Doctors Lack Knowledge about Medical Cannabis Use. Their Patients Can Help.
By DOUGLAS BRUCE, PhD
On January 1, 2020, recreational cannabis use became legal in Illinois. More than 80,000 people in Illinois are registered in the state’s medical cannabis program. Surprisingly, many of their doctors don’t know how to talk with them about their medical cannabis use.
As a health sciences researcher, I have a recommendation that is both practical and profound: Physicians can learn first-hand from their own patients how and why they use medical cannabis, and the legalization of recreational cannabis may make them more comfortable discussing its usage overall.
Nationwide, physician...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 2, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Physicians Cannabis Douglas Bruce marijuana legalization medical cannabis Medical Marijuana Source Type: blogs
Harvard Health Ad Watch: A fibromyalgia treatment ( “But you look so good!”)
It’s something I’ve heard countless times from patients with fibromyalgia. They’re telling a friend or family member about their condition and the response is, “But you don’t look sick” or “But you look so well.” Sometimes, the reaction is more of an eye roll or some other response that reflects skepticism that the problem is even “real.”
Those are issues addressed head-on in a TV ad for Lyrica (pregabalin), a treatment for fibromyalgia. “To most people, I look like most people,” a woman says. “But on the inside I feel chronic, widespread pain.” After clarifying that the pain is real, this direc...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 22, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Arthritis Bones and joints Fatigue Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Part 5 - Why Do We Lump the Non-Cancer Pain Syndromes Together?
by Drew Rosielle (@drosielle)A Series of Observations on Opioids By a Palliative Doc Who Prescribes A Lot of Opioids But Also Has Questions.This is the 5th post in a series about opioids, with a focus on how my thinking about opioids has changed over the years. See also:Part 1 – Introduction, General Disclaimers, Hand-Wringing, and a Hand-Crafted Graph.Part 2 – We Were Wrong 20 years Ago, Our Current Response to the Opioid Crisis is Wrong, But We Should Still Be Helping Most of our Long-Term Patients Reduce Their Opioid DosesPart 3 – Opioids Have Ceiling Effects, High-Doses are Rarely Therapeutic, and Another Hand-Cr...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - October 6, 2019 Category: Palliative Care Tags: opioid pain rosielle The profession Source Type: blogs
For Chronic Pain, Off-Label Naltrexone In Low Doses Seems To Help : Shots - Health News : NPR
Lori Pinkley, a 50-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., has struggled with puzzling chronic pain since she was 15.She's had endless disappointing visits with doctors. Some said they couldn't help her. Others diagnosed her with everything from fibromyalgia to lipedema to the rare Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.Pinkley has taken opioids a few times after surgeries but says they never helped her underlying pain."I hate opioids with a passion," Pinkley says."An absolute passion."Recently, she joined a growing group of patients using an outside-the-box remedy: naltrexone. It is usually used to treat addiction, in...
Source: Psychology of Pain - September 24, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs
I ’m in pain, so why is my doctor suggesting a psychologist?
Pain makes us human. It is a bell, fine-tuned by evolution, that often rings in moments necessary for our survival. Because of pain, we can receive warnings that trigger the reflexes to escape potential danger.
But what happens when that bell continues to ring? How do we respond to a signal when it interferes with the other elements that make us human?
Pain that lasts longer than six months is considered chronic, and it may not go away. With chronic pain, the bell’s ongoing signal gets your nervous system wound up and increases its reactivity to incoming messages. This can be quite distressing and anxiety-provoking. Addi...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - August 14, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Salim Zerriny, MD Tags: Back Pain Mind body medicine Pain Management Source Type: blogs
You Are Not Your Thoughts
In conclusion, you are not your thoughts; you are the sum of so much more, including your intent and, more importantly, action. (Source: World of Psychology)
Source: World of Psychology - July 29, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tracy Shawn, MA Tags: Self-Help opinions Positive Psychology Rumination thoughts Source Type: blogs
Cannabis and cannabinoids for persistent pain?
Over the last 12 months New Zealanders have entered into the debate about cannabis and cannabinoids for medical use. In the coming year we’ll hear even more about cannabis as we consider legalising cannabis for recreational use. There is so much rhetoric around the issue, and so much misinformation I thought it high time (see what I did there?!) to write about where I see the research is at for cannabis and cannabinoids for persistent pain.
For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to use the following definitions: Cannabis = the plant; cannabis-based medication = registered extracts (either synthetic or from...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - July 21, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Chronic pain Coping strategies Research Science in practice cannabinoids cannabis medicinal cannabis neuropathic pain persistent pain recreational cannabis Source Type: blogs
A Physician Letter Essay Sample
You're reading A Physician Letter Essay Sample, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
From: Dr. Abu Salim Idris (Consultant Neurologist at KPJ Tawakkal
Hospital/ MMC NO 23250 / nsr 124687/)
To: Whom it may concern
I Am writing regarding the health of
my patient, name: MOHAMED YAHYA RASHEED AL JUMA,
Passport NO: VP3153200 (OMAN), D.O.B: 01/07/1991
The above-mentioned patient was born on the 1st day of July 1991 in Oman
and a student at the KDU University in Malaysia. The student is set to go back
for hi...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - July 12, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: elan peter Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Is lactose intolerance really SIBO?
Evidence is growing demonstrating that intolerance to lactose is really just yet another manifestation of SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
In a small Australian study, for instance, of 10 elderly people with lactose intolerance, 90% had SIBO (by lactulose H2 breath testing); eradication of SIBO reversed lactose intolerance in all initially SIBO-positive participants. Likewise, in an Italian study, lactose intolerance was associated with SIBO; eradication of SIBO resulted in most people being freed from lactose (as well as fructose and sorbitol) intolerance.
It is part of the disruption of the digestive process ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - July 9, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: SIBO a2 dairy grain-free lactose wheat belly Source Type: blogs
H2 Breath Detection: Game-Changer for Gastrointestinal Health
Anyone who remembers the days before finger stick blood glucose meters became available to people with diabetes will recall how awful life was for diabetics. All they had was urine dipsticks which were sloppy, yielded only crude non-quantitative feedback on blood sugars, and gave you a gauge of what blood sugars were in the recent past, not the present. It meant that dosing insulin or diabetes drugs was grotesquely imprecise and accounted for many episodes of hypoglycemic coma and acceleration of diabetic complications. It was not uncommon in those days, for instance, for a type 1 diabetic to be blind and experience kidney...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - June 20, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: SIBO bowel flora Inflammation probiotic undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs
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
Eight years of Wheat Belly successes
I was looking back over the last 8 years since the first Wheat Belly book was released. It’s been 8 years of astounding, truly breathtaking stories of success over weight issues, health, and physical transformations that skeptics even today claim are impossible. It’s been a virtual avalanche of wonderful stories. Although I’ve seen all of them, often more than once, I could not help but be overcome with satisfaction and pride for the many, many spectacular photos and stories people have shared.
So I thought it would be fun to re-post a small sample of some of these stories dating back from the start of th...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - June 6, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Success Stories grain-free Inflammation 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
‘ At Least You Don ’ t Have … ’ How to Be Supportive of Someone with Chronic Illness
I was speaking with someone recently who has a series of chronic and painful conditions; some of which are noticeable and some ‘invisible’. What is particularly distressful is that people sometimes say to her, “At least you don’t have cancer.” How dismissive is that? I know they are trying to help her feel better about what she does have and perhaps even attempt to minimize the impact, but it is not compassionate or helpful.
There are diagnoses such as fibromyalgia, lupus, diabetes, arthritis or neuropathy which some people have to navigate. It might mean taking naps on an as-needed basis, en...
Source: World of Psychology - May 15, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW Tags: Chronic Pain Health-related Inspiration & Hope Personal Arthritis Chronic Illness Diabetes Fibromyalgia Lupus Lyme disease neuropathy peer support Source Type: blogs
Awareness and Social Media Fundamentals for Patient Communities – #HITsm Chat Topic
We’re excited to share the topic and questions for this week’s #HITsm chat happening Friday, 5/17 at Noon ET (9 AM PT). This week’s chat will be hosted by Amanda (@LALupusLady) on the topic of “Awareness and Social Media Fundamentals for Patient Communities”. May is Lupus Awareness Month, Fibromyalgia Awareness Month, Mental Health Awareness Month, Arthritis Awareness […] (Source: EMR and HIPAA)
Source: EMR and HIPAA - May 14, 2019 Category: Information Technology Authors: John Lynn Tags: #HITsm Communication and Patient Experience Healthcare IT #HITsm Topics Amanda Green Healthcare Social Media LALupusLady Patient Communities Patients Source Type: blogs
