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Dr. A show Friday night


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Yes, I'm the worst host -- ever! I cancel my show for Thursday night, and what do I do? I just come back the next night with a show. And, yes, I have nothing better to do on a Friday night except blog and talk on internet radio. Your point would be...

Well, I will tell you this. I will be watching the Indians/Red Sox game Friday night during the show - and will probably give you real time reaction - At least that should be interesting, right?

There are no scheduled guests - except you if you would like to call into the show. I'm calling this "The Dr. A Chronicles." I've been meaning to talk about the DH thing (which I know people either never heard of, don't care about, or have moved on from), some medical news, and, of course, the American League Championship Series.

It'll probably be more like the Dr. A monologue, but, hey, who cares? I'm going to have a good time. And, if you're by a computer Friday night at 9pm eastern time, feel free to join me. Go Tribe!

Cough & cold meds withdrawn


Following up this post on avoiding cough medicines in kids, it was announced today (I have the fax from J&J in front of me) that there will be a voluntary withdrawal of ALL cough and cold remedies for children under the age of 2. (image credit)

There is an FDA advisory panel next week, and there probably would have been a recommendation on this already. (Chicago Tribune)

"It's important to point out that these medicines are safe and effective when used as directed, and most parents are using them appropriately," said Linda A. Suydam, president of Consumer Healthcare Products Association. "The reason the makers of over-the-counter, oral cough and cold medicines for infants are voluntarily withdrawing these medicines is that there have been rare patterns of misuse leading to overdose recently identified, particularly in infants, and safety is our top priority."

Many of the medicines contain pseudoephedrine and phenlypephrine. The branded cough and cold medicines that are being voluntarily withdrawn are: Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops; Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops; Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough; Little Colds Multi-Symptom Cold Formula; PEDIACARE Infant Drops Decongestant & Cough and certain brands of Robitussin, Triaminic and Tylenol brands of infant and toddler cough and cold remedies.

I really feel bad for all those family practice offices (like ours) and pediatrician offices today. We're already been getting phone calls on what parents are supposed to do now since these medicines are going to be voluntarily withdrawn. Ah yes, just another day at the office....

Cleveland school shooting


When is stuff like this going to end? Here is the latest from CNN:

A 14-year-old gunman shot students and teachers at a Cleveland high school, wounding four, and was then killed, the mayor told CNN affiliates WOIO and WKYC. It was not known if police shot the gunman or if he took his own life.

The shooting victims include two adult men, 57 and 42 years old; and two teenage males, 17 and 14 years old, according to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. A 14-year-old female hurt her knee in the chaos, he added.

Not that I'm comparing situations, but I remember back about what I was thinking during the Virginia Tech tragedy back in April (Can the cycle be broken, depression = murder?, privacy laws need scrutinized, mental health care delivery in the US).

School shootings are tragic and my thoughts and prayers go to the families affected by this. I'm just not looking forward to the 24/7 news coverage and people jumping on the bandwagon to advance their political agendas. Can we just figure out why this happened (if we can) and prevent it from happening in the future?

Show cancelled


Don't you hate when real life gets in the way of blogging life? Last night, something came up at work such that I'm probably not going to be at my computer at 10PM tomorrow night for the Doctor Anonymous show. It wasn't a definite, so my dilemma was this - Should I just cancel the show now, or wait possibly until the last minute to cancel, depending on what happens tomorrow night.

It really wouldn't have been fair to the guest or to all of you to wait until the last minute. The whole balance thing between real life and blog life is difficult sometimes - and this is an example of that. So, my apologies. There is an outside chance that I'll be back by my computer by 11pm. If I'm feeling nutty, I might just have a show anyway where I talk to myself for 30 minutes. hehe

The myth of healthy restaurants


Are you like me in that cooking is just not your thing? That being said, I probably eat out a little more than I should. And, when I do go out, I like looking for that healthy-type restaurant, so that, at least, I feel a little bit better ordering off the menu there.

Well, I just learned that this may be a bad move. According to this article from Fox News, most people ingest more calories when eating out at so-called healthy restaurants.

Researchers say healthy restaurants often prompt consumers to treat themselves to higher-calorie side dishes, drinks or desserts than they would normally eat at fast-food and other restaurants that do not claim to be healthy.

"We found that when people go to restaurants claiming to be healthy, such as Subway, they choose additional side items containing up to 131 percent more calories than when they go to restaurants like McDonald's that don't make this claim," said Brian Wansink, Cornell's John S. Dyson professor of marketing and applied economics and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, in a news release.

Yeesh! I admit that I totally do this. Oh boy, now what am I going to do? The easy solution is to just forget all those "additional side items" that they are talking about above. But, of course, maybe I should just ditch the entire healthy restaurant thing, because isn't that what I'm doing anyway? Man, I'm such a hypocrite... hehe..

Filipino boycott working


Remember last week when the mob was protesting and encouraging a boycott of the Desperate Housewives show for the "Filipino Diploma" comment? Well, the Sunday night ratings have just been announced and I'm proud to say that the boycott is working (well, not really).

One week after “Desperate Housewives” returned for its fourth season on ABC, the network’s Sunday night lineup remained down but still solid in the ratings, finishing second only to NBC’s live football coverage.

While audiences for the ABC shows fell by millions of viewers compared with their week-ago debuts, Desperate Housewives remained No. 1 overall, with 17.4 million viewers at 9, Nielsen estimated. (New York Times)

Now, those in the mob will say, "Hey, we caused a million viewers to tune out the show because of our protests last week!" Wrong! America wanted to see if Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers could remain undefeated - and that's why a sporting event, and not a network TV show, won the ratings race Sunday night.

Grand Rounds


Grand Rounds 4.03 is now up and running over at Nurse Ratched's Place. Mother Jones RN calls this post "It's Military Week at Grand Rounds" - a tribute to health professionals who serve their country by serving others. Thanks for including my post:

In 1945, Surgeon General Norman T. Kirk was asked to name the first three outstanding innovations brought about by World War II, and without hesitation he said, “Surgery, the sulfa drugs, and penicillin.” Other outstanding achievements in military research included dried plasma, which was developed and first used during World War II. Medical research conducted by the military during wartime continues to save countless lives.

Research in the civilian world is also saving lives. Dr. Anonymous sent in this post about the American Cancer Society and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One day researchers will find a cure for breast cancer, but until then Dr. Anonymous is urging readers to learn the facts about the disease.

If you don't know what Grand Rounds is, it is a weekly compilation of the best posts from the medical blogosphere that moves to different sites each week. And, who doesn't like reading about medicine and science?

Thanks again to MJ for being a guest on Doctor Anonymous Live last week. I really appreciate it. Speaking of the show, we have a great list of guests coming up this month. Next week, Grand Rounds moves to NY Emergency Medicine.

Dr. A Show: Upcoming Guests




As I announced on last week's show, I'm very excited (and grateful) to have so many guests already booked on the show for the month of October. Mark your calendars now, so that you can join the fun, and be our guest!

(All these are tentatively scheduled guests, dates, and times which are subject to change at any time. Check back regularly to the blog for the most current information.)

October 18th @ 10pm ET: Roy from the Shrink Rap blog

October 21st @ 9:30pm ET: Dashing MD from the Dashing MD podcast

October 25th @ 10pm ET: Mimi Lenox from Blogblast for Peace