nnnnnnnnnnCartoons by Jim Storey Waiheke Island NZ
Useful handouts for use of steroid creams and moistursers here and here
Using topical steroids and emollients together
Most people with eczema will also use emollients (moisturisers). Emollients are very different to topical steroids, and should be used and applied in a different way. See separate leaflet called 'Emollients (Moisturisers) for Eczema'. When using the two treatments, after you have applied the steroid, wait 30-60 minutes before applying emollients to any steroid-treated areas of skin (or vice versa). This avoids 'diluting' the steroid which may make it less effective
One total body application of cream will use up about 30 grams
Serotonin Syndrome s
ymptoms
• restlessness• hallucinations• loss of coordination• rapid heartbeat• rapid changes in blood pressure• increased body temperature• overactive reflexes• nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
More details here in
Australian prescriber
Mixing certain medications for migraine and depression might be risky, warn Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials. More information on serotonin syndrome.
Physiotherapy combining elbow manipulation and exercise has a superior benefit to wait and see in the first six weeks and to corticosteroid injections after six weeks, providing a reasonable alternative to injections in the mid to long term. The significant short term benefits of corticosteroid injection are paradoxically reversed after six weeks, with high recurrence rates, implying that this treatment should be used with caution in the management of tennis elbow.
Click here for full BMJ article
Site maintained by Susan Ott, MD Associate ProfessorDepartment of MedicineUniversity of Washington. Osteoporosis and Bone Physiology .
She has a fracture risk calculator.
This site has no advertisements and is not funded by anyone but the lady herself.
Calcium plus vitamin D: Modest effects
Jackson RD. Calcium plus Vitamin D Supplementation and the Risk of Fractures. New Engl J Med 2006:354:669-83.
This study of 36,282 women from the Women's Health Initiative showed no significant reduction in fractures in those assigned to take supplements of calcium and vitamin D, but there was an increased risk of kidney stones. This news is not all that surprising because some previous studies did not show benefits of excess calcium in ordinary women. The findings of kidney stones suggest that calcium intake should not be greater than 1500mg/day.
Blood pressure
Obesity
Osteoporosis
Deep vein thrombosis
Femal sexual dysfunction
About Suddenly sick
Seattle Times staff reporters Susan Kelleher and Duff Wilson interviewed more than 160 doctors, patients, medical analysts, regulatory officials and other experts for "Suddenly Sick."
They traveled to Europe, Canada and around the country, obtaining records and interviews with patients, officials with the World Health Organization, and doctors attending medical conferences.
The series also relied on thousands of pages of medical-journal articles, financial disclosures by researchers, cost-benefit studies by government and industry groups, Securities and Exchange Commission records, transcripts of Food and Drug Administration hearings, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filings, and tax returns filed by not-for-profit foundations with the Internal Revenue Service.
Memory drugs mean good care is forgotten
Drugs like Aricept and Reminyl are supposed to slow the mental decline of patients with dementia. They rarely work, not in the real world outside of carefully controlled clinical trial settings. They do not give anyone a reprieve from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. They can not halt the inexorable progress of this cruel loss of mental faculties, and even trials show they certainly don't help those with the disease to maintain independence. People with dementia are just as likely to need nursing home care whether they take the drugs or not. And lets not even start on the side effects.
I thinks this article is freely accessible
BMJ 2006;333:485 (2 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7566.485
A prolapsed disc as you can see from the diagram below is really pressure on a spinal nerve by thick gelatinous material coming from the centre of a spinal disc.
Most back problems are not due to prolapsed discs. Xrays seldom give useful information.
