Round 3: OTC Cholesterol Med?

I talked about this before back on October 3, 2007 (why does that feel like two years ago as opposed to two months ago?). Anyway, USA Today is reporting that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will again consider whether cholesterol medication will be able to be available without a prescription.

For the third time, Merck is seeking FDA approval to sell over-the-counter Mevacor, the brand name for lovastatin. In 2000 and 2005, advisory panels recommended against that move. The FDA is not bound by advisory committee recommendations, but it usually goes along with them.

Public Citizen, a watchdog group (and, in my opinion, sometimes goes too far in the alarming the pubic at times), is against making cholesterol medications over the counter. I would agree with this group on this issue.

"People can't, on their own, evaluate whether they are at sufficient enough risk that they could benefit from this drug," says [Sydney] Wolfe, [director of the Public Citizen Health Research Group.]

On the other side of this issue is, of course, the pharmaceutical industry who has been chomping at the bit to push this entire drug class onto pharmacy shelves for patients to purchase and for docs to deal with the side effects.

Over-the-counter Mevacor "fits with the philosophy that patients should take more responsibility for their health care decisions," says Antonio Gotto, former president of the American Heart Association and dean of New York's Weill Cornell Medical College. He will serve as a Merck consultant Thursday.

Steve Francesco, a pharmaceutical industry consultant in West Orange, N.J., who specializes in prescription-to-nonprescription switches, says switching Mevacor "would be a real turning point."

You betcha it would be a turning point. As a prescription medication class, cholesterol meds are a multi-Billion dollar industry. If this is made over the counter by the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry will see dollar signs. But, what will patients, doctors, nurses, and others who take care of patients see? I hope the FDA rejects this request again on Thursday...

Seven Million Dollars

What would you do if you stole with seven million dollars? Would you try to hide out just 350 miles away and hope for the best? That's exactly what a trio of criminals did after nabbing an armored car. The story from our local paper is below. It's kind of interesting, what do you think?

Youngstown — A trunk filled with more than $7 million can take most people, or at least the average imagination, on a trip around the world. While traveling, throw in exotic cars, expensive clothes and fascinating people.

That same amount of stolen loot took Roger Dillon, 22, and his girlfriend Nicole Boyd, 24, as far as a trailer in Pipestem, W.Va. Extravagance? The couple did manage to buy an 18-year-old van along the way — before the FBI came knocking at the trailer door.

Dillon and Boyd are charged in the theft of more than $7 million in cash and checks from an armored car company in Liberty Township. On the run, their heist spawned local pondering of where were they and what would you do had you done the deed.

When they were arrested, you could almost hear the chorus back home: “West Virginia?” Piling on were the details of their plan. One cop called them stupid.

So .... We wondered what others would do with more than $7 million and the world to explore?

The Office Christmas Party

No, not that Office Christmas party. I mean, those Hollywood writers are on strike. We probably won't see a new Office episode for weeks (or even months). What do I watch on TV now? I'm catching up on re-runs of MASH and Whose Line Is It Anyway?

So, our office Christmas party was Saturday night. It was actually at a new place for us. It's usually in this country club setting - which I don't really enjoy. It's really hard to have fun there. I always think of movies like Trading Places and other movies where people act non politically correct and get thrown out of the joint.

This year, it was at a local coffee shop that had a lot of old historical memorabilia. Who knew this small town had so much history? The food and drink were great, and the atmosphere was perfect to mingle with the staff away from the office.

I admit it was difficult to try to talk about anything other than work. I mean when you talk about medicine and medically related things for 8-10 hours a day with this same group of people, it can be hard to talk about anything else. But, it was nice to learn about other people's families and Christmas plans.

Overall, I think things went well. Of course, I'm probably the last person to hear about gossip. So, I may be adding to this post later. For those of you who had office Christmas/Holiday parties, how did they go? I'm curious....

Listen LIVE tonight

Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 10:00pm Eastern Time

Join us tonight for GruntDoc: Ramblings of an Emergency Physician in Texas. The "Most Popular Posts" section of the blog is also an interesting read, including "Nursing Home MAR’s sent to the ED with all times removed: A new and horrible trend." This post has garnered a slim 44(!) comments so far. See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:

*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of my show site. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room. (If not, you will be designated as "guest")

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll be taking calls beginning at around the bottom of the hour. Hope these tips are helpful!

Update: Thanks so much to Grunt Doc for being on the show. Also thanks to Dr. Val and Scanman for calling into the show. I really appreciate it. The chat room was as busy as I have see it. Maybe this show is really starting to catch on. Yay!

In our interview, Grunt Doc talked about how he found his ER career (cute story). Then, we discuss medical television shows and how they portray docs.

With regards to blogging, he mentions some of the first blogs that he read, including medical blogs. The GruntDoc blog started in May 2002. Dr. Val describes him as a "pioneer" in medical blogging, and I would have to agree.

Then, right on cue, I get kicked off the system. I think it was Skype, but I'll have to do a post morteum on this show to figure out what happened. I don't know how long the silence was, but, as always, it was too long for me.

If you did not tune in live, you missed a treat. Not only was the chat room hopping, but the video feed from my iSight camera was working and I was waving at the listeners - Live video feed - pretty cool. I've been trying on other shows to have a video feed as a guest, but without success, yet.

I'm also kind of concerned because the archive for tonight's show is not available yet (30 minutes after the show ended). It's usually up by now. I'm starting to get worried. For the Grand Rounds Premiere show, I think it was about 18 hours before the archive was available on the BlogTalkRadio site. We'll see what happens this time.

Next week, look out! It will be The Doctor Anonymous holiday show. Little medicine, but a lot of fun. I will have a panel of holiday experts (hehe) to debate the very controversial topics of the following -- favorite holiday song, fave holiday cartoon, fave holiday movie, and favorite holiday memories. The Panel: Dr. Val, MexicoMedStudent, and Blog Talk Radio personality Dr. Blogstein. So, come back next week for the fun. Have a great weekend!

The GruntDoc Interview

This week, The Doctor Anonymous Show welcomes the one and only GruntDoc who authors GruntDoc: Ramblings of an Emergency Physician in Texas. Among his blogging accomplishments include the 2004 Medgadget award for Best Medical Weblog (I'm jealous).

I definitely recommend taking a look at the "My Favorite" section in the left hand column - especially "My Grandfathers' Guns," which was featured in the Editor's Picks of my Grand Rounds edition last year. My other recommendations include "Best Chief Complaint of The Night" from last year and "LCPL Anthony Sledd, USMC" from 2002.

Join us on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 10PM Eastern Standard Time where we will talk about this and a whole lot more. You can also join us in the live chat room (the show within the show) or even call into the show to ask us a question. The chat room worked for the last show. Let's hope it works again. You'll just have to tune in to find out. Check here tomorrow for details.

M&Ms: Mint Chocolate

First of all, I want to apologize for not really blogging that much lately. No excuse! I've been trying to get back to the swing of things, but not quite there yet. Maybe too much goofing around on Facebook lately...

Anyway, our office is completely out of Diet Coke. What a travesty of justice! So, I ventured out to the local superstore and got my usual 20 ounce of caffeine fix to take with me back to work. As I was standing at the checkout counter, I heard this bag of M&Ms calling me. "Dr. A....."

I looked at it and the bag read, "Happy Holidays! Mint Chocolate - Limited Edition." So, naturally, I had to try it out. Let me tell ya - There's nothing like it. Great stuff. I know what you're thinking - Diet Coke and M&Ms? Yeesh! Anyway, if you haven't tried it out, I recommend the holiday edition of mint chocolate m&ms. They have the Dr. A seal of approval!

Lowest gasoline prices in Ohio

Are you tired of the high gas prices out there across the state and across the country? Well, then why not drive to Salem where we have the lowest gasoline prices in the entire state of Ohio, according to Ohiogasprices.com (at least as of this posting). You can read all about it in our local newspaper.

Salem — Christmas presents came early for Salem area residents — gasoline prices that appear to be the lowest in the state. Smith Oil on East State Street posted its lowest price in some time Tuesday — $2.71 a gallon.

“We’re swamped,” said Paula Crum, station manager.

Out-of-towners are among those filling up. Crum has spoken with numerous people from the Youngstown area and Pennsylvania who were driving through town and stopped when they saw the prices. These people know a good deal when they see one.

Ohiogasprices.com lists Salem has having the lowest prices in the state. The Web site, which uses prices reported by drivers, lists five Salem stations as the only ones in the state to have prices under $2.80. No other area stations were even close.

Facebook: Docteur Incognito

I briefly talked about this during my show last week. About a year ago, I was totally against social networking sites. In fact, I have made fun of them in a post back then. Maybe it was just an anti my space thing. Who knows?

But, since then, I've been further exploring and investigating this. I guess I really started appreciating social networking after I got my radio show up and running. Through some of the features on Blog Talk Radio, I how have supporters of the show who call themselves "friends" and even make my show a "favorite" (Thanks so much).

After that, I started doing a little bit more with my Twitter account. And then, someone invited me onto Pownce. Although, I admit that I'm not as much a Powncer as much as I am a Twitter. You can definitely waste a lot of time on these sites.

Which leads me into Facebook. For months and months, I've been hearing the hype from the media. And, I've had people send me invitations for be Facebook friends, but I initally ignored them. Not anymore. Last week, I opened a Facebook account.

I was kind of inspired by my podcasting Facebook friend who is the Dashing MD. Or, his Facebook profile lists him as "Dashing Docteur." So, naturally, I had to seek out the Facebook name "Docteur Incognito." That has kind of ring to it, doesn't it?

So, if you're so inclined, please make me your Facebook friend. How often will I be over there? Who knows? But, it looks kind of fun. Just another Web 2.0 social networking site to pass the time on. Do you have Facebook? Why or why not....

Show # 16 Epilogue

Well, that's another show in the can. It was weird. It's been two weeks since I've done this internet radio show, and I totally forgot how to do it. It really took a few minutes until I got back into the rhythm of things again. And, of course, there was the usual beginning of the show glitch. For some reason Skype cut out at about 16 minutes in. Why does it do that? Who knows?

The international reach of the show still amazes me. Bongi tuned in live from his computer in South Africa. And, Scanman who is in India again was able to join the chat room for the live show. Something cool (and helpful) is that when you register at the BTR site and make my show a favorite (yay), the site sends you an e-mail an hour before the show. I would imagine this is very helpful halfway around the world when you're trying to figure out which time zone you're in.

Thanks so much to Kerri for being a guest on the show. Reading her blog this week, she told us that she is being treated for strep throat. So, I really appreciate you calling in even though you're feeling under the weather. Hope you're feeling better!

I did want to highlight her post called, "An Open Letter To My Pancreas." Very well written, and I highlighted it on my Grand Rounds post last year. We talked about her blog, the growing diabetes internet community that is going on out there, her work at dlife.com, getting ready for her wedding, and she's almost convinced me to try to learn code so that I can get out of blogspot and create a unique website of my own (that would be scary, huh?)

The chat room got a little surprise at the end of the show. I'm not going to say anything, yet. And, I hope those who were there in the chat room at the end of the show will keep the little secret. I'll reveal it in due course (cue sinister laugh).

Finally, I did not have a guest for next week, until I started hanging out in the chat room afterward. Grunt Doc who joined the chat room before the show even started and stayed the entire time; Grunt Doc has graciously agreed to be a guest on next week's Doctor Anonymous Show. How cool is that? So, stay tuned for more details...

Dashing MD Podiversary

Just wanted to give a shout out to the Dashing MD for reaching the one year anniversary of podcasting. He's a great guy and you could really tell by his appearance on the show a few weeks ago. Check out his one year anniversary podcast. There, he recites poetry and tells you why his cats are better than your cats (no kidding). And, as he does best, he answers e-mail questions from his listeners. Hats off to D,MD! I wish you continued success with your podcast!