RespiteMatch.com Health Blog

by Michelle Meadows

Selene Seguros Rios was 18 months old in 1999 when she received two injections of a pain and fever drug called Neo-Melubrina (dipyrone) in an illegal backroom clinic in Tustin, Calif. That was 20 years after the Food and Drug Administration had banned the drug in the United States because of potentially fatal side effects, including a drop in white blood cells that hampers the body’s ability to fight off infections.
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A Report of the Food and Drug Administration
February 2004

Department of Health and Human Services
Food and Drug Administration
Rockville, Maryland 20857

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The counterfeiting of currency and consumer products are common problems that plague governments and manufacturers around the world, but the counterfeiting of medications is a particularly insidious practice. Drug counterfeiters not only defraud consumers, they also deny ill patients the therapies that can alleviate suffering and save lives. In some countries the counterfeiting of drugs is endemic — with some patients Read the rest of this entry »

THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
Saturday, October 15, 2005

Whatever you choose
+++++++++++++++++++

Any day can be special when you decide that it is. Any place can be special when you make it so.
The smallest, most ordinary moments can bring the biggest, most extraordinary rewards to your life. It’s all a matter of what you make of those moments.
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Medicare Officials Reset Debut, Cite Religious Holiday

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; A17

Medicare officials delayed the rollout yesterday of an Internet-based tool that will allow seniors to comparison shop for prescription drug plans, saying that unveiling it on a religious holiday would have drawn charges of insensitivity. Read the rest of this entry »

Coroner autopsies 45 bodies from New Orleans hospital
Knight Ridder Newspapers
October 14, 2005

By Jennifer Latson and Mark Washburn NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana’s attorney general is investigating allegations that patients at the city’s Memorial Hospital were euthanasized in the desperate days after Hurricane Katrina. Read the rest of this entry »

By CANDICE CHOI
Associated Press Writer

October 13, 2005, 11:38 AM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. — It’s that time of year when the elderly and others at risk for the flu are vaccinated, but a delay in shipments has left some health care providers still waiting for their doses.
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“Sally” was afraid that she had been exposed to HIV. She didn’t want to buy a test in the local pharmacy because someone she knew might see her. She didn’t want to go to a clinic for the same reason. So, like many other consumers, Sally decided to purchase her HIV test from an Internet source. She took the test and was distraught to find that the result was positive. After several agonizing weeks, she went to her doctor who did a confirmatory test with a more sophisticated testing method – and the result was negative. Sally did not have HIV. The test she purchased from the Internet had not been approved or cleared by the Food and Drug Read the rest of this entry »

The FDA wants you to be a wise consumer if you buy contact lenses, an FDA-regulated product, on the Internet, over the phone or by mail. While such purchases are often a convenient and economical way to get lenses, Internet, phone, or mail orders require consumers to exercise some caution. The following questions and answers should help you take simple precautions to make your Internet, phone or mail purchase safe and effective for you. Read the rest of this entry »

Janet’s arthritis was really hurting, so she decided to check the Internet for new arthritis products. As she surfed the Net, she found many advertisements offering cures and advice. There were ads for magnets, copper bracelets, knee braces, and arch supports. Then, there were all those vitamin and herbal remedies claiming to cure her arthritis. Janet felt overwhelmed. What should she do? Whom could she trust?
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You should not buy the drugs listed below over the Internet.

You bypass important safeguards to protect your health (and others) if you buy these drugs over the Internet.

These drugs have special safety restrictions on how they are distributed to the public. Also, drugs purchased from foreign Internet sources are not the FDA-approved versions of the drugs, and are not subject to FDA-regulated manufacturing controls or FDA inspection of manufacturing facilities. To learn more about buying drugs safely over the Internet, please read “Buying Prescription Medicines Online: A Consumer Safety Guide” available at http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/consumer/buyonline/guide.htm. Read the rest of this entry »

A Consumer Safety Guide

Buying your medicine online can be easy.
Just make sure you do it safely.
The Internet has changed the way we live, work and shop. The growth of the Internet has made it possible to compare prices and buy products without ever leaving home. But when it comes to buying medicine online, it is important to be very careful. Some websites sell medicine that may not be safe to use and could put your health at risk. Read the rest of this entry »

By Michelle Meadows

Get prescription drugs fast–no doctor needed! Cure cancer with herbs! Zap your pain away with an amazing device! Absolutely safe–pull out your credit card NOW, and get rock-bottom prices.

It’s not hard to find statements like these floating around in cyberspace. “And if they sound too good to be true, it’s because they usually are,” says Rich Cleland, assistant director of the Division of Advertising Practices at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Read the rest of this entry »

THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
Friday, October 14, 2005

Look up
+++++++++++++++++++

Look up from what you’re doing and look around for a minute.
See what a beautiful world you’re in. Read the rest of this entry »

Medical errors are one of the Nation’s leading causes of death and injury. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors. This means that more people die from medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.
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A healthy dose of “imagination” helps older people remember to take medications and follow other medical advice, according to a new study supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health.
\ Read the rest of this entry »