Adventure Ausrama Blog

New medical discoveries are pushing the cost/patient envelope as more low-end subsidized drugs are taken off the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and new $1,000 plus a week treatments are being added at the top end. Rationally, it is obvious that this will result in fewer patients benefiting. Recently, I went to the pharmacy with a script for a medication that I assumed was still subsidized. The chemist arrogantly said drug companies are not making profit any more: you should pay the $60.00 . I responded saying, how do you know anything about my finances and if you believe pharmaceutical firms need sympathy you are absolutely stupid and unfit to be in the profession . Upon leaving the shop I thought I shouldn't have said that. However, on consideration I believe that I was right. It needed to be said. Pharmacists are a protected breed. They make millions when the government pays them full-recommended list price which it is set artificially high by drug companies. New

A new survey has found that school children under 17 years who smoke cannabis are less likely to complete their high school education. This is not surprising as cannabis "kills" the rational part of the brain and makes users impulsive, unable to control their actions. Addicts are driven through a path in life from one pleasurable thing to another. They avoid all uncomfortable situations immediately, seeking the nearest pleasure at hand. This is why they end up breaking the law and becoming incarcerated. Suicide is high amongst cannabis users because good experiences are not always for the taking. When one works at a job it is not pleasant, nor is it truly sought after. However, unless the discomfort is suffered there will be no pleasure from spending the income. Legalization for medical use is another step toward general access. Many young people are already unfit for the workforce because schools do not teach work related skills. Education needs radical r

Are we becoming too accepting of drug use? When a business advises its customer that intensive drug tests are about to happen it makes one wonder. Is this taking customer service too far? The flight crew on Jetstar, the Australian cut-price airline, told passengers to flush drugs down the toilet because there would be sniffer dogs and inspectors when they landed. Jetstar said it was just a joke. Passengers took it seriously and it is not known if some avoided arrest. There was a rush to the toilet after the announcement. Apparently, this isn't the first time this has occurred. Jetstar admitted that such warnings are routine. This undermines its claim of a joke. Is their apology sufficient? Surely a change in company culture is needed. Drug taking is a drain on the health system. Continuous use does damage the body despite what many users claim. Being blasé about it is certainly not the thing to do. Responses on Facebook were overwhelmingly supportive of t

Perhaps the drive to ban drugs is misplaced. The war is being lost anyway. Since the 1960s research on psychedelic drugs has been frowned upon. However, recent findings show benefits from imbibing these chemicals which come mainly from mushrooms. Psychedelics alter perception so that an individuals sees strange things that are not there. A side benefit is an improvement in mood. Anxiety and depression tend to disappear. Research in the US and Europe is really taking off. Oddly, although the drugs have been banned they are not addictive. Australia is not following the lead. It is still stuck in the past with talk about psychedelics being hushed up. A further problem is that chemicals derived from mushrooms and cacti are not patentable. There is no big money in it. The harm done by regular intake of psychedelics is near zero. Quite different from the common belief. Many of the elderly suffer from psychological problems. If these can be solved by putting the aged into a be

As human beings take more medications, so the environment becomes saturated with drugs. Sewerage treatment works are having a difficult problem removing them and providing usable water. Even low levels of these dangerous chemicals can damage fish, for example. When exposed to anti-stress drugs they get hungry like drug addicts and eat until they are blotted. Very small microbes that keep the environment running effectively no longer do their work on slime to create food for fish. Chemicals such as shampoo, washing powder, disinfectants, caffeine, antihistamines and antibiotics upset the ecosystem. They slow production of algae a base food source. Basically, waterways are being sterilized. It is difficult to ascertain the impact of each drug because there are a number of pollutants present at any one time. Pesticides and fertilizers are mixed in with drugs. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.c

When you go into hospital for an operation you either get a "feel good" pain clinician who believes that no one should be in pain when medications are available, or you get an "ethical" physician who gives pain relief when he/she deems it to be "right". The problem is moral judgement differs from person to person. Another issue is - Can pain be a disease in itself? Some calculate the failure to treat pain in working days lost. The problem is, taking analgesics will reduce some pain from the flu, for example, but you are still too sick to work. Furthermore, taking high levels of analgesics can make for a euphoric state where one does not want to work. Looking at it in terms of days lost is questionable. Specialists are also calling for pain relieving medications to be shipped in large amounts to poorer countries where medical treatment is not widely available. Considering the drug problem in virtually all countries, this may not be a good thing to do. I

The world is in crisis. Illegal drugs that permanently damage users are easily purchased online. Recent research shows that when those under 16 years of age take marijuana regularly, particularly the cultivated strong variety, they are irreparably set back for the rest of their lives. Schizophrenia, is common. Furthermore, There is up to 55 per cent reduction in memory recall and decision making skills. A problem not given much importance is lung disease from smoking marijuana. Dangerous psychoactive drugs are being developed. They are very pure and untested on humans. Some are highly toxic. Because they are new there are no laws restricting their supply, so they can be openly sold in Australia. Buying drugs online is virtually anonymous. The law has limited mechanisms for checking sales. Several new chemicals are combined into a very dangerous brew. Some normal antidepressants are also added. The affects of drug interaction is unknown. Products are not checked for cons

Doctors do not know how "recreational" drugs work. Police forces worldwide fight drug abuse, but the battle is being lost. Until medications can be developed to stop the euphoric effects almost immediately the battle will rage on. There are possible benefits from some of these drugs. For example, magic mushrooms are being tested for treating mental conditions by psychiatrists. Neural circuits in the brain are altered by the use of the drug. What actually happens though was unknown, until now. It was thought that dormant brain cells were being activated, the ones that are used during sleep. It has been discovered, however, that blood flow to the brain is decreased when psilocybin is used. MRIs showed blood flow reductions to the thalamus and cortical regions. The front and back of the brain are separated when the drug is taken. Primary sensory areas still retained good blood flow, while higher association regions became "starved" of blood. Previous theo

People are taking more prescription drugs. Western countries including Australia make them easy to obtain because they are heavily subsidized. As developing countries move forward they too are inclined to make medications available to everyone. We take it for granted that all medicines will be "out there" ready to buy. Last year in the US 196 common drugs were in short supply. Less than 100 ran short in 2006. Most of the medications were for anaesthetic, cancer or anti-infection use. Recently, shortages became apparent in Australia. Use of alternative drugs is not ideal. Side effects and less effective treatment occur. It seems pharmaceutical manufacturers are only interested in producing products with safe patents that have high profit margins. When patents expire and governments want cheap generic drugs they are becoming harder to obtain. Governments are economically inelastic when it comes to what they will pay. They offer drug companies a fixed amount - tak

As if we aren't taking enough medication, "combination" pills are now being made. Normal healthy people don't need to take "just in case" medication. After all anyone could be knocked down by a car and killed. Furthermore, many medications clash with each other producing dangerous chemicals when mixed. The latest polypill is for heart attacks. It contains statins, aspirin, and two blood pressure drugs. Tests show that the incidence of heart attacks can be reduced by half if the multi-pill is taken regularly due to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It is also claimed that colon cancer will be less frequent in test subjects, which seems rather odd considering the slim relationship between cholesterol and cancer. If a person is fit and healthy it would probably be wise to leave things as they are because all medications have side effects, and tests done so far are only looking at short term results. Tests were only for 12 weeks. How can one draw such

Pharmacists should stay out of health treatment and do what they do best - glorified clerks. They have no training in curing disease. Their education is solely based on chemical analysis. They are scientists not physicians. Ask their advice and they tell you what is written on the packet. Now the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia is saying pharmacists are qualified to treat people with mental illness. They may "give" drugs to such patients but they do not prescribe them. Heaven help us if they get involved will-nilly in advising those with mental disorders. Having someone continually talking in your ear about how to take your prescription medicine it not going to help one recover. Doctors need direct contact with a patient to give the greatest assistance. Having a pharmacist in the middle is only going to mess things up. A mental patient is already stressed. Saying pharmacists will reduce medication errors is implying that they have qualifications to oversee physi

Everything in society is controlled to make it safe, right? Wrong! Herbal medicine can be consumed freely without restriction even if it kills you. Try to buy opiates which can be taken for a lifetime without harm and all sorts of restrictions apply. Drug addicts die of illnesses such as aids and hepatitis. Recent tests were done on an Australian who took Ayervedic medicines. His body had eight times the maximum safe level of lead in it. The mistake he made on a visit to India has ruined his life. Ayervedid herbs are normally contaminated with heavy metals. Whether this part of their "healing" function is not known. Imagine taking lead, arsenic and mercury, daily. In Australia, Indian and Chinese herbs are monitored for dangerous levels of heavy metals. That's where it ends: the efficacy of the "medication" is not tested. You can buy such herbs on the Internet from countries where product quality is not regulated. It is surely time for the herbal medicine mark

With probably one of the best prescription medicine schemes in the world which is heavily subsidized it is surprising that many people do not take their medications when they should. A third of patients just forget to take them. An odd finding is that 67 per cent do not usually miss a dose but 71 per cent take less than the prescribed amount. New schemes where pharmacists give advice will probably not help because listening now does not affect behavior later. Hospital admissions due to taking more and less than the prescribed medication amount will continue. With the pressures of daily life people seem to have more important concerns than their health. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com ~~~~~ Health ~~~~~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Talk about looking after your own - the better off looking after each other. The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia is setting up a register of pharmacists affected by the floods. Pharmacists in unaffected states are offering to give financial help. This is disgraceful! What about patients who cannot get necessary supplies, now? This is a case of a privileged group looking after themselves. It should be condemned. It is okay for them to give money to each other. The ordinary person gives a general donation and it is given to recipients based on need. At a time like this some people think only of money. Getting food, warm clothing and needed medications should be the main priority. The PSA should be giving millions of dollars to welfare organisations for this purpose, not thinking of setting up shop as soon as possible to make money. The truth is pharmacists don't compete with each other. It is like a "buddy" club. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.

Major medical advances are a long time coming. Development of a reliable blood sugar level monitoring method for type 1 diabetes is a case in point. It has been claimed as a revolutionary achievement. It consists of a monitor connected to an insulin pump. With all the money being poured into research this should have been done years ago. Heart surgery hasn't moved much further forward than the first transplant in South Africa decades ago. Stents are still the primary treatment. The number of heart transplant recipients remains very small indeed. Artificial hearts are still not safe enough for general use. Cancer shrinking techniques have been identified but they have not been perfected. DNA treatment is a long way down the track. Much hope had been raise over stem cell research. This has slowed right down. Surgical "tricks' have been done in one-off procedures. Getting them into general hospital systems is not happening though. Drug companies are pushing very expensive med