Is an opioid really the best medication for my pain?
As physicians, many of our daily practices involve administration of substances that are shrouded in mystery. Certain medications, specifically opioids, have been part of tragic news stories, and have turned young children into orphans, happy spouses into widows and widowers, and once-aspirational youth into memories. The CDC reports that on average, 130 people die each day from an opioid overdose.
With such harrowing statistics, why take opioids in the first place? Well, if used appropriately, opioids can significantly improve pain with relatively tolerable side effects. A short-term course of opioids (typically 3 to 7 da...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 19, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Salim Zerriny, MD Tags: Addiction Pain Management Source Type: blogs
5 Surprising Things Stress Can Do to Your Body
You're reading 5 Surprising Things Stress Can Do to Your Body, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
You just
got off a terrible meeting, your boss gave you an impossible deadline for the
next project, your team is pushing you to make extra hours, and you still need
to pick up the kids at school. Your body is in a “fight or flight response.”
Your stress levels are high, you feel your breath get quicker and even feel
your heart beating faster than usual. Although this is all a natural response
from your brai...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - June 18, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: annabelle Tags: featured health and fitness self improvement stress Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 35-year-old woman with constipation
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 35-year-old woman is evaluated for constipation. She reports passage of hard stool every 3 to 4 days and associated bloating. Her symptoms have been present for more than 10 years and have progressed gradually. Trials of o ver-the-counter fiber supplementation and […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 8, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > < /span > Tags: Meds Gastroenterology Medications Source Type: blogs
Magnum, P.I.
An 11-year-old boy with cerebral palsy presented to the emergency department unresponsive. His mother said the child was in his normal state earlier that morning, but was blue and unresponsive when she tried to wake him from his morning nap. A home pulse oximeter reported an oxygen level of 55%.The mother placed the child on oxygen and called 911. He was still unresponsive on arrival, and his physical examination demonstrated flaccid paralysis and a GCS score of 3 with fixed dilated pupils. He was tachycardic with shallow respirations. His initial vital signs were a temperature of 36.9°C, a heart rate of 136 bpm, a res...
Source: The Tox Cave - June 1, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
When constipation pain was worse than cancer pain
Coming in to meet the students, house staff, and patients for the first day on service always excites me. This Monday was no exception. What awaited me? How many patients would I need to see? What lessons could I impart? When I arrived, we had 11 patients, two new, and nine had arrived previously. Going […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 30, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/robert-centor" rel="tag" > Robert Centor, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Gastroenterology Oncology/Hematology Source Type: blogs
“ What if I just ignore my SIBO? ”
By just engaging in the basic strategies in the Wheat Belly Total Health, Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox, or Undoctored programs, many mild cases of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, reverse. These efforts thereby restore your ability to ingest prebiotic fibers without diarrhea, bloating, gas, abdominal discomfort, joint pain, and dark emotional feelings. Many people thereby are relieved of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, fibromyalgia, or restless leg syndrome, or have greater power in reversing autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Unfortunately, not everybody enjoys reversal of SIBO with our b...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - May 27, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: SIBO grain-free probiotic undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 60-year-old woman with persistent constipation
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 60-year-old woman is evaluated for persistent constipation symptoms of 2 years’ duration. She has reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome involving the right arm and neck that began 3 years earlier and requires chronic opioid analgesic therapy. She reports passing two hard […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 25, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > < /span > Tags: Meds Gastroenterology Source Type: blogs
Treating constipation with biofeedback for the pelvic floor
Constipation is often clinically defined as having three or fewer bowel movements a week. Sometimes this is about expectations; people generally feel like they’re not “healthy” if they don’t have a bowel movement every day. But three bowel movements a week can be normal for some people, especially if that has been their pattern for a long time.
There are many other factors that affect how people perceive bowel movements. According to the Rome IV criteria of constipation often used in research, frequency alone doesn’t explain all complaints of constipation. Patients complaining of two or more of the following also...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 16, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Judy Nee, MD Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Digestive Disorders Health Source Type: blogs
Swallowable Vibrating Pill Shakes Faecis to Relieve Constipation
Constipation is often a hard problem to solve, typically requiring medications to get things moving down there. Medications have side effects, nor do they always work as is hoped for.
We, being fans of medical gadgetry, are glad to see that a drug-free pill has been developed capable of shacking up the large intestine and motivating the flow of excrement.
The Vibrant capsule, from an Israeli company of the same name, is swallowed like a typical pill. Before going in, it is programmed in a particular “mode” that regulates how and when the device will vibrate after ingestion. Once its job is done, the pill leaves...
Source: Medgadget - April 4, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: GI Medicine Source Type: blogs
Fentanyl, How Bad Is It?
How Bad Is Fentanyl?
Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous synthetic opioid. Unlike some other opioids that occur naturally, it is man-made for the purpose of helping aid people suffering from extreme pain. It can be administered for recovery after surgery, during cancer treatments or for recovery after a painful injury. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies fentanyl as a Schedule II controlled substance. This means that it is legal for medical use, however, it has an extremely high potential for abuse and addiction.
Understanding Fentanyl
Significantly stronger than morphine or oxycodone, Fentanyl can be fatal...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - April 2, 2019 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Addiction to Pharmaceuticals Drug Rehab Information Drug Treatment Heroin Painkiller Substance Abuse Synthetic fentanyl prescription drug abuse prescription drug addiction prescription drug detox prescription drug use p Source Type: blogs
Is the ketogenic diet dangerous?
Answer: No—unless you do it for more than a few months. After a few months, the upfront metabolic and weight benefits will begin to reverse and new health problems arise. We know this with confidence. I raise this question once again because more and more people are coming to me reporting problems. It may take months, even years, but the long-term consequences can be quite serious.
Achieving ketosis by engaging in a very low-carbohydrate, high-fat lifestyle is—without a doubt—an effective means of losing weight, breaking insulin and leptin resistance, reversing type 2 diabetes and fatty liver, redu...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 12, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: ketones bowel flora ketogenic ketotic undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs
8 Health Risks of Untreated Depression
Medication side-effects can seem unbearable at times: dry mouth, nausea, dizziness, constipation. Certain prescriptions can also increase our risks for developing chronic conditions like thyroid disease and diabetes.
Three years ago, I decided that the pills’ side-effects weren’t worth the relief they brought, so I slowly weaned off all my medication. I then plummeted into a severe depression that ended up taking a far greater toll on my health than the nuisance of my drugs.
You may be justifiably concerned about how your mood stabilizer and antidepressant are altering your biochemistry, but also consider the grave con...
Source: World of Psychology - March 5, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Therese J. Borchard Tags: Depression General Medications Antidepressant Cognitive Decline Diabetes Mood Stabilizer Source Type: blogs
What to do if your child is constipated
Constipation is a very common problem in children. Whether it’s something temporary after an illness or diet change, or something more chronic, up to 20% of children suffer from it at one time or another. As much as it makes people uncomfortable to talk about poop, having trouble pooping is even more uncomfortable. Luckily, it is generally a very treatable problem.
Symptoms of constipation
Constipation plays out differently in different people. It can be any, or any combination, of
stooling less than three times a week
having stools that are hard and difficult to pass
having stools that are very large (large enough to b...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 5, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Digestive Disorders Parenting Source Type: blogs
Five big nutritional mistakes I ’ ve made over the years
No question: I have made some huge nutritional blunders over the past 25 years since I began to become seriously involved in nutritional issues. My mistakes, however, have provided powerful feedback on how to get diet right, how to get diet wrong. The impact of diet is profound.
Among the huge mistakes I’ve made:
1) Reducing total and saturated fat, eating vegetarian—It made me hungry, never satisfied, and, along with mistake #2, made me a type 2 diabetic with fasting blood sugars of 160+ mg/dl, triglycerides as high as 390 mg/dl, a HDL of 27 mg/dl, oodles of small LDL particles, and high blood pressure.
2) Eat...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 2, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates exercise grain-free grains undoctored vitamin D Weight Loss wheat belly Source Type: blogs
Interoperability and Data Blocking | Part 1: Fostering Innovation
By DAVE LEVIN MD
The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) have published proposed final rules on interoperability and data blocking as part of implementing the 21st Century Cures act. In this series we will explore the ideas behind the rules, why they are necessary and the expected impact. Given that these are complex, controversial topics, and open to interpretation, we invite readers to respond with their own ideas, corrections, and opinions.
_____________
Health IT 1.0, the basic digitalization of health care, succeeded in getting health care to stop using pens and ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 27, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Health Technology The Business of Health Care CMS Dave Levin Health Data Health IT Interoperability ONC Sansoro Health Source Type: blogs
