I've recently had to deal with the medical profession a lot more than in the past and I'm finding this sort of thing everywhere. OTC medicines that by current standards would not be made OTC, surgeries that are extremely common but have never had quality randomized trials, official sounding diagnoses that on inspection are actually defined as "we have no idea", lack of consensus about how to treat some of the most co…
The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
601–610 of 613 posts
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#602Earlier quoted context omitted.
You seem to be under the impression that there is some 'advanced technology' out there that will magically solve your problems that the US fails to have. In my experience, many people have a quasi-religious belief in the capability of modern medicine to perform what would otherwise be called a miracle. This belief is typically held without any evidence whatsoever. In reality, there are a plethora of conditions, some…
Indeed. My experience has been that 75%-90% of US doctors are borderline incompetent and that I can and do routine out-diagnose my own maladies better. Of course this also means I can lead them by the nose to get them to diagnose anything I please. Which is horrifying - they are Epic Fail if I can do that. Admittedly I was at one time planning to become a doctor myself so I ravenously consumed everything about biolog…
No surprise there given my ethnic background (which frankly should have been a dead giveaway, because thalassemias are not uncommon at all), but I saved myself from being put on iron supplementation which is already potentially dangerous for a man, but especially dangerous to someone with thalassemia.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#603Earlier quoted context omitted.
You seem to be under the impression that there is some 'advanced technology' out there that will magically solve your problems that the US fails to have. In my experience, many people have a quasi-religious belief in the capability of modern medicine to perform what would otherwise be called a miracle. This belief is typically held without any evidence whatsoever. In reality, there are a plethora of conditions, some…
> In my experience, many people have a quasi-religious belief in the capability of modern medicine to perform what would otherwise be called a miracle. This belief is typically held without any evidence whatsoever. Modern medical results would absolutely be viewed as a miracle to someone just a few decades back. Something like 90% of cancer cases are either cured or successfully suppressed (to the extent that the suf…
As someone who has autoimmune diseases, you must be getting your information from a source I'm not familiar with. Auto-immune disease are a long game of guess, test, and adjust.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#604Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005E74U3W/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LKLNKZ7/
Interesting. First off: Amazon is NOT my first choice for a source of pharmaceutical. Period. Second, spin through the comments. Quoted below is an example of exactly what I'm talking about: >Active ingredient is dextromethorphan. This blocks cough receptors in the brain. Got a cough? Get this! > 2. No extra ingredients. It’s so hard to find pure medicines just for cough. Store shelves are littered with bundled produ…
When I was much younger I had a bit of an adventurous spirit and never had problems finding pure DXM on the shelf. The issue I ran into most often was it was a frequent target for shoplifters so the name brand gel caps would often be out of stock. Usually you could find the generic store brand version though. Delsym was almost always available. The extended release may or may not be desirable depending on how long you want to trip, but IIRC you could just mix it with something acidic like orange juice to dissolve it and make it instant release. Just anecdotal I know, but that was my experience.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#605Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where does one obtain that? From the waste stream of the methamphetamine producers?
It is sold over the counter in most US pharmacies under the Vicks inhaler brand. The active ingredient label conveniently uses a spelling that most people will not recognize which is probably effective in preventing alarm from customers who aren't familiar with the dramatic difference in the effects of the two enantiomers.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#606Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I am not. It's a dune reference. Ulcers ("destroying your stomach lining") is less bad than "destroying your liver", and typically you will have to screw up harder before other NSAIDs reach that level. Tylenol literally is dangerous following the directions on the bottle , because those directions aren't calibrated for chronic usage, when they say "daily max" they don't mean you take it daily , that dose is even…
This is wrong. Kidney failure from NSAIDs is very common, and also very dangerous. And can develop at recommended dosage.
again, I don't do analgesics daily but I will be sure to adhere to the doage schedule on that. Pain medication is such an unfortunate area of medicine.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#607Earlier quoted context omitted.
Risk adjusted scoring is currently absolutely not viable. You underestimate the messiness of the healthcare system by a huge margin. We don't even manage to record basic vital signs consistently, so believe me when I tell you that you can forget about any kind of nice statistical trick given the weakness of our data gathering processes. Plus it's not a matter of objectivity. Surgeons will subjectively assess that doi…
I literally was at a startup that could do this successfully, so I'm not underestimating the messiness.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#608The herb ephedra (Ma Huang/Mormon Tea) contains appreciable amounts of ephedrine and is prepared as a tea in Chinese medicine as a remedy for asthma and cold congestion. It can easily be purchased online and the ephedrine ban does not apply to it. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/mormon-tea-ephedra-plant...
NB: ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are related (they're stereoisomers), but are different drugs with somewhat different pharmacokinetics.
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#609Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005E74U3W/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LKLNKZ7/
Interesting. First off: Amazon is NOT my first choice for a source of pharmaceutical. Period. Second, spin through the comments. Quoted below is an example of exactly what I'm talking about: >Active ingredient is dextromethorphan. This blocks cough receptors in the brain. Got a cough? Get this! > 2. No extra ingredients. It’s so hard to find pure medicines just for cough. Store shelves are littered with bundled produ…
Re: The Uselessness of Phenylephrine
#610Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Big data is coming Big _bad_ data... Let's see how we fare in 5y, then. My prediction as a clinician with a special interest in stats: close to zero medical progress. But insurance priced by a ML algorithm, and much greater efficiency in coverage and claim denials.
Due to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), medical insurers have very little flexibility in pricing policies. There's not much point in using ML for pricing. https://www.healthcare.gov/how-plans-set-your-premiums/ The more likely use case for ML is detecting insurance fraud patterns.
I think that's covered under "much greater efficiency in coverage and claim denials."