Selecting the most effective antidepressant for patients can be a challenging process. Trial and error often leads to treatment delays, and no one likes to see their patients suffer through it. Enter pharmacogenetic testing – an approach designed to predict how a patient will respond to a particular antidepressant. But what is the science behind it? And more importantly, how reliable and practical is this in clinical settings?
Nowhere is the gap between book learning and clinical practice quite so apparent as in the world of pharmacology. The best medication for Diagnosis X is Drug Y on the boards, but what about when your real-life patient is allergic to that medication? What if they can’t afford it? What if there’s a drug shortage?
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder but also the hardest one to recognize in clinical practice. Often underestimated, BED affects a significant portion of the population yet remains underdiagnosed and misunderstood.
People take supplements for a variety of reasons, but typically, the goal is to enhance health. This month on Primary Care RAP, we dove into three supplements commonly used for heart health: Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Coenzyme Q10, and Red Yeast Rice. Curious what we found? Read on!
As I walk into the classroom to pick up my young child from school, I am greeted with a battlefield of zombie-like bodies strewn across the colorful carpet. I quickly scoop my son up off the floor, but my heart begins to race, thinking about that communal carpet, and I can’t help worrying about the possibility of head lice…
It’s summer, and that is officially the season of the weekend warrior. You know who I’m talking about because you see them every week in your clinic. They decided to take on a new gardening project, a strenuous workout or tried water-skiing for the first time in decades, and now, a few days later they come to you with pain in their lower back.
As we enjoy the remainder of our summer but look ahead to the upcoming school year, it’s time to start thinking about those back-to-school physicals and routine immunizations for our patients and our own kiddos. In this blog post, we will offer insight into two current methods of offering HPV vaccinations to our youngsters and their parents/caregivers and discuss which method improves HPV vaccination rates.
It’s hard to help patients quit smoking. Many of us, myself included, received limited training in tobacco cessation and may harbor misconceptions about effective treatments. To clear the air, we invited Michael Baca-Atlas, MD, our addiction medicine specialist, to join us on Primary Care RAP to debunk some common myths about tobacco cessation. Here are some highlights from that conversation.
As the parent of a tween girl, I'm acutely aware of the risks associated with her eventual exposure to social media. As a family, we have been holding out on a smartphone for as long as possible (we signed the Wait Until 8th Pledge). We also plan to follow the current recommendations to wait until age 16 for social media exposure.
Recently, one of my primary care patients sent me a routine question through the electronic medical record, asking when they should get a specific blood test to guide their medication dosing. When an hour went by and I hadn’t responded, my patient called the front desk of our clinic to ask the question over the phone and inquire why I hadn’t written back. They also wrote me another message, voicing their disappointment that I hadn’t responded to their question right away.
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