DocTalk

Re: DocTalk at your service

SC, fortunately the drug companies have come up with a variety of classes of antibiotics that will keep you healthy and well for years to come.

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

Just when I thought all was well on the website, the blog went down. If anybody would like the weekly entry emailed to them please let me know.

The techies are working on the solution.

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

Thanks to Andrew in Japan, the blog is up and running and all is well at www.MDdirect.org. This week's post deals tangentially with ankle sprains.

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

DocTalk, is it now SOP to ask a patient about his or her interest in a living will prior to anaesthesia?

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

There is a great push to discuss patient wishes when they access the health care system, regardless of age. It should also be part of your estate planning, when you talk about wills.

The power of attorney for health care allows your loved ones to make decisions for you, based on your wishes, but many people don't let those wishes be known. For that reason, the medical community is starting to discuss end of life issues well beforehand. These decisions should be reiterated each time you have contact with medical care, so having it asked before surgery is the right thing to do. And the patient can choose to continue with previous plans, or make changes at any time.

Ultimately, this has to do with having control over what happens. The patient is the one that gets to be the director, but unfortunately, many people abdicated that responsibility.

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

Very good. You're the man, I enjoy your site.

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

It's almost time for the weekly blog post. Thought people might like a teaser.

I am always humbled when press releases presume that medicine can produce miracle cures for injuries that take time to heal. Dwayne Wade dislocates his shoulder on February 20th and is listed as doubtful for a game 5 days later. I have been amazed at how driven elite athletes are to return to play but shoulder dislocations take forever to heal. Still, I think of Daunte Culpepper playing 6 days after arthroscopic knee surgery, a time frame when most humans are barely able to ride an exercise bike in that same week. But I digress.

www.mddirect.org/blog/index.php

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

The week has had its share of bad medical issues in the sporting world. Orthopedic disasters (Shaun Livingston's knee, Brian Butch's elbow) have taken a back seat to the death of Javan Camon during an indoor football game. The blog this week deals with Damien Nash's sudden cardiac death.

Sudden death in sports is a term that is just too much hype. It's a game. The sun will come up in the next morning. Life will go on.

Sudden death in medicine is final. One second the heart is beating normally and the next, it sits there jiggling like a bowl of Jell-O and the body just stops. So what good could ever come from the sudden death of Damien Nash, the Denver Bronco who collapsed after playing in a charity basketball game?

If you're lucky and if you have sudden cardiac death on the streets of Seattle, where more people are trained in CPR than anywhere else in the country, your potential for survival is 30%. Same scenario in New York City and you're out of luck with a 1% survival rate. If you collapse at O'Hare, you may even be luckier. With Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) around every corner, having a second chance at life can climb to 50%.

The rest of the blog can be found at www.mddirect.org/blog/index.php

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

Doc,
If you could afford it, would you take human growth hormone?. I mean, some of the supposed side effects are pretty alluring: loss of fat, greater energy, glossier skin and eyes, better sex life, reduction of stress, longevity of life.
I used to see a dermatologist who worked out of one of those anti-aging clinics and, lord, the customers were some of the most striking specimens I've ever seen. They all seemed to be captains of industry or magazine editors. The stuff was pricey -- about $20,000 a month for one syringe that was injected in the thigh right there in the doctor's room. The doctor (and everyone I talk to) said hgh doesn't work if inhaled or from a pill.
There were side effects: probability of cancerous tumors appearing, alterating of the pit gland, but the literature didn't make it seem so bad.
I know hgh can only be prescribed for dwarfism and to assist in the diagnosis of pituitary tumors. But clearly it's being marketed an an-anti aging elixir. How do they get away with that? The raids in Albany and Fla., probably answer my question. But imagine, Jason Giambi, for instance, takes the same injections as the socialite lady. Heck, I'd take it too if I could afford it, and I didn't mind a nasty little cancer lump spouting out of my led now and then.
And do you think women need DHEA?
Thanks for your time, Doc.

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

There were side effects: probability of cancerous tumors appearing, alterating of the pit gland, but the literature didn't make it seem so bad.

I'm saddened that people don't think cancer is bad. Statistics are all relative in deciding when and where to take risk, but I have difficulty balancing the benefit of HGH vanity against the greater risk of cancer, liver failure, heart disease and sudden death and acromegaly among others.

Human Growth Hormone has great benefit for kids. It's indicated for use in children with kidney failure, pituitary problems, pre-pregnancy growth issues (small for gestational age), short stature and other diseases. Prior to genetic engineering, HGH was is very short supply and there were significant ethical considerations in diverting HGH into the body building or athletic community. With it readily, though expensively available, the question should become, is it safe to use indiscriminately. And at the present time, the answer is a resounding no.

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

Doc,

Two questions that have absolutely nothing to do with sports injuries.

--Does Airborne do anything for me, besides taste like shit-flavored Alka-Seltzer?

--I am coming down with a cough and it feels like an upper respiratory thing (sore throat, very painful cough, no fever or other symptoms). What is the best way to fight this sucker?

 

Re: DocTalk at your service

It sounds like you're coming down with what's gone around my newsroom. I'm no doctalk, but most in my newsroom have only been able to kick it successfully with antibiotics. I have it, too, but my current insurance doesn't cover anyone in this area.