September 6th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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Canker sores are painful, and mouth pain cannot be ignored. They’re difficult to prevent and you just have to cope with them until they go away. We have no idea what causes them. For a doctor, this is difficult to accept. What the heck are canker sores?
The medical term is apthous ulcers and they’re round or oval painful ulcers that appear on the tongue, inner lips, inside of cheeks, or palate of the mouth. Up to 40 percent of people have experienced canker sores. So why have the remaining 60 percent never had them? We don’t know. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
September 1st, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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In a surprising report from the Archives of Internal Medicine, we learn that most hospitalized patients (82 percent) could not accurately name the physician responsible for their care and almost half of the patients did not even know their diagnosis or why they were admitted.
If that isn’t enough, when the researchers queried the physicians, 67 percent thought the patients knew their name and 77 percent of doctors thought the patients “understood their diagnoses at least somewhat well.” I would call that a pretty significant communication gap.
Ninety percent of the patients said they received a new medication and didn’t know the side effects. Although 98 percent of physicians thought they discussed their patients’ fears and anxieties with them, only 54 percent of patients thought they did. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 29th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, True Stories
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I know it’s not politically correct to look at what other people buy at the grocery store, but as a physician I just can’t help noticing. Some carts contain huge containers of soda pop, Doritos, frozen pizza, and other packaged goods.
I’m not surprised, because at the end of every isle is a display case that offers the giant soda for 89 cents or the Doritos on special for $1.29. With this type of marketing, it takes a strong person to resist the “bargain.”
Yesterday the woman in front of me (overweight, middle-aged) had a strange assortment of goods that she probably thought would help her lose weight. She had several Weight Watcher-type meals, diet drinks, power bars, and lots of “light” items — “light butter,” “light crackers,” “light yogurt,” and “light ice cream.”
Folks, this won’t work. Eating this way won’t help her lose weight. She needs to make dramatic changes to drop the pounds. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
August 25th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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The top moneymakers for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry might surprise you. These aren’t necessarily the most prescribed medications (although some of them are), but they’re the top products in terms of sales in 2009. The revenues were in billions:
1. Lipitor – used for high cholesterol: $7.5 billion
2. Nexium – a proton pump inhibitor for GERD: $6.3 billion
3. Plavix – a blood thinner: $5.6 billion
4. Advair Diskus – used for asthma and COPD: $4.7 billion Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
August 22nd, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
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About 15 to 20 percent of women who know they are pregnant will have a miscarriage. The loss of a pregnancy before 20 weeks is considered a miscarriage. Many women suffer grief and shock after a miscarriage and fear there is something wrong with them or that they did something to cause it. But the reasons for miscarriage are usually not known. Women are often told to wait “a few months” to get pregnant again to let their bodies recover.
A new study published in the British Medical Journal looked at over 30,000 women who had a miscarriage in their first recorded pregnancy and subsequently became pregnant again. They found that women who conceived again within six months were less likely to have another miscarriage or problem pregnancy. They were even less likely to have a cesarean section, preterm delivery or infant of low birth weight. These women were more likely to have an induced labor.
The researchers wrote: “Women wanting to become pregnant soon after a miscarriage should not be discouraged.” These women had the best reproductive outcomes.
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
