Influenza vaccine is now available in our office. We want to get everyone immunized before Thanksgiving.
Contaminated valsartan antihypertensive medication was discovered and is being recalled. No one is likely to have been injured by the NDMA contamination, but we intend to switch everyone to irbesartan, a comparable medication in the same ARB class that has not shown any contamination issues.
Pap smears and HPV co-testing provide effective early detection of cervical cancer in women. Recent guidelines clarify that the frequency of such testing can be spaced out in most circumstances. Remember that Pap smears do not provide protection against uterine or ovarian cancer. Dr. George Papanicolau developed the test named after him.
AIMOVIG is a new monoclonal antibody preventive treatment for chronic and severe episodic migraine that appears to be effective and safe. This is the first new news in a long time in this field.
Opioid drugs, also called narcotics, are critical medications for relieving acute pain but more problematic when occasionally used for chronic pain. We describe new state regulations concerning opioid prescriptions and monitoring and how it affects you and our practice.
Many recent articles on nutrition and dieting in various publications echoed what I have advised for several decades. I recap 10 of the major takeaways.
In the midst of the marches against gun violence, the Boston Globe special section pointed out the 78% of Americans don’t own guns, but 3% of Americans own over half of all guns. We do some arithmetic with those numbers.
Boostrix is a new TdaP vaccine that has been approved for patients over 65 for protection against whooping cough. It’s another tool in the vaccine armamentarium.
Modest use of marijuana or alcohol is unlikely to be physically harmful, unlike heavy use. Teenagers should not use either. The recreational marijuana statute heightens the concern about how to protect teenagers from marijuana.
We will have Shingrix vaccine as of the end of March. It is highly effective. The cost is $175 for each of two shots. Insurance coverage not yet clear. You want to get this immunization this year.