Archive for June, 2009
Medications and the Elderly – Part I
One of my favorite areas of medicine is the challenge involved with treating the elderly. While on rotations in school I was fortunate enough to be placed at a site with an all-inclusive care program for the elderly. The program was a mixture of adult daycare and healthcare (physicians, nurse practitioners, physical & occupational therapists, [...]
Put a Lid on It (Condoms and STDs)
STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) use to be referred to venereal diseases (VD) back in the day. They are a group of diseases that are spread through sexual contact (not just penetration). They can also be spread through contact with infected blood. STDs can be spread through oral sex, vaginal sex and anal sex. They [...]
Meniere’s and the Ears!
I know Meniere’s Disease may seem like a pointless topic to write about (what the heck is Meniere’s Disease?), but I’ve had an absurd amount of patients contacting me about it. The most common scenario involves a patient calling on the phone in tears about their new diagnosis and how miserable they feel. [...]
Thwart the Wart
My 6 year old nephew, Jackson asked if he would get warts from playing and kissing frogs. After an internal struggle to tease him a bit, I answered honestly with a simple, “No.” Warts are growths on skin caused by the human papillomaviruses (HPVs). Warts can be spread through person-to-person contact, spreading from one part [...]
Nausea and Vomiting, It’s the Pits
Perhaps one of the most frustrating questions for me to answer is how to treat nausea and vomiting with over-the-counter drugs. We’re talking nausea and vomiting caused by some unknown source, namely an intestinal or stomach bug which seems to be the cause in most cases. When a patient comes up to the pharmacy seeking options to ease [...]
When all else fails…there’s Plan B!
Plan B, also known as the “morning-after pill”, is an over-the-counter oral form of emergency contraceptive. It is a man-made progestin called levonorgestrel – it does not contain estrogen. How the medication works is up in the air, but it is thought to prevent pregnancy in a few different ways. The main function is believed to be from stopping or delaying [...]
