Monday, December 12, 2011

Breaking medical research

A recently published study found that asthma patients can control their asthma better by...

(Drumroll, please)

...TAKING THEIR MEDICATIONS!

Really. This study got published.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say these findings might be extrapolated to cover my epilepsy, migraine, Parkinson's patients, and pretty much most chronic conditions.

But, as always, further research is needed.

Thank you, History Doc!
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14 comments:

  1. memeDecember 13, 2011 at 6:15 AM

    What?!? I actually have to *take* the medication? I thought you just kept it in the cupboard, like mothballs or something, and it chased the illness away.

    Who knew?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 7:51 AM

    How shocking. Filling the prescriptions and leaving them in the pickup bin at the pharmacy also does not produce the desired effect.

    murgatr
    Pharm.Tech. RDC'06

    ReplyDelete
  3. History DocDecember 13, 2011 at 8:53 AM

    It is a sad truth that nothing we do for patients actually works without at least a little help from the actual patient.

    Who often has a somewhat different agenda than we do.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 9:38 AM

    And here I've been throwing my Singulair down the sink every day. Thank goodness there's been a study to set me straight.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 11:05 AM

    Does that include the control group on placebos?

    That's a serious question BTW.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    Would've been interesting if the opposite conclusion had been reached!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 12:21 PM

    So maybe if I inject my insulin, my blood sugars might go down? I'll have to tell that to my endocrinologist! -- littlefoot

    ReplyDelete
  8. BrianDecember 13, 2011 at 12:55 PM

    But some guy I met in the bathroom said his cousin's wife's hairdresser heard her dog say asthma medicine is not really needed.

    You don't have an argument for that, do you? Psssh. And I thought you were supposed to be a doctor.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 12:55 PM

    How do I get a bazillion dollar grant to confirm these findings?

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousDecember 13, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    Modern medical science is just so awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  11. burnttoastDecember 13, 2011 at 6:30 PM

    Remember, research is done for two reasons, neither of which is to advance medical science.
    Reason 2 Prep a product for market
    Drum roll, the number one reason for research is ! to get some poor schmuck one step closer to tenure. Really.

    ReplyDelete
  12. katydogcrazyDecember 13, 2011 at 8:27 PM

    Stu - no placebo group; just tracking actual use of the corticosteroid inhalers, at least as estimated through electronic pharmacy records.
    http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749%2811%2901481-3/abstract

    ReplyDelete
  13. VickiDecember 14, 2011 at 12:45 AM

    I wonder how many insurance companies would have refused to pay for such medications without research like this. They seem to find any excuse to deny coverage that I bet this study did some real good for real patients. Scary, but I bet likely!

    ReplyDelete
  14. EMoneyDecember 19, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    What's sad is that a lot of asthma patients only take their maintenance meds when they feel sick - they don't understand that a corticosteroid has to be taken every day, regardless of how you feel. It is really an education issue. My father didn't take his meds regularly until he had a doctor explain how they worked.

    ReplyDelete

So wadda you think?