Last August , the British medical journal The Lancet proclaimed “The End of Homeopathy” in its lead editorial , based on a new analysis of earlier studies comparing homeopathy and conventional medicine to the use of placebos. The analysis on eight placebo-controlled trials with homeopathy and six with conventional medicine, reported that homeopathy appears to …
Last month our family was involved in a motor vehicle accident in which a car ran a stop sign going 50 mph and t-boned our car dead center. If it were not for the side curtain air bags I fear my wife and son who were sitting on the side of impact would have sustained …
The American College of Chest Physicians announced in January that over-the-counter cough syrups generally contain drugs in too low a dose to be effective or they contain combinations of drugs never known to treat coughs. Columnist Julie Deardorff of the Chicago Tribune, Jan22, 2006 notes that the “quack-watchers” -various internet watchdog groups like “Quackwatch”, “Homeowatch,” …
In the early 1950’s there was ample prime-time, family-centered programming with no advertisements. In fact, 85 children’s programs were televised per week and almost half of these programs were commercial-free. Obviously, that has changed. The average US child now sees more than 40,000 television commercials per year. During Saturday morning cartoons, children view an average …
Once a month I receive the Prescriber’s Lette,r a 4 page unbiased letter that updates physicians on the latest drugs hitting the market. Today I came across an article in this letter that talked about people using a new diabetes drug, Byetta for weight loss. Apparently, in addition to reducing sugar it also decreases appetite …
The other day a patient told me that when she eats chocolate her depression goes away. I found this interesting because when I eat chocolate I get depressed. But as I thought about it more, it demonstrates the” law of similar” on which homeopathy was founded. That law states that if a substance (whether plant, …
Two reports in the scientific literature (Annals of Internal 5 Medicine, Sept. 1993, and Reports from the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science March 1994 ) bring attention to the possibility that microbial strains are evolving that are resistant to all presently known antibiotics. Dr. Alexander Tomasz of Rockefeller University …
More and more physicians are holding off on antibiotics for kids’ ear infections. This is based on numerous studies that have shown that 80% of otherwise healthy kids with acute otitis media get better without antibiotics. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests “watchful waiting” for 2-3 days to see if the ear infection does not …
Patients often ask how to increase their HDL cholesterol. The current theory is that the higher your HDL the less likely you are to have heart disease. Lifestyle changes work best. For example, exercise raises HDL by 5% to 30%, weight loss 5% to 20% and smoking cessation about 5%. Niacin is the most effective in …
Lots of drug study results are being disseminated with a favorable spin. Presenting the SAME results in different ways using different statistical methods actually, affects prescribing. For example, physicians are more likely to prescribe Simvastatin when told it reduces mortality by 30% instead of saying it improves survival from 88.5% to 91.8%. But these are …