Tag: Big Pharma
Numbers Needed to Treat
Numbers needed to treat. This is a crucial concept. It illustrates brilliantly the concept of First, Do No Harm, which also happens to be the title of the first chapter of my writing project “Deep Resilience”. This graphic comes from this excellent article with the even more excellent title when evidence says no but doctors…
Read MoreFirst Do No Harm: Harrowing Tale of A’s Player Micah Bowie
This is a horribly sad story of medical interventions going awry. Back pain which continued after retirement in 2008. Treatments were ineffective, and in 2016 he ended up getting a spinal cord stimulator. Unfortunately the battery migrated somehow into his liver, diaphragm and then lung. He’s had horrible breathing trouble since, and it’s a…
Read MoreStatins. The Discussion Goes On
In this article the author lays out why she’s decided to stay on statins. But what is remarkable is that she has had over 700 comments to her original article. I’ve read through some of them and there are many readers who think that the side effects are downplayed by physicians. Some of the readers…
Read MoreMediterranean Diet, Not Statins, reduces all cause mortality
World J Cardiol. 2015 Jul 26; 7(7): 404–409. Published online 2015 Jul 26. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i7.404 PMCID: PMC4513492 Cholesterol confusion and statin controversy Robert DuBroff and Michel de Lorgeril This paper highlights something that I don’t stress enough. I understand why people want to take a medication for health issues. It’s easy to do and…
Read MoreUnreliable Research Can Be Deadly
So depressing. Another story about a drug that would cause the problem that it was trying to solve, in this case heart attacks. The company who developed it hid the hazards. November 19, 2013 Doctors Say Heart Drug Raised Risk of an Attack By ANDREW POLLACK Cardiologists have accused a small drug company of withholding…
Read MoreSanity on Statins: Part 4? or is it 5?
Lots of news about the latest recommendations for patients with high cholesterol vis a vis drug regimens. At first I thought it was good news, but now, reading the editorial by Rita Redberg, I realize that these recommendations could actually WIDEN the use of statins. I will leave it to Redberg and Abramson to…
Read MoreHazards of sleeping medications
Informative article on insomnia and ways to mitigate it. Even I was surprised at the following facts. (We’ve discussed insomnia on the blog often since it is a common presenting symptom in my clinic. This newsletter edition last year would be a good starting place). Recent studies, moreover, associate more serious and even deadly…
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….
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