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Live Patients Lie
A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association advises that up to 80% of patients have lied to their doctor about information that could impact their health, including accurately describing their food options and how often they exercise. When survey participants explained their reasoning for doing so, they said that they wanted…
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Bypass the AMA if Collaborative Ventures are Required for Unmet Patient Needs
It is becoming apparent that the medical profession leadership has clearly “lost the plot” in direction-setting, patient engagement and collaborative health when you analyse statements attributable to AMA leaders at their recent national conference. Cries that GP’s feel “under assault” through pharmacists encroaching into “their” territory of vaccinations and sick certificates, with no mention of better…
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Can we make a difference on mental health?
It’s Men’s Health Week, and I’m sure that you are aware of the shocking statistics surrounding depression in men. The reasons why men seem to be so vulnerable are debated constantly, but statistics don’t lie. We pharmacists are in a rather privileged position to help. Or, on the other hand, we can decide not to…
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OMNS – Infantile Colic
An infant with colic not only is suffering from pain, but is causing great concern in parents attempting to render loving care. We can’t ask the infant to rate the pain on a scale from 1 to 10, but we know that only pain could produce such an agonizing cry that borders on screaming. We…
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Take two broccoli and call me in the morning!
Have you ever considered that we are in a pill-popping society? The first line treatment for many of the medical problems that walk through our doors is a medication. Have heartburn? Forget about avoiding the foods that cause your symptoms – just take a pill. New diagnosis of diabetes? We give lip service to lifestyle…
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Medical Fascism – The Plan to ban Even Discussion of Alternative Treatments
In Australia, an effort to label all alternative (traditional, complementary) medicine products as “based on pseudoscience” has failed. Traditional remedies (much older than mainstream medicines) are defended as appropriate, and can include health claims. The Crazz Files, a major defender of health freedom in Australia, reports: “In a major win, the Federal Government has ignored…
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OMNS – Middle Ear Infection in Infants and Children
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service: Middle Ear Infection in Infants and Children by Ralph Campbell, MD We call those big flaps on each side of our heads “ears”; so where is the middle ear? “Middle ear” refers to the medical terminology in which there are three parts: The external ear, the middle ear – a space bordered…
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How did we go?
The codeine debacle has come and gone, and I’m not sure if our profession has come out of this squeaky clean. Judging by the number of media queries around the place, it’s timely to look back and see if this issue could have been handled better. And those enquiries and still coming. In retrospect, might…
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Depressive illness – can we get involved?
The challenge of mental health is something in which we are intimately involved. How many of our patients struggle with SSRI and SNRI medications, only to struggle further with their symptoms and feelings. It is well known that many drugs modify normal and abnormal behaviours by changing the amounts of particular neurotransmitters present within the…
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OMNS – Niacin Treatment of Schizophrenia Recent Research Confirms Abram Hoffer’s Original Work
(OMNS Dec 2, 2017) Schizophrenia is a devastating and complex disease that can include a variety of specific clinical conditions. Drugs to treat schizophrenia have not advanced much beyond the 1960s; in many cases they are not very effective, and they have severe side-effects. The problem is that the cause of schizophrenia is unknown, and…