To See or Not to See
A
A 17-year-old boy presented to the emergency department after having a seizure. Initial vital signs included a temperature of 38°C, heart rate of 134 beats/min, respiratory rate of 22 breaths/min, blood pressure of 142/93 mm Hg, and pulse oximetry of 97% on room air. His physical exam is significant for tachycardia and pupils are 5 mm bilaterally and reactive to light with horizontal nystagmus. He is awake, confused, and combative.
Paramedics report that his mother found him in his bedroom was acting strangely before he fell to the floor and began convulsing. ED staff administered 2 mg intravenous lorazepam, ...
Source: The Tox Cave - January 4, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
What medications have you been able to stop on the Wheat Belly lifestyle?
I posed this question on the Wheat Belly Facebook page recently and received an overwhelming response. Here, I share a partial list of the responses: medications people have been able to stop by following the Wheat Belly lifestyle.
Just take a look at this incredible list: these represent medications prescribed by doctors to, in effect, “treat” the consequences of consuming wheat and grains. They prescribe drugs to treat the inflammation, swelling, skin rashes, gastrointestinal irritation, high blood sugars, airway allergy, and other abnormal effects all caused by wheat and grains.
The list includes anti-inf...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - October 6, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle asthma cholesterol diabetes drugs gluten grains hypertension prescription medication reflux Source Type: blogs
“Take a Valium, Lose Your Kid, Go to Jail”
During pregnancy “occasional, small doses of diazepam (the generic name for Valium) are considered safe,” writes Nina Martin in a new ProPublica investigation. “But one morning a few weeks later, when [Casey] Shehi was back at her job in a nursing home and the baby was with a sitter, investigators from the Etowah County [Alabama] Sheriff’s Office showed up at the front desk with a warrant. She had been charged with ‘knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally’ causing her baby to be exposed to controlled substances in the womb — a felony punishable in her case by up to 10 years in prison. The investigators led h...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 25, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
More on the People's Car
Belle Waring agrees with me that a lot of VW employees must have known about the rigged emissions tests. The commenters, most of whom as far as I can tell don't have any particular expertise, are of varying opinions about that, with some claiming a small group of software engineers could have done it. I don't buy that, because the engineers who designed the engine would have known perfectly well what it was capable of. And executives, regardless of whether they came out of engineering or marketing or manufacturing, would have to know enough about the technology to have a pretty good clue, even if they maintained plausible ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - September 25, 2015 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 111
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 111
Question 1
You notice a unusual looking, reddish, fern-like design on a friend’s shoulder. You assume that it is a ‘henna tattoo’…but it is not. What is it, how did she get it and how long will it last?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
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Lichtenberg figures
Also known as called “lightning f...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - August 7, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Niall Hamilton Tags: Frivolous Friday Five cairo toe diazepam FFFF Lichtenberg figure mother little helper Rolling stones wada test Wharton's jelly Source Type: blogs
Of PCPs and THC
By ROB LAMBERTS, MD
The drug test came back abnormal. There was THC present. I walked back to Mrs. Johnson and raised my eyebrows.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, not used to whatever kind of look I was giving her.
“Uh, you forgot to mention to me that you smoke weed.”
She blushed and then smirked. “Well, yes, I guess I forgot to put that down on the sheet. I don’t do it real often, but sometimes it takes mind off of things. I just get real anxious about my kids, my husband…and my heart problems. I only smoke one or two a night”
She’s not your usual picture...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 29, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: THCB Source Type: blogs
Don’t Smoke ’Em if You Got ’Em
A 22-year-old man with no past medical history presented to the emergency department with altered mental status. He was brought in by police who reported using a TASER on him three times after he became violent with them. His friends report he smoked K2. His initial vital signs included a temperature of 99.9°F, a heart rate of 137 bpm, blood pressure of 151/76 mm Hg, a respiratory rate of 22 bpm, and pulse oximetry of 98% on room air. The patient was agitated and combative, and was placed in four-point restraints.
K2 is a synthetic cannabinoid. Other commonly used synthetic cannabinoids include spice, moon rocks, comat...
Source: The Tox Cave - July 1, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Don’t Smoke ’Em if You Got ’Em
A 22-year-old man with no past medical history presented to the emergency department with altered mental status. He was brought in by police who reported using a TASER on him three times after he became violent with them. His friends report he smoked K2. His initial vital signs included a temperature of 99.9°F, a heart rate of 137 bpm, blood pressure of 151/76 mm Hg, a respiratory rate of 22 bpm, and pulse oximetry of 98% on room air. The patient was agitated and combative, and was placed in four-point restraints.
K2 is a synthetic cannabinoid. Other commonly used synthetic cannabinoids include spice, moon rocks, com...
Source: The Tox Cave - July 1, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The urine drug screen commonly utilized in the emergency department is an immunoassay that uses antibodies to detect specific drugs or their metabolites. This allows for rapid screening for drugs of abuse, but it has many limitations.
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the confirmatory test, but it is more costly, time-consuming, and generally can only be performed by outside laboratories. This confirmatory test is generally not useful in the emergency department, but has a role in cases of pediatric exposures, research, or occupational drug testing.
One of the limitations of a urine drug screen a...
Source: The Tox Cave - June 1, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The urine drug screen commonly utilized in the emergency department is an immunoassay that uses antibodies to detect specific drugs or their metabolites. This allows for rapid screening for drugs of abuse, but it has many limitations.
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the confirmatory test, but it is more costly, time-consuming, and generally can only be performed by outside laboratories. This confirmatory test is generally not useful in the emergency department, but has a role in cases of pediatric exposures, research, or occupational drug testing.
One of the limitations of a urine drug s...
Source: The Tox Cave - June 1, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Please forgive us for prescribing controlled drugs to just about everybody
Lately I’ve had the opportunity to work in an outpatient clinic where the regular doctor is out sick for a prolonged period of time. It is a breathtakingly beautiful little community, with green hills and a crystal clear river. It is also troubled by methamphetamine and prescription drug abuse.
The little clinic in town is unwittingly a partner in this crime. Like the U.S. itself, this small community clinic has been generous with prescribing controlled substances for those who appear to need them. Sedatives in the benzodiazepine (Valium, Ativan and Xanax are brand name examples) family are prescribed for those with ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 25, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Janice Boughton, MD Tags: Meds Pain management Source Type: blogs
Structural Studies Demystify Membrane Protein
Animated structural model of TSPO. Credit: Michigan State University.
Mitochondria have proteins that span their membranes to control the flow of messages and materials moving into and out of the organelle. One way scientists can learn more about how membrane proteins function—and how medicines might interact with them—is to determine their structures. But for a variety of reasons, obtaining the structures has been notoriously difficult.
Two structural studies have now shed light on the mysterious mitochondrial membrane protein TSPO. This protein plays a key role in transporting cholesterol and drugs into the cell’s...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 6, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Jilliene Drayton Tags: Structural Biology Source Type: blogs
Wheat Belly and inflammation
Sophia shared this enlightening and wonderful story of relief from inflammation and half a dozen anti-inflammatory drugs by eliminating the cause, grains:
“Morning from Berkshire, UK. This is me now [on the right], 3 and a half months into Wheat Belly. No drugs, no sarcoidosis, no osteoarthritis, no gastric spams, no joint inflammation, no brain fog, no redness of skin. Still ongoing disc problems but decided to wean myself off of all drugs and manage the pain with exercise, yoga, cycling and then rest.
“By drugs: omeprozole, naproxen, gabapentin, tramadol, diazepam, prednisolone, gastric drugs.
“I have l...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - April 15, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Success Stories acid reflux gluten grains iinflammation joint pain sarcoidosis Source Type: blogs
