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?…
You know me – Little Miss Skeptical.
I would never give a baby a loaded gun to play with, and I would never give non-medically trained civilians syringes full of drugs with the intent of having them stab somebody directly in the heart and push the plunger.
You probably know what I’m talking about if you saw the movie “Pulp Fiction” – apparently about four people in the world have not. Read more on Too Many Die From Heroin…
Filed under prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on Feb 20th, 2014. Comment. 
Nobody, but nobody, including a president of the United States, can tell a doctor what to ask about in an assessments.
Assessments are supposed to be in the strictest confidence, for openers. Anything else would be against the rules of medical confidentiality. Patients have a right to be seen alone. The doctor has a right to decide what needs to be said.
I can imagine the 2nd ammendment rights activists bursting a blood vessel if doctors are reqiured to survey patients about the guns they own and how they use them. The requirement to have doctors do this would be — most everyone will agree — anti-American.
This being said, a question about firearms is and should be standard psychiatric practice. When you are dealing with suicidal patients, which happens all too often in psychiatry, and the patient says that he or she is thinking about this, then it is absolutely essential to know if that
Filed under Government by on Jan 23rd, 2013. Comment.
When human lives are at stake, there is simply no room for emotional decisions based on pseudo-science. But since when does anybody listen to anything I have to say?
Individuals are being removed from organ transplant lists because they are users of medical marijuana. Most recently, a staffer at a dispensary that is kind enough to refer people to me for medical marijuana prescriptions told me about a 30ish young man who is in renal kidney failure. He’s been taken off the list because –you guessed it – he is a user of medical marijuana. I’m afraid it’s more common that I’d like to admit. Read more on Denied a Kidney Transplant for Taking Legally Prescribed Medicine?…
Filed under medicine, News, prescription drugs by on Jan 14th, 2013. Comment.
Do some people become doctors just to earn a lot of money? Yes.
Do some of them find out that it’s not as lucrative as portrayed in the media (based upon stereotypes at least 40 years out of date)? Hell Yes!
Psychiatrists are not normally schizophrenic — however there are two types. One is the media stereotype “Talk Therapy” doctor. These are nearly extinct. They exist mainly in Woody Allen movies and old TV series. In fact, most of those are psychologists — not psychiatrists (but who knows the difference and who cares?).
The other type is what you chiefly find today — Pill Pushers. Insurance and
Filed under Psychiatrists by on Dec 26th, 2012. Comment.
Drug company lobbyists still rule this country, even under a president who promised us something different. I am sorry it took me so long to find out about the threats and deals made by the White House to get drug companies on board with Obama’s healthcare overhaul. Apparently, it was released by Republicans at the end of May. Read more on Even Obama is Ruled by Drug Companies…
Filed under medicine, politics, prescription drugs by on Nov 30th, 2012. Comment.
Whitney Houston’s death might be “old news” already, but I still think her death may not have been in vain.
Because Whitney was a star, we were treated to hearsay before facts. She drank in the morning, in a public place, and according to some observers may have been behaving a bit strangely.
There is an old screener for alcoholism called the “CAGE” questionnaire. It’s named after the four questions that presumably even a primary care physician — who has little room left in an overtaxed memory — could remember. Read more on Whitney Houston’s Death May Not Have Been in Vain…
Filed under abuse, Addictions, Celebrities, Disease, prescription drugs, Substance Abuse by on Aug 23rd, 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.
Once my husband found one of those funny videos that is called “Viral” because of the way it spreads across the internet like wildfire. This one was an episode of a 1950s game show.
Like many shows of the era, it had a sponsor’s name and logo prominently displayed in every camera shot – the backdrop of the set where the panel sat and I think even the desk fronts of the panelists. The sponsor was Raleigh cigarettes.
The show had made the rounds of the video sites because it was so hilariously biased. The simple quiz format always yielded the same answer –
“What is the capital of North Carolina?” Read more on Infiltrating Medical School and Continuing Education…
Filed under big pharma by on Jul 20th, 2011. Comment.
One of my Frequently Asked Questions is “why do you hate prescription drugs so much?”
And the answer is, I DON’T. Not at all. I have used, and will continue to use, prescription drugs whenever they are the best treatment for an individual.
What I DO hate is the way they are mis-used, and the way some companies push their drugs for inappropriate purposes, or in dosages that are harmful when they could be helpful in (usually lower) doses. Read more on A Remarkable Medicine And Its Champion…
Filed under prescription drugs by on Apr 29th, 2011. Comment.