Prescription Drug
Vaccine Update August 1999. Part 2
by Theresa on Nov.17, 2011, under Prescription Drug
Hepatitis A
Not yet widely used but this vaccine is safe in young children and can be given to infants at risk for hepatitis A. This type of hepatitis is actually more common than hepatitis B which your newborns are already getting vaccinated against.
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Vaccine Update August 1999. Part 1
by Theresa on Nov.17, 2011, under Prescription Drug
The former topic of scary news tabloid reports and playground horror stories has mostly and long awaitedly bitten the dust. We are now using a vaccine that essentially takes the risk out of the pertussis portion by making it “acellular” hence the new acronym DaPT or acellular DPT and you might recognize this from your 18 month old’s booster record because it isn’t really new. (continue reading…)
Melatonin for the Blind
by Theresa on Nov.17, 2011, under Prescription Drug
Why do we get sleepy in the evening, and wake up in the morning? The answer is “light cues.” Nerve signals from the eye travel into the depth of the brain, and synchronize our feelings of tiredness and wakefulness with the rhythm of light and dark. The hormone melatonin plays a significant role in this process. (continue reading…)
Chemotherapy Helps Elderly Colon Cancer Patients
by Theresa on Aug.03, 2011, under Prescription Drug
Elderly patients who have undergone surgery for colon cancer can benefit from postoperative chemotherapy, researchers have found.
While younger colon cancer patients are offered postoperative or adjuvant chemotherapy as a matter of course, patients older than 70 are less likely to receive the potentially life-prolonging drugs because they are believed to be more vulnerable to their toxic side effects.
Drug Busts Net Powerful Prescription Painkiller. Part 2
by Theresa on Jul.21, 2011, under Prescription Drug
Many doctors have been reluctant to prescribe morphine, and the profession has widely criticized for not doing more for patients in the late stages of cancer, or who are in constant pain from conditions such as advanced arthritis or spinal injuries. OxyContin looked like the solution to that problem. (continue reading…)
Drug Busts Net Powerful Prescription Painkiller. Part 1
by Theresa on Jul.21, 2011, under Prescription Drug
A prescription painkiller is fast becoming the focus of police drug busts in the Midwest. Addicts are crushing it, swallowing it, injecting it and even snorting it like cocaine.
It’s called OxyContin — a powerful but potentially addictive drug. While it brings relief from severe and intractable pain to many thousands of patients, illegal use of it has suddenly become an epidemic in depressed parts of Maine, Appalachia and the rural Midwest.
