Can You Avoid Lumbar Puncture in Febrile Neonates?
I don’t have a problem with lumbar punctures in febrile neonates. In fact, my son ended up with three lumbar punctures before aging out of the febrile seizure protocols. I do have a problem, however, with doing unnecessary spinal taps. The emotional stress of a neonatal LP on parents is significant, and the physical stress of the procedure on the infant is also substantial.
The pain of the needle and the unique restraint required for the procedure are also potentially problematic. The pain of the needle can be minimized by EMLA cream (eutectic mixture of local anesthetics [lidocaine and prilocaine]) and local anes...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - May 1, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Can You Avoid Lumbar Puncture in Febrile Neonates?
I don’t have a problem with lumbar punctures in febrile neonates. In fact, my son ended up with three lumbar punctures before aging out of the febrile seizure protocols. I do have a problem, however, with doing unnecessary spinal taps. The emotional stress of a neonatal LP on parents is significant, and the physical stress of the procedure on the infant is also substantial.
The pain of the needle and the unique restraint required for the procedure are also potentially problematic. The pain of the needle can be minimized by EMLA cream (eutectic mixture of local anesthetics [lidocaine and prilocaine]) and local ...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - May 1, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Everybody judges in the exam room
As a medical student, I am being taught not to judge patients. If a patient tells me that he has smoked cigarettes for forty years of his life despite the protests of his wife, I am supposed to nod my head understandingly without showing my inherent disapproval. If a patient tells me that she has given her husband genital herpes because she is cheating on him, I am not supposed to flinch. I agree with the heart of this teaching because it properly reflects the sacredness of a patient-doctor relationship. Patients share information with their doctors that they may not be able to share with anyone else, even their spouses. W...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 23, 2014 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
Poison dew drops
Last night I dreamed of airplanes. Again. Every night I dream of airplanes. Every night for the last seven nights, anyway. Big ones. Little ones. New ones. Old ones. But my dream planes aren’t soaring high and wild in blue skies like they were built to do. There’s always something wrong with them. They’re broken down. Out of fuel. Victims of weather. My dream planes are trapped, barred from their natural environment. In my dreams, they are prisoners of the ground. This morning as the fog of dreams lifted, I put it all together. My subconscious is processing the fact that I, too, am a prisoner.Oh, Lord, where to even ...
Source: LifeAfterDx--The Guardian Chronicles - January 5, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Wil Source Type: blogs
An Outline of Natural and Modern Treatments for Herpes
The Herpes virus is very common, especially amongst females. The majority of people who experience this infection are females – about 1 in 6 carry this disease. It might be beneficial to some who have the virus to know that they are not alone and that many others have this disease too, however, natural remedies are available which can greatly reduce the symptoms or even cure the disease! A Herpes cure isn’t a sure fire method though and has a very low percentage of success, but it is worth striving for.
Natural remedies for Herpes have been used for thousands of years, and many herbs have actually been shown to...
Source: Mental Nurse - January 1, 2014 Category: Nurses Authors: Iqcguest Tags: Health disease Herpes cure Modern Treatment Source Type: blogs
Dr. Grumpy's gift guide
Love cupcakes? Who doesn't? (okay, I'm not fond of them, but am in the minority).What could make a cupcake even more appetizing than it already is? More frosting? Sprinkles? Realistic sores from sexually-transmitted diseases?Mmmmm... chancres.These delectable "clapcakes" are available in Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Herpes, and, um, a handful of other reasons to use condoms.Bon Appetit! (Source: Doctor Grumpy in the House)
Source: Doctor Grumpy in the House - December 13, 2013 Category: Neurologists Authors: Grumpy, M.D. Source Type: blogs
ASH 2013 - Chronic Infection, MGUS, & Myeloma
Paper 3116: Chronic Infection, a Neglected Cause Of Development Of Monoclonal Gammopathy Of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) and Myeloma
According to this French paper, it is well known that certain chronic infections can cause lymphomas and chronic leukemia, because the infection annoys the cells until they ultimately make a mistake and become malignant (my words - theirs are undoubtedly more clinically correct but well above my pay grade). Apparently, something similar can happen to our plasma cells, turning them into malignant myeloma cells.
Indeed, the International Myeloma Foundation says "Several studies have...
Source: Myeloma Hope - December 11, 2013 Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs
Problems & Treatments
Herpes is a virus with two distinct types or “simplexes”. There is an powerful herpes treament accessible!The initial simplex is called HSV1 and is the most widespread. This simplex attacks the oral area, and is most generally acknowledged as a chilly sore or oral herpes Most individuals do not realize that there is a herpes [...] (Source: Carin' For Karen)
Source: Carin' For Karen - December 7, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Becky65Zqjrs Tags: Life in general Source Type: blogs
Medical Mispronunciations and Misspelled Words: The Definitive List.
Hearing medical mispronunciations and seeing misspelled words are an under appreciated joy of working in healthcare. Physicians often forget just how alien the language of medicine is to people who don't live it everyday. The best part about being a physician is not helping people recover from critical illness. The best part is not about listening and understanding with compassion and empathy. Nope, the best part about being a physician is hearing patients and other healthcare providers butcher the language of medicine and experiencing great entertainment in the process. Doctors c...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - October 2, 2013 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, September 16, 2013
From MedPage Today:
Risk for Breast Cancer Low with Testosterone Tx. Women with symptoms of hormone deficiency had a substantially lower than expected incidence of breast cancer when treated with testosterone implants with or without an aromatase inhibitor (AI).
HSV Vaccine Linked to Lower Viral Shedding. A therapeutic vaccine for herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2) virus reduced viral shedding and had an acceptable safety profile.
Guideline$: Following the Money in Acne Treatment. When the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed guidelines recommending expensive prescription drugs to treat childhood acne, it didn’t tell...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 16, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: News Cancer Dermatology Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Engineered Salmonella Targets Malignant Cells to Eradicate Cancer
(A) Illustration of the migration of cargo-carrying tumor-tropic bacteria toward a tumor. The outer cells (dark blue) are proliferating cells. The green cells represent dormant cancer stem cells (CSCs). Note that in real tumors the fraction of this subpopulation of cells is very low, and they can be widely scattered. The red cells are necrotic cells, and the light blue cells are stromal cells (see Ben-Jacob et al4 for more details). (B) Illustration of cargo-carrying Trojan-horse bacteria engineered to express antibodies targeting the tumor-specific antigens. This recognition enables the bacteria to enter the cells and inj...
Source: Medgadget - August 17, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Yona Gidalevitz Tags: in the news... Source Type: blogs
Many medical interventions are 50/50: Who informs the patient?
Lately, my virtual inbox in our electronic medical record has seen a surge in requests for prescriptions for the vaccine against herpes zoster, shingles. This has made me think a lot about our responsibility as physicians to inform patients about the evidence behind our recommendations – but who informs the patients when doctors are kept out of the loop or put under pressure to prescribe without seeing the patient?
Continue reading ...
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 16, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician Infectious disease Primary care Source Type: blogs
Why you should never order a herpes IgM blood test
Routine screening blood tests for herpes are not recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. When I say routine screening I mean a scenario such as, “I want to get checked for everything, ok?”
Blood tests for herpes do have a place in specific clinical situations, but that’s for another post.
But say you did get a herpes blood test (even though it’s not recommended many people seem to get it done) and it’s positive for something called IgM antibodies. Armed with these results your doctor proceeds to tell you that these results mean you caught herpes recently, so you start to freak out.
Stop right there.
Con...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 27, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Conditions Infectious disease Source Type: blogs
UK Doc: Type 2 Often Curable
By David Spero
According to Dr. Roy Taylor of the United Kingdom's University of Newcastle, we need to change our understanding of what causes Type 2 diabetes. Then we can treat it and reverse it. What is this new understanding?
Dr. Taylor made headlines in 2011 when his team "reversed" Type 2 diabetes in 11 people by putting them on a 600-calorie-a-day diet. His subjects achieved normal glucose levels within a week. That's not so amazing. If you don't eat, your glucose numbers will of course come down. But by the end of the eight-week study, most of them achieved normal numbers on a glucose tolerance test, which is much h...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 24, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Sex and the Sleepless Night
I want to make sex better.
That’s what gets me up in the morning. Part of making sex better is doing what I can to eradicate sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). I particularly focus on chlamydia and gonorrhea because I consider these really stupid infections. It’s crazy that they still exist. We know how to prevent them (condoms) and how to diagnose them (very specific and sensitive tests). We can completely cure these STDs. So then, why do these diseases infect over 3 million new Americans every year, half of whom are ages 15-25?
One of the reasons these diseases are still around is because Americans are really ba...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - July 1, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Consumer Health Care Innovation Patients Patients' Rights Publc Health Social Media Technology Source Type: blogs
