The (sort of, partial) Father mRNA Vaccines Who Now Spreads Vaccine Misinformation (Part 1)
By DAVID WARMFLASH, MD
Robert W. Malone, MD MS, is a physician-scientist who will live in infamy, thanks to the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast boosting his visibility this past December regarding his criticism of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly the mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech). Subsequently, Malone was banned from Twitter, which further boosted his celebrity status. Describing himself as the inventor of mRNA vaccine technology, he has been reaching a growing number of people with a narrative that makes COVID-19 vaccination sound scary. We cannot embed clips from the Rogan interview, which lasted about three...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 17, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy antivaxxer COVID-19 vaccine David Warmflash Joe Rogan Robert Malone Source Type: blogs
A Man With Sudden Onset of Gastroparesis
By HANS DUVEFELT
Leo Dufour is not a diabetic. He is in his mid 50s, a light smoker with hypertension and a known hiatal hernia. He has had occasional heartburn and has taken famotidine for a few years along with his blood pressure and cholesterol pills.
Over the past few months, he started to experience a lot more heartburn, belching and bloating. Adding pantoprazole did nothing for him. I referred him to a local surgeon who did an upper endoscopy. This did not reveal much, except some retained food in his stomach. A gastric emptying study showed severe gastroparesis.
The surgeon offered him a trial of metoclopra...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 16, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Physicians Primary Care Hans Duvefelt Source Type: blogs
Doxepin, a Little Known Super Drug in My Personal Black Bag of Tricks
By HANS DUVEFELT
A while back I was able to completely stop my mastocytosis patient’s chronic hives, which the allergist had been unable to control.
I did it with a drug that has been on the market since 1969 and is taken once a day at a cost of 40 cents per capsule at Walmart pharmacies.
Hives are usually treated with antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl). My super drug has a 24 hour duration of effect and is about 800 times more potent than diphenhydramine, which has to be taken every fours hours around the clock.
Histamine is involved in allergic reactions, but it also plays a role ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 9, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Physicians Primary Care Hans Duvefelt Source Type: blogs
Ranitidine (Zantac) recall expanded, many questions remain
Update: On April 1, 2020, the FDA requested manufacturers to withdraw all prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) ranitidine drugs (Zantac, others) from the market immediately, due to the presence of a contaminant known as N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Although the FDA did not observe unacceptable levels of NDMA in many of the samples they tested, they have determined that the impurity in some ranitidine products increases over time and when stored at higher than room temperatures. As a result of this recall, ranitidine products will no longer be available for prescription or OTC use in the US.
The FDA is also advising co...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 2, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Joshua Gagne, PharmD, ScD Tags: Digestive Disorders Drugs and Supplements Source Type: blogs
Ranitidine (Zantac) recall expanded, many questions remain
As anticipated, recall of the popular heartburn medicine ranitidine (Zantac) has expanded. But we still have more questions than answers.
As I mentioned in my original blog post on this topic, the online pharmacy Valisure, which originally alerted the FDA to the issue, found what they called “extremely high levels” of the probable cancer-causing substance N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in ranitidine products.
The FDA has indicated that its own preliminary testing has detected low levels of NDMA in ranitidine.
Testing methods may have influenced NMDA results
The FDA has clarified that the testing method that found the ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 10, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Joshua Gagne, PharmD, ScD Tags: Digestive Disorders Drugs and Supplements Source Type: blogs
Depression: Common medication side effect?
This study is especially thought-provoking, given that more and more people are taking medications with depression or suicidal thoughts as possible side effects. The CDC just released updated data showing a troubling recent rise in suicide rates, and that 54% of those who die from suicide do not have a known mental health disorder, so this is an important public health issue.
That said, it is important to note: in this study, people who used these medications were more likely to be widowed and have chronic health problems, both of which are associated with a higher risk of depression. And many (but not all) of these medica...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - July 16, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Anxiety and Depression Drugs and Supplements Health Source Type: blogs
Might Depression Be Linked to One of These Popular Medications?
If you’re taking beta blockers, certain kinds of anxiety drugs, certain types of painkillers (including ibuprofen), proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) (used to treat acid reflux), ACE inhibitors (used to treat high blood pressure), or anti-convulsant drugs, you may be at greater risk for depression. That’s according to a new, large-scale study published earlier this week in JAMA.
However, this was a correlational study, so it can’t say that these medications actually cause depression or not. It may be that people with greater health problems are more likely to take one of these medications and be depressed abo...
Source: World of Psychology - June 15, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: Depression General Medications Psychiatry Research Drugs cause depression popular medications Source Type: blogs
Apple cider vinegar … for heartburn?
I’ve always thought it sounded counterintuitive to use an acid to alleviate indigestion, but the number of times I’ve heard people treat their symptoms of heartburn with apple cider vinegar is too large to count. So, I decided to look into whether this strategy works, and to do some investigation about the idea behind its use. To my surprise, there is no research published in medical journals that addresses using raw apple cider vinegar to treat heartburn, despite widespread use and recommendations from blogs and websites.
What is heartburn?
Heartburn is most commonly caused by stomach acid contents traveling up into t...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 28, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Marcelo Campos, MD Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Digestive Disorders Folk remedies Health Source Type: blogs
A female in her 60s who was lucky to get expert ECG interpretation
Submitted and written by Alex Bracey, with edits by Pendell Meyers and Steve Smith:I was walking through the critical care section of the ED when I overheard a discussion about the following ECG. I had no history on the case and no prior ECG for comparison.What do you think?Here are inferior leads, and aVL, magnified:A closer inspection of the inferior leads and aVLSinus bradycardia. The T-wave in lead III is slightly tall and broad (increased area under the curve) compared to its QRS complex. In isolation, this probably could not be called a hyperacute T-wave, but you may suspect it. There is T-wave invers...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - February 15, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 21-year-old woman with a rash in the lower extremities
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 21-year-old woman is evaluated for a 3-week history of painful nodules and a rash in the lower extremities, along with pain and swelling of the wrists, knees, and ankles. She reports a low-grade fever and a 2.7-kg (6.0-lb) weight loss since the onset of symptoms. She has taken naproxen with some relief. History is significant for gastroesophageal reflux disease and acne. Medications are over-the-counter famotidine as needed and minocycline.
On physical examination, temperature is 38.2 °C (100.8 °F), blood pr...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 26, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: mksap Tags: Conditions Rheumatology Source Type: blogs
How a Simple Little Pill Ended Up Costing 1000 Percent More Than Its Ingredients
By DEVON HERRICK
A recent New York Times article profiled a pair of ultra-expensive pain medications designed to go easy on the stomach. Common pain relievers, like aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen are prone to irritate the stomach if taken repeatedly throughout the day. A newer class of pain medication, called cox-2 inhibitors, are the preferred pain relievers for those who cannot take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on a long term basis. Celecoxib, the generic version of Celebrex, is now available at a cost of about $2 per tablet, but that can add up to about $700 to $1000 per year.
More than a decade ago...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB aspirin Devon Herrick Duexis Ibuprofen Naproxen New York Times Vimovo Source Type: blogs
How a Simple Little Pill Ended Up Costing 99 Percent More Than Its Ingredients
By DEVON HERRICK
A recent New York Times article profiled a pair of ultra-expensive pain medications designed to go easy on the stomach. Common pain relievers, like aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen are prone to irritate the stomach if taken repeatedly throughout the day. A newer class of pain medication, called cox-2 inhibitors, are the preferred pain relievers for those who cannot take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on a long term basis. Celecoxib, the generic version of Celebrex, is now available at a cost of about $2 per tablet, but that can add up to about $700 to $1000 per year.
More than a decade ago...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB aspirin Devon Herrick Duexis Ibuprofen Naproxen New York Times Vimovo Source Type: blogs
Medications After a Heart Attack
From: www.secondscount.orgYour heart attack recovery will include medications. Taking these medications exactly as prescribed is one of the best tools at your disposal for avoiding death in the months following a heart attack. According to an article published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, heart attack patients who had not filled any of their prescriptions within 120 days of being discharged from the hospital had 80 percent greater odds of death than those who filled all of their prescriptions.Medications you are likely to be prescribed after a heart attack fall int...
Source: Dr Portnay - January 23, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr Portnay Source Type: blogs
