Cool Medical Tools
My longtime friend, Kevin Kelly, author, world traveler, and futurist invited me to join him on the Cool Tools podcast. He wanted me to share my most recent medical “Cool Medical Tools”. He also asked me to share the first aid and medical treatments I carry with me when I travel. Check out the video below for our conversation:
Links to My Favorite Recent Cool Medical Tools
01:00 – Timeshifter app
12:55 – Aranet4 CO2 monitor:
19:14 – Bite Helper big bite aid
25:18 – Natrapel insect repellent
26:13 – Zyrtec antihistamine
Cool Stuff in my Personal First Aid Travel Kit
Ibupro...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - August 25, 2022 Category: Child Development Authors: Alan Greene MD Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Kids Travel Safety Vacationing & Travel Source Type: blogs
My COVID-19 vaccine story –– and what happened next
Like most healthcare workers, I was thrilled when I was eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. I’ve been involved in COVID-19 patient care since the very start of the pandemic in the US, and I had seen what this virus can do to people. We all felt incredibly helpless against this incredibly contagious bug.
With time, experience, and study, we’ve learned which treatments help and which don’t. Even more importantly, we now have vaccines.
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines — tested in about 18,600 and 15,000 participants, respectively — were the first available in the US via emergency FDA authorization...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 4, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Asthma Coronavirus and COVID-19 Health Parenting Vaccines Source Type: blogs
Sore arm and chills after the COVID vaccine? Will Tylenol or NSAIDs such as Motrin or Aleve lower vaccine efficacy?
This is a common question, "I have a sore arm and chills after the COVID vaccine? Will taking Tylenol or NSAIDs such as Motrin or Aleve lower vaccine efficacy?".The short answer is, no. You can take antipyretic analgesics (Tylenol, and NSAIDs such as Motrin or Aleve), if needed, to control symptoms after a COVID immunization. Ideally, do not take the medications before the vaccine. You can take them, if needed, after the vaccine. The details are below. Antipyretic analgesics (Tylenol, and NSAIDs such as Motrin, Aleve) are widely used to ameliorate vaccine adverse reactions. Observational studies reporting on antipyretic us...
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - January 15, 2021 Category: Universities & Medical Training Tags: Vaccines Source Type: blogs
Can I take something to prevent colorectal cancer?
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. There is compelling evidence that screening to detect CRC early to find and remove precancerous polyps can reduce CRC mortality. However, screening has associated harms, including procedural complications, and inherent limitations. For example, colonoscopy, the most common screening tool in the US, is less effective in preventing cancers of the right, or ascending side, of the colon compared with cancers of the left, or descending, side of the colon.
Moreover, only 60% of US adults recommended for screening actually follow through. Ev...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 13, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Andrew Chan, MD, MPH Tags: Cancer Prevention Screening Source Type: blogs
Treating the pain of endometriosis
Many women suffer through years of painful menstrual periods before they are able to get an answer about what’s causing them: a common and often undiagnosed condition called endometriosis.
What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a condition that occurs when tissue much like the tissue that lines a woman’s uterus — called the endometrium — starts to grow in other places inside the body. Most commonly, these growths are within the pelvis, such as on the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, the outer surface of the uterus, or the bladder.
During the menstrual cycle each month, the tissue lining the uterus grows thicker, then...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 20, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kelly Bilodeau Tags: Pain Management Stress Surgery Women's Health Source Type: blogs
The Itchy, Bumpy Blues: How to Treat and Prevent Mosquito Bites and Related Conditions
Mosquito bites may be a nuisance, but fortunately, in the U.S., they tend to amount to nothing more than that. Upon being bitten, most Americans experience a bit of swelling and itchiness, and nothing more. However, there are exceptions to this, including stronger allergic reactions to bites and cases of mosquito-borne illness.
Insect and arachnid bites, including ticks, account for approximately 2,000 cases of malaria and 30,000 cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. annually. In addition, millions of people worldwide die of malaria each year. It is helpful to protect yourself against insect bites, not only to avoid pesk...
Source: Conversations with Dr Greene - June 7, 2020 Category: Child Development Authors: Alan Greene MD Tags: Dr. Greene's Blog Environmental Health Insect Bites & Stings Insects & Animals Outdoor Safety Source Type: blogs
A new look at steroid injections for knee and hip osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is a common and potentially debilitating condition. It’s a degenerative joint disease (often called the “wear-and-tear” type) in which the smooth lining of cartilage becomes thinned and uneven, exposing the bone beneath.
Although osteoarthritis is tightly linked with aging, we now know there is more to it than age alone: genetics, weight, physical activity, and a number of other factors can conspire to make it more likely that someone will develop osteoarthritis while someone else won’t. Osteoarthritis is the primary reason that more than a million joints (mostly hips and knees) are replaced each yea...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - December 23, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Arthritis Osteoarthritis Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Living with Crohn ’s disease: Recognizing and managing flares
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory condition that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Together with ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s is one of the two main types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Crohn’s affects approximately 500,000 Americans and is a chronic, lifelong condition that typically alternates between periods of relatively stable or absent symptoms (remission) and periods of symptom flare-ups that can last for days, weeks, or even months.
The goal of treatment is to induce remission and then to maximize the chance that patients stay in remission. However, almost everyone with Crohn’s diseas...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 26, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Garber, MD Tags: Digestive Disorders Health Source Type: blogs
Stopping the vicious cycle of rebound headaches
Rebound headaches, also known as medication overuse headaches, are caused by the frequent or excessive use of pain-relieving and/or antimigraine drugs to treat headache attacks that are already in progress. (Note that these are not the same as oral prophylactic or preventive medicines, which should be taken daily.) In other words, the same medications that initially relieve headache pain can themselves trigger subsequent headaches if they are used too often. Medication overuse headaches can be disabling, forcing people with this condition to take sick leave and to be less productive at work and home.
To be diagnosed with m...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 7, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Sait Ashina, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Headache Health Source Type: blogs
I became a cyborg to manage my chronic pain | Popular Science
I don't remember what it feels like to live without pain. At 15, I began feeling aching, stabbing, and burning sensations in my lower back and down my legs. Swallowing a few Aleve didn't help —in fact, nothing did. If I sit or stand for any period of time, or lift something heavy or fall, I pay for it, sometimes for weeks or months. I've slept on the kitchen linoleum, because the carpet felt too soft to stand.For 17 years, I went to doctor after doctor, undergoing scans, physical therapy, and just about every"alternative" treatment that promised relief. Despite some amazing doctors and the expensive...
Source: Psychology of Pain - August 25, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs
Is tramadol a risky pain medication?
All medications come with a dose of risk. From minor side effects to life-threatening allergic reactions, every decision to take a medication should be made only after the expected benefits are weighed against the known risks. You aren’t on your own in this: your doctor, your pharmacist, and a trove of information are available for your review. Recently, I wrote about how newly approved drugs often accumulate new warnings about their safety, including a gout medication that garnered a new warning due to an increased risk of death. Now, according to a new study, the common prescription pain medication tramadol may earn a...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 14, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Addiction Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Headaches: What to know, when to worry
Everyone gets the occasional when-will-this-day-end headache. These headaches may even follow a certain pattern. (Mine usually strike like clockwork if I miss my morning cup of French press coffee.)
But when is a headache cause for concern?
“Most bouts of regular headaches are not serious and can be treated on their own,” says Dr. Elizabeth Loder, chief of the division of headache in the department of neurology at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “However, being aware of the features of the different types of headaches can help you determine if your headaches are something more serious that requires...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 11, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Solan Tags: Headache Health Migraines Source Type: blogs
Over-the-counter cold and flu medicines can affect your heart
As the cold and flu season continues this year, it is important to be aware that many of the most commonly used over-the-counter (OTC) remedies for congestion, aches, pains, and low-grade fevers contain medicines that can have harmful effects on the cardiovascular system. Chief among these medications are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and decongestants.
NSAIDs and your heart
Certain NSAIDs are associated with a small increase in the relative risk for developing a heart attack, stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, increased blood pressure, and blood clots. NSAIDs relieve pain and inflammation by inhib...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 20, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Mark Benson, MD, PhD Tags: Cold and Flu Drugs and Supplements Health Heart Health Source Type: blogs
Podcast: A Bipolar and a Schizophrenic Discuss Psychiatric Medications
Psychiatric medication gets a bad rap when it isn’t deserved, while simultaneously being seen by some as the end-all treatment for people living with mental illness. Our hosts both need their prescribed medication to live well, and that makes people around them ask questions ― some of which are weirder than others.
Tune in to this episode to hear what they have to say.
SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
“It took me so much pride to get over that I needed psychiatric medication.”
– Michelle Hammer
Highlights From ‘Meds’ Episode
[1:00] What happens when Gabe and Michelle don’t take their m...
Source: World of Psychology - January 7, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: A Bipolar, a Schizophrenic, and a Podcast Tags: A Bipolar, A Schizophrenic, and a Podcast Medications Schizophrenia Source Type: blogs
