Also see the book on 99cent-books.com.

Fluoroquinolones, including Avelox/Cipro, are associated [...]]]> That’s a translation into person speak from a letter I got a couple of years ago from Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals that started out with “Dear Healthcare Professional” and went on to their new “black box warning” for their antibiotic drugs Avelox (moxifloxacin hydrochloride) and Cipro (ciprofloxacin). Here is their warning:

Fluoroquinolones, including Avelox/Cipro, are associated with an increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture in all ages. This risk is further increased in older patients usually over 60 years of age, in patients taking corticosteroid drugs, and in patients with kidney, heart or lung transplants.

Well it’s about time. I wrote about this nasty habit of cipro to snap tendons and mess up joints in my book Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad For Your Health because at the time Cipro was the most poorly rated drug on askthepatient.com. I hate to say I told you so, but, I did tell you so. It’s just too bad that it took the manufacturers a couple of years to get the word out. I wish people in the healthcare industry would read these websites, which patients go to only out of desperation.

Unfortunately, 81% of the time this toxic drug, Cipro is prescribed inappropriately, and 32% of women get this drug inappropriately for new onset urinary tract infections, when the preferred first drug is Septra.

Another drup in the same class as Cipro is Levaquin, which is the third most discussed drug on medications.com, just behind my other two faves, Yasmin (the birth control pill that might make you nuts) and Singulair (asthma drug with similar problems). Levaquin and like drugs also seems to drive people nuts, which reinforces my conclusion that when it comes to drug companies, if they don’t kill you they might drive you crazy.

So let’s all sing “I need a drug that won’t drive me crazy” to the tune of I need a lover that won’t drive me crazy,” by John Cougar Mellencamp.

[update from the previous post of Feb 15, 2009]

Podcast: Don’t Take Away My Asperger’s Diagnosis.

Subscribe to my podcasts on podbean here.

ATLANTA, GA (WABE) – In recent years, doctors have come under increased scrutiny about the money they receive from drug companies.

Medical schools across the state are now taking steps to better police these relationships in order to [...]]]> Story from PBA originally posted today here where you can also listen to the radio interview.

ATLANTA, GA (WABE) – In recent years, doctors have come under increased scrutiny about the money they receive from drug companies.

Medical schools across the state are now taking steps to better police these relationships in order to avoid the appearance of biased research.

The Medical College of Georgia in Augusta has recently limited the gift amount doctors can receive from drugmakers to $25.

“Essentially you’re not to accept a gift in any dollar amount that directly influences your work or improperly influences it,” said Lee Little, a spokeswoman for the school. “We’re actually looking to adopt an electronic system for conflicts of interest reporting.”

It’s part of growing trend to limit the influence of pharmaceutical money and protect the integrity of academic research. Studies have found that when doctors receive gifts or fees from a drug company, those doctors are more likely to prescribe that company’s products.

In a high profile case from 2008, a congressional investigation revealed that the head of Emory’s psychiatry department failed to report more than a million dollars of consulting fees from companies whose drugs he was evaluating in academic journals.

That doctor was forced to resign from his chairmanship and later left the school.

Emory has since adopted a strict disclosure policy and a preapproval process for any payments taken from drugmakers.

Kathy Kinlaw of the Emory Center for Ethics helped develop the policy.

“We basically have eliminated all contact for our medical students and our faculty as much as possible,” said Kinlaw.

However, with the arrival of these restrictions, some physicians are quietly complaining. They say the relationship exists in order for doctors to meet peers and learn about new research and drugs.

“The increase in requirements in disclosure and the requirements for preapproval that’s more coming from administration,” said Emory psychiatry professor Dr. Douglas Bremner. “I think the academic physicians are just watching their outside consulting income melt away and grumbling about it behind close doors.”

In any event, drugmakers are still spending big money. The investigative news website ProPublica says in the last three years, $20 million has been spent on Georgia’s medical practitioners, in and outside of medical school.

Donald Palmisano of the Medical Association of Georgia says these are important relationships, but doctors should disclose them if the patient has concerns.

“As long as the physician is disclosing and answering questions honestly about what their relationship is to a pharmaceutical company, I think it’s something if the patient has concerns about, then they should ask those questions,” said Palmisano.

Patients will have more information to go by in March when a new federal sunshine law will force drug companies to publicly disclose all payments made to doctors and other health professionals. © Copyright 2012, WABE

I guess it was the year of attractive young women on trial for murder.

At least one of the most popular posts was about… umm… psychiatry.

Amanda Knox Blog Wars Update for the Week
These are the top blog posts from Before You Take That Pill based on the number of comments generated.

I guess it was the year of attractive young women on trial for murder.

At least one of the most popular posts was about… umm… psychiatry.

Amanda Knox Blog Wars Update for the Week
The Rise of the Guilter Monster
Rebuttal to “Angel Face” the Book about Amanda Knox
English Tabloids Say That Amanda Knox Should Wear Black, Stay at Home, and Pray
Nancy Grace is Completely Wrong About the Amanda Knox Case
Why It Isn’t Physically Possible For Amanda Knox to have Killed Meredith Kercher
Amanda Knox and the Coercive Interrogation Tactics of the Polizia di Stato in Perugia
Tot Mom: Case of Missing in Action Mother
Whoa! Tot Mom Was Abused!
New Questionable Diagnoses on the Horizon from the DSM-5 Committee

Con Berlusconi Non C’e Liberta’ di Parola in Italia 7