Harm Reduction

“An aspirin a day keeps the doctor away” has been the mantra for prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) since the early 2000s, but that seems to be changing in some cases.

It is well documented that taking aspirin helps prevent the recurrence of heart attack, stroke, and other vascular events after they have already occurred - known as “secondary prevention”.  But there is debate over the benefits of taking aspirin in people without a history of prior cardiovascular disease - primary prevention.  The current consensus advocates using low-dose aspirin, for primary prevention, in certain high risk groups: those with advanced age, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking etc.  Not so, says a new ...

It's now almost one year to the day that the Food and Drug Administration publicly recommended that teenagers be prevented from using tanning beds. It was a compelling and worthwhile statement based on science that would save thousands of young lives.

"Indoor tanning is a known contributor to skin cancer, including melanoma (its most deadly form), and other skin damage. Yet, 1.6 million minors indoor tan each year, increasing their risk of skin cancer and other damage," the agency stated on Dec. 18, 2015. "According to the American Academy of Dermatology, those who have been exposed to radiation from indoor tanning are 59 percent more likely to develop melanoma than those who have never tanned...

If you are over the age of 50, your doctor has most likely advised you to get a colonoscopy- the gold standard procedure for early detection and removal of growths called polyps, that can potentially turn into deadly colorectal cancer (CRC).  But despite its proven effectiveness, the idea of getting a colonoscopy invokes dread and apprehension in many people.  Understandably, no one looks forward at the thought of drinking a gallon of gag-inducing bowel-prep and spending hours running to the bathroom, which is prelude to having a tube inserted through the rectum and snaked through the intestinal tract, while a camera looks for suspicious growths.  But it is actually not as terrible as it sounds.  In fact, the preparation is more unpleasant than the actual procedure which is done once...

"Merciless In Seattle: Untreated Pain, Misery, And Suicide" (November 2^nd) examined the tragic suicide of Seattle resident Denny Peck, who had the misfortune of being dependent upon opioid drugs to manage his intractable pain that resulted from an accident that crushed part of his spine in 1990. When the pain clinic that had been treating Peck abruptly closed, he could not find a doctor who was willing to prescribe the drugs that made his life bearable. Two days following Peck's desperate, but futile call to 911, during which he maintained that he couldn't bear the pain anymore, Peck committed suicide by shooting himself in both side of his head. What happened to Peck is...