Black Box Pharmacy Warnings
PodcastDX
This week we will discuss the warnings some medications carry due to the dangerous side effects they may cause. In the past these were called "Black-Box" now the term used is simply "boxed". Boxed warnings apply to certain medications that carry serious risks for the person taking them. The FDA decides which medications require boxed warnings. A doctor must review the risks and benefits of a medication with a boxed warning before prescribing it. They will decide whether a medication is safe to prescribe based on a person’s health conditions, any medications they take, and other...
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Lupus and Gaslighting
PodcastDX
Our topic this week is Lupus and how doctors are frequently considered to be gaslighting the patients in their care. Our guest knows from first-hand experience that when you’re relatively healthy, you tend not to think much about ‘wellness.’ But when this slips away and lupus comes barreling in… your world gets rocked. That’s why she wrote the book, The Girlfriend’s Guide to Lupus, to help other women struggling with this chronic disease feel less alone and more empowered to take control of their health and manage their lupus. Amanda holds an Master’s degree in...
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Multi-Organ Transplant
PodcastDX
This week we will discuss Multi-Organ transplants with Zachary Colton. Zach is 35 years old and recently underwent a successful 5 organ multivisceral intestinal transplant surgery at the Toronto General Hospital in his home country of Canada. The organs he received were: stomach, small intestine, colon, liver, and pancreas. In 1954, . Liver, heart and pancreas transplants were successfully performed by the late 1960s, while lung and intestinal organ transplant procedures were begun in the 1980s. From the mid-1950s through the early 1970s, individual transplant hospitals...
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Ectoparasites
PodcastDX
This week we will discuss Ectoparasites. The CDC says: "Although the term ectoparasites can broadly include blood-sucking arthropods such as mosquitoes (because they are dependent on a blood meal from a human host for their survival), this term is generally used more narrowly to refer to organisms such as ticks, fleas, lice, and mites that attach or burrow into the skin and remain there for relatively long periods of time (e.g., weeks to months). Arthropods are important in causing diseases in their own right, but are even more important as vectors, or transmitters, of many different...
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Pasteurization For Your Health
PodcastDX
Over 200 years ago Louis Pasteur was born in Dole, France. Among Pasteur's major contributions and their benefit to society, the most important is the heat treatment of foods and beverages to reduce spoilage and eliminate pathogens for consumers. Probably the greatest achievement of Pasteur was the process that bears the name of this famous scientist who perfected the technique: pasteurization. For liquids, this process does not involve boiling the product to sterility but simply applying just enough heat (ie, par-boiling) to 50–60°C for a specified period to reduce spoilage microbes and...
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Spontaneous Pneumothorax with Jack
PodcastDX
In this episode we are talking again with our audio editor Jack Scaro. The topic again is: spontaneous pneumothorax, or collapsed lung. Spontaneous pneumothorax is an abnormal condition of the lung characterized by the collection of gas in the pleural space between the lungs and the chest wall. This condition occurs without an obvious etiology and can be classified as either primary or secondary. Patients may present with symptoms such as tachycardia and dyspnea. The diagnosis is based on clinical suspicion and can be confirmed with imaging. Jack had this condition which surprised...
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Bile acid malabsorption (BAM) part 2
PodcastDX
This week we will continue our coverage of Bile acid malabsorption (BAM), a . It’s a common cause of . When bile acids aren’t properly absorbed in your intestines, they build up, upsetting the chemical balance inside. Excess bile acids trigger your to secrete extra water, leading to watery stools. This week we will continue our coverage of Bile acid malabsorption (BAM), a . It’s a common cause of . When bile acids aren’t properly absorbed in your intestines, they build up, upsetting the chemical balance inside. Excess bile acids trigger...
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Bile Acid Malabsorption
PodcastDX
This week we will discuss Bile acid malabsorption (BAM), a . It’s a common cause of . When bile acids aren’t properly absorbed in your intestines, they build up, upsetting the chemical balance inside. Excess bile acids trigger your to secrete extra water, leading to watery stools. What are bile acids? Bile is a substance your makes while filtering your blood. Your liver sorts waste products, such as toxins, dead blood cells and excess cholesterol into bile. Bile acids come from synthesizing these products together. The different acids in bile help...
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Veteran's Hesitancy to Healthcare
PodcastDX
This week we will discuss a Veteran's hesitancy to receive healthcare at the government hospital system known as Veterans Administration or "VA". Although many veterans may share the concern over receiving care through a government agency due to the medical care they got while in training or active duty; i.e. sucrettes and tylenol being the standard of care when Jean Marie and I were in training. Our guest, Mark Frerichs, has different reasons to question the quality of care. Mark, a Navy veteran who continued working as a contractor post-war in Afghanistan. It was during his work...
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Adrenal Insufficiency
PodcastDX
In this episode we discuss adrenal insufficiency You can have either primary, secondary, or tertiary adrenal insufficiency. Primary adrenal insufficiency is also called Addison’s disease. When you have this type, your adrenal glands are damaged and can’t make the cortisol you need. They also might not make enough aldosterone. Secondary adrenal insufficiency is more common than Addison’s disease. The condition happens because of a problem with your pituitary gland, a pea-sized bulge at the base of your . It makes a hormone called adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). This is the...
info_outlineThis week we will discuss Polio and Enterovirus (EV)-D68
Most people who get infected with poliovirus will not have any visible symptoms.
About 1 out of 4 people (or 25 out of 100) with poliovirus infection will have flu-like symptoms that can include:
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Sore throat
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Fever
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Tiredness
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Nausea
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Headache
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Stomach pain
These symptoms usually last 2 to 5 days, then go away on their own.
A smaller proportion of people with poliovirus infection will develop other, more serious symptoms that affect the brain and spinal cord:
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Meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain)occurs in about 1–5 out of 100 people with poliovirus infection, depending on virus type
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Paralysis (can’t move parts of the body) or weakness in the arms, legs, or both occurs in about 1 out of 200 people to 1 in 2000 people, depending on virus type
Paralysis is the most severe symptom associated with poliovirus because it can lead to permanent disability and death. Between 2 and 10 out of 100 people who have paralysis from poliovirus infection die, because the virus affects the muscles that help them breathe.
Even children who seem to fully recover can develop new muscle pain, weakness, or paralysis as adults, 15 to 40 years later. This is called post-polio syndrome.
Note that “poliomyelitis” (or “polio” for short) is defined as the paralytic disease. So only people with the paralytic infection are considered to have the disease. (Credits: CDC)
Enterovirus was first identified in California in 1962, enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is one of more than 100 non-polio enteroviruses.
EV-D68 can cause mild to severe respiratory illness, or no symptoms at all.
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Mild symptoms may include runny nose, sneezing, cough, body aches, and muscle aches.
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Severe symptoms may include wheezing and difficulty breathing.
The link between Enterovirus D68 and a polio-like illness has been bolstered by new research showing a spike in both the virus and reports of acute flaccid myelitis in children in 2018, a new government report suggests.
The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reinforces previous research that the virus strikes every other year and in the late summer and early fall.
Anyone with respiratory illness should contact their doctor if they are having difficulty breathing or if their symptoms are getting worse. Seek immediate medical attention if you or your child develops any of these symptoms following a respiratory illness:
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arm or leg weakness
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pain in the neck, back, arms, or legs
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difficulty swallowing or slurred speech
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difficulty moving the eyes or drooping eyelids
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facial droop or weakness