Day: 06/05/2015
An Awesome Woman in Barcelona
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/meet_the_spanish_occupy_activist
_who_became_mayor_of_barcelona_20150605
Longtime anti-eviction activist Ada Colau recently became the first female mayor of Barcelona, Spain. She has vowed to fine banks, stop evictions, expand public housing, improve wages, force utility companies to lower their prices and slash the mayoral salary. She has called bankers “criminals” and garnered support from the leftist Podemos party, which grew out of the populist Indignados Movement against economic austerity…
To KRQE News 13
http://krqe.com/2015/06/05/thieves-break-into-local-food-pantry/
painkills2 • a few seconds ago
To KRQE:
Why can’t KRQE stop commenters like WiSe GuY? Is it because KRQE agrees with him?
Violence strikes Los Altos Skate Park again
WiSe GuY, 5 days ago: “Now, Mohammed, What does your Quran say about insulting infidels like myself? Have you beaten your woman according to Sharia Law? Or, have you raped children according to your Quran?”
And it’s not like this is his only offensive comment — there are too many count. What, exactly, is KRQE’s definition of “offensive”? What is your policy on allowing comments like this?
If this website continues to allow these kinds of public comments, I’ll be going somewhere else for my daily dose of local news — as I’m sure many others have already done.
painkills2 • in a few seconds
I’ve posted this comment on my blog, so everyone else can see it too.
It Was A Beautiful Sunrise
The clouds have returned, which made for a wonderful sunrise — but now, we’re covered in one big, gray, yucky-looking cloud. It might be a few degrees cooler, but now I miss the sun. 🙂
Summer in Australia begins in December :)
Wikipedia: Melbourne is also prone to isolated convective showers forming when a cold pool crosses the state, especially if there is considerable daytime heating. These showers are often heavy and can contain hail and squalls and significant drops in temperature, but they pass through very quickly at times with a rapid clearing trend to sunny and relatively calm weather and the temperature rising back to what it was before the shower. This often occurs in the space of minutes and can be repeated many times in a day, giving Melbourne a reputation for having “four seasons in one day” …
Thinking of you, David Cranmer
http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=10702
Interview with Dr. Maureen McCarthy, Veterans Health Administration, Patient Care Services Deputy Chief (video)
Reporter: Is that over prescription thing like common in the VA?
Dr. McCarthy: It’s common in the whole country. It’s not you know what people think of as sick patients, so much. It’s people that have drug problems, some of which are caused by us and our prescribing. We also look at the combination of patients on opiates, like morphine and benzodiazepine like Ativan or Klonopin.
Reporter: Is that the anxiety?
Dr. McCarthy: Yes. That combination in particular is like candy for some people. It’s like they want it, they want it, they want it.
Bob Cranmer told Veritas his son David became one of those vets that Dr. McCarthy described as “some people.”
Mr. Cranmer: He joined the marines when he was still a senior in high school. Graduated from high school. Was deployed to Iraq…
Veritas: Bob’s son David injured his back while serving in Iraq in 2007 and 2008…
Mr. Cranmer : He went to the VA and when he was finally seen, it took him over a year to be seen, he was diagnosed that he would require surgery to have his disks repaired. But they never scheduled the surgery. They just gave him painkillers. And that went on for a number of years. The primary drug that he was given was Oxycontin…
Mr. Cranmer: It got to the point to where he had to actually enter an outpatient drug addiction treatment center because over a period of time he did realize he had developed an addiction to this Oxycontin. And it scared him.
Mr. Cranmer: Diagnosed him with PTSD…
Veritas: After David was diagnosed with PTSD, the VA gave him more drugs.
Mr. Cranmer: He was prescribed an antidepressant called Zoloft, as well as two mood stabilizers…
Veritas: What happened?
Mr. Cranmer: He had a 10 foot stepladder and a rope and for some reason decided to hang himself.
A month after he was diagnosed, David Cranmer used a ladder to hang himself. He left behind a wife and a five-year-old daughter…
Although Oxy will be blamed for this young man’s death, it was the combination of an antidepressant with the mood stabilizers that actually messed up his brain. (Drugs like Lithium and anticonvulsants are categorized as mood stabilizers, along with atypical antipsychotics.) Treating chronic pain and PTSD with mood stabilizers is just stupid. If David had been suffering from bipolar disorder, it would be a different story. But give a combination of an antidepressant and mood stabilizers to someone suffering from PTSD and they can easily cause depression and suicidal ideation.
I get the feeling that his father believes surgery would have corrected the problem, but that’s not true. In fact, the surgery most likely would have just made things worse. It’s obvious to me that David’s chronic back pain was mistreated and undertreated, while his PTSD was mistreated and over-treated.
It’s very important for patients to learn about the history and correct use of all prescription medications. It seems like David and his father just trusted the doctors instead of doing their own research.
(Photo taken 3/21/2015.)
Drug Companies and Doctors: A Story of Corruption
http://disruptedphysician.com/2015/06/01/drug-companies-and-doctors-a-story-of-corruption/
What we need is a Marcia Angell to take on the multi-billion dollar drug and alcohol testing, assessment and treatment industry…
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine” – Marcia Angell
All Things Chronic 