Did Lipitor Cause This Doctor’s Transient Global Amnesia?
No one would argue that statins are totally worthless for all people. However, as author Jimmy Moore writes in his bestselling book, Cholesterol Clarity: “statins have become a doctor’s first line of defense; the best resort, not the last resort… despite the fact that these drugs are being [sold] as a grand cure all, […]
Chapter 9: Horror Stories
The stories of bad conditions and treatments at NMC can sound downright ghoulish. Here are some well-known examples: At a Delaware NMC facility, Medicare officials discovered cigarette butts contaminating the solution that technicians used to clean dialysis equipment; In the mid 1990s, one NMC patient was dialyzed with a cleaning solution. This process killed […]
What Elevates Prolactin Levels?
Another WebMD article explains the many drivers of prolactin change: “Pregnant women have high levels of prolactin, which helps make breast milk. During pregnancy, prolactin levels increase by 10 to 20 times. After the baby is born, prolactin stays high if you are breast-feeding. In women who do not breast-feed, prolactin levels return to normal […]
The Slowness of Science Meets the Lightning Pace of Technology
The point of our recent digression into the philosophy of science is to highlight that doing great science is hard. It takes time. Doing great science about human beings and health — especially to assess long term health benefits and costs — is also incredibly time consuming and expensive. Human beings are complex creatures. […]
Many Open Questions about Lipitor Side Effects
Frustratingly, even the most respected filters of scientific information about statins can contradict themselves and contradict one another. Questions abound about these drugs, and people want and need clear answers: Who should take statins and under what circumstances? Do statins actually reduce heart attacks and other coronary events? How much unbiased (that is, not […]
How to Be a Better-Educated Patient – Part II
Part 2 Many people display an unfortunate lack of skepticism towards medical and nutritional authorities. Yet it is also very easy to swing the pendulum too far in the other direction and embrace all manner of medical woo-woo. Many skeptics of the “malevolent cholesterol hypothesis,” for instance, put forward some pretty strange (and […]
Doctors Not Very Impressed with the “Statins for Everyone” Message
Author and blogger, Jimmy Moore, together with Duke University physician, Dr. Eric Westman, analyzed the research literature on the relationship between cholesterol levels and health in their bestselling 2013 ebook, “Cholesterol Clarity: What the HDL is Wrong with My Numbers?” Moore and Westman discuss a January 2009 study published in the American Heart Journal, which […]
Chapter 8: The Birth of the Dialysis Industry
Dr. William J. Kolff, who collaborated with Dr. Robert Jarvik to build the first artificial heart, also pioneered the kidney dialysis process. Working in the Netherlands during World War II, Dr. Kolff’s first dialysis machine was, by modern standards, a ghastly contraption. The machine pumped a salt water solution through tubes made of sausage casing […]
A Horrendously Inaccurate “Scientific” Paper
To combat this “bad press” Risperdal had been receiving in the scientific literature, J&J helped publish a paper, “Prolactin levels during long-term Risperidone treatment in children and adolescents,” in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (Nov 2003). Clinicians examined five trials — three long-term and two short-term — that covered 700 subjects. Their conclusion made […]
Another, Deeper Problem (The Root of the Risperdal Debacle?)
A subtler problem may be at the root of why drug companies like J&J do what they do. This issue has little to do with the development and approval of drugs and everything to do with the accelerated speed of technology. Doing Good Science Vs. Doing Rushed Science What is science? What does it do […]