The Art of Prescribing (Or Not)
By HANS DUVEFELT
I have learned a few things about prescribing medications during my 42 years as a physician. Some are old lessons, and some are more recent. I thought I’d share some random examples.
First: I don’t like to have to use medications, but when they seem necessary, I choose, present and prescribe them with great care.
CHOOSING MEDICATIONS
Medications are like people. They have personalities. With so many choices for any given diagnosis or symptom, I consider their mechanism of action, possible beneficial additional effects and their risk of unwanted side effects when selecting which one to presc...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 1, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Patients Physicians Primary Care Hans Duvefelt Source Type: blogs
Mundane Movies Meme
I posted a fairly simple challenge on Facebook at the weekend:
Make a movie mundane by subtly altering one word in the title. I'll start..."Radiators of the Lost Ark"
I expected a few friends to join in with the fun and for it to fizzle out quite quickly…I watched the first few entries dribble in and then went off and did something completely different. When I came back to Facebook a few hours later there were more than 500 comments, it quickly got to 600 and I added a few more of my own. It’s still going on, at the time of writing 745 comments, which is almost viral for one of my posts. I’d estimate th...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 18, 2021 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Remediators of the Anthropocene
I fell asleep thinking about a future where we might start withdrawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a sufficient rate that it actually has a serious effect and underdoes some of the problems of decades and decades of burning fossil fuels.
I didn’t sleep well, but in between kept dreaming up bits and pieces of a story about this notion. When I couldn’t get back to sleep, I got up, put the kettle on, and scribbled the story on to a few sides of A4. I’ve just finished typing it up and editing it down.
The story is called Remediators of the Anthropocene. It follows on from the putative prologue ̵...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 16, 2021 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
How We Got Love All Wrong
Our romanticized idea of love made us believe that love is a feeling.
That high we experience when we feel we can't be without the other.
When we can't stop thinking about them.
That is an obsession, and the chemical and neurological state of the feeling described is both what we experience in the honeymoon stage and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
When we call it being in love instead of a mental health condition, it's mainly because the object of the obsession is a person and that it's a temporary state.
In that lies the key. It's temporary and does not last, and that is a good thing because if it did, you ...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - November 30, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Thomas Westenholz Tags: family featured psychology relationships love pickthebrain self improvement Source Type: blogs
The latest on Brain Health and Resilience, plus a few fun Brain Teasers
Welcome to a new edition of SharpBrains’ e‑newsletter, featuring fascinating neuroscience findings and tips, combined with fun brain teasers.
#1. To celebrate this quite-challenging Thanksgiving, here are five fun brain teasers that readers have enjoyed the most this year so far. It is always good to learn more about (and appreciate) that most precious resource we all (yes, all) have up there! Five fun brain teasers to thank evolution for our human brains and minds
#2. Want more? Ready, Set, Go! A few brain teasers to flex those cognitive muscles
#3. “[Breathing techniques] are allowing you to consciously take c...
Source: SharpBrains - November 30, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain Teasers Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning Peak Performance Technology & Innovation anxiety BCI biomarker Breathing cognitive engagement cognitive-reserve disorders doctors EIT European Institute of Innova Source Type: blogs
FDA grants clearance for NightWare app designed to reduce PTSD-related nightmares
FDA grants De Novo clearance to prescription Apple Watch app for nightmare disorder (MobiHealth News):
The FDA granted Minneapolis-based NightWare a De Novo clearance on Friday for its Apple Watch and iPhone app designed to improve the sleep quality of those experiencing nightmare disorder and nightmares related to PTSD.
The digital therapeutic – which received breakthrough designation from the agency last year – uses the Watch’s sensors to track the heart rate and movement of users as they sleep. After establishing a baseline profile for the patient within one or two nights’ sleep, the machine learning algorithm s...
Source: SharpBrains - November 16, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation Apple Watch De Novo clearance digital therapeutic FDA heart-rate iPhone app machine-learning nightmares NightWare prescription PTSD sleep quality Source Type: blogs
How To Overcome What Keeps You Up At Night
“Okay, it seems like it was a dream,” I said to myself, looking around the room for intruders. I had dreams of strangers breaking into my home before, but those nightmares were never this bad. As I sat up, trying to stop my heart from racing, I turned on the light and began to work...another night’s rest lost.
Fear is natural. There’s good fear and there’s bad fear. The good fear is the kind that keeps you from getting hurt. It’s the kind that tells you not to touch the hot stove. The bad fear is the kind that keeps you from making your life better. It tells you not to take the risks that you need to take in...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - November 6, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: AliScarlett Tags: featured happiness health and fitness self-improvement anxiety fear self improvement sleep Source Type: blogs
Illness-related fatigue: More than just feeling tired
A common refrain during the COVID-19 pandemic is, “I’m so tired.” After months of adjusted living and anxiety, people are understandably weary. Parents who haven’t had a break from their kids are worn out. Those trying to juggle working from home with homeschooling are stretched thin. Between concerns about health, finances, and isolation, everyone is feeling some level of additional stress during this unusual time, and that’s tiring. We all could use a good, long nap — or better yet, a vacation.
But while a break would be nice, most people — except those who are actually sick with COVID-19 or other illnesses...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 21, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jennifer Crystal, MFA Tags: Autoimmune diseases Fatigue Source Type: blogs
Reviewing TIME Mental Health: A New Understanding
I picked upTIME Mental Health: A New Understanding a year ago in the grocery store and slowly worked my way through it. I assumed I would race through the magazine and produce a shining review for my readers to enjoy. Then ADHD happened, which is like saying,“And then I breathed”. When I say“slowly”, I refer to the speed at which glaciers raced across the North American continent. Ultimately, I finished, which is the lesson I take away from my tortoise and hare situation. I wasn’t in competition with anybody, except, perhaps, Father Time, but I must admit that I had an assist from COVID–...
Source: The Splintered Mind by Douglas Cootey - September 19, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Tags: Depression Goodreads Suicide Source Type: blogs
Imposter Syndrome: Why You Have It & How to Stop It
“I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.” – Maya Angelou
Any minute now they would find out.
I scanned the large conference room. The twenty-six project team members around the table discussed data analysis. Their voices were muffled by the thick fog of my anxiety.
My own throat tried to choke me, and my chest refused to expand. Sweat trickled down my side.
Breathe, just breathe. It’s going to be okay.
My eyes met my boss’s and he smiled at me across the room. I quickly looked down...
Source: World of Psychology - August 31, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Psych Central Guest Author Tags: Publishers Tiny Buddha Fraud imposter syndrome self-worth Source Type: blogs
Podcast: Medical Model Errors and Omissions in Treating Mental Illness
From lobotomies to pharmaceutical advertising to forced treatment, let’s discuss some of the more taboo topics in the history of psychiatry. While some of these approaches are obviously terrible (especially in hindsight) others are in the gray area. Should pharmaceutical companies be able to advertise directly to the patient? Is it OK to force psychiatric treatment in certain cases?
What do you think? Tune in to today’s Not Crazy episode for a great discussion on the more controversial topics in the field of psychiatry.
(Transcript Available Below)
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Source: World of Psychology - August 18, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Not Crazy Podcast Tags: General Not Crazy Podcast Psychiatry Treatment Source Type: blogs
Rising temperatures: How to avoid heat-related illnesses and deaths
In Boston, we believe warmer is better. Our cravings for warmth are formed in the cold, dark winter nights when the prospect of summer seems impossibly remote. But with July temperatures reaching near 100° F, our winter dreams are becoming a summertime nightmare. Dangerous heat exposures in Boston and other cities across the US aren’t felt equally. Urban areas with less green space and more pavement can be up to 15 degrees hotter than other, greener places. These urban heat islands are much more likely to be poor, minority neighborhoods, and their origins can be traced straight back to redlining that began in the 1930s....
Source: Harvard Health Blog - August 5, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Aaron Bernstein, MD, MPH Tags: Asthma Children's Health Coronavirus and COVID-19 Emergency Planning Environmental health Men's Health Women's Health Source Type: blogs
How PTSD Can Cause Learning Disabilities
Conclusion
Researchers are still exploring potential links between PTSD and learning disabilities, but further studies will likely expand on what we know. Understanding how PTSD affects our ability to learn will help treat people with both conditions and lead to better outcomes for these patients. (Source: World of Psychology)
Source: World of Psychology - July 27, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Amanda Levison, M.S., LMHC, LPC, CCBT Tags: Children and Teens Psychology PTSD Trauma associative learning learning disability Neuroscience Stress Hormones Source Type: blogs
The Universal Impact of Racial Disparities and Systemic Racism: It's Everyone's Responsibility
(Author ' s note: this article was originallypublished on LinkedIn on June 30, 2020)In these days of the globally devastating COVID-19 pandemic and the powerfully burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement, two crucial moments in human history are coalescing on the world stage in a striking overlapping pattern that seems unprecedented in scope.Racial disparities and the pandemic are hardly mutually exclusive, and the coexisting pandemic of police brutality against communities of color is not at all separate from the socioeconomic inequalities that are, to a large extent, exacerbated and informed by the egregious systemic targe...
Source: Digital Doorway - July 2, 2020 Category: Nursing Tags: racism Source Type: blogs
