Whoever thought Herbal Fen-Phen was a Good Idea?

June 29th, 2009. By AbiK

Over 10 years after the Fen-Phen diet fad, those who either took Fen-Phen or switched to its “All-Natural!” counterpart, Ephedra (aka herbal Fen-Phen), are questioning whether it was a good idea to get on that diet supplement bandwagon. I’m questioning who the heck thought it was a good idea in the first place. Read on for some interesting tidbits about Ephedra…

Ephedra is known as “Kiddie Meth”.

At least according to urbandictionary.com it is. Yes, sugar is too—but in a “gee, isn’t little Johnny so rambunctious after that cupcake” way. With Ephedra, you need to factor in that it’s been associated with the production of methamphetamine. Keep in mind that the plant from which Ephedra hails—Ephedra sinica—contains the alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine—and pseudoephedrine is the former OTC allergy relief medicine ingredient that now has its sales monitored by your pharmacist—seems it was a favorite ingredient for illegal meth production. (Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, signed as part of the Patriot Act in 2006).

Ephedra (ma huang) has had some other cute nicknames.

Some of these are Whorehouse tea, Natural Ecstasy, Miscarriage Tea. Typically, things have a nickname for a reason, no?

Ephedra has had some other interesting uses. Read the rest of this entry »

Yaz Birth Control and Mrs. Beck’s Citizen Journalism

June 29th, 2009. By LucyC

Personal Yaz Story hits YouTube

Watching the events unfold in Iran over the past week has proven a startling reminder of the power of shared information, especially as it applies to the Internet. The beauty of the Web is that people can share their experiences in their own voice, regardless of whether that experience is about an election gone terribly wrong, the death of a Pop legend such as Michael Jackson, or a woman’s own story about a terrible event in her life. That sharing of information not only helps keep people informed, but in some cases galvanizes them into action. Angela Beck is counting on both. Read the rest of this entry »

DEA Swamped With Calls Regarding Jackson’s Death

June 29th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

On June 27, 2009, the Drug Enforcement Agency issued a press release to members of the media titled: “DEA Responds to Large Number of Calls regarding Michael Jackson’s Death”.

The UK’s Sun newspaper claims Jackson was taking Demerol, Dilaudid, Vicodin, Xanax, Soma, Paxil, Zoloft and Prilosec.

“Due to the large amount of calls from the media regarding the death of Michael Jackson and questions regarding prescription drugs,” the DEA said in the press release, “the DEA has put information about prescription drug abuse and use on the front page of www.dea.gov for your use.”

The headline on the agency’s website for a May 2009, report reads: “Recent Report Confirms Dangers of Prescription Drug Abuse; Young Adults Hardest Hit”

The “National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment,” was prepared by the National Drug Intelligence Center in conjunction with the DEA. Read the rest of this entry »

Tracking MRI Health Risk & Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis Discussions

June 26th, 2009. By AbiK

A quick and easy way to determine the popularity (for better or worse) of a given topic is to check out the top message boards for that topic. The Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis group on Yahoo is where I went to get a quick read on the growing discussion around MRI health risks relating to use of Gadolinium as a contrast agent.

A picture tells a thousand words and I’m better with visuals—so I took the comment tracker and turned it into a graph. Seems pretty staightforward. However, here are a few data points I found from the American Roentgen Ray Society (“first and oldest radiology society in the United States”). The ARRS issued a report back in October, 2008 that included a neat little chart: MR Contrast Agent an Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) Timeline. Here, some highlights… Read the rest of this entry »

Asbestos Exposure – Did you Know?

June 25th, 2009. By LucyC

Earlier this week a company in Louisiana that ‘specializes’ in the management and maintenance of nursing homes was hit with a $112,000 fine for several alleged ‘wilful and serious’ violations of federal health and safety regulations. The violations related not to the direct care of seniors, but rather to that of employees who were charged with removing asbestos from a building site.

While the terms ‘wilful’ and ‘serious’ might sound melodramatic, or at the very least like legalspeak, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has defined those terms in order to help protect peoples’ rights. For example, OSHA defines a wilful violation as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

And serious violations are issued when there is a substantial probability that death or serious injury and/or illness could occur from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known as they relate to asbestos removal. Read the rest of this entry »