March 2nd, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: Hormone Therapy, Hormones, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Vagifem, Vaginal Estrogen
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If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years when it comes to medications, it’s this – more is not necessarily better. You can have too much of a good thing, and less can sometimes be more.
Certainly that’s been the mantra when it comes to hormone replacement in menopause. Since the WHI findings were released in 2002, we’ve all been going lower and lower with estrogen dosing, and finding that, for many women, it’s more than enough to treat the symptoms.
Now, a new low dose formulation of vaginal estrogen, Vagifem 10 ug, approved in Dec 2009, has hit the market. I have to say that I am thrilled to have this option for my patients.(I know, some of you are in shock that I would actually be talking favorably about a new drug, but hey, when they get it right, they get it right.) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
March 2nd, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Medical Art, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Diabetes, Diabetes 365, ePatient, Photos
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There’s been a handful of photographers who have tackled the Diabetes 365 project for this year, and I’m proud to be in their company. It’s a very inspiring experience, to see how diabetes is reflected in the lives of the members of D365, and how it is captured through their camera lenses.
Some of us are using our DSLR cameras, some of us our point-and-shoots, some documenting with our iPhones or our Blackberries, but every last one of us is showing our lives with diabetes, every day. I know I’ve talked about this project before, but watching the photos stack up in the Diabetes 365 Flickr group and seeing how, and what, people with diabetes are choosing to document their lives with this disease is incredible.
You didn’t need to join the group in January – it’s a rotating door of participants. If you want to join the Diabetes 365 group, you can jump in anytime and start. Every day can be Day 1.
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
March 2nd, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Communications, Facebook, Internal Medicine, Social Media, Technology, Twitter
1 Comment »
I took care of a young lady the other day whom I admitted for diabetic ketoacidosis. She asked me what her bicarbonate level was. I was a bit surprised since most of the time my DKA patients’ don’t care what their bicarb levels are. I told her it was eight. For the non medical types out there, that’s low. That’s critically low.
I asked her why she wanted to know. And before she could even get the words out, she had posted a Tweet onto her Twitter acount to update all her friends and family of her impending hospital admission. I found that fascinating. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Happy Hospitalist*
March 1st, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Addiction Medicine, H2S, Hydrogen Sulfide Gas, Methamphetamine, Psychiatry, Suicide, Toxicology
2 Comments »
A year ago we wrote about a death of a San Jose teenager from poisoning by hydrogen sulfide gas, or H2S. At the time, I had hypothesized that the death might have been from an attempt at synthesizing methamphetamine gone awry.
But while one can mistakenly generate hydrogen sulfide gas from improper meth synthesis, I soon learned that intentional suicides with H2S is an increasing US trend imported from Japan. One can easily mix commonly-available consumer products to generate the gas and high enough concentrations can cause death. The gas acts in a manner similar to cyanide by binding to the heme in cytochrome c oxidase and inhibiting electron transport and ATP production by oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria. (Interestingly, small amounts of H2S are made in the body and is being investigated as a neurotransmitter and biological modulator.) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
March 1st, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: App, Cardiology, iPhone, Learning, Medicine, Physical Exam, Stethoscope, Technology
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It’s out there. It makes a cool picture, but I wonder how many medical students realize how unimportant apps like this have become to today’s cardiovascular care. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to hear the difference between a systolic and diastolic murmur, or for the really talented, a diastolic rumble on physical exam. Recognizing the difference between mild and severe aortic stenosis is also very helpful. After all, the physical exam remains the most cost-effective instrument in medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years when it comes to medications, it’s this – more is not necessarily better. You can have too much of a good thing, and less can sometimes be more.
