Clostridia Dificile on the Rise
We’ve been discussing C.Dif (Clostridia Dificile) in the context of encouraging good bacteria. This is from the most recent Anesthesiology Today. Dramatic Rise in Hospital Visits for C. Difficile by George Ochoa Despite efforts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and antimicrobial stewardship programs to combat Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs), the national…
Read MoreBenefits of Probiotics
Discussed the new trend in thinking about bacteria in the body and how to foster a healthier population here and here, in posts called “Bacteria: Friend or Foe?” The skyrocketing incidence of Clostridia Dificile makes this study very timely. Europe has been way ahead of us in regards to probiotics. Probiotics Linked to Lowered…
Read MoreAnother Article on Steroid Injection Risk
We’ve covered the hazards of epidural steroid injections here. But this article is a good summary of the questionable efficacy, the skyrocketing usage, and the horrors of the fungal meningitis cases. How Back Pain Turned Deadly ..There are the doctors who overprescribe an invasive back-pain therapy that, in studies, has not proved useful…
Read MoreAntidepressants: #1 Drug
Rate of antidepressant drugs has increased 400% if you compare 1988-94 to 2005-2008. Depressing…Some concerns about antidepressants here, here, and here. 1st Antidepressant ranking among prescription drugs among U.S. adults up to age 44. Antidepressants are the most common prescription medication for Americans age 18-44, and the third most common drug across all ages….
Read MoreChernobyl Clean up Crew: Leukemia
This comes as no surprise. There are some anti-nuclear activists who won’t even drink French wine since the fallout was all over Europe. One positive to come from so much suffering is that it may have slowed the nuclear industry, and now with Fukishima the momentum has reversed. The other positive is that we…
Read MorePediatricians Using More Caution With Antibiotics
We have discussed the perils of too many antibiotics in the blog quite a bit, for example here, here, here, and here. Pediatricians and parents are cutting way back, as this article shows. Antibiotics Are a Gift to Be Handled With Care Over the past 15 years or so, spurred by new realizations –…
Read MoreFlu Shots Provide Little Protection
I am hoping that we are entering an era where data and science matter again. From election results to weather patterns, scientists have been dismissed as biased or corrupt by agents who are biased or corrupted by the industries they represent. Too many aspects of medicine have been accepted on faith because they should…
Read MoreBacteria Friend or Foe? Part II
Discussion of the first part of the New Yorker article here. The rest of the article discusses the future of using select bacteria combinations to actually treat illness. They discuss that probiotics, to date, are nonspecific and somewhat crude. Two prominent examples where this could be helpful are in children who develop pediatric antibiotic-associated diarrhea…
Read MoreBacteria: More friend than foe? Part I
File under “First Do No Harm” and the hazards of antibiotics, I will try to summarize the fascinating article in the October 22nd issue of the New Yorker Magazine about the importance of bacteria in our bodies for everything from Vitamin production, to mood, to suppression of disease, to digestion, to forming and bolstering our…
Read More“Spinal” Steroid Shots Leading to Meningitis and Other Ills
“Not only were these people killed, but there was no ethical reason to give this treatment” There has been an outbreak of meningitis cases linked to shoddily prepared steroids used in epidural steroid injections for pain. This article discusses some of the other dangers apart from these recent cases, such as ongoing nerve problems, paralysis, strokes and intractable pain, and arachnoiditis…
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