Home » July, 2011
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The FDA has issued a new warning about the cholesterol drug simvastatin (Zocor). It recommends that doctors “sharply curtail” prescriptions of 80 mg simvastatin, given to an estimated 2.1 million Americans last year, due to the risk of muscle injury. It’s well established that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can cause myopathy, or muscle damage in up [...]
The FDA has issued yet another warning about drug interactions with antidepressants that raise serotonin levels, and in particular the SSRI and SNRI antidepressants. (See list below)
The new FDA warnings are about interactions with the antibacterial drug Zyvox (linezolid), one of the few antibiotics left that is still effective against infections such as MRSA and [...]
A new study from Emory University published in the journal Molecular Medicine shows that high doses of progesterone inhibited the growth of neuroblastoma tumors in mice without killing healthy cells. Neuroblastoma is a cancer that develops from nerve tissue, and is the most common cancer in small children. The Emory researchers are investigating whether progesterone [...]
Doctors at teaching hospitals have known for decades that July is not a good time to be hospitalized because that’s when the newbie “trainees” (e.g. doctors-and-nurses-in-training) arrive, wide-eyed, intense and sleep-deprived. Poor decisions and misdiagnoses abound. In the US it’s known as the “July Effect,” and in the UK it’s known as the “August Killing [...]
Health Watch Q&A
Q: I’m a big fan of Trader Joe’s and their frozen fish, but lately there’s been news about imported fish being toxic. Virginia, would you buy tuna from Thailand?
A: Sometimes, but eating fish from anywhere has become a risky business. Fish in the US is commonly mislabeled. Swordfish may really be shark, sole [...]
Health Watch Q&A
Q: I know that sitting too much is bad for me, but what’s a middle-aged gal to do? I go to the gym for an hour three times a week, and ride my bike on weekends, but I also commute 40 minutes each way to work, sit at a desk or meeting table [...]
Health Watch Q&A
Q: I am a retired RN and would like more info on use of progesterone cream to normalize cycles in teens. One thing I have discovered with both my girls (teens and 20s) is the great benefit progesterone has in the latter half of the cycle to normalize cycles when they are stressed. [...]
