My French medical school professor of bacteriology, Mme. le Professeur Jeanne Orfila, stood in front of her (our) class near tears. She was not the sort of woman who frequently fell into that state, so I vividly remember the day she told us this:
“Prescribe antibiotics carefully, and only when you have to. Every time you prescribe antibiotics, you are creating more and more bacteria who will “learn” to make themselves resistant to antibiotics. So they will work less well against human disease. Read more on How Many Deaths Will It Take?…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, medicine, News by on Nov 5th, 2019. Comment. 
The population gets older. I think everyone from Washington D.C. to Hollywood has noted the change in the demographic.
Did anyone notice, however, that an older population means more illness and senescence? More illness and senescence means more caretakers. Read more on More Aging, More Caretakers…
Filed under Aging, Alternative Medicine, Doctors, Family, life, News by on Jul 12th, 2018. Comment.
Beneath the University hospital that was associated with the medical school I attended in Amiens, France there was a seemingly infinite maze of interlocking concrete passages that connected all of the different “pavilions” (“units”) of the hospitals. I remember how my feet echoed as I walked along those corridors.
They had been constructed during World War II, to bring the hospital safely underground in case of German Bombing.
One day I was walking in step with all the other surgeons, echoing together, with a regular beat. Read more on They Don’t Need To Understand — They Are Peasants!…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Diagnosis, Doctors, News, Research by on Feb 5th, 2018. Comment.
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Brain, depression, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, medicine, Mental Illness, News, Nutrition, Research by on May 7th, 2017. Comment.
I am just about to make a major announcement about my new direction, location and activities.
However, some info is already leaking out. You may have seen photos or read about my participation in a high-profile event in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago. Read more on Dr. G On The Radio…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, medicine, News by on Aug 10th, 2016. 1 Comment.
It is very hard for straightforward and presumably honest medical researchers to give us much of anything objective about something that has been labeled “alternative medicine”. Maybe there should only be two kinds of medicine. Good and not good; helpful and not helpful. I was minding my own business – well, as much as ever — when I found an article about chelation as a preventative for heart disease. It basically says that chelation seems to “work”. But it also seems that some people are ashamed to find this out and don’t want too many people to take advantage of this as a treatment option. This makes about as much sense as most of what I have read recently about medical research, but I do have one way to put it in context. I have spoken at some alternative medicine meetings where I have proselytized about the effectiveness of high dose vitamins — chelated, to pass the blood-brain barrier. I have been told that I would be skewered by colleagues. Colleagues never seem to have much worried about what I have to say. As a matter of fact, the world seems to have a pretty bad track record as far as listening to what I say. Read more on Chelation As Preventive Therapy for Heart Disease…
Filed under Disease, medicine, Research by on Nov 26th, 2012. Comment.
Why would a pharmaceutical manufacturer want to change a drug from prescription to over the counter (OTC)?
Well, one thing I’ve learned in my lifetime is – When the Question is “WHY?” then the answer is “MONEY.”
In this case, the most obvious reason is more money for pharmaceutical companies. I certainly cannot think of anything — I mean any way shape or form — that can benefit patients.
Oh, sure – in our economically-ignorant country, many people think – “Whee! I can buy any drug I want without spending money on a doctor’s appointment and without having to get a prescription! ”
These people are prime candidates for the Darwin Awards.
Yes, believe it or not, the “RX to OTC Switch” can actually HURT patients.
Drug patents expire relatively quickly, competitors are waiting at the gates with generic equivalents, and when a drug becomes OTC, there is a chance that insurance does not cover it.
This makes insurance companies and government programs (Medicare, Medicaid/Medi-Cal, etc.) very happy. They are so strapped for cash that even paying for a cheaper generic is a strain on the budget. When this kind of money is involved, you can bet that lobbyists are pressuring the government to ease their restrictions so that drugs once considered risky enough to warrant a prescription so that not just anybody can have access will be available to anyone who can walk into a drug store or click on a shopping cart on the web.
Patients will have to pay for OTC meds in cash money and doctors usually do not bother prescribing an equivalent drug. If they do not already know of an equivalent, they will probably — and generally do — just tell a patient to go buy it over the counter.
A patient who cannot afford the drug will go off it.
OK – so what’s the big deal if a cold medicine, allergy remedy or hair-restoring pill is no longer a prescription drug?
Filed under prescription drugs by on Aug 14th, 2011. Comment.
There is no evidence of chelation curing autism.
NOTE: CLICK THE CARTOON AND SEE IT FULL-SIZE TO READ THE LAST PANEL
The field of alternative medicine is as wild and woolly as the old west. There are all kinds of people doing all kinds of things. Some are studied and tested, some are intuitive, and some seem to come from Uranus.
So it is no surprise that the FDA occasionally cracks down on some of the most flagrant offenders.
Please listen to someone with a lot of formal training and many years of experience in clinical trials and many treatment modalities — There are no miracle cures. If there really were, I think I could have a handle on them by now.
One hot button recently is autism. And one of the biggest misconceptions is that it is just mercury poisoning. Believe me (and a million other medical experts) – it is NOT.
There are plenty of people around who want to believe in the magic bullet. Somehow this goes hand-in-hand with believing that doctors and drug companies are hiding things that are wildly effective.
Truth, science, and the American way are effective. People are always devoted to things that will make them a lot of money. They may even convince themselves that they are on the way to miracles. Old fashioned values like responsible experimentation, even responsible observation … the heck with it.
I will not expostulate. I see it all the time. Some of my colleagues – and I mean trained and licensed MDs – seem to settle on one treatment and think it fixes everything. I suspect it is because they are basically lazy and cynical, but that may not be fair. But in my years of practice I’ve seen docs who give everybody thyroid hormone, others who firmly believe in vitamin D, the apostles of Prozac, and other things too bizarre for me to really believe. Read more on Denial, Wishful Thinking And Chelation…
Filed under Alternative Medicine by on Jan 21st, 2011. Comment.
I really am not worried about my reputation among my medical colleagues, as most of them think I’m “cracked” anyway.
However, just as an actor or director doesn’t make a movie just to get an Oscar, I don’t worry about what other doctors think – as long as I take good care of my patients.
Maybe that’s why the most frequently asked question by my patients is, “Why didn’t my other doctors know/discover/tell me this?” Read more on Yes, Virginia, Mercury Could Be At The Root Of Your Problem…
Filed under Alternative Medicine by on Dec 29th, 2010. Comment.