?…
Filed under Service animals by on Nov 19th, 2011. Comment.
So many times the cover-up seems to me to be worse than the crime. It might be something as President Nixon and Watergate or as trivial as Sarah Palin and her … um … improvisation on the ride of Paul Revere.
(Don’t try to fool a Boston girl – I know all about Paul Revere).
I think most of us can agree that the alleged sexual abuse of a young boy by a college football coach is definitely on the more serious side. And in addition to whatever reputed sexual trauma may result, there is another severe trauma. Read more on Penn State Child Abuse: The Coverup Is Worse Than The Crime…
Filed under Sexual Misconduct by on Nov 16th, 2011. Comment.