Should I be inclined to comment on the physical or mental health of a public figure, I would need to start with a humongous disclaimer.
I suppose it is common decency that would force me to say I had never met the patient and/or had never been their doctor and/or had never had any access to their medical or psychiatric record. Read more on Approach, Not Author…
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Diagnosis, Disease, Doctors, medicine, Mental Illness, News, prescription drugs, Psychiatrists by on Feb 27th, 2018. Comment. 
Chantix is a prescription smoking-cessation aid and has a lovely official website that will give you the information about the drug that the company that makes it provides for patients. This is the package insert a doctor is supposed to read before prescribing. You will love paragraph 6, about neuropsychiatric side effects. Read more on Drug Companies HAVE To Tell You The Bad News…
Filed under News, prescription drugs by on May 27th, 2017. Comment.
The story of CVS (Caremark) pharmacies no longer selling tobacco products seems to be dominating today’s headlines across the board.
It is true that numerous studies have identified smoking as the single major cause of preventable death in these United States. It is also true that smoking has diminished in recent years. Most of the studies I see show that the numbers have gone down from maybe 25% of the population to maybe 15% of the population, which will surely prolong and increase the quality of the lives of the individuals who have kicked the habit.
Legislation may have helped some. I have heard time and time again that nicotine is one of the most addictive, perhaps THE most addictive substance known to man. I have heard from plenty of patients how an unexpected stimulus or even memory has caused relapse. Read more on CVS Chain Kicks Tobacco’s Butt (Out Of Their Stores)…
Filed under Government, News, tobacco by on Feb 6th, 2014. Comment.
One usually thinks of a doctor as one who gives out prescription – sometimes much too easily. I’m often known as the doctor who declines to push drugs.
I take these things seriously. I’ve studied long and hard and know what drugs can do – both positively and negatively. If the risks outweigh the benefits, I can be down-right stubborn. However, I’ll always have an alternative that can help.
I’m reminded of one case where a woman wanted Chantix (varenicline) – a prescription medicine FDA approved to help people stop smoking — and I said “No.” To my knowledge and experience, the drug has some problems. The last patient I saw who was already taking Chantix asked me for a renewal. I told her that the symptoms of which she was complaining would probably disappear completely if she got off the Chantix. I never saw her a second time. Read more on Its Not Only The Smoking That Can Kill You…
Filed under prescription drugs by on Jan 27th, 2011. Comment.