Now that we are embarking on a new year, many of us take on annual resolutions with a focus on diet and exercise. Overlooked is another important way to improve our health: increasing awareness of our medications.
Nearly 4 in 10 adults over the age of 65 living in the United States are prescribed five or more medications. Sometimes these medications are necessary. But sometimes, they may need adjusting or …
In a significant leap forward for medical science, recent breakthroughs in gene therapy are ushering in a new era of treatment for various human diseases. The field of gene therapy, which involves manipulating or introducing genetic material into a person’s cells to treat or prevent disease, has seen remarkable advancements, with several gene therapy drugs receiving approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Gene therapy has emerged as a groundbreaking …
Gene therapy is starting to come into its own, and it will change medicine more profoundly than anything that came before. Just like when antibiotics were discovered almost exactly a century ago, we are on the cusp of another revolution in medicine. One that is orders of magnitude greater than antibiotics.
Recently, in China, five of six children born with an autosomal recessive otoferlin deficiency deafness were cured by the injection …
Are you or a loved one constantly battling the frustrating symptoms of seasonal or year-round allergies? You are not alone; millions around the globe are affected by sneezing, itchy, watery red eyes, stuffy, runny noses, and headaches. Avoidance of triggers and medications may provide temporary relief, but for those seeking a longer-lasting or more natural solution, immunotherapy (IT) can be life-changing. IT provides sustained benefits of decreased symptoms and medication …
A groundbreaking discovery in pain management could revolutionize how we treat chronic pain. In a report from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at New York University, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, have announced the discovery of a novel medication that could treat centralized pain that targets Cav2.2 calcium channels (also called N-type calcium channels).
First, what is centralized …
I want to draw your attention to two fairly recent studies. One of these is the BIND study. I love it when studies use easy-to-remember acronyms because it really helps to keep them straight. The BIND study found that “Many prolonged symptoms subsequent to benzodiazepine use and discontinuation … have been shown in a large survey of benzodiazepine users. Benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction (BIND) has been proposed as a term …
In 2020, the ICPerMed (International Consortium for Personalized Medicine) published a ten-year vision for how personalized medicine, a new form of medicine, has the potential to rebuild an equitable and accessible health care system by 2030.
Precision or personalized medicines are drugs developed with genomic sequencing technologies, targeting the critical genes in specific types of cancer or genetic diseases. Thus, PMs are highly effective in treating their …
Reports sent back to Washington during the Vietnam War made it clear to everyone. The U.S. was winning. There could be no debate or doubt. It was right there in the numbers. When searching for a metric to measure “success,” U.S. politicians and the military had come to rely on body count comparisons. Defining “winning” as having a higher body count. And by that measure, the U.S. was indeed winning. …
In 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions became convinced that the opioid crisis was not the fault of cartels smuggling fentanyl across porous American checkpoints. And it wasn’t due to pharmaceutical companies corrupting drug approval officials and DEA administrators by hiring them as consultants after making decisions in the company’s favor. No. The opioid crisis was caused by American physicians coddling pain patients and addicts.
But reviewing all the actions of tens …
In 1736, Ben Franklin famously advised Philadelphians that preventing fires is better than fighting them. Mr. Franklin’s advice is just as applicable today in addressing America’s opioid crisis. Billions of opioid settlement dollars are being distributed to every state, and a portion of those funds should be allocated to preventing opioid addictions, not just buying fire extinguishers (Narcan) and fighting fires (medication-assisted therapy or substance use disorder treatment). Preventing opioid …
A recent article in the Macomb Daily reported that a “Shelby Township doctor was convicted last Thursday of all counts for conspiring to distribute more than 300,000 opioid prescription pills valued at over $6 million, following a trial in U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor, according to federal authorities.”
This sounds very serious on its face. But without context, the public, and even we, have no idea what this means. …
Tennessee Dr. Ralph Thomas Reach is a vastly experienced addiction medicine physician. Continued application of his knowledge and pioneering experience could improve the opioid drug overdose death rate in his state. Unfortunately, the state government revoked his medical license, and Dr. Reach will soon begin serving six months in federal prison, followed by 18 months under house arrest.
After obtaining approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Dr. Reach had been treating …
An excerpt from Dr. T’s Drop the Fat Diet: 12 Steps to Leaner You Forever.
Semaglutide, a medication often marketed as Ozempic, Wegovy, or Rybelsus, has gained immense popularity in recent years. This is especially true in an age where diabetes and obesity are on the rise. The medication is being …
When I started medical school thirty years ago, and learned about the discovery of streptomycin, I wondered what it must have been like for the doctors who first used it to cure the “white death.” How satisfying it must have been to tell a previously hopeless patient, “We can cure you.”
What brought this to mind was my rotation at an old part of the hospital where I was training. I …
An excerpt from The Power of Placebos: How the Science of Placebos and Nocebos Can Improve Health Care by Jeremy Howick. Copyright 2023. Published with permission of Johns Hopkins University Press.
“When he had asked me if I knew the cure for headache, I somehow contrived to …
I often recommend books or podcasts for you when they address timely topics in mental health. The May 4, 2023, episode of The Daily podcast was one such episode that I think you should listen to. On that episode, Jan Hoffman, a health law and affairs reporter for The New York Times, was interviewed about Narcan, its history, current and future use, and how we might all take advantage of …
An excerpt from Big Food, Big Pharma, Big Lies.
Few fail to be shocked at the rising prices of some prescription drugs. “Drug companies have raised prices relentlessly for decades while manipulating the patent system and other laws to delay competition from lower-priced generics,” reported the House Committee on Oversight …
I have a friend. He is non-medical, just a person who knows a lot of people. He grew up on the rough side of town.
He has lost five friends or relatives this past year, he tells me. All to Fentanyl overdoses.
Most were young, in their twenties or thirties. Two were friends of his son, who is in his early thirties.
Most had been on prescribed opioids for a confirmed back injury—a …
Since Ozempic entered the cultural zeitgeist, I have been overwhelmed with requests from my patients – both those who meet criteria to start the medication and those who do not – for this new class of “miracle” drug. While it does work like a miracle for some, there are also those for whom the promise rings hollow – those who are unable to tolerate the medications due to side effects, …
We have a problem with current recommendations for depression treatment. Thirty-five percent of patients will not go into remission or get any relief at all from SSRIs and SNRIs. And even when it does work, it takes about six weeks to start having an effect.
The prevailing theory was that serotonin, abbreviated 5-HT, was the “satisfaction” neurotransmitter. Just as dopamine has been considered the pleasure neurotransmitter. Using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors …
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